The Android Invasion

YOUR GUIDE TO TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

I N T E L L I G E N T | C O M P U T I N G

C H I P Supplement to CHIP March 2011

TRACING THE SUCCESS OF ANDROID We take a look at what the platform offers and the way ahead

ANDRDip APP-INESS Discover free and paid apps to suit your every need

_ The m Android Invasion

HOW GOOGLE CHRNGED THE SfYlRRTPHONE RMD TRBLET PC LRMDSCRPE

DEUICES ON THE HORIZON

A sneak peek at the devices that are expected to be out soon

GEARING UP FOR THE REUOLUTION

Explore your Android device to understand the full potential

of the platform

PLUS: BUILD R PROmiSING CAREER IN IT, RFFORDABLE BIONIC ARfYl FOR THE DISABLED Network 1 8

FOREWORD O

I've always been one to stick to the

PC for work, and I've never been

too comfortable w i th the idea

of work ing on a one, but Android

changed that.

Irecently upgraded to a smartphone, and for anyone looking to do the same, there has never been a better time to make the switch. Not too

long ago, Symbian was the dominant platform, and while RIM and Apple both have great operating systems, they're restricted to the BlackBerry range and iPhone respectively. That's where Android came in and offered me something more in tune with my individual requirements.

I wanted a robust device that would help me manage personal and professional matters when I was on the move. That was what prompted me to consider the Android platform, and I eventually went with the Sony Ericsson Xperia xlO Mini Pro. There are many new technologies that Android brings, but most importantly for us users, it gives us choice. Android has been readily adopted by the world's leading phone manufacturers. What's more, there are Android phones for every budget. Even tablet PCs are now running on Android. Such is the power of Google's open-source mobile platform.

My new phone has become my lifeline. I blog, read e-books, connect and network, watch movies, work, write my diary, maintain schedules, and even play games, all on one device. I've always been one to stick to the PC for work, and I've never been too comfortable with the idea of working on a phone, but Android changed that. With back-up solutions, easy syncing, and effortless Internet connectivity, working on-the-go is a breeze. Thanks to the thriving online community, even rooting my phone and tethering was fun to try out. And with strong developer support, you will always have great apps available to add more value to your Android device.

Mine, being a mid-range device, does miss out on some features, like multi-touch and pinch-to-zoom, but there's still so much on offer that non-Android phones at this price range simply cannot match. Then again, who knows what would be in store for me when I am ready for my next change!

KAMAKSHI S [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

CONTENTS

GOING ANDROID

6 TRACING THE SUCCESS OF ANDROID A look at how the Android p latform h a s g r o w n and w h a t it has to offer.

8 THE LONG ARM OF ANDROID T h e portabil ity and flexibil ity of Android g ives end users more choice

10 SAFE BROWSING ON YOUR ANDROID DEVICE Android offers m a n y online features Here's how you can use t h e m securely.

13 GET THE COMPLETE ANDROID EXPERIENCE Service providers are introducing p lans to help f lesh out the Android experience.

S H O P P E R S ' STOP

EQ 10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ANDROID Here's w h a t s e t s Android a p a r t f r o m other mobile p lat forms.

ES IN FOCUS: SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB P1000 An indepth a n a l y s i s of the m o s t popular Android tablet in the country.

EH AN ANDROID FOR EVERY POCKET There's an Android device for every

budget a c r o s s all popular brands.

ED BUSINESS AS USUAL A p p s to help you get t h e job done on the move.

E3 MAKE YOUR PHONE YOUR BEST TRAVEL BUDDY From navigat ion to vacat ion planning, there's an app for every travel need.

EE LEARNING FROM YOUR ANDROID Make your Android device your s t u d y and revision partner.

E3 ANDROID APP-INESS T h e Android Market is br imming with

apps. Here are s o m e of the best.

M GET GAMING WITH ANDROID Keep the g a m e r in you a w a k e wi th t h e s e g a m i n g apps.

E2 ANDROID DEVICES ON THE HORIZON Devices t h a t will hit t h e market soon.

DO IT Y O U R S E L F

E3 LET ANDROID POWER YOUR NETBOOK Before you buy an Android device, get the feel of it on your netbook or laptop.

E3 GETTING TO THE ROOT OF YOUR ANDROID Root ing your Android is really e a s y if you k n o w your w a y around it.

E3 EXPAND YOUR NET BY TETHERING Use your phone a s a W i - F i hotspot for Web access on your computer.

TECH TALK

40 GIVE YOUR CAREER AN ANDROID JOLT Android app deve lopment is a ser ious and lucrative career option.

42 ANDROID APP DEVELOPMENT 101 With the right tools and knowledge app deve lopment can be quite easy.

45 INDIA'S FIRST UBUNTU DEVELOPER DAY A look at the Inagural Ubuntu Developer Day in Bangalore,

46 MCA: BUILD A CAREER IN L-T Engineer ing is no longer a m u s t for a promis ing career in IT.

48 A BIONIC ARM FOR THE DISABLED An innovat ive bionic a r m that is surpr is ingly affordable.

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61 GOING ANDROID

FROM PROTOTYPE TO PHENOMENON

TRRCING THE SUCCESS Starting from a vague mobile application development firm to Google's next big thing, Android has subtly changed the face of computing on the go. We take a look at what made the tide turn in its favor in a strong and competitive market.

B Y K A M A K 5 H I 5

With smartphones becoming the fastest growing mobile phone segment and tablet PC market touted to see massive

growth this year, the Android platform stands firmly in the center of the revolution. Just as the mobile platform space was settling into clear seg-mentations, Android has made the industry sit up and take note. What is it that makes Android a stronger contender in a space which boasts of big players like Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, Apple's iOS, Symbian and Linux? We look back and trace the route Google took to revolutionize the face of mobile computing.

> HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Way back in 2005, a start-up company named Android, which was developing mobile applica-tions, was acquired by Google. A Linux-based mobile device OS was developed as a flexible, upgradeable system, and released as the Android platform in 2007. The project has been backed by the Open Handset Alliance, which features over 80 hardware, software, and telecommunications com-panies to help make the movement interoperable and platform-friendly.

N THE CURRENT SCENARIO Three years later, the technology is all set to give the industry leaders a run for their money. A com-

GOING ANDROID 17

OF RNDROID According to Roberta Cozza, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner shares, "Android sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 continued to be driven by broad availability of many high-end products from HTC (Desire range, Incredible and EVO), Samsung (Galaxy S) and Motorola (Droid X, Droid 2). Symbian's market share dropped further in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 32,6 percent or 32.6 million units. This allowed Android to overtake Nokia's

Symbian unit sales during the fourth quarter of 2010. However, the Symbian 0 5 is also used by Fujitsu and Sharp as well as in legacy products from Sony Ericsson and Samsung, This aggregated volume kept Symbian slightly ahead of Android."

Roberta Cozza, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner

parative analysis from Gartner reveals that in the

smartphone segment, Android has seen a sales

growth of 888.8 percent from 2009 to 2010. How-

ever, the report states that the OS will have to wait

until 2014 to take over the current market leader,

Symbian, which is down, but not completely out of

the scene.

#> APP'S THE WORD The greatest advantage of using an Android-pow-

ered smartphone is that it isn't "locked" by some

service provider or telecomm network. This means

that you can download what ever you want, pick

a service provider of your choice and opt for an

Internet surfing data plan that suits your pocket.

Moreover, accessing its kernel root (as a superuser,

through a process called rooting) and playing

around with the firmware is completely legitimate

(not recommended, unless you know what you

are doing). The platform also allows you to legally

tether your phone, making it a Wi-Fi hot spot for

your laptop or PC to access Internet with ease.

if you don't have the desire to do a firmware

based upgrade, but want to use the features that

are available, you can turn to the Android Market.

The Market has an app for everything that you can

do with your Android device and the availability

of apps is not really limited to the Market. There

are several resources you can turn to but be sure to

Rajarshi Sengupta, Executive Director, Deloitte India

Rajarshi Sengupta, Executive Director from Deloitte & louche Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. says, "Android is considered to be one of the key products in the smartphone market, competing with iPhone and expected to compete with the product that comes from the Nokia-Microsoft agreement. It has fared well in the market." However, while she does agree that the style adapted by the Android Market offers a good selling prospect for

apps, the control that Google exercises over it cannot be overlooked. "Yes, the open nature of the Android Market has helped boost sales, but recognize that an Android phone also comes with the governance rules that Google dictates. So while the open platform in contrast to the more proprietary iPhone from Apple has helped, the overall application governance needs to be understood better." When asked about the effects of piracy that governs the Android Market today, she quips, "It's not more or less than any other form of piracy."

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT < MARCH 2011

| 8 GOING RNDROID

FLEXIBILITY WITH ANDROID

THE LONG RRfYl •F RNDROID Android has made a huge impact on the smartphones space in the global market and is currently the operating system of choice for tablets competing with the iPad. The popularity of the Android platform arises from its flexibility, something no other OS has managed to achieve.

B Y K U S H A L M A M O O W A L A

Android platform, with the four latest versions

being released within the span of just over a year.

Each update differed slightly from its predecessor,

but the hardware requirements remained almost

the same, giving manufacturers the ability to pro-

vide OS upgrades to handsets with older versions.

Initially created for touchscreen smartphones,

Google has now moved on to tablets with Android

3.0 Honeycomb being their first tablet-specific

operating system with support for high perfor-

mance hardware.

OPEN SOURCE By providing the source code of the operating sys-

tem to manufacturers and also designing a software

development kit (SDK) for application developers,

Google has sort of outsourced its tasks and still

pleased developers by giving them the freedom of

personalizing and customizing Android. They have

gone a step further by letting users "root" their

Android device, which gives them superuser privi-

leges like access to administrative rights, system

changes and running scripts that would generally

be blocked for the standard user. This allows devel-

In late 2007, there were rumors of Google work-

ing on the GPhone, a smartphone design with

their own OS, which was supposed to compete

with Apple's iPhone and Nokia's new smartphone

series. What we got instead was the revelation of

the Google Android operating system as an open

source platform for developers and the Open Hand-

set Alliance, which then consisted of 34 members,

including mobile handset makers, application

developers, mobile carriers, and chip makers.

# THE OPEN HANDSET ALLIANCE The Open Handset Alliance, with Android as its

flagship software, is a business alliance that now

consists of 80 firms that aim to pioneer Android

and open standards for mobile devices. What

this means is that Android as an open source

platform could be modified and tweaked to

suit hardware and handsets manufactured by

multiple mobile phone manufacturers,

thereby exponentially increasing the

presence of Android as an operating

system in the mobile phone market.

The compatibility of the Android plat-

form to run on different chipsets

with different hardware is

the prime attributor to

its flexibility.

# FREQUENT UPDATES

Google has set a trend

of frequently updating its

opers and coders to run their apps even if they

require elevated privileges.

H I THE GOOGLE CLOUD Along with the ability to customize almost every-

thing, Google has integrated its operating system

into the Google cloud. With default apps for Gmail,

Google Maps, Google Docs and other Google fea-

tures, users are able to view and edit their tasks

MARCH 2011 > INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT

GOING RNDROID

and work on their handset, which then automati-

cally syncs with their Google account. What the end

user gets is a simple, easy-to-use interface which

accompanies them wherever they go and omits the

need to manually transfer files and other data. In

addition to these default apps, the Android market

has been flooded with apps from developers that

can do almost anything. Some of these apps are

dependent on the Google cloud as well and others

have syncing abilities of their own, making both

Android phones and tablets the most sought after

devices in today's market.

> A LITTLE TOO FLEXIBLE? While the flexibility of Android has been its biggest

selling point, the openness does bring with it a few

drawbacks. Manufacturers have taken advantage

of Android's minimal hardware requirements and

developed smartphones and tablets with varied

hardware performance to suit all budgets. While

Android might run smoothly on a cheaper phone, it

is hard to tell how some apps with a higher CPU load

or power requirement would perform. The Android

market limits the installation of certain apps based

on the device being used, but third party apps can

still be installed without any regulation.

There is also the risk of security, which is per-

fectly exemplified by the Soundminer app. Security

researchers developed Soundminer as a working

spyware app that is disguised as a voice recorder.

Soundminer runs silently in the background and

listens for PIN or Credit Card numbers during your

phone calls. The application records this informa-

tion, converts the recording into a number and

relays it over the network to the developer. It can

even recognize numbers typed on the virtual key-

board and voice-activated IVR systems. Another

instance of the gaping hole in the Android Market

is the Angry Birds Viral app. A mobile security

expert used the popular Angry Birds game to dis-

guise a Trojan virus and had no trouble getting

it onto the Android Market. Although it was only

developed to demonstrate to Google the gaps in

their security, the app brings to light how easy it

would be for third party developers to access per-

sonal information.

§ OTHER DEVICES Along with its widespread presence in smartphones

and tablets from manufacturers like Motorola, LG,

HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, Android has also

been adapted to run on e-readers, netbooks, por-

A release from Embedded Alley Solutions states, "The Development System enables development of Android-based intelligent devices targeting applications in domains beyond mobile handsets, Delivery of the Embedded Alley Development System enables both systems and applications developers to extend the reach of Android to encompass multimedia, Mobile Internet Devices, digital video and home entertainment, automotive, medical, networking, instrumentation and industrial control."

table media players

and even TVs. Barnes

& Noble, Entourage,

Spring Design and

PocketBook have all

used Android to power

certain aspects of

their e-readers such

as Wi-Fi or 3G technol-

ogy. Acer and Toshiba

have already manu-

factured netbooks

that are powered by

Android and Samsung

and Philips have used

Android 2.1 on their

music players. There is

also speculation about

Android-powered

Internet televisions

from Sony and NCPG.

# SOMETHING FOR THE FUTURE The acquisition of a small Californian start-up

called Embedded Alley Solutions by Mentor Graph-

ics has raised a few eyebrows. Embedded Alley

Solutions specialize in Linux and Android tools and

have developed the Embedded Alley Development

System for Android-based devices.

