A few weeks back I was sitting in my office, where I normally have a very nice 4G signal, and all of the sudden I could not get a data connection whatsoever.  I went and grabbed my wife’s phone (we work in the same office and have the same phone) and she had a 4G signal and complete data coverage.  After several calls to T-Mobile to no avail, my old friend Google finally came to my rescue in the form of a secret Android developers code.  I’d like to take you through the process of how I was able, with just a few button presses, to restore my phone to its 4G glory.

I found the code that I will be talking about at Tmo-News , but they originally came from a website called Tweaking With Vishal, and I will post his disclaimer as my own warning that this should only be tried at your own risk.

DISCLAIMER: This information is intended for experienced users. It is not intended for basic users, hackers, or mobile thieves. Please do not try any of following methods if you are not familiar with mobile phones. We’ll not be responsible for the use or misuse of this information, including loss of data or hardware damage. So use it at your own risk.

Good!  Now that we have that out of the way, we can can start to have some fun.  We will use the code that I am about to reveal to toggle the radios on and off in your phone to try and reset the data connection, because, as we all know, turning things off and on again almost always works

First things first, open up your dialer and type in “*#*#4636#*#*” without the quotation marks.  The second that you hit the last “*” the middle screenshot above will appear.  Tap “Phone information” and the rightmost screenshot above will appear.  Scroll down until you can see “Toggle Ciphering.”

It will say “Ciphering ON.”  Hit the “Toggle Ciphering” button so that it says “Ciphering OFF,” then hit “Turn off radio.”  You’ll notice a lovely “X” over your signal bars. Wait a moment until the button updates to say “Turn on radio,” then press that.  Once the radio is back on (you’ll know because the button has changed back to say “Turn off radio”) then you’ll hit the “Toggle Ciphering” button one final time so that it says “Ciphering ON” and you are all done.  Easy, right?

At this point you should quickly notice that you now have a signal and data should be freely flowing to your phone.  As soon as I tried this my 4G connection was back and T-Mobile was saved from yet another call from me.  I used this specifically for the HTC Sensation 4G, but these codes are supposed to work on all Android phones.  If you’re having any connectivity issues on your Android phone, this just might help you easily resolve them.

The recent Changewave survey showed that Apple’s iPhone is leading the way when it comes to customer satisfaction with a 70% rate. Interesting in the survey was the fact that next in line was Windows Phone 7 with 57% followed by Android at 50% and finally RIM with 26%.

In their research, Changewave was also able to determine that 46% of people polled were looking to get an iPhone device while 32% were looking at an Android powered one. Continuing a downward trend was RIM, which is now down to 4%. In addition, with Windows Phone 7 nowhere on this second chart confirms the fact that Microsoft has a lot of work to do to get consumers on board with the Metro UI and Windows Phone 7.

You can find the full report information on Changewave’s website.

Via BGR.com

Google really seems to be on a roll lately, pushing out great new features and options day after day. Makes me really glad that I chose Android as my platform of choice. The ability to navigate with Android has always been awesome, but the one issue has always been that you had to have a signal (3G/WiFi) to really be able to use the feature. To an extent, that has changed with the introduction of Google Maps for Android 5.7. A Labs feature has been add that now gives you some additional abilities. We will explore each of these, but if you want to follow along, you can find this by opening Maps, and go to Menu | More | Labs. On a tablet, click the menu button in the upper-right corner of Maps. The “Download map area” lab requires Android 2.1+ and the latest version of Google Maps.

One way we bring you new product features is through Google Labs—a collection of fun, experimental features you can turn on if you’re interested in the functionality. In fact, Google Maps itself started as a lab. In addition to our desktop Maps Labs, Google Maps for Android has a few tricks you can try out right from your phone. We’d like to introduce you to one new experimental feature, “Download map area,” but also remind you of two other ones we already have: “Scale bar” and “Measure.”

Download Map Area

When you’re visiting an unfamiliar location, Google Maps for mobile is great for getting an idea of how close you are to your destination, where streets and landmarks are in relation to each other, or just for getting “un-lost.” But what if you don’t have a data signal, or you’re abroad and don’t have a data plan? We say that if you use Google Maps for mobile, you’ll never need to carry a paper map again. The “Download map area” lab in Google Maps 5.7 for Android is a step in making that statement true even when you’re offline.

Let’s say later you’re visiting Bordeaux during a trip to France. If you were to open Google Maps for mobile and zoom into Bordeaux without data coverage or wifi, you’d see an image that is faint, fuzzy, and has no detail at all. That’s not particularly useful when you’re trying to find out how close you are to the Cathedrale St. Andre. But a little advance planning and “Download map area” can help. Before you take your trip, while you still have access to WiFi or data coverage, you can open up any Places page in the world, click “More” to get the Place page menu, and download Google’s maps for a 10-mile radius.

The download can take as little as a minute or two. This download stores only the base map tiles and the landmarks on the map, so you still need a data connection to see satellite view and 3D buildings, search for Places and get directions. But we hope the level of detail available will help you find your way! All your downloaded map areas can be managed in your Google Maps cache settings so you can delete maps you no longer need or if you want to free up storage. After 30 days, all downloaded map areas will be removed from your cache; they can be re-downloaded any time.

