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• Museum of Multimedia Software, Part 2

  16 août 2010, par Multimedia Mike — Software Museum

  This installment includes a bunch of old, discontinued Adobe software as well as some Flash-related mutlimedia software.

  Screen Time for Flash Screen Saver Factory
  "Create High Impact Screen Savers Using Macromedia Flash."

  
  
  

  Requirements include Windows 3.1, 95 or NT 3.5.1. A 486 computer is required to play the resulting screensavers which are Flash projectors using Macromedia Flash 3.0.

  Monster Interactive Instant GUI 2
  Create eye-popping GUIs more easily for use in Flash. Usability experts would argue that this is not a good thing.

  
  
  

  Adobe Dimensions 3.0
  "The Easy Yet Powerful 3D Rendering Tool." This software was end-of-life’d in late 2004-early 2005 (depending on region).

  
  
  

  Adobe ImageStyler
  "Instantly add style to your Web site." Wikipedia claims that this product was sold from 1998 to 2000 when it was superseded by Adobe LiveMotion (see below).

  
  
  

  Google is able to excavate a link to the Latin American site for Adobe ImageStyler, a page that doesn’t seem to be replicated in any other language.

  Adobe LiveMotion
  "Professional Web graphics and animation." This is version 1, where the last version was #2, released in 2002.

  
  
  

  Adobe Streamline 4.0
  "The most powerful way to convert images into line art." This was discontinued in mid-2005.

  
  
  

  Adobe SuperATM
  "The magic that maintains the look of your documents." This is the oldest item in my collection. A close examination of the back of the box reveals an old Adobe logo. The latest copyright date on the box is 1992.

  
  
  

• Getting Error during executin native android code

  3 avril 2013, par dilipkaklotar

  Error on my console

  bash : cannot set terminal process group (-1) : Inappropriate ioctl for device
  bash : no job control in this shell
  Your group is currently "mkpasswd". This indicates that your
  gid is not in /etc/group and your uid is not in /etc/passwd.

  The /etc/passwd (and possibly /etc/group) files should be rebuilt.
  See the man pages for mkpasswd and mkgroup then, for example, run

  mkpasswd -l [-d] > /etc/passwd
  mkgroup -l [-d] > /etc/group

  Note that the -d switch is necessary for domain users.
   ]0 ; -
   [32mDILIP@DILIP-PC -[33m -[0m
  $

  public class VideoBrowser extends ListActivity implements ListView.OnScrollListener {
  
  
  
  /*this part communicates with native code through jni (java native interface)*/
  
  //load the native library
  
  static {
  
      System.loadLibrary("ffmpeg");
  
      System.loadLibrary("ffmpeg-test-jni");
  
  }
  
  //declare the jni functions
  
  private static native void naInit(String _videoFileName);
  
  private static native int[] naGetVideoResolution();
  
  private static native String naGetVideoCodecName();
  
  private static native String naGetVideoFormatName();
  
  private static native void naClose();
  
  
  
  private void showVideoInfo(final File _file) {
  
      String videoFilename = _file.getAbsolutePath();
  
      naInit(videoFilename);
  
      int[] prVideoRes = naGetVideoResolution();
  
      String prVideoCodecName = naGetVideoCodecName();
  
      String prVideoFormatName = naGetVideoFormatName();
  
      naClose();
  
      String displayText = "Video: " + videoFilename + "\n";
  
      displayText += "Video Resolution: " + prVideoRes[0] + "x" + prVideoRes[1] + "\n";
  
      displayText += "Video Codec: " + prVideoCodecName + "\n";
  
      displayText += "Video Format: " + prVideoFormatName + "\n";
  
      text_titlebar_text.setText(displayText);
  
  }
  
  
  
  
  
  /*the rest of the file deals with UI and other stuff*/
  
  private Context mContext;
  
  public static VideoBrowser self;
  
  
  
  /**
  
   * activity life cycle: this part of the source code deals with activity life cycle
  
   */
  
  @Override
  
  public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
  
      super.onCreate(icicle);
  
      mContext = this.getApplicationContext();
  
      self = this;
  
      initUI();
  
  }
  
  
  