What this means is that the Android platform

could possibly be tweaked to run on home appli-

ances, such as telephones, navigation systems and

even Internet refrigerators. Only time will tell how

far Google's Android net will eventually spread. ®

nook

UMESOUBU

The Barnes & Noble Nook is one of many e-readers that is powered by Android.


10

SECURING YOUR ANDROID DEVICE

SAFEGUARDING Android opens up a whole world of possibilities, from social networking and Web browsing to downloading apps and exchanging email, all on-the-go. But before you go on an app downloading spree, make sure that your Android device a n d the data in it are protected and taken care of.

B Y K A M A K S H I 5

w: # ^ rill a 5:14

Enter name for situation:

| Home

Select the application(s) you want to protect while this situation is active:

m Liitalt L _ J

p i Gallery •

• Messaging • Music • Phone • Search

xt Settings

I

I V Add I i I

Cancel

| 1 Apps like Seal help you password-protect applications on an individual level.

With most people living their personal

and professional lives on their smart-

phones, it's not just the data that has

been fed into these devices, but also financial

transactions and communication links that can

be violated. While Android has not seen too many

security scares, the massive number of devices

and high number of un-scanned

apps that make their way into the

Android Market really make you

think about how safe your data

is. Here are some things that you

need to watch out for, and a list

of apps that can help you secure

your data.

# THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

There are certain bits of informa-

tion on your smartphone that

can become a target for viruses,

worms or other malware. First is

your personal data, email, text

messages, notes and contacts.

Next are your personal and profes-

sional account details like email

set-up, social networking details,

and schedules. Your Wi-Fi network

settings and online banking and

trading website details are also at

risk. Malware is capable of send-

ing text or multimedia messages,

making premium phone calls, or

utilizing your funds to buy apps.

F | SECURITY AT THE ROOT The Android OS does feature solid security archi-

tecture at the kernel level. The kernel is pro-

grammed to sandbox applications from each other,

which means that if an application wants access

to details like network access, reading or writing

data, and personal contacts, each request is made

explicitly and only on granting permission, will

they be made available.

If you do grant access to a malware app, then

the security mechanism is of no use, so you need

to exercise more caution and keep a tab on what to

download to your phone. You should also be care-

ful when updating an installed app because it is at

times as good as installing a new app.

F | WHAT ARE YOU UP AGAINST? Android apps can be targeted by a virus that can

corrupt the data on your phone, spyware that can

read critical data like credit card details and pass-

words without your knowledge, or apps can act as

nuisance-ware or adware that interrupts the nor-

mal working of your phone.

{ § SAFE BROWSING Although you can avail help from antivirus apps,

you should also exercise caution when you go on

to the Android Market and download an app for

your phone. Firstly, make sure that the app comes

from a legitimate source. Even though the Market

is considered a legitimate source, the apps that go

up are not really screened, merely signed by the

makers. Read through the comments posted by

other users. If it sounds fishy, it's wise to give it a


GOING ANDROID 11

YOUR INTERESTS ^lookout

If you want to secure your device from hacks, an app like Lookout can be very useful.

miss. If you wish to go ahead, the next thing to do

is visit the developer's website. Most developers

who take their apps seriously would have a dedi-

cated space to promote it. Finally, check the type

of permissions the apps require for installation.

For example, if a game app is trying to access your

contact information, which is ideally not required,

it is recommended to avoid it.

# PROTECTING YOUR COMMUNICATION ROUTES

One of the easiest techniques to infiltrate your

Android device's security is through the Wi-Fi or

VPN (virtual private network) settings. Although it

is advisable to use SSL or HTTPS encryption when

using an unprotected Wi-Fi hotspot, many email

providers don't support encryption. Therefore, it

is better to use a VPN network that offers better

encryption supported by your mobile phone ser-

vice provider. Even though you can keep your data

traffic option off when not in use, you can opt for

apps like WiTopia or the free Hotspot Shield and

services like Free Shield VPN (http://go.chip.in/

qnwbi) that offers increased safety for your VPN.

(§1 APPS TO GUIDE YOU There are apps can help you protect existing

data as well as help you safeguard your future

downloads. You can secure your Android devices

(FroYo and above) with unlocking options, like

using a numeric PIN, a password or a graphical

pattern. However, a University of Pennsylvania

research reveals how smudges on your screen can

actually make hacking your graphical password

quite a cake walk.

You can start off with a free app called Android

Protector, which can assign passwords to protect

details like your text messages, Gmail accounts,

contacts details, schedulers, Internet and Wi-Fi

settings, and photos. If you are looking for some-

thing a bit more secure, you can pick the Seal app

(Rs 122.19), Carrot App Lock Pro

(Rs 68.18), or app protector pro

(Rs 90.46). These apps also offer

lite versions so that you can try

before you buy the app.

If you wish to have an app

that backs up and restores your

data, helps you track your miss-

ing or stolen phone, and scan an

app for malware, the free ver-

sion of Lookout Mobile Security

or MacAfee's recently acquired

WaveSecure are very good

options. However, WaveSecure

does not provide antivirus sup-

port, but both applications can

help you lock or wipe data off

your device remotely.

If you are looking for tools

that can help you scan the apps

for you before downloading

them to your device, you can

try the beta version of Norton

Mobile for Android, or the Free

or Pro (Rs 454.10) AVG apps. ©

McAfee WaveSecure j

9 WaveSecure

gip5 Backup

Backup contacts, SMS and call logs

Upload Media Upload photos and videos

« Restore Restore contacts and SMS

A Lock Down Phone

lock the phone now! (You can unlock it wi th your PIN)

V Wipe Now!

Wipe all contacts, SMS, call logs, photos, videos and memory card

An antivirus can not only protect you from malware, but also come to your rescue if you lose your device.


http://go.chip.in/

| 12 GOING RNDROID

WHAT THE INDUSTRY LEADERS HAVE TO SAY:

The high volume

of data being

exchanged over

Android powered

devices is enough

for mischief makers

to try and siphon

o f f critical data

and use it to their

advantage. As the

Android Market

doesn't really guar-

antee security, it is

advisable to protect to be cautious when heading

online via your mobile device. We spoke to Vinoo

Thomas, who is the Technical Product Manager at

the McAfee Labs, and the virus research lead with

McAfee Labs Bangalore. Here are his thoughts on

the security issues pertaining to the Android plat-

form:

® What kind of security threats has the Android platform seen? How serious can these get? © Last year saw a couple of notable viruses that

targeted the Android platform. There were a cou-

ple of viruses which would accept every incoming

call without users knowledge, causing battery

drain. Then there was a virus known as the Fake

Player Codec, which would send SMSes to a pre-

mium rate number without the user's knowledge,

which resulted in inflated monthly bills. There

have also been viruses which send a copy of them-

selves to everybody on the infected user's address

book via an MMS. In India, an MMS costs Rs 5, so

if you have 100 contacts, it results in direct Rs 500

inflation in your monthly bills.

Lately we also had a high profile Android virus

by the name of Geinimi, which poses as a legiti-

mate app and is the first known Android malware

in the open that displays botnet capabilities. So

once the malware is installed on a user's phone, it

has the potential to allow the attacker to remotely

control the device. The app can pull out all contact

information, read, send or delete SMSes, make a

phone call, install an app, and launch browsers

© What is the nature of protection that a user can adopt? © At MacAfee, we have our target set at three

things. First is the enterprise or the end user

level, where the protection is in terms of filtering,

management or just good antivirus security. The

next level is to work with device manufacturers,

like Sony Ericsson or Nokia to embed security

into their phones, so that security software comes

bundled and people don't have to worry about

buying or installing anything. The third level

comes in the form of a partnership with telecomm

providers or banks. We work with them to ensure

that people who subscribe to their services such

as mobile banking, have to go through certain

security measures to access these services.

® What kind of support do you provide for Android users? © There is family protection software that you

can use on your Android device. If the tablet is

being used by kids, parents would be able to moni-

tor their online activities inside and outside the

house, they could block browsing of inappropriate

websites based on categories, and they would be

able to block Internet access for particular time

periods.

In terms of mobile security, we have an antivi-

rus optimized for mobile devices. You will be able

to scan attachments and applications. If some-

thing is found malicious, you can get it cleaned

or quarantined. It also offers protection against

phishing and offers safe mobile browsing.

© Can you use any McAfee product on an Android or are there specific prod-ucts? © We have a couple of MacAfee products that

work not just on the Android, but the Symbian,

Apple iOS and the Windows CE platforms. Tradi-

tionally, MacAfee had MacAfee Mobile Security for

smartphones and tablets, and then we expanded

to MacAfee Family Protection for Mobiles, where

we are not just providing security, but also allow-

ing parents to do URL filtering, safe search and

Internet usage reporting.

Last year, MacAfee acquired WaveSecure, which

allows us to manage mobile devices better. So in

addition to security, you will now be able to back

up and restore data on your mobile, and you will

be able to locate and track a lost device. You can

also perform a remote lock and wipe all the data

in case your device is misplaced. ©

Vinoo Thomas, Technical Product Manager, McAfee Labs


GOING RNDROID

VALUE ADDED SERVICES

GET THE COfYlPLETE RNDROID EXPERIENCE While Android devices are selling like hot cakes and 3G services now up and running, we look at the various value added services that are being offered by the popular telecomm service providers.


WWhat good is an Android phone if you

can't really surf the Internet and down-

load apps of your liking? Here's a look

at what the major telecomm service providers

have to help you enjoy your Android experience to

the fullest.

# V O D A F O N E While Vodafone has the Vodafone Live and Voda-

fone Mobile Connect services on offer for internet

surfing, Vodafone Live will not work with your

Android device. The Vodafone Mobile Connect

works with a prepaid and a post paid plan.

While it is a zero rental plan for prepaid users,

postpaid users can pick between a Rs 299 plan

that offers 2 GB of free surfing, a Rs 499 plan that

offers 4 GB of free surfing, and a Rs 699 plan that

offers unlimited surfing.

Vodafone supports tethering, so you can freely

use your Android phone as a Wi-Fi hot spot to

connect your laptop or PC to the Internet. The

connection takes 4 hours to activate on a prepaid

account and 24 hours on a postpaid one.

AIRTEL Airtel offers Airtel Live services for WAP and

GPRS-enabled handsets and a mobile Internet

pack that offers up to 2 GB of free surfing at rent-

als of Rs 99, but the service is currently available

for Blackberry, Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile

6.5 powered smartphones only.

While their customer service is unclear about

extending these services to Android-powered

devices, Airtel does have its own app store called

the App Central, which features more than 71,000

apps segregated under 25 categories, which can be

downloaded to over 550 compatible devices.

# A I R C E L If you plan to buy a Galaxy Tab, then Aircel is all

set to sell you a pretty package. For a price of Rs

29,500, you get the gadget, plus a 3 GB free plan

for 3 months for prepaid users, or a 1 GB free plan

for 6 months for postpaid users. You also get a 2

GB memory card and a leather case. However,

their customer care is not too clear about extend-

ing Internet support to other Android devices.

N TATA DOCOMO While Tata Docomo has been making claims of

going 3G for a long time, there is still no trace of

the company delivering on that promise. While

you can use the Tata Photon Wi-Fi pocket router

for Internet connectivity on your Android device,

you will have to wait a little longer for any data

plans for your device on the go. if not, mobile

number portability is always an option.

K | REDIFF NG While you can configure 10 email accounts on

your BlackBerry phone, Rediff NG enables you to

do the same on your Android as well. At just Rs

50 a month, you can do all that on your Symbian,

Java, and Android powered smartphones.

The service enables you to port data across

phones, so even if you do change your mobile

phone, your settings and emails remain intact.

The annual plan will cost you Rs 600. ©


SHOPPERS' STOP

things to know about

ANDROID If you're considering a switch to an Android-powered smartphone or tablet, here are a few tips and pointers on what you can expect from your device.


IT'S OPEN FOR EVERYONE Android was designed and developed as an open source, fully customizable mobile phone platform; the first of its kind. This means that manufacturers can custom-ize their phones however they want and design any type of applications without many restrictions.

GOOD SOFTWARE NEEDS GOOD HARDWARE Due to its ease of availability, developers have taken to manu-facturing handsets and tablets running on Android. However, all devices have different hard-ware configurations and if the hardware cannot match the software, it will not give you the best Android experience.

IT'S GONE 3D^ Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), the latest version of the OS, was recently unveiled by Google. At the official launch of Hon-eycomb, Google displayed its 3D capabilities with the Google Maps and YouTube apps, assur-ing users that the company has done quite a bit to ensure 3D works well on the platform. This could usher in big changes in the mobile phone market-place.

IT CAN TETHER Android has taken pairing devices to the next level. Tethering your Android device with your PC means you can use your service provider's Internet plan with your computer. With 3G services hitting the market, tethering your mobile and PC could see a great reduc-tion in Internet service sub-scriptions.


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MAKE SURE IT'S THE LATEST VERSION In the space of one year, Google made four revisions to its OS -Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), Eclair (2.0/2.1), FroYo (2.2) and Honeycomb (3.0). With such rapid updates to the OS, manufactur-ers are finding it hard to develop hardware and modify the OS to suit their latest handsets.

IT CAN RUN MULTIPLE TASKS Android is able to run multiple applications at the same time regardless of whether they are sys-tem apps or apps from the Android Market. Android users benefit greatly from this discrepancy, as they can receive notifications, listen to music, or even record GPS data without keeping the application open.

IT'S ALL IN THE GOOGLE CLOUD Android phones don't sync with your computer because they don't have to. Your contacts, calendar and mail are all backed up in the great Googleplex. What this means is that any changes or entries you make to your Google-based organizer will automatically appear on your Android phone.

NOT ALL APPS ARE VERIFIED It's safe to install or buy apps from the Android Market, but a simple change in your phone or tablet's security set-tings can let you install apps from unverified sites. What this means is that not all the apps you use are verified by Android and could do more harm than good.

APP INCOMPATIBILITIES As mentioned earlier, all phones have different hard-ware setups. A difference in resolution, processor speed and RAM means that an app that runs perfectly fine on one Android device might not work as well on another. Developers need to consider modifying their apps to suit different devices.

