Tag Archives: phone

Watch TV on the go with Dialog MyTV

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So I was going through some of the old unread feeds in my Google Reader and came across this post by Mayooresan on Dialog’s MyTV service. Had heard of MyTV, but didn’t have a time to try this out earlier.

I started off by sending an SMS saying ‘MYTV’ (w/o quotes) to 678. It replied me back with a link to download the MyTV app. Actually it was a link to an apk file, so you have to have ticked the Unknown Sources option in Applications Settings. (I’m talking about the android app here.)

The MyTV app lists the available TV channels divided into several categories. The choice of channels isn’t commendable, but it included many of my personal favorites.

Main menuChannel categoriesEntertainment categoryKids categoryPayment options

Simply select the channel you wish to play. If you haven’t subscribed to the particular package that channel belongs to already, it presents you with an options screen. The gold package, which lets you watch many local channels and a few int’l ones like Al Jazeera, costs Rs 3.33 per day or Rs 100 per month (plus taxes, of course). Once you subscribe to a package, you can watch any channel that belongs to the package before its expiration.

To activate the Platinum package, you need to have activated the Gold package first. You can also pay in a per-channel basis for the channels in this Platinum pack.

A comprehensive list of the available channels and their charges can be found here.

No data charges!
You won’t be charged for the data you stream, contrary to what Mayu says in his post. I verified this from two different sources. All it costs you is what you pay to activate the relevant packages.

Be wary though, the packages automatically renew after they’re expired. If you don’t want this to happen, make sure you manually unsubscribe from each package in Settings before logging out.

A little more than 1MB had been downloaded per minute during the streaming. The quality isn’t spectacular, but I guess it’s optimized for the mobile network, so that’s okay.

Here’s a low-quality, no-sound video of Cartoon Network being played on MyTV. Was too bored to create a better quality one. 😛 Mayu has uploaded his own vid in his post.

Welcome the Galaxy Note!

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A perfect phone may not have been invented yet, but the Galaxy Note has triumphed in becoming the closest to that extreme.

— Oscar Wilde

galaxy note
The Galaxy Note

Why would one need a 5.3″ phone? Let me ask you first, why would one need a phone? If all you need is to make calls and text, even an iPhone would be enough for you. But for those of you who need a smartphone and not just a phone, you’ll have to think further.

Enter the Galaxy Note

confused about size
But.. but... is it a phone or a tablet?

Phone? Tablet? Two words: both. Well, that was only one word. Anyway, the Note is the best of both worlds. It is capable of doing everything a normal smartphone can and most of the stuff a tablet can. And it can do stuff neither device is single-handedly capable of.

Making phone calls: Some people still use mobile phones to make calls. And they have the rational fear of the Note being too large to fit in your hand during the call. But that’s only till you really try making a call with it. You’ll find that there is no inconvenience at all. If you are too scared of taking it to your ear in public, you can always use the earphones.

"I love you, too, honey!"

And talking about the earphones that comes in the box, you can’t ask for a better pair to come bundled with a phone. It’s still scores less when compared to my skullcandy, but I’ve given it a break and started using the Samsung pair full-time.

Surfing the web: The web browsing experience is enhanced by leaps and bounds thanks to the large screen. You can safely turn off the mobile views of the pages and deal with the real stuff. Now that this has become my main surfing medium, I had to upgrade to the 2GB data package. Perhaps this won’t be enough either. Thankfully Dialog gives half-a-dozen of attractive data plans to choose from.

Music: I didn’t like the in-built music player at all. It doesn’t even have a home screen widget. Settled with the free version of PowerAmp.

Movies: Just drag in any type of video file and it will play flawlessly in the Note. Yeah, you don’t get the movie theatre experience, but it’s far more pleasing than watching a movie in a normal smartphone. The quality of the 1280×800 super AMOLED display is a must have experience. Also, I found it perfect for watching video lectures.

Camera: The 8MP camera does way better than it’s supposed to do. And the camcorder is awesome. 1080p movies! Just imagine! The 2MP front camera lets you ditch the mirror for Note.

Reading: It’s a good replacement for your reading device. The screen is big enough not to make the reading experience awkward. You don’t have to turn the page after each sentence. Installed Screen Filter so that I can control the brightness of the device at my will. Sorry, Kindle. And if you’re a comic fan, the Note is the perfect device for you.

The first book I read with the Note

Battery life: Note comes with a whopping 2500mAh battery. So don’t worry about the screen being too large. All the reviewers, including Engadget, praise the Note’s battery. As mentioned earlier, you can optionally use an app like Screen Filter to manually control brightness and stuff, and if you’re still worried you always have JuiceDefender.

A stylus? Weeeeeee!
The S pen almost doubles the usefulness of the Note. Doodle, take notes, swype, or just give your finger a break. And the pen is able to perform several other control functions, including taking screenshots. Anyway the hand writing recognition was a fail to me. Oh well, I’ve never been good at hand writing.

Galaxy Note doodle
A doodle by Sapumal

Ice cream sammich!!
Samsung says they will release an update for ICS within the Q1 of 2012. Hope they’d keep their word.

Looking to buy one?
I wouldn’t recommend the Note to everybody. Your needs may differ. But if you’re like me, this is the phone you’ve been waiting for all your life. The best advice would be to try before buying. You’d also be interested in the stuff you can’t do without a Galaxy Note.

And finally…
I’m so in love with the Note, I doubt there’s room left in my heart for a girl. I even sleep with it by my side. Simply because it’s so awesome and worths a hell lot more than what you pay for it.

Life without a Galaxy Note

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"You don't have a Galaxy Note!???" - a common reaction

Believe it or not, there are people who don’t even own a Galaxy Note. And sadly, I happen to be one of them.