  @Override
  
  protected void onDestroy() {
  
      super.onDestroy();
  
      unbindDisplayEntries();
  
  }
  
  
  
  public void unbindDisplayEntries() {
  
      if (displayEntries!=null) {
  
          int l_count = displayEntries.size();
  
          for (int i = 0; i < l_count; ++i) {
  
              IconifiedTextSelected l_its = displayEntries.get(i);
  
              if (l_its != null) {
  
                  Drawable l_dr = l_its.getIcon();
  
                  if (l_dr != null) {
  
                      l_dr.setCallback(null);
  
                      l_dr = null;
  
                  }
  
              }
  
          }
  
      }
  
      if (l_displayEntries!=null) {
  
          int l_count = l_displayEntries.size();
  
          for (int i = 0; i < l_count; ++i) {
  
              IconifiedTextSelected l_its = l_displayEntries.get(i);
  
              if (l_its != null) {
  
                  Drawable l_dr = l_its.getIcon();
  
                  if (l_dr != null) {
  
                      l_dr.setCallback(null);
  
                      l_dr = null;
  
                  }
  
              }
  
          }
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  /**
  
   * Data: this part of the code deals with data processing
  
   */
  
  public List<iconifiedtextselected> displayEntries = new ArrayList<iconifiedtextselected>();
  
  public static List<iconifiedtextselected> l_displayEntries = new ArrayList<iconifiedtextselected>();;
  
  
  
  /**load images
  
   * this part of code deals with loading of images
  
   */
  
  private File currentDirectory;
  
  public int media_browser_load_option = 2;
  
  private static int last_media_browser_load_option = 2;
  
  private static int number_of_icons = 0;
  
  private static final String upOneLevel = "..";
  
  
  
  LoadVideoTask loadTask;
  
  private void loadVideosFromDirectory(String _dir) {
  
      try {
  
          loadTask = new LoadVideoTask();
  
          loadTask.execute(_dir);
  
      } catch (Exception e) {
  
          Toast.makeText(this, "Load media fail!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  private void getVideosFromDirectoryNonRecurAddParent(File _dir) {
  
      //add the upper one level data
  
      if (_dir.getParent()!=null) {
  
          this.displayEntries.add(new IconifiedTextSelected(
  
                  upOneLevel,
  
                  getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.folderback), 
  
                  false, false, 0));
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  private void getVideosFromDirectoryNonRecur(File _dir) {
  
      Drawable folderIcon = this.getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.normalfolder);
  
      //add the 
  
      if (!_dir.isDirectory()) {
  
          return;
  
      }
  
      File[] files = _dir.listFiles();
  
      if (files == null) {
  
          return;
  
      }
  
      Drawable videoIcon = null;
  
      int l_iconType = 0;
  
      for (File currentFile : files) {
  
          if (currentFile.isDirectory()) {
  
              //if it&#39;s a directory
  
              this.displayEntries.add(new IconifiedTextSelected(
  
                      currentFile.getPath(),
  
                      folderIcon, false, false, 0));
  
          } else {
  
              String l_filename = currentFile.getName();
  
              if (checkEndsWithInStringArray(l_filename,
  
                          getResources().getStringArray(R.array.fileEndingVideo))) {
  
                  if (number_of_icons &lt; 10) {
  
                      videoIcon = null;
  
                      ++number_of_icons;
  
                      l_iconType = 22;
  
                  } else {
  
                      videoIcon = null;
  
                      l_iconType = 2;
  
                  }
  
                  this.displayEntries.add(new IconifiedTextSelected(
  
                          currentFile.getPath(),
  
                          videoIcon, false, false, l_iconType));
  
              }
  
          }
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  private void getVideosFromDirectoryRecur(File _dir) {
  
      Drawable videoIcon = null;
  
      File[] files = _dir.listFiles();
  
      int l_iconType = 2;
  
      if (files == null) {
  
          return;
  
      }
  
      for (File currentFile : files) {
  
          if (currentFile.isDirectory()) {
  
              getVideosFromDirectoryRecur(currentFile);
  
              continue;
  
          } else {
  
              String l_filename = currentFile.getName();
  