IT CAN REMOTE WIPE Google has added a remote wipe feature with Android 2.2 (FroYo). This remote wipe feature enables users to program the device to auto-matically wipe its memory clean in certain-conditions. If your phone is lost or sto-len, a simple SMS, failed password entry or a change of SIM Card can trigger the wipe. It's up to you.


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In Focus: The Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 Will Samsung live upto the hype created around the Galaxy Tab P1000? We take a look at one of the most awaited tablets to hit the Indian markets. B Y 5 H A Y N E R A N A

Samsung's highly anticipated Galaxy Tab actu-

ally managed to get itself here legally before

Apple's iPad, and brought with it quite a bit of

confusion when it comes to choice. The Dell Streak

didn't impress me and I had my doubts about the

Olive Pad, the only two other tablets in India to

make it out in an official capacity. Here's my take

on the whole 'Tabbing' experience.

0 FORM FACTOR 1 believe that the 7-inch display, protected by the

hardcore Gorilla Glass pane with a 600x1024 pixel

resolution is about the right size for a tablet. It

allows for easy handling and storage. Samsung's

gone with a set of touch sensitive keys below the

display. At 380 grams, it's a tad on the heavy side

with a screen lock/power button on the same side

as the volume/zoom keys, micro SD card port (1GB

on board memory with support for 32GB cards)

and standard SIM card slot. The 3.5mm handsfree

socket is located on the top.

A set of built in speakers, which seemed loud

enough for audio, but oddly low for calls, are

located at the bottom on either side of the propri-

etary Samsung USB/Charger port at the bottom.

This was the first thing I disliked about the device.

Aesthetically, I found the Tab an easy device to

work with purely from the design perspective.

0 FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE Here is an indepth analysis on the features and

performance offered by the tablet.

INTERFACE I'm not a fan of Samsung's TouchWiz UI, so I swapped

the UI with another from the Android market. The

Galaxy Tab is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 1 GHz

processor with PowerVR SGX540 graphics for added

support. It's running on Android 2.2 aka Froyo out

of the box. Most of the UI navigation is quite seam-

less, but there are moments when you'll be wonder-

ing if there is a 1 GHz processor running the show.

The three axis Gyro makes accelerometer-based

functionality from games to screen rotation quite

smooth, but there's just that hint of lag. The multi

touch zooming is as responsive as the iPad's. Sam-

sung's also thrown in a Task Manager to kill all

background running apps or the specific ones you

want. Using the normal on-screen keypad was a

breeze, but Swype on a larger display, although

requiring you to stretch quite a bit to trail words, is

still a speedier way to get the job done.

MEDIA Aside from the 5.1 audio channel support, the Gal-

axy Tab also comes with Samsung's DNSe audio

enhancement with a set of EQ presets and an

eight-band customizable graphic EQ setting. Audio

Effects like Bass Enhancement, Wide and Concert

Hall settings are also provided. The Tab's audio

player is sure fire winner. The cherry on top is of

course video codec support for AVI files (DivX and

XviD), which enables you to simply drag and drop

your favorite movies on the ample storage space for

instant playback.

The 7-inch display is great for viewing videos,

however games and quite a few other apps are still

to be upscaled for this genre of Android devices.

Unlike the iPad's option to stretch games/apps to

fit the screen, the Tab allows you to play or access

apps in the native resolution the app as designed

for. This means they'll open only in the middle of

the screen. There are many e-readers preloaded on

the Tab. An e-book application similar to Aldiko's

app allows you to import e-books off of your mem-

ory card, but I could not find an option to download

any books from a website. The fonts and page colors

can be adjusted and the overall layout is extremely

conducive for easy reading. But changing pages is a

slow and laggy process, the lack of a smooth transi-

tion is very evident. The Readers Hub application

is also an e-book reader powered by Kobo, but one


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that allows you to download content off the Web. A Zinio magazine reader and a newspaper reader by PressDisplay are also available.

CONNECTIVITY The Galaxy Tab, is capable of making and taking calls, messages and sending and receiving emails from your standard POP and IMAP accounts, and also plays nice with Microsoft Exchange services. It supports 3G with HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps or typical EDGE speeds for now. Like any Android device run-ning Froyo, you can use the Tab as a Wi-Fi hotspot and Samsung's All Share application allows you to hook up to a DLNA supported device to transfer and/or stream media. Everything you'd expect from a high-end Android handset can be found on the Tab, from social networking with Facebook, Twitter and Google syncing for your phone book integration, to standalone apps and Google Talk. It also supports Google Voice Search and tethering.

The native browser, irrespective of the boost with Flash 10.1 support, turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. When I compared it to the iPad's browsing experience, the Galaxy Tab fell drastically short on speed even though functionality was a bit more. Pages tend to be laggy while scrolling and there always seemed to be a jerky break when mov-ing through screens. Unfortunately, it was s similar experience with Opera's new beta mobile browser, even if rendering was a lot faster.

The Galaxy tab also comes with GPS capabilities supported by A-GPS. Samsung hasn't included any software with this device like it would with others,

namely Route 66 Navigation. You'll have to stick to Google Maps or use the Layar browser for an augmented reality GPS-enabled search. Of course, there's Bluetooth 3.0 and all the goodies that it comes with, including A2DP is supported, and of USB 2.0.

CAMERA The 3 megapixel autofocus camera comes with an LED flash, face and smile detection, a few scene modes, geotagging and video recording (720x480 at 30fps) are all present. A forward-facing VGA cam-era is also present for self portraits and video call-ing. I found the pictures to be as good as any other 3 megapixel camera. Indoor images with light gave focused pictures. Outdoor images weren't too bad either, although excess sunlight did make portions of the image a bit over exposed.

BATTERY LIFE The Galaxy Tab managed to give a relatively high battery life. With a single charge I used it for Web and calls for two full days, with an average talktime of over 4 hours 40 minutes. That's quite impressive.

0 THE BOTTOM LINE I've become quite the fan of tabbing in general even though the Web browsing or gaming experience was not as fluid as the iPad's. ©

GOOD Weil designed, Comes with DivX and Xvid support, Samsung DNSe, 5,1 surround, Flash 10.1 support, Camera quality is quite decent

BAD Web browsing is not fluid, Laggy eBook readers, Proprietary USB/Charging


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POPULAR ANDROID DEVICES IN EVERY PRICE RANGE

An Android For Android devices are available in a range of shapes, sizes and prices. Manufacturers have developed Android smartphones and tablets to suit every budget and serve a range of needs.

B Y K U S H A L A M O O W A L A

Manufacturers have captured every level

of communication and computing by

developing Android-based smartphones

and tablets to fit a wide price range. This ensures

the popularity of Android amongst users with

budgetary constraints as well as big spenders.

The difference between a cheap smartphone and

an expensive one is primarily in the hardware,

with the cheaper devices having a weaker proces-

sor, less RAM and limited storage space. But these

differences are negligible when it comes to basic

usage. It is only noticeable when the devices are

used to run multiple, memory heavy apps or apps

that require high performance. Here's a look at

some popular Android smartphones and tablets

that fit into different budgets.

quick browsing. With Wi-Fi, e-mail and a good cam-

era, both devices will service a user's basic needs.

Rs 10,000 - Rs 15,000 The Samsung 15801 Gal-

axy 3 at Rs 13,300 is

an entry level Android

smartphone running

Android 2.1 Eclair. A

3.2-inch touch screen, 3

megapixel camera and a

few unique features like

DivX/XviD compatibility

and Kinetic scrolling give

it an edge. The Sony Erics-

son Xperia X10 mini pro, on

the other hand, is a pocket

rocket. It runs Android 1.6

Donut and supports 2.1 Eclair.

With a tiny 2.55-inch screen, slide out QWERTY

keyboard and 600 MHz

processor, it packs quite

a punch at Rs 14,245.

Other smartphones

that fit into this cat-

egory include Acer

beTouch E130, Vid

eocon Zeus,HTC

Wi ld f i re and

Sony Ericsson

Xperia X10

Q SMARTPHONES The Open Handset Alliance includes companies that

manufacture smartphones for

a diverse group of consumers.

Rs 5 ,000-Rs 10,000 For people looking to spend as

little as possible on a smart-

phone without expecting some-

thing really flashy, there are

the Micromax Andro A60 and

the Spice MI300. Priced at Rs

8,599 and Rs 9,990 respectively,

both devices support Android

2.1 Eclair and are 3G ready for


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tvery Pocket smartphone, and the HTC Desire gives you a

lot for its Rs 23,490 price tag. It has a speedy

1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, large

AMOLED screen and HTC's Sense UI with mul-

titouch support. It boasts an excellent Web

browser and integrated social networking ser-

vices. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, priced Rs

24,995, is also armed with a Qualcomm Snap-

dragon processor. It combines stylish looks

with killer specs, and with Android 2.1 and a

huge 4-inch display, it is perfect for those who

want a simple yet robust device that's also

good looking.

Other smartphones within this price range

include the Motorola Milestone, HTC Legend

and Acer A1 Liquid.

Rs 15,000 - Rs 20,000 The LG Optimus One P500, priced at Rs. 15,000, is

the cheapest phone in this price range. It is a stan-

dard no frills 3.2-inch Android 2.2 smartphone with

a moderately clocked CPU and ample RAM to give

you a bit of freedom with your apps. The Garmin

Asus A10 has a smooth and elegant appearance

with a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, a 5 megapixel

camera, and runs on Android 2.1 Eclair. It gives spe-

cial importance to maps and navigation powered

___ by Garmin, for which it has a

— • — ^ powerful processor and long

battery life. It is reasonably

priced at Rs 18,990.

Other smartphones that

fit into this category include

Dell XCD35, Motorola Cliq

and Motorola Backflip.

Rs 25,000 AND ABOVE In the highest price range, there is the popular HTC

Desire HD, priced at Rs 26,990 and Samsung 19000

Galaxy S, at Rs 31,500. The Desire HD is a robust

phone with a 4.3-inch LCD display, 1 GHz processor

and 8 megapixel camera. It runs Android 2.2 and

with 1 GB storage, plus microSD extendible mem-

ory, it gives you enough room for videos, music,

images and tons of apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S car-

ries a 4-inch super AMOLED

display with a resolution

of 480x800 pixels, which

makes viewing movies and

Web browsing an absolute

pleasure. The 5 megapixel

camera allows HD video

recording and it has an

integrated social hub and

other apps to exploit its 1

GHz processor and 16 GB

internal memory.

Other products in

the higher end of the

market include LG

GW620, Samsung 17500

Galaxy, Acer Liquid E

Ferrari, and HTC HD7. S 3

Rs 20,000 -Rs 25,000 Moving into the higher price

range means you would

expect much more from your


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Rs 30,000 - Rs 35,000 The Dell Streak 7 features Nvidia's Tegra 2 dual core

processor, 512 MB RAM, and comes bundled with 16

GB of storage space. With 4G compatibility, video

a dual booting tablet with a choice to boot either

Android or Windows 7 and a quick switch between

the two. The 10-inch display is the biggest a tablet

has featured, and it even has two USB 2.0 ports, a

mini VGA port and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabil-

ity. At Rs 38,000, the one feature missing is 3G

compatibility. ©

Rs 35,000 AND ABOVE Viewsonic's Viewpad 10 is the closest a tablet comes

to being a netbook. Powered by an Intel Atom

N455 processor and 1 GB of DDR3 RAM, it houses

a 16GB Solid State Drive and a 1.3 MP camera. It is

calling capability, a 7-inch WVGA multi-touch dis-

play and 5 megapixel camera it can service a high

end user's every need. Priced at Rs 34,990, it com-

petes with products like the Viewsonic Viewpad 7

and Samsung's Galaxy Tab P1000.

2.2, it is a 7-inch tablet phone, which is sleek and

attractive. It comes with features such as multi

codec media players, dual cameras for

video calling and 3G support. A 600 MHz

Qualcomm processor with 512 MB RAM

and support for up to 32 GB memory

enable it to run smoothly and also allow

Internet browsing, video streaming,

social networking, and GPS.

Rs 25,000 - Rs 30,000 At Rs 29,000, the Samsung Galaxy Tab

runs Android 2.2 on an ARM 1 GHz Cor-

tex processor with 512 MB RAM and 16

GB of internal memory. The 7-inch TFT

LCD display gives you a crisp viewing

experience, be it for reading, view-

ing videos, or watching movies. It's

fast, effective at multitasking and has

admirable mobile and wireless network

connectivity.

Q TABLETS The cheapest tablet in the market, the Wespro

ePad at Rs. 7,999, costs far less than most Android

smartphones and as the technology improves more

low cost tablets are expected. Here's a look

at some of tablets available in the Indian

market.

Rs 20,000 - Rs 25,000 At Rs 23,990, the OlivePad VT100 fits snug-gly into this price range. Running Android


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ANDROID APPS FOR BUSINESS USERS

Business As Usual: Apps to Stay Connected Here are some apps that will help you keep up with work and constantly stay connected when you're travelling. B Y K A M A K S H I S

With the android OS making its presence

felt very strongly, smartphones have

today become a popular computing

device when on the move. When work demands

that you constantly stay connected, some apps can

come make life a bit easier. Here are some Android

apps to help you get the job done.

6 DOCUMENT SUPPORT You might have to check documents or spread-

sheets quite frequently even on the move. If you

are not keen on editing on your Android device

and just require a viewer, then there are several

free document viewers to choose from, such

If you tend to meet lots of pople, you can save their contact details in real time with a card reader app like CamCard.

as Documents To Go Version 3.0, OpenOffice or

ThinkFree Online. However, if you wish to edit

documents on the go, you will need a good editor.

While you can opt for the freely available GDocs

if you want your Android phone to sync with

Google docs, you cannot open these files directly

from your inbox or SD card. Moreover, you can

only used simple Word or text files and view PDFs;

nothing more. While GDocs is a popular app, there

are several such free apps on the Android market

that offer connectivity with Google Docs.

