Halfzware Shag

Well it’s official, after the Opus and o2 update, that the Milestone will recive the 2.2 update for froyo. Even before Motorola anounced, that the decicion is not official yet.

We’re pleased to announce that Milestone will receive a free upgrade to Android 2.2
(FroYo) in Europe with an initial roll-out
beginning at the end of this year. For
other software updates please check our software update site:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/community/manager/softwareupgrades

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Since the European version of DROiD doesn’t support an open boot-loader, the German users have decided to get creative. They’ve started an kind of awareness campaign. To inform people who are interested in android that the device that they are interested in, kind of goes against the Open Source Software idea

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright  holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified forms.

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Well. The CES week was fun, alot of gadgets sprung up, there were even a few interviews with the Motorola chief, this being an American show, they didn’t mention anything at all about our european version of the DROiD. Today they finally gave us an official word, besides the constant secretive emails and support forum queries. They announced on facebook, that the 2.0.1 update is on the way and 2.1 is also in the works. This is actually good news, for those who want to root it, since with smaller updates (the size of the 2.1 update is still unknown since there are no 2.1 updates available…) we can also include our own unsigned code to the zip. Bringing us closer and closer to the ultimate goal: Rooting (and for me wifi-tethering, since they said that they have no official plans for wifi tethering, thou they sell it as an aoption over the pond.)

Well yeah, finally i have a reason to logon to my facebook account, other than leveling at Mafia Wars:

Attention Android lovers. The 2.01 update is on its way for all Milestone users – watch this space for more info. The Android 2.1 upgrade for MILESTONE is also on its way and will be ready in the next 2 months. We can confirm that DEXT will get the Android 2.1 upgrade as well – once we have the timing for this, will let you know here

Via Motorola Facebook

Yes… It’s been a crazy few weeks for me, I wanted to update the status of the MiLESTONE / DROiD root.
The good news regarding this is, that Motorola has confirmed that the update is coming in January 2010. Witch means a few more weeks of winter for us European users. It’s fun to see that due to verizons support of the best Google phone (available now, as of dec. 09) leaves the unsupported phone ( MiLESTONE ) with out updates ( The European model also lacks by Google logo on it. It’s just another motorla phone… ffs : ( ) . There are many known bugs, but Motorola officials on moto forum have not said the exact release date for the update, but when i emailed the support they assured me that it’s coming. Just a shame, since the both models are the same, only with a different radio ( oh and did i mention that the European version has _no_ customization at all, so no verizon/amazon apps on the phone, that we PC users call bloat-ware ).

On the other hand, the HTC Passion ( also known as firestone / Google Nexus One), which i also dreamed of instead of the DROiD just like the htc hd2, seems to be coming in January. 500+ USD for the unsubsidized version, a bit better screen than the DROiD [ A855 ] / Milestone [ A853 ] and the all powerful snapdragon 1ghz processor. Only time will tell. There’s an Google Android event on the 5th of January. Maybe only 2.1 update? ( Maybe this is also the reason why Motorola waited? *hint*pray*hint* ). Who knows, Also there will be the CES in january, where motorola is probably gonna introduce the Shoeles tablet version. Fun to see how much has happened in a week. Let’s see what the new year brings ; )
[Update2] Engadget got their own Nexus One to review and the Nexus One rom that has been floating around the internet, has been rooted… confirmed by some of google phone users. Damn.
I can’t wait for it, to all of you, have a _shiny_ new year!

[EDiT] It seems that Motorola is planing a nice 4.3″ touch screen device, unfortunately it’s just unclear which os it will have, since the mock-ups remind me of the old UIQ (SonyEricsson) devices : )

via BGR

It’s DONE!

Root -> http://sipsik.net/?p=130

2.0.1 update -> http://sipsik.net/?p=137

Hank hates you all. A few things I’ve learned on my travels through this crazy little thing called life. One, a morning of awkwardness is far better than a night of loneliness.

-Californication, Season 01, Episode 02

Some things i picked up during the last week, when i was not out socializing, working or binge drinking.

Cute, but i still prefer a hardware keyboard

There are new leaked picutes of the Motorola Milestone Tablet (Shoeles Tablet was the code name…).

Via Gizmodo

Seems kind of nice, TBH There are a few things i’m missing from my Milestone. There is an app there for accessing and organizing the phone over the wireless connection, what i don’t understand is why they can’t enable wireless tethering in it. That would be so nice, to use with my Linux work laptop, since there are no working drivers and programs from Motorola, for Windows 7 x64. That way they could kill two birds with one stone. I already sent an angry consumer email to them, kind of like the one i did a while ago to Asrock. It has been 4 days and no answer (if i don’t count the one that ended up in American support, when i sent it from the Central European site), so congrats on very _miserable_ support.

