YOUR GUIDE TO TECHNOLOGY TRENDS Supplement to CHIP March 2011

TRACING THE
SUCCESS OF
ANDROID
We take a look at what
the platform offers and
the way ahead

ANDROID
APP-INESS HOW GOOGLE CHANGED THE SMARTPHONE
Discover free and AND TABLET PC LANDSCAPE
paid apps to suit
your every need

DEVICES ON
THE HORIZON
A sneak peek at the devices
that are expected to be out soon

GEARING UP FOR
THE REVOLUTION
Explore your Android device to
understand the full potential
of the platform

PLUS: BUILD A PROMISING CAREER IN IT,

AFFORDABLE BIONIC ARM FOR THE DISABLED
 FOREWORD

I recently upgraded to a smartphone, and for

anyone looking to do the same, there has never
been a better time to make the switch. Not too
long ago, Symbian was the dominant platform, and
while RIM and Apple both have great operating
systems, theyre restricted to the BlackBerry range
and iPhone respectively. Thats where Android
came in and offered me something more in tune
with my individual requirements.
I wanted a robust device that would help me
manage personal and professional matters when I
was on the move. That was what prompted me to
consider the Android platform, and I eventually
Ive always been went with the Sony Ericsson Xperia x10 Mini Pro.
There are many new technologies that Android
one to stick to the brings, but most importantly for us users, it gives
us choice. Android has been readily adopted by the
PC for work, and worlds leading phone manufacturers. Whats more,
there are Android phones for every budget. Even
Ive never been tablet PCs are now running on Android. Such is the
power of Googles open-source mobile platform.
too comfortable My new phone has become my lifeline. I blog,
read e-books, connect and network, watch movies,
with the idea work, write my diary, maintain schedules, and even
play games, all on one device. Ive always been one
of working on a to stick to the PC for work, and Ive never been too
comfortable with the idea of working on a phone,
phone, but Android but Android changed that. With back-up solutions,
easy syncing, and effortless Internet connectivity,
changed that. working on-the-go is a breeze. Thanks to the
thriving online community, even rooting my phone
and tethering was fun to try out. And with strong
developer support, you will always have great apps
available to add more value to your Android device.
Mine, being a mid-range device, does miss out
on some features, like multi-touch and pinch-to-
zoom, but theres still so much on offer that non-
Android phones at this price range simply cannot
match. Then again, who knows what would be in
store for me when I am ready for my next change!

KAMAKSHI S
plus@chip.in
 CONTENTS

GOING ANDROID 26LEARNING FROM YOUR 45 INDIAS FIRST UBUNTU

ANDROID DEVELOPER DAY
6TRACING THE SUCCESS OF Make your Android device your study A look at the Inagural Ubuntu Developer
ANDROID and revision partner. Day in Bangalore.
A look at how the Android platform has
grown and what it has to offer. 28 ANDROID APP-INESS 46 MCA: BUILD A
The Android Market is brimming with CAREER IN I-T
8THE LONG ARM OF apps. Here are some of the best. Engineering is no longer a must for a
ANDROID promising career in IT.
The portability and flexibility of Android 30GET GAMING WITH
gives end users more choice. ANDROID 48 A BIONIC ARM FOR THE
Keep the gamer in you awake with DISABLED
10SAFE BROWSING ON YOUR these gaming apps. An innovative bionic arm that is
ANDROID DEVICE surprisingly affordable.
Android offers many online features. 32 ANDROID DEVICES ON
Here's how you can use them securely. THE HORIZON
Devices that will hit the market soon. MANAGING EDITOR
13GET THE COMPLETE Hatim Kantawalla
ANDROID EXPERIENCE DEPUTY EDITOR
Jamshed Avari
Service providers are introducing plans DO I T YOURSELF
SENIOR FEATURE WRITER
to help flesh out the Android experience.
34 Kamakshi S, Priyanka Tilve
LET ANDROID POWER
FEATURE WRITER
YOUR NETBOOK Kushal Mamoowala
SHOPPERS ' S TOP Before you buy an Android device, get
COPY EDITOR
the feel of it on your netbook or laptop. Sameer Desai
14 10 THINGS TO KNOW PROJECT COORDINATORS
ABOUT ANDROID 36 GETTING TO THE ROOT OF Rajesh D'Souza, Gautami Chalke
Here's what sets Android apart from YOUR ANDROID SENIOR ART DIRECTOR
other mobile platforms. Rooting your Android is really easy if Nirmal Biswas
you know your way around it. SENIOR DESIGNER
16 IN FOCUS: SAMSUNG Hemali Limbachiya
GALAXY TAB P1000 38 EXPAND YOUR NET BY ILLUSTRATORS
An indepth analysis of the most popular TETHERING Sachin Pandit, Chaitanya Surpur
Android tablet in the country. Use your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for COLOR CORRECTION
Web access on your computer. Sanjay Shelar
18 AN ANDROID FOR HEAD OFFICE
Intelligent Computing CHIP, Infomedia 18 Limited,
EVERY POCKET 'A' Wing, Ruby House, 2nd Floor, J.K. Sawant Marg,
There's an Android device for every T ECH TALK Dadar (W), Mumbai - 400 028. INDIA
budget across all popular brands. Phone: (91 22) 3024 5000, Fax: (91 22) 3003 4499
40GIVE YOUR CAREER AN
21 BUSINESS AS USUAL ANDROID JOLT SMS US
Apps to help you get the job done on Android app development is a serious SMS your feedback to us at 51818. For general comments,
the move. and lucrative career option. create the following message: ICCO <Your comments here>
Example: ICCO The cover story was very useful

24 MAKE YOUR PHONE YOUR 42 ANDROID APP To rate a story, product review, etc look out for the story
tag at the base of each article and type:
BEST TRAVEL BUDDY DEVELOPMENT 101 ICCO <Story tag> <Rating> Example: ICCO PWS 5

From navigation to vacation planning,
there's an app for every travel need.
With the right tools and knowledge app
development can be quite easy.
The Story tag is mentioned at the base of every story in
the magazine and the Rating is on a scale of 1 to 5.
Please keep comments to 160 characters per message!
Include your email address to help us reply.
6 GOING ANDROID

TRACING THE SUCCESS O

FROM PROTOTYPE TO PHENOMENON

Starting from a vague mobile

application development firm to
Googles next big thing, Android has
subtly changed the face of computing
on the go. We take a look at what
made the tide turn in its favor in a
strong and competitive market.
BY KAMAKSHI S

W
ith smartphones becoming the fastest
growing mobile phone segment and
tablet PC market touted to see massive
growth this year, the Android platform stands
rmly in the center of the revolution. Just as the
mobile platform space was settling into clear seg-
mentations, Android has made the industry sit
up and take note. What is it that makes Android a
stronger contender in a space which boasts of big
players like Microsofts Windows Phone 7, Apples
Sachin Pandit

iOS, Symbian and Linux? We look back and trace

the route Google took to revolutionize the face of
mobile computing.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Way back in 2005, a start-up company named
Android, which was developing mobile applica-
tions, was acquired by Google. A Linux-based
mobile device OS was developed as a exible,
upgradeable system, and released as the Android
platform in 2007. The project has been backed by
the Open Handset Alliance, which features over 80
hardware, software, and telecommunications com-
panies to help make the movement interoperable
and platform-friendly.

THE CURRENT SCENARIO

Three years later, the technology is all set to give
the industry leaders a run for their money. A com-