If you don't mind investing in a robust app for

your Android device, then you can pick between

Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite, the OfficeSuite

Pro and the Documents to Go package. These

suites are paid and allow you to create documents,

spreadsheets and presentations and view PDFs.

The most recent versions also extend support to

Office 2007 formats and syncing with Google Docs,

but do not cater to Open Office formats.

If you are looking for ZIP file support along

with inbuilt File Manager support, you can opt for

either OfficeSuite Pro or the Quickoffice Connect

Mobile Suite. While Quickoffice Connect Mobile

Suite would cost you Rs 453, Documents to Go and

OfficeSuite Pro are priced at Rs 680.

Q BUSINESS CARD READERS if you meet lots of people during the course of

work and have many visiting cards to handle, it

can be cumbersome to track numbers down when

you really need to get in touch. Instead, you can

get a business card reader app that works with

your Android phone.

These apps use your camera to scan the card

and help you to store the contact details as well as

a copy of the card on your phone. The most popu-

lar business card reader apps are MobiReader,

CamCard {Wester

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riniiiiiiuiw ?! Jack Wu »!0-eS-1?-!3:3fcJ7

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WorldCard Mobile, and

CamCard.

While none of the

applications are free of

cost, you can pick up the

lite version of CamCard,

which can be upgraded

later. Most of these apps

can read details like name,

phone numbers, email

addresses, web links and

postal addresses with ease.

They also enable you send

emails and access company

websites directly. The apps

also of fer multi-language

support, with some offer-

ing languages like Chinese,

Japanese, Korean, Finnish,

French, German, Hungar-

ian, Italian, Norwegian,

Portuguese, Spanish and

.wedish, among others.

Although you may have

occasional hassles with the

character recognition, especially if the picture

is taken under improper lighting, and with busi-

ness cards with heavy background colors, most of

them work quite well in storing accurate data on

to your phone.

WorldCard Mobile is priced at Rs 271, while

MobiReader would cost you Rs 471. CamCard

comes in two versions; the BCR Western priced

at Rs 316 that reads languages using the English

typography, and a Business Card Reader version

priced at Rs 543 for complex languages like Japa-

nese, Korean and Chinese.

Q CLOUD SHARING For those who are constantly on the move, a cloud

application to help synchronize data between

your computer, your Android device and the

Internet is essential. While most cloud apps are

free of cost up to a particular data storage limit,

what you need to consider before settling on an

app is the usage and types of files that you wish to

work with. There are several options that you can

choose from, of which Dropbox, Zumodrive and

SugarSync are the most popular.

If you are used to LogMeln on your desktop, you

can continue using the service with your Android

device too. The LogMeIN Ignition for Android


My D r o p b o x

— 90 Bytes modified 3 months ago

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dropbox_parser.zip 2.0 MB modified 2 months ago

DropboxMobileAPI.pdf — 223.3 KB modified 4 months ago

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© fl Search New Upload

o e 0 Refresh Help Settings

It may not be possible to carry all you data with you, and that's where a cloud service like Dropbox can help.

s

costs Rs 1,351.

To use the cloud effectively, you need to be

signed up for the service on their website and

install the corresponding application on your

desktop. The final step is to get the app on your

Android device.

While most services of fer 2 GB of free data

storage, SugarSync offers you 5GB of free space.

You'll have to upgrade to a paid plan to increase

the cloud storage space.

While Dropbox works best for document files,

you'll need editor apps to use the service effec-

tively. Zumodrive is equally easy to use, but works

better if you wish to sync your iTunes music

library on your phone through the cloud.

If syncing photographs is what you're looking for,

Google Picasa is a better app. And even for Picasa,

you would find a plethora of options to pick from.

Q CODE MEMOS Planning your schedule ahead can help you

accomplish everything you planned for the day,

and if you have to keep track of your schedule on-

the-go or need to share your device with anybody,

Contact infoi mation

Apps like WordCard Mobile not only store data off visiting cards, but also use tools like Google Maps as locators.

SHOPPERS' STOP

having a password protected code memo is the perfect app to have on your Android device. There are several free options to pick from depending on what you need.

You can opt for a notepad style Ultra Notes app, but if you need your data to be password-protected, you can use the Ultra Mate private diary app. You can opt for the 01 Safe app to save critical data like account numbers, passwords and other confidential details.

If you need something that is printer friendly as well, Wizard Memo is a good option. Make sure you pick a strong master password and remember it too, or all your precious memos will be locked up for good.

Q TETHERING YOUR PHONE If you have a 3G network connection and an unlim-ited Internet surfing plan on your phone, you can extend that connectivity to your PC as well. While you can tether your Android device using Bluetooth, USB cables or Wi-Fi, you may have to fidget around with Android versions below 2.2. If you don't really have the patience or time to do it, getting an app would be a better option.

EasyTether - Se

Make sure Internet works on your smartphone and select the operating system installed on your computer:

^ W i n d o w s 7/Vista/XP/2000

$ Mac OS X 10.4+

Ubuntu 10.4+ or Fedora 12+

Do not confuse EasyTether with any built-in USB tethering or modem support your smartphone may have. This particularly means you should not enable Mobile Broadband Connect (Verizon), Internet sharing (Sprint) or similar built-in options if you want to connect via EasyTether.

If you are wary of rooting your phone and still want a decent free tethering app, EasyTether can come in handy.

While PDAnet is one of the most widely used teth-ering apps, and it does pro-vide you with a free trial, you will have to buy it to use all of its functionalities. It costs $23.95 (roughly Rs 1,087) and is not officially available on the Indian Android market). Other apps which do not require root access to your phone to tether include EasyTether, which is priced at Rs 452.

There are some free apps that can help you convert your rooted phone into a Wi-Fi hot spot, like Barncle Wi-fi Tether or Wireless Tether for Root Users. However, you'll need to check with your service pro-vider if tethering your device violates any of the terms and conditions of your usage plan, moreso if you have an unlimited tion on your account. ©

W m f f l S m m •

01 Safe - Edit Entry

Openlr itents homepage

While a private diary will help you secure sensitive data, you can use apps like 01 Safe for critical data values.

Internet connec-

Barnacle Wifi Tether

Stop

Associate

Download

4.13 MB 192.85 kB/s

Upload

1.00 MB 3.59 kB/s

A rooted phone can be tethered with even more ease. Free apps like Barnacle make tethering a breeze.


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ANDROID APPS FOR TRAVELERS

Make Your Phone Your Best Travel Buddy All set to hit the road for a long overdue vacation and well deserved break? Here are some tools to help reduce the stress of planning your travels.


@ backtrack |Search where/when... T

• List View

J L The BackTrack app records travel data in real time when you travel.

Whether you're planning a weekend

getaway or a long holiday, you would

usually pick a spot that you are yet to

explore. And if you have your Android device with

you, you can pretty much enjoy your time without

getting lost or requiring local assistance.

Q TRAVEL MATES The first thing you need is an app that can help

you plan your vacation and help you make the

required bookings. If you are

looking at taking your family

along for the trip, it is always

sensible to plan your bookings

well in advance. Two popular

travel portals, Trip Advisor

and Cleartrip, have apps for

Android. You can book and

cancel train/flight tickets,

make enquiries on your PNR

enquiries, and book hotels too.

If you are traveling to a new

place, being able to navigate

the area is essential. There are

several applications that can

come to your rescue. One such

application is Zomato. You can

browse for as many as 11,000

restaurants across six cities

in India, including Delhi-NCR,

Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata,

Pune and Chennai. Addition-

ally, your Android devices

come loaded with Google Maps

and Google Latitude for point to

point navigation.

Z O m d t O l Delhi/NCR •

Global Village Greater Kailash(GK) 2, Delhi W W W i ^ ' u r

Cuisines; Continental, North Indian, Italian

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If you want to savor local cuisines, the Zomato app is a nice place to start.

Q LISTS When you are all excited about a trip, there is a

chance that you may skip some details or forget to

pack an essential item. There are many apps that

help you organise your trip more efficiently. The

free Packing List app comes with pre-created lists

depending on the kind of trip you're about to take.

If that isn't good enough, you can generate your

own to add up all the things to need to carry. If you

need something more comprehensive, you can opt

for the Vacation Planner, which is priced at Rs 45.

Another checklist of considerable importance,

especially if you are taking kids or the elderly along

is a first aid list. You can purchase the very useful

First Aid Checklist app priced at Rs 44.97. The list

consists of over 140 first aid items that you could

need when you are traveling. You can also add and


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Featured Photos — ' — ~

wlss

FCIIL

Sharing photos with your loved ones can be very easy with Picasa on your device.

edit entries as per your requirements. You will also

find a trekking and baby planner from the same

developer at the same price.

QTRAVELOGUES Most people enjoy keeping a detailed travelogue to

keep a track of all their holiday escapades and like

sharing them with their loved ones. If you are look-

ing for a detailed travel journal app, then the free

backTrack Personal Travel Log is a good option to

use. It's convenient because it records your journey

automatically allowing you to enjoy your holiday.

You can browse though the entries in your free

time in a list or detailed map view. You can also

map the app to your calendar to make chronologi-

cal entries. If you love taking lots of pictures, then

you can a pick a tool to sync your photographs to

be uploaded to your PicasaWeb account online.

One such tool is the Picasa Tool Pro. It can help you

clear space on your memory card and back up your

pictures online too.

If you enjoy blogging, you can use the Wordpress

for Android app. You can post blog entries with

pictures offline, and publish them online when you

have Web access. You can also keep a track of post

comments and site stats. You can manage multiple

blogs that are linked to a single account.

0 TOOLS If there is one thing that you should not be caught

without while camping or on a trek, it's a Swiss

army knife. Similarly, there are some tools that can

come to your rescue when you least expect it. The

most essential app you need whether you are trav-

elling or not is the free Where's My Droid app. The

app makes your phone ring when a text message

with a predetermined keyword is sent to it even if

it is in silent mode. There are also several Android

apps that help you prolong your phone's battery

life. One such app is the Ultimatejuice!, which is

priced at Rs 180.

If directions can cause confusion, you need a

good compass tool too. You can get the augmented

reality 3D compass app 3D Compass Pro priced Rs

90. It also has a free version called 3D Compass that

you can try before you buy. Another must-have app

when you're travelling to a new place is the free

TeslaLED Flashlight. It uses the flash of your cam-

era as a handy makeshift torch.

If travelling to a new place makes you feel lin-

guistically inadequate, a good translation tool that

helps you with pronunciations will come in handy.

You can opt for Google Translate app, which works

with more than 50 languages. It not only supports

text-to-speech and voice inputs, but also doubles

up as a dictionary.

Q BOOKS If you have your luggage all stacked to match the

permissible weight limit, and you like reading when

you travel, making place

for bulky books can get

tiresome. Instead, you

can look for apps like

Aldiko Book Reader or

the Kindle for Android,

which provides you with

an e-book reader and

enables you to download

free and paid e-books,

and even newspapers

(with the Kindle) to your

Android device. While

both apps are free of

cost, you can opt for

the premium version of

the Aldiko Book Reader,

priced at Rs 136. While

you can read ePub and

PDF formats, the Micro-

soft Reader-specific LIT

files may not work on

these readers. ©

The Aldiko Book Reader app is ideal for reading on-the-go to pass the time.


SHOPPERS' STOP

ANDROID APPS FOR STUDENTS

Learning From Your Android There are Android apps that cater to a student's every need, from formula sheets and periodic tables to note-taking and organizers. Students can install these apps to increase their productivity, knowledge and have everything they need at their fingertips.


There are many aspects to studying, such as

note-taking, studying, and exercising, and

they all come with specialized tool sets,

each with additional costs and practical difficul-

ties. Most people don't realize how powerful their

smartphones really are, and how diverse the appli-

cations available for them are. It's often hard to

find the right applications for the job, so to get you

started, here are some incredible Android applica-

tions that every student should consider installing.

Create new note S B 2 ® © 12:54 PM

Search

Evernote offers a clean, simple layout to take down and organize your notes.

Q HELP WITH NOTES

There are several

notepad-style apps out

there, but Evernote

takes the cake with its

ability to sync with an

online account and your

desktop PC. The app

enables you to jot down

notes on your phone or

tablet as text, photos or

even voice recordings.

You can make different

'notebooks' for different

subjects and you can

even add tags to each

note. Best of all, it's com-

pletely free and runs on

Android 1.5 and above.

Catch is similar to Ever-

note, except it lacks a

desktop application. It

does have another great feature, however, which

is its social media integration. With Catch, you can

share your notes with friends via Twitter or Face-

book, something that every student would find

extremely handy when exams are looming.

Other note-taking apps include Documents to Go,

Note Everything, and Take Note.

Q ACADEMIC AIDS Everyone knows how tedious it is to remember

formulae and equations. You can get Android apps

that do these for you to ease your mind and get

your answers faster and easier. RealCalc is a fully

featured scientific calculator, which looks and

operates just like the real thing. It provides result

history, unit conversions, percentages, ten memo-

ries, hex/binary/octal, trig functions in degrees,

radians or grads, engineering and fixed-point

display modes, digit grouping, and a built-in help

module.

Formulas Lite is a simple, easy-to-use app that

helps you refer to collections of the most important

formulae of maths, physics and chemistry. A simi-

lar tool specific for chemistry is Perfect Chemistry

Lite. It helps you balance chemical equations and

gives you details about different elements, chemical

compounds, and much more. There is also Calculus

Tools that helps you with calculus and finds deriva-

tives, computes definite integrals, arc lengths and

plots graphs of functions. It also includes integral

tables and a custom keyboard.

£ READERS There are plenty of Android apps that serve as


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RealCalc turns your Android into a fully functional scientific calculator.

readers. There are a handful of apps that take read-

ing and collecting your reading material to the

next level. MultiReader is a voice reader that can

speak several languages, give you access to online

libraries, and run several popular file formats.

WordPlayer is a similar book reader, which lets

you download from amongst millions of books in

seconds, or load from your memory card. Its page

navigation, bookmarking, speech and customizable

settings make reading a breeze. For those that like

to find their material online, InstaFetch lets you

save complete web pages to your Android device for

offline reading. Turn your phone into a scanner to

copy that library book that you can't rent out with

DroidScan. You can save files as PDFs and it even

corrects your alignment and contrast to give best

results.

