Well for the last couple of days I have been laid up in hospital with a severe throat infection. I’m a lot better now but that’s a different story.

I was lucky enough to have a few of my gadgets brought in for me which included my Asus EEE 1000H but not my gadget bag which contains my Palm Treo Pro. The Palm is perfect for tethering as it uses the Windows Mobile operating system. With it, I simply connect it to my laptop via the USB cable and open the internet connection sharing application which is built into Windows Mobile as standard and the computer is online, no additional software or configuration required.

So I have a laptop, I have a mobile but no cable to connect them. I had a look on the application market but the only real option is an app called ‘Wifi Tether for Root Users’. This turns your Android device into a router using the mobile network as a connection to the internet. It would have been perfect but I unfortunately couldn’t get it to work on my HTC Hero. A little searching later using the Hero’s browser and I stumbled across this forum entry on the applications Google Code pages. Its actually a Sprint Hero user with the same problem but the result was a beta version from the developers which works perfectly and finally allows my laptop to connect via wireless and access the internet!

Speeds from my hospital bed are in the region of 2Mbps which is perfect for catching up on feeds, emails  and the of course this post.

The beta version is available here to download but the usual rules apply, it is beta code and so be wary of that when installing on your device;

http://android-wifi-tether.googlecode.com/files/wireless_tether_1_61-pre1_htc.apk

The only complaint about using this method is of course the battery drain on the Hero, with both Wifi and HSDPA radio under heavy usage I can’t see the phone battery lasting more than 5 hours. I have a phone charger here so its not so much a problem but if you spend a lot of time on the move and require your phone to last I would suggest maybe another method of connectivity.

Also whilst typing out this post, the doctors have told me I can go home today which is great news.

I’ve had quite sometime with my new HTC Hero and as part of being a new user to the Google Android environment I have spent a fair amount of time finding applications to help with daily tasks. This has been made much easier with the 100,000+ apps in the Android Market.

So here are some of the apps I currently have installed;

Barcode Scanner – This should be the first app for any Android user as it not only can be used to scan every day products to search online retailers for pricing but its also used for navigation, say to a particular app in the market or a URL online.

Meebo IM – A simple but effective instant messenger to connect with the standard MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and AIM networks. As an added bonus it can also connect to Facebook chat.

Evernote – The Android version of Evernote is only in beta and only handles basic tasks but its far better than heading for the browser. It allows easy upload of photos and voice notes, a real must for anyone as disorganised as me.

Astrid – This fantastic ‘To Do’ app is simple but powerful in it’s own right but the icing on the cake is its perfect Remember The Milk synchronization and support for Smart Add.

beebPlayer – A nifty client for viewing the BBCs iPlayer online streams. Supports not only TV & Radio on demand but also can play live streams. It’s like having the BBC in your pocket.

wpToGo – A elegant, simple to use app for blogging to Wordpress blogs whilst on the move. Has support for multiple blogs, image upload, links and much more. Worth noting this post has been written using this app!

Stream Furious – If like me you tune into online radio this app is perfect. It’s straight forward with an extensive of list stations built in, it also allows you to paste links to your favorite stations that may not be in its list.

Wireless Tether for Root – This app uses your phones data connection and spreads it via the WiFi adaptor just like a wireless router. Only downside is it requires you to root your device.

Abduction! World Attack – A nicely polished game for those moments of waiting around in queues, it involves you rescuing animals abducted by aliens. Makes excellent use of the accelerometer for game controls.

What the Doodle?!? – An online multiplayer version of pictionary which tasks you to drawing doodles on your screen and having other online players guess the object. Very very addictive.

These are just a few so far but ill check back soon with more.

Any other app suggestions then hit up the comments.

Well eight weeks ago in a moment of weakness I ordered up a new phone contract and a HTC Hero from Mobile Phones Direct and so the switch began.

