So I’ve spent most of my weekend fiddling, with very little sleep. But this time it’s for a good, fun (for a geek anyway), reason. I thought I’d document some of what I’ve done here as I’ve come across a few helpful hints along the way. There were three main things I’ve spent my time on.
1. Installing Android on my HTC HD2
I’ve been using a custom Windows Mobile 6.5.5 ROM on my HTC HD2 for a while now. There are plenty of ROMs to be had and a lot more information on the wonderful xda-developers.com. The developer of the ROM I was using (OzROM) recently released a bare bones ROM (OzDroid) intended to be used to boot one of the various Android ROMs (search this thread for [BUILD]) that are now at a somewhat, read on, useable stage. I decided to give it a try along with the Android ROM he was already using (mattc Leo + Froyo w/Sense 1.7) and set at it.
The developers on the forum have been at this for a while and most of the issues with running Android like this (ie from a SD card on top of Windows Mobile) have now been fixed. There are still known issues with the most annoying one being the touchscreen becoming unresponsive for 10-20 seconds when resuming from standby, and the odd lockup requiring a reboot, but for the most part it’s useable.
I did find various suggested fixes for the touchscreen issue but neither seem to have fully solved the issue for me. One was simply turning off animations (Menu –> Settings –> Display –> Animation) and the other involved disabling the G-Sensor via a couple of scripts with an app called G-Script Lite (that’s the QR Code over on the right and you can scan it using QuickMark). They obviously work for some people and I must admit I’ve been unable to reproduce the issue whilst writing this blog post so perhaps it’s helped for me too.
So far I’m loving Android. Since I’m using a HTC Sense based build it’s quite similar to Windows Mobile and, for the most part, I’ve been able to find my way around it just fine. The main thing I have to get used to is using the hardware buttons which Android makes heavy use of but Windows Mobile (as of 6.5.5) had virtually done away with.
There are plenty of apps on the Android Marketplace and I’ve managed to find replacements for most of what I had under Windows Mobile. I had a full featured calculator in Panoramic Calc Pro (paid app) that I haven’t yet found an equivalent of, and TomTom isn’t available (I’d be surprised if they don’t release something eventually) and the alternatives sound rather poor based on my research. Thankfully with the setup I’m using I can easily reboot the phone (using QuickBoot) and run Windows Mobile instead to launch those if I need them.
So what am I loving about Android so far.
- Gmail integration. I use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, etc and have just recently tried switching to Chrome (more on that later). The integration with Android is just that much smoother, from the labels support in the Gmail app, to the ability to sync with multiple calendars.
- Trillian. I’ve been using Trillian for years on my PC, and to have it on my mobile phone, albeit without Skype support, is definitely a welcome addition, at least with Swype for a keyboard.
- App support. Lately everything seems to come out for iPhone, then Android, and maybe Windows Mobile. With Windows Mobile 7 on the horizon the days of new apps for Windows Mobile 6.5.5. are numbered (it’s my understanding that Windows Mobile 7 will not run previous version Windows Mobile applications).
In conclusion I’ll be trying it for a few more days and if they can solve the freezing issue I’ll probably stick with it.
2. Upgrading my main PC to Windows 7
A while back I bought a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3 upgrade licenses) as I have two PCs and a notebook I wanted to upgrade. I rebuilt the notebook but not the PCs. This weekend I finally got around to backing up my main PC and upgrading it.
There are a couple of things I came across that are worth mentioning. The article “Top 10 things to do with a new Windows 7 System” has a few tips but the top two are especially worth mentioning:
- Ninite.com is a site that lets you download an installer that automates downloading and installing various common utilities. More details in the Lifehacker Pack 2010 article.
- New shortcuts! I love me some shortcuts and Windows 7 has even more to help take the tedium out of life. The Master List of Windows 7 Shortcuts details them, and a few more in the comments.
The following is a list of what I’ve installed that is on Ninite.com:
- Chrome – I’d normally install Firefox with Vimperator too, but am giving Chrome a trial for the moment.
- Skype
- K-Lite Codecs *
- Paint.NET *
- Picasa
- Adobe Reader
- Avast
- Flash
- Java
- Silverlight
- uTorrent
- Dropbox – I haven’t used this yet but noticed there is an Android app for it so figured I’d try it
- KeePass – I used Windows Live Sync to sync my database for this across PCs
- Steam
- ImgBurn *
- CCleaner
- TeraCopy
- Recuva *
- Revo *
- 7-Zip
- JDK – Android Commander needed it.
- Putty
* I hadn’t used these before but since they’re on Ninite I thought I’d give them a go.
What I’ve installed that’s not on there:
- Trillian
- Vim
- Ember Media Manager
- Windows Live Essentials Beta – Sync and Writer anyway
- O&O Defrag 12
- Daemon Tools Lite
- Various Drivers
- Mozy – Free 2GB online backup I figured I’d give a go
As part of the rebuild I’d normally setup Windows to auto-login, but since my new Alienware M17x came with facial recognition software I thought I’d see if it was available. Turns out the same software, though presented different is available for my Logitech webcam, though I only managed to download it via the Features section for another model, the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910.
As an added bonus I’ve enabled the “Continuous security” option and it acts as a good monitor for my posture, since when I start to slouch it fails to recognize my face and starts to warn me it’s going to lock the screen. :)
I should note I did find mention of alternatives. Blink! in particular looked reasonable, but since the Logitech bundled option is essentially the same as the Alienware one I went with it.
3. XBMC Upgrade
Finally I’ll briefly mention that Beta 1 of the new build of XBMC (Dharma) is now out and I decided, since the Android XBMC remote app reminded me of it, to try it out.
So far it’s not as stable as XBMC 9.11 and my favourite skin hasn’t been ported yet, but it does do DXVA acceleration (just 2% CPU usage now playing back a 1080p video with DTS audio), and has a much nicer integration of addons.
I’ll stop babbling for now. Hopefully someone out there finds something useful in my ramblings. :)
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