Replace New Year's Eve Fireworks with an App

There have been some calls for new year's eve fireworks to be cancelled in Australia, due to bush-fires. Perhaps they could be replaced, at least in part, by spectators' smart phones. The idea would be to have each person hold up their phone, which would display part of a coordinated pattern. This would be similar top the effect where those in a stadium hold up colored cards on cue, but could form a much faster changing, more vibrant pattern. This could supplement laser light shows and displays projected on buildings. This would also turn people from spectators, into active participants in the show, as well as avoiding setting off pyrotechnics during a total fire ban.

Limit Electronic Devices on Airlines to 300 mm and 200 g?

The US and UK have banned electronic devices larger than a cellphone from aircraft cabins on flights from some countries. But what is “larger than a cellphone”?

Perhaps airline check-in counters need a gauge, like the one for carry-on luggage, or weight alone would be sufficient.

It is not clear what the threat from laptops and tablets is. There could be good reasons for authorities are not wanting to make this clear, but I don't know what they are.

The Guardian article mentions the risk of bombs and of lithium batteries. The bigger and heavier the device is, the bigger the bomb or battery it can hold. So it would make sense to limit the size of devices, but to do that an actual size needs to be specified, not just “larger than a cellphone”.

Large phones ("phablets"):

• iPhone 7 Plus, with a 5.5 in screen is 158.2 mm x 77.9 mm x 7.3 mm and weighs 188 g.
• Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with a 5.5 in screen is 150.9 mm x 72.6 mm x 7.7 mm and weighs 177 g.

Are not that much smaller than a small tablet:

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 with a 7.0 in display is 190.09 mm x 120.45 mm x 11.98 mm and weighs 380 g.

A reasonable limit for devices might be: height, width and depth added (the way baggage sizes are set), must be no more than 300 mm and the weight no more than 200 g. That would allow the phablets, but not tablets.

Just to check, my chunky old Lenovo A588T Android Flip Phone is 120.6 mm + 62.5mm + 16.8mm = 199.9 mm at 178.4 g,. That would pass, provided I don't open the flip, which makes the phone 115 mm longer. ;-)

Design You Presentation for a Credit Card Sized Screen

In 2006 I was teaching web design to students at the Australian National University in Canberra. These were computer science students at Australia's leading university and so found web coding a bit too easy. To make it harder I had them redesign web pages for mobile devices. The difficulty here is not the coding, but deciding what information to leave out. Rather than target a specific phone, I had them design for a credit card sized screen. This, I suggested, was as large as a smart phone was ever going to get, as anything larger was not going to fit in the average pocket. It was also, in landscape, about the width of a newspaper column.

At arms length a credit card (or business card) is also the same effective size as the typical flat screen TV in a lounge room, or projection screen in a lecture theater. The average reader holds a book or smart phone 400 mm away and a credit card sized screen is 85.7 mm wide. So doing the maths, a 1 m wide wall screen can be viewed from about 4 m and appear the same size as the smart phone display, and a 4 m wide screen from 20m.

Today the typical size for a smart phone screen is about the size of a credit card (there are larger phones, but they are bulky). When preparing presentations I suggest designing for this size screen.

With some smart phones now having micro-HDMI out sockets it is possible to present on a big screen from a pocket size device. This may result in improved readability of presentations..

What Are These Apps?

My new Lenovo A588T Android Flip Phone is going well. The battery lasts 72 hours with normal use. I am getting used to the large size (and it is smaller than many smart phones, when a protective case is added). 

One issue is some of the Apps installed on the phone. I found that "Homily Chart" from

Capitalmaster Pte Ltd is running. This is a stock market program which I did not download, it came with the phone. I tired stopping the program but it just seems to start up again on its own. I found that all I can do is disable it, I can't delete it (to disable I selected Settings > Apps > All). Also installed and running was MoboMarket which I have disabled.

The App "EasyLauncher" I do not seem to be able to disable. This appears to be a simplified optional, but the documentation is in Chinese.

 

Lenovo A588T Android Flip Phone

I purchased a Lenovo A588T Android Flip Phone. This is a low cost Android smart phone, with a 4 inch touch screen. What makes it different to many others on the Australian market is a mechanical keypad hinged to the bottom. It looks large and a little odd, like two regular 4 inch smart phones joined end-to-end, but works well.

My phone is from from DX.com in Hong Kong and cost US$103, including delivery. I ordered it 4 October, it was shipped 10 October and arrived 6 November (I did not pay the extra for express delivery). The phone arrived in a small box with a earphone/microphone, USB/micro-USB cable and a very small USB mains charger (with US power pins).

