If you are an owner of last year’s cutting edge line of Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy S series, especially Sprint’s Epic, you might be wondering why your device is so late in getting 2.3 Gingerbread. After all, one year old is not completely obsolete in the tech world, and yet the Samsung Galaxy S devices seem to have been forgotten almost immediately when it comes time to upgrade the system, with other models getting the Gingerbread love first. In fact, 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich has recently been released on newer devices, while the Epics are still sporting 2.2 Froyo. It’s only been fairly recently that AT&T, Verizon and TMobile have finally pushed Gingerbread out to their Galaxy S devices.

Typically when a device is two releases of an OS behind other devices, it is usually because the hardware itself isn’t capable of handling the new OS, especially if the processor is lacking. But this isn’t the case with the Galaxy S series, which should be powerful enough to run the latest versions of Android. Thankfully, though, Gingerbread is slowly arriving, so if you are impatient, know that you have two options: to wait for the over the air update from your carrier, or you can install the carrier specific software for your device yourself. As of now, Sprint is still the only carrier that hasn’t completed pushing Gingerbread out to the Galaxy S Epics, so if you have one, you might not have the upgrade yet while your buddy does.

Most people who are uncomfortable fiddling with their devices might be reluctant to install the system themselves, preferring instead to wait for their carriers to push out the update to their devices. However, if you want to install Gingerbread on your device now, it is a fairly simple process.

To begin with, go to Settings, About Phone and look at Firmware Version to see what version of Android you are running. From there, go to System updates to see if you already have the current version of Android 2.3. If you do, then you need read no further. Select “Update Firmware” if you do not see the most current version, and perhaps the update will install automatically. If it does not, you will have to manually install the system.

The official Sprint update is the EI22 build, and can be found here:

http://android.clients.google.com/packages/ota/sprint_samsung_d700/a5ff039a0c97.SPH-D700_update_EC05_to_EI22.zip

“Copy this to your root of your sd card and rename it to update.zip, then shut down your phone and boot into recovery by holding voldown+camera+power. Choose to flash update.zip when the choice comes up. Make a note, though, that this is not rooting your phone, and it will not give you root. It is only installing the official version of Gingerbread to your phone.”

This means that any pre-loaded Sprint bloat-ware will also be included. Always remember to back up your data before attempting any major upgrade or modification to your phone!

It is no secret that with smart phones, one of their biggest weaknesses is that they are so easily prone to being hacked. Android has taken quite a few black eyes due to the fact that it is such an open system that hackers love to install their own malware hidden in many different applications, something to which Apple has gloated over. However, recently no one was gloating when it was revealed that  all four major US carriers had installed an application called Carrier IQ into their phones for the purpose of monitoring customers.

Previously it was not unheard of to find tracking software installed via various applications and third party vendors, but they were usually device-specific, and easily solved by removing the app from the device and the Market. This seemed to be a case here, where the carriers themselves installed tracking software onto their devices without informing customers that the software existed. Naturally, their explanations seem to be quite benign, and they say that they were only collecting information to better serve customers. However there aren’t many people out there that enjoy having their actions on their computing devices monitored, no matter what the cause.

The application simply makes a log of all actions performed on the device,  whether the texting application was being used or  other similar actions. This data is then sent to the networks, which then, supposedly, give the carriers statistical information on the data usage habits of their Smartphone clients.

The revelation of the existence of carrier IQ caused such an uproar that within a matter of weeks,  Sprint had already removed it from most of their devices. Not every carrier, however, agrees that it is such a big deal or thinks there’s any reason to be concerned. Your device may still have Carrier IQ on it and it is up to you to decide whether you want to continue allowing it to record your movements or to remove it from your device.

With Android, the removal process for carrier IQ can be fairly simple depending on what device you have.  iPhone users are having many more roadblocks given the proprietary nature of their devices. To remove carrier IQ from your device follow these instructions:

If your device is rooted, downloading the Logging TestApp Pro, the paid version, will allow you to remove Carrier IQ as an option. The app is only $1, so many people consider it a worthy investment. Likewise, if you are rooted, flashing a custom ROM like Cyanogen will also remove the problem, since Cyanogen doesn’t include Carrier IQ in its package. Unfortunately, at the moment, it appears that only rooting your phone will give you the option to manually remove Carrier IQ, though many other carriers are following suit after Sprint and voluntarily removing it themselves. AT&T has already begun the process.

