Sarath Chandra Pandurangi's Blog

Acer released the Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS, aka 4.0) update on Apr 27th 2012, for its A50x line of tablets. The owners were ecstatic about the news. Nevertheless, the process of deployment for Acer and the installation for the end-users was nothing short of a disastrous saga .

I picked up my Acer Iconia. A500 tablet from BestBuy yesterday. 24hrs later, the screen looks like its been used for 6 months. It's scary how these things keep you captivated. There are thousands of reviews out there, so I am not going to bore you with another "in-depth" review. Here is short and sweet account of my rendezvous with my new found love interest.

Are you one of those people who don't  have Gingerbread on your captivate. Still with Éclair, because you don't want to *root* your phone or scared about voiding the warranty? You are in luck, Samsung released its AT&T stock update to froyo. You have to get this using Samsung's "Kies Mini" program. Kies is a windows application that will safely (no warranty voids here) flash your phone. You are still recommended to save ALL your data before you do anything with the phone. Unfortunately, there is no love for Linux/mac users.

If you just updated your andriod devices to froyo, you are already one step behind in android releases. But With all the goodness in each update, why would you wait. Howver, if you are an early adopter, Google is not sleeping when you are waiting.

Just updated the fresh-out-the-oven Google Maps. 5.0. Simply Awesome. The 3d images of NYC buildings, tilting, rotating, much smoother zoom operations, and better offline support make it a highly recommended update

Got a new Android? This is the first place you should be looking at these tutorials . Online Search for Market Apps: If you are looking to search for market apps, and thinking that there no such online search tool? There may not be an official Google hosted online market replica, but appbrain.com gives one. Installing Apps: Most websites you browse on the laptop/computer, have what are QR codes (eg. shown below). These are like images that link to urls on other sites or market apps. So first you have to manually go to market place and search for " Barcode Scanner " and install an app by ZXing. From then, you can use the scanner to install various apps that can be looked up by QA Codes. This app can also get you product lookups (however there are specialised apps for that) Appbrains.com app: Appbrains has an app manager that can manage your apps, installing them and their updates. You create a profile online and all your installations are synced to your device. This...

One more reason to buy an Andriod.. Ain't that awesome? These features don't need it to be a phone. These can also be used on Andriod devices not tying you to a phone data plan (although the use cases can grow exponentially, if you already have one).

I just posted a tease in last afternoon and late in evening SNF game ads has this.. Great.. Now Verizon (and Android - Droid V's first gPhone?) are getting on an offensive.. Seriously.. Simmer this again " Everything iDont " (classic slick Black text on pure white with a drop shadow, Cheesy music running in the background "Its magic.. " : See where it is going?). Snap, fuses out to a powerful Transformers like backdrop with " DROIDDOES ". Yes It does. And this is going into OT! Deep into Festive season.. Am I going to get one? Fingers crossed :)