In the world of Android, there are many devices for us to choose from. Google develops the core OS and then various device manufacturers take that, modify that to fit their various phones and tablets, (and phablets), and then release it to the market, leaving customers with large number of choices. Having a huge and diverse market like this causes competition within these manufacturers and that’s always so good for consumers and Android eco system.

But there may be some Android lovers who appreciates Apple‘s way of doing it – single choice from one company which does it all.

Obviously that method can’t be implemented with Android, and it never should be, and it never would be.

What I envision is a hybrid system.

A hybrid system for Android device manufacturing.

In my envisioned future of Android, companies like Samsung, Sony, Huawei and dozen others will continue introducing various different handsets as they please, like they do now. But I see Motorola doing something else.

As Motorola is now owned by Google, I think Google should continue the Nexus line with Motorola and Motorola only.

As for Nexus phones, Google should introduce 3 of them:

1. Either “Nexus HD” (High End), “Nexus” (Middle Range), and “Nexus Mini” (Low End).
2. Or “Nexus” (High End), “Nexus Mini” (Middle Range), and “Nexus Micro” (Low End).
3. Or something else they’d like.

I personally like the first option, but Google can use the second option if they don’t like to have any suffix for the name of their flagship phone. I’ll use the first option withing this post.

“Nexus HD” will be the flagship – it’ll have all the features Google has to offer. Super processor, super memory, super camera, and super everything. This will have the highest price of the three devices, targeting for the premium users.

“Nexus” will be the device for mid range – everything will be one-step-behind-super. I think this will be the device with most sales.

“Nexus Mini” will be the low end device, targeting the young market. Specs will be good, still usable, but not as premium as above choices.

Phones are not the only thing in Nexus line; the tablet should be available in two flavors – “Nexus Tab”, and “Nexus Tab Mini”. You get my point, give everything super to Tab while Tab Mini should have one-step-back specs.

Why do we need a hybrid system?

Some people are confused by the high number of choices they face when they try to enter the world of Android. While the higher number is choices is good for some, for others it’s not. Someone like that can simply look at the Nexus line and pick up one from the limited available options.

Google is the one who knows Android best – so it makes sense for them to establish a line like this, just like Apple did. Start developing the OS and hardware at the same time and keep building them together to make them perfect matches. Release new version of the Nexus line every year, include pure Android on them without any manufacturer made skin. Release OS upgrades for them as they become available, we will no longer have to wait for other manufacturers to fill Android with bloatware and put on some ugly make up, before they finally make it available for customers (I am still waiting for JB update on my Sony Xperia P!!!).

If someone don’t like that method, dozens of other manufacturers will still be there.

The post A Hybrid System for Android Device Manufacturing – Google Motorola Should Do It appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

Are you a heavy Internet user with multiple devices, who can’t use a wireless router because you’re often moving or residing in some other place than where your fixed Internet connection is? Do you have to buy and maintain several mobile Internet connection because you can’t use a single connection for multiple devices at the same time? Plum Switch is the solution for you!

Last month, I wrote a blogpost on how I was interested in buying the Plum Switch advertised by Mobitel, but when I contacted them about whether the device is network locked or not, some people from Mobitel told me it’s unlocked, while others said it isn’t. So, I gave up the idea of buying the device, as I thought Mobitel is the only one who provides Plum Switch in Sri Lanka.

But “buwa”, who posted a comment to that post, told that it’s available from a online shop called “Vayu”, where the device is available for the same price as Mobitel, which is 9,990LKR. I gave them a call and verified that indeed it is network unlocked when you buy it from Vayu (I am still not sure whether it is network unlocked or not, if you buy it from Mobitel.). They also told me they’d send me a Mobitel gift voucher, which will give you “Monthly 1GB free for 6 months”!

So I bought it from them, and they quickly delivered it. I received the package 2 days later.

There is one catch though, although you can apply the offer on any existing Mobitel connection, you must do so while using the Plum Switch with that connection’s SIM. The offer is limited to these devices’ IMEI, so if you try to apply this offer while the SIM is in another device, it won’t work. You have to insert the SIM into Plum Switch before applying the offer. Even after applying the offer, the offer will only work when you work while the SIM is in the Plum Switch; when you use the SIM with another device, the offer will get ignored. However, I usually use the device with my two Hutch connection, as there’s no Mobitel 3G coverage where I reside for work.

