Show you the way to change a default application on Android

When you first try an alternative launcher or Web browser, Android asks if you'd like that application to be the default from now on. You may say yes and then come to regret it later on – perhaps you've decided you like another launcher better, or wish to go back to using the stock Android browser.

While you could always uninstall the application you no longer wish to be the default, that's a bit of a brute-force solution. Perhaps you still want it on your system, but only wish to use it every now and then.

To make an app stop being a "default application" for a certain type of action, do this:

1) Go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications.
2) Locate your application in the list. If the list is too long, you can hit the Running tab, because your app most likely is still running somewhere in the background.
3) Once you've located it, tap its name.
4) You will now find yourself in the Application info screen. Scroll down until you see the heading which says Launch by default.
5) Press the Clear defaults button, shown in the screenshot.

When you next try to perform the operation previously associated with this app (launch a browser, go to the home screen, etc.), you will be presented with a dialog letting you choose what app should be used. 

Source: switched

British engineers planning to send an Android phone into space

A team of engineers at SSTL and the Surrey Space Centre in Guildford want to see if the sophisticated capabilities in today’s mobile phones can function in the most challenging environment of all: space.

Why are they doing this you might be asking? Shaun Kenyon, the project manager at SSTL, said, “They come now with processors that can go up to 1GHz, and they have loads of flash memory. First of all, we want to see if the phone works up there, and if it does, we want to see if the phone can control a satellite.”

Although the specific phone model to be used hasn’t been announced yet, SSTL wants to use the phone to control a 30cm-long satellite and take pictures of the Earth in the mission later this year. If this works, it could potentially save tons of money and weight for future similar projects in space.

The team chose Android because of its open source software, which means they can tweak it if need be.

“We’re not taking it apart; we’re not gutting it; we’re not taking out the printed circuit boards and re-soldering them into our satellite – we’re flying it as is,” Kenyon explained. ”And, in fact, we’re going to have another camera on the satellite so we can take a picture of the phone because we want to operate the screen and have some good images of that as well.”

All I know is I can’t wait to see pictures of this Android smartphone in space! What device do you think they’ll choose? Let us know in the comments.

Source: BBC

Review of Sony Ericsson Vivaz 2

Sony Ericsson has had some missteps lately, mostly with not updating their most recent phones beyond version 1.6 of the Android OS. They have some promising phones on the horizon though, with the Xperia Arc leading the pack. Also starting to get a little attention, however, is the MT15i, which is rather like the Vivaz, but sporting the Android the OS. We haven’t heard a lot of talk about this phone, but it’s being positioned to appeal more to the entry-level crowd, rather than those looking for the most powerful phones on the market. It won’t be sporting the Tegra-2 processor, but it also won’t be priced at that level. Based on the review over at mobile-review.com, it may be one of the better choices for those looking for budget-conscious, entry-level Android device.

The MT15i is a more solid offering than some of Sony’s previous phones, having a little more heft, but feeling like a more “quality” device.  The LCD screen is somewhere in the three-inch neighborhood, supporting a 480×854 resolution and their “BRAVIA” technology to improve the overall image quality.  This phone is expected to drop in the UK market somewhere around April, and will be an excellent offering for anyone looking for their first Android phone. No word on whether or now we’ll see it here in the US, but we’ll keep you posted as more details become available.

  

Read this article before making a decision.

WidgetLocker Lets You Customize Your Lock Screen

WidgetLocker, by TeslaCoil Software, is a lock screen replacement app that offers a great deal of extras along with personal customization.  The app assists in preventing you from requiring needless multiple steps to drill down and get back to an apps interface.  You can do it all directly from the lock screen.  The app allows you to place shortcuts and widgets on the lock screen, much like you can on your home screen.  Moving apps around are equally as simple, you just long press and drag to reposition an app or shortcut.  The functionality allows you to stay interactive with certain apps, like music players and podcasts while not accidentally unlocking the phone and touching unwanted applications.  

There are also a plethora of settings that will allow a user to make multiple tweaks to the lock screen, such as the placement of volume keys.  There’s also functionality that will allow you to perform an unlock with the trackball for trackball enabled devices.  In addition, the app also does a wonderful job of providing a tutorial for you to check out all of the features and gives an explanation of each one.  The app also gives you an optional “Easy Wake” feature using any button such as the volume, camera or trackball to wake the device.  Furthermore, the developer has stated that the next version of WidgetLocker will support custom themes.  That should spice up your lock screen a bit.  So if you’re ready for a new lock screen experience, head on over to our apps database and check it out for yourself.  Don’t forget to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

More detail & download: here

Soucre: .talkandroid

Sony Reader app for Android now available

Sony had promised an Android companion app for its eBook store in January 2011, and it's delivered. You can now find Sony Reader in the Android Market, ready to pocket-size your digital tomes previously purchased from the Reader Store.

