Android

The Big Migration: Moving From a Verizon Droid Bionic to a Galaxy Nexus on Straight Talk

Posted on by Matt Woodward

Definitely a superlative title for what actually is a pretty simple process, but I thought I’d document what I’m doing to dump my Verizon Droid Bionic and move to an unlocked Galaxy Nexus phone. I’ll spare you my complaints about Verizon and just summarize by saying they’re beyond overpriced and I don’t like all the evil crap they do.

What is relevant to this discussion is the fact that I am sick and tired of having my phone be controlled by a carrier. From not keeping up with new versions of Android to forcing applications on my phone that I don’t want and can’t delete, I’m done with it. “Famous last words” may apply here, but at this point I’ll state that I will never buy another phone from a carrier.

It’s worth it to pay the extra money for a phone (and in the case of the Nexus it’s only about $100 more than I paid for my abandoned Droid Bionic) and have more control over the phone as well as choice of carrier. (Relevant Lifehacker article on this topic if you want to learn more about how the carriers are the driving force behind Android fragmentation and stifle innovation every chance they get.)

But enough about all that — here’s specifically how I’m going about making this switch.

First, I ordered a Galaxy Nexus phone since it’s the best bet on being able to upgrade the phone continually and since it’s unlocked, I have a choice of carriers (within the limitations of the phone being GSM of course).

I’ll keep my review of the Nexus phone itself brief and simply say: awesome. Thin, light, beautiful screen, ships with Jelly Bean, extremely smooth, fast UI, no crappy carrier/Motorola customizations I don’t want — simply a fantastic, fantastic phone that’s so good it makes me mad I didn’t get one a long time ago.

Next step in the process — I ordered a SIM from Straight Talk. One of my many major gripes about Verizon is I was sick of paying for a ridiculously overpriced phone plan when I’m on Wi-Fi the majority of the time. Straight Talk offers an unlimited everything plan for $45/mo with no contract. You buy the SIM for $15 and give them a credit card number to bill you for the phone plan, and that’s it. I’m already saving over $100/mo simply by changing to Straight Talk.

Straight Talk SIMs are either AT&T or T-Mobile. You do not get to choose, they choose for you based on your area (and I assume other business-related factors). I wound up on AT&T which is fine — I have AT&T for my work iPhone and the signal is great in my area. If I were able to choose I would have chosen T-Mobile, but of course with an unlocked phone if I really don’t like what’s happening with AT&T and Straight Talk I can always switch. So far AT&T is working very well and I actually see a stronger signal on the Nexus than I do on my contracted iPhone.

Both the SIM and phone were delivered today, and setup was extremely simple. You follow the instructions that come with the SIM to activate it, which basically involves filling out a form on the Straight Talk web site and giving them your billing information, then stick the SIM in the phone. By the time I got the SIM into the phone and powered it on I was already able to make calls.

Note that when you activate your SIM you have the opportunity to port your existing number to Straight Talk. I didn’t do that because I have a slightly different plan in mind (see below).

Next, to use the data features in the phone you have to enter a new Access Point Name (APN). Here’s how you add a new APN on the Nexus:

  1. Open “Settings”
  2. Under Wireless & Networks, click on “More …”
  3. Click on “Mobile Networks”
  4. Click on “Access Point Names”
  5. Click the three vertical boxes on the bottom right of the screen to bring up the menu, and click on “New APN”
  6. Enter the information included with your SIM
  7. Reboot
With the setup out of the way my Nexus is working great with a new phone number, and of course since all my contacts, etc. are associated with my Google account all that stuff magically appeared on the new phone.
I made the conscious decision not to port my number to Straight Talk. Instead, when I’m ready to cancel my Verizon account (and pay the punitive early termination fee — good riddance) I’m going to port my current cell phone number to Google Voice.
Why am I doing that? Again, it’s all about gaining more flexibility and control. Once my cell phone number is a Google Voice number I can change plans, phones, etc. underneath that and never again hassle with porting numbers between carriers. The abstraction of having the phone number not tied to a specific device will be quite nice, and then I can take full advantage of all Google Voice has to offer.
If you follow me on Google+ you know that I’m also a huge fan of Republic Wireless. I’m on one of the beta waves for Republic Wireless and am still very enthusiastic about what they’re doing (anything that disrupts the wireless industry is a good thing), so I will still be getting a phone from them when my wave comes up. Yes, I’m a gadget junkie, but I also want to support what they’re doing, and if it works exceptionally well since the Nexus is unlocked and I have no contract with a carrier, I can simply cancel my Straight Talk account and sell the Nexus on Swappa. There’s that flexibility coming into play again!
Hope that helps give people who’ve been considering this sort of switch more information to help with the decision making process.