0 ORGANIZERS Students are often overworked with assignments,

projects, homework and getting them done before

the deadline can be quite difficult. Thinking Space

is a mind mapping app for Android that lets you

create visual mind maps to organize your activi-

ties and ideas. It's great for summarizing lectures,

taking notes, and planning tasks. CoursePro is an

app that lets you easily track all your assignments,

work finished, work due and how you're progress-

ing towards your results. It helps you keep track

of homework with a simple to-do style list, custom

list your assignment types and grade weights,

and track your report card with a custom grad-

ing scheme. The Demo version limits you to four

courses with five assignments each, and the full

version costs around Rs 300.

There are also apps that manage your active pro-

file to your preset settings. PhoneWeaver changes

your profile depending on the time or your location

and battery life to make sure your phone doesn't

ring in class or die on you when you're on the go.

Sweet Dreams is another similar profile manage-

ment app that alters your phone settings to avoid

unwanted calls according to your filters based on

location, movement or sound.

Q INFORMATION WikiDroid is a Wikipedia app that allows you to

research anything you need conveniently on your

phone. You can start your research or get more

information on a topic being discussed with its

easy-to-use interface and simplistic design. The

free version is ad-supported and the pro version

at Rs 100 is ad-free and

enables you to view saved

articles offline.

ColorDict Universal

Dictionary is a useful dic-

tionary app. It's more than

just a dictionary; it's a

thesaurus, bible dictionary

and foreign-language dic-

tionary all rolled into one.

You can search words and

idioms in several diction-

aries at once and it works

offline. A similar vocabu-

lary app is SAT Vocabulary,

which gives you more than

4,500 words and definitions

to help prepare for SAT

exams that students aspir-

ing to study abroad must

appear for. For general

knowledge, you can try

apps like World FactBook

and General Knowledge

eQuizBook. ©


Current GPA:

Math 4.0 94.2% homework 91.0%

homework 1 98.0% homework 2 86.0% homework 3 89.0%

quiz 99.0% qutz4 92,-0% quiz 2 99.0%

Physics 3.0 85.0%

homework

CourePro has custom grading schemes which allow you to track your GPA.

SHOPPERS' STOP

ANDROID APPS FOR ENTERTAINMENT

Android App-iness When you're tired, bored or just need to kill some time, you shouldn't have to look any further than your Android phone or tablet. Here are some great apps that will keep you busy and entertained.


Whether you're an avid movie buff, a

music lover, or enjoy messing around

with photos, you can grab plenty of fun

Android apps that will keep you entertained. But

with over 30,000 apps now available in the Android

Market, finding the real gems can take a while.

Here are a few apps for your consideration as far as

entertainment is concerned, and best of all, most

of them are free!

Q MEDIA PLAYERS RockPlayer is the best alternative to the default

Android media player. This app supports virtually

all the popular video formats. The only disadvantage

of the free lite version is that it supports advertise-

ments so if you don't want any distractions while

watching your favorite videos, you can buy the full

version for Rs 500. The app comes in three versions

and produces best results with devices with power-

ful processors. For a media player that plays videos

and music, look no further than Meridian Media

Media Information

Audio: mp3 [48Q00Hz®2ch] Video: mpeg4 [624*352@0Kbps] file: avi [358075KB]

Time: 23:52:20 Battery: 75%

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Rock Player can play audio and video files and has features like phone status, file info display, and subtitles.

Player. It is free and offers advanced features like

subtitles, file ratings, ID3 tags and gestures. Other

popular media players include Actl Video Player,

Pandora KMPlayer and YXFlash.

©VIDEO STREAMING The first site anyone would think of when it comes

to video streaming is YouTube, and of course,

there's an app for it, but if you want to stream

TV shows longer than 10 minutes, then TV Shows

Stream is the app for you. The application searches

over the Internet for hundreds of TV show links

that you can play directly on your device with full

screen support using Megavideo and other host-

ing services. The search results are shown in an

intuitive and easy-to-use interface. The lite version

comes with 12 preselected shows and the full ver-

sion at Rs 180 gives you unlimited access.

Stream Media Player and Full TV episodes are

two other video streaming apps that are worth

their relatively cheap price tag.

Q MUSIC TuneWiki is a media player similar to RockPlayer,

but lacking the video playback function, which it

more than makes up for with its advanced music

features. It has a very nice interface, is stable, sup-

ports ID3 tags and gestures and can stream any

music from online sources (various online radio

stations, for example). It also displays the lyrics to

a song using a nice overlay.

If you prefer to listen to your music via internet

radio, you can choose from Winamp's Android app,

which streams music from Last.fm, Shoutcast and

FM Radio, which provides you with a wide range of

genres and channels to choose from. Also worth a

mention is Shazam. If you're listening to the radio

or watching TV and you come across a song that


SHOPPERS' STOP ••

you really like, just let Shazam give it a hear and

it will identify the song and give you more details,

including lyrics.

0 SOCIAL NETWORKING There is a wide array of Facebook and Twitter apps

spread across the Android market, but there are a

few apps out there that really stand out. With the

increasing number of social networking websites

hitting the netscape, it is best to have an app that

can update all your different profiles with just one

simple push, and that's exactly what Tweetdeck

does for Twitter, Faceb ook, Buzz and Foursquare.

There's also HootSuite, which does the same, but

with only Twitter and Facebook. For free mobile-

to-mobile messaging and free VoIP calling, there

are apps like Nimbuzz and WhatsApp. The biggest

advantage of apps like these is that they are com-

patible with other operating systems as well.

PicPush is a unique social networking app that

allows you to automatically share your pics and

videos across all popular media services. It gives

you a convenient one-touch service for uploading

media to Facebook, Photobucket, SmugMug, Picassa

and Twitter.

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p • • • Q W3m • an ^GW TweetDeck combines your social network profiles into one page, giving you updates from all sites in one simple window.

Q IMAGE EDITING AND PHOTOGRAPHY For the amateur photo edi-

tor or those that like to mess

around with photos of them-

selves and their friends, apps

like PhotoFunia or PicSay

will give you endless hours

of entertainment. They are

packed with options to distort,

color-correct, add word bal-

loons, titles and add graphics

to your pictures. For the pro-

fessionals, there's Photoshop

Express, which enables you to

make professional changes to

your images.

Another popular app for

avid photographers is Camera

360, which turns your device

into a professional camera

with an impressive set of fea-

tures like touch focus, zoom, f o r y o u a n d e v e n g i v e s y o u vide

fish eye, photo symmetry, back- 'V ' c s a n d c o n c e r t i n f o r m a t i o n ,

ground sceneries, and more.

Q MISCELLANEOUS There are thousands of other apps that you can

install on your Android device to keep yourself

busy. There are apps that can give you information

on events taking place in your city, like Gigbox,

which gives you details of upcoming music concerts

and festivals near you. Gamecenter is a very useful

app for gamers, highlighting the latest video game

news for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, etc. It is the ultimate

video game app equipped with trailers, cheats, vid-

eos and reviews. Then there are remote apps that

allow you to use your Android device as a remote

for your PC and your media player. Gmote, VLC

Remote and Remote for iTunes are just a few of the

many remote apps.

The list of apps for your entertainment is end-

less and you could spend hours browsing the

Android Market to find apps that suit you. Many

apps have free 'lite' versions and a full paid version,

so you can test them out before you buy them. Also

keep in mind that most apps require an Internet

connection, either a data plan on your SIM card or

a Wi-fi connection, so make sure you have access to

the Internet to get the most out of your apps. ®

A i S f f i C 11:09 Tag (1/1)

TikTok Ke$ha

Album

Animal Genre

Pop Tagged

8 Jul 2010 11:08

0 Tour Info

© V

YouTube Video

Recommendations

Shazam identifies unknown songs


SHOPPERS' STOP

ANDROID APPS FOR GAMERS

Get Gaming With Android With the Google Android gaming platform becoming so commonly used by game developers, there are lots of great games to choose from. You can fling vengeful birds at thieving pigs or strategize with friends online to take over the world. B Y K U 5 H A L M A M O O W A L A

Everyone has probably played a game on

their phones at one time or another. Mobile

phone gaming has been revolutionized

by the advent of multi-touch screens and high

performance portable devices, making the gam-

ing experience far more interactive and fun. The

Android gaming platform gives developers an

easy scaffolding to build their games around, so

the online market is flooded with new games and

updated versions everyday. Here are some of the

must-haves in different gaming genres.

© ARCADE GAMES Angry Birds is one of the most popular games for

touchscreen devices. Initially developed for the

iPhone, it was quickly modified to run on multiple

operating systems, including Android 1.6 and up.

Slingshot your birds around the level to kill all the pigs. Who would have thought physics could be so much fun.

A simple touch-based game that features challeng-

ing physics-based gameplay with hours of replay

value, it truly tests your patience and determina-

tion.

There are other games that also exploit the

motion sensitivity and touch interface of your

device. Abduction and Doodle Jump are two games

based on a simple motive of upward movement.

The objective is to progress upwards on platforms

by tilting your device left and right to control

your character. Basketball Shot and Paper Toss

are games that require precision finger swiping to

throw balls into a basket. These games are a sure

hit with people of all ages.

©ACTION GAMES Tank Hero is a fairly simple game that involves

controlling a tank to obliterate the enemy. It has

an innovative virtual gamepad for navigation, a

simple tap for firing ammunition and lots of chal-

lenging levels. Compatible with Android 2.1 and

upwards, it is free and promises newer features

and levels in the future.

Crazy Snowboard is an action game that will

keep you on the edge of your seat, with intuitive

controls and tap-based tricks. It is compatible with

Android 2.0 and up and runs fairly smoothly on

most devices.

Another sports action game that is quite popular

is Reckless Racing. It has a single player campaign

as well as a multiplayer mode. The off-road racing

relies on power-sliding and opposite lock, making

every race feel like a sequel to The Fast and the

Furious.

Also check out Sniper, Let's Golf and Guns 'n'

Glory for other great action based games.


Play notes, chords and choose your instrument on a virtual piano with xPiano.

0 PUZZLE GAMES For those who prefer a bit of brain teasing, there

are games like WordSearch Unlimited and Chess

for Android that are hits amongst Android users.

They're both free and will run on any Android

device. The Moron Test is a uniquely testing game

that questions your IQ and attentiveness. The free

version allows you to play only the first level and

the paid version gives you three more levels.

Alchemy is a game that requires you to make

more than 300 complex elements by combining the

four basic elements - fire, earth, water and air. It is

a challenging game that keeps you gripped. It runs

on Android 1.5 and up.

Also check out Unblock Me and Bubble Buster

for more mind bending fun.

Q CASUAL GAMES For the casual gamer who prefers to kill time with-

out getting too drawn into a game, there are apps

like xPiano, RD3 Groovebox and Guitar Solo that

give you the opportunity to create some music of

your own. You can play notes, guitar chords and

drum beats and even record it as reference for

later. Apps like Air Control, Tetris and Untangle

Me are basic logic games that test your organiza-

tional skills. Although there is a high score to con-

tend for, the games have a calming effect and are

perfect for unwinding or keeping you busy when

you're in a waiting room or on the bus.

Q CARD GAMES Solitaire comes with a collection of different for-

mats of the game made famous by Windows, includ-

ing regular, spider, free cell and forty thieves. It is

compatible with all versions of Android.

Live Holdem Poker Pro allows you to play Texas

Hold 'em Poker online with millions of Poker Pros

and beginners. With features like live chat, tour-

nament mode, personal avatars and virtual money

to earn, Live Holdem Poker is the perfect fix for

gambling enthusiasts. There is also Real Blackjack,

which gives you strategy tips and sharpens your

counting skills for the real deal. You can also cus-

tomize your game to add a variety of rules to make

it a challenge.

Q ONLINE MULTIPLAYER GAMES The biggest advantage of Android gaming is that

you can collaborate and compete online with other

real players and some games have harnessed this

opportunity to the fullest. Armored Strike Online

gives you an array of tanks, weapons and terrain

to battle with. The online mode pits you against

other users and adds features like zoom and in-

game chat and statistics like player rankings and

a leaderboard. It can be installed on any Android

operating system and an initial purchase gives

you endless free updates.

Uniwar is an online multiplayer strategy game

in which players take turns building their army

and fighting against each other using the strengths

of their units while taking advantage of the terrain.

You can join several games

to increase your player rat-

ing. It also has a campaign

mode with a worldwide

leaderboard. Although it is

a paid app, it is truly worth

the small price of Rs 250.

The Great Land Grab is

a novel, real-world game

which uses your GPS to

detect your location. The

idea of the game is to claim

the land (via GPS) that

you are located in. As you

travel, you can claim more

land or try to grab the land

owned by someone else.

You can purchase lawyers

and building permits to

buy other parcels of land

near you and build stores

on your land. It's a great

way to travel and see new

places around you.

Other mul t ip layer

online games include Pool

Break Pro and a virtual Uniwar offers online gaming, which Pictionary style What the means you can play against real Doodle?® P l a V e r s '


SHOPPERS' STOP

UPCOMING ANDROID DEVICES

Android Devices On The Horizon With more companies joining the Open Handset Alliance and with Google's new Android 3.0 Honeycomb release, there are some exciting new devices that are about to hit the market. These smartphones and tablets are going to take the market by storm. B Y K U S H A L A M O O W A L A

The screen is the same size and resolution as the Xperia X10. The QWERTY keypad on the X10 has been replaced by a slide-out game controller, and it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. With a BRAVIA Engine powering the screen and a 1 GHz processor, it promises a smooth and clear gaming experience. There are already some games avail-able on demo devices and will soon be available on the Android Market.

