So while I understand there are limitations with the refresh rate of the E-Ink display, it’s hard not to get carried away thinking about the possibilities. I’ll be honest, I was not really interested in the Nook until I heard it will run Android. That changed everything. So while some complain that Nook would be great if it only had text-to-speech or a web browser, I don’t really care about the current features anymore. (Yes, their e-books are overpriced.) Someone is going to hack this thing, and that will be the point at which it becomes amazing and irresistible. Let me put it this way: 10-inch screen+wifi+micro-sd slot+color touchscreen+Android+root=Awesomeness!

Update: I have switched from JF 1.5.1 to the latest Cyanogen ROM (v.4.0.2). You should NOT use Apps2SD with this ROM because it already has built-in support for using your microSD card for app storage (you still need to set up a separate ext partition so it will work). More details are available here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537204

(v4.0.2 – stable version, updated 8/22):

Download: http://n0rp.chemlab.org/android/upda…0.2-signed.zip
MD5Sum: 9c316180ca61d5cb8728ad3c4f43bc97

New Favorite Apps

I am still very happy overall with my G1. Especially now that I have root access to my phone I can do even more, like tether my laptop to my phone’s Internet connection via wifi. At the 1-month mark I made a list of my top 20 Android apps. That list has changed quite a bit, so here is my new list of top 20 Android apps. Interestingly, only 5 of these apps were on my first list 9 months ago. They are marked in bold. All the apps below are free unless marked otherwise.

1. Where – Displays movies, weather, etc. based on your location. It also has voice recognition and Yellowbook search, which presents you with address and phone numbers of businesses based on your location which you can then call or look up on a GoogleMap with a click or two.
2. BeyondPod ($2.99) – A Podcast app that allows you to manage podcasts and even update them over wifi. (So iPod Touch, why can’t you do this?)
3. Sky Map – Allows you to see stars, planets, and constellations just by holding your G1 in the direction you want to look (including the ones beneath the horizon). The digital compass, accelerometer, and GPS to move your phone around and see different areas of the sky. A very cool example of what augmented reality (AR) apps can do.
4. Wikitude – This is another great augmented reality app, but this one lets you “see” cities and landmarks close to you by holding the phone in front of you and turning in any direction. Selecting the names on the screen pulls up the web page for that city or point of interest in wikipedia.
5. Places Directory – Google’s version of Where. I can’t decide which one I like best so I use them both. Places uses you location to look up restaurants, shops, parks, and other points of interest. You get addresses and phone numbers you can use to locate or call whatever it is you are trying to find.

6. Twidroid – Still the best twitter client for the G1.
7. Toggle Settings – A great app for dimming the screen and turning off the ringer, etc. (Keeping the screen brightness down is a great way to save your battery.)
8. Locale – Uses your location, time of day, and other conditions to automatically adjust ringer, volume, wifi, and other phone settings. You can even have it change your phone’s background image based on where you are! (I was thinking of having a nice, sunny landscape appear everytime I leave Logan. Then when I get back in town, it would revert to a picture of a cold, snowy mountain.)
9. aTrackDog – Keeps track of your updates. Also lets you list all your installed apps and email them to others or yourself. A good app to have especially if you are going to root your G1 or change your ROM frequently.
10. ShopSavvy – The barcode scanner app that allows you to compare prices and read reviews
11. Shazam – Analyzes and (somehow) recognizes songs being played on radio, TV, anywhere you can get a 10 second sample.
12. Meebo IM – A nice IM app that works with most IM clients. And, unlike the built-in IM app, this one doesn’t cout each message as an SMS.
13. JET CET PDF – ($0.99) Still one of the only PDF viewers currently available.
14. My Maps Editor – If you don’t use GoogleMaps much then you can skip this app. My Maps Editor lets you create and save custom maps right from your phone. It also lets you access maps you have created and saved from your computer.
15. Orienteer (displays compass and GPS coordinates — a must for geocaching)
16. GeoBeagle – Fun for geocachers. Uses you current position to identify the closest geocaches in your area via a search on geocaching.com.
17. Linda File Manager – A good file manager for browsing your files on your phone and microSD card
18. Meridian – One of the best video players out there.
19. Voice Recorder – Allows you to record audio using a very small format (.3gp) that plays with any quicktime player. Even a 30 minute recording is small enough to email to someone – and this app has email functionality built-in.
20. Camcorder – This is the only app I will mention of the ones included with the phone. It’s not that the video even looks very good on my G1. But the new cupcake version of Android allows you to upload video directly to YouTube. It won’t be long before the hardware is good enough to leave the camera and camcorder at home. (For example, here is Sony Ericsson’s version upcoming Android phone. 1 GHz processor. 7 megapixel autofocus camera. Enough said.)