On the other hand, it’s December finally and one of the perks is, that you can finally buy Clementine’s in 2.3 kg packages, this makes it kind of nice, when you have to sit at home and can’t go to work, because everyone is out celebrating Christmas and your chef said that the office _is_ closed. Well.. yeah.

Well, this is definetly _shiny_

Also there is this cute looking music player out there, i definitely like the analog touch. The battery level, sound level and FM searcher are all represented with an Analog Display. Also the buttons are like the ones from my ye-olde cassette player, if some of you can still recall those things.

More at Mintpass

Also i’ve been plagued by the most southing ear worm i’ve ever experienced. Quark – Acoustiques Paralleles (Swayzak Remix). Been listening to it for the last 4 days in a row.

Kudos to the cute French girl who managed to transcribe the lyrics after i wrote an email to her at 4:50 in the morning.

Well yeah, i’ll try to find more shiny stuff next week. I hope Motorola finally answers my email, even thou i asked if i could speak with an Dev in the hopes that he will give me hints how to get root access ; )

Time to put my creative skills to the test:

Just a short overview of my week of experience with the shiny phone.

Dramatic reenactment of the unboxing event.

Starting with the specs, the Milestone seems average, when compared to the recent application-phones, it’s CPU is a bit lower clocked than the iPhone or Palm Pre, 550 mhz to be exact vs. 600mhz from the familiar ARM Cortex-A8 that we find in the previously mentioned phones. Even if it’s abit lower clocked it still is very snappy, i have tried both the HTC TouchHD and TouchPro2, both of which i considered before deciding for the Milestone, which felt a lot slower than the Milestone.

Unfortunately i have little experience with the all mighty iPhone. But what i can say is that they both seem on par when it comes to speed and responsiveness.

The thing that really WOWed me, was the screen. 3.7″ which seems humongous for me, since my previous phone had a tiny 2″ display (yes size matters). The capacitive touch screen is also a nice feature, when compared with my previous experience of a resistive touch screen with the TouchPro2&TouchHD. It’s feels much more sensitive plus it’s just pure shininess using multi-touch to zoom in the web-pages/Google maps/pictures/shiny stuff…

Dramatic unboxing reenactment Vol. 2

So… what else. Oh, the phone came with some shiny 3.5mm headphones, the quality ain’t bad and the microphone on it is just pure tiny, you can hardly notice it, i have had no complaints with people i’ve talked to using the headset. Also it came with a pre-installed 8gb microSD card, class 4. So when adding/getting stuff from the phone you don’t have to wait (unlike the previous 4gb class 2 microSD card i had in my E51). Also, unlike the American Droid it came with MotoNav pre-installed for your GPS needs.

The call quality is also not bad, it also seems better than my previous E51, even when it’s lying on the table, using the hands-free mode.

The battery lasts for a good two days, with about 2 hours of calls per day / few emails&sms / random surfing & playing games in the evening / ~3 hours of music playback per day. But since it uses a normal micro-USB slot to recharge + a travel charger for when i don’t have a computer near me (which is _very_ rare).

Note that the screen is almost as big as my dear dumbphone: Nokia 2100

Android 2.0 is just fine, i had no trouble setting up my phone it’s very intuitive, fast and easy to use for us caged techies. Nice and clean interface makes it a very nice experience, only thing i added was the Retro-clock widget to my home screen. I wish HTC would give out their sense-UI, but since it’s heavily integrated to the android code, i guess we just have to wait for Cyanogen mod for Android 2.0 or some else software mod to use those _shiny_ interfaces.

All i can say, is that it’s a worthy investment, i wouldn’t suggest the iPhone, since the screen is smaller and the resolution is just plain microscopic when compared with the Milestone (Milestone: 480*854 vs. 480*320 on the iPhone vs. 320*240 on my old E51), they’re the same size, yet the Milestone has a dedicated keyboard + a nice on screen keyboard, yes apples is better, but c’mon… it’s an Apple product, you can’t change the battery, can’t upgrade the memory and apple finds jail-breaking bad… no matter what you do you will void the warranty, even when unlocking to use another network. The Milestone comes unlocked from O2 for just 481 euros (no contract). I could also suggest the HTC TouchPro2 if you want a hardware keyboard, but the older hardware in the TP2 is the reason why i decided for the Milestone.

The only thing i would like to see in the milestone is native network tethering, which we find in windows phone, but hey that’s why we root android devices.

All in all, it’s a very _shiny_ application-phone / smart-phone / definitely more than i hoped for (thank [insert religion here] for granting me with low expectations)

Big thanks go out to Camel cigarettes, cheap OJ (thanks cute cashier at penny), Typical Monday evening boredom, Spotify for the musical motivation and O2 for their speedy delivery (ordered it a bit more than a week ago on Thursday and got it on Friday evening).