Category Archives: Android

Android, IT, Powershell

Android Mail vs Exchange

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Ran into an issue that the native mail client couldn’t be configured on an Android device (specifically a Galaxy S4 from Samsung with either a version 4.3 or 4.4 of Android on it). The server it should connect to is an older Exchange 2007 environment (UR11 at the time this was happening). When trying it always ended up with the remark that the supplied username and password where invalid. Looking into the configuration of the mail client there is a DeviceID mentioned starting with SEC and then a certain amount of hexadecimal numbers, while in Active Directory I found a DeviceID that started with androidc. Through the aid of powershell I added the SEC DeviceID as found in the mail profile of the phone, waited a few moments and then applied the settings again and this time it picked it up and is working. Below is a small script to add a DeviceID into Exchange if you have the same issue, just supply the Exchange Alias together with the DeviceID from the phone and it might work for you too. If it is more permanent I’ll update it with a nicer version that includes error handling and comments. Needless to say there needs to be some time spend on why this is happening.

$Alias = Read-Host "Exchange Alias ......... : "
$DevID = Read-Host "New ActiveSync Device ID : "
$DData = (Get-CASMailbox -Identity $alias).ActiveSyncAllowedDeviceIDs
$DData = $DData+$DevID
Set-CASMailbox -Identity $Alias -ActiveSyncAllowedDeviceIDs $DData
Write-Host "Written ActiveSyncDeviceID $DevID to alias $alias."
Android

New gadget to play with

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Archos TV ConnectIt’s called the Archos TV Connect, which essentially is a tablet without a screen and battery, it has the rest of the connectors and as an extra a fixed network port which makes streaming 1080p no issue at all. As a screen you would normally use a TV or otherwise a monitor provided it comes with an HDMI input. On the picture you see the unit on top of the television and the remote in front of the TV. The remote includes a keyboard, game input and also can function as a fly mouse.

A have it for a couple of weeks and the device works fine. No problems with it thus far. Replaced the launcher with Smart Launcher Pro as this has no need for swiping and is more a point and click interface which serves the fly mouse well and it has a quicklaunch facility on its homescreen which is visible in the picture as well. Turn on click what you want to do which in case of a TV connected device is watching media of one form or another or video conferencing. The camera does the job however it is similar to what you find on a tablet and it would have been nice to have one which would deliver a sharper image on a 1080p display. The other side will not notice it I guess but if you use the standard camera app it is clearly visible the camera is on the lower end of the spectrum. That’s also all I can find as a downside to this device. I’ll have some more fun with it in the future, it’s greatest feature is acting as an endpoint for Youtube videos which I can select on my phone and then play on the TV. In the near future ‘Netflix’ will most likely be added as well besides the DLNA compliant Archos audio and video apps which currently connect to local storage. For those of you with older AC-3/DTS receivers, there is no seperate SPDIF or Toshlink connector and if your TV doesn’t pass on the full surround signal you might be left with plain stereo sound.The street price is a little over 133 Euros at the time of writing and I wouldn’t be surprised in a few months time it will be 99 Euros or something close to that. Enough of that as there is another gadget that needs some attention, the Leap Motion.

Android, Cars

OBDII and Android, how fast is the 1/4 mile?

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Torque on Android

This is just one of the cool features of Torque, an app for Android phones and tablets. I think it will work better on a tablet simply because of the amount of additional real estate it has to offer. This increases readability of all the dials enormously. The current family car isn’t exactly fast and if I still had my previous car there would not have been an OBD connector in it as it was way to old to have one. I bought one of those cheap Chinese ELM327 bluetooth OBDII dongles from DealExtreme and it does the job. It is able to read all kinds of data from the cars ECU, also when driving as such the above remark. Most cars which are younger then 10 years should have a OBD connecter within 1 meter of the drivers seat, usually somewhere under the dashboard, at least that’s were mine is. Will explore more features of this app as it has logging capabilities and even the possibility to reset error codes although this is more for my brother after he has serviced the problem which caused it in the first place……

Android

My experience so far with the Archos 70IT

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Archos 70ITI now have this device for a while and it is something I essentially use everyday. As the screen shows it is kind of modified from what you get out of the shop. If you want to try it out yourself: Google Market is installed as you can find on the Archosfans forum. Afterwards Zeam is installed as launcher this will give you the ‘dock’ like feature as is seen on the picture at the bottom. It also allows you to configure the amount of screens which now is just one (this avoids the miscalculation which occurs to the software buttons). Music is launched by the stock music player widget (the small version). And the menu in the middle comes from Folder Organizer which can be found on the Market and in my opinion is the worth the 99ct it costs to have all the features enabled. In my case I let it show the most used apps so it automatically adjust to my changing habits or needs as some apps drop off and others get added.

During the time I used it it is relatively stable, however it did stop functioning more than once most of them when trying out new apps and in some cases with updating existing apps. Memory management does show itself so every now and then and makes it act slow as with about 100 apps installed there is some fighting over resources on this device and I still run the standard Android 2.2 memory manager without any taskkillers.

Most used apps are Google Listen mostly on the way to and from work with twit.tv’s tech podcasts sometimes mixed with something else like a course in Mandarin. The stock video app which allows me to access my TVersity (DLNA) audio/video server so that does not occupy in space on the device and I can watch my own stuff while Sunny does a hostile take over of the old fashioned TV. APG is installed for encryption of mail and files, still have to look at that a bit better. Not the easiest to use especially since the stock file browser and e-mail application (ActiveSync) do not support it in a nice way. Aldiko is what I use for reading books and Wyse Pocketcloud for taking over Servers and Desktops. Pulse for RSS Feeds and ofcourse a ton of games where WordUp!, Air Control and Angry Birds are the most played according to Folder Organizer.

So it suits my needs and is handy take with me as it fits on the center console of my car. I just use a little velcro sticker to keep in place otherwise it would drop off when taking a turn a little bit too fast.

Android

Found what I need (I guess)

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It’s called an Archos 70. A 7 inch tablet with capacitive screen and multitouch. Runs on a modified Android 2.1 Eclair system (but advertised as 2.2 Froyo, which still needs to come in the form of an update). It’s pocketable, it should fit in the inside pocket of my jacket and weights about 300 grams which is more than half the weight of the (bigger) iPad. Something similar could be said about the price as well. Compared to the Galaxy Tab it does not have 3G, the iPad I had here didn’t have it either and for the purposes I use I doubt if I need it. And it has less memory on board: 8Gb instead of 16Gb. It allows for tons of tinkering, so maybe more posts will follow in the near future. It should be waiting for me by the time I come back in the Netherlands. Can’t wait, but have to…. it’s ordered but it has not shipped yet and that might take a while as it’s sold out and backorder info tells me it will be halfway December before it will be shipped. On the downside, no Harbour Master……. Maybe I just have to settle for Angry Birds.