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


S OF ANDROID
parative analysis from Gartner reveals that in the
smartphone segment, Android has seen a sales
growth of 888.8 percent from 2009 to 2010. How-
ever, the report states that the OS will have to wait
until 2014 to take over the current market leader,
Symbian, which is down, but not completely out of
the scene.
APPS THE WORD
The greatest advantage of using an Android-pow-
ered smartphone is that it isnt locked by some
service provider or telecomm network. This means
that you can download what ever you want, pick
a service provider of your choice and opt for an
Internet surng data plan that suits your pocket.
Moreover, accessing its kernel root (as a superuser,
through a process called rooting) and playing
around with the rmware is completely legitimate
(not recommended, unless you know what you
are doing). The platform also allows you to legally
tether your phone, making it a Wi-Fi hot spot for
your laptop or PC to access Internet with ease.
If you dont have the desire to do a rmware
based upgrade, but want to use the features that
are available, you can turn to the Android Market.
The Market has an app for everything that you can
do with your Android device and the availability
of apps is not really limited to the Market. There
are several resources you can turn to but be sure to
GOING ANDROID 7
According to Roberta Cozza, Principal
Research Analyst at Gartner shares, Android
sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 continued
to be driven by broad availability of many
high-end products from HTC (Desire range,
Incredible and EVO), Samsung (Galaxy S) and
Motorola (Droid X, Droid 2). Symbians market
share dropped further in the fourth quarter
Roberta Cozza, Principal
of 2010 to 32.6 percent or 32.6 million units.
Research Analyst, Gartner
This allowed Android to overtake Nokias
Symbian unit sales during the fourth quarter of 2010. However, the
Symbian OS is also used by Fujitsu and Sharp as well as in legacy
products from Sony Ericsson and Samsung. This aggregated volume
kept Symbian slightly ahead of Android.
Rajarshi Sengupta, Executive Director from
Deloitte & Touche Consulting India Pvt. Ltd.
says, Android is considered to be one of the
key products in the smartphone market,
competing with iPhone and expected to
compete with the product that comes from
the Nokia-Microsoft agreement. It has fared
well in the market. However, while she does
Rajarshi Sengupta, Executive
agree that the style adapted by the Android
Director, Deloitte India
Market offers a good selling prospect for
apps, the control that Google exercises over it cannot be overlooked.
Yes, the open nature of the Android Market has helped boost
sales, but recognize that an Android phone also comes with the
governance rules that Google dictates. So while the open platform
in contrast to the more proprietary iPhone from Apple has helped,
the overall application governance needs to be understood better.
When asked about the effects of piracy that governs the Android
Market today, she quips, Its not more or less than any other form
of piracy.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
8 GOING ANDROID
THE LONG ARM
FLEXIBILITY WITH ANDROID
OF ANDROID
Android has made a huge impact on the smartphones space in the
global market and is currently the operating system of choice for tablets
competing with the iPad. The popularity of the Android platform arises
from its flexibility, something no other OS has managed to achieve.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA
I
n late 2007, there were rumors of Google work-
ing on the GPhone, a smartphone design with
their own OS, which was supposed to compete
with Apples iPhone and Nokias new smartphone
series. What we got instead was the revelation of
the Google Android operating system as an open
source platform for developers and the Open Hand-
set Alliance, which then consisted of 34 members,
including mobile handset makers, application
developers, mobile carriers, and chip makers.
THE OPEN HANDSET ALLIANCE
The Open Handset Alliance, with Android as its
agship software, is a business alliance that now
consists of 80 rms that aim to pioneer Android
and open standards for mobile devices. What
this means is that Android as an open source
platform could be modied and tweaked to
suit hardware and handsets manufactured by
multiple mobile phone manufacturers,
thereby exponentially increasing the
presence of Android as an operating
system in the mobile phone market.
The compatibility of the Android plat-
form to run on different chipsets
with different hardware is
the prime attributor to
its exibility.
FREQUENT
UPDATES
Google has set a trend
of frequently updating its
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
Android platform, with the four latest versions
being released within the span of just over a year.
Each update differed slightly from its predecessor,
but the hardware requirements remained almost
the same, giving manufacturers the ability to pro-
vide OS upgrades to handsets with older versions.
Initially created for touchscreen smartphones,
Google has now moved on to tablets with Android
3.0 Honeycomb being their rst tablet-specic
operating system with support for high perfor-
mance hardware.
OPEN SOURCE
By providing the source code of the operating sys-
tem to manufacturers and also designing a software
development kit (SDK) for application developers,
Google has sort of outsourced its tasks and still
pleased developers by giving them the freedom of
personalizing and customizing Android. They have
gone a step further by letting users root their
Android device, which gives them superuser privi-
leges like access to administrative rights, system
changes and running scripts that would generally
be blocked for the standard user. This allows devel-
opers and coders to run their apps even if they
require elevated privileges.
THE GOOGLE CLOUD
Along with the ability to customize almost every-
thing, Google has integrated its operating system
into the Google cloud. With default apps for Gmail,
Google Maps, Google Docs and other Google fea-
tures, users are able to view and edit their tasks
 GOING ANDROID 9

and work on their handset, which then automati-

cally syncs with their Google account. What the end
user gets is a simple, easy-to-use interface which
accompanies them wherever they go and omits the
need to manually transfer les and other data. In
addition to these default apps, the Android market
has been ooded with apps from developers that
can do almost anything. Some of these apps are
dependent on the Google cloud as well and others
have syncing abilities of their own, making both
Android phones and tablets the most sought after
devices in todays market.
A release from Embedded Alley Solutions states, The Development
System enables development of Android-based intelligent devices
targeting applications in domains beyond mobile handsets.
Delivery of the Embedded Alley Development System enables
both systems and applications developers to extend the reach of
Android to encompass multimedia, Mobile Internet Devices, digital
video and home entertainment, automotive, medical, networking,
instrumentation and industrial control.

A LITTLE TOO FLEXIBLE?

While the exibility of Android has been its biggest
selling point, the openness does bring with it a few
drawbacks. Manufacturers have taken advantage
of Androids minimal hardware requirements and table media players
developed smartphones and tablets with varied and even TVs. Barnes
hardware performance to suit all budgets. While & Noble, Entourage,
Android might run smoothly on a cheaper phone, it Spring Design and
is hard to tell how some apps with a higher CPU load PocketBook have all
or power requirement would perform. The Android used Android to power
market limits the installation of certain apps based certain aspects of
on the device being used, but third party apps can their e-readers such
still be installed without any regulation. as Wi-Fi or 3G technol-
There is also the risk of security, which is per- ogy. Acer and Toshiba
fectly exemplied by the Soundminer app. Security have already manu-
researchers developed Soundminer as a working factured netbooks
spyware app that is disguised as a voice recorder. that are powered by
Soundminer runs silently in the background and Android and Samsung
listens for PIN or Credit Card numbers during your and Philips have used
phone calls. The application records this informa- Android 2.1 on their
tion, converts the recording into a number and music players. There is
relays it over the network to the developer. It can also speculation about
even recognize numbers typed on the virtual key- Android-powered
board and voice-activated IVR systems. Another Internet televisions
The Barnes & Noble Nook is
instance of the gaping hole in the Android Market from Sony and NCPG.
one of many e-readers that is
is the Angry Birds Viral app. A mobile security powered by Android.
expert used the popular Angry Birds game to dis- SOMETHING
guise a Trojan virus and had no trouble getting FOR THE FUTURE
it onto the Android Market. Although it was only The acquisition of a small Californian start-up
developed to demonstrate to Google the gaps in called Embedded Alley Solutions by Mentor Graph-
their security, the app brings to light how easy it ics has raised a few eyebrows. Embedded Alley
would be for third party developers to access per- Solutions specialize in Linux and Android tools and
sonal information. have developed the Embedded Alley Development
System for Android-based devices.
OTHER DEVICES What this means is that the Android platform
Along with its widespread presence in smartphones could possibly be tweaked to run on home appli-
and tablets from manufacturers like Motorola, LG, ances, such as telephones, navigation systems and
HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, Android has also even Internet refrigerators. Only time will tell how
been adapted to run on e-readers, netbooks, por- far Googles Android net will eventually spread.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

10 GOING ANDROID
SAFEGUARDING
SECURING YOUR ANDROID DEVICE
Android opens up a whole world of possibilities, from social
networking and Web browsing to downloading apps and
exchanging email, all on-the-go. But before you go on an app
downloading spree, make sure that your Android device and the
data in it are protected and taken care of.
BY KAMAKSHI S
W
With most people living their personal
and professional lives on their smart-
phones, its not just the data that has
been fed into these devices, but also nancial
transactions and communication links that can
be violated. While Android has not seen too many
security scares, the massive number of devices
and high number of un-scanned
apps that make their way into the
Android Market really make you
think about how safe your data
is. Here are some things that you
need to watch out for, and a list
of apps that can help you secure
your data.
THINGS TO WATCH
OUT FOR
There are certain bits of informa-
tion on your smartphone that
can become a target for viruses,
worms or other malware. First is
your personal data, email, text
messages, notes and contacts.
Next are your personal and profes-
sional account details like email
set-up, social networking details,
and schedules. Your Wi-Fi network
settings and online banking and
trading website details are also at
risk. Malware is capable of send-
Apps like Seal help you password- ing text or multimedia messages,
protect applications on an
making premium phone calls, or
individual level.
utilizing your funds to buy apps.
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
SECURITY AT THE ROOT
The Android OS does feature solid security archi-
tecture at the kernel level. The kernel is pro-
grammed to sandbox applications from each other,
which means that if an application wants access
to details like network access, reading or writing
data, and personal contacts, each request is made
explicitly and only on granting permission, will
they be made available.
If you do grant access to a malware app, then
the security mechanism is of no use, so you need
to exercise more caution and keep a tab on what to
download to your phone. You should also be care-
ful when updating an installed app because it is at
times as good as installing a new app.
WHAT ARE YOU UP AGAINST?
Android apps can be targeted by a virus that can
corrupt the data on your phone, spyware that can
read critical data like credit card details and pass-
words without your knowledge, or apps can act as
nuisance-ware or adware that interrupts the nor-
mal working of your phone.
SAFE BROWSING
Although you can avail help from antivirus apps,
you should also exercise caution when you go on
to the Android Market and download an app for
your phone. Firstly, make sure that the app comes
from a legitimate source. Even though the Market
is considered a legitimate source, the apps that go
up are not really screened, merely signed by the
makers. Read through the comments posted by
other users. If it sounds shy, its wise to give it a