Scale Bar

Google Maps has approximately 20 different zoom levels that range from a 2,000 mile scale to a 20 foot scale. With finger gestures making it really quick and easy to zoom in and out, sometimes it’s not always clear what zoom level you’re at. What might be just a few streets away can be quite a long walk depending on the scale. To help with this, you can turn on a scale bar, which updates based on your zoom level.

Measure

If you ever need to know the distance between San Francisco and New York (about 2602 miles) or between any other two points on the map, the “Measure” lab can help you out. Once it’s enabled, you’ll notice a tape measure icon just above the zoom buttons. After clicking that icon, you’ll be prompted to tap two points on the map and Google Maps will calculate the straight distance between those points (this direct distance is “as the crow flies”).

Source: The Official Google Blog

ViewSonic has released many different tablets over the last few months however the one that catches the most attention is the dual boot ViewPad 10 which runs both Windows 7 and Android 1.6. ViewSonic has released an update to the VIewPad 10 which will upgrade Android 1.6 to Android 2.2.

Here is what is needed

• 1 GB USB Thumb Drive
• UNETBOOTIN App to create a bootable USB drive from an ISO file.  You can download it here: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/unetbootin/UNetbootin/549/unetbootin-win-549.exe?r=http%3A%2F%2Funetbootin.sourceforge.net%2F&ts=1302711528&use_mirror=cdnetworks-us-1
• Android 2.2 ISO file for ViewPad 10.  Click here to visit the ViewSonic website for the download:
  • Website: http://www.viewsonic.com/software-updates/viewpad10/ 
  • Direct Download: http://www.viewsonic.com/ISOs/p10t-V2.2-1.4_viewsonic_dual.iso

Creating the USB Boot Drive

1. Download the UNETBOOTIN and the ViewPad 10 Android 2.2 ISO files
2. Insert your USB Thumb drive to an open USB Port
3. Run UNETBOOTIN and select Diskimage and ISO
4. Click the browse button and select the ISO file you downloaded.
5. If your USB drive was properly detected, the Drive letter should have been entered automatically.  If the drive letter is incorrect, click the down arrow and select the correct drive letter assigned to the USB drive
6. Click OK and wait until the process is done.

Updating the OS

1. Click OK and wait until the process is done.
2. Updating the OS
3. Insert the USB Drive and a USB Keyboard to the ViewPad 10.  Make sure that the AC Adapter is connected to prevent sudden loss of power.
4. Turn the ViewPad 10 on and click F11 on the keyboard when the splash screen comes up.
5. Select your USB Drive on the next screen and hit Enter.
6. On the Android install screen, select the last item (Install to Hard Drive)
7. Select SDA1 Linux
8. Select format EXT3
9. Select Yes on the next screen prompts.
10. Reboot when done.
     

The rumors have been swirling around for weeks but it is now official that the Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi only is releasing March 27th for $599. This tablet machine is running Google’s Tablet OS named Honeycomb tablet. The Xoom Wi-Fi only is pretty much the same as the 3G and 4G version. The stats on this device are:

• 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor

• 1GB of RAM

• 32GB of storage

• 5-megapixel autofocus camera

• 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution

You can preorder the Xoom from Amazon.com

Here is the press release:

Motorola Mobility Brings MOTOROLA XOOM™ Wi-Fi to United States
Innovative new tablet experience to be available from more than seven leading retailers nationwide
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI), today announced the upcoming availability of MOTOROLA XOOM™ Wi-Fi edition from leading retailers across the United States starting March 27. Amazon.com, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club (select locations), Staples and Walmart will be offering the 10.1-inch widescreen HD tablet with Android™ 3.0 (Honeycomb) through both online and retail store channels. The MSRP for MOTOROLA XOOM Wi-Fi with 32 GB of memory will be $599.
“MOTOROLA XOOM is a truly innovative tablet – its design, coupled with being the first tablet to have Android 3.0, results in a user experience that is one-of-a-kind,” said Dan Papalia, vice president of retail sales for Motorola Mobility. “We are now continuing to expand the choices available to consumers with the MOTOROLA XOOM Wi-Fi to be available soon from numerous leading retailers in the United States.”
In addition, the MOTOROLA XOOM Wi-Fi will be available to commercial IT channels and regional retailers through a distribution agreement with Synnex Corporation, and regional carriers through Brightpoint, Inc.
MOTOROLA XOOM showcases the innovations of the Honeycomb user experience – including widgets, true multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization – on a 10.1-inch widescreen HD display, enabling video content that’s richer and clearer than ever before. With a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM, MOTOROLA XOOM delivers exceptionally fast web-browsing performance. The latest Google Mobile services include Google Maps 5.0™ with 3D interaction and access to more than 3 million Google eBooks and apps from Android Market™. MOTOROLA XOOM also supports a Beta of Adobe® Flash® Player 10.2 downloadable from Android Market, enabling the delivery of rich Flash based web content including videos, casual games and rich Internet applications.
As the first device running Android 3.0, MOTOROLA XOOM benefits from our aggressive work with developers across the ecosystem through MOTODEV, Motorola’s developer support program to enable world-class tablet and smartphone experiences. These devices will be able to access more than 150,000 applications within the Android Market as well as the rapidly increasing number of applications optimized directly for the Android 3.0 OS. In addition, thousands of Flash-based web applications and sites will become available for the MOTOROLA XOOM.
As a part of the company’s commitment and leadership — along with Google’s — to the Android ecosystem, Motorola announced a series of global developer events in 11 cities across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. These MOTODEV events give developers access to tools, support and Motorola’s team of Android experts. The first of these events was hosted in San Francisco on March 1 and had more than 665 developers in attendance.
MOTODEV also recently announced a new testing and certification program for Honeycomb applications, encouraging developers to submit their applications to get early feedback and support on MOTOROLA XOOM performance. This is a part of the company’s ongoing commitment to supporting the ecosystem in delivering high quality experiences to the consumer.
More information about MOTODEV tools, resources and events can be found at http://developer.motorola.com.
About Motorola Mobility
Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) fuses innovative technology with human insights to create experiences that simplify, connect and enrich people’s lives. Our portfolio includes converged mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; wireless accessories; end-to-end video and data delivery; and management solutions, including set-tops and data-access devices. For more information, visit motorola.com/mobility.
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered trademarks of Motorola Trademark Holdings, LLC. Android, Google, Google Mobile and Google Maps are trademarks of Google Inc. All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2011 Motorola Mobility, Inc.