              //if it&#39;s an image file
  
              if (checkEndsWithInStringArray(l_filename,
  
                      getResources().getStringArray(R.array.fileEndingVideo))) {
  
                  if (number_of_icons &lt; 10) {
  
                      videoIcon = null;
  
                      ++number_of_icons;
  
                      l_iconType = 22;
  
                  } else {
  
                      videoIcon = null;
  
                      l_iconType = 2;
  
                  }
  
                  this.displayEntries.add(new IconifiedTextSelected(
  
                          currentFile.getPath(),
  
                          videoIcon, false, false, l_iconType));
  
              }
  
          }
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  private void getVideosFromGallery() {
  
      Drawable videoIcon = null;
  
      Uri uri = MediaStore.Video.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI;
  
      String[] projection = {MediaStore.Video.Media.DATA};
  
      Cursor l_cursor = this.managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
  
      int videoNameColumnIndex;
  
      String videoFilename;
  
      File videoFile;
  
      int l_iconType = 2;
  
      if (l_cursor!=null) {
  
          if (l_cursor.moveToFirst()) {
  
              do {
  
                  videoNameColumnIndex = l_cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(
  
                          MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
  
                  videoFilename = l_cursor.getString(videoNameColumnIndex);
  
                  videoFile = new File(videoFilename);
  
                  if (!videoFile.exists()) {
  
                      continue;
  
                  }
  
                  if (number_of_icons &lt;= 10) {
  
                      videoIcon = null;
  
                      ++number_of_icons;
  
                      l_iconType = 22;
  
                  } else {
  
                      videoIcon = null;
  
                      l_iconType = 2;
  
                  }
  
                  this.displayEntries.add(new IconifiedTextSelected(
  
                          videoFile.getAbsolutePath(),
  
                          videoIcon, false, false, l_iconType));
  
              } while (l_cursor.moveToNext());
  
          }
  
      }
  
      if (l_cursor!=null) {
  
          l_cursor.close();
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  private boolean checkEndsWithInStringArray(String checkItsEnd, 
  
          String[] fileEndings){
  
      for(String aEnd : fileEndings){
  
          if(checkItsEnd.endsWith(aEnd))
  
              return true;
  
      }
  
      return false;
  
  }
  
  
  
  private class LoadVideoTask extends AsyncTask {
  
      @Override
  
      protected void onPreExecute() {
  
          System.gc();
  
          displayEntries.clear();
  
          showDialog(DIALOG_LOAD_MEDIA);
  
      }
  
      @Override
  
      protected Void doInBackground(String... params) {
  
          File l_root = new File(params[0]);
  
          if (l_root.isDirectory()) {
  
              number_of_icons = 0;
  
              currentDirectory = l_root;
  
              if (media_browser_load_option == 0) {
  
                  //list all videos in the root directory without going into sub folder
  
                  getVideosFromDirectoryNonRecurAddParent(l_root);
  
                  getVideosFromDirectoryNonRecur(l_root);
  
              } else if (media_browser_load_option == 1) {
  
                  //list all videos in the root folder recursively
  
                  getVideosFromDirectoryRecur(l_root);
  
              } else if (media_browser_load_option == 2) {
  
                  //list all videos in the gallery
  
                  getVideosFromGallery();
  
              }
  
          }
  
          return null;
  
      }
  
      @Override
  
      protected void onPostExecute(Void n) {
  
          refreshUI();
  
          dismissDialog(DIALOG_LOAD_MEDIA);
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  /**
  
   * UI: this part of the source code deals with UI
  
   */
  
  //bottom menu
  
  private int currentFocusedBtn = 1;
  
  private Button btn_bottommenu1;
  
  private Button btn_bottommenu2;
  
  private Button btn_bottommenu3;
  
  //private Button btn_bottommenu4;
  
  //title bar
  
  private TextView text_titlebar_text;
  
  
  
  private void initUI() {
  
      this.requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
  
      this.setContentView(R.layout.video_browser);
  
      //title bar
  
      text_titlebar_text = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.titlebar_text);
  
      text_titlebar_text.setText("Click a video to display info");
  
  
  
      //bottom menu
  
      int l_btnWidth = this.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getWidth()/4;
  
      btn_bottommenu1 = (Button) findViewById(R.id.video_browser_btn1);
  
