Tag: Android

Google’s mobile operating system and the stuff I do or try to do with it. A lot of the time it’ll be either music or automation related.

So, where next for my Pebble?

Posted by on in Wearable Computing

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I haven’t really used my Pebble smartwatch for about two months, possibly a bit less. Anyway, it’s just been sitting on a shelf for a while now and doing very little, which is a shame as it’s a lovely piece of technology. However, to be honest, I haven’t found a real use for it as yet sadly. I toyed with different faces for it, which was fun, and the notifications stuff was cool, but I never found it entirely compelling.

In many ways I’ve been struggling to find a real use for the technology, and it seems strange to try and find a use for something that’s meant to be useful straight away.

One thing I keep wondering is whether there’s a way to make the thing more useful in making music, but it doesn’t seem that this is being taken on board by developers really, or likely to be in the near future. My other main problem with it is that it isn’t particularly well supported by third party developers on iOS, whereas that’s not the case on Android. Now in part I expect that this is because Android is more open and developers are able to support lots of different integrations and features, such as Tasker support, which could make it very useful indeed.

But this doesn’t really work for me sadly as I don’t have an Android phone. However, I do have an cheap Android tablet that I’m starting to use more for bits and pieces, so my next step is to see what else I can use Android for and just how useful my Pebble will be connected to a tablet.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Tasker for Android update reveals the sad state of iOS automation

Posted by on in Tech

I saw the new version of Tasker for Android today. It really is very cool stuff, but it also serves as a constant reminder that iOS has very little at all in the way of automation applications or functionality. I’ve mentioned drafts and launch center pro before, but neither of these are a patch on Tasker. It’s a real shame as it’s a gap in the market which I’m sure would be filled if Apple would let developers make something like tasker, but that’s not going to happen for a while yet I think.

Pd on Android

Posted by on in Tech

Getting Pd up and running on an Android device. Good to see it running, but I do wonder what I’ll do with it next.

A brief look at Samsung’s Galaxy SIII

Posted by on in Tech

I visited the O2 store and had a little play with Samsung’s SIII. My first impression was that it was very big, very big indeed. In fact, my iPhone 4 only just covers the screen of the SIII. But that sort of put me off a bit. It was so large that I wasn’t sure if I actually would get used to it.

Aside from size it has a very nice feel to it, but of course it is Android, and I’m still very much on the fence about a jump from iOS to Android. Of course, that could all change when iOS6 gets announced on Monday, we’ll have to see.

Further thoughts on a move to Android

Posted by on in Tech

I was thinking about moving to Android again. Weighing up whether I should move off iOS or not. One thing that I hadn’t thought about was which OS works best with the Pebble smartwatch. Whilst the smartwatch works with both operating systems, notifications work with Android, and not currently with iOS.

Of course, that could change, even next week at WWDC, but it does add another dimension to the question.

Serious consideration of Android

Posted by on in Tech

Yep, I am seriously considering Android for my next phone, which I will be able to update to in just over 2 weeks. As someone who is totally into music making on handheld devices you might wonder why I’m even interested in Android as it has no use whatsoever for music. Ok, that’s a little over the top. There are a few music making apps for Android, but not many to be fair.

So why move? Well, simply put it is that Android is more open and accessible. In data terms there is nothing to choose between the two operating systems really. If I want email, RSS, twitter etc then they can both do most of this stuff just fine. So one of the things I’m considering is moving to an Android phone and getting an iPod touch to use for music making.

The next couple of weeks will tell me if I can make the jump successfully.

Finding something interesting to do with LiveView

Posted by on in Tech

Ok, I’ve been tinkering with the LiveView and to be honest, whilst it is interesting and it does demonstrate that the whole smartwatch thing has moved on since the Fossil Palm OS watch, I don’t have a real use for it in it’s current form.

I guess the main problem with it is that it doesn’t work with my iPhone, but also because the screen isn’t really designed to show very much information and isn’t too useful. My guess is that the next version will be better. From what I’ve seen so far the screen is much nicer and the device is a lot thinner too.

Having said that I’ve already decided to get a Pebble smartwatch and I think that will have moved the technology forward, and also, the Pebble will work with iOS, which is a big plus for me.

LiveView controlling music

Posted by on in Tech

So, I got it to do something slightly useful now. It can play music, although it has seemed a little random so far and control isn’t brilliant. It’s a step in the right direction though.