Checking exchange email without encrypting your Android phone with Touchdown

Finally I can check my company exchange email without encrypting my Android phone using touchdown. Why am I so thrilled about this? 

Reasons:

1) Any encryption will affect performance. Apple and Rim devices are encrypted permanently so people do not have a comparison on their performance without encryption. For me, I found that after encryption my phone do "slow down", although the impact is not very significant but I do feel it. 

2) Encryption is irreversible on Android. Once you encrypt your phone, you permanently have to leave with a 6 digit pin number unless you factory default your android device. It is troublesome if you decide to stop checking exchange email later on. You just cannot remove the 6 digit pin without a factory default.

3) Your phone might get stuck on the boot up password screen if your Android device reboot without you knowing. Android 4.2.1 is still having issue and it might reboot your Android device. With encryption, you need to input your 6 digit pin when booting up. If your Android device reboot, and you are not aware about it. People might not about to reach you as your phone is still waiting for your 6 digit pin. 

I don't know why I did not found out about Touchdown earlier since the app is available since 2008. Touchdown is the most popular exchange email app for Android and it is not hard to know why. For many Android users, we are having problem using Android for work because of the lack of features to support corporate systems. I was unable to check my office email even after encrypting my Android phone for Android version 4.0.3 and earlier. As not all Android phone can receive OS updates, I am stuck with Android version 4.0.3 on my Ino One. Touchdown is a real life saver. I can now check exchange email. Touchdown is a bit pricey at SGD$25.54 but for me I feel that it is worth it. 

3G service in Singapore

While Holidaying in Austraila, I came to realize that we in Singapore really have very bad 3G service. There have been people bashing local telcos on facebook and other online sites but I did not take those bashing seriously as I have not tried out other foreign telco before to do a comparison. In Austraila, I bought an Optus prepaid card to surf the internet for travel  information and location service. The Optus sim card cost $2 and for $2 dollar a day, I get unlimited local call and data. The surfing speed was amazing. It was twice as fast than any Singapore telcos 3G service. I was stunned. Singapore is a small country and we cannot even roll out 3G service as well as Australia which is many times bigger than Singapore. I am using Optus 3G service which is owned by Singtel and it is ironic that how the parent company is providing inferior service than it's member company. I enjoying my mobile surfing in Australia and once I got back, I just hate my local telcos. In Short, they sucks!

Default ICS keyboard or Swiftkey 3 ?

After using Ino One( Non-camera Android phone ) for about a month, I am more or less accustom to Android OS. If not for my job which does not allow me to carry non-camera phone, I do not think I would want to use an Android phone. Simple thing such as using the keyboard is giving me the headache. Although it is said that keyboard has improved alot since gingerbread, but it is still no match for IOS. I get a lot more wrong words using the default Android keyboard than any IOS version. Of course there are better 3rd party keyboard around in the Google Play store but there is a concern for security. There might be a possibility that these keyboard apps might be collecting key stroke data, thus compromising passwords. Putting security concerns aside, I installed Swift keyboard 3. This app is great. I get more words correct using it but I get less battery juice, as it is running in the background even when I am not using the keyboard. I could not live with the shorter battery life, so it is back to the default Android keyboard for me. I seriously hope Android will improve more on the basic features such as the keyboard instead of giving new features I don't use on a daily basis. 

Unable to check office exchange email

I was using Honeycomb on my Xoom 2 when I found that I was unable to check office exchange email. After updating my Xoom 2 to ICS, the problem is solved. I thought Honeycomb was the problem and that ICS has fixed all the bugs. When I got my Ino One phone running on ICS, I try to set up my office exchange email again. Unfortunately it failed. I came to realised that my Xoom 2 is running ICS version 4.0.4 and Ino One is running 4.0.3.  I am not sure if version 4.0.3 giving the problem but I am getting the same error message as when I was using Honeycomb. The error message goes something like this.

 " ... did not have the necessary security features to support my company's security policies."