      //btn_bottommenu1 = (ActionMenuButton) findViewById(R.id.main_topsecretimport_btn1);
  
      btn_bottommenu1.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
      btn_bottommenu1.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
  
          public void onClick(View v) {
  
              btn_bottommenu1.setEnabled(false);
  
              btn_bottommenu2.setEnabled(true);
  
              btn_bottommenu3.setEnabled(true); 
  
              currentFocusedBtn = 1;
  
              last_list_view_pos = 0;
  
              media_browser_load_option = 2;
  
              last_media_browser_load_option = media_browser_load_option;
  
              loadVideosFromDirectory("/sdcard/");
  
          }
  
      });
  
      btn_bottommenu2 = (Button) findViewById(R.id.video_browser_btn2);
  
      btn_bottommenu2.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
      btn_bottommenu2.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
  
          public void onClick(View v) {
  
              btn_bottommenu1.setEnabled(true);
  
              btn_bottommenu2.setEnabled(false);
  
              btn_bottommenu3.setEnabled(true);
  
              currentFocusedBtn = 2;
  
              last_list_view_pos = 0;
  
              media_browser_load_option = 0;
  
              last_media_browser_load_option = media_browser_load_option;
  
              loadVideosFromDirectory("/sdcard/");
  
          }
  
      });
  
      btn_bottommenu3 = (Button) findViewById(R.id.video_browser_btn3);
  
      btn_bottommenu3.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
      btn_bottommenu3.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
  
          public void onClick(View v) {
  
              btn_bottommenu1.setEnabled(true);
  
              btn_bottommenu2.setEnabled(true);
  
              btn_bottommenu3.setEnabled(false);
  
              currentFocusedBtn = 3;
  
              last_list_view_pos = 0;
  
              media_browser_load_option = 1;
  
              last_media_browser_load_option = media_browser_load_option;
  
              loadVideosFromDirectory("/sdcard/");
  
          }
  
      });
  
      media_browser_load_option = last_media_browser_load_option;
  
      if (media_browser_load_option==2) {
  
          btn_bottommenu1.setEnabled(false);
  
      } else if (media_browser_load_option==0) {
  
          btn_bottommenu2.setEnabled(false);
  
      } else if (media_browser_load_option==1){
  
          btn_bottommenu3.setEnabled(false);
  
      }
  
      loadVideosFromDirectory("/sdcard/");
  
  }
  
  //refresh the UI when the directoryEntries changes
  
  private static int last_list_view_pos = 0;
  
  public void refreshUI() {
  
      int l_btnWidth = this.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getWidth()/4;
  
      btn_bottommenu1.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
      btn_bottommenu2.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
      btn_bottommenu3.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
      //btn_bottommenu4.setWidth(l_btnWidth);
  
  
  
      SlowAdapter itla = new SlowAdapter(this);
  
      itla.setListItems(this.displayEntries);     
  
      this.setListAdapter(itla);
  
      getListView().setOnScrollListener(this);
  
      int l_size = this.displayEntries.size();
  
      if (l_size > 50) {
  
          getListView().setFastScrollEnabled(true);
  
      } else {
  
          getListView().setFastScrollEnabled(false);
  
      }
  
      if (l_size > 0) {
  
          if (last_list_view_pos &lt; l_size) {
  
              getListView().setSelection(last_list_view_pos);
  
          } else {
  
              getListView().setSelection(l_size-1);
  
          }
  
      }
  
      registerForContextMenu(getListView());
  
  }
  
  
  
  @Override
  
  public void onConfigurationChanged (Configuration newConfig) {
  
      super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
  
      refreshUI();
  
  }
  
  
  
  static final int DIALOG_LOAD_MEDIA = 1;
  
  static final int DIALOG_HELP = 2;
  
  @Override
  
  protected Dialog onCreateDialog(int id) {
  
      switch(id) {
  
      case DIALOG_LOAD_MEDIA:
  
          ProgressDialog dialog = new ProgressDialog(this);
  
          dialog.setTitle("Load Files");
  
          dialog.setMessage("Please wait while loading...");
  
          dialog.setIndeterminate(true);
  
          dialog.setCancelable(true);
  
          return dialog;
  
      default:
  
          return null;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  /**
  
   * scroll events methods: this part of the source code contain the control source code
  