YOUR INTERESTS
If you want to secure your device from
hacks, an app like Lookout can be very
useful.
miss. If you wish to go ahead, the next thing to do
is visit the developers website. Most developers
who take their apps seriously would have a dedi-
cated space to promote it. Finally, check the type
of permissions the apps require for installation.
For example, if a game app is trying to access your
contact information, which is ideally not required,
it is recommended to avoid it.
PROTECTING YOUR
COMMUNICATION ROUTES
One of the easiest techniques to inltrate your
Android devices security is through the Wi-Fi or
VPN (virtual private network) settings. Although it
is advisable to use SSL or HTTPS encryption when
using an unprotected Wi-Fi hotspot, many email
providers dont support encryption. Therefore, it
is better to use a VPN network that offers better
encryption supported by your mobile phone ser-
vice provider. Even though you can keep your data
GOING ANDROID 11
trafc option off when not in use, you can opt for
apps like WiTopia or the free Hotspot Shield and
services like Free Shield VPN (http://go.chip.in/
qnwbi) that offers increased safety for your VPN.
APPS TO GUIDE YOU
There are apps can help you protect existing
data as well as help you safeguard your future
downloads. You can secure your Android devices
(FroYo and above) with unlocking options, like
using a numeric PIN, a password or a graphical
pattern. However, a University of Pennsylvania
research reveals how smudges on your screen can
actually make hacking your graphical password
quite a cake walk.
You can start off with a free app called Android
Protector, which can assign passwords to protect
details like your text messages, Gmail accounts,
contacts details, schedulers, Internet and Wi-Fi
settings, and photos. If you are looking for some-
thing a bit more secure, you can pick the Seal app
(Rs 122.19), Carrot App Lock Pro
(Rs 68.18), or app protector pro
(Rs 90.46). These apps also offer
lite versions so that you can try
before you buy the app.
If you wish to have an app
that backs up and restores your
data, helps you track your miss-
ing or stolen phone, and scan an
app for malware, the free ver-
sion of Lookout Mobile Security
or MacAfees recently acquired
WaveSecure are very good
options. However, WaveSecure
does not provide antivirus sup-
port, but both applications can
help you lock or wipe data off
your device remotely.
If you are looking for tools
that can help you scan the apps
for you before downloading
them to your device, you can
try the beta version of Norton An antivirus can not only protect
Mobile for Android, or the Free you from malware, but also come to
or Pro (Rs 454.10) AVG apps. your rescue if you lose your device.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
12 GOING ANDROID
WHAT THE INDUSTRY LEADERS HAVE TO SAY:
T he high volume
of data being
exchanged over
Android powered
devices is enough
for mischief makers
to try and siphon
off critical data
and use it to their
advantage. As the
Vinoo Thomas, Technical Product Android Market
Manager, McAfee Labs
doesnt really guar-
antee security, it is
advisable to protect to be cautious when heading
online via your mobile device. We spoke to Vinoo
Thomas, who is the Technical Product Manager at
the McAfee Labs, and the virus research lead with
McAfee Labs Bangalore. Here are his thoughts on
the security issues pertaining to the Android plat-
form:
What kind of security threats has the
Android platform seen? How serious can
these get?
Last year saw a couple of notable viruses that
targeted the Android platform. There were a cou-
ple of viruses which would accept every incoming
call without users knowledge, causing battery
drain. Then there was a virus known as the Fake
Player Codec, which would send SMSes to a pre-
mium rate number without the users knowledge,
which resulted in inated monthly bills. There
have also been viruses which send a copy of them-
selves to everybody on the infected users address
book via an MMS. In India, an MMS costs Rs 5, so
if you have 100 contacts, it results in direct Rs 500
ination in your monthly bills.
Lately we also had a high prole Android virus
by the name of Geinimi, which poses as a legiti-
mate app and is the rst known Android malware
in the open that displays botnet capabilities. So
once the malware is installed on a users phone, it
has the potential to allow the attacker to remotely
control the device. The app can pull out all contact
information, read, send or delete SMSes, make a
phone call, install an app, and launch browsers
What is the nature of protection that
a user can adopt?
At MacAfee, we have our target set at three
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
things. First is the enterprise or the end user
level, where the protection is in terms of ltering,
management or just good antivirus security. The
next level is to work with device manufacturers,
like Sony Ericsson or Nokia to embed security
into their phones, so that security software comes
bundled and people dont have to worry about
buying or installing anything. The third level
comes in the form of a partnership with telecomm
providers or banks. We work with them to ensure
that people who subscribe to their services such
as mobile banking, have to go through certain
security measures to access these services.
What kind of support do you provide
for Android users?
There is family protection software that you
can use on your Android device. If the tablet is
being used by kids, parents would be able to moni-
tor their online activities inside and outside the
house, they could block browsing of inappropriate
websites based on categories, and they would be
able to block Internet access for particular time
periods.
In terms of mobile security, we have an antivi-
rus optimized for mobile devices. You will be able
to scan attachments and applications. If some-
thing is found malicious, you can get it cleaned
or quarantined. It also offers protection against
phishing and offers safe mobile browsing.
Can you use any McAfee product on
an Android or are there specific prod-
ucts?
We have a couple of MacAfee products that
work not just on the Android, but the Symbian,
Apple iOS and the Windows CE platforms. Tradi-
tionally, MacAfee had MacAfee Mobile Security for
smartphones and tablets, and then we expanded
to MacAfee Family Protection for Mobiles, where
we are not just providing security, but also allow-
ing parents to do URL ltering, safe search and
Internet usage reporting.
Last year, MacAfee acquired WaveSecure, which
allows us to manage mobile devices better. So in
addition to security, you will now be able to back
up and restore data on your mobile, and you will
be able to locate and track a lost device. You can
also perform a remote lock and wipe all the data
in case your device is misplaced.

VALUE ADDED SERVICES
GET THE COMPLETE
ANDROID EXPERIENCE
While Android devices are selling like hot cakes and 3G services now
up and running, we look at the various value added services that are
being offered by the popular telecomm service providers.
BY KAMAKSHI S
W
What good is an Android phone if you
cant really surf the Internet and down-
load apps of your liking? Heres a look
at what the major telecomm service providers
have to help you enjoy your Android experience to
the fullest.
VODAFONE
While Vodafone has the Vodafone Live and Voda-
fone Mobile Connect services on offer for internet
sur ng, Vodafone Live will not work with your
Android device. The Vodafone Mobile Connect
works with a prepaid and a post paid plan.
While it is a zero rental plan for prepaid users,
postpaid users can pick between a Rs 299 plan
that offers 2 GB of free surng, a Rs 499 plan that
offers 4 GB of free surng, and a Rs 699 plan that
offers unlimited surng.
Vodafone supports tethering, so you can freely
use your Android phone as a Wi-Fi hot spot to
connect your laptop or PC to the Internet. The
connection takes 4 hours to activate on a prepaid
account and 24 hours on a postpaid one.
AIRTEL
Airtel offers Airtel Live services for WAP and
GPRS-enabled handsets and a mobile Internet
pack that offers up to 2 GB of free surng at rent-
als of Rs 99, but the service is currently available
for Blackberry, Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile
6.5 powered smartphones only.
While their customer service is unclear about
extending these services to Android-powered
devices, Airtel does have its own app store called
GOING ANDROID 13
the App Central, which features more than 71,000
apps segregated under 25 categories, which can be
downloaded to over 550 compatible devices.
AIRCEL
If you plan to buy a Galaxy Tab, then Aircel is all
set to sell you a pretty package. For a price of Rs
29,500, you get the gadget, plus a 3 GB free plan
for 3 months for prepaid users, or a 1 GB free plan
for 6 months for postpaid users. You also get a 2
GB memory card and a leather case. However,
their customer care is not too clear about extend-
ing Internet support to other Android devices.
TATA DOCOMO
While Tata Docomo has been making claims of
going 3G for a long time, there is still no trace of
the company delivering on that promise. While
you can use the Tata Photon Wi-Fi pocket router
for Internet connectivity on your Android device,
you will have to wait a little longer for any data
plans for your device on the go. If not, mobile
number portability is always an option.
REDIFF NG
While you can congure 10 email accounts on
your BlackBerry phone, Rediff NG enables you to
do the same on your Android as well. At just Rs
50 a month, you can do all that on your Symbian,
Java, and Android powered smartphones.
The service enables you to port data across
phones, so even if you do change your mobile
phone, your settings and emails remain intact.
The annual plan will cost you Rs 600.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
14 SHOPPERS' STOP

IT'S OPEN FOR

EVERYONE
Android was designed and
developed as an open source,
fully customizable mobile
phone platform; the rst
of its kind. This means that
manufacturers can custom-
ize their phones however
GOOD SOFTWARE NEEDS
GOOD HARDWARE
Due to its ease of availability,
developers have taken to manu-
facturing handsets and tablets
running on Android. However,
all devices have different hard-
ware congurations and if the

10 1234
they want and design any hardware cannot match the
type of applications without software, it will not give you
many restrictions. the best Android experience.

