First steps in development

One of my goals with trying out Android was to look at developing applications for the system.

I have previously done a lot of development on Windows Mobile devices, and I wanted to see how the Android system compares.

I expected to be converting one or more of the windows mobile programs I had previously written and used:

• Mapping programs and tools  (not going to look at this as yet, as the available Android programs seem satisfactory)
• Database tools for things like bug tracking / lists of eBooks etc
• German language training (another interest, learning German)
• Various tools / simulations for my other interest: railways.

I've chosen to go with the language trainer first.

The idea - as for the Windows Mobile program - is that the program has a database of words and templates of sentances/phrases.  It uses the database to construct phrases in the two languages (German or English) and presents these to the user, who has to respond with the correct translation.

I used to use my Windows Mobile version whenever I had an odd moment to fill, to practise and improve my German vocabulary and grammar.

So I've chosen this as my first venture into Android programming as it will get me familiar with some key areas such as a) the java language b) the Android user interface and c) SQLite databases.

It's coming along, I've got the DB implemented (and imported my previous dataset into it - I had the foresight to dump my windows DB to XML before the windows device died).

So first impressions of Android development:  it's not bad.

• Emulator on the PC works well, fairly easy to debug.
• Android UI is pretty straightforward - although I have had a few issues trying to tweak UI boxes to the size I wanted
• SQLite DB works pretty well and seems quite fast.

WiFi update

As previously commented, initially I found the wifi performance of my tablet pretty poor: it was very difficult to get it to connect, both at home and at work.

As my home router was giving other problems, I upgraded my home router and performace with the new (which supports PSK2) is much better.  The tablet connects almost always automatically and stays connected better and longer.

Still not so great at work unfortunatly ...

SD Card

This device has an SD card slot, and there is a 32GB SD card in the slot - but nothing is using it.

In the file system I have:

• Root
• extsd  
• sdcard
• etc

EXTSD is the external (32GB) sd card.  SDCARD is internal storage.  In Settings\Storage I have:

External SD card:  29.71GB total / 29.71 GB available
NAND memory:  6.69GB Total / 6.29GB available

Files, eg applications installed to SD, Kindle eBooks etc are going to the NAND memory (which is sdcard) in the file system.

So how does this work?  And how can I make use of the 32GB SD card?

Bluetooth connection!

Now that I've got Gingerbread on the device - next step is to get bluetooth and GPS working:

Plugged in the bluetooth dongle:  is recognised by the device and I can turn on bluetooth (the bluetooth options weren't on the Froyo version).

Scan for devices - finds bluetooth GPS unit, and will pair with it.  But not recognised as GPS unit.

Visit market - download and install Bluetooth GPS provider.  Also get GPS essentials while I'm there.

BT GPS provider installed - turn on and connect - is showing satellite info from GPS receiver.

Start GPS essentials - shows GPS data including lat long and position on map.

Looks as though it's all working ok.

A bit fiddly to connect up all the bits - might be an easier way to do it - but at least it works!


Open Orux Maps - shows map centered on current location - seems to work ok.

(OK, stationary in my study at the moment, will need to see what it does with movement tomorrow)

Amazon Review

I've had two of these from Wendy Lou:  The first had Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) on it but unfortunately failed to charge after the first 24 hrs.  Wendy Lou promptly replaced it (And refunded the postage cost) with a second unit which has worked OK.  However the second unit had Android 2.2 (Froyo) not Android 2.3 which was a little disappointing.

I then took the unit away on holiday where it fulfilled the main purpose of being able to read eBooks on it (using Kindle).

General comments: the device is quite large (good screen, can read a whole page width of technical text book in PDF format on it) but it also quite thick and heavy and not the most comfortable device to hold and read for long periods.  It's important to note what this device does not have (I guess you get what you pay for) - it does not have 3G, GPS or Bluetooth.

With the first device (A2.3) I was able to connect an external bluetooth dongle - and thus access a GPS receiver - but the replacement device with A2.2 on it would not connect to the external bluetooth dongle and thus could not be used with GPS.  I have now upgraded it to Android 2.3 and hope to able to connect to a dongle and thus access gps - the device comes with a suitable connector to do this.

I've also found WiFi performance rather poor.  The unit will connect to my home wifi (and at work) but often looses the connection and will refuse to reconnect for some time which gets very frustrating.  I'm not sure if this is the device or the wifi - but will continue to investigate now that I have upgraded to Gingerbread (seems better), and will try different wifi systems and settings.

Further and ongoing notes can be found at http://stepsinandroid.blogspot.com/

Gingerbread!

I've just upgraded my tablet to Android 2.3: Gingerbread ;-)

I found these instructions for upgrading the HAIPAD M7.  Now, the device I bought is a "TabTech M7" - but as far as I could tell it's the same device as the HAIPAD M7.  So I downloaded the files as per the instructions on the Haipad page, copied them to an SD card, put it in the device and restarted.

Cross fingers and hope!

All seems well, device now restarted and has Android 2.3 Gingerbread ... it has however lost all the apps I had installed, so I need to get them back on the device (and hope they still work) and see what new features I've got.

Apps reinstalled and working on 2.3:

• Blogger
• Kindle
• Flash Player (10.3)
• Dolphin Browser
• FeedR
• K9 Mail
• TaskList
• KeePassDroid

Haven't tried attaching an exernal bluetooth dongle (which was one of the main points of getting A2.3) yet, but I notice the bluetooth settings are now available in settings - which is a good sign.

Apps I use

These are the apps I use at the moment on my tablet:

• Kindle (ebook reader)
• Feedr (rss reader, good offline)
• K9 mail (email,  good offline)
• OfficeSuite (doc editor)
• Orux maps (offline maps)
• PcFileSync (sync files over wifi)
• GoWeather (offline weather forecasts)
• KeePassDroid
• ESV Bible

Apps I don't use

These are apps I've tried and abandoned:

• Aldiko
• Moon+ reader
• CoolReader
• FbReader
• IReader
• GReader
• Flow notes
• Pocket

Wifi worked

A wifi success
Popped into s MacDonalds for coffee and deified wifi, and the tablet connected fairly easily.

Document editing

Another requirement is editing documents (word doc etc)
I wanted features like

• Essential
• Open and edit DOC / DOCX
• Bold / Italic / Underline
• Fonts
• Tables
• Bullets
• Nice
• Insert table / insert row
• Pictures
• Styles
• Multiple docs
• Table of contents
• Spell check

Eventually I found OfficeSuite which does most of this including tables and bullets - I couldn't find any other apps that handled tables and bullets as well.
I also downloaded an alternative keyboard (the gingerbread keyboard) and I find this better than the default 2.2 keyboard.
A couple of niggles

• sometimes it's not easy to position the cursor - cursor keys would help - this device doesn't have them,  and there aren't any on screen
• in OfficeSuite some functions are difficult to get to (eg deep in menues) - might be easier if the menu button on this device was better placed.

How does power work?

I'm not sure how power works on this.
If I leave the tablet for a short while the screen goes off (fine) and pressing the home key wakes it up. Ok.
But if I leave it longer, it shuts down completely and when restarted (with the power key) goes through the full boot process.
I can't find any settings to manage this.

Dreadful wifi

I'm finding the wifi on this tablet very frustrating.
Currently away from home - I know there are several wifi signals (my phone can see them) but the tablet won't connect.  (Or reconnect in some instances).
As usual I don't know if that is normal for Android 2.2 or just this model.