Most likely it is the truth that carriers were merely collecting information about users so that they can develop procedures to better serve their users. However being tracked in any way is nothing to take lightly. The very fact that users were probably not aware that they were even being tracked, and their data habits monitored by the carriers is disturbing. Some people are not bothered by the sort of thing, preferring instead to let the carriers collect what data they need. However, if this bothers you the removal of carrier IQ might be in your best interest.

There’s no question that applications and programs that allow you to talk to your computer or mobile device have their merits and their uses. For a number of years, a program known as Dragon Dictation has been a leading program in cutting edge technology in speech recognition. People have used this kind of program for many uses ranging from writing academic papers, taking inventory, and dictating eBooks, especially while multitasking, perhaps with such things as chores around the house.

Dragon Dictation recently made an application for the iPhone. However, it has yet to create an Android equivalent. This has been of some irritation to Android users who would like to have such a program for their own uses. However, until Dragon Dictation releases an application for Android, Android users have had to make do with what they can find. The best application that can step up to the bar set by Dragon Dictation is an application called Dictadroid. Like Dragon, this particular application recognizes your voice and translates what you say into text. When you have completed what you want to say, there are any number of ways that you can process it, such a sending e-mail text or even posting on Facebook. While Dictadroid’s interface is not quite as clean as Dragon’s, is still very easy to use.

Dictadroid comes with many features, such as a pause and resume feature, playback of a recording and insert or note writing mode, plus you can share it by e-mail, multimedia text or save the audio files in wav format. You can also sort your recordings by date or by title and even insert pictures.

There is both a free and paid for version of this application, and the Android Market and the Amazon Appstore. According to the user reviews for this application, is had such uses as doctors dictating their patients consultations and notes, as well as using it to write a book. There are any number of ways a program like this can prove to be useful, sometimes not until you start using it. Head on over and grab this app, you’ll never know when it might be easier for you to speak instead of type.

For those who have chosen to root their Android devices and try out a custom made ROM over their carrier-installed ROMs, most prefer the Cyanogen build. Cyanogen is a version of Android that has been tweaked by developers, and usually removes carrier-imposed limitations such as locking out tethering, includes features not always offered in official carrier releases, removes carrier installed apps called “bloatware.” It improves the system overall to be sleek, efficient and easier on the devices than the carrier specific ROMS. Usually the most current version of Cyanogen is also based on the most current version of Android being released on the carriers. CyanogenMod7 was based on 2.3 Gingerbread.

As of November 2011, developers have now begun work on CyanogenMod 9. What this version will include is still up for speculation, but some rumors are already hitting the Internet. With the release of 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, the developers have been hard at work to offer the Cyanogen after market version of this release for Android devices. Since 2.4 upgrades or even depreciates certain features last tweaked in CyanogenMod 7, the developers are going back to the drawing board to redo these features and remove any redundancy. The biggest challenges are with the camera applications, since 2.4 upgraded several things in the code for the camera, and CyanogenMod will need to answer these changes.

CyanogenMod 9 is already running for Nexus S, which is giving beta testers first glimpse at what can be expected in the release. Since Ice Cream Sandwich is basically a merging of 2.3 Gingerbread and 3.0 Honeycomb for tablets, the interface is expected to mimic Honeycomb to a certain extent. Features will include facial recognition, over clocking the processor for faster performance, and USB hosting.

One of the stronger points about installing any version of CyanogenMod is that the developers tend to update it faster and more frequently than the carriers do their versions of the Android system, which is useful if a particularly nasty new malware hits the air, or if users find the need for a particular feature that the Cyanogen developers can roll out faster than the carriers will, as the carriers tend to update Android once every year and a half on average.

