Interesting Links for Android

Here are some of the sites I visit to catch the latest news, reviews, tips and tricks for Android phones and software

• Android and Me
• Android Central
• Android Spin
• Fandroid
• Google Mobile Blog

My Magic gets Sense

I knew pretty much that the Magic out of the box would be bare but without Android App market it makes no sense for a android phone. But I also knew HTC Support India had a official ROM update which gave the Android V 1.5 with Sense update (click here) . The package was enabled to be downloaded after giving the serial no. of my phone and the package was around 107 MB. The package requires the HTC Sync software to be installed which can be found here . The instructions to update was clearly mentioned in the HTC Support page but beware all the data like contacts, sms , gprs settings will be wiped off from the phone.

ROM Update Screen

Android 1.5 with Sense

    The setup wizard of the ROM update was pretty straight forward and once the phone was connected there was little or no steps needed from my side to proceed with the update. The little android guys kept on jumping and hopping and after some 10 minutes, viola !! the phone restarted with a different HTC Magic logo and a 3D Android character peeping at me from different parts of the screen and the now much acclaimed HTC Sense Interface was in my HTC Magic.

    Performance wise the phone seemed tad quicker and the android app market was there for me to start downloading apps from it. Now the HTC Magic seems the worthy buy but would still love to see HTC atleast give a official update to Android V2.1 :-)

First Impression on HTC Magic

Here are my first impressions on using the HTC Magic (before I updated to a ROM from HTC with Sense Interface)

• The first time when i took it in my hands the device seems bigger but pleasantly in the lighter side of the weighing scale
• The black glossy finish of the front and back with maroon trimming around the sides gives it a nice upmarket look, but the glossy surfaces are a finger print magnet
• Switching on the device took a minute or two to load up and was greeted with the traditional android v1.5 homescreen with a analog clock and four icons at the bottom
• The 3.2" 320 x 480 screen was nice and crisp and the capacitive touchscreen made a nice difference to work with the touchscreen having found a resistive touchscreen with Nokia 5530 a big pain !!
• Downloaded the HTC Sync software from the official HTC India website and synced my windows contacts to the phone which went without much of a hitch
• The android v1.5 which came with the phone was bare to say the least with very minimum of apps and no android app market. The surprise was it had a pdf reader and quick office reader but had no simple notes application.
• The sound quality of the calls and the music quality was quite good. But the micro USB port for charging and headset connection is a downer. On the other hand USB charging is supported
• The other thing which i found to be nice was all the google related stuff from mail, picasa, igoogle, docs and reader etc worked effortlessly

In my next post, I will post my thoughts on Magic running the same android V1.5 but with Sense Interface and android app market enabled on it.....

Unboxing my Magic

My jump into the Android band wagon started today with me getting a great deal on HTC Magic (255 $ - Brand new). Even though I was skeptical about Magic being a old Android phone, its basic specs lured me into it. And here are the un-boxing photos,


Box Contents: HTC Magic Phone (Black), EU Travel Charger, Stereo Headset, USB cable, 2GB Sandisk MicroSD card with Adapter, Pouch, Manual, Accessories Flyer