Plum Switch is a WiFi Hotspot.

This is a very useful device for someone who is looking for a wireless WiFi hotspot for his personal use. Just activate the wireless Internet tethering mode and all your devices can connect to this for Internet. This setup also enables me to connect my Android phone to PC through Samba, as I described in my blogpost “Easily share files between Ubuntu Linux and Android with Samba“.

Plum Switch is a Bluetooth Dongle.

If your PC doesn’t have Bluetooth capabilities, Plum Switch can do that for you. It has Bluetooth support built in, so you can insert a MicroSD card to it and save received files on that, plug the device to PC through USB, and you’ll be able to access it’s SD card as you might do for a USB pen drive. You can drag files from PC to it’s SD card and then use Plum switch to send those files to other BT enabled devices as well.

Plum Switch is a 3G Dongle.

If your PC doesn’t have WiFi function, don’t worry, you can use Plum Switch as a regular dongle. I tested this with Ubuntu 12.10, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Ubuntu 12.10 recognized the device as a 3G dongle and allowed to connect to Internet using it instantly. Windows 7 allowed to do so after installing the device driver and connection manager (connection manager is the software that allows you to turn on and off data connection, like “Mobile Partner” for Huawei dongles.) stored in the device’s internal memory. Windows 8 didn’t allow to connect through this even after device driver and connection manager were installed.

Plum Switch is a USB tethering device.

You can connect Plum Switch to your PC using USB tethering mode too. This looks physically like using the device as a 3G dongle, but the method used is different. When you turn the USB tethering mode on, your PC will recognize the device as a network card with a working network connection, not as a 3G dongle. No software is needed to be installed, so even Windows 8 can use Plum Switch this way.

Plum Switch is a WiFi Dongle.

You can use Plum Switch as a WiFi dongle as well. This will allow you to connect to a WiFi network through Plum Switch. To do this, first you have to turn WiFi receiving mode on, then connect to your PC through USB, and then turn on USB tethering mode.

Plum Switch is a Pen Drive.

This can be used as a USB pen drive too. When you plug the device in, you can access it’s SD card in your OS’s file explorer, so you can do anything you’d normally do with a USB pen drive.

Plum Switch is a Phone.

You can use Plum Switch to make calls and send text messages, too.

But…

Nothing is perfect. Plum Switch has it’s fair share of cons as well. It’s battery drains very quickly when it’s working as a WiFi hotspot. If you want to use this primarily as a “phone”, as in making calls and sending texts often, do not buy this because you’ll hate this. You can’t comfortably type texts or numbers on it’ tiny keypad. Making calls and sending texts are only secondary tasks of Plum Switch.

Plum Switch is from “Plum Mobile”.

The company that produces the device is US based, although the device is manufactured in China. Here are few locations where you can find the company “Plum Mobile” online:

Official Website: http://www.plum-mobile.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plum-Mobile/113430562066143

Twitter: https://twitter.com/plummobile

What I think about Plum Switch.

This is my take on Plum Switch: “Plum Switch is an extremely portable Internet access point for single or multiple devices, with phone functions added.”

The post Plum Switch – The All-in-One Internet Access Point appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

Facebook announced “Facebook Home” their “new home on Android” on 4th April. No one productive will use it.

What is Facebook’s “new home on Android”?

Simply put, it’s a home screen replacement for Android devices, in which updates from Facebook dominates rather than your apps. This is the promotional video Facebook created for it.

This video from CNet will explain more about what the thing is.

Why no one productive will use “Facebook Home”?

I use my smartphone to be productive. I have a reminder on it, I read mails on it, I communicate using it. I am sure most of the smartphone users out there agrees with me. But as Facebook has envisioned it, we would use our smartphones primarily to find out what our “friends” on their social network are up to. Instead of quickly going to caller app or email app, we’ll have to look at some useless picture from someone unknown to you but you have “friended” on Facebook. Looking at updates from Facebook isn’t the ultimate reason for my existence, so why would I need my smartphone to show me pictures and status updates from that social network every time I take the phone out to make a call or to see what’s next in my todo list?

The phone would be a great tool for no one except Facebook. It may be hoping that people who are having a device with Facebook as it’s primary service would increase their activity on Facebook and in doing so provide more details about themselves to the social network, so that Facebook can sell those information for more ads. But even the heaviest social media user doesn’t contain himself to only Facebook. They use Google+, Twitter, and numerous other social networks. So let alone productive ones, even people who waste their time in front of a PC or on a mobile device using social networks all day long would not like to use a device that treats one social network dominantly.