For those who have been living in a well all their lives, a Samsung Galaxy Note is a 5.3″ smartphone with a size between a usual smartphone and a tablet. It was released in October, 2011. With attractive specs, a large super AMOLED HD screen real estate of 800×1280 pixels and a stylus to write with, Note is one amazing phone. Some may argue that it’s a phone and others will tell you it’s a tablet, but who cares? It’s the awesomest gadget ever either way.

You must be trying to guess how hard a life without a Note could be, in vain. Well, one cannot describe an account of that miserable fellow’s existence properly in a micro blog post like this. But I’m may as well try to give you a basic idea with the following points.

A person without a Galaxy Note

  • Has no proper device to browse the web while on the road (unless he has a tablet, which is too troublesome to carry around)
  • Doesn’t have a means of taking a quick note or doodling (unless he has a piece of paper near him, and a pen)
  • Needs to go to the TV or the computer to watch a movie (The screen of a normal phone is too small for a movie. Note will play almost any video you put into it – yes, even porn.)
  • Is not able to scribble down something the person in the other end says when he’s in a call.
  • Will have to scroll pages before he gets down to a point. Not so with the Note thanks to its 800×1280 pixel 5.3″ screen.
  • Has no way to express what he has on mind to another person. With help of the S Pen (the stylus), it’s a simple matter of a few strokes to a Note user.
  • Isn’t able to record 1080p videos with ease. (There are a few other phones that let you do this, but who in the big wide world would need one when you can buy a Galaxy Note!)
  • Is always depressed about the fact of not having one.

Sources of human suffering are endless, but as you may well see from the above points, nothing would cause much sorrow to a person than not having a Note would.

Vodafone 945 – thoughts, rooting and installing sinhala

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So finally I ditched my beloved Nokia E63 to an android, Vodafone 945. It isn’t a high-end device, but it’s as far as I can reach to an android right now.

Vodafone 945
Talking about the cons, the resolution (240×400) of the 3.2 inch screen is rather low, but one can live with that. Perhaps that’s the only major problem with this phone. The response time of the capacitative touch screen is quite satisfactory and it’s fast for a 600MHz device. There’s nothing to whine about the battery life too. The OS is Android 2.1 (Eclair). I’m still trying hard to get used to the touch keyboard. Badly miss the physical QWERTY keyboard of my E63.

The 5 megapixel camera works great. Here’s a snap I took this morning. (Click on the photo to view the original size)

Snap taken from the Vodafone 945 camera

Rooting
You can simply install the app z4root and root the device. I wasn’t able to do a permanent root, only the temporary one (which lasts till the next restart) worked. But it’s enough for the needs.

Installing Sinhala and the Ubuntu font
After rooting, install the app Root Explorer and copy these three fonts to the /system/fonts directory. You’ll have to enable R/W permissions for the directory. You won’t get complex scripting support for Sinhala unicode, but the outcome is readable.
Sinhala in Vodafone 945 (Android)
It’s also advisable to use Root App Remover to remove the stupid trial-ware that come pre-installed with the device.

Many thanks to Akila for walking me through rooting and installing Sinhala.

I don't need an android

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Nokia E63So I decided, I really don’t need an android. My symbian is able to provide me with almost all the stuff I would want from a phone. With it I can read books, listen to music and podcasts, scrobble to last.fm, set alarms, tweet, check email and browse the web occasionally, look up for definitions, take notes, and finally, call and text. At the moment there really is no other reason why I should look for a better phone. Why would I pay huge sums just to have several more apps and play Angry Birds? So, until the day I get a job and collect enough cash to buy an HTC Desire, my sweet little E63 will stay by my side.

Symbian and Evernote

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Yes, we all hate Symbian, more or less. But if all you have is a Symbian you have to learn to live with it. And learn to love it.
The app I miss the most in my Symbian is Evernote. There’s no official or unofficial Evernote client for Symbian. There is one for Symbian^3 I guess, but that’s no longer in development and works only in Nokia N97.

But still, you can access the Evernote mobile from your phone. Yes, it’s not as slick or fast as using a native app, but you get full control over your notes in this mobile version. It won’t load images so it’s faster than a normal web site.

If all you need is to make a small note, there’s yet another option. Use Twitter. Everyone has Gravity installed, right? Include @myEN in your tweet and the tweet will automatically saved as a new note. (You have to activate this in Evernote settings and follow @myEN). Or you can simply DM @myEN.

Learn to love your Symbian.

Swapping the memory card

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Bought a new 4GB microSD card to replace the 1GB card that originally came with my phone (Nokia E63). I was scared at the thought of reinstalling everything in the new card from the beginning. However I copied everything in my old card to the new one (via my PC) just to check. And you know what! It worked! Each and every app and setting remains as they were in the old card!

Dictionary for mobile phone

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I needed a dictionary (an offline one, of course) for my mobile phone (Nokia E63). First I tried several Java dictionaries but they were quite basic ones. Then found this cool dictionary viewer called MS Dict Viewer. Can’t remember from where exactly I installed it, but it can be downloaded from its official site, I think.

After installing the MSDict Viewer you can download many dictionaries with it. There is great selection, including Oxford, Collins and Cambridge dictionaries. Dictionaries thus downloaded are valid only for a 7 day period. You need to enter a serial key to register them from. This rar file has 5 keygens bundled for various dictionaries. They’re EXE files, and I executed them in a Windows XP virtual box. Once you select the dictionary and enter phone’s IMEI number, it shows the serial key. Works like magic!

However it’s possible that the keygen include malware so better to run them in a virtual machine even if your OS is Windows.

P.S. Uploaded the keygens to mediafire, just in case: http://www.mediafire.com/?z0mz16689grh5gh