By The Computer Quack
To continue on from last week, I will now go into the
details of my own phone.
The Samsung I bought I discovered came with version 1.6
of Android; perfectly useable, but as a technophile I like to try the latest
as soon as it comes out. Samsung promised to roll out 2.1 earlier this year,
but seemed to be selective as to which countries they chose first, so after
a 30 minute search and some downloads, I had an 2.1 image and the tools to
install it. After a few false starts and more searching to find a couple of
caveats which I corrected, I had my Galaxy running 2.1. I wouldn’t recommend
this to a novice, but if you are pretty good with computers, it’s not an
onerous task, and if you take a backup first you can always go back to
square one.
But if you’re not, then check that your Android phone is
running 2.1!
Next came what to me is the most important step: Getting
connected!
The phone isn’t locked, so you pop your sim card in and
you’ll get the usual services. The Samsung doesn’t seem to pick up the
contacts in the SIM automatically (at least not on the generic 2.1 I
installed), but it’s very simple to import SIM contacts into your phone in
one go.
Next Wifi: Very simple to turn on and off, and it found
free and pay-as-you-go hotspots and connected without problem using WEP and
WPA/WPA2 which pretty well covers all of the bases.
3G I have yet to try. Living overseas as I do (and not in
Thailand, I might add), I have to wait for my phone provider to learn about
this “new” phone and send me the appropriate APN settings (along with a
reasonably priced data package I might add!), but reading online 3G seems to
work perfectly well in countries where it’s available.
Once you’ve got your phone up, running and connected,
your next stop will be the Android Market, but that will be continued in
next week’s column.
If you have any specific questions on Android, please
don’t hesitate to write to me at thecomputerquack @gmail.com and I’ll be
happy to answer them. Similarly, if you have other questions on any computer
or technology-related subject, please feel free to email me and I’ll have a
crack at it for you. I’m planning forthcoming articles on Home Networking,
Multimedia players, PDA sites and others, but if you have a subject you feel
merits some column inches, fire away and I’ll gladly take on the challenge.
thecom [email protected]
As Simon Cowell leaves the reality-show judge’s chair, his old
foil, Paula Abdul, is coming back.
Paula Abdul, seen here in a file photo, after leaving the
popular American Idol, will be judging a new reality show, “Got to Dance”.
CBS said Monday that Abdul will be a judge on “Got to
Dance,” a competition expected to make it on the air sometime next season.
She’ll also be an executive producer for the series, which is based on a
successful competition that airs in Britain.
Cowell is leaving “American Idol” after this season,
concentrating on another show he’ll import from England. He had a love-hate
relationship with Abdul, who left Fox’s top-rated game before the current
season when she couldn’t reach a deal on a new contract. She’s been fielding
other offers since then.
There’s no immediate word on when “Got to Dance,” which will feature
various forms of dancing, will go on the air.