I check on the web for differences between the 2 version and found out that "4.0.4 not only had a handful of improvements but “a few hundred changes over 4.0.3.” I seriously wonder if the email exchange is included in that few hundred changes. I have no way of telling unless I can get Android 4.0.4 for Ino One. 




Source :

http://www.androidauthority.com/android-4-0-3-vs-4-0-4-vs-4-0-5-75651/

Android 4.0.3

Android 4.0.3 was first released in December, 2011. With an API level of 15, Android 4.0.3 packed a number of features. One of them was the Social Stream API in the Contacts provider. Applications that used social stream data, like status updates and check-ins, could now sync that data with each of the user’s contacts. It allowed users to know what their contacts were doing or saying.

Enhancements were also made to the Calendar, such that apps could add colors to events to allow for easy tracking. New attendee types and states also became available. The Camera also received a few new capabilities, such as apps’ being able to check and manage video stabilization and could use QVGA resolution profiles when needed.

A number of accessibility refinements also came with the update, such as improved content access for screen readers and new status and error reporting for text-to-speech engines. Incremental improvements in graphics, database, spell-checking, Bluetooth, and more were also thrown in.
Gmail also got an update in the form of the Experiments heading in Gmail’s settings menu. Two new options were made available to the user. The first allowed Gmail to index entire messages to improve local search, and the other allowed users to drag and drop contact chips between the To, CC and BCC address fields.
Unfortunately, there were a number of complaints that came with this update too. Users didn’t like the animation and the time it took for them to access the multitasking feature.

Android 4.0.4

Android 4.0.4, released in March, 2012, answered user complaints. Google certainly fixed that lag in getting to the multitasking feature and added a few more things. People were saying that the overall improvement of 4.0.4 was supposed to be how Ice Cream Sandwich should be experienced.
Users on our favorite forum, XDA Developers, said that 4.0.4 really felt like a finished product. According to Android developer Jean-Baptiste Queru, 4.0.4 not only had a handful of improvements but “a few hundred changes over 4.0.3.”


For 4.0.4, Google not only improved the multitasking feature but also improved screen rotation. Screen rotation was more fluid and faster than ever before. Users will notice that when they change their phone’s orientation, there’s a slight lag before the screen rotates. It turns out not to be a glitch at all but is instead a built in “hesitation” so you can be sure that the screen is rotating like you intended.
With how sensitive phones are becoming nowadays, it isn’t uncommon for the screen to rotate when we really didn’t mean for it to. The Camera app has also gotten some improvements that allow it to work faster, smoother, and a little bit better.
One problem with the 4.0.4 update, however, was that some devices, such as the Galaxy Nexus, seemed to be having some problems. There are multiple reports that users experienced signal problems and even loss of signal since receiving the OTA update.  Users of the Galaxy Nexus GSM report that signal loss happened after a few minutes or more of the device entering standby. Turn off the screen and you’ll lose the signal.
Though some users are speculating that this is an energy-saving feature (to reduce power consumption when you weren’t really doing anything with your phone), it annoyed most users. Imagine not being able to receive messages and calls when your phone was on standby.

Voice call forwarding on Android 4.0.3

1) Open phone dialer app.

2) Goto to Settings>Voice Call, Select 'Call forwarding' to forward your call.

Turn off Facebook notifications

Facebook is great place to be connected to your friends. Unfortunately, sometime it gets a bit irritating to have alerts for all the activities in Facebook. You might want to turn it off. Turning it off can also save you some battery life.

Open Facebook app, Goto Account>AppSettings, uncheck Notifications to stop all the irritating alerts.

Now! You are at peace with yourself.

Improving battery life for ICS

Here are some tips for improving battery on your Android ICS device. 

1) Set your screen display to automatic. Goto Setting>Display>Brightness, select 'Automatic brightness'

2) Download a Kill task app and kill all tasks when you are not using the device.

3) Off the push mail function if you do not need to check email real time. Open  the Email app, goto Settings>your configured email account>Inbox check frequency, select 'Never'.

4) Unsync your Gmail email. Goto Settings>Account & sync > your Google email account, uncheck 'Sync Gmail'. Configure the Email app to check google email instead, as you can off the push mail function.