   * for handling scroll events
  
   */
  
  private boolean mBusy = false;
  
  private void disableButtons() {
  
      btn_bottommenu1.setEnabled(false);
  
      btn_bottommenu2.setEnabled(false);
  
      btn_bottommenu3.setEnabled(false);
  
  }
  
  
  
  private void enableButtons() {
  
      if (currentFocusedBtn!=1) {
  
          btn_bottommenu1.setEnabled(true);
  
      }
  
      if (currentFocusedBtn!=2) {
  
          btn_bottommenu2.setEnabled(true);
  
      }
  
      if (currentFocusedBtn!=3) {
  
          btn_bottommenu3.setEnabled(true);
  
      }
  
  }
  
  public void onScroll(AbsListView view, int firstVisibleItem,
  
          int visibleItemCount, int totalItemCount) {
  
      last_list_view_pos = view.getFirstVisiblePosition();
  
  }
  
  
  
  //private boolean mSaveMemory = false;
  
  public void onScrollStateChanged(AbsListView view, int scrollState) {       
  
      switch (scrollState) {
  
      case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_IDLE:
  
          enableButtons();
  
          mBusy = false;
  
          int first = view.getFirstVisiblePosition();
  
          int count = view.getChildCount();
  
          int l_releaseTarget;
  
          for (int i=0; i/if outofmemory, we try to clean up 10 view image resources,
  
                      //and try again
  
                      for (int j = 0; j &lt; 10; ++j) {
  
                          l_releaseTarget = first - count - j;
  
                          if (l_releaseTarget > 0) {
  
                              IconifiedTextSelected l_its = displayEntries.get(l_releaseTarget);
  
                              IconifiedTextSelectedView l_itsv = (IconifiedTextSelectedView)
  
                                  this.getListView().getChildAt(l_releaseTarget);
  
                              if (l_itsv!=null) {
  
                                  l_itsv.setIcon(null);
  
                              }
  
                              if (l_its != null) {
  
                                  Drawable l_dr = l_its.getIcon();
  
                                  l_its.setIcon(null);
  
                                  if (l_dr != null) {
  
                                      l_dr.setCallback(null);
  
                                      l_dr = null;
  
                                  }
  
                              }
  
                          }
  
                      }
  
                      System.gc();
  
                      //after clean up, we try again
  
                      if (l_type == 1) {
  
                          l_icon = null;
  
                      } else if (l_type == 2) {
  
                          l_icon = null;
  
                      }
  
                  }
  
                  this.displayEntries.get(first+i).setIcon(l_icon);
  
                  if (l_icon != null) {
  
                      t.setIcon(l_icon);
  
                      t.setTag(null);
  
                  }
  
              }
  
          }
  
          //System.gc();
  
          break;
  
      case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_TOUCH_SCROLL:
  
          disableButtons();
  
          mBusy = true;
  
          break;
  
      case OnScrollListener.SCROLL_STATE_FLING:
  
          disableButtons();
  
          mBusy = true;
  
          break;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  /**
  
   * List item click action
  
   */
  
  private File currentFile;
  
  @Override
  
  protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
  
      super.onListItemClick(l, v, position, id);
  
      last_list_view_pos = position;
  
      String selectedFileOrDirName = this.displayEntries.get((int)id).getText();
  
      if (selectedFileOrDirName.equals(upOneLevel)) {
  
          if (this.currentDirectory.getParent()!=null) {
  
              last_list_view_pos = 0;
  
              browseTo(this.currentDirectory.getParentFile());
  
          }
  
      } else {
  
          File l_clickedFile = new File(this.displayEntries.get((int)id).getText());
  
          if (l_clickedFile != null) {
  
              if (l_clickedFile.isDirectory()) {
  
                  last_list_view_pos = 0;
  
                  browseTo(l_clickedFile);
  
              } else {
  
                  showVideoInfo(l_clickedFile);
  
              }
  
          }
  
      }
  
  }
  
  
  
  private void browseTo(final File _dir) {
  
      if (_dir.isDirectory()) {
  
          this.currentDirectory = _dir;
  
          loadVideosFromDirectory(_dir.getAbsolutePath());
  