things to know about

ANDROID
If youre considering a switch to
an Android-powered smartphone
or tablet, here are a few tips and IT CAN TETHER
pointers on what you can expect Android has taken pairing
devices to the next level.
from your device.
Tethering your Android
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA device with your PC means
you can use your service
providers Internet plan
ITS GONE 3D with your computer. With 3G
Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), the services hitting the market,
latest version of the OS, was tethering your mobile and
recently unveiled by Google. PC could see a great reduc-
At the ofcial launch of Hon- tion in Internet service sub-
eycomb, Google displayed its scriptions.
3D capabilities with the Google
Maps and YouTube apps, assur-
ing users that the company
has done quite a bit to ensure
3D works well on the platform.
This could usher in big changes
in the mobile phone market-
place.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


MAKE SURE ITS
THE LATEST VERSION
In the space of one year, Google
made four revisions to its OS -
Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), clair
(2.0/2.1), FroYo (2.2)
and Honeycomb (3.0).
With such rapid
updates to the
OS, manufactur-
ers are nding it
hard to develop
hardware and
modify the OS to suit
their latest handsets.
5678910
NOT ALL APPS ARE
VERIFIED
Its safe to install or buy apps
from the Android Market,
but a simple change in your
phone or tablets security set-
tings can let you install apps
from unveried sites. What
this means is that not all the
apps you use are veried by
Android and could do more
harm than good.
IT CAN RUN
MULTIPLE TASKS
Android is able to run
multiple applications at
the same time regardless
of whether they are sys-
tem apps or apps from the
Android Market. Android
users benet greatly from
this discrepancy, as they
can receive notications,
listen to music, or even
record GPS data without
keeping the application
open.
APP INCOMPATIBILITIES
As mentioned earlier, all
phones have different hard-
ware setups. A difference in
resolution, processor speed
and RAM means that an app
that runs perfectly ne on
one Android device might
not work as well on another.
Developers need to consider
modifying their apps to suit
different devices.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
SHOPPERS' STOP 15
IT'S ALL IN THE
GOOGLE CLOUD
Android phones
don't sync with
your computer
because they
don't have to.
Your contacts,
calendar and mail
are all backed up in the great
Googleplex. What this means
is that any changes or entries
you make to your Google-based
organizer will automatically
appear on your Android phone.
IT CAN REMOTE WIPE
Google has added a remote
wipe feature with Android
2.2 (FroYo). This remote wipe
feature enables users to
program the device to auto-
matically wipe its memory
clean in certain conditions.
If your phone is lost or sto-
len, a simple SMS, failed
password entry or a change
of SIM Card can trigger the
wipe. Its up to you.
16 SHOPPERS' STOP
PRODUCT REVIEW
In Focus: The Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000
Will Samsung live upto the hype created around the Galaxy Tab P1000? We
take a look at one of the most awaited tablets to hit the Indian markets.
BY SHAYNE R ANA
S
amsungs highly anticipated Galaxy Tab actu-
ally managed to get itself here legally before
Apples iPad, and brought with it quite a bit of
confusion when it comes to choice. The Dell Streak
didnt impress me and I had my doubts about the
Olive Pad, the only two other tablets in India to
make it out in an ofcial capacity. Heres my take
on the whole Tabbing experience.
FORM FACTOR
I believe that the 7-inch display, protected by the
hardcore Gorilla Glass pane with a 600x1024 pixel
resolution is about the right size for a tablet. It
allows for easy handling and storage. Samsungs
gone with a set of touch sensitive keys below the
display. At 380 grams, its a tad on the heavy side
with a screen lock/power button on the same side
as the volume/zoom keys, micro SD card port (1GB
on board memory with support for 32GB cards)
and standard SIM card slot. The 3.5mm handsfree
socket is located on the top.
A set of built in speakers, which seemed loud
enough for audio, but oddly low for calls, are
located at the bottom on either side of the propri-
etary Samsung USB/Charger port at the bottom.
This was the rst thing I disliked about the device.
Aesthetically, I found the Tab an easy device to
work with purely from the design perspective.
FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE
Here is an indepth analysis on the features and
performance offered by the tablet.
INTERFACE
Im not a fan of Samsungs TouchWiz UI, so I swapped
the UI with another from the Android market. The
Galaxy Tab is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 1 GHz
processor with PowerVR SGX540 graphics for added
support. Its running on Android 2.2 aka Froyo out
of the box. Most of the UI navigation is quite seam-
less, but there are moments when youll be wonder-
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
ing if there is a 1 GHz processor running the show.
The three axis Gyro makes accelerometer-based
functionality from games to screen rotation quite
smooth, but theres just that hint of lag. The multi
touch zooming is as responsive as the iPads. Sam-
sungs also thrown in a Task Manager to kill all
background running apps or the specic ones you
want. Using the normal on-screen keypad was a
breeze, but Swype on a larger display, although
requiring you to stretch quite a bit to trail words, is
still a speedier way to get the job done.
MEDIA
Aside from the 5.1 audio channel support, the Gal-
axy Tab also comes with Samsungs DNSe audio
enhancement with a set of EQ presets and an
eight-band customizable graphic EQ setting. Audio
Effects like Bass Enhancement, Wide and Concert
Hall settings are also provided. The Tabs audio
player is sure re winner. The cherry on top is of
course video codec support for AVI les (DivX and
XviD), which enables you to simply drag and drop
your favorite movies on the ample storage space for
instant playback.
The 7-inch display is great for viewing videos,
however games and quite a few other apps are still
to be upscaled for this genre of Android devices.
Unlike the iPads option to stretch games/apps to
t the screen, the Tab allows you to play or access
apps in the native resolution the app as designed
for. This means theyll open only in the middle of
the screen. There are many e-readers preloaded on
the Tab. An e-book application similar to Aldikos
app allows you to import e-books off of your mem-
ory card, but I could not nd an option to download
any books from a website. The fonts and page colors
can be adjusted and the overall layout is extremely
conducive for easy reading. But changing pages is a
slow and laggy process, the lack of a smooth transi-
tion is very evident. The Readers Hub application
is also an e-book reader powered by Kobo, but one

that allows you to download content off the Web. A
Zinio magazine reader and a newspaper reader by
PressDisplay are also available.
CONNECTIVITY
The Galaxy Tab, is capable of making and taking
calls, messages and sending and receiving emails
from your standard POP and IMAP accounts, and
also plays nice with Microsoft Exchange services. It
supports 3G with HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps or typical
EDGE speeds for now. Like any Android device run-
ning Froyo, you can use the Tab as a Wi-Fi hotspot
and Samsungs All Share application allows you to
hook up to a DLNA supported device to transfer
and/or stream media. Everything youd expect
from a high-end Android handset can be found on
the Tab, from social networking with Facebook,
Twitter and Google syncing for your phone book
integration, to standalone apps and Google Talk. It
also supports Google Voice Search and tethering.
The native browser, irrespective of the boost
with Flash 10.1 support, turned out to be a bit of a
disappointment. When I compared it to the iPads
browsing experience, the Galaxy Tab fell drastically
short on speed even though functionality was a bit
more. Pages tend to be laggy while scrolling and
there always seemed to be a jerky break when mov-
ing through screens. Unfortunately, it was s similar
experience with Operas new beta mobile browser,
even if rendering was a lot faster.
The Galaxy tab also comes with GPS capabilities
supported by A-GPS. Samsung hasnt included any
software with this device like it would with others,
SHOPPERS' STOP 17
namely Route 66 Navigation. Youll have to stick GOOD
to Google Maps or use the Layar browser for an Well designed, Comes
augmented reality GPS-enabled search. Of course, with DivX and Xvid
support, Samsung DNSe,
theres Bluetooth 3.0 and all the goodies that it
5.1 surround, Flash 10.1
comes with, including A2DP is supported, and of support, Camera quality is
USB 2.0. quite decent
CAMERA BAD
The 3 megapixel autofocus camera comes with an Web browsing is not fluid,
Laggy eBook readers,
LED ash, face and smile detection, a few scene
Proprietary USB/Charging
modes, geotagging and video recording (720x480 at
30fps) are all present. A forward-facing VGA cam-
era is also present for self portraits and video call-
ing. I found the pictures to be as good as any other
3 megapixel camera. Indoor images with light gave
focused pictures. Outdoor images werent too bad
either, although excess sunlight did make portions
of the image a bit over exposed.
BATTERY LIFE
The Galaxy Tab managed to give a relatively high
battery life. With a single charge I used it for Web
and calls for two full days, with an average talktime
of over 4 hours 40 minutes. Thats quite impressive.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Ive become quite the fan of tabbing in general even
though the Web browsing or gaming experience
was not as uid as the iPads.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
18 SHOPPERS' STOP

POPULAR ANDROID DEVICES IN EVERY PRICE RANGE

An Android For
Android devices are available in a range of shapes, sizes and prices.
Manufacturers have developed Android smartphones and tablets to
suit every budget and serve a range of needs.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA

