Oct 31, 2012

Nexus 7: Waiting for Android 4.2

After the successful upgrade from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2 i read at Google's Official Blog about the new Nexus devices:
And they all run Android 4.2, a new flavor of
Jelly Bean—which includes the latest version of Google Now and other
great new features.


But what are these great new features? A description is available at this webpage. Here only a short summary:
  • Photo Sphere camera
  • Keyboard with gesture typing
  • User concept to use the tablet with more than one user (only tablets)
  • Wireless display on HDMI-enabled TVs
  • Google Now (????)

So let's wait and i hope, that there will be a rollout for older Nexus 7 devices, too....


Oct 16, 2012

Nexus 7: Android Update 4.1.1 to 4.1.2

Yesterday my Nexus 7 came up with the following notification:

After tapping this entry i got the following screen:

And after some minutes the update was done:

This was quite easy.
The tablet still runs and no impacts up to now were detected...
And of course the home screen rotates without any additional app.

Oct 10, 2012

Nexus 7 and Navigation: Finding the best app...

In my last posting about navigation with Nexus 7 the conclusion was:
  • Google maps: calculating routes offline not possible
  • Google navigation: see abouve

One comment of a reader suggested the application "navfree". One of the postings which i found with Google search (the last one) suggested "CoPilot GPS". Both application can be installed without paying, so i tried both:



 navfree 


  • Zoom: only +/- buttons, no two finger gesture
  • Units: metric possible
  • 2D and 3D
  • Searching "Rüsselsheim, Am Waldschwimmbad: not found
    (but found on the map and could be chosen via map as destination)
  • map size (only Germany): ca. 900MB


 CoPilot
 GPS

  • Zoom: +/- buttons and two finger gesture
  • Units: metric possible
  • only 2D (3D purchasable)
  • Searching "Rüsselsheim, Am Waldschwimmbad: found
  • map size (Germany, Austria, Switzerland): ca. 320MB



I think, i will try both for some days and then take my decision, because both apps look quite good. But let's see wether navfree will find the next destinations, i want to drive to.

Oct 8, 2012

Nexus 7 and Navigation: Arriving at your destination without WLAN

The Nexus 7 comes with GPS (http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs):
So it should be possible to use the tablet as route guidance system. While smartphones can connect to the internet via GPRS, UMTS or LTE then Nexus 7 can only use WLAN or Bluetooth to connect to the internet.
There some postings out there, what apps you can use:
My first attempt was using Google Map and Google Navigation. First you have to download some maps for offline use (there are some tutorials out there - or use "->Settings->Make available offline" in Google Maps.)
After that i switched off WLAN and tried to enter a destination in Google Maps:

Hmm - this did not work. What about Google Navigation?
After giving a destination i got this screen forever....

So i decided to buy an app from Googles play store, but there is nothing like TomTom or Navigon to buy or download:
But i read, that at least TomTom announced a navigation app for Googles play store...
As long as i find no navigatio app, i will use my Nexus 7 as road atlas and doing the navigation part on my own ;-)

Oct 6, 2012

Charging a Nexus 7 via USB: Not via notebook...

After unpacking my Nexus 7, i was suprised, that the usb-charger showed 5V and 2A... All of my usb-chargers only had 1A so far. But after trying the chargers with 1A, no charging happened. My first notion was: I got a broken Nexus 7 - but then i tried the power-usb-charger with 2A and then:

The usb specification (take a look at wikipedia) states:
current draw may not exceed 900 mA during high-speed data transfer. A
dedicated charge port may have a rated current between 0.5 and 1.5 A. [...] (standard USB 2.0 A-connectors are rated at 1.5 A)
From google if found the following:

One nice discussion about this can be found here. I liked this posting:
Interesting, well I guess we'll just have to see. I haven't found many
USB chargers that can output 2amps, none the less the charger for the N7
should easily charge my Nexus S which still leaves me with the desired
outcome of one charger to charge them all. (my tried and true ipod
class, Nexus S, and soon N7)
This is a really problem: Even at amazon you find not many usb chargers with 2A. And the reviews of these adapters is in most cases only two stars or less ;-(


Oct 1, 2012

Nexus 7 - movie player does not start: Error [ -2147483648 ]

Yesterday i wanted to view the last hour of Transformers 3 but the movie player only gave the following error:

I tried several things:
  • Starting from the beginning of the movie
  • Rebooting the tablet
  • Change to HD and back
But this did not help. But then i found via Settings -> Apps -> Google Play Movies & TV the solution:

After pressing "Clear Cache" the error was gone and i could continue the movie...