Definitely not Technical !

When we are supposed to hit a milestone there are a plenty of “do’s” and “don’ts” to be specific.This was the first thing that I learnt after being here for a couple of releases.  And, yea that was a bumpy ride !! All of the software engineering theories  that we studied in the past vanished into thin air. You cannot blame anyone, for that’s how it goes. Theories are always theories and it can only give you a rough image of things look like in a blurry fashion, but definitely the practical experience is far different from what you have learnt.

Been through a lot of things these days and one of them stands out exceptionally.And that was a mail / note that I sent on a *Saturday* evening, 2 days before a certain milestone requesting for a day OFF, since I had a soar throat. The intensity of the work and the pending work items on my plate were posing serious threats to my ETA (estimated time of arrival they say). One more thing to keep in your mind is : 2 weeks back my integrity was questioned to the core (trust me – to the core).

With all this running through my mind, I was typing that mail on Saturday with an one sided head ache . Quoting “ Hey so and so, I have completed so much and I will not be able to come tomorrow. I’m taking a day off because of this health issue. “ When I came back home, I happily told my mom that I will not be working tomorrow and I have applied for a leave. It was when my mom told me that tomorrow is a Sunday  and only a person like you would apply for a leave !

I was like WTF ??!.. the thing to conclude here isnt that I’m a workaholic, definitely nooo.. but this is what 3 consecutive working weekends can do to a fun loving guy like me

Iphone 4 and unlocking it..

This is a pretty sad story of me ending up using a costliest ipod ! I thought of sharing it with everyone so that the same mistake can be avoided in future.

If you are owning a brand new IPHONE 4, I mean a locked one and if you are trying to unlock it.. Then never go for a software update ! If you wish to upgrade your OS to iOS5, then there are some special steps that you need to do. This is called as “preserving BASEBAND”. In Iphone’s terms, BASEBAND plays a vital role.

What’s a baseband ?

Baseband is something associated with the cellphone’s antenna, or say a firmware for the gsm modem. So what does it do ? The iphone’s baseband will take over all the functions associated with the sim card and an antenna. Using this you can a send  text msg, make a call, pick the right signals from the towers etc., Baseband has some link to the bluetooth and the WiFi too which I am not pretty much sure !

 

 

Now how does your baseband get updated when you update your OS?

Well, whenever apple does an update there will be two separate  updates. One is for the baseband firmware and the other is for the OS, both are two different updates but happens the same time. Once you update the baseband, and then there is no way (so far) to downgrade it. Where as, you can downgrade the OS if apple signs the lower versions of it. Which means, when u do an OS upgrade from 4.3.5 to 5 and at the same time if your baseband goes to 4.11.08 from 01.59.00 .. you can get back to 4.3.5 but your baseband remains at  4.11.08 only ! if some one tells you that baseband can be downgraded, plz don’t enter that site it’s a scam for sure.

If they are two different updates, can we ignore the BaseBand and just update the OS alone ? (preserving the baseband)

Yes, you can. And this is what you should have done first case. At first preserving BB was only possible from a MAC machine, ie., we are supposed to create a custom firmware from the stock firmware. By doing this, the BB update present in the stock firmware will be removed in that custom firmware which you have created now. And using the shift+resore option from the iTunes you can do this. For creating the custom firmware, we use a tool named Pwnage in Mac.

 

Right now, this can be done with windows PCs also. We need a tool named RedSnow 0.9.9b8, using this we can accomplish the above said steps. This is a trustworthy tool, and you can go ahead with this.

“Baseband gets updated, and so what ? why can’t I unlock my phone now ?”

This question was the first to pop in my mind, all the unlocks for the iphone depends on BASEBANDs only. First of all, you should be pretty clear with whats an unlock and whats a jailbreak. You can jailbreak even iOS5.0.1 beta but u cannot unlock 4.11.08. I guess u must have got a clue with the above said statement.

Whats a jail break ?

Yes, Jailbreaking is something associated with the OS & firmware. By default apple does not allow you to install any other third party applications in your iphone.    To break that our iphone devs have come up with this “cydia”, that’s just an addition to our OS through which we can install all the apps that were not signed by Apple. In other words “iPhone firmware is modified to allow unsigned code to be run to gain access to files that Apple wouldn’t normally let you access”.

Now what’s unlocking ?

Most of the apple phones are locked with a certain carrier, (AT&T etc.,)..Unlocking is the removal of SIM restrictions on the modem, allowing the use of the iPhone on any carrier. If you think why should I buy a locked phone why not a factory unlocked phone ? Oh, yea the cost factor comes into picture. Factory unlocked costs around 34.5k (INR), and the locked one is around 10k-15k.

There are two types of unlock :

1) Soft unlock  (only after a jailbreak you could do a unlock.)

