The View From Space

Feeling a lot like Tim “The Toolman” Taylor as I embark on some minor surgery for my Samsung Vibrant.

A little background info. In their infinite wisdom Tmo decided to remove the standard Front Facing Camera (henceforth referred to as FFC) from the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone while rebranding it as the Vibrant.  This left a lot of folks (well actually a lot geeks, not sure I would characterize them as “folk”) feeling deprived of something that’s a standard item in the international as well as some US versions of the phone.

As Tim would say about something that needs an improvement ….”I’ll rewire it…”

So after some minor surgery and some software tweaks to the kernel my Vibrant will have the the capability of doing video calls.   One downside to all of this is that there is only 2 people that I know of that have the capability of doing video calls from their phone, my buddy @GeeWhy (he has the iPhone 4 but I wont hold it againts him) and a buddy at work (who also has an iPhone 4, what is this world coming too?).

So what does this get me besides additional hardware on my phone?  Probably nothing, but it does give me the satisfaction of fixing something that should never have been broken in the first place.  Oh and it does allow me to say “I HAVE THE POWER!….”  Sorry, just had a He-Man moment there.

So stand clear as I break out my Binford pocket knife with the attached smartphone cover extration tool and get to work.   And dont mind the occasional grunt or growl.

One downfall of being an avid Android geek is feeling the inherent need to continually upgrade ROM’s and Kernels. In a never ending quest for speed and capability I’ve gone through at least 10 ROMs and 3 different kernels for my Samsung Vibrant.
My latest combination is the Bionix Fusion 1.1 ROM with JACs Overclocked (OC) / Undervolt (UV) Kernel and Voodoo LagFix.  Will this be my last flash?  Probably not, when the Devs come out with a better, faster, cleaner ROM I’ll be standing in line to download and upgrade.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your Android or Win smartphone with just a cool theme or if you’re adventurous enough to do a full ROM/Kernel change,  http://www.xda-developers.com/ will have something to suite your tastes.

Spent our Sunday afternoon watching the Blue Angels perform at the Kaneohe MCB Airshow.  Prepped for the event by reading @geewhy’s blog on what to expect.  The only thing he missed was the traffic trying to leave the base at the end of the day.

As far as the performance, the Blue Angels did not disappoint.  If watching these high caliber pilots perform doesn’t get your blood pumping you need to get your cardiovascular system checked immediately.

Here’s a couple of video clips taken from my Samsung Vibrant:

Not for me …. The very thought promotes an unsavory mental picture … but for my Samsung Vibrant. 

Having owned one for my G1, I was impressed by the durability and protection offered by these snap-on hard shell rubberized phone cases.  They were sturdy while the rubberized skin offered some padding for those inevitable drops as well as providing a great non-slip grip.  

Now I see that Body Glove is coming out with a similar shell for my Vibrant.   If the quality and fit is anything like that of the G1 case then I think this will be a great accessory to have.  Although the $30 price tag does give me reason to pause.

The Devs have been hard at work and are close to creating a stable Wifi Tether for the Samsung Vibrant.  You will have to root your phone first though.  I’ve been running the last 3 experimental versions and haven’t had a problem yet.

Note: Eclair (Android 2.1) already has a built-in usb tether capability.  But where’s the fun in that?

As noted in an earlier post I did a comparison of twitter apps  Twidroyd and Twitter for Android http://www.theviewfromspace.net/2010/06/twitter-for-android/

Now that I’ve had a chance to put both through the paces I’ve made a decision as to which one will be my working app.  The pros and cons noted earlier still hold for both so the deciding factor came down to speed and ease of use.  The winner for me was Twitter for Android.

Although there were definitely some features that I liked better in Twidroyd (like the bit.ly account inking), Twitter for Android came out ahead due to it’s faster updates and snappier screen refreshes.  Twidroyd appeared to clunk along when updating.  And once I got used to the Twitter interface it was much more intuitive than Twidroyd.  So while both apps perform their job admirably I’d have to give the nod to Twitter as I’m an impatient person and don’t like waiting around for my screen updates.  However, if you’re into tracking the traffic of  your bit.ly url’s  you should consider Twidroyd as it does allow you to link your twitter and bit.ly accounts.

Like The Mighty Casey in Mudsville, I’ve struck out in my search for a hard case for my Samsung Vibrant.  The only thing available at the moment is one made of soft silicone sold by T-Mobile.  Even though the basic model (Galaxy S) was released internationally a few months earlier I guess there’s enough of an external difference to make cases for each model unique.

So like the iPhone 4 early adopters  I’ll have to wait for the market to catch up.

I recently upgraded my 2 year old G1 to one of the latest Droid phones to hit the market, the Samsung VIBRANT.  I was in smartphone heaven.   Early on resisted the urge to blog about it for a couple of days to let the “new car smell” wear off.  Now I can take a good look at it and make some sensible evaluations of the phone itself.

Pros:

• It’s NEW (sorry couldnt resist)
• The 4″ AMOLED screen is simply captivating.  Personally, I’d put it on par with the iPhone’s Retina display.  Yes the iPhone’s display does look a little sharper due to it’s higher resolution but Samsung’s color replication has it coming in pretty close.  Both displays are absolutely mind numbing.  If you dont believe me, drop by a T-Mobile store and check out Avatar on one of their display units.  By the way my co-worker has an iPhone 4 and I’ve had a chance to look at both displays.
• This phone is LIGHT!  Weighing in at a miniscule 4.16 oz
• Android 2.1 (Elcair) installed with 2.2 promised.
• It looks like an iPhone 3G/3GS (although some may say its a negative)
• 5MP camera and the 720p video recording capability.  (WOW to the 720p video, the picture is sharp and the colors are vibrant… get it…)
• USB tethering built in.  So far havent gotten wireless tethering to work but devs are working on it and I envision it becoming available soon (Note 1:  Wireless tethering requires you to root the phone.  Note 2: I believe Verizon or Sprint offers wireless tethering for a fee, no root required only $$)
• Swype – allows you to enter words from the keyboard without having to lift your finger.  Once you get the hang of it you will rarely use the old hunt and peck method.

Cons:

• Bloatware put on by T-Mobile.  Although it doesn’t affect the performance it is a bit irritating as it cannot be removed by the average user.  One needs to root the phone and use an app called Root Manager.
• It looks like an iPhone 3G/3GS (although some may say this is a plus)
• This phone is LIGHT! Weighing in at a miniscule 4.16 oz (Sometimes it get’s a little precarious holding it and trying to text with one hand)
• There has been some noticeable lag when opening/closing some apps.  I got around this by rooting and using an app called minfreemanager.  It speeds up the opening and closing of apps.  So far so good.
• Like the iPhone 4 it’s so new that there aren’t any hard cases available.  There’s only a gel case that’s being sold by T-Mobile (ugh).
• While the video is great the audio is a bit oversensitive.  wind blowing pass the phone is picked up and sounds like a hurricane during playback.

Would I recommend this phone?  Absolutely!  Overall I can live with some of it’s shortcomings, and most of the cons could easily be pros depending upon personal preference.

Recorded this short video, vibrant and crisp colors.  Looks even better on the AMOLED 4″ screen.