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Why personal money management is important?

I am new to earning. I only started doing a job in 2011, but I soon realized that I have to have a way to keep track of where my money goes before it is too late. My dad too uses a book that contains all the expenses he does and he analyzes it once a month. I believe, by recording and visualizing one month’s incomes and expenses you can make better financial decisions next month.

For an example, you can see what are the avoidable and not so important expense you did this month and make a note in mind to be careful if you faced a situation to do the same again next month. You can see what are the average amounts of permanent expenses like utility bills, medicine, food, and transportation etc, and reserve the money needed for them next month from your income. You can even set a limit to the amount of money you can spend “for fun” without making a mess in the later weeks of the month.

Your “expense recorder” should always be with you.

Going back to my dad’s book of expenses, I have to say it was not the perfect solution to the need. He always misses many small expenses, which adds up to a considerable difference between recorded and actual expenses. Making things worse, it was a paper and pen based system. I don’t feel comfortable using papers and pens anymore. I think I haven’t wrote an A4 sheet’s content with a pen after 2011. Plus even I can’t recognize my handwriting after couple of hours from writing them.

I wanted to record everything perfectly, and for that I needed something that resides inside my pocket and goes everywhere I go, so that I can record my expense the moment perform them. Once I purchased my first smartphone, I thought I should find a service that allows me to record my incomes and expenses. I found about a couple of them, but “CashBase” was the one that fulfilled my needs.

CashBase.

CashBase (cashbasehq.com) is a personal money management service with a web app, an Android app, and an iPhone app. It in fact works like a base for your cash. You can use it to record your incomes and expenses. You have the ability to divide both incomes and expenses into different “wallets” and categories. You have the ability to visualize the flow of your money as charts. It’s personal finance management all-in-one.

Wallets.

You must at least have one “wallet” in your CashBase account. You can set wallets up for your different bank accounts, and your actual wallet. Records you enter to one wallet do not mix up with others, and each wallet’s incomes and expenses are shown separately. Once you enter a wallet, it’s balance is shown in a big font so that you can easily know how much you have in your actual wallet or bank accounts.

Categories.

Categories allow you to record your incomes and expenses in a more meaningful way. There are two types of categories in CashBase, called “Income Categories” and “Expense Categories”. They are separate and do not mix up. Here are the “Income Categories” I have created in my CashBase account, and what I use them for.:

• Home  (Money I take from home.).
• Interest (Interests from bank accounts.).
• Online (Money I earn by doing online stuff.).
• Other.
• Salary.

Here are my “Expense Categories”:

• Clothes and Shoes.
• Communication.
• Eating Out.
• Education.
• Entertainment.
• Home.

Charts.

Charts in CashBase help you to visualize your incomes and expenses as pie charts, so that you can better understand how your cash flows. Each wallet will have two charts for incomes and expenses, and the charts represent every category in a different color. You can set the time frame of the chart, while month being the default.

My personal usage.

I record my every income and expense through CashBase’s Android app, and twice or thrice a week I verify the numbers in CashBase account against my actual wallet and bank accounts. Once a month I take a look at the charts and analyze that month’s cash flow and think about how can I improve in the next month. When I need to know how much money do I have left in my wallet, I don’t reach for my back pocket – instead I take my phone out, go to CashBase app and see the information I needed to know.

My personal bank hasn’t yet released a smartphone app. I don’t think any Sri Lankan bank has done so yet. It’s a pain to log into their old stylishly secured Java based web site from a mobile device. So I am really thankful to CashBase for giving me the features to keep a mirror of my bank accounts in my pocket.

What do you think?

I think I am making the most of CashBase, and I hope you too would find it helping. I’d like to know what you think about that and I’ll be more than happy to answer any question you may have.

The post CashBase for Personal Money Management appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

However, just to double check, I called Mobitel Customer Care and the one who initially talked to me didn’t knew anything about the device and took about 5 minutes to ask someone else about the matter. Even after that, she insisted the mobile phone is a Nokia one.

Then I called Matara branch, where I’d be purchasing the device. Fortunately they knew about the existence of Plum Switch, but they told me it is network locked. Not what @MobitelSriLanka said on Twitter.