Like other eBook apps, Sony Reader allows you to adjust the font size and brightness, and supports bookmarking and highlighting. Tap the bottom of the reading window and a slider appears which you can move to skip ahead or back. You can also jump between bookmarks and highlighted passages, and Reader offers a decent built-in search function as well. As an added bonus for owners of a Sony Reader Daily Edition, you can keep your Android device and e-ink reading on the same page, as it were.

An iOS version is also in the works, though Sony's mobile app page says only that it's "coming soon." Sony Reader for Android is a free download and is available now from the Android Market.

Download Sony Reader for Android [AppBrain]

The Good News About Android's Version Distribution

When you develop a product and use liberal licensing terms, there's always the risk that someone else will use your code to create a poor product. Maybe it will include a lot of unnecessary features, it will be slow and have a lot of bugs or it will never use the latest version of your software.

Android's goal was to be a common baseline that enables innovation in the mobile space. Convincing other companies to use Android wasn't easy and that's one of the biggest Google accomplishments. Not many people believed in Android's success three years ago and its adoption rate is still surprising.

Convincing companies to update their Android-based firmware faster is much easier. If users only buy Android phones that have the latest version of the operating system and constantly request phone manufacturers and carriers to update the software, then they'll work harder to improve their products.

Google has recently released some information about the current distribution of the Android versions and the good news is that 87.4% of the Android phones use Android 2.x, up from about 55% in July. 51.8% of the phones use Froyo, a version released 7 months ago. In only one month (August 2010), Froyo's share grew from 5.5% to more than 28%, after Motorola and HTC updated phones like Droid, Droid Incredible, Evo 4G, and Desire.

ZDNet says that "almost 13% of Android users are still running versions of the mobile OS that are several generations old and these users will never see Android 2.1", but this percentage is constantly decreasing. Even if they're using Android 1.6, that's still a much better operating system than the one from a feature phone and it still lets them use many apps from the Android Market. A slower update rate is a small price to pay for creating an ecosystem of heterogeneous devices that run the same operating system which is not perfect, but it's "good enough".

Source: googlesystem

How to manage your Android contacts?

How to manage your Android contacts?
Mobile devices have become lifelines for connecting to family, friends, business associates, and clients. With your contacts list growing exponentially, you need to know the best ways to manage this information. Here are some ways Android device owners can keep their contacts list under control.

Google is your friend

The best advice I can offer is to make sure every contact you create on your Android phone is a Google contact. Why is this so important? Because you can manage your Google contacts from within your Google account. This will save you from fumbling around on your mobile phone’s keyboard to try to arrange, categorize, create, edit, and delete those contacts.
If you want the non-Google contacts that are already on your Android phone to be migrated to Google contacts, there is no way to do this directly on the phone; instead, you have to do an export/import. You have to export the contacts to a CSV file to your SD card and then import that file into Google.
To export those contacts, you need to use the free app called UiA - Backup Contacts (it’s available on the Android Market). After you install the app, you’ll see it listed in your Application drawer labeled Backup Contacts. Tap that application, agree to the license, and you’ll see the main window (Figure A), where you can: Backup Now, View Your CSV Contact List, Upload To Dropbox, or Send To Email.
 

Figure A

When you export the contacts using Backup Contacts, that CSV file will be saved on the root of your SD card. The file that is saved to your CSV card will be named Backup.Contacts.TODAYS_DATE.csv; TODAYS_DATE is the date the contacts were saved. With that file on your SD card, you can mount the SD card, copy the file to your PC, and then import that file into your Google account contacts.
This method does not convert the contacts on your phone to Google contacts, so you might find some duplicate entries in your contacts. You can delete the contacts on your phone once you know they’re secured in your Google account.

Groups

Another tip for organizing your contacts is to use groups. Groups allow you to sort, search, and find your contacts much easier.
 

Note: All Google contacts will belong to their own group, “Google.” You cannot reassign those contacts or assign them to multiple groups. You can manage your Google contacts from within your Google account, but you will not be able to see those actions (such as adding Google contacts to groups within Google) on your Android phone.
For contacts that are on your phone, you can create groups by following these steps:
1. Open the Contacts application.
2. Tap the Groups tab (Figure B).
3. Tap the Menu button.
4. Tap the Create button.
5. Create your new group.
 

Figure B

The Groups tab also includes all social media accounts you have authenticated on your phone. Follow these steps to assign a contact to a group:
1. Tap the Groups tab.
2. Tap the Add Member button.
3. Select all contacts you want to join the group.
4. Tap the Add button.