5) Unsync those applications that you do not need. Goto Settings>Account & sync, disable applications that you do not require to sync.

6) Set screen lock. Goto to Settings>Security> Screen lock, choose your prefer way to screen lock your device.


7) Use black or dark coloured wallpaper.

Battery status in percentage

For people who like to see their battery life in percentage might be frustrated that this feature is not available to all device running on ICS. For me, my Ino One phone do not have this feature. However, I can download an app to do the same task. I downloaded an app called 'Battery' by Macropinch. Android should have this feature by default, my old iPhone 3GS has this feature since day 1.

Changing call ringtone and SMS ringtone

Changing ringtones is easy in Android, you just need to know where to copy the mp3 file to.

To change ringtone for calls:

1) Copy your mp3 file into Ringtones folder on your phone.
2) Goto to Settings> Audio profiles> General> Voice call ringtone to select your ringtone



To change ringtone for SMS:

1) Copy your mp3 file into media>audio>notications folder on your phone.
2) Goto to Messaging application
3) Goto to Settings>Select ringtone to select your ringtone.

Non-camera Android phone, Ino One

For people working in high security environment, camera phones are usually not allowed. In Singapore, citizens are denied of their camera phones when serving their National Service. Nowaday smartphones are indispensable gadget but all smartphones come with camera. To cater for people working/ serving in high security environment, Huawei and LG do have non-camera version of Android phone in Singapore. However, these smartphones are not true non-camera phone, as the camera is removed from the phone and manufacturer need to issue certificate of camera being removed when you purchase the phone. For some people, this is good enough but for others, camera removed phone is also not allowed. Luckily a local company, Inomobile, come out with a true non-camera Android phone. It is called 'Ino One'. Ino One specs  are of mid-range smartphone specifications. The specs are decent enough to be used as the primary phone and it comes with dual-sim at the price of SGD $268 without contract. For people working in Mindef environment, this phone is the one to get. You do not require MSD stickers as as of 2 Oct 2012, the phone is cleared by Mindef. For people interested in the phone, they can visit www.inomobile.com.sg for more information. Inomobile is willing to ship the phone overseas if you are not residing in Singapore. 

Source;

http://www.inomobile.com.sg/ino-one-non-camera-phone/

Updating iPhone 3GS

I just updated my iPhone 3GS yesterday. Updating iPhone is a no-brainer task. Goto Settings>General>Software update to update iPhone. The process is pretty long. It took me 3 hours to update my iPhone 3GS, time included for downloading the new OS. The downloading part was especially long. It maybe due my my internet slow connection but I suspect it might also due to the fact that many idevices were also updating their OS. 

Frankly speaking, I was quite surprise that Apple decided to make IOS 6 available for iPhone 3GS. The phone is over 3 years old and the fact that I am still getting update for the phone make me appreciate Apple's hardware. Ever since I started using smartphone I have never seen a manufacturer gives update to a 3 year old phone until now. Although many features are not available on iPhone 3GS but at least my phone is not totally forgotten by Apple and I get the update together with other idevices. Google, HTC, Motorola, Samsung and many others, please learn from Apple. Do not come up with phones and abandon them in a year time. I love my iPhone 3GS. It is the only phone that serve me for more than 2 1/2 years. 

Phototokina fair is being held this week. As expected, many camera manufacturers release their new camera models before the fair start. I am excited about the new models and is considering whether to jump into the mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera(MILC) wagon. I used to own Canon DSLR but sold it off as I wanted a lighter camera for travelling. I am looking into high-end compact camera or MILC. For MILC, the more established setup are from Panasonic and Olympus. They are the companies using M4/3 standard. For other MILC manufacturers, they are all using their proprietary mounting just as their DSLR. The different mounting is irrelevant but the sensor sensor size is. The bigger the sensor size, the better picture quality you will get. Sony, Samsung, Fujifilm, Canon and Pentax, except for Nikon which uses 1"sensor, use APS-C sensor which is larger than the M4/3 but these companies are new into mirrorless market. Panasonic and Olympus are the pioneers in mirrorless market and they have a good collect of M4/3 lens. I would prefer a larger sensor but I do not want to limit my selection of lens and that make my choice very difficult. Maybe I should just get myself a proven LX series and wait out until Sony, Samsung, Fujifilm, Canon and Pentax come out with more mirrorless lens. 