Honorable mentions

1. Nav4All – Currently this is an app without a user interface. They say it’s coming. I haven’t used it much because it’s still so clunky, but Nav4All is an example of the potential the G1 has to be a voice-enabled navigation system. The good news is that Nav4All is free (for now, at least). If you want a more developed system and have $35 to spend, try CoPilot Live. gNaviHelper is also an option at $9.99. (I haven’t tried either.)
2. GPS Tracker – This app allows you to post your current position to hidden or public URL — even has a Facebook plugin. I have young kids, but I can see lots of uses for this app coming soon. The only problem with this app (other than the creepiness of broadcasting where you are all the time) is that it uses a lot of battery to keep it running.
3. PF Voicemail – A nifty app that replaces your regular voice mail, allowing you to see who has called and let you listen to only the messges you want. I would like to see voice mail transcriptions similar to Google Voice. The only issue with this app is that you have to set your phone to permanently forward voicemail to a new location. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it would be a pain to change it back to regular voicemail. (You would have to call your carrier to have it changed back.) Fortunately the app works great, so this switch worked out fine for me.
4. BarTor ($1.49) – If I were a pirate (and of course I am not) — I would buy the G1 in a second for one app and one alone. BarTor (aka Torrent Droid). While there’s no denying the legal, um drawbacks, the ability to scan a barcode somewhere and have it magically sent to your home computer where it starts a BitTorrent download while you are still out “shopping” is enough to make you want to talk like a pirate and run around wearing  a fake eyepatch.

Root apps

5 more apps for those with root access (from my last post):

• Wifi tether (free here) — This is the single coolest reason to root your G1 phone. It allows your to use your G1’s data connection as a wifi access point. This is great alternative when staying in a hotel that charges for wifi. For those on a 3G network, this is actually pretty fast (a little less than DSL speeds). The G1 will prompt you when someone is trying to connect, so you can control who uses it. (It also works via Bluetooth, if you prefer that.) I’ve used wifi tether to create a mobile access point in the car. My wife used it to surf around on her iPod Touch on a recent road trip. Very cool.
• Backup for Root Users (free on Android market) — Backs/restores all your apps and settings to your micro SD card. Even compatible with App2SD.
• SetCPU ($0.99) — This app overclocks the G1 up to 528 MHz (384 is normal) when you are using it or when it’s plugged in, and can also “underclock” the processor down to 128 MHz when in sleep mode to save battery life. No reported problems with this level of overclocking. Very cool!
• App2SD ($0.99) — This app partitions the micro SD card of your G1 so you can install and run apps from there. It seems to have some compatibility issues with JF 1.5.1, so unless you really need the extra space for apps, you may want to wait until the installation is a little easier. Here are some folks who seem to have figured out a workaround for anyone who is feeling adventurous.
• JF Updater (free on Android market) — Since you can no longer receive OTA (over the air) updates, this app does the same thing for rooted G1s. When a new JF update is available, it will offer to download and install it for you.

A Caveat

In all my praise for the G1 I should point out that my experience with the Android phone includes some long pauses and a few “not responding” messages too. This probably has as much to do with all the programs I run at the same time as it does with Android. Besides this and the woefully short battery life, my only other complaint is that the processor they chose for the G1 is really not adequate for many of the apps that have been showing up on the Android Market. I’m frankly disappointed that the G2 does nothing to remedy this problem. I have been able to overclock my processor, so for now this is not a major problem for me.

So while I have quite enjoyed the first 10 months of using Android, I am not claiming that this is the perfect phone for a businessman at this point. My old Blackberry was definitely more solid for the basic email and the few other things it could do. But Android phones do so much more that it’s hardly a fair comparison. And don’t be too quick to judge Android as a “geeks-only” system. I think this cell phone OS is poised to give the iPhone (and every other smart phone out there) are real run for its money.

It sounds like something out of a Philip K. Dick novel: a tiny computer, worn around your neck, that lets you surf the Web from any location and project it onto any surface. But MIT Media Lab’s Sixth Sense machine allows you to do just that.

GHOST
My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must… hang on, what is that?

HAMLET
A camcorder.

GHOST
Film me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.

HAMLET
Dude; I have to vlog this.

GHOST
Rather vlog of revenge, when thou shalt hear.

HAMLET
What?

GHOST
I am thy father’s spirit,
Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in- PUT THAT DAMN THING DOWN!

HAMLET
No way! I got this Flip so I could show
The world all the events that I might see
And a ghost might get me linked off Boing Boing!

