Android Phone USB Tethering

Well as promised in the earlier post, I will discuss on how to convert your Android phone as a modem and browse from your PC in this post. There are handfuls of applications available for achieving USB tethering. However I had picked two methods one for M$ Windows and the other for Linux, which were little straight forward. Again you need not have to root your phone to achieve USB tethering. Lets get started with Windows:
For Windows(7/XP/Vista):

To do USB tethering in windows you need the tool called pdanet. Go to this site and download the installation file. The installation is pretty much straight forward.


Pre requests:

1) Drivers for your phone (Usually available with applications CD that comes along with the phone).
2) Pda net from this site.

*Note: If even after all the following steps your android mobile is not detected, try installing the android phones device drivers and then install pda net.

Step 1:

Install the Pda net application in your system. Do not connect your Android phone to the PC unless the pdanet application on your pc asks you to connect it. During the installation process, if everything went well, a message will be displayed as shown:



Follow the instructions in the message i.e connect your Phone with the following settings enabled: settings->applications->development and enable USB debugging. You should also enable installation of applications from unknown source by traversing to settings->applications and then enable the unknown source.

If this step is completed successfully then you should see the pdanet application in your android phone.

Step2:



From your phone run the pdanet application and select enable USB Tether. Now from your pc right click the pdanet icon in the start up list and select connect. The pdanet application can be seen running on your startup list. If not manually start the pdanet application. Congratulation, your Internet connection has been set up.

So everytime you want to tether your Android phone, make sure that the USB debugging option is enabled on your phone and then connect it to your computer.Launch the pdanet application in your mobile. Finally launch the pdanet application from your windows PC and establish a connection from there.


While disconnecting, make sure that you turn off USB tethering from your mobile first and then on your PC.

For Linux(Ubuntu):

In Linux, USB tethering is achieved using the azilink tool.
Pre-requests:
1)Android sdk for linux which can be found here.
2)Openvpn 2.1 (you can download from the launchpad here).
3)azilink and azilink.opn file(check out them here).

There already is a detailed post on how to achieve USB tethering here. This post will help you set up the USB tethering in Ubuntu. However in step number 4 of that post, while setting up rules files for your device, you may replace the ATTRS{idVendor} with the following code whichever is applicable:





*source of the above information.

The following posts may be of interest to you:

• Installing .apk files offline on Android Phone
• 4 Ways to increase battery backup in android devices
• Essential Android Applications
• Android v1.5 CupCake review
• Budget Android Phones in India
  

To know whats there more in this blog check here.

Want to sync your contacts from/to PC and your Android Phone??? Watch this space for the solution. If this post helped you, you can show your support by buzzing this post to your friends, becoming a follower or Join hands to publish your own review/posts.

Installing apk Files Offline on Android Devices

The DROIDS nowadays happens to be the most happening device. The rate at which the number of applications that is increasing in the Android market speaks for itself. But there are people who don’t go for an Internet connection and thus cannot enjoy these applications, which takes your DROID to a different level. Don’t worry; there is a work around here to install these applications offline. In this post I will discuss how to install .apk (Android Application installation file) files in your DROID offline. I dont take any responsibility if you brick your phone in the process.

There are two cases:

CASE 1: If you already have a file manager then the task is very simple.




Maneuver to Settings->Applications and check the unknown source. This basically will allow you to install applications offline from 3rd party websites (mind you these applications are not authorized by Google, so there is no guarantee of its behavior). Then browse from your file manager to the specified folder and long press the .apk file. Voila your application is installed. A file manager is something like an explorer in windows, which allows you to browse through your files/folders in the SD card.

CASE 2:You have just now brought a brand new DROID and it doesn’t have a file manager.

In this method we will be using the Android SDK (Software Development Kit) to install files in your DROID. Follow the steps below one by one:

Note: Do not connect your phone to the PC unless it is specified in the following steps.

Step 1:

Download the Android SDK and install it in your PC. You can follow this link, which clearly explains all the steps including the download link of the SDK. You may however need to follow just the first 3 steps provided in the link.

Step 2:

Next you have to install the drivers of your Phone in the PC. Most of the manufacturers provide a CD with applications along with the Phone, which contains the drivers for the phones. Follow the instructions provided in the CD and install the drivers.

Step 3:




Now in your Phone (DROID), traverse to Settings->Applications->Development and enable (check) the USB debugging options. Once done, connect your phone via USB to the PC. If all the drivers were successfully installed then your device should be identified as a Android USB Composite device.

Step 4:

Open a Command prompt. Just issue the following command in the prompt:


adb install path/application

Where path is the path where your application is stored in the PC and application is the name of the application. Note: there is a space after adb and install. Issuing this command should start the installation procedure. And if all went successful you will get a message stating the application was successfully installed to your DROID.

First time reader of this blog? Check this post to know whats more in this blog!
Want to use your Android Phone as a modem for browsing Internet??? The solution is here. If this post helped you, you can show your support by buzzing this post to your friends, becoming a follower or Join hands to publish your own review/posts.