Installing HBO GO and Other Apps Not Available Through Amazon On the Kindle Fire

Posted on by Matt Woodward
UPDATE: The following instructions will probably work for other applications but as of today (12/1/2011), Amazon or HBO has apparently disabled the ability to use HBO GO (see comments for more details). I had been using it fine for a week or so but now when I launch it, I get the error “HBO GO is not supported on this device.” Lovely.
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I’ve had my Kindle Fire since the day they came out and it’s a fantastic device. I couldn’t be happier with it.
OK, maybe I could be just a little happier with it. By default you can only install applications from Amazon’s own Android app store and while the selection isn’t exactly paltry, there are some key applications that aren’t available.
One of these is HBO GO, which I’m used to using on my Droid Bionic as well as on my (now mostly unused thanks to the Fire) iPad 1. Even though it’s not available in the Amazon app store you can pretty easily install HBO GO without having to root your Fire, provided you have another Android device on which you can install it.
Here’s how I did it.
First, on my Droid Bionic I installed HBO GO from the Android Marketplace. Then I installed Astro File Manager, which is a free application that lets you easily browse the storage on your Android device and has a few other features.
One of the other features available in Astro is the ability to package up installed applications as .apk files, which is the Android package format. You can install .apk files on Android devices directly without going through the Marketplace, which in this case is important since the setup on the Fire routes you to the Amazon app store even if you try to hit Google’s app store.
With HBO GO and Astro installed, open Astro and from the main menu click on Application Backup. From the list of your installed applications select HBO GO. This creates an .apk package from the installed application and puts it in /mnt/sdcard/backups.
Next go to the Astro home screen and browse to /mnt/sdcard/backups/apps and you’ll see the HBO GO .apk file. Click and hold on the backed up application and then click “Send” in the menu that appears. Send the .apk file to yourself as an email attachment, making sure you send it to an email address you can access from the Fire.
On the Fire, you’ll need to first change a setting that lets you install “unapproved” applications, then you’ll install a file manager on the Fire, download the .apk attachment you sent yourself, browse to the .apk, and install directly from the file.
Boot your Fire and click on the settings button in the top right corner of the home screen. From there click on “More” and then “Device.” Towards the bottom of that screen you’ll see a setting for “Allow Installation of Applications From Unknown Sources.” Change that setting to “On” and accept the warning that appears (CYA legalese from Amazon).
Go back to the home screen on the Fire and click on “Apps” and then “Store.” Search the store for File Expert and install it. This is the app that will allow you to browse the storage on the Fire and install the .apk file you’ll download from the email you sent yourself.
Next, go to the email you sent yourself and download the .apk attachment. I did this from my Gmail account I have set up in the Fire’s native email application, but adjust accordingly if you’re going to access your email a different way on the Fire. However you do it you need to download the .apk attachment to the Fire.
With the .apk file downloaded, open File Expert and then open the Download directory (/mnt/sdcard/Download). You’ll see the HBO GO .apk file in this directory. Click on the file and it will take you through the installation process.
That’s it! No rooting of the Fire required, you just need another Android device that gives you access to the full Android Marketplace, and of course these same steps will work with any .apk file.
Note that there are some pre-packaged versions of HBO GO and other apps available for download on random web sites, but I felt a lot more comfortable installing directly from the Android Marketplace and packaging myself so I knew I was getting the real thing, not some modified potentially malicious version.

The Switch From iPhone To Android, And Why Your First Impression Is Wrong

Posted on by Matt Woodward

A week or so later, it clicked. When I want an option that isn’t already visible, I hit the dedicated ‘Menu’ button just beneath the screen. Need to jump to a previous screen in an app or the web browser? Hit the dedicated ‘Back’ button. In some ways, these are actually better than the soft buttons located in iPhone apps, because they’re always in the same place. It also saves some screen real estate. Using them has become totally second nature to me. But they aren’t the reason why I’ve decided I prefer Android over the iPhone.

First time I’ve seen someone make this point, and to me this is dead on. Having used my Droid for a while now, when I go back to using apps on my iPod Touch the lack of dedicated, single-purpose buttons is frustrating, and in some cases even within Apple’s much-lauded app store, it’s easy to box yourself into a corner and have no way to get back to a previous screen. This is because it’s up to the app to provide navigation, and in some cases they simply don’t.

This whole article is great and it’s refreshing not only to see someone stand up and say that Android is actually better (it is), but to examine and explain why long-time iPhone users may find Android off-putting, at least at first.