M
anufacturers have captured every level quick browsing. With Wi-Fi, e-mail and a good cam-
of communication and computing by era, both devices will service a users basic needs.
developing Android-based smartphones
and tablets to t a wide price range. This ensures Rs 10,000 Rs 15,000
the popularity of Android amongst users with The Samsung I5801 Gal-
budgetary constraints as well as big spenders. axy 3 at Rs 13,300 is
The difference between a cheap smartphone and an entry level Android
an expensive one is primarily in the hardware, smartphone running
with the cheaper devices having a weaker proces- Android 2.1 clair. A
sor, less RAM and limited storage space. But these 3.2-inch touch screen, 3
differences are negligible when it comes to basic megapixel camera and a
usage. It is only noticeable when the devices are few unique features like
used to run multiple, memory heavy apps or apps DivX/XviD compatibility
that require high performance. Heres a look at and Kinetic scrolling give
some popular Android smartphones and tablets it an edge. The Sony Erics-
that t into different budgets. son Xperia X10 mini pro, on
the other hand, is a pocket
SMARTPHONES rocket. It runs Android 1.6
The Open Handset Alliance includes companies that Donut and supports 2.1 clair.
manufacture smartphones for With a tiny 2.55-inch screen, slide out QWERTY
a diverse group of consumers. keyboard and 600 MHz
processor, it packs quite
Rs 5,000 Rs 10,000 a punch at Rs 14,245.
For people looking to spend as Other smartphones
little as possible on a smart- that t into this cat-
phone without expecting some- egory include Acer
thing really ashy, there are beTouch E130, Vid-
the Micromax Andro A60 and eocon Zeus,HTC
the Spice MI300. Priced at Rs Wildfire and
8,599 and Rs 9,990 respectively, Sony Ericsson
both devices support Android Xperia X10
2.1 clair and are 3G ready for mini.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


Every Pocket
Rs 15,000 Rs 20,000
The LG Optimus One P500, priced at Rs. 15,000, is
the cheapest phone in this price range. It is a stan-
dard no frills 3.2-inch Android 2.2 smartphone with
a moderately clocked CPU and ample RAM to give
you a bit of freedom with your apps. The Garmin
Asus A10 has a smooth and elegant appearance
with a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, a 5 megapixel
camera, and runs on Android 2.1 clair. It gives spe-
cial importance to maps and navigation powered
by Garmin, for which it has a
powerful processor and long
battery life. It is reasonably
priced at Rs 18,990.
Other smartphones that
t into this category include
Dell XCD35, Motorola Cliq
and Motorola Backip.
Rs 20,000
Rs 25,000
Moving into the higher price
range means you would
expect much more from your
SHOPPERS' STOP 19
smartphone, and the HTC Desire gives you a
lot for its Rs 23,490 price tag. It has a speedy
1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, large
AMOLED screen and HTCs Sense UI with mul-
titouch support. It boasts an excellent Web
browser and integrated social networking ser-
vices. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, priced Rs
24,995, is also armed with a Qualcomm Snap-
dragon processor. It combines stylish looks
with killer specs, and with Android 2.1 and a
huge 4-inch display, it is perfect for those who
want a simple yet robust device thats also
good looking.
Other smartphones within this price range
include the Motorola Milestone, HTC Legend
and Acer A1 Liquid.
Rs 25,000 AND ABOVE
In the highest price range, there is the popular HTC
Desire HD, priced at Rs 26,990 and Samsung I9000
Galaxy S, at Rs 31,500. The Desire HD is a robust
phone with a 4.3-inch LCD display, 1 GHz processor
and 8 megapixel camera. It runs Android 2.2 and
with 1 GB storage, plus microSD extendible mem-
ory, it gives you enough room for videos, music,
images and tons of apps.
The Samsung Galaxy S car-
ries a 4-inch super AMOLED
display with a resolution
of 480x800 pixels, which
makes viewing movies and
Web browsing an absolute
pleasure. The 5 megapixel
camera allows HD video
recording and it has an
integrated social hub and
other apps to exploit its 1
GHz processor and 16 GB
internal memory.
Other products in
the higher end of the
market include LG
GW620, Samsung I7500
Galaxy, Acer Liquid E
Ferrari, and HTC HD7.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
20 SHOPPERS' STOP

TABLETS Rs 30,000 Rs 35,000

The cheapest tablet in the market, the Wespro The Dell Streak 7 features Nvidias Tegra 2 dual core
ePad at Rs. 7,999, costs far less than most Android processor, 512 MB RAM, and comes bundled with 16
smartphones and as the technology improves more GB of storage space. With 4G compatibility, video
low cost tablets are expected. Heres a look
at some of tablets available in the Indian
market.

Rs 20,000 Rs 25,000
At Rs 23,990, the OlivePad VT100 ts snug-
gly into this price range. Running Android

calling capability, a 7-inch WVGA multi-touch dis-

play and 5 megapixel camera it can service a high
end users every need. Priced at Rs 34,990, it com-
petes with products like the Viewsonic Viewpad 7
and Samsungs Galaxy Tab P1000.

Rs 35,000 AND ABOVE

Viewsonics Viewpad 10 is the closest a tablet comes
to being a netbook. Powered by an Intel Atom
N455 processor and 1 GB of DDR3 RAM, it houses
a 16GB Solid State Drive and a 1.3 MP camera. It is

2.2, it is a 7-inch tablet phone, which is sleek and

attractive. It comes with features such as multi
codec media players, dual cameras for
video calling and 3G support. A 600 MHz
Qualcomm processor with 512 MB RAM
and support for up to 32 GB memory
enable it to run smoothly and also allow
Internet browsing, video streaming,
social networking, and GPS.

Rs 25,000 Rs 30,000
At Rs 29,000, the Samsung Galaxy Tab
runs Android 2.2 on an ARM 1 GHz Cor-
tex processor with 512 MB RAM and 16
GB of internal memory. The 7-inch TFT
LCD display gives you a crisp viewing
experience, be it for reading, view-
ing videos, or watching movies. Its
fast, effective at multitasking and has
admirable mobile and wireless network
connectivity.
a dual booting tablet with a choice to boot either
Android or Windows 7 and a quick switch between
the two. The 10-inch display is the biggest a tablet
has featured, and it even has two USB 2.0 ports, a
mini VGA port and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabil-
ity. At Rs 38,000, the one feature missing is 3G
compatibility.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


ANDROID APPS FOR BUSINESS USERS
Business As Usual:
Apps to Stay Connected
Here are some apps that will help you keep up with work and constantly stay
connected when youre travelling.
BY KAMAKSHI S
W
ith the android OS making its presence
felt very strongly, smartphones have
today become a popular computing
device when on the move. When work demands
that you constantly stay connected, some apps can
come make life a bit easier. Here are some Android
apps to help you get the job done.
DOCUMENT SUPPORT
You might have to check documents or spread-
sheets quite frequently even on the move. If you
are not keen on editing on your Android device
and just require a viewer, then there are several
free document viewers to choose from, such
If you tend to meet lots of pople, you can
save their contact details in real time with
a card reader app like CamCard.
SHOPPERS' STOP 21
as Documents To Go Version 3.0, OpenOfce or
ThinkFree Online. However, if you wish to edit
documents on the go, you will need a good editor.
While you can opt for the freely available GDocs
if you want your Android phone to sync with
Google docs, you cannot open these les directly
from your inbox or SD card. Moreover, you can
only used simple Word or text les and view PDFs;
nothing more. While GDocs is a popular app, there
are several such free apps on the Android market
that offer connectivity with Google Docs.
If you dont mind investing in a robust app for
your Android device, then you can pick between
Quickofce Connect Mobile Suite, the OfceSuite
Pro and the Documents to Go package. These
suites are paid and allow you to create documents,
spreadsheets and presentations and view PDFs.
The most recent versions also extend support to
Ofce 2007 formats and syncing with Google Docs,
but do not cater to Open Ofce formats.
If you are looking for ZIP le support along
with inbuilt File Manager support, you can opt for
either OfceSuite Pro or the Quickofce Connect
Mobile Suite. While Quickofce Connect Mobile
Suite would cost you Rs 453, Documents to Go and
OfceSuite Pro are priced at Rs 680.
BUSINESS CARD READERS
If you meet lots of people during the course of
work and have many visiting cards to handle, it
can be cumbersome to track numbers down when
you really need to get in touch. Instead, you can
get a business card reader app that works with
your Android phone.
These apps use your camera to scan the card
and help you to store the contact details as well as
a copy of the card on your phone. The most popu-
lar business card reader apps are MobiReader,
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
22 SHOPPERS' STOP

WorldCard Mobile, and costs Rs 1,351.