For the first couple of days despite the very slick setup of the device and seamless integration with Google’s services, Facebook and Twitter I felt deep in the unknown, well out of my comfort zone. Once I began to play with the device and experiment further it all seemed to fall into place.

Hardware

First thing I noticed about the device is the chin, whilst its not a style feature it does add functionality in that it helps with grip on the device, I can hold the phone right at the bottom with one hand and because of the chin this feels very secure.

This then leads me on to the screen which is by far one of the best smartphone touchscreens I have used. Its the first capacitive touch screen I have used on a device other than an iphone and it feels perfect, touch is accurate, scrolling it sensitive but not overly so and coupled with the finger friendly Android interface its a joy to use.

The inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone socket had me reaching for my favourite Sony headphones once again and as a portable media player the Hero really works. There is even a skip, play and pause function on the device locked screen which means you don’t need to unlock it to change playback. Just small things like this make the device feel very rounded on the whole.

Battery life is good, with heavy usage I’m getting a around 36 hours, this is with the Wi-Fi and bluetooth radios left on, some browsing, push email and an instant messenger application running all day.

Software

I felt well out of my dept at first, its the first Android device I’ve used for more than five minutes and even  basic tasks like application management took time for me to grasp. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe this to be a fault of the operating system, more a user issue. I have been so used to Windows Mobile I found myself looking at the Hero aimlessly thinking about how I would complete an action in Windows Mobile, once I got over this hurdle usage fell into place which I suppose is the same for any long term user of an operating system.

One of the things that strikes you the most about the Hero is how tightly integrated with Google it is, simply entering your username and password syncs your Gmail messages, Google contacts and Google Calendar. Taking this a step further, entering your Facebook login details then matches your contacts to Facebook friends, synchronising their Facebook profile picture, birthday, status updates and uploaded pictures, all of this from the contact card on your device. It also enables instant sharing of photos and videos to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

The big story of the Hero is HTC’s new user interface, Sense UI. This is the medium between us as users and the devices functionality. We are used to HTC bridging this gap with Windows Mobile devices using TouchFLO and they certainly do deliver with Sense. It consists of a 7 panel view which can be switched between with a simple finger swipe side to side.  These panels house widgets, on the centre panel by default is the clock with a weather panel giving you the current forecast for your current location, then the three panels to the right and left of this are easily customisable with a whole host of available Android and HTC widgets.

The other feature of this interface is Sense preconfigured scenes, which have different uses. For example the Work scene contains world times, quick access to email, calendar, contacts and stocks information whereas the Social focuses on items like Twitter and SMS messages. Its very well thought out and means you can switch between these items based on what your day will entail.

HTC has go all out with applications for Android, there’s HTC Peep which is a full featured Twitter client and widget, the Stocks app which also has its  own widget and the interesting Footprints applications. This allows you to save your GPS location, add a picture, notes and categorise them. Useful for remembering the nice restaurant you found or noting a memory of a day trip somewhere. Other applications can be downloaded through the application market, its straight forward, simple and clean cut enough for anyone to be able to use and the number of applications on there is incredible, again something I have never experienced with Windows Mobile.

Browsing with the Hero is also a pleasurable experience, Androids browser is fantastic and comparable to that of Apples iphone but not quite as speedy. It reflows text perfectly almost every time a page is loaded and renders everything I have  thrown at it, including YouTube videos from the desktop site using the included HTC Flash. In fact browsing it so good on the Hero I find myself using it more for web stuff than any other device I have owned.

One of the other things i wanted to mention here was the radio management to conserve battery life. I configured my home Wi-Fi network on the Hero and it will use that network for its data needs, during this time the 3G/HSPDA radio is turned off, saving battery. I walk out of my house and the Hero loses connection to the home network, it turns the Wi-Fi into standby and enables the 3G/HSDPA radio. Whilst this seems like the obvious thing to do as a long term Windows Mobile user its not been the case with my previous devices.

