Saturday, July 17, 2010

Two Android bits

I am now a proud owner of HTC Desire Android phone (I am very happy with it) and I would like to share two interesting bits of information with you:
  1. Android 2.1 (at least on HTC phones) includes the option for USB Internet tethering. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out this works as a charm even in Linux (at least in Ubuntu 10.04). Just connect your phone to your laptop using USB cable, select "Internet Sharing" on the phone and that's all - your laptop now has full Internet connectivity. No need for any configuration or special drivers.
  2. There is a nice site called AppBrain which allows you to install Android Market applications to your phone from your PC, using normal Internet browser. Amongst other things, it also suggests what apps to install and allows you to share with the world the information about what you have installed. See this link which shows what is currently installed on my phone.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

to first bit > for windows mobile in HTC devices possible from wm6.1, just tick internet sharing and it works with ubuntu 10.04

Anonymous said...

I have the Desire since April (mine was probably the first one in Slovakia :) and it's a great device. Looking at your app list, I see c:geo there, you should use GeoHunter instead... c:geo scrapes the geocaching.com website, which is against their terms&conditions, and GeoHunter is better anyways.

Anonymous said...

Waze looks very awesome. Thank you for the tip!

Unknown said...

ad USB tethering - same thing w/ HTC Tattoo... works like a charm w/ Ubuntu

Anonymous said...

How the hell did you get your Desire so soon??? Still waiting for mine from Alza...leaving Thursday for the US...

Fuxoft said...

jenuwefa: If that was a question for me, I got it from Vodafone, in exchange for making fun blogposts from Karlovy Vary. But I saw it available at Alza.cz for immediate pickup at least a month ago.

Anonymous said...

A month ago they had it - but there's been a run on it - I ordered it on Monday and they promised it would be in this week, but no sign of it yet :-(

Anonymous said...

There's a shortage on the AMOLED screens made by Samsung, that's why the Desire is unavailable right now.

humrpytel said...

Frantisek, how do you like geocaching? I looked up your profile on geocaching.com to see that you haven't found any caches yet.

Fuxoft said...

humrpytel: Well, that should tell you something about how much I like geocaching. :) In fact, I found some caches but I didn't bother logging them...

Martin said...

... and what about Galaxy S phone, thats newest Android phone !

Evilda said...

I'be bought my Desire at Sunnysoft you can try your luck there.

skrz said...

Apps that I like most on my Desire - http://www.appbrain.com/user/skrz_/nejpouzivanejsi

I highly recommend these:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.vp.alarmClockPlusLite
http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.hermit.dazzle

humrpytel said...

Don't you miss the hardware keyboard after your experience with HTC Desire?