CamCard. To use the cloud effectively, you need to be
While none of the signed up for the service on their website and
applications are free of install the corresponding application on your
cost, you can pick up the desktop. The nal step is to get the app on your
lite version of CamCard, Android device.
which can be upgraded While most services offer 2 GB of free data
later. Most of these apps storage, SugarSync offers you 5GB of free space.
can read details like name, Youll have to upgrade to a paid plan to increase
phone numbers, email the cloud storage space.
addresses, web links and While Dropbox works best for document les,
postal addresses with ease. youll need editor apps to use the service effec-
They also enable you send tively. Zumodrive is equally easy to use, but works
emails and access company better if you wish to sync your iTunes music
websites directly. The apps library on your phone through the cloud.
also offer multi-language If syncing photographs is what youre looking for,
support, with some offer- Google Picasa is a better app. And even for Picasa,
ing languages like Chinese, you would nd a plethora of options to pick from.
Japanese, Korean, Finnish,
French, German, Hungar- CODE MEMOS
ian, Italian, Norwegian, Planning your schedule ahead can help you
It may not be possible to carry all you Portuguese, Spanish and accomplish everything you planned for the day,
data with you, and thats where a cloud Swedish, among others. and if you have to keep track of your schedule on-
service like Dropbox can help.
Although you may have the-go or need to share your device with anybody,
occasional hassles with the
character recognition, especially if the picture
is taken under improper lighting, and with busi-
ness cards with heavy background colors, most of
them work quite well in storing accurate data on
to your phone.
WorldCard Mobile is priced at Rs 271, while
MobiReader would cost you Rs 471. CamCard
comes in two versions; the BCR Western priced
at Rs 316 that reads languages using the English
typography, and a Business Card Reader version
priced at Rs 543 for complex languages like Japa-
nese, Korean and Chinese.

CLOUD SHARING
For those who are constantly on the move, a cloud
application to help synchronize data between
your computer, your Android device and the
Internet is essential. While most cloud apps are
free of cost up to a particular data storage limit,
what you need to consider before settling on an
app is the usage and types of les that you wish to
work with. There are several options that you can
choose from, of which Dropbox, Zumodrive and
SugarSync are the most popular.
If you are used to LogMeIn on your desktop, you Apps like WordCard Mobile not only store
data off visiting cards, but also use tools
can continue using the service with your Android
like Google Maps as locators.
device too. The LogMeIN Ignition for Android

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT

 SHOPPERS' STOP 23

having a password protected code memo is the While PDAnet is one of

perfect app to have on your Android device. There the most widely used teth-
are several free options to pick from depending ering apps, and it does pro-
on what you need. vide you with a free trial,
You can opt for a notepad style Ultra Notes you will have to buy it to
app, but if you need your data to be password- use all of its functionalities.
protected, you can use the Ultra Mate private It costs $23.95 (roughly Rs
diary app. You can opt for the OI Safe app to save 1,087) and is not ofcially
critical data like account numbers, passwords and available on the Indian
other condential details. Android market). Other
If you need something that is printer friendly apps which do not require
as well, Wizard Memo is a good option. Make sure root access to your phone to
you pick a strong master password and remember tether include EasyTether,
it too, or all your precious memos will be locked which is priced at Rs 452.
up for good. There are some free apps
that can help you convert
TETHERING YOUR PHONE your rooted phone into a
If you have a 3G network connection and an unlim- Wi-Fi hot spot, like Barncle
ited Internet sur ng plan on your phone, you Wi- Tether or Wireless
can extend that connectivity to your PC as well. Tether for Root Users.
While you can tether your Android device using However, youll need to
Bluetooth, USB cables or Wi-Fi, you may have to check with your service pro-
While a private diary will help you
dget around with Android versions below 2.2. If vider if tethering your device secure sensitive data, you can use apps
you dont really have the patience or time to do it, violates any of the terms and like OI Safe for critical data values.
getting an app would be a better option. conditions of your usage plan,
moreso if you have an unlimited Internet connec-
tion on your account.

If you are wary of rooting your phone and A rooted phone can be tethered with even
still want a decent free tethering app, more ease. Free apps like Barnacle make
EasyTether can come in handy. tethering a breeze.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

24 SHOPPERS' STOP

ANDROID APPS FOR TRAVELERS

Make Your Phone Your

Best Travel Buddy
All set to hit the road for a long overdue vacation and well deserved break?
Here are some tools to help reduce the stress of planning your travels.
BY KAMAKSHI S

W
hether youre planning a weekend
getaway or a long holiday, you would
usually pick a spot that you are yet to
explore. And if you have your Android device with
you, you can pretty much enjoy your time without
getting lost or requiring local assistance.

TRAVEL MATES
The rst thing you need is an app that can help
you plan your vacation and help you make the
required bookings. If you are
looking at taking your family
along for the trip, it is always
sensible to plan your bookings
well in advance. Two popular
travel portals, Trip Advisor
and Cleartrip, have apps for
Android. You can book and
cancel train/flight tickets,
make enquiries on your PNR
enquiries, and book hotels too.
If you are traveling to a new
place, being able to navigate
the area is essential. There are
several applications that can
come to your rescue. One such
application is Zomato. You can
browse for as many as 11,000
restaurants across six cities
in India, including Delhi-NCR,
Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata,
Pune and Chennai. Addition-
ally, your Android devices
The BackTrack app records travel data come loaded with Google Maps
in real time when you travel. and Google Latitude for point to
point navigation.
If you want to savor local cuisines, the
Zomato app is a nice place to start.
LISTS
When you are all excited about a trip, there is a
chance that you may skip some details or forget to
pack an essential item. There are many apps that
help you organise your trip more efciently. The
free Packing List app comes with pre-created lists
depending on the kind of trip youre about to take.
If that isnt good enough, you can generate your
own to add up all the things to need to carry. If you
need something more comprehensive, you can opt
for the Vacation Planner, which is priced at Rs 45.
Another checklist of considerable importance,
especially if you are taking kids or the elderly along
is a rst aid list. You can purchase the very useful
First Aid Checklist app priced at Rs 44.97. The list
consists of over 140 rst aid items that you could
need when you are traveling. You can also add and

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


Sharing photos with your loved ones can
be very easy with Picasa on your device.
edit entries as per your requirements. You will also
nd a trekking and baby planner from the same
developer at the same price.
TRAVELOGUES
Most people enjoy keeping a detailed travelogue to
keep a track of all their holiday escapades and like
sharing them with their loved ones. If you are look-
ing for a detailed travel journal app, then the free
backTrack Personal Travel Log is a good option to
use. Its convenient because it records your journey
automatically allowing you to enjoy your holiday.
You can browse though the entries in your free
time in a list or detailed map view. You can also
map the app to your calendar to make chronologi-
cal entries. If you love taking lots of pictures, then
you can a pick a tool to sync your photographs to
be uploaded to your PicasaWeb account online.
One such tool is the Picasa Tool Pro. It can help you
clear space on your memory card and back up your
pictures online too.
If you enjoy blogging, you can use the Wordpress
for Android app. You can post blog entries with
pictures ofine, and publish them online when you
have Web access. You can also keep a track of post
comments and site stats. You can manage multiple
blogs that are linked to a single account.
TOOLS
If there is one thing that you should not be caught
without while camping or on a trek, its a Swiss
SHOPPERS' STOP 25
army knife. Similarly, there are some tools that can
come to your rescue when you least expect it. The
most essential app you need whether you are trav-
elling or not is the free Wheres My Droid app. The
app makes your phone ring when a text message
with a predetermined keyword is sent to it even if
it is in silent mode. There are also several Android
apps that help you prolong your phones battery
life. One such app is the UltimateJuice!, which is
priced at Rs 180.
If directions can cause confusion, you need a
good compass tool too. You can get the augmented
reality 3D compass app 3D Compass Pro priced Rs
90. It also has a free version called 3D Compass that
you can try before you buy. Another must-have app
when youre travelling to a new place is the free
TeslaLED Flashlight. It uses the ash of your cam-
era as a handy makeshift torch.
If travelling to a new place makes you feel lin-
guistically inadequate, a good translation tool that
helps you with pronunciations will come in handy.
You can opt for Google Translate app, which works
with more than 50 languages. It not only supports
text-to-speech and voice inputs, but also doubles
up as a dictionary.
BOOKS
If you have your luggage all stacked to match the
permissible weight limit, and you like reading when
you travel, making place
for bulky books can get
tiresome. Instead, you
can look for apps like
Aldiko Book Reader or
the Kindle for Android,
which provides you with
an e-book reader and
enables you to download
free and paid e-books,
and even newspapers
(with the Kindle) to your
Android device. While
both apps are free of
cost, you can opt for
the premium version of
the Aldiko Book Reader,
priced at Rs 136. While
you can read ePub and
PDF formats, the Micro-
soft Reader-specic LIT
The Aldiko Book Reader app is ideal for
les may not work on reading on-the-go to pass the time.
these readers.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
26 SHOPPERS' STOP
ANDROID APPS FOR STUDENTS
Learning From Your Android
There are Android apps that cater to a students every need, from formula
sheets and periodic tables to note-taking and organizers. Students can
install these apps to increase their productivity, knowledge and have
everything they need at their fingertips.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA
T
here are many aspects to studying, such as
note-taking, studying, and exercising, and
they all come with specialized tool sets,
each with additional costs and practical difcul-
ties. Most people dont realize how powerful their
smartphones really are, and how diverse the appli-
cations available for them are. Its often hard to
nd the right applications for the job, so to get you
started, here are some incredible Android applica-
tions that every student should consider installing.
HELP WITH
NOTES
There are several
notepad-style apps out
there, but Evernote
takes the cake with its
ability to sync with an
online account and your
desktop PC. The app
enables you to jot down
notes on your phone or
tablet as text, photos or
even voice recordings.
You can make different
notebooks for different gives you details about different elements, chemical
subjects and you can
even add tags to each
note. Best of all, its com-
pletely free and runs on
Android 1.5 and above.
Catch is similar to Ever-
Evernote offers a clean, simple layout to
take down and organize your notes.
note, except it lacks a
desktop application. It
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
does have another great feature, however, which
is its social media integration. With Catch, you can
share your notes with friends via Twitter or Face-
book, something that every student would nd
extremely handy when exams are looming.
Other note-taking apps include Documents to Go,
Note Everything, and Take Note.
ACADEMIC AIDS
Everyone knows how tedious it is to remember
formulae and equations. You can get Android apps
that do these for you to ease your mind and get
your answers faster and easier. RealCalc is a fully
featured scientic calculator, which looks and
operates just like the real thing. It provides result
history, unit conversions, percentages, ten memo-
ries, hex/binary/octal, trig functions in degrees,
radians or grads, engineering and xed-point
display modes, digit grouping, and a built-in help
module.
Formulas Lite is a simple, easy-to-use app that
helps you refer to collections of the most important
formulae of maths, physics and chemistry. A simi-
lar tool specic for chemistry is Perfect Chemistry
Lite. It helps you balance chemical equations and
compounds, and much more. There is also Calculus
Tools that helps you with calculus and nds deriva-
tives, computes denite integrals, arc lengths and
plots graphs of functions. It also includes integral
tables and a custom keyboard.
READERS
There are plenty of Android apps that serve as
 SHOPPERS' STOP 27