Google released Android 2.3 Gingerbread in December 2010, and 3.0 Honeycomb on January 26, so manufacturers are yet to

release their new smartphones and tablets run-ning these operating systems. With an updated user interface, support for extra large screen sizes and improved power management, Gingerbread will give manufacturers the choice to make smart-phones with larger screens and better resolutions and offer higher performance hardware and utili-ties. Honeycomb, on the other hand, is optimized for tablets with support for multi-core processors and 3D graphics. It also offers tabbed browsing and syncing with Google Chrome. Here are a few sup-

ported devices that will be here soon.

Q SONY ERICSSON XPERIA PLAY

With the success of the PSP and PS3, it was only a matter of time before Sony made a PlayStation phone. With the recent reveal of the latest Xperia series phone called Play, they've done just that. The phone was launched on the Feb-ruary 13 at the Mobile World Congress 2011 and is expected in India soon.


SHOPPERS' STOP • •

O MOTOROLA XOOM The Motorola Xoom tablet was unveiled at CES

2011 this January and when Google revealed its

new Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, it was showcased

on the Xoom as well. It runs on Nvidia's Tegra 2

platform, with a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of

RAM, and 32 GB of on-board user memory, plus an

SD card slot. The display measures 10.1 inches, and

it packs a 1280x800 resolution display. Honeycomb

has integrated 3D carousels for music, YouTube,

and Google Books, and the Xoom has integrated

the navigation buttons into the touch interface.

The Xoom and Android 3.0 looks to be a winning

combination. Motorola is said to release the

tablet on February 17 at an estimated price of

$700 (approximately Rs 32,000).

0 LG OPTIMUS 3D LG has followed up on the success of its Opti-

mus phone with the Optimus 3D.It has a 4.3-

inch glasses-free 3D display, which is quite

effective for games and movies and you can

even fi lm your own 3D videos using the dual

camera setup on the back, which you can later

view on a 3D TV via its HDMI port. It runs a dual-

core 1 GHz OMAP 4 processor, dual-channel RAM,

has dual 1080p cameras, and a 4.3-inch 800*480

screen. It has a parallax barrier to create the 3D

effect, which means you no longer need those

annoying 3D glasses. The Optimus 3D is powered

by Android 2.3 Gingerbread and is tipped to begin

shipping in the second quarter of 2011.

Q MOTOROLA ATRIX Motorola's new Atrix is being touted as the world's

most powerful smartphone. It runs on Android

2.2, with HTML5 support, on a dual-core processor

with 1 GB of RAM. It also boasts a browser that's

twice as fast as any competing Web browser. The

shocker though is

that it docks into a

laptop. The Atrix

Webtop Applica-

tion docks your

phone into a lap-

top and uses it to

power the laptop.

It also docks into

an HD dock that

has three USB

ports and an HDMI

port, enabling

connections to a

keyboard, mouse,

speakers and

HDMI-compatible

monitor. There is

still no informa-

tion on an India

release date or

pricing. ©


p L I • • IT YOURSELF

RUN ANDROID OFF A USB DRIVE

LET ANDROID POWER YOUR NETBOOK

just like you can get a live bootable Linux OS on your system without any installation, Android can help you do the same on a non-touch screen device. R e a d o n to know how you can create a live Android OS set right

c ice! B Y K A M A K A S H I S

If you have heard enough about the Android

platform, but are wary about investing in an

Android-powered device, here is one way you

can power up your netbook or laptop with a non-

touch version of Android.

This version, the Android x86, is equivalent to

Android OS version 1.6 (there is a stable release for

version 2.1 and an unstable one for version 2.2 as

well), which was originally called "patch hosting

for Android x86 support".

This project was originally created as a patch

for non-compliant systems to be a part of the

Android technology movement. It offers support

for Intel chipsets to run the platform on devices

• B f l i M H H H i C Distribution Select Distribution 3 J"-Select Wtrsxxi-- 3

Welcome to UtfetaiiQj the Universal Netboot Installer, Usage;

1. Select a distribution and version to download from the list above, or manually specify files to load below,

2. Select an installation type, and press OK to begin instating.

Diskimage p i o 3 j

r~ Show All Drives (Use with Care)

Type: (use Drive ~ ~ ~ 3 £>rive: * 3 „ J 2 L _ j Cancel [

Plug in your USB device and start UNetbootin. Load the ISO and select the device to mount the Android OS.

The system is extremely light and boots up without any delay on an Intel Core 2 Duo-backed system.

like netbooks and tablets, especially those using

Atom processors. Thus you can enjoy Android on

your Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 powered

netbooks and laptps too.

© T H E REQUIRED TOOLS Once you have decided to take Android on a dry

run, you'll need a USB drive with at least 256 MB

of free storage space. It is advisable to back up any

data on it so that this becomes a dedicated boot-

able device for the Android OS.

tNext, you need to arrange for the Android X 86 setup files. Go to http://go.chip.in/nlotp, and save the "android-x86-1.6-r2.iso" file listed under the Stable Release section. Alternatively, you can use


http://go.chip.in/nlotp

DO IT YOURSELF |2fl

the Version 2.2 bridge to mount. For that download the " android-x86-2.2-generic.iso" file instead from the Stable Release section.

Next, mount the ISO file to create a live boot-

able USB drive. Go to http://go.chip.in/lndnf and

save the Windows version of UNetbootin. Now, you

can proceed to turn your USB into a Live Android

OS boot source.

Q SETTING UP THE USB DEVICE Once you have all the required tools set up, pro-

ceed to converting your USB drive into a bootable

Live USB drive. Plug in your USB drive and run the

UNetbootin application. Select the "Diskimage"

option and browse to and load the ISO file. Next,

set the type to "USB Drive" and select the USB

drive from the drop down menu. Click OK, and

your live bootable USB is ready for use.

After all the files are copied, you will be

prompted for a reboot. You can click Reboot to

launch the Android OS right away or you can use it

through the flash drive when required.

Q BOOTING UP THE SYSTEM If you want your system to boot into the Android

OS, you must change the boot sequence. For that,

start your PC and enter the BIOS menus. Set your

flash drive as the booting drive. If your system

doesn't support booting flash drives, you can

directly burn the ISO file on to a CD and use the

CD as a live OS instead.

On booting, select the Live CD, and select the

"Run Android x86 without installation" option.

Being light, it takes little time to load up.

0 SURFING ON ANDROID The Android x 86 extends support to cameras,

Wi-Fi, and more. Although it has been tested on

several platforms with positive results, it may not

work fine with every setup. For instance, we tried

using the setup with a Dell laptop. The camera and

recorder worked fine, but the Wi-Fi options did

not work. Moreover, it requires a SD card to save

data; it doesn't really save or pick up anything

from your hard-drive. Any apps you install will

be available for the current session only, and you

will not find them on reboot. Although Android

does offer a decent surfing experience, it is not

recommended that you install the OS on your

hard disk. ©

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The OS comes with a set of pre-existing apps and widgets. Since it doesn't support Wi-Fi, you might not be able to do much.

Just like in a regular Android device, you can customize the intro screen with widgets.

» ( S 5 3 5

ffl 11:27 PM


http://go.chip.in/lndnf

•• IT YOURSELF

GAIN SUPERUSER ACCESS

GETTING TO THE ROOT OF YOUR ANDROID

The biggest advantage of using a smartphone with an open source OS is the level o f customization you can have with it, that too without too much professional help. Rooting your phone will help you get started. Here's a quick guide to help root your Android device.

B Y K A M A K S H I S

HA t J 1 0 © ' $ 10:05 AM Application settings

Unknown sources I Allow install of non-Market applications ®

Manage applications Manage and remove installed applications

Running services View and control currently running services

Development Set options for application development

To start rooting, you must give access to the external application. For this, keep the 'Unknown sources' option checked.

Unlike jailbreaking, rooting is a perfectly

legal and well promoted process, which

comes with several benefits. For starters

you can upgrade the firmware on your phone to

house the latest operating system. However, if you

are a new user, flashing your memory even with

adequate back up may not be such a smart thing

to do.

O WHAT IS ROOTING? In the simplest of terms, 'rooting' means getting

'superuser' privileges on your Android device.

While the term rooting

is not new for Linux

users, it means gaining

right to script on the

kernel shell. It is similar

Windows administrator

rights in Windows, who

can control every run-

ning aspect that the OS

offers. For most phones,

this root access is not

really encrypted so root

access gives you com-

plete access to every

aspect of your OS.

© W H Y ROOT? With a rooted phone,

you can uninstall

ROM applications that

AS20' Development'

i H B O 21:14 •Hill

USB debugg ing Debug mode when USB Is connected

Stay awake Screen will never sleep while charging

A l l o w mock locat ions Allow mock locations

After collecting the required tools, prepare your phone for rooting by enabling the 'USB Debugging' option.

you don't need, but once these apps have been

removed, you cannot reset your phone to fac-

tory settings for damage control. So when you do

remove an app, make sure that you know it will

not hamper the regular working of your phone,

if upgrading the OS versions gives you the jitters,

you can use apps that need root access to perform

exclusive functions like tethering.

© H O W IS IT DONE? For this demo, we would be rooting a Sony Erics-

son Xperia X10 mini pro that has been upgraded

to Android 2.1 Eclair. The procedure to root the

same phone for Android version 1.6 is the same.


DO IT YOURSELF | 2 f l

However, after every firmware upgrade, you will

have to root your phone. Make sure you back up

your data after every root process.

0 WARMING UP If you wish to start with a firmware upgrade on

your phone right from the vendors, visit http://

go.chip.in/siuty. Download, install and update

your phone using the upgrade offered. Next start

your phone, go to 'Settings | Applications'. Check

on the 'Unknown sources' option. Proceed to the

Development sub menu and turn on the 'USB

Debugging' option.

0 GATHER THE TOOLS Apart from the updates for your phone, you need

to install you phone drivers and the SuperOneClick

tool. You can get the phone drivers from the Sony

Ericsson PC component from http://go.chip.in/

relxm, and you can download the SuperOneClick

tool from http://go.chip.in/lxevg.

Install the phone drivers and plug

in your phone to your PC with the USB

cable. Unzip the contents of the ZIP f i le

and you're ready to start with the rooting

process.

0 ROOTING THE DEVICE Once your phone is connected to your PC, make

sure that the drivers load up and your system

recognizes the device. Start the SuperOneClick

application and click Root.

if it throws up any errors, try rooting the

phone again. If the app goes into a loop instead,

just restart the USB Debugging mode on your

phone while it is still connected to the PC. Once

rooted, your phone will spot a superuser app. You

can now go ahead and explore.

0 BACKING UP DATA Once you have rooted your device, you may want

to upgrade the firmware to the latest version of

Android. It is advisable to back up all you data on

to your SD card with a reliable tool. One such tool

is Titanium Backup Pro.

Priced at Rs 270.22, you would also need the

BusyBox app to help you back up your files. Apart

from these, you'll need a tool to back up your

messages. You can use Backup to Gmail, which is

priced Rs 90.25 and can back up all your messages

and send them to your Gmail account. ©

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a An *su' command wilt now be send to your phone. You might have to Jill seSect Aiiew in Superusec.

A f t e r r oo t i ng , t h e Superuse r icon is m a d e ava i lab le t o your phone. You m i g h t have to g ive t h e app l i ca t i on 'su' r i gh t s t o proceed.


http://go.chip.in/

http://go.chip.in/lxevg

g n DO IT YOURSELF

HOW TO TETHER YOUR ANDROID DEVICE

EXPAND YOUR NET WITH TETHERING

With the advent of 3 G and unbelievably fast Internet speeds from mobile service providers, tethering is going to be a big hit with Android users. Share your service provider's 3 G speeds wirelessly, b y USB or b y Bluetooth; the choice is yours. B Y K U 5 H A L M A M 0 0 W A L A

It gets a little more complicated when you tether

with Windows XP. First, you must download a con-

figuration file tetherxp.inf and save it on your PC.

When you connect you device to your PC with the

USB cable, Windows XP's New Hardware Wizard

will open and ask to install drivers for your new

device. Here, you must manually select and install

the configuration file you have downloaded, which

then configures XP to support USB tethering with

your Android device. It is also worth noting that at

this point, Mac does not support USB tethering.

Turning your FroYo device into a Wi-Fi hotspot

is much quicker and easier. As long as your mobile

phone service has a data plan, all you have to do

is go into the wireless and network settings and

configure your device to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot. You

can leave it as an open access point or even assign a

WPA2 PSK password to restrict access. The advan-

tage of portable Wi-Fi hotspot tethering is that

more than one device can use your Internet at the

same time. It is also easier to tether for Windows

XP and Macintosh users and other cellular devices.

0 TETHERING WITH ECLAIR OR EARLIER

Android operating systems before FroYo did not

have a built in option for tethering, but that doesn't

mean you cannot do it. There are many ways in

which you can still tether your device for Internet

access, either by using tethering apps, rooting your

device, or using a proxy server.

Google has added t e t h e r i n g as a f e a t u r e t o Andro id 2.2 (FroYo).

Tethering basically means using an Internet-

enabled device as a modem for another

device, generally a notebook or a PC. What

this means is that you can ditch your broadband

service and tether your Android device with your

PC and use it a modem, sharing your mobile Inter-

net service between your phone and your PC.

0 TETHERING WITH FROYO Most Android devices in the market today run on

Android 2.1 Eclair or 1.6 Donut and only recently

have newer products running on 2.2 FroYo been

introduced. If you are using an Android FroYo

device, tethering will be pretty easy as it is a

built-in option in your

wireless and network

settings. All you have to

do is choose from teth-

ering it via USB cable or

turning it into a Wi-Fi

hotspot.

Tethering with your

USB cable is simple if

you're running Win-

dows 7, Windows Vista

or Linux. The Android

user's guide gives you

simple, easy to follow

instructions and config-

urations to setup your

device for USB tethering.


DO IT YOURSELF |2fl

TETHERING APP THAT NEEDS ROOT ACCESS Android Wi-Fi Tether is an app that turns your

device into a Wi-Fi hotspot with one simple tap.

There is a fair bit of configuration to be done

before you can get there though. First, you have to

get root access to your device, a fairly complicated,

multi-step process that uses an unofficial Android

add-on, which can turn your device into a brick if

applied incorrectly. You can read the 'Getting to

the root of your Android' article in this issue to get

better information and directions on rooting your

Android device.

