7 Months on Android

It's been seven months since I got my Nexus One. It took me about two weeks to fully transfer all the conveniences I had in my Nokia E71 to the Nexus One. The issues I encountered were the following: (1) exporting contacts, (2) setting up wifi, and (3) setting up 3g. It was hard to figure out since I couldn't find any localized info about it, but I eventually figured it out and posted about it here at You Got Tech. It was my friend Markku who reset the security settings of my router to get my home wifi working on the phone.

After 7 months I can say that I can't live without my Nexus One and here's why:

1. Rooster Alarm - my phone wakes me up twice a day. One before 5 in the morning and the second one at around 8. The alarm feature also allows me to set different alarm modes. Now I just use one phone to wake me up and I tell you it won't let up until you are awake!

2. Email Heaven - I actually check my mail before I get out of bed. This helps me adjust my day depending on any new priority that comes in via email.

3. Social Networking - And before I go to the bathroom I usually say, "Good morning" on Plurk and check for messages from Twitter and Facebook. I usually also try to "Check-in" via Foursquare whenever I'm out (Foursquare though doesn't work well with 3G connections).

4. Apps - I enjoy the camera apps the most especially that of "Camera360" and "Camera FX".  The flashlight app was also very useful when Typhoon Basyang hit. Also have a piano app and lots of games from Lab Pixies (addicting grrrrr!). I'm still waiting though for a Plants vs. Zombies Android app.

5. Google Maps and Latitude - with more and more info being tagged locally by mappers I can proudly say I haven't gotten lost for sometime now. Also discovered that it's easier to check-in on Foursquare if you do a sync first on Google Latitude.

6. Google - when it doubt you can easily search for stuff on Google. Also love the search function for the contacts list since my list is all messed up.

I haven't been lugging around my laptop because of my phone. My Android experience though would probably level-up with better 3G/HSDPA service. What about you, how is your Android experience going?

Nexus One, a Review

I'd like to say that this is a review of the Nexus One from a consumer's point of view, so don't expect any nosebleed tech terms in this post. I'm going to focus on how I've been using the phone.

Calling


One of my friends asked if the reception of the phone was good, "Can you hear well?" I don't have any problems calling and hearing the person at the other end of the line, in Manila and Davao. I noticed though that Globe's signal have been spotty the past few weeks. Calling "#" to get signal doesn't work (I learned that trick when I was working for a telco). Because I have small hands the phone prevents me from dialing while driving and I think that is a good thing.

Texting


I must admit it took me a couple of days to adjust to the QWERTY touch screen phone, but I eventually got the hang of it and I'm pretty pleased with my texting speed (thanks to my small fingers). I also like the fact that the messages are threaded, just like Gmail. Messages are also searchable! That function is quite useful for me since I usually refer back to messages especially when I need to check meeting details. I'm a smiley person so I've been enjoying the smileys (best used too when you're texting someone with a N1).

Internet


By wifi. I had a hard time connecting my Nexus One to my home router. My friend in Malaysia also had the same problem. I tried tweaking my router to no avail. Eventually one of my techie friends visited and reset the security settings of my router and that did the trick. Now there are days that I just go online using my phone.

By 3G. Unfortunately when I called Globe customer service they said the didn't have the settings yet for Nexus One. I figured it out so just visit this previous post on how to set it up. I find local data plans expensive so I just manually turn off 3G connection by tweaking the APN settings.

Mail. Checking mail on the Nexus One is definitely an enjoyable experience. I sync'd two accounts on the phone and easily switch from one account to the other depending on what I want to check. I was also pleasantly surprised that I could actually approve blog comments easily when I get email notification, a feat I couldn't do with my old phone. Writing emails is also not a pain especially since I also sync'd my email contacts on the phone (just needs some cleaning up though).

Watching Youtube. I was connected to mall wifi when I tried out watching Youtube videos and I was quite surprised that it streamed well and the audio volume was enough to watch the vid with two other people. The large screen didn't require me to squint to see what was ongoing in the vid. Of course, watching vids via 3G would require you to wait a bit, but it ain't that bad.

Browsing. In my old phone I was stuck to checking mail (when it worked) and checking Plurk. With the Nexus One I can easily visit links I find interesting on Twitter and I even do searches on Google for stuff I want to read about. The Facebook App has also spurred a number of photo uploads from me in real time (especially when I attend events or when I'm travelling). I need to find a solution though for posting on Blogger (haven't explored it yet).