There was a brief guide in English and a manual in Chinese. The diagrams in the Chinese manual were sufficient to see how to open the back of the phone to insert a SIM card.

The phone is dual SIM and a handy, unusual, feature is two different size SIM slots: one for an older style larger mini-SIM, the other for a newer smaller micro-SIM. You can use a micro-SIM card in the mini-SIM slot, using an adapter, but I happened to have an Australasian Vodafone mini-SIM card, put it in and the phone worked fine. The phone booted in English, not Chinese, and was easy to set up.

The phone is in black plastic with gold highlights. It has a 360 hinge between the mechanical keypad part and the 4 inch touch screen. It is reasonably easy to hold, if a bit big. The 4 inch touch screen is very easy to read and type on, but shows smudges from my ear (when used for calls). The phone keypad is very large and has a good mechanical "click"

You can use this phone for calls, with the flip open flat at 180 degrees (call quality is excellent). You can fold the screen further back 360 degrees over the keyboard, to just use the touch screen (it is easier to use than explain). Some marketing photos show the hinge at about 60 degrees with the phone tent-like, but it does not lock in that position (nor could I see any point in doing so). In practice the balance is such that the touch screen is usable in the 180 degree flip mode. Some of the android functions are reproduced on the top of the mechanical keyboard and there is a a cursor keypad. These keys are very handy to use.

The Lenovo logo on the front of the phone lights to indicate charging. The phone has a relatively large battery, with a standby time of more than a week (I am not sure I believe the official specification claiming more than a month).

While being big and a bit clunky, the phone fits my pocket and my needs. I wanted something good for making phone calls, with a protected screen of the smallest practical smart-phone size (4 inches) and dual SIMs.

There are some quirks with the phone. While there are the usual letters on the numeric keypad these do not function for typing SMS messages (you have to use the QWERTY keypad on the touch screen). The marketing material refers to the "leather-like texture" of the back of the case, but it is just hard plastic with a pattern embossed on.

One change I would suggest for the phone would be to round the corners, so it does not look so big, slides into a pocket more easily and sits in the hand more comfortably. Another change would be to make both SIM slots mini size (micro cards could still be used with an adapter). Apart from that there is little to improve. There are a small number of other Android flip phones from Korean and Chinese companies. These have multiple and higher resolution screens, but this increases the cost, power consumption and fragility of the phones. The Lenovo A588T provides a  low cost, usable unit.

General
Brand	Lenovo
Model	A588T
Quantity	1Piece
Material	Plastic
Color	Golden
Type	Brand New
Power Adapter	US Plug
Housing Case Material	Plastic
Released Time	2014
Network
Network Type	2G , 3G
Band Details	TD-SCDMA 1880-1920/2010-2025 GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
Data Transfer	GPRS
Network Conversation	One-Party Conversation Only
WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b,g,n
SIM Card Type	Standard
SIM Card Quantity	2
Network Standby	Dual Network Standby
GPS	Yes
NFC	No
Infrared Port	No
Bluetooth Version	V4.0
System
Operating System	Android 4.4.2
CPU Processor	MT6582 1G-1.2GHz
CPU Core Quantity	Quad-Core
Language	English, Afrikaans, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malay, Bosnian, Catalan, Cestina, Dansk, Deutsche, Eesti, Espanol, Filipino, French, Hrvatski, IsiZulu, Italiano, Khmer, Kiswahili, Latviesu, Lietuviu, Macedonian, Magyar, Nederlands, Norsk, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Rumantsch, Slovenian, Slovenscina, Suomi, Svenska, Vietnamese, Turkish, Urdu, Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, Ukranian, Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Thai, Bengali, Korean, Japanese, Simplified/Traditional Chinese
Storage
RAM	512MB
ROM	4GB
Available Memory	about 2GB
Memory Card	MicroSD(TF)
Max. Expansion Supported	32GB
Display
Touch Screen	Capacitive Screen
Screen Resolution	800*480
Multitouch	10
Screen Size ( inches)	4.0
Camera
Camera Pixel	5.0 MP
Flash	Yes
Touch Focus	Yes
Power
Talk Time	27Hour
Standby Time	760Hour
Battery Capacity	2250mAh
Battery Type	Replacement
Other Features
features	Wi-Fi , GPS , FM , Bluetooth
Sensor	G-sensor
Waterproof Level	IPX0 (Not Protected)
Dust-proof Level	NO
Shock-proof	No
I/O Interface	Micro USB , 3.5mm
USB	microUSB v2.0
Format Supported	3GP, MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, MIDI, WAV, AMR
JAVA	No
TV Tuner	No
Radio Tuner	FM
Wireless Charging	No

Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions	4.75 in x 2.46 in x 0.66 in (12.06 cm x 6.25 cm x 1.68 cm)
Weight	6.29 oz (178.4 g)

Packing List
1 x Phone 1 x Travel Charger(100~240V /2-flat-pin plug) 1 x Battery(2250mAh) 1 x Earphone (90cm-cable / 3.5mm plug) 1 x Data cable (90cm) 1 x English user manual 1 x Warranty card

 ps: At the moment I am a student of mobile learning: that is learning how to design courses delivered using smart phones and tablet computers. I did not own a smart phone or  tablet computer when I enrolled in the course (just a laptop with a wireless modem). So I purchased a 7 inch Google Android Tablet (XO Tablet) and the smart phone. Learning to use these devices has been an education in itself, even before seeing how to use them for teaching.

Samsung Galaxy Folder Android Phone

According to DDaily newspaper, Samsung is preparing to release a flip phone running the Android 4.2  (Jelly Bean) in Korea ("Galaxy, there comes a folder phone ... Samsung Electronics 'Galaxy folder' domestic market", yunsangho, 16 July 2013"). To be called the "Galaxy Folder", this will have a physical keyboard, as well as a small touch screen. This is a format I would prefer as you can more easily use the physical keyboard for typing quickly. The microphone is placed closer to the month with a flip hone making sound quality better. Also the cover can be quickly closed to cut off a call and protect the screen. Previously I suggested a "3D Printed StarTrek Style Flip Phone Case" to convert screen only phones.

3D Printed StarTrek Style Flip Phone Case

Kogan have announced their low cost "Agora 5 Inch Screen Smartphone". I have suggested they provide the phone dimensions in a CAD file, so we can 3D print our own cases. What I would like is a hard hinged cover to turn it into a StarTrek style flip phone, like the Motorola A760.

The Motorola A760, had a cover over its touch screen which hinged up to provide the ear-piece. There were no electronics built into the cover, it simply had a hollow channel to carry the sound from the body of the phone to the top of the cover. This same design should be able to be applied to any slab style phone. It would allow the ear-piece to be molded to more comfortably fit the ear, reducing background noise. It also positions the phone's antenna further from the user's head, improving signal strength and reducing radiation hazard.

The Kopgan Agora Dual Core Smartphone specifications indicate that it has some interesting features. It has an unusually large 5 inch screen, but only 480 x 800 pixel resolution, much lower than other large screen phones. But this may not be a problem as I have trouble seeing the text, let along the pixels, on the average phone.

Also there are two Mini SIM sockets allowing the phone to be used on two mobile phone networks at the same time (one 2G connection and one 3G). Previously I tried a dual SIM phone, the idea being that I could use a 2G SIM for voice calls and the 3G SIM for data (separate data plans being cheaper than those bundled with voice plans). This did not work well in practice as I found that each time I made a voice call, the data service was cut off. It was not clear if this was a problem with this phone or a limitation of all such dial SIM devices. The phone I purchased  (a Huawei Deuce U8520 Dual SIM Android Smart Phone) also has a battery which lasted only an hour and the phone would lock up and randomly reboot. I returned the phone to Allphones at Belconnen (Canberra) in 2011 for repair, but have heard nothing since (no repair and no refund). As a result I am wary about the dual SIM devices, however I found Kogan's after sales support to be excellent with the two Kogan Agora Laptops I have purchased previously.

Ubuntu Linux for Smart Phones

Canonical have announced "Ubuntu for Phones", a version of Linux for smart phones. This is not the first attempt at a Linux based smart phone operating system. There was Openmoko Linux, designed to run on the Openmoko open access hardware design for a smart phone, as implemented in the Neo 1973. I tried Openmoko on the Neo 1973 in 2007, when it was still under development.

Ubuntu is not entirely free of commercial considerations and so might have more success than Openmoko, which petered out in 2009.

Also of interest and perhaps even less proprietary (with less chance of success), is Firefox OS, an open source operating system being developed by Mozilla. The aim with Firefox OS is to use HTML, CSS, and JS for the user interface. That will make it smaller and more portable for phones and tablets, but limit its value as a full version of Linux. Perhaps Mozilla would be better off producing an environment within Firefox which would allow "Apps" to run unaltered on desktop, laptop, tablets and smart phones.

New Version of the Mobile Library

The Pew Research Center "Mobile Connections to Libraries"  reports that 13% of Americans have accessed library websites via mobile device in the last year. This might be considered the modern version of the bookmobile. But mobile access is still less than the 27% of people who visited a library in person at least once a month in person. The report released 31 December 2012 is by Lee Rainie, Kathryn Zickuhr and Maeve Duggan and is 12 pages (1Mbyte).