Once you have rooted your phone, you must

download and install the Android Wi-Fi Tether app,

which is available at 'http://go.chip.in/wifitether'.

Note that the app is made specific to your device's

hardware and so a different version must be down-

loaded for different devices. This app can now turn

your device into a Wi-Fi hotspot and clients can

connect via ad-hoc Wi-Fi mode or by Bluetooth to

get access to the Internet.

Although this process is free and doesn't require

any extra software or messing with your com-

puter's settings, you can do serious harm to your

Android device if something goes wrong.

TETHERING BY PROXY If you are not confident enough to root your device,

you can try using the Proxoid app to tether your

phone via USB. Proxoid turns your Android device

into a proxy server that your computer uses to

make Internet requests.

The app is currently free on the Android Market,

but to get access to your device's Internet connec-

tion, you need to install the Android SDK or device

drivers onto your computer, tweak some of the

settings, and then configure your browser to use

a proxy server whenever you want to tether. You

can download and install the Android SDK from

the Android for Developers page or get a modi-

fied version for Proxoid from http://go.chip.in/

proxoid-sdk. Once installed, connect your device

via USB and set it so that the USB debugging option

is turned on.

Now you must configure your browser to use a

proxy server to connect to the Internet. Proxoid

uses the server name "localhost" and port "8080".

You also need to run a batch file named "start-

tunnel.bat" in the "proxy-adb" folder. Once the

proxy settings have been done, all you have to do

is run Proxoid on your device and check "Start

Proxoid". This method

is completely free and

relatively easier than

rooting your device,

but it does require

installing the Android

SDK software on your

computer and changing

your browser's proxy

settings each time you

want to tether.

TETHERING APP WITHOUT ROOT By far the easiest

method for tethering

is by using the PDANet

app. The free version of

the app gives you access

to all basic websites and

gives you limited 14-day access to secure (https)

websites. The full version is currently priced at $24

(approx Rs 1,125).

You can find both versions of the app on the

Android Market and you will also need to install

the PC software from the PDANet website. Once

you have installed the app and the software, all

you need to do is make one small adjustment

to your phone's settings by checking the "USB

debugging" option in your device's development

settings. Now connect your device to your com-

puter, run the PDANet app, and select "Enable USB

tether".

There is also an option

for Bluetooth tethering if

you wish to tether your

device wirelessly. Now run

the PDANet software on

your computer, right-click

on the icon in the system

tray, select "Connect" from

the pop-up menu, and

you're ready to surf.This

is the quickest and easiest

method for tethering, but

if you want access to secure

sites such as online bank-

ing and credit card pay-

ment pages, you will need

to spend approximately Rs

1,200 to buy the full version

from the PDA Net website.

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© j - f M J M e t I d 9:58 AM

Version 2.16

PdaNet is currently turned off. Please turn it on before connecting from the computer end.

<D Help PDA Net is the easiest way to tether your device via USB or Bluetooth.


http://go.chip.in/wifitether'

http://go.chip.in/

AO TECH TALK

CAREERS IN APP DEVELOPMENT

GIVE YOUR CAREER AN 4 While there are many great apps that have been developed for smartphones, this is clearly a market with lots of growth potential, especially a s smartphone functionality continues to evolve. And with growing demand for apps comes an increase in career opportunities for mobile app developers. B Y K U S H A L M A M O O W A L A

Salil Bhargaua.CEO and spokesperson, Jump Games

Mobile app development is

quickly turning into one

of the hottest IT sectors.

Android is currently the second

highest selling mobile phone OS and

gaining popularity according to a

study from Gartner Inc. Gartner also

claims that $15.9 billion is expected

in end-user spending in 2012 alone

and mobile apps will soon drive hard-

ware sales, advertising spending and

technology innovations.

In addition, Android's open source

code enables developers all over the world to put

their programming skills to use and develop their

apps individually. Several app and game develop-

ment companies have sprung up in the recent past

and developers are quickly growing in numbers in

India and all over the world.

Google and the Android website already pro-

vide users with a software development kit (SDK).

Application programming is generally done in

Java and the advent and adoption of HTML5 into

Web browsers and mobile Web browsers means a

sound knowledge in HTML5 and Java is critical for

future Android app developers.

It is vital to understand the user experience as

these apps are much more user driven than tradi-

tional softwares.

We spoke with Salil Bhargava, CEO and spokes-

person for Jump Games about the prospects of

mobile phone app development.

® How much growth have you seen in the recent years in the mobile app market? Has the growth of tablets also added to the enthusi-asm? © There has been a significant

growth in the mobile industry,

which has also had a positive impact

on the mobile app industry. The

smartphone segment has seen an

exponential growth in the consump-

tion of mobile apps in the past couple

of years. The growth of tablets has definitely added

to the enthusiasm, with companies like Apple

and Google launching tablets that offer iOS and

Android apps respectively.

® How much has the Android phenom-enon influenced this growth? © The Android phenomenon has had a significant

impact on the growth of mobile apps, with a lot of

developers focusing on the Android platform to

leverage their product offering.

® How much app support do you pro-vide to Android users? © We believe that it is a very key market for us

and so we make sure that every game we develop

at Jump Games is also available on the Android

platform. Android is vital in terms of our product

strategy and roadmap going forward.


TECHTRLK 41

MDROID JOLT

® Considering that an open source OS has frequent version upgrades, is it diffi-cult or easy to adapt to the changes of a popular app? © Adaptation to changes and upgrades is an ongo-

ing process for any mobile app as the platform for

which it has been developed evolves. With business

and technology trends changing on a regular basis,

it is imperative to keep updating your app to meet

the market requirement.

@ When you have apps which have been a major hit across platforms, is it more difficult or easier to maintain their popularity? © It is both actually. While the popularity of the

app will help in getting the extra push in acquir-

ing new users and thereby keeping the app up the

popularity charts, it is also an ongoing process to

keep updating the app (it could be by adding new

features, additional levels, new game modes, etc)

to retain user interest and keep them coming back

for more.

With companies integrating social networking,

navigation and documentation apps into their

devices, there is a lot of scope for other apps and

games to be integrated as well. Developers that

stay abreast of the latest technologies and inno-

vations could make their apps stand out from the

rest of the pack. ©

TOP 10 APP CATEGORIES FOR 2012 • Location-based services (LBSs) - Location is one of the main

enablers t ha t deliver services to users, and Gartner expects the to ta l user base of consumer LBSs to reach 1.4 billion users by 2014.

• Social networking - Social ne twork p la t fo rms are sucking in increasing amoun t s of ne twork t ra f f ic . They are becoming portals, t rans i t hubs and cloud storage for increasing amoun ts of messaging and e-mai l t ra f f ic , videos, photos, games and commerce.

• Mobile search - Visual search is usually related w i t h product search to enable price compar isons or to check product in format ion. This wou ld al low users to take act ions based on the result, like making a call or reservat ion, buying a t icket, placing an order, and so on.

• Mobile commerce - Over the next 24 months , Gartner expects the emergence of uniquely mobi le funct ions, such as the abil i ty to "check in" to a store to add i tems to a shopping cart s imply by tak ing a photo of an i tem or bar code in the physical store.

• Mobile payment - In order to get consumers on board, payment solut ion providers need to address ease-o f -use for users and ease-o f - imp lementa t ion for cus tomers w i t h o u t compromis ing security.

• Context-aware service - Context -aware appl icat ions provide improved user experiences by using in format ion about a person's intent ions, history, env i ronment , schedule, connect ions and preferences to ant ic ipate their needs and proact ively serve the most appropr iate content , product, or service.

• Object recognition (OR) - High-end devices have increased sensor and processing capabi l i ty to enable sophist icated appl icat ions recognize the user's surroundings, including objects of interest.

• Mobile instant messaging (MIM) - Gartner expects MIM to attract consumers to new types of unif ied communicat ion (UC) clients, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers such as Skype.

• Mobile e-mail - Gartner expects mobi le e -mai l users wor ldwide to increase f r o m 354 mil l ion in 2009 to 713 mil l ion in 2014. E-mai l addresses are personal and potent ial ly very sticky, thus provide carriers, e -mai l service providers and OTT players w i t h an oppor tun i t y to lock in consumers.

• Mobile video - Devices w i t h larger screens of fer the ideal p la t form for video consumpt ion and w i t h careful market ing and consumer education. Gartner believes t ha t carriers and content providers wou ld be able to drive mobi le video usage in the coming years.

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42 TECHTRLK

DEVELOPING ANDROID APPS

GEAR UP: ANDROID A With the constant rise in the number of tablets and smartphones powered by Android, switching to app development in the Android space makes sense. Moreover, since the OS is based on another open-source operating system, Linux, migrating might not be as cumbersome as you may have imagined.

B Y K A M A K A S H I 5

Android has become a very exciting plat-

form for budding developers to challenge

their Java skills. Although the technology

is quite recent, its success has been booming to

say the least.

With a plethora of apps already available on

the Android Market and users flocking to buy

Android-based devices, now is the right time to

put your Java skills to good use. Here's all you

need to know about Android:

Q OPEN-SOURCE Since the technology is projected as being open-

source, you can modify the source code for any

personal use without any legal violation. The

operating system itself is a code combination of

C and Java, just like Linux, which is also coded

mainly on C.

As a developer, you can contribute not just to

app development, but also to develop add-ons and

plug-ins that can help the system become a bit

more robust.

THE OPEN HANDSET ALLIANCE What makes Android a better environment for

application development is the open handset alli-

ance that Google has entered into with 80 tech-

nology and mobile companies. Not only can you

switch between phone and port data with ease,

but as an app developer, the number of downloads

for your app can also grow wider because the

technology is in its original form across devices.

While there are things like form factor and

hardware composition to worry about, the com-

patibly issues are ironed out by the Android SDK

itself, as the relevant compatibly packages are

made available in the source code by default.

THE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE As knowledge of modification to the source code

of the OS is irrelevant while you develop the apps,

you don't really need to master C.

You only need to be proficient in Java,

because the OS features a modified Java Runtime

Environment called as the Android Execution

Environment, thus making its installation and

upgrade process convenient.

However, there are certain preset guidelines

that your app needs to follow if you wish for it to

run on the target devices with ease.

GARNERINGTHE ARMOR Once you have decided to take the Android road

to app development, you will realize that the SDK

is designed to make the process as comfortable as

can be. To start off, you would need the Android

SDK and AVD Manager to utilize the latest tools or

platform.


I l - l_ l I • n u i \ -T-rf

»P DEVELOPMENT 101

Sachin Pandit

Begin with the standard Android SDK package.

You can install it from http://developer.android.

com/sdk/index.html depending on the OS of the

system that you need to develop your app. if you

are confused about which Integrated Develop-

ment Environment (IDE) to use, you can settle for

Eclipse.

To run the Eclipse IDE, you would need to

equip your machine with Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede)

or greater and the Eclipse JDT plugin, JDK 5 or

JDK 6 (just the JRE alone would not work) and

the Android Development Tools plugin. You will

find the Eclipse tools at http://www.eclipse.org/

downloads/.

While there are many packages that you

can use from the site, the one recommend on

the Android Developer forum consists of the

following utilities:

• Eclipse IDE for Java Developers

• Eclipse Classic (versions 3.5.1 and higher)

• Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers

Other IDEs that you can opt for include Apache

Ant 1.8 or later, IntelliJ or Emacs. However, the

Android SDK is not compatible with Gnu Compiler

for Java (gcj).

Once you have all the tools in place, you

need to check your computer's hardware

profile before you start the coding process.


http://developer.android

http://www.eclipse.org/

44 ItCMTHLK

SETTING UP YOUR SYSTEM The Android SDK, its specified plug-ins and IDEs

can work fine with Windows, Mac OS and Linux

operating systems which support 32-bit applica-

tions. It can work with Windows XP (32-bit), Vista

(32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit), Mac

OS X 10.5.8 or x86, Ubuntu Linux version 8.04 or

later, or Lucid Lynx, which comes equipped with

the GNU C Library (glibc) 2.7 or later.

You will require between 195-600 MB of free

space for the tools, apart from the required

tools mentioned in the previous section. All the

specified tools can be found at http://developer.

android.com/sdk/index.html.

CRACKING THE CODE Once you have your system set, you need to start

developing your app. You can either develop a

standalone utility app or a service that runs in

the background.

If you are planning to contribute to make the

source code to the Android OS better instead, you

can either send forth reports or send bug fixes, or

add to the tools and utilities in the form of plug-

ins, services and apps. For details on how you can

contribute to the open source project of Android,

visit http://source.android.com/index.html

The apps that are compatible with Android

devices need to work efficiently in the Android

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execution environment, and hence the first

requirement is that it needs to be compiled in an

.APK file format.

While this is a mandate, another mandate is to

code the required manifest files with the required

details. These manifest files will help make the

app available only for those devices which fulfill

the required hardware, OS version, and form fac-

tor values.

While these mandates have to be followed by

you as an app developer, the official forum has

also put up certain practices that can help you

make your app more efficient and hence more

popular when you put it on the Market.

These practices include designing apps that

don't drain the battery, have a good response

time, and don't crash. For more details, you

can visit http://developer.android.com/guide/

index.html.

The process for putting your apps up for sale

or free distribution is explained in detail in the

article titled " " in this issue.

TESTING YOUR FINAL PRODUCT Like every other software that you code, it is a

good practice to test your product on the coding

level (white box testing) and also with sample

values once the app is ready (black box testing).

The SDK and Eclipse IDE provide you with a strong

set of tools to not only test your apps, but to also

debug them with efficiency and ease if you detect

any code errors on final testing.

When you carry out black box testing on your

app, you can figure out a simulation on how the

app would run on your target user's device. Thus,

you can not only avoid unwanted forced shut

downs of your app, but you can also create regu-

lar fixes and patches if your app has developed a

runtime error reported by users after it has been

released.