Conclusion

Overall the HTC Hero is superb device, its slick, smooth, well integrated, well connected and also looks great. It is certainly smoothed my transition from Windows Mobile and shown me that great functionality can look good also.

If like me you push the boundaries of what your phone can do and your not interested in being tied into Apples policies then the Hero is for you. 

I have plenty of upcoming posts which are almost ready to roll but first needed a few changes to the site. Once those changes have been completed then I will get my HTC Hero review online for all to see.

Here is a fantastic video showing how Hubbles Ultra Deep Field works and some of the resulting images from this technology.

If like me your a star gazer, then its well worth a watch;

Click here to view the embedded video.

Since the switch I haven’t looked back and for a number of reasons. First off when I say lightweight I mean incredibly so, even with multiple tabs open only a fraction of the memory when compared to Opera Mobile and at no loss of performance or in anyway reducing the experience. The rendering is fast, probably the fastest I have experienced of the non server side rendered browsers. This coupled with the better HSDPA signal when using the Treo Pro mean that I am using my device for more and more browsing.

One of the other interesting points to note is a recent update to version 1.1.9 has changed the way certain sites are displayed. When visiting m.facebook.com or google.co.uk/reader I now receive the iphone version of these mobile sites,  which is a far better experience that the standard mobile versions of these sites. I hate to say that I’m grateful to Apple for giving the web masters of these sites an excuse to build a custom version for the iphone but in this case its a real bonus.

All of the above points are really making a case for me switching to the Treo Pro from my trust HTC Diamond on a permanent basis.

When Google announced Chrome, there was a fair amount of speculation that it was the start of the project which could be aiming towards a browser operating system, a instant on way of accessing the web and making use of the many excellent web applications available now.

Well yesterday Google confirmed what we believed to be so and announced Google Chrome OS.

“Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.”

I think this is a real game changer, with the project being open source, netbook manufacturers once again have the opportunity to provide lower cost netbooks without the hassle of having to make users learn a new operating system like Linux and with the backing of a company like Google. Not only that but Googles pledge to make it ARM compatible is fairly major in itself, with ultra high efficient ARM chips running at 1Ghz like the Qualcomm Snapdragon, you open up all sorts of all day battery devices.

Its some very interesting news and I personally look forward to seeing the fruits of this challenge.

So far I’m really enjoying the thumb keyboard on the device and although the keys aren’t divided enough to get any real speed the difference compared to a soul touch screen device is quite evident.

A few differences compared to my HTC Touch Diamond, the first being memory management. On the Diamond having Windows Live Messenger and Twinkini running in the background would leave around 20% of the memory available for other applications, fire up Opera Mobile and the device would start closing those background applications to free up memory. No such issues with the Treo Pro which idles with WLM and Twinkini and still has 50% available memory. This coupled with a switch from Opera Mobile to Iris Browser which seems to be more lightweight means I no longer have applications needing to be closed to free up resourses.

The other main difference is HSDPA signal strength, the Treo has 85% high speed data access in the three top places I move between where as the Diamond was more like 20% high speed and the rest low speed GPRS.

So far I’m pleased and will post more information with a little more usage.

My HTC Touch Diamond received a crushing blow yesterday and no longer responds to finger or stylus presses on its screen.

The screen still displays output but remove the touch interface and the device becomes near on useless. Using the hardware keys I can make and receive calls and view my calendar appointments but not much else.

If you look very closely you can see an oily effect on the screen, when  up really close you can see spots I think from the under layer of the screen which suggests the membrane between the two layers has been damaged.

I have ordered a Palm Treo Pro from Ebay to use until the end of my T-Mobile contract and also to  give me a feel for a front QWERTY keyboard based device so come February I can make a better decision on a brand new device.

I will RMA the Touch Diamond to HTC and see what the outcome is, fingers crossed they can repair  my beloved phone.

More news on the Treo Pro when it arrives Tuesday.