HTC MAGIC Hutchinson

ok 24 hours later.

I did NOT get the iPhone. I got the HTC Magic. I reckon that I will use it as a phone and use the minor web device from WiFi hot spots ONLY, meaning not 3G web surfing. Or at least till I can find a value pack I like. After all I have been overseas and expireinced the phone evolved culture in Japan. You know the iPhone failed there as it is crap next to Japans telco provided phones. Cheap and fast networks that work.

I did the right thing. I managed to get through all the settings from A to Zed and then to Finnish I tried to HTC SYNC my HTC Magic Phone running the Android Platform to SYNC with my computer.

I downloaded the latest appropriate Version. I was worried cause here in Australia there is 2 kinds of Magic , one with Vodaphone written on it and another with HTC written on it... That was he way to tell the two versions apart. One version is CUPCAKE whilst the other DOUGHNUT.
The Hutchinson version is the most recent with the new better working touch screen keyboard.

My first impression was pretty tame . The flick feature has turned page surfing into a sport, it is that much fun. But I managed to learn the way of the buttons and interface. It really was pretty easy.

I still have not been able to Sync with my computer to communicate with outlook and gmail and "stuff" but it is getting there. The staff at HTC customer support which is definitely Sydney local but is revy very "off shore" has been very good so far. In fact they fill me with confidence as to "there is a work around" attitude.

So I have tried all 4HTC Sync on 2 computers and cannot get the software to Identify the HTC MAGIC Android Phone. To complete that .. I installed and uninstalled one version at a time and yes I tried 4, from the original to the newest and latest... To answer the first burning question yes I did try and activate from the phone other than "mounting" the SD card which is easy for file transfers... and data dump of pics and music or videos etc.

Loving chrome in some ways on one of my computers, but hating it on the other. For different reasons. Android MARKET seems to be a myth with the downloads available hardly something I want .. or at least I cant find anything that seems useful yet.

Could not download the free WiFi hot spot identifier to actually download... I imagine as always on to suck the battery life...

So part 2 continues tomorrow... excited and frustrated.


things are not as they seem.

DAY 2, 48 hours later

I wake early in the morning and go do my bike mechanic gig for the last time today for City of Sydney. It was a great gig in partnership with bikewise.com.au . This morning was the last gig and was the background for channel 7's morning show 'Sunrise' . frankly all I did was fix bikes and got told to work on bikes from behind the rear wheel and pull the break lever... you know .. no matter how pretty an assistant is .. Stoopidity will shine. Reach the brake lever from behind the bike beyond the back wheel whilst it is 5 foot in the air in a stand... hmmm ' computer says Nooooo!'

I get home.. its hot, Time to ring HTC again. After a 5 minute wait on the phone after they have answered me and I have given my reference number from the day before.

The lady on the phone comes back and apologizes for the delay. She tells me to install the latest driver, the one that ends with 'Asia'. I do this.. nothing happens still.

I get upgraded to a tech. who tells me I have done all the right things. He says to try and reset factory settings and install the latest sync software... 5 minutes later I plug the USB into the phone and computer.. HEY PRESTO. It begins to sync.

It syncs all my email contacts from my outlook but I am flummoxed on how to get my numbers off my Nokia and onto my HTC. then I remember the "export to csv" on the nokia... I then import my csv files into my contacts on google mail. Sync again and once agin success... bit of a work around but it only took 10 minutes.

Now I am connected... i feel it is time to install some apps. I am very careful to not use 3G networks to web surf and turn off all services that connect to the web whilst being sure to only access via WiFi so it remains free.

I find a WiFi app that tells me if there is a unsecured HOT SPOT to hitch onto. you know like at Starbucks or McDonalds... I notice now I am not the only one with an unsecured wifi.

Next step, some GPS apps and some other stuff I might find useful, like an app to change my theme and file transfer via Bluetooth, which the HTC can not by default with Android. but the app to do so was easy to find

So it now night time and it is cooler. My GPS tracking app is now ON. The GPS works independently of any network, It syncs with satellites above. I activate the app. I am at home so my home network loads the maps. A little arrow appears on my house in google maps.

This is not my actual images but from the apps market. The left most image is distance, average speed, fastest speed, maximum and lowest altitude, it also tells me the grade., the middle image is just some edit functions etc, and the right is the map view, Now interestingly with Satellite view it seems I went though a few front yards and houses, and Even though I started and finished from the same spot my red line did not quite meet at the end. A great new play with a very interesting app.

I could see a use of this one to track a bike messenger or even to find my phone.. or perhaps help me get fit or just cause I love maps and weather radars .. its just groovy goodness.

I also loaded a Twitter app and a RSS feed app, the twitter app connects to my twitpic account and the GPS so I can upload images from my phone as I take it with a tiny.url and a GPS link for google maps too. kinda neat but possibly to much info. Actually it would be a good tool for the parking cop who takes photos of offending cars .. with this it will also give a GPS reference with a 5 meter variance.

Some other apps that failed was a drupal blogging tool.. it just failed to work with my drupal site.... But , I could see its advantage for working on it like that. The Hero Clock, or 'big analog' clock was just ugleeee.

I did install an app that has 20 animals and it makes the sounds of the animals while showing the workds of what they are... My 17 month old loves it.

So far I am Very impressed... except I now have to filter the crap out of my 837 emil addresses and bad phone numbers.

tweeterizers .. Audax riders leave tonight .. use #sm1200 to send your well wishes to riders