The Tech Entrepot's New Additions

Well, the past month had witnessed nearly 10 posts on various topics. We had also introduced couple of new interesting sections. The two new sections are Leads and Guides. There are few more other relevant sections, lets go one by one.

Leads:

The section Leads will help to choose from various options which includes technical specifications, market value and finally states some advantages of each gadget over the other which will clearly lead you to a right choice and that’s why its called leads.

Here are some Leads for MAY 2010:
Budget Android Phones.

Guides:

This informative section will basically introduce to various technology, its pros-cons, technical terms, market value and finally will introduce to some gadgets using those technologies. So knowing the technology before using it will be more productive and makes more sense right? So keep watching this space for more guides.

Here are some guides for MAY 2010:
Conditioning Mobile Phone batteries.
Touch Screen Phones.


Android Information:

As you can see from the posts in the month of MAY, there was more heat on Android and the DROIDs. The reason is one of the blog author owns a DROID so he quite often does experiments as a result you can expect more posts on Android :) . If you are aspiring to buy a DROID keep watching this blog there are lots more to come.

UP Next:

This section will just let the readers know the upcoming posts. Sometimes it takes a little time to actually publish the posts mentioned in the up next section due to the time constraints with each of those respective authors. But it’s assured that it will be published.

Related Videos:

Here you can view videos if any related to the posts in this blog.

HOT Gadgets:

All the gadgets that are reviewed will be put up in this section.



Most Frequently visited Posts:

If you are a first time reader or a casual blog reader then this section will let you choose the most frequently visited posts in this blog.



From the readers count, which reads nearly 1000 for just one single month is encouraging to go even little farther and publish posts on new topics. So it’s the readers who make this happen. You can always help this blog by publishing your own reviews, which in turn is going to help other readers. Just mail in your review to techenrepot@gmail.com and then you will be added as an author after which you can publish any number of posts.

If you like this blog and the idea behind this blog you can do some of the following:


Google Buzz:

On the right hand top of every post you have a buzz button, which you can click to share the post with your buzz mates. This will ensure that more readers come out and therefore many more reviewers come up which will help the seekers. So if you like the post feel free to buzz it to your friends.

You can catch The Tech Entrepot in Google Public Buzz in this link:
http://www.google.com/profiles/techenrepot#buzz


Subscriptions and sharing:

You cannot reach the blog all the time? No problem, you can just subscribe to The Tech Entrepot blog by providing your email id. A verification mail will be sent to you. Upon clicking the verification mail you will then get the posts right into your inbox. Further you can also share these posts in Tweeter as well as Face book.


Support & Suggestions:

Theres always room for improvements. If you would like to suggest any new ideas feel free to use the comments section to feed in your ideas. There are many posts in queue for this month from speakers to laptop and multimedia phones. So have an eye on this blog on all weekends for new posts. As always show your support by becoming the blog follower and well if you have a review just send an abstract to techenrepot@gmail.com and from there on you can publish any number of posts on this blog.


::Blog Admin::
Techenrepot.

4 Ways to increase battery backup in Android devices

In this post I will discuss some of the ways in which you can increase your battery backup in the devices running Android v1.5. However most of the features are applicable across different higher versions. All these tips are from the software point of view i.e the OS. However there is more to prolong your battery backup. Do check the post on Battery Conditioning to know more.

Warning: I don’t take any responsibility if you brick your phone while doing this.

1)Screen brightness, sounds / vibrations :

As can be seen from the Touch Screen phones post, the display is the one, which utilizes your battery the most. So it is highly essential that we supervise its usage. The screen brightness can be reduced when indoor, which can be very effective. Other than that we can also set a timeout for the screen so that whenever the screen is idle, the screen automatically gets locked.



To achieve this maneuver to Settings->Sound & Display->Brightness. From there reduce the screen brightness. You can also set the screen timeout at the same place (sound & Display) as well as some additional options such as Phone vibration, Audible touch-tones and Audible Selections, which can be unchecked to disable.

2)Task Killer:

Android as you know is multi tasking which means many activities can be run simultaneously. You can always view the recently run program by long pressing the home button. But whenever you navigate away from a task it is not closed and it still remains in memory. Take for example you open a browser, and then navigate away by the cancel or the back button, the browser still runs in the memory and is not closed. To ensure that unnecessary applications are closed a Task Killer is mandatory. This will ensure that all the unwanted process running in the background which u never knew was running and those sucking your battery gets killed. To know more on Task killer check this post Essential android applications.

3)Disable Internet connectivity.

The important pillar of android is that it lets you customize your device with thousands of applications from the Android market. But most of the applications connect to internet for remote processing or at-least for ads which u never want it to. There are many applications such as juice defender which allows you to turn off your internet when not in use. But you can also manually do it by changing the APN name from your settings.



To achieve this maneuver to Settings->Wireless Controls->Mobile Networks->Access Point Names. From there select your service and change the APN name. And whenever you wish to use the internet you may replace back with the original APN name.

4) Aero Plane Mode:

Network services are the programs that run constantly and probe for the availability of signal in your area there by sucking your battery considerably. Most of the people leave the phone switched on or at least in silent mode during night. And all those hours these services probe for signal strength and utilize the battery. By switching to the Aero Plane mode all these services are put to sleep. Of coarse you don’t want to do this on day time especially when you are waiting the call from the special one. This method is useful for those who don’t want to lift calls in the night but yet would like to use the phone as an alarm.



