there’s a neat physics puzzle game in the android market called apparatus (lite version). it’s a beautifully designed game reminiscent of that classic game the incredible machine. since some of the higher levels are tricky, i decided to post screenshots of my solutions. [more...]

since the swype forums are currently offline, i decided to cross-post two of their articles, which i personally find very helpful, here in my blog:

License Expired – How to update Swype?

If you’re receiving a message that Swype’s license has expired, you MUST uninstall your existing version of Swype and reinstall using the SwypeInstaller to get the latest version of Swype, which includes a renewed license. When launching SwypeInstaller you may be prompted to update. This WILL NOT update Swype itself. It is only for updating the SwypeInstaller application. Please follow the steps below:

• From your device’s home screen, press the MENU button.
• Choose Settings
• Choose Applications
• Choose Manage Applications
• Choose Swype (NOT SwypeInstaller)
• Choose Uninstall
• Launch SwypeInstaller from your application list
• If prompted, select Update to get the latest version of SwypeInstaller
  Log-in using the email address and password you used when registering for the beta. If you have forgotten your password you can reset it here: https://beta.swype.com/android/user/lostpassword/
• Choose the language package you want to download.
• Enjoy Swype!

(via)

Backing up and restoring your user dictionary (root users only)

If you have ROOT ACCESS on your device, you can use the following steps to upgrade Swype and maintain your custom dictionary. *WARNING* You MUST follow these directions EXACTLY as described below! Doing these steps out of order will result in PERMISSION PROBLEMS, leading to your UDB being unwritable and you won’t be able to modify ANY words in your dictionary! [more...]

of course both worlds have up- and downsides, but here’s an interesting bit that apparently was created outside of the fruity distortion field:

i especially like the part about “grown ups”.

(this is the english translation of my earlier post android datenroaming problem mit bob, telering, …)

if you’ve tried to use your brand new android smartphone (e.g. the htc desire, motorola droid, …) with a SIM card of one of the really cheap mobile providers, you may have noticed that no data connection is established even if you’ve entered the correct credentials.
instead, (if anything) there is a notification popup that says:

You have lost data connectivity because you left your home network with data roaming turned off.

in the US, this problem occurs with a total of 48 individual mobile network providers.
in the UK, there’s a total of 19 MVNO, including virgin mobile, asda mobile and tesco mobile.

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with more than 100.000 applications in the android market (2010-07-30), it’s getting hard to find good apps by just browsing the market. in “the best android apps (according to me)”, i’m going to introduce my favourite applications for android handsets.
i’m using an htc desire with android 2.2 (froyo), but as far as i know, all of them are compatible to all android versions down to 1.5 (cupcake).

if you have any thoughts/questions/suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

today’s category: productivity

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wer zum ersten mal sein neues android handy (zb. htc hero oder htc desire) mit der SIM-karte eines diskont-handyproviders testet wird schnell bemerken, dass die datenverbindung auch nach eingabe der richtigen zugangsdaten nicht aufgebaut wird. stattdessen kommt (wenn überhaupt) eine meldung, dass die konnektivität aufgrund fon roaming deaktiviert wurde:

Die Datenkonnektivität wurde unterbrochen, da Sie ihr Heimnetzwerk verlassen haben und Daten-Roaming nicht aktiviert ist

betroffen sind in österreich u.a. die provider bob, tele.ring, yesss!, eety und tele2, in deutschland z.b. debitel, mobilcom, talkline und drillisch.
der grund liegt in der nutzung infrastruktur: billig-provider setzen üblicherweise nicht auf eigene funkzellen (“handymasten”), sondern nutzen die hardware der grösseren anbieter mit. wie beim roaming im ausland, betreibt man also sozusagen inlands-roaming, allerdings ohne die zusatzkosten für den benutzer.
die technische abkürzung dieser “virtuellen mobilfunknetzbetreiber” lautet MVNO (mobile virtual network operator).

die lösung des problems ist einfach, aber nicht ohne nebenwirkungen: datenroaming muss aktiviert werden. die meldung, dass datenroaming hohe kosten mit sich tragen kann, kann im inland einfach ignoriert werden (vorausgesetzt man hat bereits ein datenpaket beim anbieter gebucht). nahe der grenze ändert sich die sache allerdings wieder: bucht sich das android-smartphone nämlich in ein ausländisches netz ein, wird auch das “richtige datenroaming” betrieben, und das wird tatsächlich teuer.

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one of the things i actually don’t like about my htc phone is the fact that htc has decided to remove the option to disable automatic capitalization.
i haven’t found a direct way to turn auto caps off, but there’s a modification of their virtual keyboard that re-adds this feature:

• go to this article on xda-developers.com and download the version that fits your phone (“high res version” for the desire, “low res for android 1.5″ for the hero)
• unzip the package. if you downloaded the file to your computer, transfer the .apk to your phone’s sd card.
• use your favourite android file manager to install. (i’m assuming you can also install through htc sync).
• you’re NOT done yet.
• open up the settings, language & keyboard, and allow “HTC_IME mod”.
• in a text input field (email, notes, sms, wherever), long press the field and choose “select input method”, there choose “HTC_IME mod”.
• if you now go to the keyboard settings (from your keyboard, or via settings), scroll down to the section “Mods by jonasl@xda”. “text input” will lead you to the long-sought option: “disable capitalization”.

this modified input method also adds a bunch of other options, such as: custom top level domains for the “.com” key (long press), a smiley key instead of “hide keyboard”, as well as speech-to-text (android 2.1 only).
you do not need root rights to install.