If you have a Nexus S or Galaxy S series device, the alpha testing for CyanogenMod 9 is already underway, so if you are interested in checking it out, go right ahead. Just be forewarned that to use CyanogenMod, you will need to root your device. There is also some risk in trying out a ROM that is still in the alpha stage, as there will be several bugs in the system that you will discover and need to report to developers who will iron them out before releasing the official version. If you aren’t scared of rooting your device and installing custom ROMS, however, CyanogenMod is a great choice and version 9 looks to be the best release yet.

Having difficulty working up the nerve to root your Android device? For many people, the idea of rooting their Android device can be somewhat overwhelming if it comes down to the technological difficulties. However, many people wonder if it’s legal to root the device at all, and this is what holds them up. Android itself was designed as a system that could be hacked and tweaked. However, the carriers may disagree, and often say things and take such actions as to imply that it is illegal, when in fact it is not. Despite with the carriers would have you believe, it is actually not illegal, or in any way unjust, to hack or root your device. Carriers discourage it, however, because often they have locked out certain features that they would rather you pay for that rooting or hacking unlock and allow you to use without their consent.

One of the most heavily pressured users of Smartphones are iPhone users, who are strongly discouraged by AT&T,  to not hack or jailbreak their devices. This is because Apple would rather maintain some level of control of the devices, even after they have been sold. Apple and AT&T were not above threatening or outright implying that to fool around with the operating system of iPhones was illegal, scaring users from fiddling too much with the device, and it took a federal ruling to rule that it was actually not illegal for users to alter their devices as they see fit. Of course, this did not stop Apple from retaliating by making it difficult to update the devices or by removing the jailbreak in future upgrades the operating system.

In July of 2012, federal regulators ruled that it was lawful to hack your smart phone while Apple claims that this was violating its “business model” and that they were only protecting that business model. This is a sharp contrast to the Android operating system, which often encourage hacking the system itself, while the carriers that carried the Android devices were not so thrilled about the prospect. The carriers would rather lock the system and charge for features such as creating your own Wi-Fi hotspot from your device, while the Android developers see it as a means of evolution of the software, making the system itself better through tweaking.

Some carriers of argued that it violates copyright restrictions, but the Library of Congress overruled this. They said that it does not violate copyright as the laws currently read. It does, however, void the warranty, which is to be expected if you plan on hacking your device.

This ruling allowed for many people to unlock their phones entirely, freeing them from the carrier for which they were designed. As long as the device was programmed to use the certain channel the carrier was using, you could now, for example, take a Verizon phone and make it work on the Sprint network. All of this was perfectly legal. This ruling also allowed for such things as unlocking DVDs to grab clips for educational purposes, circumventing e-book encryption for the sake of enabling audio features and the read aloud features, as well as other things that some people might think are legal but are actually more of a gray area. And so, to conclude, if you’re worried that unlocking or jail breaking or rooting your device is it legal and this is the only reason you haven’t done
it, don’t worry about it. Despite what the carriers say, it is legal to do so.
The only problems should be the technological side, if at all.

Did you love board games as a kid? Remember, those delightful cardboard worlds that came in a box and didn’t require batteries to play? Well, here in the digital age, we are seeing a surge of old popular board games being turned into apps for Smartphones, such as Monopoly and Chess. Now, a new generation of tech savvy kids, and kids at heart, can enjoy these classic favorites right on their devices. To this end, the newest addition to the genre is Life, for Android. Sadly, no multiplayer yet for this app, although it’s hoped for that future upgrades will allow for online multiplayer. As of now, it is pass and play only, so your buds need to be in the room with you to play.

The Game of Life, as it has traditionally been called, is a game in which you move through a board where the stations are various life stages, from college, to marriage to having children. A spinning wheel determines how many spaces you move, and “Life cards” with random events add an element of luck to the game, determining whether you are successful or end up on the poor farm. You can be blocked by obstacles, or perhaps your intentions don’t turn out quite the way you envisioned, such as in real life. Your choices can lead you to a great payout, and you can retire comfortably, of loose it all.

This app simulates the board game experience with virtual renditions of the elements of the board game, coupled with a whimsical graphics, and interface. Up to three people can play, as opposed to the eight people of the board game. You can navigate through various backgrounds and worlds as you and your friends travel down the road of Life. The touch controls are fairly easy to grasp and the game also includes instructions if you have never played before.

