Six Months on with the Xoom

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8 months ago
by Charles in , ,

I haven’t posted in a while, but that essentially means that my Xoom has been smoothly incorporated into my life.

On a daily basis,I use it to play music while at work and play music to help me fall asleep at night.   I’ve got a collection of Native American flute tracks and a couple of thunderstorm collections that work great. I usually alternate between them, depending on what moon I’m in when I head to bed.

My Xoom is my alarm clock.  I’ve built a playlist of various classical music pieces from The 99 most Essential Collections.  Alarm Clock Plus plays nicely with those playlists.  I’m also buying more music, mostly single tracks, than ever from Amazon.com.

I’m still thoroughly enjoying the 32 gigabyte SD card.  It was well worth the money!

I downloaded Amazon’s free app of the day today: PrinterShare Mobile Print.  I also installed Google Cloud Print on my desktop computer and configured it to print to my office printer.  PrinterShare Mobile Print can talk to Cloud Print!  I was printing from my Xoom to my office printer in a matter of 10-15 minutes.

The Bluetooth keyboard that I purchased…I pretty much see that as a waste of money now.  I’ve used it a total of 4 times since I purchased it.  I am still adapting to the Thumbs keyboard app.  I like it, but I’m just not that good with it.

The biggest disappointment are the power and USB connectors.  I can already tell that the USB connection isn’t all that tight with the cable.  It popped out once during a transfer.  The power cable is terrible.  It’s a small pin that plugs into a small hole with no way to securely lock it into place.  It came loose one night when I plugged it in, so I awoke to find it had not actually recharged over night.   These are major pains.

The ultimate outcome from using the Xoom is that I’ve been able to compare the more open functionality that comes with Android to the more limited functionality in IOS.   I freely admit that there are limitations and some stability issues with Honeycomb and/or the Xoom, but I believe the positives outweigh the negatives.  To back this up, I’m already watching Android blogs for information on upcoming cellphones.   I’m currently looking at the Droid Prime, which is coming to Verizon.

 

Xoom updated…hello 32G SD card slot!

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9 months ago
by Charles in

I woke up to find that the Android 3.2 update was ready to install.  That’s a great way to wake up!

I had ripped a copy of my Inception DVD and placed it on my new 32 gigabyte SD card in preparation earlier this week.  It played like a champ!

I’ve also removed six 99 Most Essential albums (purchased from Amazon) from the internal Xoom storage and placed them onto the SD card.  It took a 2-3 minutes for Android to index the 6.46 gigabytes (700 files) of music, but it soon showed up under albums and New/Recent songs.

I’ll be testing the stability over the next week to see how smoothly it goes, but I am very happy at the moment.

Combining the 32 gigabytes of internal storage + the 32 gigabyte SD card finally gives Xoomers 64 gigabytes of storage, but if you think forward a bit more, technically this gives you unlimited storage after purchasing additional SD cards.  In my opinion, this is a major advantage over IOS devices.

Android 3.2 on the way: Welcome SD Card Slot!

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9 months ago
by Charles in

I’ve seen reference in several articles that Android 3.2 is on the way.  Apparently the wifi only models will be receiving the update first, so it may still be several weeks.

 

I’ve went ahead and ordered a 64gb micro SD card in preperation and will eventually buy a second one.  I really can’t wait until we have essentially unloaded storage!  I may use one for the majority of my music and put video on a second card.

 

Engadget Article

Home Screen Capture for July

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9 months ago
by Charles in

I’ve changed a few things since my last home screen capture.

Home Screen Capture for July

Along the top you’ll see the Weather Channel widget, Beautiful Widget (clock), a Widgetsoid switcher (turn on/off the Wifi, bluetooth, airplane mode, camera light for flashlight, and show battery level)

Next up are shortcuts to Facebook, Google+, and my Xmarks which synchonizes my Firefox bookmarks across all of my devices and computers.  The music player widget is on the end of that row.

The third row has widgets for my personal email, work email, work/google calendar, and the Launcher Pro Friends widget for Twitter and Facebook feeds.

The next row is a series of Circlelauncher app (previous post link) groups to organize apps so much better.  The icons are completely customizable.  I purchased some icon packs for a couple US$ over the weekend and love them.

And the final row include the Verizon data widget, followed by Evernote.  Evernote synchs across devices and desktop computers.   I’ve got it installed on my laptop, iPhone 3gs, and the Xoom.  Some cloud is great, but I’m not completely sold on going beyond some notes and Firefox bookmarks….yet.  I’m not about to go music yet, because of ISP bandwidth caps.

 

Wallpaper Changer

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9 months ago
by Charles in ,

I recently tired of the same old background image, then it occurred to me: surely someone has written a background image rotating app.

 

I found Wallpaper Changer and love it.  It works pretty good. I uploaded a number images to my Xoom, configured the app and the background image rotates by itself every 30 minutes.

A little behind

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10 months ago
by Charles in

Sorry! I’m a little behind in updating this blog.  I’ve purchased a few more apps the Xoom has been humming along nicely.  I’ll try to post an update this weekend!

All things Amazon: Apps, Clouds, and Music…oh, my!

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1 year ago
by Charles in , ,

I’ve been putting this post off for a while, because it’s a little more involved.

 

I’ve been downloads apps from Amazon’s new App Store since it went live.   You can download and install their App Manager from the Amazon website.  They offer a new app for free every day. These are apps that normally cost money.  I’m not sure if they’re going to continue this promotion.  It may possibly be used a way to attract customers to their App store.  Meanwhile, Apple is still suing Amazon for the use of their trademark ‘App Store’ name.