2) hard unlock (use of gevey sim)

Gevey sim is a thin piece or a sheet like which is kept over the normal sim before inserting. Once you place it above, and insert.. all you gotta do is “call 112” (emergency call) for 2 seconds. And then immediately you need to switch the airplane mode on and then off.. That’s it as far as the Gevey sim is concerned. The cost of that sim is around 35$, and there are places in chennai where you can get it for 1K.

I found most of my friends doing the same mistake, “I accidentally updated my OS to iOS5 without preserving my baseband” .. now what can I do ?

Remember, ultrasnow / Redsnow / Snow breeze or the Gevey sim card works based on the basebands. And so far we have no official updates to unlock 4.11.08. At this point there is not much to say. But stay tuned, I am following some iphone devs and hackers for the unlock updates. Until then u should “hacktivate” your phone and use it as an ipod or itouch whatever.. Well if you want to hacktivate your phone, u should get that iOS 5 jailbreak version and do it using RedSnow or SnowBreeze. (if you want more details about this, drop a mail I’ll pass you the links which works)

follow me for more updates at Twitter : @IamWini

Beneath the surface : NEXUS S from an user perspective

     

I was very excited to own a brand new NEXUS S (google phone) which runs pure Android (ginger bread 2.3.4). Yes, it’s an interesting phone and we have a lot to explore ! But before exploring all that, we need to know few things that are totally hidden beneath the surface. Is our money worth investing in an Android phone ? Do they seriously serve the ultimate purpose of a “smart phone” ?

 

Hardware  :

To start with the hardware - the Nexus S boasts a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4-inch, 800 x 480 curved Super AMOLED display (dubbed the Contour Display), 16GB of storage, a 5 megapixel rear and VGA front-facing camera, and near field communication capabilities. Well fine, the hardware looks great and clichéd. These days AMOLED display, 1 Ghz processors and 512 MB RAM  are so common, you find it in almost all the Android phones which comes in same cadre. I need to make a special note about the 512 MB RAM  present in NEXUS. Although the hardware specifications  points to 512 MB ram, not all the 512 MB is made use ! The phone supports only 300 /310 MB ram with the present Android OS 2.3.4.  The reason they say is that, the 512 MB ram is physically present to support future versions of Android. The addressing space isnt enough they say, with the current architecture.

        The internal memory 16 GB is divided in to two partitions. One is for the phone (2GB) and the other is used like a USB drive (12-13 GB). You do not have a external slot, well I guess you wont need memory more than 16 GB.

     There is a version difference between I9020  and I9023A , the latter has Super LCD and I9020 has AMOLED. The one we get in India is SLCD version for 27k. Note : Super AMOLED is the superior one and not SLCD .

     The surface is a entirely different from the Galaxy SL’s surface, the touch is pretty smooth and they call it Oleographic surface. They is a notable curve in the middle and it’s a little heavy compared to Galaxy SL. The phone promises almost all the features  :3G, GPS, WiFi, NFC. There is no HSPA+, no HD recording and no FM radio. Well that’s not a big deal, But the basic problem is “prana” or the life source ! The source of power to gear this up is completely missing here

Without PRANA u cannot live :

The Nexus S' 1500mAh battery showed impressive signs of life first during the short period of testing. While taking it to the regular usage (though not tons of calling), it sustained about 15-16 hours of life before the phone was crying for its charger. I almost feel like charging it every now and then. Like all the users, I searched for “juice saving” applications. I started reading so many blogs just to find an answer. I finally ended up in a certain blog (one of my junior Shankar Ganesh – killertechtips) asking me to get an extra battery ! Wooh !!! Battery is the main problem with most of the Android phones. We need a powerful one to support the available features. Most of the applications are suspended, and they tend to run in the background utilizing some power. Some applications which has a filter runs as a service.  We have a Wifi connection but if we use it for 2-4 hours that takes most of ur battery life. But how can you be without a Wifi connection ?? It’s the same with the 3G connections too ! Smart phones are useless piece of electronics without an Internet connection, I hope most of you are aware of it . The live wallpaper was one of the most beautiful things I saw in this 4 inch screen. But what’s the use ? the battery consumption shows 70% for display if I use them This is a tantalizing situation, where you have everything at reach but u cannot afford to use them because of your BATTERY ! It’s  frustrating to see your home screen asking you to connect the charger most of the time.

Android Market :

It has many applications in the market but the compatibility will be another blocker for many low end users. Many applications do not support the 2.1 éclair or 2.2 froyo users. This is a serious concern that one should know before buying an Android phone.

 

With an attractive hardware specification, millions of applications and a very low price most of the end users are lured to buy an Android phone. All they think is, I’m getting the efficiency , features and everything that an IPHONE has.  Nope, If that’s what u think I bet u need to reconsider your opinion.

How to bypass the blocked websites in Schools, Colleges or even in Workplace ? (re-sharing)

Websites like facebook , twitter  and other social networking sites are generally blocked in schools, colleges and offices . There exist some tricks by which you can bypass  the restrictions and access blocked sites , the most obvious is the use of proxies or Anonymizer websites . But using proxies doesn’t always works as they gets blocked by firewall as well . Here I am listing some other methods to access blocked contents .