At $4.99, it is not the cheapest game application in the Android Market, but with an average review of around 4.3 stars out of 5, the user feedback is extraordinarily positive. No doubt, there are hours of enjoyment wrapped up in this application of a classic game, perfect for passing the time if you happen to be stuck with the family waiting at an airport gate or a doctor’s office. It is also not a bad game to teach to children, not just for the enjoyment, but also for a fun and visual representation of lessons about how one’s own life is influenced by the decisions we make.

If you are a Milton Bradley fan, head on over to the Android Market and snag your copy of this app today!

Personal Data Assistants have been around since the early days of the Palm computing systems, and modern day Smartphones are the successors to those lines of PDAs. Your Smartphone keeps track of your personal calendar, contacts, email and any number of data items, but a PDA is never complete without a good office suite. Originally, PDAs were employed by corporate types and business people who needed data at their fingertips at a moment’s notice, and often found themselves typing up reports and presentations on their devices while commuting.

Today, this is something that is needed by more than just business folks, as students are typing up homework on their phones and PDF eBooks are also popular for those who want to read on their long commutes. Even if you don’t think of yourself as someone who would ever want or need to open or read a Microsoft document on your phone, rest assured that if the time comes that you do want to read such documents, you will certainly wish you had a good office suite, and you never know when that moment will come.

While there are many office suite applications out there, such as ThinkFree and Office Pro, few come close to the familiar name that is Documents to Go by Dataviz. This application has been around in some form since the early Palm days, and has been a staple on Blackberry devices throughout most of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, before Smartphones really took a firm hold. Dataviz is a known name in the mobile computing world and their office suite has withstood the test of time, to become one of the most solid office applications for mobile devices across many platforms.

The download is free for the initial version of the application, which is essentially nothing more than a document reader. The unlocked version of Documents will allow you to read Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, along with an optional PDF reader that can also be installed separately. If you want to be able to create or edit such documents, you will need the paid version, which comes in the form of an unlock key. You download the free version, and then enter the key when prompted, which is emailed to you after payment. Although the app has traditionally been around $30, the Android Market is offering it for $15 and recently it was featured as Amazon’s Free App of the Day, which sparked a rush of downloads from those eager to have such a well known but expensive app for free.

The interface differs slightly across platforms, but the Android version is fairly sleek, although not as fancy as some office suites. it is, however, highly functional and offers a wide variety of features not always available in mobile office apps, such as cut and paste, highlighting, insertion of graphics and tables. This app is one of the few that give you near complete Microsoft Word functionality when creating documents, with the ability to insert page breaks, hyperlinks, and bookmarks. Several fonts are supported, along with bold, underlining and italics and font sizing.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful office suites out there, simply a must have for your Android device.

Occasionally, it is easy for technology users to take for granted how easy it is for them to use data devices if they are in command of all five of their senses. If you have no problem with your vision, using a touch screen is no problem. Likewise, using an eBook reader to read books on your device will be quite easy for you. When choosing apps for your device, extra features such as a “text to voice” feature might not be important to you, but might be very important to someone who has trouble reading such a small screen.

For those with vision problems, an application that can read text from their smart devices is of great value, especially if they are attempting to get school work done or read business documents. Because the “A Reader” for Android, a wonderfully streamlined eBook reader, can read PDF files and e-pub files, it is reasonably assured they it can handle pretty much any significant document the user may require. Even if you don’t have vision problems, simply having an e-book reader that can read books to you while you are a long car trip is also a good thing to have. Those who drive for living or even those who do manual labor jobs have completed entire college courses by simply listening to the audio book versions of the required reading for a class.

However, previously it was usually required that such a book would already be recorded into an audio format for listening. With the text-to-speech feature in the A Reader this is not necessary. The application is feature-rich with many other add-ons not just the text-to-speech feature which make it a wonderful choice for an e-book reader. The interface is very appealing with the bookshelf motifs similar to the iPhone’s iBooks application.