Having multiple heads with multiple mouths telling completely opposite things confuses existing and potential customers, Mobitel.

Hi @mobitelsrilanka , is the @plummobile Switch network locked when we buy it from you?

— Supun Budhajeewa (@budhajeewa) March 7, 2013

See full conversation: https://twitter.com/budhajeewa/status/309531397054410752

The post @MobitelSriLanka – The Polycephalic appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

This time, Team|RCMweb collaborated with Dharmapala Web TV (The web TV unit of Dharmapala College), and Event Media (The video production team.). The match was webcasted parallel on both RahulaTV and Dharmapala Web TV.

Udith and Iroshan went to Moratuwa with the cricket team on 21st, and did the preparations for the webcast. I took a leave from office on 22nd and went directly to the stadium. Udith, Iroshan, Roshan and me did the webcast on day one and Sashen joined us on second day. Gemina joined us for commentary from time to time.

As mentioned earlier, three organizations collaborated for this webcast, namely Event Media, Dharmapala Web TV, and Team|RCMweb.

Event Media did the video production. They used a three camera set for the event, and with a professional video crew, the video production was superb.

Dharmapala Web TV and Team|RCMweb collaboratively presented the commentary of the big match.

Team|RCMweb did the content generation (Ie., graphic overlays, score bars, lower thirds, and more.), and streaming to the Internet.

The joint effort was a great success and I extend my thanks for all the guys of all three organizations.

Some photos from the broadcast:

If you’re a contact of mine in Google+, you can view the entire album here: https://plus.google.com/photos/114058167274239583597/albums/5848428559903818017.

The post Broadcasting “Battle of Golden Lions 2013″. appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

Of course, there is gMTP, which allows you to access file system of Android devices that support MTP technology. But it is crap. Period. It doesn’t allow drag-and-drop. It doesn’t show thumbnails of images. It belongs to 90′s. But I appreciate it’s existence. Thanks!

Today I came across an extremely useful Android app named “Samba Filesharing“. Its name is self explanatory. It sets up a Samba server in your Android device. So when you connect your Android device to a local area network through WiFi, other devices in the same network will be able to see your Android device, and given the correct username and password, they’ll be able to access your Android device’s file system.

Here is the Google Play link to the said app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funkyfresh.samba

Use this QR code to instantly get it to your Android device:

This awesome app has the ability to,

1. either allow automatically starting the Samba server when connected to any network.
2. or automatically start the Samba server only when connected to trusted – “White Listed” – networks.

Other than that, you always have the ability to manually starting and stopping the Samba server when connected to any network.

Once connected to a network, this application shows the assigned IP address and the network name of your Android device in it’s main screen:

By pressing the Menu button, you get the options to disable, enable, and change settings:

Here are the “User & Filesharing” options:

“App Behaviour” options:

Once you change the settings as you’d like, go to Nautilus in Ubuntu and click “Browse Network” in the “Network” section.

Then go inside “Windows Network”.

Then go in to “WORKGROUP” (This would change based on the workgroup your PC and Android device is in.).

Once you go inside the workgroup, you’ll see the devices registered in that workgroup. Here, “Hal2130″ is my PC and “HalD1000″ is my Android device.

Try to go into your Android device, and Ubuntu will ask you to provide the username and password to your Android device. Type the ones you set in the “Samba Sharing” app.

If you provide the valid username and password, you’ll be able to see your SD Card as a directory.

Go into that, and you’ll be able to see the content of your SD Card.

You have now opened your Android device’s file system in your Ubuntu PC. You can use Nautilus’ full functionality over it. You can perform preview files, double click to open, drag-n-drop, and everything you’d do on a normal file location.

Although I said this is for Ubuntu, this method should work in any system that supports Samba.

The post Easily share files between Ubuntu Linux and Android with Samba appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

He is greatly concerned that even though the generations younger than us are familiar with various technologies than we were at the same age, they aren’t making any productive use of them. They are taking the comforts of the technology for granted, and they don’t have any interest in exploring deeply into these technological fields.

So, as a tribute to our school, he decided that we should step in, and try and give these younger generations a glance about the things we did with technology, back in our days in Team|RCMweb and The ICT Section of Rahula College. We hoped that this would ignite a little spark of inspiration in the little Rahulians’ minds.

Udith first called me to tell his idea about a month ago and I couldn’t have agreed more with him. He wanted me and Iroshan to conduct lectures on blogging, web designing and developing, and online money making. Iroshan was unavailable so I had to cover all three, and I hope I did my job fine and they found it useful.