taking notes, and planning tasks. CoursePro is an

app that lets you easily track all your assignments,
work nished, work due and how youre progress-
ing towards your results. It helps you keep track
of homework with a simple to-do style list, custom
list your assignment types and grade weights,
and track your report card with a custom grad-
ing scheme. The Demo version limits you to four
courses with ve assignments each, and the full
version costs around Rs 300.
There are also apps that manage your active pro-
le to your preset settings. PhoneWeaver changes
your prole depending on the time or your location
and battery life to make sure your phone doesnt
ring in class or die on you when youre on the go.
Sweet Dreams is another similar prole manage-
ment app that alters your phone settings to avoid
unwanted calls according to your lters based on
location, movement or sound.

INFORMATION
WikiDroid is a Wikipedia app that allows you to
research anything you need conveniently on your
phone. You can start your research or get more
RealCalc turns your Android into a information on a topic being discussed with its
fully functional scientific calculator. easy-to-use interface and simplistic design. The
free version is ad-supported and the pro version
readers. There are a handful of apps that take read- at Rs 100 is ad-free and
ing and collecting your reading material to the enables you to view saved
next level. MultiReader is a voice reader that can articles ofine.
speak several languages, give you access to online ColorDict Universal
libraries, and run several popular le formats. Dictionary is a useful dic-
WordPlayer is a similar book reader, which lets tionary app. Its more than
you download from amongst millions of books in just a dictionary; its a
seconds, or load from your memory card. Its page thesaurus, bible dictionary
navigation, bookmarking, speech and customizable and foreign-language dic-
settings make reading a breeze. For those that like tionary all rolled into one.
to nd their material online, InstaFetch lets you You can search words and
save complete web pages to your Android device for idioms in several diction-
ofine reading. Turn your phone into a scanner to aries at once and it works
copy that library book that you cant rent out with ofine. A similar vocabu-
DroidScan. You can save les as PDFs and it even lary app is SAT Vocabulary,
corrects your alignment and contrast to give best which gives you more than
results. 4,500 words and denitions
to help prepare for SAT
ORGANIZERS exams that students aspir-
Students are often overworked with assignments, ing to study abroad must
projects, homework and getting them done before appear for. For general
the deadline can be quite difcult. Thinking Space knowledge, you can try
is a mind mapping app for Android that lets you apps like World FactBook
CourePro has custom grading schemes
create visual mind maps to organize your activi- and General Knowledge
which allow you to track your GPA.
ties and ideas. Its great for summarizing lectures, eQuizBook.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

28 SHOPPERS' STOP
ANDROID APPS FOR ENTERTAINMENT
Android App-iness
When youre tired, bored or just need to kill some time, you shouldnt have to
look any further than your Android phone or tablet. Here are some great apps
that will keep you busy and entertained.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA
W
hether youre an avid movie buff, a
music lover, or enjoy messing around
with photos, you can grab plenty of fun
Android apps that will keep you entertained. But
with over 30,000 apps now available in the Android
Market, nding the real gems can take a while.
Here are a few apps for your consideration as far as
entertainment is concerned, and best of all, most
of them are free!
MEDIA PLAYERS
RockPlayer is the best alternative to the default
Android media player. This app supports virtually
all the popular video formats. The only disadvantage
of the free lite version is that it supports advertise-
ments so if you dont want any distractions while
watching your favorite videos, you can buy the full
version for Rs 500. The app comes in three versions
and produces best results with devices with power-
ful processors. For a media player that plays videos
and music, look no further than Meridian Media
Rock Player can play audio and video files and has features
like phone status, file info display, and subtitles.
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
Player. It is free and offers advanced features like
subtitles, le ratings, ID3 tags and gestures. Other
popular media players include Act1 Video Player,
Pandora KMPlayer and YXFlash.
VIDEO STREAMING
The rst site anyone would think of when it comes
to video streaming is YouTube, and of course,
theres an app for it, but if you want to stream
TV shows longer than 10 minutes, then TV Shows
Stream is the app for you. The application searches
over the Internet for hundreds of TV show links
that you can play directly on your device with full
screen support using Megavideo and other host-
ing services. The search results are shown in an
intuitive and easy-to-use interface. The lite version
comes with 12 preselected shows and the full ver-
sion at Rs 180 gives you unlimited access.
Stream Media Player and Full TV episodes are
two other video streaming apps that are worth
their relatively cheap price tag.
MUSIC
TuneWiki is a media player similar to RockPlayer,
but lacking the video playback function, which it
more than makes up for with its advanced music
features. It has a very nice interface, is stable, sup-
ports ID3 tags and gestures and can stream any
music from online sources (various online radio
stations, for example). It also displays the lyrics to
a song using a nice overlay.
If you prefer to listen to your music via internet
radio, you can choose from Winamps Android app,
which streams music from Last.fm, Shoutcast and
FM Radio, which provides you with a wide range of
genres and channels to choose from. Also worth a
mention is Shazam. If youre listening to the radio
or watching TV and you come across a song that

