Telecom – Rob the Geek

ASUS Garmin A10

I got one of these phones when they first came out – they were pretty awesome back then, however over time they have been orphaned on older, vulnerable iterations of Android and they simply don’t have what it takes to be a primary device any longer.

Because of this – I’m currently looking to root the phone and install upon it a modified ROM which will give me *just* what I need to turn this into a useful device for sitting in the car.

Step #1 – Hard Reset to Factory Defaults.

Turn the phone OFF
While holding the volume UP button, press and HOLD the power button
Keep holding the buttons until ‘Clear User Data’ is displayed in text on the phone’s screen.

The phone will continue to boot after factory resetting the device (note, items on the Micro SD card will NOT be affected – you would need to reformat that independently yourself.

Step #2 – Find a ROM.

The new firmware needs to enable the more recent features of Android without overtaxing the processing power or battery capacity of the aging device…
Suggestions?

These are the Droids you’re looking for…

Hat tip to @VodaphoneNZ for re-igniting my interest in having another crack at the following post which I originally wrote for an internal publication for my employer. I’ve changed some of the phraseology,but the basic content – apart from the opening paragraph – remains pretty similar. Once again, these are my personal opinions and are presented as such.

If you are in any way connected to the mobile phone world, you would have heard of the Android phones, an increasing number of which are now starting to make their way into the New Zealand market. Vodafone have been quietly selling android phones since the middle of last year, and third party importers have been importing them in increasing numbers since around the same time. With the release today of ‘FroYo’ (Android 2.2), Vodafone NZ have come out with an impressive looking list of devices sporting the Android stack.

The disappointment for me being that, like other Telcos in the space, a number of the devices announced are running some fairly old versions of the stack, and there is no clear message for the as to how to update their devices, or indeed if this is even possible. I’d certainly like to see the Telcos, or the community, or a collaboration of the two – to come out with some simple HOWTO guides (or simple “Sorry – but you can’t” messages) around updating the device to more recent software. Let me know in the comments if you have come across anything which may help the average Joe (or Jane) with this…

What is â€˜Androidâ€™

â€˜Androidâ€™ is a software stack including an operating system, middleware and core applications â€“ kind of like Windows on your PC. It was first unveiled in 2007 by a firm who was subsequently bought by Google, whoâ€™ve since released most of the code under the Apache (software and open source) license. And that decision is what has captured the attention of the community.

Continue reading “These *are* the Droids you’re looking for…”

What is this “Android” thing that people are talking about?

The first week of April 2010 saw the announcement of Telecoms first Android handset, with the exclusive launch for the XT network of the LG GW620.

Telecom is not alone in the New Zealand market with Android handsets. Vodafone have been selling the HTC Magic since the end of June 2009 and independent device importers also have a range of Android phones.

Globally, the industry is expecting big things from the handset manufacturers as well as the Android platform in 2010. At the Mobile World Congress (the worldâ€™s premier mobile event) in February, it was announced that 60,000 Android handsets are shipped every day (though what â€˜shippedâ€™ means was not clarified).

Continue reading “What is this “Android” thing that people are talking about?”

TelecomONE – Warkworth, October 3-5, 2008

The last three days were invigorating, exhausting and challenging all at the same time. After 8 months of organisation, seeking permission (or forgiveness) and juggling schedules, a group of motivated individuals converged on Mahurangi College in Warkworth about an hour out of Auckland, New Zealand.
The attendees were from across the spectrum of Telecoms business units â€“ along with some incredibly smart external folk, all ready to take part in the inaugural, corporate equivalent of the Kiwi Foo camp which has taken place at the same venues for the past two years. TelecomONE is an an â€˜unconferenceâ€™ hosted by Telecom to get people from within (and without) the business into one space and discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead for the business, and what we could do about them.

After attending the second Auckland Barcamp, and being enthused by the open thinking on display there, I was very much looking forward to seeing how people from inside our business would react in a similar environment. I must say I was pleasantly surprised, the sessions were filled within the first 7 minutes of the board being opened and within 15 minutes the shuffling and merging of similar sessions was complete.

Over the course of the weekend I was fortunate to facilitate three or four sessions (one of which will result in me completing a post that I’ve been sitting on for about 4 months). Largely, these unconferences are bound by a FrieNDA to protect the discussions and create an environment of openness so I’m not planning to go into any details short of commenting that it was a brilliant event, it has restored my faith in the desire of our people to make a difference, and has given some non-Telecom folk a real shock that behind the faceless giant beats the hearts of a number of motivated, smart people who want to get things done.

Edit: A number of other attendees have also written about the event and you can see their impressions here, here, here, here, and here. Follow the Tweets here and checkout the photos here.