No, I didn’t misspell hoopla. Hooopla is a new Android app for hyper-local activities. Of course, this will have to catch on with folks, because it will live and die by how relevant and up to date events are, but given the current attitude of frenzy, I can see this one probably making it.

What’s fun to do today? Flag Football? Poker tournament? Happy Hour? Live Music? House Party?

Introducing Hooopla, an app that informs you of all the fun events and activities currently going on around you!!

Basketball Games, Softball Games, Potlucks, Common Interest Meetings, Snowball Fights, you name it! If its local and currently going on, you’ll know about using Hooopla!!

You can also add your own events and activities and promote through Hooopla to have others join in on the fun by simply utilizing your event/activity’s fun feed.

Hooopla
Hyperlocal. Fun. Now

The Android Market has transitioned to the web with Android Web Market. Google previewed many features on Android 3.0 and the seamless integration between the Android Web Market and devices is amazing. Buy an app on the web and have it automatically installed to the Android device of your choice. Hopefully the will being the power of Google Search to the Market as that has been the biggest pain as more apps are added to the market.

The web market provides an area to name your devices in case you want to deploy apps to your work, personal, or tablet device. It would be interesting if they offer enterprises the option to perform application  deployment to employee devices in a similar manner. Google has also announced in-app purchases, we can hold out hope we won’t see the same anti-competitive posture we are use to seeing with Apple against companies like Sony.

In-app purchases was a needed add for Android. First they need to compete with Apple and most users don’t pay for Android apps so they need to find a way to get the tens of millions of users to depart with some cash.

Google is going to start February off with a bang today when they show off Android 3.0. I suspect they want to set the bar for what a tablet is above what RIM is showing in the Playbook and beyond what Apple has Planned for the upcoming iPad 2.

The Live Stream will be on Google’s Android Youtube Page. The Show starts at 10 AM PT or 1 PM ET.

We have seen dozens of leaked features so lets hope Google lives up to all the expectation.

I know very few people that have knowingly turned on Google Latitude on their Android Phone. If you are not familiar Latitude is a Google location tracking application that is build into Google maps. Latitude social location sharing app that works amazing for keeping track for friends locations. With the update to Google Maps 5.1, Latitude is now getting a check-in service like Foursquare, Facebook, Gowalla, Yelp and many more.

I have found Latitude extremely helpful when tailgating before sporting events. It is an extremely useful app. Latitude will provide automatic check-ins for frequently visited locations; auto check-out, and check-in notifications.

I doubt these features will drag users from any other the other services. I think if you want to use Latitude you need to find the best use for you. With a low user community and not benefits like discounts or in game recognitions, why bother?

[Source Google]

Ever wish you could just print that web-page with your baggage receipt or an attachment you received in Gmail without having to jump through hoops? Well, now you can. For the last several months, Google has been testing Google Cloud Print. As of today, it is rolled out live and available to you if you are running Android 2.1 or higher. You can, of course, directly print to any Cloud-enabled printer, but you don’t see many of those yet. However, the alternative is to cloud-enable a printer local to your PC, using Google Chrome.

To get started you will need to connect your printer to Google Cloud Print. It only works on a Windows PC right now, but Mac and Linux support are coming soon. Once setup just navigate to your mobile browser and choose “Print” from the dropdown box in the top right corner. Mobile Gmail users can also print email attachments (such as .pdf or .doc) by clicking the “Print” link that appears next to them.