Android SDK — keepin’ it on the down low
There is a bit of a stink in the Android developer community lately about the lack of a recent release of the SDK. Google has reportedly given a new version of the SDK to the 50 Android Developer Challenge contest winners, but not to the general developer community. There’s been quite a bit of speculation as to why Google has not made a widespread SDK release. Some think it is a reward to the contest winners. Some think there is pressure from members of the Open Handset Alliance. Others think with all the iPhone 2.0 news, the timing is bad for Android news. Many more guesses, and I’m not trying to list them all here.
But here’s another theory to throw on the heap.
I think Google has some surprises up their sleeve. The whole point of not releasing the SDK to everyone is they want to keep these surprises a secret as long as possible. As close to the release of an Android phone as possible. There are screenshots of the new SDK, and they look noticeably different than the current SDK release. Check it out:
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| Android SDK screenshot | Limited Release Android SDK photo |
An opportunity presented itself earlier today. Robert Scoble tweeted that he was hanging out with the Google PR team, and did anyone have any questions. I tweeted him back to have him ask Google PR about the Android SDK, and when will the general developer community see a new release?. Now I don’t know and have never met Robert Scoble, so my chances are slim that I would get any response. Time will tell. Looking through the other questions people submitted, not a lot were asked about the Android SDK. There is a nice discussion going on over on FriendFeed about Scoble asking Google PR questions. When Robert Scoble posts about the questions he asked, it will be in the FriendFeed comments or on his website at http://scobleizer.com/
Will Google release a new version of the Android SDK soon? I doubt it. At this point, they are focused on working with their top developers, and with handset makers to get a device out the door by the end of the year. Releasing a more current SDK will just slow them down. My prediction is Google will not release a new SDK until after an Android device ships. I hope I’m wrong.
UPDATE 1: Join in a discussion on FriendFeed.
UPDATE 2: Google to release new SDK on August 5th according to the Android Google Group. I’ll write a new post when the new SDK is released.
WordPress app for iPhone
Tonight WordPress released an open-source app for the iPhone to post to and manage your WordPress blog. The app can be downloaded from http://iphone.wordpress.org
This post is a test of that app. And I have to admit — I love it! Well designed and easy to set up. It is easily able to manage multiple blogs.
I love the ability to take a picture and insert it into a blog post! I took the screenshot shown to the left and was able to insert it very easily by tapping on the photo icon in the bottom bar. I hand edited the HTML to put the text below to the left of the image, and change the size shown.
You can preview your post before it is published too. Now if Apple would give us copy and paste, editing would be a whole lot easier! This is what I’ve been waiting for since I got my iPhone!
The app did crash on me once after I saved the first draft of this post locally, but when I came back into the app, everything was there, so no harm no foul.
Great job WordPress team, and thank you from WordPress bloggers everywhere!
UPDATE: This post was mentioned on Digg at: http://digg.com/apple/WordPress_app_released_for_iPhone
Why Did Google Remove XMPP Support from Android?
The talk this week in Google Android news is the removal of XMPP support from the OS. XMPP is the “extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, an open, XML-inspired protocol for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging (IM) and presence information (a.k.a. buddy lists).” (source: Wikipedia)
Why is this important? Having a service like XMPP available in the OS means that developers wanting to use this in their applications have to implement it on their own, or include someone else’s install in addition to their application. One of the hottest areas of application development are in instant messaging and location-based services, such as Twitter, BrightKite, Loopt, Jabber, etc. Since this is an extendable protocol, additional abilities like VoIP can be defined and added. If you want more background information, you can read about it on TechCrunchIT here and on Google here.
OK, that’s the background of the issue. Here is the political reality. Yes, political.
Read more
How to upgrade a jailbroken iPhone from 1.x to 2.0 (Windows)
There are a lot of people out there with jailbroken iPhones running OS 1.x. I would love to know how many eBay alone has sold over the last year. The estimates are huge, and are likely the reason the new iPhone 3G must be activated at the store (and cannot be purchased on the internet).
