Android tips #2

Some more Android features you might not be aware of.  My Nexus One has been updated to Android 2.2/Froyo, and I discovered a few of these features recently. So these features might be 2.2-specific.

• You probably know that the Google Search widget on the home screen can search the contents of your phone too, from Android 2.2 onwards.  But did you know that you don't really need the Search widget to be on your home screen to use search?  You can simply press your phone's Search soft key when you are on the home screen, and that would bring the search UI of the widget (even if the widget is not present anywhere in any of your home screens).
• You can type a phone number and dial it directly from your phone's search interface (either from Google Search widget or by pressing Search soft key when in home screen).  You can also type a phone number and create a new contact with that phone number from the search UI itself.
• This is a feature I know I will be using very often, but I know it's not for everyone.  You can press and drag upwards on the soft keyboard to reveal two rows at the top that have numbers and few special characters.  Will be handy when having to type one symbol or a digit in the middle of a phrase.

See also: Android tips.

This day

Last month I was talking to my director at work, and I told him how much I hated Hyderabad and how badly I wanted to leave the city for good.  He said, among other things, that only when things are not going well at work the city gets to you and you want to move out.  That hit me hard, and I started thinking about it.

Now I should say I am really happy with my work as such, and my life in general.  Last night I was sleepy by 9.30pm but suddenly got some idea and sat down to build something that a friend of mine can use in her blog.  That made me sit till midnight or so.  Woke up early this morning.  Tweaked the code I had written last night; spoke to the friend; got some feedback; planned something big for what we were doing.

Then randomly I decided to go to office.  Went to office; helped another friend in his project; did some office work too while I was at it; went out to meet some friends; spent some time out; and now I am home, typing this.  Surprisingly, I was calm and driving responsibly on the road.  My blood pressure didn't rise when the car before me was just too slow.  I didn't cut anyone off in my urge to go past everyone.  I didn't swear much.  When people cut me off I did get irritated, but I didn't go mad like I do nowadays.

Life is suddenly good.

Android tips

I see that many Android users have difficulty in discovering features that are available in their devices.  In this post I am going to share some commonly unknown features/functionality of Android software.

1. This is a question I have been asked several times by my friends who use Android.  How would you delete or forward a single message in an SMS conversation?  Long press is the answer.  Long press the message you want to delete or forward and you will get a menu that will let you do it.
2. Android's built-in SMS app will not autocomplete phone numbers of your contacts that are not marked as "mobile".  Not everyone has correctly categorized phone numbers in their contact list, and it could be a pain.  There are two ways to solve it: 1. correctly classify mobile phone numbers as mobile numbers in your contact list; this can be hard to do.  2. Use a third-party app like Handcent SMS for messaging.  Handcent SMS lets you configure if you want to see non-mobile numbers while composing SMS.
3. Let's say you have a phone without a physical keyboard.  You are in some UI where there is no text entry field, but you want to type something.  For example, imagine you are seeing your contacts list, and you want to find a contact by typing the contact's name.  (It's faster than scrolling and finding it.)  What you can do is long press Menu button, and that will bring the soft keyboard.  Now type the first few letters of the contact to filter the contact list.
4. You know that all your Google Talk chat history is available in Gmail.  But did you know that you can search your chat log from within Android's Google Talk app itself?  When you are in Google Talk app, press the Search button and enter your search query.  This will show all chats that match your search query.  Opening a result would show you the chat log in the same way Gmail does.  You can even reply to that chat by email or chat from there itself.  This can be extended to other apps too.  Any app's search functionality can be activated by pressing Search key when you are in that app.  You press Search button when in home screen, it brings the regular Google search (or phone search in 2.2/Froyo and above).  You press Search button when in Gmail app, it brings the Gmail search box.

See also: Android tips #2.

Apple products: why I don't want them?

I watched the video where Steve Jobs was introducing the "multitasking" feature of iOS.  I think it's a clever way of doing multitasking.  Apple's principle seems to be not providing features for the sake of adding features; but to enhance the functionality of the device.  Also, Apple seems to focus on doing things right, rather than doing things first.

What do I think of this as a user?  Let's think about one feature: copy-paste.  I agree that copy-paste is not a great experience on Android.  I have never used any iOS device, so I can't compare Android and iOS.  But I am inclined to believe that iOS does it much better than Android.

Apple took the time to think about how to do copy-paste right, and they introduced it only in version 3 of their OS.  Had I owned a first generation iPhone, not having the ability to copy-paste on my phone would be a severe limitation to me.  Likewise, iOS devices don't do over-the-air syncing yet.  Maybe Apple will implement it in the "right way" at some point, and they might even prove that Android's way of syncing is inferior to what they can do.

But it all doesn't mean much to me.  I think of myself as an advanced user who can figure things out when something is not working.  Even if it's a little sloppy, I want my features right now; I can't wait for my device manufacturer to think hard and get it Just Right.

(I have more reasons for not wanting Apple products; this is just one in the list.)

Running

Living is running.

You can run in the streets, smiling at people you see.  You can run in the beaches, listening to the waves.  You can run in the mountains, ascending towards the sky.  And you can also run on a treadmill in an air-conditioned room.