1. Use IP instead of URL

Each website has its equivalent ip address . This method works best when blocked sites are stored as a list of URLs  .You can use  ip address  to access blocked contents . For example to access facebook you can use  ip address 69.63.189.11 in your address bar . You can use ip-address.com to find the ip address of other websites .

2. Use Google Cache

All major search engines like Google yahoo and Bing stores cached pages of websites themselves . You can access blocked websites by viewing their  cached copy on search engines  .

3. Translations services

Translation services like Google Translate , translate a website from one language to another and  display the translated results on their own page .You can access the blocked website by re-translating  blocked url using such online translation services .

4. Retrieve web pages via Email

Web2Mail is a free service that sends any websites  into your inbox. All you need to do is send an email to www@web2mail.com with the URL as subject title.

5. WayBack Machine

Wayback machine periodically keeps a copy of almost all websites on the internet  from the date they have started . You can access your blocked site by fetching its latest copy from archives .

6. Screen-Resolution.com

Screen-Resolution.com allows you to view any website in a different resolution . This could be an interesting tool to access blocked websites .

7. Google Mobile Search

Google Mobile Search displays a web page as if you are viewing it on a mobile  phone .You can use it to access blocked websites but javascript and css will be disabled . This is a pretty old technique, which most of the college students use.

8. Redirect with Short URL service

Short URL service are used for converting a long URL in a shorter one . You can convert your blocked url into a shorter one and use  it to access blocked websites . This trick dont always works . The two popular url shortening service are bit.ly and adf.ly

9. USB Browsing

You can use this method if you have access to usb port  ,you can load usb with your own portable Firefox, with the portable Tor plugin  or you can directly use tor-firefox . I haven’t tried this out but this seems to be a worthy work around !

10.  Proxy Websites

This is the generally known method to access blocked websites . There are thousands of online proxies you can use to surf anonymously or to access blocked websites . This is not preferable though, since you might be exposed to vulnerable attacks.

 

http://www.hidemyass.com

http://www.anonymizer.com

http://www.wujie.net

http://www.ultrareach.net

http://surfshield.net

http://www.guardster.com/subscription/proxy_free.php

http://anonymouse.ws/anonwww.html

http://www.browser-x.com

http://www.spysurfing.com

http://www.xerohour.org/hideme

http://www.proxyz.be

http://www.sc0rian.com/prox

https://www.proxify.us

http://kproxy.com/index.jsp

http://www.brawl-hall.com/pages/proxy.php

http://www.proxify.net

http://proxy.computersteroids.com/index0.php

http://www.unipeak.com

http://flyproxy.com

http://alienproxy.com

I came across this information in a certain article, I thought it would be good if we share it

Conversion to DALVIK FORMAT failed with error 1 !!

Well this is a simple issue, need not panic. If refreshing the project, rebuilding it or cleaning did not work. Then probably u might have added an additional library which is not necessary.

solution : Go to Project » Properties » Java Build Path » Libraries and remove all except the "Android X.Y" (in my case Android 1.5). click OK. Go to Project » Clean » Clean projects selected below » select your project and click OK. That should work.

How to open a database for cross checking ? (ADB)

First we need to log on to this path : E:\android\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools

This is where our adb.exe is present, once you have cd’d thru to that path you will have to run “adb shell” (to open the remote shell for our emulator device)

Once your command is executed, you will be able to see “#_” similar to our bash in unix. U need to know the folder structure before you “cd” here bcoz tab doesn’t work !!

So our project resides at /data/data/<project name>/databases. Once you have reached this point, the next thing is to “ls” or list all the db files present.

Now, if your db file is present : then we need to open sqlite3 (which comes built in)

#sqlite3 /data/data/<projectname>/databases/contact.db

SQLite version 3.5.9
Enter ".help" for instructions
sqlite> .tables
android_metadata  contact_to_grp



sqlite> select * from contact_to_grp;

The rest of the commands are simpler from here.

Android debugging made easy

If you are much attached to Microsoft’s visual studio then stepping through the code here in eclipse might be a bit confusing . We might just mix this up with  VS’s shortcuts (keys used here : F5, F6, F7 and F8)

Here’s what they mean in eclipse (ADT) :

F5
Goes to the next step in your program. If the next step is a method / function this command will jump into the associated code.

F6
F6 will step over the call, e.g. it will call a method / function without entering the associated code.

F7
F7 will go to the caller of the method/ function. So this will leave the current code and go to the calling code.

F8
Use F8 to go to the next breakpoint. If no further breakpoint is encountered then the program will normally run

If you are interested to see the Current Stack   then we need to switch to the “debug” view in the top right corner of your eclipse.

About using DDMS for debugging will be available in the next post