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Unofficial Android 4.2 Jelly Bean update for Galaxy S

Samsung Galaxy S (i9000) launched back in 2010. At that time, Galaxy S was the king of Android Smartphones; it featured a 4inch Super AMOLED display with 800×480 resolution, 512MB RAM, 8GB/16GB internal storage, 5 mega pixel camera with Geo-tagging and 1GHz single core Cortex A8 processor. It was powered by Android 2.1 Éclair with Samsung’s proprietary custom skin called TouchWiz version 3. Most of the Galaxy S’s internal parts are manufactured under Samsung’s own roof. The 1GHz Samsung’s Hummingbird processor had the best performing PowerVR 540 GPU inside, which can push up to 20 million triangles per second. One year later Galaxy S received the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update which made the device run super-fast. The device received many positive feedback and reviews. Down the line Samsung decided to put a stop mark on the Galaxy S, by not making it eligible for the ICS update. However, thanks to third party Android developers, this device didn’t die, cos after a few months CyanogenMod released a ICS update for Galaxy S which ran pretty well.

I have seen so many Galaxy S owners having installed ICS for their daily driver and they are really happy because they didn’t buy a new phone to experience the perks of ICS. Seems the development on Galaxy S didn’t stop there, as yesterday I saw a post in XDA developers forum that CyanogenMod released an Android 4.2 update for Galaxy S. It’s still beta version and some people have complained having trouble with WiFi, and for others the APN is not working. I’m pretty sure we can expect a stable release within a few weeks. I think this is a great chance for Galaxy S owners. So if you are geek enough to root your Galaxy S and if you know how to install a custom ROM then you must visit the below links.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2004118

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2013707

Sun FM Android App review

In a nutshell: Listen to SUNFM on your android mobile over the internet

Category : Entertainment

The Good : User friendly interface,

The Bad: Does not auto restart after it stops due to low data speeds

Main Features: Listen to SUNFM online, Check radio schedules, request a song

SUN FM recently launched the first official radio station app for android. This app basically lets you listen to SUN FM over your data connection, mobile or WiFi. So you will require this app if your smartphone doesn’t have a radio or if you’re using a tab.

Sun FM App Screenshots

The app has one screen which has three buttons at the bottom for menu, play/pause and volume. The middle of the app is mostly static, only displays buffering when needed. It would have been nice to have an equalizer running in the middle of the app. On the menu you have a set of options, main ones are to minimize the player, request a song or browse the show times.

Since this app is using data you have to keep an eye on your data usage, as this will consume about 20-30MB per hour. On HSPA, I was able to listen to Sun FM continuously without any buffering. However when I switched to EDGE, the transmission got cut off due to the low data speeds. Also once it stopped it did not automatically restart the buffering until I provided a touch input.

This app is good starting point for Sun FM. Hopefully the future versions would add a bit more flare into the UI and optimize for low data rates.

Refresh Colombo November Meetup

Refresh Colombo, the monthly meetup of technology experts and professionals will be happening today 22nd of November 5.30pm onwards. You can check out below the interesting topics that are going to be presented and today’s event.See you there!

New dimensions of personal computing with Windows 8 – by Wellington Perera (Director Developer Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Sri Lanka)

The rise of the Social-Phygital world: Where the digital socialsphere meets the physical world of products – by Lee Bazalgette (Director at Colombo Design Studio)

Handy Social Media Statistics for Sri Lanka- by Shehan Selvanayagam (CEO of Loops Solutions)