droidStory

Wow, what started just as a little tool for my own personal use is now being used by hundreds of people on a daily basis. I’m glad this is helping some other folks as well.

Number of voice mails converted so far:

Most people seem to have figured out how to configure their email / voice mail systems to send messages through the responder, but let me know in the comments if you have trouble getting it to work.

Expected to be launched today, October 4th, the fifth iPhone from Apple is causing a stir. The ‘Let’s talk iPhone’ event is being held in California which is where Apple are expected to reveal the new edition of the iPhone. New Apple boss Tim Cook is set to host the event that is inviting a lot of speculation as to what the new model will be like.

Of the many people who own mobile phones, a large percentage of them have chosen the iPhone. Whether they are with O2, or another network, the general consensus is that they are really great phones to own. This is why there has been so much hype surrounding the immanent launch of this new model. It is assumed to be even better than the previous iPhones and there is a lot of anticipation surrounding its features and specifications.

The iPhone 4 has been around for 15 months, and the gap between that release and this new one has been the longest in the history of the iPhone. It is possible that this is due to the difficulty of the task Apple faced when they decided to design the new iPhone to use iCloud. This will enable users to back-up the data from their smartphones and even tablets. This will be a really useful feature, giving users a lot more security and peace of mind

The idea that iCloud will be incorporated into this device puts Apple once again ahead of its competitors. While Samsung and HTC have been catching up with the iPhone in terms of the capabilities of their hardware, the development of the iCloud is definitely an advancement on Apple’s side. If users have the ability to update and activate the phone without using a PC, this should boost sales of the iPhone and make it extremely desirable. Thankfully, users will not have to wait much longer to get their hands on the fifth iPhone.

This will be the year of Android!

Life has gotten too busy for me to write regularly on this site, but there are many other great resources out there that cover Android and the Droid’s more frequently than I can afford.

This will be a fun year to watch Android rise, and I may chime in occasionally as things get interesting.

I’ll still run the wav2mp3 voice mail converter service, which has turned into quite a social experiment. It’s a free service for which donations are accepted. Surprisingly, the heaviest users that rely on this services on a daily basis aren’t the giving kind, while the occasional users show their appreciation. Mhhm – interesting…

After being without a working phone for about a day, after the botched upgrade, Verizon made good, by rushing a replacement to me via FredEx priority over-night. The replacement phone is a refurbished unit without battery, sd-card or battery cover.

I get to work and move my sd-card and battery to the new phone, and just as I turn on the replacement, I think that perhaps I should try to backup all my programs and settings on my old phone before activating the replacement.

Let me explain: While my DX only displays the Motorola logo after installing the upgrade, the phone actually loads Android 2.2 successfully, and I’m able to answer calls and unlock the phone by using the touch screen blindly. I’m even able to read my text messages and emails by taking screen shots via the Android SDK and USB debug connection.  Now, my plan is to use this method to navigate through the different screens to sync with AppBrain and Lookout to get my apps and settings saved.

I move battery and sd-card back into my phone and power on. Guess what? The phone moves past the Moto logo and everything is working. What just happened, that’s unbelievable?! I power-cycle the phone one more time to see if this was just a lucky fluke, but the phone now works just fine.

I have no idea why its working now, but I’m not complaining. I’ll hold on to the refurb for a couple of days before sending it back, just in case my phone has a relapse.

Did you have similar problems with your DX after the upgrade, and did your phone magically recover?

Update: My DX had a relapse this weekend.  The problems started when I noticed that incoming calls would not play any of my custom ring tones.  Also, attempting to play any ring tone or music stored on the SD-card would yield a “file not found” error.  I rebooted the phone and was once again stuck at the Motorola logo.

I tried repeated reboots after removing the battery, but still the same. Then I took out the battery and waited for a couple of minutes, reboot, and viola back to normal.  It looks as if the memory is not getting properly initialized during boot and some left-over bits are messing up the phone. Well, at least there is a work-around for now…

Big Red is not known to be the cheapest carrier around, but their excellent (data) coverage at least shows that the company heavily invests into their network infrastructure.

I don’t mind paying a little premium for the trusty Verizon network.  What bums me out though is that Verizon always seems to find new ways to pile on extra fees. There used to be the $12.95 VZ-Navigator tax for the privilege to use your phone’s GPS with Google Maps. The BES data tax to connect to your company’s Blackberry Enterprise Server. And now the $20 surcharge for WiFi tethering, an Android 2.2 (Froyo) feature that Verizon conveniently removed from the default build.

But here is yet another strange twist in the Verizon fee structure. There are two data plans currently offered for Android handsets and other smartphones. Which one do you need?The distinction between Corporate and Personal Email seems to be an oxymoron. Are corporate users  getting more emails than private accounts? What if my company uses Google Apps for corporate email? Do I still need the corporate plan? The details for the corporate plan offer the following explanation:Is Verizon restricting access to ActiveSync or other corporate messaging protocols, unless you pay up? I’m using ActiveSync for both MS-Exchange and Lotus Traveler, so my first impression was that I needed the more expensive corporate plan. Yet, I’m syncing with my corporate mail servers just fine on the personal plan. My calls into Verizon yielded conflicting responses. One person suggested that I only need the corporate plan for BES connectivity and that the higher cost is simply a result of Verizon having to pay RIM some sort of access fee. Still, why list this option for Android phones?

Whatever you do, try the cheaper plan first. It works just fine for me. I’m still peeved about the extra $20/month for WiFi tethering…

Motorola published their Android upgrade schedule on their support forum.

Nothing new here. Obviously, Motorola acknowledged that the Devour was a total flop, so they don’t even bother with any future upgrades.