There are some tricks you will need to know to get your iPhone from 1.x to 2.0. These instructions were developed and tested on Windows XP SP2. (Don’t worry — I’ll post the Mac version soon.)
| WARNING: Only do this procedure if you have AT&T cell service! The software for unlocking iPhone 2.0 is NOT AVAILABLE — yet. Until it is, all people with cell service other than AT&T must wait to upgrade to 2.0! |
| DISCLAIMER: By following these instructions, you accept all responsibility for what happens to your iPhone, and you agree to hold MobileWebExpert and its founder blameless and exempt from liability or penalty. In other words, you break it, it is your fault alone. |
First, some quick definition of terms:
- ‘jailbroken’ means the iPhone is opened up to install software from sources other than Apple
- ‘unlocked’ means the iPhone is able to use any cell phone carrier that uses a SIM card
- ‘activated’ means the phone is able to make cellular calls
- ‘DFU mode’ is the iPhone screen showing the cable with an arrow pointing to the iTunes icon (see below)
These are the things you will need:
- iTunes 7.7 - download it here
- iPhone OS 1.1.4 - Apple download site 1 -or- Apple download site 2
iPhone OS 2.0 - Apple download site 1 -or- Apple download site 2- iPhone OS 2.0.1 - Apple download site 1 -or- Apple download site 2
- ZiPhone jailbreak/unlock software - download it here
- the iPhone and the cable to connect to your computer
This is the summary of the update procedure.
- Gather and install all software listed above.
- Connect the iPhone to your Windows PC.
- Open iTunes 7.7 and sync your iPhone. Be sure to use iTunes 7.7! See why here.
- Now backup your iPhone by right-clicking on the iPhone in the left sidebar and clicking backup. See screen capture here.
- Open ZiPhoneGUI.exe and change the iPhone to DFU mode. It’s under the Advanced Features. Click the button that says DFU Mode. Big scary warning is OK.
- In iTunes, select the iPhone in the left sidebar, and shift-click the restore button on the Summary tab.
- Find
iPhone1,1_1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipswand click Open. A jailbroken iPhone must be restored back to 1.1.4 before going to 2.0 — THIS IS IMPORTANT! iTunes will give you an error if you try, but won’t hurt anything as far as I know. - When that finishes, iTunes wants to restore your backup. DO THIS!
- In iTunes, select the iPhone in the left sidebar, and shift-click the restore button. YES AGAIN.
- Find
iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipswiPhone1,1_2.0.1_5B108_Restore.ipsw - When that finishes, iTunes wants to restore your backup. DO THIS AGAIN!
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UPDATE: Newer versions of the iPhone software are available. This is why the links above are Please visit this post to download any version of the iPhone software: |
iPhone 2.0 keyboard still missing the backwards single quote `
A few months back I needed to send a payment while away from home. iPhone mobile web to the rescue! I grab my iPhone and go to log into the account. This is an account that I had not tried to access using the iPhone before.
Like any good geek paranoid about security, I had set up the account with a strong password randomly generated on the internet.
So I enter account, tap ok, enter password… Hey! Where’s the backsquote? (also called the backwards single quote or left single quote — it looks like this ` — on most keyboards located above the TAB key and to the left of the 1 key.) I’m left stranded because the password I used had a backsquote in it. Grrrr! Arrrgh!
This is probably not going to affect many users, but there is no workaround for this one. Not a serious a missing feature problem, but still very annoying to anyone that has no alternative to the backwards single quote. `
Please, please, please Apple, give us full keyboardity!
iPhone OS v1.1.4 vs OS v2.0 - how much bigger is it?
Every time a new version of a software program or OS is released, the size of the files that make up that software increase. This is caused by additional features and capabilities added to the new software. More features take up more space.
This is a comparison of iPhone OS v1.1.4 to iPhone OS v2.0.
iPhone version 1.1.4 uses 198MB:
iPhone version 2.0 uses 205.4:
Net increase from iPhone OS v1.1.4 to v2.0 is: 7.4 MB
That’s a pretty small increase, which is good if you’re worried about keep that space available for music, video and APPS!
A note worth mentioning. How big the software is on disk has nothing to do with how much memory it uses while running.
All results were obtained from iTunes v7.7 - iPhone > General tab down at the bottom.
iTunes 7.7 backs up iPhone data better than iTunes 7.6.x
Backing up your iPhone using iTunes v7.7 does a better job than previous versions of iTunes.
Things discovered so far:
- Passwords for email
- Passwords for WiFi
- Pictures
To make iTunes 7.7 backup your iPhone, go into iTunes, right-click on the iPhone in the left panel, and select Backup from the drop down list. Like this:
More information can be found on the Apple website in Article HT1414.
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