Location-Based Reminders On Android With GeoReminders

People are always forgetful no matter wat they do, let it be refueling the car or meeting few people on there way. For people like those android offers a pretty good application “Geo Reminders Lite”.

The freeware allows users to add multiple locations, each with its own proximity radius. The application keeps running in the background, waiting for the device to come within the specified range of a saved location, in the event of which, it alerts the user with a notification. So if, for instance, you keep forgetting to refuel your car on your way back from work, all you need to do is save a reminder for a nearby gas station on your Android device using Geo Reminders.

The interface is very straightforward. Pressing menu on the main screen displays the Add New Location option Tapping said option will bring up a form wherein users can specify the desired location either manually via Google Maps (Pick location from map) or automatically, using current GPS coordinates (Use current location). To save a location while pointing to it manually from the map, press the menu button on your device and tap Save.

 

Once a location is saved the application begins to wait for the device to come within the defined proximity of a saved location, all the while displaying the distance of the device from each location.

When the device is within range of a particular location, a notification is displayed in the notification bar as well as within the info below said location.

The Lite (free) version will only show the reminders in the notification bar. Future updates will bring reminders via SMS, email and audio, as well as in the form of Facebook updates. These features will only be for the paid version of the app which costs $0.82. You may install Geo Reminders Lite via the Android Market using the link below or by scanning the provided QR Code.

Install Geo Reminders Lite

View Sonic View Pad 10 Pro

The ViewSonic ViewPad 10 Pro is another device offering flexibility. We first saw this at CES but were reminded after ViewSonic improved the device to include 3G. The ability to dual-boot Windows and Android… is why you gotta love it!

t is powered by Intel’s Oak Trail platform, though the exact processor used is still a mystery.
The display is a capacitive multi-touch panel (obviously) with a diagonal of 10 inches and a native resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels.
There is also mention of integrated WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G, though this is unsurprising considering that having wireless network access is more or less compulsory for slates.
The other major asset is the dual-boot functionality, as ViewSonic threw in not just Windows 7 Professional (for business use) but Also Google’s Android 2.2 (for social entertainment).
“Last month Deloitte predicted, in its annual sector forecast, that UK companies will buy more than 10 million tablet devices in 2011,” said Derek Wright, product marketing manager at ViewSonic Europe.
“ViewSonic is well placed to capitalize on this market and offers users the best of both worlds from one device” he added.
“Dual-boot enables users to access business software that only runs on Windows and investigate Android without switching completely. Many users enjoy the familiarity of Windows but want to get to know Android and configure their preferences before using it more widely.”
The product will be on show at MWC

View Sonic V350 Dual Boots SIM

Take for example the ViewSonic V350 for the world traveler. It lets you put two SIM cards into one device, meaning you can take advantage of various voice/data plans depending on the country and SIMs you’re currently using. You’ll hear more from me about Android phones, and phones in general, offering more flexibility for international support. Until carriers get it together and to it themselves, I’m glad to see a company like Viewsonic try to address the issue as best they can.

The V350 is nothing groundbreaking, but it does offer a 3.5-inch display of HVGA resolution (no word on multi-touch yet), 5-megapixel autofocus camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS with A-GPS and a MicroSD card slot. It runs Android Froyo. The dual-sim technology allows the phone to be on two separate networks at the same time.

Android 2.4 will be Ice Cream Sandwich, coming this summer

Google officially launched Android 2.3 last month which is known as Gingerbread, and at CES 2011, some manufacturers also introduced Android 3.0 a.k.a Honeycomb devices. Android 3.0 is specially designed for tablets, and Honeycomb powered tablets will be out soon, whereas Android 2.3 is for smartphones and other devices. The next version of Android will be Android 2.4, and it will be known as Ice Cream Sandwich. Well, the name makes sense because all the versions of Android are named on sweets i.e. Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread and Honeycomb. It’s rumored that Android 2.4 will be out this summer as a successor to Android 2.3. May be Google will announce it Google I/O 2011.

Google has divided Android into two divisions. Android 2.x series is a series of Android OS for smartphones, whereas Android 3.x is for tablets. So I think Android 2.4 will only hit smartphones and other compatible devices. And may be Google will also launch Android 3.1 or 3.2 sometime later this year, which will be an update only for tablets. So Android fanboys and girls, are you happy to hear that?

How To Sideload Android Apps on AT&T Samsung Captivate

If you are using an AT&T Samsung Captivate, you must have noticed that the only way you can install apps is via the Android Market. If you attempt to install an app from an ‘.apk’ file, the device gives an error. The following procedure will enable app sideloading for your device.

You should attempt these steps at your own risk as these involve modifying the operating system of your device. Also, this workaround is useful only for the AT&T Samsung Captivate as other Samsung Captivate devices do not have this issue.

First of all, you will need to root your device. Next, grab and install BusyBox from the Android Market, run it and enable it by following the instructions. Finally, get an SQL Database Manager for your computer. You can use the SQLite plugin for Mozilla Firefox found here, or use another one of your choice. You will also need to download and install the Android SDK from here if you already don’t have it.

Now to get to the real deal, enable USB debugging on your phone by heading over to Settings >> Applications >> Development, and connect your phone to the computer via USB.

On your computer, fire up a command prompt window by right-clicking the command prompt shortcut and selecting ‘Run as administrator’, and browse to the ‘tools’ sub-folder of the folder where the Android SDK is installed. Once there, use the following commands:

adb shell
su
cp /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db /sdcard/settings.db
cp /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db /sdcard/settings.db.backup
exit
exit
adb pull /sdcard/settings.db %userprofile%\desktop

Do not close the command prompt yet, and fire up Mozilla Firefox. From the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘SQLite Manager’. In SQLite Manager, click ‘Database’ followed by ‘Connect database’. Browse to the ‘settings.db’ file that we copied to the desktop in the previous step and once it opens, expand its tables.

Click ‘Secure’ and find ID 6 “install_non_market_apps”. Double click it and change its “value” from 0 to 1.

Close SQLite Manager, head back to the command prompt window that we left open earlier and use the following commands:

adb push %userprofile%\desktop\settings.db /sdcard
adb shell
su
cp /sdcard/settings.db /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings
chmod 777 /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db
reboot

This will reboot your phone. Unplug it from the computer while it reboots, and you’re done. Now you will be able to sideload apps on your phone using “.apk” files.