SHARING SUCCESS If you find it difficult to code and need some

inspiration to continue your app journey, there

are several reference libraries, video tutorials and

blog posts that can come to your rescue. These

include developer tips and talks with successful

app makers, and they will keep you updated on

new features and plug-ins that can help you code

your apps better. ©


http://developer

http://source.android.com/index.html

http://developer.android.com/guide/

I C(_n iHLft 1 3

A GATHERING FOR UBUNTU DEVELOPERS

India's First Ubuntu Developer Day In an effort to unify developers and open source partners, Canonical hosted its inaugural Ubuntu Developer Day in Bangalore. B Y K A M A K S H I 5

Jon Melamut, VP Product and Sales, OEM Services, Canonical delivered the keynote speech at the event.

W i t h the meteoric rise in interest sur-

rounding Android technologies, it was

the turn of another Linux based oper-

ating system to take the spotlight. The end of

January saw India's first inaugural Ubuntu Devel-

oper Day. Canonical, which provides Ubuntu solu-

tions worldwide, launched the first ever Ubuntu

Developer Day in Bangalore. There were several

presentations for technologies, including Ubuntu,

Ubuntu uTouch and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

There were also demonstrations on platforms like

the Ubuntu Netbook Edition, Ubuntu Light, and

Ubuntu 10.10.

"We were very pleased with the interaction at

the event and the opportunity to update this very

important audience for Ubuntu," said Jon Mela-

mut, VP Product and Sales, OEM Services, Canoni-

cal. He went on to add, "We were expecting around

200 people, so to get at least a 50 percent increase

on our forecast shows the popularity of Ubuntu in

a key country like India with its huge potential for

users and developers on open platforms." ©

The day long event saw many enthusiastic Ubuntu developers coming together. The question-answer sessions saw a healthy exchange of ideas.


46 TECHTRLK

CAREERS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MCA: BUILD A CAREER IN IT If you didn't get into the engineering college of your choice, don't lose hope. You can opt for an MCA degree instead and still have a bright career in IT. B Y P R I Y A N K A T I L V E

MCA, or Master of Computer Appli-

cation, is a post graduate degree

that is quite popular amongst those

with IT backgrounds as well as those new to

the field. It's an extensive three-year mas-

ters program divided into six semesters that

grooms you into a full-fledged IT professional.

The course is developed in sync with the latest

trends in IT and covers areas like software devel-

opment, systems management, systems develop-

ment, systems engineering, application software,

management information systems (MIS), hardware

technology, networking, etc.

WHY MCA? After having successfully completed the MCA

course, a student can establish a career as a Soft-

ware Programmer, Software Engineer, Software

Developer, Systems Analyst, Software Application

Architect, Software Consultant, etc.

Thiruvengadam P, Leader, Human Capital Advi-

sory Services, Deloitte in India says there is a

healthy demand for MCAs in the industry. "An

MCA is a person who has either a skill of develop-

ing a system into proper code or can be trained

and developed in any area of IT, like testing,

programming, etc. A person who has certain

limitations of getting into good quality engineer-

ing colleges could opt for MCA as it gives them a

definite career opportunity. After three years of

MCA, you would definitely have a job. They can

further do additional courses to enhance their job

prospects and qualifications."

Gaurav Sharma, who completed his MCA from

Uttar Pradesh Technical University in 2006 and

now works as Senior Software Engineer with SAIC

India, agrees with him, "You start working in

the third year of MCA itself, so it actually comes

to two years. You save one year and earn money

as well. Since you've done masters in computers,

you are supposed to be already groomed in terms

of technical and professional aspects. Most com-

panies don't groom their MCA freshers on how to

deal with the client. It's all expected from them."

He states further, "Stepping into the market

having a MCA degree opens many doors for you.

You can go for research work, pure development,

support and maintenance, application enhance-

ment, testing, and even teaching. In MCA, you are

supposed to study 36 subjects in an elaborative

manner. These 36 subjects help you choose your

subject for research and teaching and for develop-

ment. In MCA, you need to complete two profes-

sional trainings, which give you a very clear idea

about the current market trends. So having prior

knowledge in the area you'll be working in helps

you in searching for the right job."

WHO CAN CHOOSE MCA? It's a degree anyone can pursue regardless of their

educational background. Gaurav says, "I wanted

to do something in my career which is related

to the computers. I have done B.Sc. and I wanted

to do a professional course that would give me

good exposure to computers. As I had no IT back-

ground, MCA proved to be a very good platform

for me, because the first semester gave me ample

time to bridge the gap."

On the other hand, Thiruvengadam P feels that

MCA is also a great and easy option for those who

could not get into engineering. "MCA is an easier

option. Engineering has problems associated with

it in terms of fees, the ability to get into the right

institution, and so on. The number of people who


TECH TALK 47

have got the basic skills like numerical analysis

and aptitude can opt for MCA instead of engineer-

ing, which focuses on learning a lot more than

what is required for coding in the IT industry. Also,

the private institutes that offer courses similar to

MCA have tie-ups with companies for placement,

which is good. So before opting for an institute,

you should check their records, credentials, place-

ments, etc."

GROWTH PROSPECTS "An MCA fresher starts as a programmer and

acquires additional skills as they interact with

their teams. They would move on to becom-

ing analysts, architects or senior programmers

and, in the long term, even project managers.

However, they could hit the ceiling in terms of

growth because of their non-engineering back-

ground, but if they are smart enough, they can

easily surpass it. It all depends on their skills,"

Thiruvengadam P says.

Gaurav agrees. "The very first advantage is that

MCA is a masters degree that helps in building your

career. For instance, if you have completed B.Tech

or BE, after a particular stage, your growth can

stagnate, so if you want to be a project manager

or head of a particular department, you won't be

given preference. At that stage, you would need to

take admission in some distance learning course to

be the eligible for that post. But with a MCA degree,

you have the advantage of having the required edu-

cational experience. So according to me, MCA is a

complete package."

QUALIFICATIONS AND ENTRANCE EXAM There are many institutes that offer MCA courses

across India, and these courses are accredited

by the All India Council for Technical Education

(AICTE), New Delhi. It's a post graduate course and

a candidate has to appear for a written entrance

exam. Candidates have to secure 50 percent or

above in their Bachelors or equivalent degree. Some

universities may also require the candidate to have

studied mathematics during graduation.

There are two kinds of entrance exams - one

is the common entrance exam like NIMCET con-

ducted by the NITs, while institutes like the

Symbiosis (Pune), Birla Institute of Technology

(Ranchi), etc. conduct their own entrance exams.

Additionally states like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa

and Maharashtra also conduct their own common

entrance exams. Even though there are different

entrance exams, the content is more or less the

same. It tests the candidates for mathematical,

logical, analytical, basic computers and general

knowledge.

Gaurav has a word of advice for those wanting

to pursue an MCA degree. "Work hard in the first

and second semester, because the study method

and preparation mechanism for exams is very dif-

ferent in MCA. These two semesters are the foun-

dations of your degree. Students should normally

start preparing for the entrance exam of MCA in

the years of graduation itself. Elite institutes offer

a very good environment to study and handsome

employment opportunities through campus place-

ments. If non-IT students study the basics of C, C++

(or any other computer language), it will work to

their advantage, since many universities include

these languages in their entrance exam." ©

SOME INSTITUTES OFFERING MCA

• Delhi Ins t i tu te of Advanced Studies, New Delhi

• Univers i ty of Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

• ICFAI Universi ty, Tr ipura • Fergusson College, Pune • Annamala i Universi ty, Ch i tambaram,

Tamil Nadu. • Apeejay Ins t i tu te of Technology, Noida,

U t ta r Pradesh. • Bangalore Ins t i tu te of Technology,

Bangalore. • Pune Universi ty, Pune, Maharash t ra . • 5IES College of Managemen t Studies,

Nerul, Navi M u m b a i • Sinhgad Ins t i tu te of Managemen t and

compute r appl icat ion, Pune • Veermata Jijabai Technological Ins t i tu te ,

Mumba i • Ins t i tu te of In fo rmat ion Technology and

Managemen t , New Delhi • N i rma Ins t i tu te of Technology,

Ahmedabad, Gujarat. • Banaras Hindu Universi ty, Varanasi ,

U t ta r Pradesh. • MET Ins t i tu te of Computer Science,

Bandra, Mumba i • Indira Gandhi Nat ional Open Univers i ty

(IGNOU)

INTELUGENTCOMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT < MARCH 2011

48 TECHTRLK

INNOVATIONS

A BIONIC ARM FOR THE DISABLED Robotic prosthetics can be life changers for those with physical disabilities, but such technology demands a hefty price, which not many can afford. Nitesh Kumar Jangir shows us an economical alternative and explains the working of his robotic bionic arm.

B Y K A M A K A S H I S

N I T E S H K U M A R J A N G I R

Ni tesh holds a B.E. in E lec t ron ics &

Communicat ion Engineer ing f r om RGPV

University of Technology of Madhya Pradesh,

Bhopal. His other projects include infrared

music transistor, PLCC with microcontrollers,

DTMF controlled UMV, automatic CCTV, and

automatic currency checker. An avid robotics

enthusiast, he has attended training programs

in Texas Instruments 32-bit microcontroller

and several others as well.

Physical disabilities are hard to cope with,

especially if you've been used to life with

normal motor skills. While prosthetics is

the way forward, the huge costs mean that it isn't

the most viable option. However, Nitesh Kumar

Jangir from RGPV Bhopal has designed a robotic

bionic arm with advanced sensors, which is not

only useful but also economical for people with

disabilities.

His project has been entered into various com-

petitions, including Prayas at IITB, IIT KGP and an

international conference at Nirma University. It

has also cleared round one of the Intel Embedded

Challenge.

> THE IDEA Although it is not rare to find disabled people

with artificial limbs, the numbers are still rela-

tively small because of the high price and cost of

maintenance. Nitesh explains, "Prosthetics give

new life to a person with physical disability, if a

person loses his arm in an accident, an artificial

body part is a boon to them. "

He goes on to add, "Development in the field of

prosthetics has been going on for a long time and

many people are using these arms, but these are

still out of the reach of many people due to their

high cost and unavailability of proper resources,

so people who can't afford them remain handi-

capped. This led me to develop my bionic arm,

which is of low cost and can work like costly

prosthetics."


> THE GENERAL IMPACT OF THE PROJECT

While an arm equipped with complex neural

networks or artificial intelligence technologies

can be most convenient, they are also expensive

to develop. Talking about his creation, Nitesh

explains, "This robotic arm works on the galvanic

response of the human body. Due to the response

of the skin and muscle tissue to these external

and internal stimuli, the resistance can vary.

When correctly calibrated, the galvanic skin

response can measure these subtle differences.

The galvanic skin response, known as GSR, is

highly sensitive to emotions for some people. I

have used this concept for this project, where I

have calibrated this arm to the human body. It

is not just a simple robot arm with embedded sen-

sors, but it can also intimate the wearer about the

temperature of objects. The idea was to design an

arm similar to those made using neural technol-

ogy, but only cheaper".

> THE DESIGN Nitesh describes what is required to work such

a complex system. "The system requires eight

electrodes, foot Opamp, one ATMEGA16 micro-

controller, five servo motors, one LM35, one LCD

screen (which I used from my Nokia 3310 handset),

one Bluetooth or infrared-based wireless control

and one GSM module."

A working module of the artifical arm, which is powered by a mobile phone.

The entire setup of the bionic arm, including all the required components and cicruitry.

> THE WORKING The system consists of two components, the bri-

quetting machine and a crushing machine. Nitesh

elaborates, "The main functionality of this arm

depends on galvanic response of skin. Galvanic

skin response, also known as electro dermal

response (EDR), psycho galvanic reflex (PGR), or

skin conductance response (SCR), is a method of

measuring the electrical resistance of the skin.

There has been a long history of research on elec-

trodermal activity, most of it dealing with spon-

taneous fluctuations. This product takes galvanic

skin response as input for the product and facili-

tates movements."

"To measure this response, I have designed

a circuit with electrodes and a powerful ampli-

fier using an operation amplifier. This amplifier

increases the sensitivity of the signal to something

that can be easily evaluated for decision making.

The data is fed to a microcontroller unit accord-

ing to the predefined conditions and data comes

from a galvanic response meter device, which will

move the servo motors connected to this micro-

controller unit."

He adds, "The muscle re-innervations proce-

dure allows the re-routed nerves to grow into the

chest muscle and direct the signals to the robotic

arm through the surface electrodes. A power-

ful sensor like LM35 helps to detect temperature

variations. Depending on the use of microcon-


50 TECHTRLK

trollers, the count of servo motors can be altered,

but five motors is required for the basic hand

movement mechanism. The most important part

of the system is to program the microcontroller in

accordance with the GSR inputs. This is achievable

using winavr (for avr series). A single servo motor

can normally move up to 1.5 kg, so a combination

of five can easily carry out the work with usually

associated with the working of an arm.

> PRACTICAL APPLICATION The usefulness of this project is very evident, and

needs no further reiteration. However, you cannot

qualify its success unless it has been tested in real

life situations. Nitesh agrees and says, "For check-

ing it's practicality, I went through a long process

of testing. This involved visiting hospitals and

testing it on real patients. My prototype uses three

movements (upper, lower and hand grip) that can

work efficiently with a power supply of 9 volts. For

more movements, more servo motors and switch

mode power supply needs to be added."

"Each arm needed to be specifically crafted for

the person it was tested on. After initial difficul-

ties and with a little bit of practice, they found the

system very helpful. As per out test records, our

system scored 70 percent in handling abilities,

and 74 percent reliability, with a response time of

4 milliseconds. He added."

While this is a prototype of the arm, it provides near accurate data recordings.

> FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY Nitesh reminds us that one of the important fac-

tors considered for the project is its financial

viability. "The cost of this product depends upon

the configuration that is required. Minimum cost

with essential functionalities is between Rs 8,000

and Rs 10,000, which is quite economical. This is

because we used simple technology and cost effec-

tive components." ©

A visual interpretation of a bionic arm attached to a severed human hand.

The complex circuitry helps to generate movements and reflexes that are senstive to temprature changes.


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