This is achieved by long pressing the end call/power button and from there select the Aero Plane mode.Always turn off Bluetooth, wifi or any other services when not in use. These are monstrous services which suck your battery.

As said all these options are done from the software part. you can do a lot more by properly maintaining your battery by conditioning it. Check the post Conditioning Battery for more.

Conditioning batteries

We spend days and months to figure out the best gadget that meets the requirement and fits the budget constraints. And once done we are happy to have one and get carried away. There is one more important thing to note for those researchers: Battery conditioning. Batteries have become so important that when you purchase a mobile gadget we look for the best back up but most of the times we fail to condition it accordingly to prolong battery life as well as backup.

So in this article I will throw some light on some terminologies and efforts required to increase your battery life. Since most of the gadgets now rely on Lithium-Ion batteries I will restrict my discussions to the aforementioned though a little bit comparisons here and there with Nickel batteries.


Battery ratings:


The storage capacity (charge) or the time that a battery lasts is mentioned in terms of mAh. mAh is an abbreviation for milli-ampere hours, which are units of electrical charge. Larger values, for batteries of the same battery voltage, indicate that the battery has a larger capacity and will power your phone for a longer period of time before charging. The mAh ratings range from 700 mAh to upto 1800 mAh for mobile phones.





Do not get carried away by the mAh ratings. The ratings and the software running on the phone are interdependent. If the software consumes more battery then the promised ratings cannot be accomplished. Now all my discussions will be pointing to mobile phones, however the charging method remains the same for all the Lithium-Ion based gadgets.


Threshold levels:


Lithium-Ion batteries have two levels i.e. say for example if the battery can store 100% charges only 90% of it is available for charging. So when you over charge a Lithium-Ion battery, the protective internal circuits in the battery simply stops it from charging. In a similar manner when your battery is having only 10% of charge left the software in the mobile simply instructs you to plug in for charging. The left over 10% can be utilized by the software in the mobile to run the clock (time) something similar to CMOS batteries, which helps you run the clock in PCs. So this is an organized and efficient way of battery usage as compared to the Nickel based batteries.


First time charge:


Lithium-ion is a very clean system and does not need priming as nickel-based batteries do. Priming is a procedure in which your battery is trained to or initialized to hold charges. If careful priming is not done to the Nickel based batteries then battery back up will be lower than what its ratings state. Here in Lithium-Ion batteries the 1st charge is no different to the 5th or the 50th charge, which is evident from the thresholds level section. Most of the Lithium-Ion batteries take upto 3 – 4 hrs for a full charge from zero. So there is no point in charging the Lithium-Ion batteries for 8 hrs and more for a first time charge. Always stick to the manual of the product and they clearly mention the duration your battery requires to get fully charged.


Subsequent charging:


In order to prolong your battery life, the Lithium-Ion battery should always be operated with 70% of charge. The reason is, when the batteries are continuously charged to their 100%, the probability of cells getting damaged is high as a result of which the lifetime of the battery gets reduced. So it is always advised to maintain charge in the 70% of charge limit. However, frequent charges in this pattern could lead to malfunction of the gauge that gives you the battery level indication. To avoid this you can do a brief topping charge every 20 days where you can charge from 0 to 100% battery life.


Storage:

If you are not going to use your battery, then the first thing you need to do is to remove the battery from the device and store it in a cool place around 20 – 27 degree Celsius. The battery should neither be with full charge nor without charge. It has to be around 40% to 50% and should be charged at least once in 40 days to make sure that the battery cells don’t die.


Software control on batteries:



Most of the smart phones instruct you to charge when the 10 % limit is reached such as the symbians, windows, Linux, the androids etc. However there are lots of feature phones that run on their proprietary softwares of the manufacturers of which quite a few fail to convey this message and continue to use the remaining charge until it is drained. Continuous draining of charges will also cause the cells to damage. Similarly over charging can also damage the cells in the battery though we have the protective internal circuitry. As a rule of thumb do not drain nor overcharge.


Summary:


As we saw Lithium-ion is a very clean system and does not need priming as nickel-based batteries do. The 1st charge is no different to the 5th or the 50th charge. So the instructions from the shopkeeper to charge the battery for 8 hours or more for the first time may be leftover from the nickel battery days. So here are the key things that you need to follow to get better battery backup and battery life:

• Do not overcharge.

• Do not drain the battery.

• Always try to maintain the battery charge level in the 70% range.

• For every 20 days do a topping charge by charging your battery from zero to full to avoid battery gauge mal function due to previous step.

• Always use the chargers from the respective manufactures and if not, the battery cell can be easily damaged if charged with 3rd party chargers.

• If the battery is not used, disconnect from the device and store it in a cool place with 40 –50% charge in it. Charge that battery once in 40 days.

I hope this would have given you a good idea on how to maintain your battery. If you are keen to know from the technical aspects of Lithium-Ion batteries you can check here.