There are a few downsides, however, to the application. One is that PDF files cannot be read in landscape format and must be read straight up, and the text-to-speech feature does not work in PDF files. It is also required that, to read PDF files on this application, you must install the PDF plug-in from the market, as it is not included as a stock feature in the application itself. It will, however, handle ePub, text and other formats fairly easily.

In the bookshelf interface, you can organize your books as you see fit and create your own custom libraries which are like playlists. This allows you to find certain books fairly quickly if you know which list they are in. All in all, this is a very good e-book reader that any Android device user should have or consider having on their device, especially if you plan to use it for a lot of e-book reading and listening.

One of the advantages iOS users have over Android is the Apple store, a brick and mortar place where you can bring your malfunctioning technology and have people trained in its repair deal with the problems for you. While you can bring your Android device, if it’s a phone, to your carrier’s repair center, most often than not, you will be asked to simply replace your phone, even if it’s just a software issue.

All too often, the individuals staffing these centers really only know a little bit more about your device than you do. But even with repair issues aside, having one place to go to for accessories, the ability to try out new devices, and chat with retailers whose only job is a particular system and set of devices is a major advantage. Currently, only stores like Best Buy, with their Geek Squad repair team and multiple carrier support for mobile devices, comes close to providing a similar experience for Android.

However, if a prototype store in Melbourne Australia is any indication, we might soon see the rise of “Androidland” stores, filling in that void for Android users that Apple users currently enjoy. The store in Melbourne originally opened with the intent to stay open for six months to see how it does. It is decked out in full Android robot regalia and features not just Android devices and accessories, but fun stuff such as working robots and a capsule in which you can play games like Angry Birds on a widescreen TV and a UFO in which you can access Google Maps and explore the globe as if you were truly in outer space.

A YouTube video gives a quick walk-through of the store, and admittedly, it looks like a lot of fun, but also ripe with educational opportunities for a newbie to learn about the Android system. With the kind of resources Google has at its disposal, surely a few stores such as these across America wouldn’t be too much of a stretch?  Android land in Australia is currently a store within a store, but certainly the interest in an Android-specific store exists. Android devices are fun, but so inc, by which some specialized experts in the area would be appreciated, rather than having to send your phone off by mail for repair.

The potential for brick and mortar Android stores is immense. There could be previews of upcoming hardware and software, educational classes to instruct new users in the optimal use of their Android devices, special release events and any number of things such as Apple stores offer to iOS users. It is conceivable that such events would go even further with Android, given the system’s openness and multitude of ways in which it can be tweaked.

But even beyond that, there is no denying that Apple stores are cool and fun to play around in. Why not the same love for Android? A store in New York, Los Angeles and perhaps one other city would be great test locations to see how well the public responds. Android land in Melbourne demonstrates how much fun a store devoted entirely to Android can be.

Do you love conspiracy theories? Did you watch with trepidation or amusement at the turning of the century, wondering if the dooms-dayers were correct in saying it would soon be the end of the world? Do you wonder if there is anything to the Mayan myth of the year 2012, being the end  of the world? Or do you think it’s just that they ran out of space in their calendar? Or do you find the whole thing entertaining?

Whatever your thoughts on the matter, on December 21st, 2012, according to an ancient Mayan calendar maker, time would end and some believe this means it will be the end of the world. Some even plan to head down to Belize and party with the surviving Mayans, going out in style it would seem.
But for those of us who prefer to stay home and prepare for Christmas and New Year’s, but might still throw an End of the World party on that day, you might want to brush up on your Apocalypse info with a handy app for Android, the 2012 Apocalypse app.

This app, free in the Android market, has all your doomsday info right at your finger tips. The app is chock full of information about the Mayans, their now famous calendar and some general info on Doomsday in general. The app weaves info from the Book of Revelation, scientific facts, real time news and even video clips. The app functions as a digital encyclopedia for End of the World buffs. It is great for a laugh, but is actually fairly informative with its information.

The images in the app are quite brilliant for something that is free in the Market, and it is obvious someone put some time and effort into it. Whether you believe the world will end in December this year, or whether you just need an amusing bit of educational lore, this app should be on your device on December 21st, 2012!