Linked Contacts

A very nice feature of the Android contact system is Linked Contacts. A Linked Contact is a way to link one contact to a related contact. For instance, you might want to link all the employees of a specific department. To do this, open one of those contacts and scroll down to the bottom. Tap the section labeled Linked Contacts (Figure C) and then tap the Add Link Contact button. On the next screen, find the contact you want to link, and it will be linked. Repeat these steps to link more contacts. You are limited to five linked contacts.
 

Figure C

Samsung Captivate-specific tips

The next two features I’ll highlight — Directional Swiping and Speed Dialing — are unique to the Samsung Captivate line of phones.
 

Directional Swiping
From your Contacts application, the Directional Swiping feature allows you to quickly phone or message a contact depending upon which way you swipe that contact. If you swipe the target contact to the right, you place a phone call; if you swipe the target contact to the left, you send an SMS message. This feature is incredibly handy and should be made available to all Android phones.
 

Speed Dialing
To add a contact to speed dialing, follow these steps:
1. Open the Contacts application.
2. Tap the Menu button.
3. Tap the Speed Dial button.
4. Tap the number for which you want to add a contact.
5. Find and select the contact.

Source: pccleancomputers

Learn Java for Android Development

Product Description

Android development is hot, and many programmers are interested in joining the fun. However, because this technology is based on Java, you should first obtain a solid grasp of the Java language and its foundational APIs to improve your chances of succeeding as an Android app developer. After all, you will be busy learning the architecture of an Android app, the various Android-specific APIs, and Android-specific tools. If you do not already know Java fundamentals, you will probably end up with a massive headache from also having to quickly cram those fundamentals into your knowledge base.

Learn Java for Android Development teaches programmers of any skill level the essential Java language and foundational Java API skills that must be learned to improve the programmer’s chances of succeeding as an Android app developer. Each of the book’s 10 chapters provides an exercise section that gives you the opportunity to reinforce your understanding of the chapter’s material. Answers to the book’s more than 300 exercises are provided in an appendix. Once you complete this book, you will be ready to dive into Android, and you can start that journey by obtaining a copy of Beginning Android 2.

Additionally, author Jeff Friesen will provide supplementary material (such as 6 more chapters) on his javajeff.mb.ca website, available over the next few months following this book's release.

What you’ll learn

    * The Java language: This book provides complete coverage of nearly every pre-Java version 7 language feature (native methods are briefly mentioned but not formally covered). Starting with those features related to classes and objects, you progress to object-oriented features related to inheritance, polymorphism, and interfaces. You then explore the advanced language features for nested types, packages, static imports, exceptions, assertions, annotations, generics, and enums. Continuing, you investigate strictfp, class literals, synchronized, volatile, the enhanced for loop statement, autoboxing/unboxing, and transient fields. The book also briefly presents most (if not all) of Java version 7’s language features, although not much is said about closures or modules (which were not finalized at the time of writing).
    * Java APIs: In addition to Object and APIs related to exceptions, you explore Math, StrictMath, BigDecimal, BigInteger, Package, Boolean, Character, Byte, Short, Integer, Long, Float, Double, Number, the References API, the Reflection API, String, StringBuffer, System, the Threading API, the collections framework, the concurrency utilities, the internationalization APIs, the Preferences API, Random, the Regular Expressions API, File, RandomAccessFile, stream classes, and writer/reader classes. You will also get a tiny taste of Swing in the context of internationalization.
    * Tools: You will learn how to use the JDK’s javac (compiler), java (application launcher), javadoc (Java documentation generator), and jar (Java archive creator, updater, and extractor) tools. You will also receive an introduction to the NetBeans and Eclipse integrated development environments. Although you can develop Android apps without NetBeans or Eclipse, working with these IDEs is much more pleasant.

Who this book is for

This book is for any programmer (including existing Java programmers and Objective-C (iPhone/iPad) programmers) of any skill level who needs to obtain a solid understanding of the Java language and foundational Java APIs before jumping into Android app development.

Table of Contents

   1. Getting Started with Java
   2. Learning Language Fundamentals
   3. Learning Object-Oriented Language Features
   4. Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 1
   5. Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 2
   6. Exploring the Basic APIs Part 1
   7. Exploring the Basic APIs Part 2
   8. Discovering the Collections Framework
   9. Discovering Additional Utility APIs
  10. Performing I/O
  11. Solutions to Exercises

About the Author

Jeff ""JavaJeff"" Friesen is a freelance software developer and educator specializing in Java and now Android technology. In addition to teaching Java at a local college, he's written several books on Java, with Learn Java for Android and Beginning Java SE 6 Platform: From Novice to Professional being his most recent books. Jeff has also written numerous articles for java.net, InformIT.com and JavaWorld.com. Check out his javajeff.mb.ca website to discover these articles, as well as additional material on Java, JavaFX, and other software technologies.

Source: Android-er blog
Learn Java for Android Development on Amazon.com

This book is also available:  http://books.google.com/books?id=dWC1zHcr4HcC