Connect Xoom 2 to PC after ICS encryption

After I encrypt my Xoom 2, I can only see 2 folder under Internal Storage. The 2 folders are DCIM and Pictures. To see more folders, touch on the notification box for more USB options and toggle between PTP and MTP once. Select camera(PTP) eventually and now you will be able to see all the folders once again on your Xoom 2.

Encrypt tablet on ICS

I finally decided to encrypt my tablet. One of my main purpose of buying this tablet is to check my corporate exchange email. Anyway it is not a phone so the impact of anything wrong happening on my tablet should be minimum, as I am using the tablet as a secondary device beside my laptop. Worst case scenario if anything bad would to  happen, I can reset my tablet to factory default.

Before encrypting your tablet there are some things  you must ensure before proceeding:

1. Set a lock screen PIN or password.
2. Charge the battery.
3. Plug in your tablet to a power source
4. Schedule an hour and a half for the encryption process: you must not interrupt it or you will lose some or all of your data.

When you're ready to turn on encryption:

1. From a Home or All Apps screen, touch the Settings icon .
2. Touch Personal > Security > Encryption > Encrypt tablet.
3. Read the information about encryption carefully. 
   The Encrypt tablet button is dimmed if your battery's not charged or your tablet's not plugged in. If you 
   change your mind about encrypting your tablet, touch the Back button.
4. Touch Encrypt tablet. 
5. Enter your lock screen PIN or password and touch Continue. 
6. Touch Encrypt tablet again.

The encryption process starts and displays its progress. Encryption take an hour and a half, during which time your tablet may restart several times.

When encryption is complete, you’re prompted to enter your PIN or password twice to boot the home screen.

Subsequently, you must enter your PIN or password each time you power on your tablet, to decrypt it.

Somehow or rather, I feel that since iPad have encryption out of the box, encrypting my tablet makes me feel at least on par with it. I should not have any problem connecting to my corporate exchange email now since my tablet has fulfilled the basic security requirement (ENCRYPTION).

Encryption woes for checking corporate email

I had problem connecting to my corporate exchange email with Honeycomb. Honeycomb did not have the necessary security features to support my company's security policies. After upgrading to ICS, I found that I am able to setup my corporate exchange email but I have to enable encryption, which takes about 1 hour or more to setup on my tablet and this is irreversible. After encryption, I will have to key in pin to unlock and also to boot up my tablet. If in the future, I want to remove my corporate exchange email I still need to live with the encryption restriction unless I factory reset my tablet. This is a major turn off. I did not have this issue with iPad/iPhone. I can setup my corporate exchange email address on my iphone with ease and I don't have to live with the added security once I remove corporate exchange email.

After some research, I found that Apple's devices after the release of IOS 4 have hardware encryption out of the box. That is why iPhone and iPad are widely support by corporates. Android like IOS support encryption after version 4 but as Apple implement the encryption better than Android with hardware encryption. Maybe that is why my 3GS is rather laggy when I upgraded it to version 4. 3GS might not have the hardware encryption since it was release before IOS 4.

For me, I am rather hesitant to enable encryption. The reasons are;

1. Performance issue. Since it is not a hardware encryption, it might affect the performance of my tablet. Motorola says Xoom 2 support data encryption but did not mention if there is hardware encryption on the tablet. 
2. Battery life. I have researched on the net. Most people say the encryption does not affect performance. 
3. It is irreversible. If I remove my corporate exchange email, I still have to live with keying in of pins to use my tablet. 
4. Encryption on Android devices seems to be in the infant stage. There might unforeseen issues with encryption. There are cases whereby the phone which was encrypted reboot in the middle of the night and the user could not receive call and alarm could not work, as the phone need a pin to boot up. 