      } 
  
  }
  
  
  
  /**
  
   * Slow adapter: this part of the code implements the list adapter
  
   * Will not bind views while the list is scrolling
  
   */
  
  private class SlowAdapter extends BaseAdapter {
  
      /** Remember our context so we can use it when constructing views. */
  
      private Context mContext;
  
  
  
      private List<iconifiedtextselected> mItems = new ArrayList<iconifiedtextselected>();
  
  
  
      public SlowAdapter(Context context) {
  
          mContext = context;
  
      }
  
  
  
      public void setListItems(List<iconifiedtextselected> lit) 
  
      { mItems = lit; }
  
  
  
      /** @return The number of items in the */
  
      public int getCount() { return mItems.size(); }
  
  
  
      public Object getItem(int position) 
  
      { return mItems.get(position); }
  
  
  
      /** Use the array index as a unique id. */
  
      public long getItemId(int position) {
  
          return position;
  
      }
  
  
  
      /** @param convertView The old view to overwrite, if one is passed
  
       * @returns a IconifiedTextSelectedView that holds wraps around an IconifiedText */
  
      public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
  
          IconifiedTextSelectedView btv;
  
          if (convertView == null) {
  
              btv = new IconifiedTextSelectedView(mContext, mItems.get(position));
  
          } else { // Reuse/Overwrite the View passed
  
              // We are assuming(!) that it is castable! 
  
              btv = (IconifiedTextSelectedView) convertView;
  
              btv.setText(mItems.get(position).getText());
  
          }
  
          if (position==0) {
  
              if (VideoBrowser.self.media_browser_load_option==0) {
  
                  btv.setIcon(R.drawable.folderback);
  
              } else if (mItems.get(0).getIcon()!=null) {
  
                  btv.setIcon(mItems.get(position).getIcon());
  
              } else {
  
                  btv.setIcon(R.drawable.video);
  
              }
  
          }
  
          //in busy mode
  
          else if (mBusy){
  
              //if icon is NULL: the icon is not loaded yet; load default icon
  
              if (mItems.get(position).getIcon()==null) {
  
                  btv.setIcon(R.drawable.video);
  
                  //mark this view, indicates the icon is not loaded
  
                  btv.setTag(this);
  
              } else {
  
                  //if icon is not null, just display the icon
  
                  btv.setIcon(mItems.get(position).getIcon());
  
                  //mark this view, indicates the icon is loaded
  
                  btv.setTag(null);
  
              }
  
          } else {
  
              //if not busy
  
              Drawable d = mItems.get(position).getIcon();
  
              if (d == null) {
  
                  //icon is not loaded, load now
  
                  btv.setIcon(R.drawable.video);
  
                  btv.setTag(this);
  
              } else {
  
                  btv.setIcon(mItems.get(position).getIcon());
  
                  btv.setTag(null);
  
              }
  
          }
  
          return btv;
  
      }
  
  }
  
  </iconifiedtextselected></iconifiedtextselected></iconifiedtextselected></iconifiedtextselected></iconifiedtextselected></iconifiedtextselected></iconifiedtextselected>

  }

• Nexus One

  19 mars 2010, par Mans — Uncategorized

  I have had a Nexus One for about a week (thanks Google), and naturally I have an opinion or two about it.
  

  Hardware

  With the front side dominated by a touch-screen and a lone, round button, the Nexus One appearance is similar to that of most contemporary smartphones. The reverse sports a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, a Google logo, and a smaller HTC logo. Power button, volume control, and headphone and micro-USB sockets are found along the edges. It is with appreciation I note the lack of a front-facing camera ; the silly idea of video calls is finally put to rest.

  Powering up the phone (I’m beginning to question the applicability of that word), I am immediately enamoured with the display. At 800×480 pixels, the AMOLED display is crystal-clear and easily viewable even in bright light. In a darker environment, the display automatically dims. The display does have one quirk in that the subpixel pattern doesn’t actually have a full RGB triplet for each pixel. The close-up photo below shows the pattern seen when displaying a solid white colour.

  

  The result of this is that fine vertical lines, particularly red or blue ones, look a bit jagged. Most of the time this is not much of a problem, and I find it an acceptable compromise for the higher effective resolution it provides.