 

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been purchasing music from Amazon for a long time.  It took a little while to notice that downloaded music is automatically stored outside of the primary Music folder.  I was very happy to discover this, because it makes backing up purchases a lot easier, since new music files are not meshed together with existing music.   Like the App store, Amazon offers a free song every day, along with an album for $3.99.    There are some great bargains.   I picked up REM’s new album last week!  I would also like to point out that Amazon generally has a wide variety of free songs and albums.  You sometimes have to dig a little, but that’s part of the fun: The Chase!   I’ve discovered a number of great songs and really good bands/groups that I would have otherwise never given a second glance at.

 

I don’t have a lot to say about the Amazon Cloud Drive just yet.  Once you go through the process of creating an account on the service and make a purchase, you are given the option to send the music straight to your Cloud Drive. Honestly, I haven’t been brave enough to do this, yet.  When I purchase something, I want it in my hands! I don’t want it floating around in the cloud, because digital music is already somewhat intangible already.

Instead, I’ve uploaded an album from my Dell laptop and the songs played pretty good; however, I see there being a potential downside to this concept.  Internet Service Providers are increasingly talking about capping bandwidth usage.  I know that AT&T Uverse and AT&T DSL are well on their way to implementing these caps.   Between services like the Amazon Cloud Drive, Netflix, Blockbuster, and Amazon Instant Video, I have to wonder at which point the combined streaming media usage of cloud based services will affect our bottom line: our utility bills.

 

On a very small, side note, I heard this morning that Android’s Gingerbread OS upgrade includes mention of Netflix in certain system level files.  It may only be a matter of time before, the Xoom will be able to stream Netflix video.  Now that…I really can’t wait to have that ability!

CircleLauncher, a new twist on folders

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1 year ago
by Charles in ,

I loved the addition of folders when I installed Launcher Pro, however, they soon began to annoy me.  Why? When you click a folder, it opens to the size of the entire screen.

Steven discovered CircleLauncher (Android Market link) this week. There is a free version, but I decided to pay the $1.45 for the full version, because it adds a great twist to the concept of a folder.

I currently have 4 CircleLauncher widgets on my homescreen…

CircleLauncher

 

As you can see, you choose an icon and color, then give it a name.  You can attach a number of apps to the widget.   Here’s what happens when you click it…

CircleLauncher Selected

The icons encircle the button!  This continues the trend of enhancing and increasing your homescreeen real estate.

Launcher Pro – the Ultimate Launcher Replacement

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1 year ago
by Charles in ,

Think of the launcher as the GUI interface to the Xoom.  It’s where you layout your app shortcuts and widgets.

Before I begin discussing Launcher Pro (LP from here on out), I’d like to post my first homescreen layout (I posted this 2-3 weeks ago.)  This is from the stock Xoom.

Xoom Launcher Homescreen

I thought it was great, but it was lacking some things.   There’s the annoying unusable space along the left and right hand sides of the screen.  That area is reserved for sliding between the other screens.   I really hated this, because there was so much wasted space.  The icons are a tad big and the screen is a 7 row x 8 column grid – a total of 56 icons and/or widgets of various sizes.

I’ve seen Launcher Pro on Stevens Droid X and I thought it was pretty good.  I downloaded the free version and played with it a while, even before I turned off the default Launcher application.

Xoom Launcher Pro Homescreen

Three things are immediately evident:  The left and right hand columns are now usable, it has turned into a 10 x 10 grid – doubling the screen size, and there is a scrolling dock on the right hand side of the screen.

The dock is completely customizable.  You can literally place anything on it, including app shortcuts and contacts. You can also add swipe gestures to individual dock icons.  This means if you swipe to the left on the icon it will perform a different function than tapping the icon.

LP comes with its own set of widgets and the icing on those widgets: any widget can be resized.  I’m currently only using LP Friends and LP Calendar.  I’m not using the LP email widget, because there is a bug that prevents it from updating.  I’m sure there’s a fix coming for that soon.

I’m still using the Beautiful Widgets clock/weather widget, but that’s primarily for easy access to the full calendar, Alarm Clock Plus and snazzy weather animations.
Immediately to the right, you will see Weather Bug Elite- it was free at the Amazon App store last week.  I have to admit that I’ve never been a Weather Bug fan, because the Windows application has historically been, well, to put it bluntly: a piece of crap.  The widget is a complete 180 reversal.  I like it a lot, even when compared to the Weather Channel app.

You’ll find the LP Calendar widget below the Beautiful Widgets clock/weather widget.  There’s easy access to add a calendar entry and it’s a breeze to toggle between the daily and monthly view.

Next door to that is the LP Friends widget.  This is a combined view of Facebook and Twitter updates- all in one box!

I will continue to use the built in email widgets on the right hand side of the screen, until Launcher Pro fixes the mail widget display problems.

Overall, I’m finding Launcher Pro to be an amazing addition that makes the Xoom so much more awesome.  It must be downloaded directly from the Launcher Pro website.  The advanced features (Launcher Pro widgets and the ability to resize any widgets) must be purchased from the Android App store for $3.49 and is listed as Launcher Pro Plus Unlocker.  It’s a real bargain!

 

 

Posts coming this weekend

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1 year ago
by Charles in , ,

Update (4/5/11) - I’m running a little late on these posts…we decided to drive into the mountains and enjoy the great weather, instead of staying at home!

I’ve been a little busy during the last week or so.    I’ll be making several posts this weekend, including the topics…

Launcher Pro – A really great launcher replacement!

Skype – I’ve finally gotten around to installing and configuring Skype.

Amazon Android App store- a great new edition to the App markets

Amazon Cloud Drive - Amazon’s interesting new service that lets you store your music in ‘the cloud’ and stream it from just about anywhere.  I have mixed feelings on this service and I’ll go into that in detail.

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