GHOST
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and- how much room give you they?

HAMLET
About 2 gigs, that’s like an hour’s fun.

The rest of the ad is here. This is one of the best ads I have seen in a long time. Way to go Woot! If the world must endure an endless stream of advertising at every turn, thanks for at least making some of them entertaining. Anyone else seen any creative ads? Feel free to share.

As fun as that would be, I want to set up a game where some of the codes give you text clues (up to 100 characters per QR code), others call you back with a recording, and still others allow you to track what items you have picked up so you can solve more complex games — including instructional games. I also wonder how to support multiple languages. For now it seems each language would need it’s own QR code.

Anyway, here are some links to QR code readers. To download them visit any of the following websites from your cell phone’s browser:

• Kaywa reader, Kaywa / 3GVision – http://reader.kaywa.com
• I-nigma, I-nigma – http://www.i-nigma.com
• QuickMark – http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/basic/index.asp

Thanks to the QRcode.es group for making this info available!

At a very basic level, I can imagine a lecture where the last powerpoint slide is a 2D barcode which includes the presenter’s contact info or a link to the presentation on slideshare. and a URL. 2D barcodes are quite common in Japan, in magazines and on billboards. For those with a camera-enabled cell phone, there’s no need to write down the URL or contact info.

I am part of a graduate class that is designing a location-based game for a local museum. We are putting a lot of time designing a game that will work on PCs and a limited number of GPS-enbled, PocketPC and Garmin devices using an application called WhereIGo. But what if the same game could be designed using 2D barcodes, so that anyone with a web-enabled camera phone could play? More and more cell phones now come with built-in 2D barcode readers, not just smart phones. Does anyone know of a game engine that uses 2D barcode readers? Just curious.

So how do you make these fancy barcodes, you ask? One of the easiest ways is on a site called Kaywa. Anyone can create a 2D barcode that represents a web link, a vCard, a phone number, or some hidden text (like a clue or something). Another option is called Snappr.net. But unfortunately, Snappr.net insists on linking back to itself, even for basic contact info. So don’t use it if you want an independent 2D barcode that doesn’t require web access. Still, Snappr.net has some neat functionality like the barcodes survey below. Instead of banning cell phones from our public schools, why don’t we start using them to engage students and other learners?

Here is a 2D barcode that will load a survey. You can take it from almost any mobile phone with a camera and web access. (If you don’t already have barcode scanner for your phone, visit http://code.google.com/p/zxing/wiki/GetTheReader.)

If you want to read more here’s an interesting post on mobile learning with 2D barcodes: http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/2008/07/qr-codesintegration-into-learning.html. It looks like a company called BrightCookie is already working on making this technology work in Moodle. I would like to see it implemented as a mobile game.

Battery life. As expected, the battery life on the G1 is pretty poor. After a couple hours of heavy use, only 25% of the battery remained. After talking to some of my friends the battery life seems comparable to the iPhone. Hopefully I will be able to drop a better battery into it as they improve.

Android Market Apps (with some bugs). The G1 comes with just a few Google-based applications plus calculator, camera, etc — but new apps are appearing on the Android Market every day. I don’t have time to go into all of the ones I’ve installed right now (I think I’ve installed a couple dozen at this point), but I like what I see so far. Many still have some bugs, but I was expecting that. Updates seem to be coming out regularly, and most of the popular apps are quite stable. All of them are free as of right now, so I guess you get what you pay for The top 3 apps on my wishlist are a flickr image uploader, a geocaching app that tracks caches offline, and a turn-by-turn navigation app. My top suggestion for the Android team is to allow a way to exit apps. But I’m sure someone will put out an application killer app soon.

That’s it for now. At some point I’ll review my favorite 3 apps, including one that could be the start of a really fun location-based game.

Enter the Netflix Player by Roku.

Rather than describe it, I’ll just show you pictures… this thing is as easy as it gets.

It works via your wired or wireless Ethernet connection (and the quality adjusts itself depending on your connection speed). The Roku folks recommend a minimum of a 1.5 Mbps connection, which means pretty much any decent high speed cable or DLS provider should work fine. Of course, dialup is out. (For DVD quality, a 4 Mbps connection is needed, but again, Comcast tests at twice that speed, even in my little town.)

While Netflix does not yet offer HD content for their instant movies, it’s only a matter of time. This player is ready for HD, with both HDMI and component connections in addition to the standard RCA connections. You also get optical audio, for all you home theater buffs out there.

I realize that there are other services available that support Netflix, like the XBox 360 and even some new DVD players. But for people who are already happy with their current system this is a great way to add Netflix.