  Basic interaction

  The Android system is by now familiar, and the Nexus offers no surprises in basic usage. All the usual applications come pre-installed : browser, email, calendar, contacts, maps, and even voice calls. Many of the applications integrate with a Google account, which is nice. Calendar entries, map placemarks, etc. are automatically shared between desktop and mobile. Gone is the need for the bug-ridden custom synchronisation software with which mobile phones of the past were plagued.

  Launching applications is mostly speedy, and recently used apps are kept loaded as long as memory needs allow. Although this garbage-collection-style of application management, where you are never quite sure whether an app is still running, takes a few moments of acclimatisation, it works reasonably well in day to day use. Most of the applications are well-behaved and save their data before terminating.

  Email

  Two email applications are included out of the box : one generic and one Gmail-only. As I do not use Gmail, I cannot comment on this application. The generic email client supports IMAP, but is rather limited in functionality. Fortunately, a much-enhanced version, K-9, is available for download. The main feature I find lacking here is threaded message view.

  The features, or lack thereof, in the email applications is not, however, of huge importance, as composing email, or any longer piece of text, is something one rather avoids on a system like this. The on-screen keyboard, while falling among the better of its kind, is still slow to use. Lack of tactile feedback means accidentally tapping the wrong key is easily done, and entering numbers or punctuation is an outright chore.

  Browser

  Whatever the Nexus lacks in email abilities, it makes up for with the browser. Surfing the web on a phone has never been this pleasant. Page rendering is quick, and zooming is fast and simple. Even pages not designed for mobile viewing are easy to read with smart reformatting almost entirely eliminating the sideways scrolling which hampered many a mobile browser of old.

  Calls and messaging

  Being a phone, the Nexus One is obviously able to make and receive calls, and it does so with ease. Entering a number or locating a stored contact are both straight-forward operations. During a call, audio is clear and of adequate loudness, although I have yet to use the phone in really noisy surroundings.

  The other traditional task of a mobile phone, messaging, is also well-supported. There isn’t really much to say about this.

  Multimedia

  Having a bit of an interest in most things multimedia, I obviously tested the capabilities of the Nexus by throwing some assorted samples at it, revealing ample space for improvement. With video limited to H.264 and MPEG4, and the only supported audio codecs being AAC, MP3, Vorbis, and AMR, there are many files which will not play.

  To make matters worse, only selected combinations of audio and video will play together. Several video files I tested played without sound, yet when presented with the very same audio data alone, it was correctly decoded. As for container formats, it appears restricted to MP4/MOV, and Ogg (for Vorbis). AVI files are recognised as media files, but I was unable to find an AVI file which would play.

  With a device clearly capable of so much more, the poor multimedia support is nothing short of embarrassing.

  The Market

  Much of the hype surrounding Android revolves around the Market, Google’s virtual marketplace for app authors to sell or give away their creations. The thousands of available applications are broadly categorised, and a search function is available.

  The categorised lists are divided into free and paid sections, while search results, disappointingly, are not. To aid the decision, ratings and comments are displayed alongside the summary and screenshots of each application. Overall, the process of finding and installing an application is mostly painless. While it could certainly be improved, it could also have been much worse.

  The applications themselves are, as hinted above, beyond numerous. Sadly, quality does not quite match up to quantity. The vast majority of the apps are pointless, though occasionally mildly amusing, gimmicks of no practical value. The really good ones, and they do exist, are very hard to find unless one knows precisely what to look for.

  Battery

  Packing great performance into a pocket-size device comes with a price in battery life. The battery in the Nexus lasts considerably shorter time than that in my older, less feature-packed Nokia phone. To some extent this is probably a result of me actually using it a lot more, yet the end result is the same : more frequent recharging. I should probably get used to the idea of recharging the phone every other night.

  Verdict

  The Nexus One is a capable hardware platform running an OS with plenty of potential. The applications are still somewhat lacking (or very hard to find), although the basic features work reasonably well. Hopefully future Android updates will see more and better core applications integrated, and I imagine that over time, I will find third-party apps to solve my problems in a way I like. I am not putting this phone on the shelf just yet.