I told them what blogging is, and invited one of the guys to create a blog at blogger so the rest of them can see how it’s done. I explained the difference between web designing and web developing, and showed them adobe resources they can use to further study on the subject.

Talking about online money making, I advised them against various scams and introduced them the concept of freelance online. I did a brief demonstration with my oDesk account as well.

Udith himself took time to give the younger generation an idea about the things we did for school and encouraged them to follow. The whole seminar was a mixture of good influence and knowledge.

Sashen teamed up with Udith to organize the event. Sithija and Sameera broadcasted the event on RahulaTV.

If at least one guy found his values and his way to contribute to the world through our effort, that’s the best result we can have from this.

Some photos of the seminar:

See more photos in Google+ Page of Rahula College: https://plus.google.com/photos/110004382473602486919/albums/5843659116693970769

And, if you’re a contact of mine in Google+, you can see my personal album on the event, as well: https://plus.google.com/photos/114058167274239583597/albums/5843679832556787985

The post ICT Seminar for Grade 10, 11, and 12 Students of Rahula College appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

I got mine for 35.98USD, which equals to 4550LKR. I wonder whether these are available in the local market, and if they’re, how much their price will be.

The one I got is basically designed for presentations in front of crowds. It has a built in laser pointer, which works even if the main unit – keyboard and touchpad – is turned off. The orientation of the touchpad can be switched, so that you can easily use it in both horizontal and vertical positions. The keys aren’t particularly easy to type with. You can use your two thumbs to type with, but you can’t use the right thumb as easily as the left one, as it has to deal with the added distance caused by the touchpad. You’re more likely to use your right index finger to type and mouse the mouse pointer, while holding the keyboard in the left hand.

When you’re holding it vertically in your right hand, your thumb will reach the switch for laser pointer easily. It isn’t difficult to use the touch pad with the thumb as well. Of course, that’s more comfortable than you think. However, you’ll have to switch the orientation of the touchpad pressing two keys (Fn+Orientation) before using this vertically.

This one also has backlighting function for the keyboard keys. So, you can use this without any difficulty in a dark environment. However, it would have been great if there was an illuminated border around the touchpad, so that you can easily see the edge of the touchpad, when you’re using this in a dark place, but in this device, it is a huge black place where a smaller touchpad resides in the middle. But it isn’t hard to feel the edge around the touchpad, so it won’t be a big issue.

You get a small USB dongle to connect to the host device, which I connected to my phone through the USB OTG cable. Android recognized the device as allowed me to use keyboard and touchpad the moment I plugged it in (If you didn’t know, Sony Xperia P displays a mouse pointer when an external pointing device is connected.).

There is a small space in the unit, where you can securely place the USB dongle when you don’t use it, so the risk of losing is minimal.

All in all, I am happy with the device. I only hope the typing would have been easier.

Here are some photos of it:

You can see more photos in this Google+ album: https://plus.google.com/photos/114058167274239583597/albums/5841491637563324961

The post Bluetooth Keyboard with Touchpad appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.

This is what Wikipedia says about the technology:

USB On-The-Go, often abbreviated USB OTG, is a specification that allows USB devices such as digital audio players or mobile phones to act as a host, allowing other USB devices like a USB flash drive, mouse, or keyboard to be attached to them. Unlike conventional USB systems, USB OTG systems can drop the hosting role and act as normal USB devices when attached to another host. This can be used to allow a mobile phone to act as host for a flash drive and read its contents, downloading music for instance, but then act as a flash drive when plugged into a host computer and allow the host to read off the new content.

The one I ordered from eBay cost me 2.99USD, and it arrived within about 3 weeks. I got it when I was working in the office, so I got the chance to test by using it to connect several keyboards and mice to my Sony Xperia P. All of them worked perfectly well, here are some photos of it:

You can see more photos in this Google+ album: https://plus.google.com/photos/114058167274239583597/albums/5832181788681002561

I used this cable to connect a USB Flash Drive as well. Android mounted it in the file system without any issue.

After I tried plugin in these devices to my Sony Xperia P through the USB OTG cable, I wanted to try and connect both mouse and keyboard to the phone at once, which I did later on. I hope to blog on that experiment as well.

The post USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) Cable appeared first on Budhajeewa's Blog.