My New Android Phone

My new mobile phone is a Samsung Galaxy Portal.  I chose the Galaxy Portal because at the time, it was the cheapest Android phone I could get on contract with three – It was possible to get the phone for just a few pounds more than I was already paying.

Since then, there is now a cheaper Android phone from ZTE I could have had that without any increase, so I’m interested to see how it compares to my Galaxy.

I’m happy with the Samsung, even though its costing me a little more.  One of the first things I tried with it was the Skype Client.  I Use Skype quite a lot, and on three, the free Skype calls appear to be routed through their voice network – incoming calls appear as a regular call – but even so, on the Nokia E63 I was using, skype calls didn’t quite have the same quality as regular mobile calls or pc based skype calls.  On the Galaxy, the skype calls have much better quality audio.

The Next thing I noticed (possibly because I was doing so much Skype Calling was that battery life on the Galaxy is much shorter than on the Nokia – but I have been used to the  E63′s long battery life.

Searching around, I read that leaving programs running can draw more from the battery, I’m guessing that the processor is slowed down by the Android system when its not needed.  What I couldn’t find in the Android software, was a way of seeing what was actually still running.

To the rescue came ‘Task Manager’ from Rhythm Software, it can be installed free (add supported) using Google Market.

Task Manager will Show you all of the apps and running in your phone and let you shut them off all at once – you can mark apps you want to keep running, and these wont be listed next time you use Task Manager.

Another App I picked up from Google Market is ‘IM+ Lite’ its Instant Messaging Software, but importantly for me, it will talk to any Jabber/XMPP chat server, as well as Google, Live, Yahoo etc.. Using it, I can send commands to my Router-Hardware controller that uses a php chat client to listen for commands – more on that here.

After being used to having the qwerty keyboard on the Nokia E63, it takes me a bit of getting used to the touch screen on the Galaxy Portal.  My fingers seem to be the wrong shape and size

In the Android system however, you are not stuck with the keyboard software that comes with the phone.  I tried several different keyboard apps from the market before finding ThickButtons.  ThickButtons  cleverly watches as you type and after each key, makes the buttons it thinks you might be going to use next bigger!  This works very well – for me, so far, and I’m pleased, because before I found it, I was starting to  wonder just how long I would go before having to get a Android Phone with a ‘propper’ keyboard.

Even if your fingers are the right shape and size,  you might want to check out the ThickButtons app to see if it increases your typing rate.

I already knew that although getting a mobile phone to work with a Linux system is not always easy, I had read that several people had had luck using both usb cables and BlueTooth connections.

I’m on Three mobile network and have a ‘Skype Phone‘ or WP-S1 and a Sony W910i that Three used as an incentive for me to re-commit to them, saying that the Broadband Speed through the phone would be better than the WP-S1.  What they forgot to tell me was that in my area, the signal is not that great all of the time anyway.

The avarage download speed I get at home is pretty good, somewhere between fast ISDN and the original 512k broadband.  Uploads however are usually about 50-60k.  Good enought for browsing, email and the od bit of remote access, but not quite ready for VOIP or Skype via the computer – I guess the Skype function in the WP-S1 is using the band width differently.

The EeePC‘s Skype however gives good results when connected via a wifi link or network cable.

The Sony W910i would not (for me) connect via the blue tooth connection, but the usb cable works with a little tinkering.  Again, the details found on http://forum.eeeuser.com (try searching for usb and three.co.uk) produced several examples of how to get connected.

Currently, I use the W910i by poping up a terminal window and running “pon gsm” as root.

Sometimes this fails with an error message on the phone, but I just click the ok button on the phone and try the command again.  Once connected its fine.

If I was going to start from scratch and wanted to limit my monthly outgoings, I would get a 3G modem or a Skype Phone on pay as you go.  Topping up and converting the cash to broadband access gives up to 30 days to get throught the download allowance (1G, 3G or more currently £10 gets you 1G) – If you don’t use it for a while, don’t top it up – Pretty good internet access without regular bills – not bad.

As an extra, if its a Skype Phone / WP-S1 your using, (currently) topping up will give you access to the Skype function for 30 days – It only works for calls to other Skype computer users, not Skype In or Skype Out calls.