Taking Photos and Videos


Took me awhile to get a hang of the camera. It took me awhile to figure out how to use it in camwhore mode (haha) and how to take videos. The 5MP resolution isn't so bad and lately I've been using it more than my camera. The audio for the video isn't so bad too, I'm quite particular about that since I make vlogs. I'll probably post some samples soon. Downloading the photos/vids is easy, I just usually use bluetooth to transfer it to my PC/laptop.

Battery Life


Since I use the phone often for browsing I use up the battery in the just 24 hours. I thought though that connecting to the internet was the culprit for the fast battery drain. It isn't since you can check battery usage when you go to Settings>About Phone>Battery Use. It's the display that drains most of your battery life, so if you're on your phone most of the day (online or offline) then expect your battery to drain out quickly.

Apps and Games


Been checking out the Android Market every few days for new apps I can download. I got a couple of games and absolutely love "Bubble Popper" (a no-brainer game). I'm still on the look-out for other apps I can use and would most certainly download stuff that would help my blogging hobby.

All in All


I was quite surprised that the Nexus One didn't have a manual! The only tutorial it has in the phone is how to scroll and click on stuff on the phone. Have no fear though since there's a lot of stuff online you can read about using your phone. The help forum is also filled with tips and tricks on how you can use it. I didn't expect to like the phone since I've been used to using Nokia phones for more than a decade now. It took me a couple of days though to adjust and read up stuff online to understand the phone better and now it's practically part of my hand (LOL). My most favorite feature though is... the alarm clock... the rooster really wakes me up!

*Second photo, Andrew uses his Nexus One to take a photo of Lachi's yummy apple pie. I took this photo using my Nexus One.

Setting Up Globe 3G on Your Nexus One

Finally found the time to make Globe 3G work on my Nexus One. This is what I did:

1. Go to Settings, choose Wireless & networks
2. Go to Mobile networks, choose Network operators. Let let search for available networks and choose Globe. It will then tell you that you are registered.
3. Go back to Mobile network settings, choose Access Point Names. Press on settings and then do this -

Name: MyGlobe INTERNET
APN: internet.globe.com.ph
Proxy: 203.177.042.214
Port: 8080
Username:
Password:
Server:
MMSC: MyGlobe MMS
MMS Proxy: 203.177.042.214
MMS Port: 8080
MCC: 515
MNC: 02
Authentication type: none
APN Type:

I haven't tried sending a MMS yet, but I was able to connect to the internet right after I saved the setting. Remember though that you'll always be connected to the internet when you do this. I couldn't find a way to disconnect, so I just made the APN complete (left it at "i"). I'll just change it back to internet.globe.com.ph when I need to go online.

Exporting Contacts from Nokia E71 to Your Nexus One

So it took me a couple of days to figure out how to copy my contacts from my Nokia E71 to my new Nexus One.

MAJOR NOSEBLEED!

I've been a Nokia user for about a decade now and because I've been so comfortable using Nokia phones I never bothered to get any other brand. Not even a free offer for an iPhone made me consider changing. Heh. The Nexus One though was something I couldn't resist nor turn down.

It took me a couple of tries to transfer all my contacts to the Nexus One. I just essential followed links from the following:

The Nexus One help forum
The Nexus One page on Contacts
Microsoft's import/export of contacts help page (found this page coz I couldn't find a good, easy to use .csv to .vcf converter)

This is how I successfully transferred all 1,191 contacts from my Nokia E71:

1. Backed up the contacts using Nokia PC Suite
2. On the Nokia PC Suite Contacts tab, I chose "File" and then "Send" then "Contact via Email". Doing this opens a Windows Outlook Express tab and you'll see all your contacts attached as VCF files.
*At this point make sure that your Nexus One is connected to your PC as storage (check this page on how to do this)
3. On the Windows Outlook Express tab, choose "File" then "Save attachments", save it in your Nexus One SD card (I saved it in the "bluetooth" folder because I didn't really know where to save it).
4. Safely unmount your Nexus One from the PC and then touch "Contacts" then touch "Menu" then "Import/Export". Import "all VCF files" (I did this coz I didn't really know how to navigate around).

It took awhile before all my contacts were imported. After it finished I proudly announced to my hubby that I had successfully imported all my contacts to my new phone. Yay!!!

You may also want to check out my post about "Unboxing a New Toy, the Nexus One".