Droid Hype

Since getting my Nexus 7, I’ve been using it daily for just about everything. I’ve gotten to the point where I stopped opening my laptop after getting home from work. It really is that useful of a device at this point.

Although the size and performance is great, there are some glaring quality control issues that Asus has let slip thru their factories. Aside from the very prominent speaker crackling issue that plagues both the 8GB and 16GB models, there’s also the dreaded screen lifting problem. This lifting problem is pretty much what it sounds like — the screen is lifted slightly above the bezel. This usually occurs on the left side of the screen, so the glass will be just that slightly higher than the other side.

There have been homebrew fixes all over the net, but the best I’ve seen is the removal of two screws. The reason I say it’s one of the best is because Asus may have adopted this as their fix. Small hardware spiel to follow.

Read more »

My latest gaming addiction has been the NBA Jam release on Android. It was recently on sale for 99 cents so I couldn’t resist. The updated graphics and zany gameplay makes it just as fun as the original.

There are just two quirks that I really wish this game didn’t have. The first small annoyance is that it always checks for updates on start. So if you are not connected to a cell tower or on wifi, it pretty much stops.

The second more serious issue is the inability for it to function at anything but the default 48dpi navigation bar icon sizes on the Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean OS releases. So if you have a custom rom and you plan to make or flash edits that shrink or modify the size of the navbar, NBA Jam will crash back to your homescreen or give you an ambiguous 5002 error code.

As always, make a nandroid before you do any kind of editing. You may never know what app your mods will break until it’s too late.

If you tend to crackflash often, then you probably use Titanium Backup and you’d want to know the easiest way to back up your SMS/MMS as well as your call log. These items are not retained when you go from rom to rom nor are they backed up when doing a user data backup in Titanium Backup. Here’s how you can do it on a set schedule so you never forget.

1. Open app drawer
2. Open Titanium Backup
3. Press the menu radio button
4. Select “Filters”
5. At the bottom press the “Create label” button
6. Name your label whatever you want
7. Press the “Add/Remove elements” button
8. Check the “[SMS/MMS/APN] Dialer Storage x.x” checkbox (version x.x numbers may vary)
9. Check the “[CONTACTS/CALLS] Contacts Storage x.x” checkbox (version x.x numbers may vary)
10. Press the “OK” button
11. Press the “Save” button
12. Press the back radio button
13. Select the “Schedules” tab
14. Press the “Add new schedule” button located at the bottom
15. On the schedule that just appeared press the “Edit” button
16. On the top combo box select the arrow to pull down the menu. Select the “Backup all system data” option
17. On the next combo box that says “No filtering”, click the arrow to pull down a menu. You should see your label you created. Select your label.
18. Select the time you want your backup to take place
19. Select the days you want your backup to take place
20. Press the “Save” button
21. Check the “Enabled” check box to enable your schedule
22. Now Titanium Backup will automatically backup your messages at the specified time and day or days.

When you are ready to restore on your new rom, just search for Dialer Storage and Contacts Storage and restore the data only. Perform a reboot and you should have everything back. Just be careful when going from major OS version updates (ex: Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich). You may encounter some weirdness, so be prepared to restore a nandroid or reflash if something doesn’t take right.

[via XDA]

The wait is over, Temple Run is finally available for your Android phone! Head over to the Google Play store and start downloading.

Although the Nexus S has been available on the market now for over a year, it’s actually a bit confusing for first time users to unlock and root the device. Give it a try, do a search and try and find the right adb and fastboot drivers for Windows 7 64-bit. I’m willing to bet it’s not as easy as everyone claims it to be. For some reason, fastboot drivers give 64-bit users a world of trouble in terms of acquiring and installing.

Since I went back to using my Nexus S on T-Mobile, I decided to post a quick how-to on getting this done.

Download the following zips before beginning:

  Android ADB and Fastboot tools (13.2 MiB, 78 hits)
You do not have permission to download this file.

  Nexus S 9020T Drivers and Touch Recovery (15.1 MiB, 14 hits)
You do not have permission to download this file.

Since I have the I-9020T model for T-Mobile, this guide will support only that version. This most likely will not work for the I-9023 LCD version or the D720 (Sprint 4g version), however, it should work for the I-9020A (ATT version).

Let’s begin…

Read more »