Source:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/258974/tablet_encryption_101.html

http://support.google.com/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1663755

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/116635-how-to-properly-secure-your-iphone-or-android-device/2

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-galaxy-nexus/159020-using-ics-native-encryption.html

http://www.guyrutenberg.com/2012/06/29/some-thoughts-about-androids-full-disk-encryption/

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-nexus/467694-encryption.html

Screen Capture for Xoom 2

After ICS update, you can do a screen capture just by pressing the power and volume(-) buttons at the same time for 1 sec. It is kind of tricky pressing the buttons together. Sometime you will accidentally power off your screen or you will lower the volume but at least you can do screen capture now. You can view the screen capture JPG files on your tablet by going to the Gallery. To copy the pictures out, connect your tablet to the PC and on your PC goto My Computer> Xoom 2> Internal Storage>Pictures> screenshots to copy them to your desktop.

Connect Xoom 2 to PC after ICS update.

After I update my Xoom 2 to ICS, once I connect Xoom 2 to PC there is a notification on the bottom right screen. It shows me connecting to the PC as a camera. 

Touch on the notification box for more USB options. To view the tablet as a drive, select camera(PTP). Now you will be able to see your Xoom 2 icon in "My Computer". You can copy files in and out like a normal drive. If you have SD card installed, you will be able to do the same for your SD card too.

Xoom 2 ICS update

On 3rd Sept, Motorola Australia announced ICS update for Xoom 2. It took 8 days for Singapore to receive the update. Singapore and neighbouring countries should be checking Motorola SEA(South East Asia) for updates but for a while Motorola SEA facebook has not been updated with any news. I wonder if it is because of the shutting down of operations in Asia Pacific region (except Australia and Korea). Only service centers remain in Asia Pacific. For people in Asia, we can get updates about Motorola devices from Motorola Australia facebook.

Updating to ICS is simple. Goto Settings>About tablet>System updates. It will prompt you to download the ICS package. For me, the package took an hour plus to finish downloading. Once the download is finish, it will prompt you to install the package. Click "Install now" and the tablet will shutdown immediately and prepare for update. It will boot up again to show an Android icon with progress bar below. Once the progress completes, the tablet will reboot and it is down. The whole update took about 15min. Below is the screen capture from my Xoom 2. After ICS update, the look and feel is almost the same on the home screen, except for the addition icons on the bottom right of the screen. Now there are icons for availability of SIM card and WIFI. 

Amazon launch their new Kindle yesterday. Details specs can be found on their website. I do not want to do into details but generally for the Kindle Fire series they are having better display, better sound, better connectivity and a faster processor. Now they also have bigger tablets to choose from. At 8.9" the tablet is still smaller than the iPad but bigger screen is better for surfing net and PDF files than the 7" Kindle Fire. The price of the 8.9" tablet cost roughly about SGD $420 for the WIFI only model and SGD$700 for the WIFI +4G model. All the new Kindle Fire series will be running on ICS under the hood. I would definitely would like to get myself one if not for the restrictions of using a Kindle in Singapore. Until now we in Singapore are still unable to purchase ebooks from Amazon and Apple online store. Singapore needs to get rid of the red tapes which are preventing us from enjoying rich media experience of what our gadgets can offer us. If our blockage to online content is due to protectionism, perhaps our local companies should really wake up and play catch up rather than waiting for their slow death. There are still ways we can access online content from Amazon and Apple!


Source :
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/06/amazon-confirms-kindle-fire-hd-models-use-android-4-0/

Typing Chinese on Android Honeycomb

I wanted to do a search using chinese characters and realized that I did not have a chinese input keyboard. I had trying searching in Settings> Language & input but there was nothing there that would allow me to add a chinese input keyboard. I did a search on the web and found that I need to install the Google Pinyin from Google Play, unlike Apple which supports many other language keyboards out of the box. I went to Google Play Store and downloaded the Google Pinyin and added the Google Pinyin in  Settings> Language & input> Configure input methods. To use Google Pinyin, just tab on the small keyboard icon to select Google Pinyin when you need to input Chinese Character.