you really like, just let Shazam give it a hear and
it will identify the song and give you more details,
including lyrics.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
There is a wide array of Facebook and Twitter apps
spread across the Android market, but there are a
few apps out there that really stand out. With the
increasing number of social networking websites
hitting the netscape, it is best to have an app that
can update all your different proles with just one
simple push, and thats exactly what Tweetdeck
does for Twitter, Faceb ook, Buzz and Foursquare.
Theres also HootSuite, which does the same, but
with only Twitter and Facebook. For free mobile-
to-mobile messaging and free VoIP calling, there
are apps like Nimbuzz and WhatsApp. The biggest
advantage of apps like these is that they are com-
patible with other operating systems as well.
PicPush is a unique social networking app that
allows you to automatically share your pics and
videos across all popular media services. It gives
you a convenient one-touch service for uploading
media to Facebook, Photobucket, SmugMug, Picassa
and Twitter.
TweetDeck combines your social network
profiles into one page, giving you updates
from all sites in one simple window.
SHOPPERS' STOP 29
IMAGE EDITING
AND PHOTOGRAPHY
For the amateur photo edi-
tor or those that like to mess
around with photos of them-
selves and their friends, apps
like PhotoFunia or PicSay
will give you endless hours
of entertainment. They are
packed with options to distort,
color-correct, add word bal-
loons, titles and add graphics
to your pictures. For the pro-
fessionals, theres Photoshop
Express, which enables you to
make professional changes to
your images.
Another popular app for
avid photographers is Camera
360, which turns your device
into a professional camera
with an impressive set of fea- Shazam identifies unknown songs
tures like touch focus, zoom, for you and even gives you videos,
sh eye, photo symmetry, back- lyrics and concert information.
ground sceneries, and more.
MISCELLANEOUS
There are thousands of other apps that you can
install on your Android device to keep yourself
busy. There are apps that can give you information
on events taking place in your city, like Gigbox,
which gives you details of upcoming music concerts
and festivals near you. Gamecenter is a very useful
app for gamers, highlighting the latest video game
news for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, etc. It is the ultimate
video game app equipped with trailers, cheats, vid-
eos and reviews. Then there are remote apps that
allow you to use your Android device as a remote
for your PC and your media player. Gmote, VLC
Remote and Remote for iTunes are just a few of the
many remote apps.
The list of apps for your entertainment is end-
less and you could spend hours browsing the
Android Market to nd apps that suit you. Many
apps have free lite versions and a full paid version,
so you can test them out before you buy them. Also
keep in mind that most apps require an Internet
connection, either a data plan on your SIM card or
a Wi- connection, so make sure you have access to
the Internet to get the most out of your apps.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
30 SHOPPERS' STOP
ANDROID APPS FOR GAMERS
Get Gaming With Android
With the Google Android gaming platform becoming so commonly used
by game developers, there are lots of great games to choose from. You can
fling vengeful birds at thieving pigs or strategize with friends online to
take over the world.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA
E
veryone has probably played a game on
their phones at one time or another. Mobile
phone gaming has been revolutionized
by the advent of multi-touch screens and high
performance portable devices, making the gam-
ing experience far more interactive and fun. The
Android gaming platform gives developers an
easy scaffolding to build their games around, so
the online market is ooded with new games and
updated versions everyday. Here are some of the
must-haves in different gaming genres.
ARCADE GAMES
Angry Birds is one of the most popular games for
touchscreen devices. Initially developed for the
iPhone, it was quickly modied to run on multiple
operating systems, including Android 1.6 and up.
Slingshot your birds around the level to kill all the pigs. Who
would have thought physics could be so much fun.
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
A simple touch-based game that features challeng-
ing physics-based gameplay with hours of replay
value, it truly tests your patience and determina-
tion.
There are other games that also exploit the
motion sensitivity and touch interface of your
device. Abduction and Doodle Jump are two games
based on a simple motive of upward movement.
The objective is to progress upwards on platforms
by tilting your device left and right to control
your character. Basketball Shot and Paper Toss
are games that require precision nger swiping to
throw balls into a basket. These games are a sure
hit with people of all ages.
ACTION GAMES
Tank Hero is a fairly simple game that involves
controlling a tank to obliterate the enemy. It has
an innovative virtual gamepad for navigation, a
simple tap for ring ammunition and lots of chal-
lenging levels. Compatible with Android 2.1 and
upwards, it is free and promises newer features
and levels in the future.
Crazy Snowboard is an action game that will
keep you on the edge of your seat, with intuitive
controls and tap-based tricks. It is compatible with
Android 2.0 and up and runs fairly smoothly on
most devices.
Another sports action game that is quite popular
is Reckless Racing. It has a single player campaign
as well as a multiplayer mode. The off-road racing
relies on power-sliding and opposite lock, making
every race feel like a sequel to The Fast and the
Furious.
Also check out Sniper, Lets Golf and Guns n
Glory for other great action based games.
 SHOPPERS' STOP 31

to earn, Live Holdem Poker is the perfect x for

gambling enthusiasts. There is also Real BlackJack,
which gives you strategy tips and sharpens your
counting skills for the real deal. You can also cus-
tomize your game to add a variety of rules to make
it a challenge.

ONLINE MULTIPLAYER GAMES

The biggest advantage of Android gaming is that
Play notes, chords and choose your you can collaborate and compete online with other
instrument on a virtual piano with xPiano. real players and some games have harnessed this
opportunity to the fullest. Armored Strike Online
PUZZLE GAMES gives you an array of tanks, weapons and terrain
For those who prefer a bit of brain teasing, there to battle with. The online mode pits you against
are games like WordSearch Unlimited and Chess other users and adds features like zoom and in-
for Android that are hits amongst Android users. game chat and statistics like player rankings and
Theyre both free and will run on any Android a leaderboard. It can be installed on any Android
device. The Moron Test is a uniquely testing game operating system and an initial purchase gives
that questions your IQ and attentiveness. The free you endless free updates.
version allows you to play only the rst level and Uniwar is an online multiplayer strategy game
the paid version gives you three more levels. in which players take turns building their army
Alchemy is a game that requires you to make and ghting against each other using the strengths
more than 300 complex elements by combining the of their units while taking advantage of the terrain.
four basic elements re, earth, water and air. It is You can join several games
a challenging game that keeps you gripped. It runs to increase your player rat-
on Android 1.5 and up. ing. It also has a campaign
Also check out Unblock Me and Bubble Buster mode with a worldwide
for more mind bending fun. leaderboard. Although it is
a paid app, it is truly worth
CASUAL GAMES the small price of Rs 250.
For the casual gamer who prefers to kill time with- The Great Land Grab is
out getting too drawn into a game, there are apps a novel, real-world game
like xPiano, RD3 Groovebox and Guitar Solo that which uses your GPS to
give you the opportunity to create some music of detect your location. The
your own. You can play notes, guitar chords and idea of the game is to claim
drum beats and even record it as reference for the land (via GPS) that
later. Apps like Air Control, Tetris and Untangle you are located in. As you
Me are basic logic games that test your organiza- travel, you can claim more
tional skills. Although there is a high score to con- land or try to grab the land
tend for, the games have a calming effect and are owned by someone else.
perfect for unwinding or keeping you busy when You can purchase lawyers
youre in a waiting room or on the bus. and building permits to
buy other parcels of land
CARD GAMES near you and build stores
Solitaire comes with a collection of different for- on your land. Its a great
mats of the game made famous by Windows, includ- way to travel and see new
ing regular, spider, free cell and forty thieves. It is places around you.
compatible with all versions of Android. Other multiplayer
Live Holdem Poker Pro allows you to play Texas online games include Pool
Hold em Poker online with millions of Poker Pros Break Pro and a virtual Uniwar offers online gaming, which
and beginners. With features like live chat, tour- Pictionary style What the means you can play against real
nament mode, personal avatars and virtual money Doodle?
players.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

32 SHOPPERS' STOP

UPCOMING ANDROID DEVICES

Android Devices
On The Horizon
With more companies joining the Open
Handset Alliance and with Googles new
Android 3.0 Honeycomb release, there are
some exciting new devices that are about
to hit the market. These smartphones and
tablets are going to take the market by storm.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA

G
oogle released Android 2.3 Gingerbread The screen is the same size and resolution as the
in December 2010, and 3.0 Honeycomb on Xperia X10. The QWERTY keypad on the X10 has
January 26, so manufacturers are yet to been replaced by a slide-out game controller,
release their new smartphones and tablets run- and it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. With a
ning these operating systems. With an updated BRAVIA Engine powering the screen and a 1 GHz
user interface, support for extra large screen sizes processor, it promises a smooth and clear gaming
and improved power management, Gingerbread experience. There are already some games avail-
will give manufacturers the choice to make smart- able on demo devices and will soon be available on
phones with larger screens and better resolutions the Android Market.
and offer higher performance hardware and utili-
ties. Honeycomb, on the other hand, is optimized
for tablets with support for multi-core processors
and 3D graphics. It also offers tabbed browsing and
syncing with Google Chrome. Here are a few sup-
ported devices that will be
here soon.

SONY ERICSSON
XPERIA PLAY
With the success of the
PSP and PS3, it was only a
matter of time before Sony
made a PlayStation phone.
With the recent reveal of
the latest Xperia series
phone called Play, theyve
done just that. The phone
was launched on the Feb-
ruary 13 at the Mobile
World Congress 2011 and
is expected in India soon.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT

 SHOPPERS' STOP 33

camera setup on the back, which you can later

view on a 3D TV via its HDMI port. It runs a dual-
core 1 GHz OMAP 4 processor, dual-channel RAM,
has dual 1080p cameras, and a 4.3-inch 800480
MOTOROLA XOOM screen. It has a parallax barrier to create the 3D
The Motorola Xoom tablet was unveiled at CES effect, which means you no longer need those
2011 this January and when Google revealed its annoying 3D glasses. The Optimus 3D is powered
new Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, it was showcased by Android 2.3 Gingerbread and is tipped to begin
on the Xoom as well. It runs on Nvidia's Tegra 2 shipping in the second quarter of 2011.
platform, with a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of
RAM, and 32 GB of on-board user memory, plus an MOTOROLA ATRIX
SD card slot. The display measures 10.1 inches, and Motorolas new Atrix is being touted as the worlds
it packs a 1280x800 resolution display. Honeycomb most powerful smartphone. It runs on Android
has integrated 3D carousels for music, YouTube, 2.2, with HTML5 support, on a dual-core processor
and Google Books, and the Xoom has integrated with 1 GB of RAM. It also boasts a browser thats
the navigation buttons into the touch interface. twice as fast as any competing Web browser. The
The Xoom and Android 3.0 looks to be a winning shocker though is
combination. Motorola is said to release the that it docks into a
tablet on February 17 at an estimated price of laptop. The Atrix
$700 (approximately Rs 32,000). Webtop Applica-
tion docks your
LG OPTIMUS 3D phone into a lap-
LG has followed up on the success of its Opti- top and uses it to
mus phone with the Optimus 3D.It has a 4.3- power the laptop.
inch glasses-free 3D display, which is quite It also docks into
effective for games and movies and you can an HD dock that
even lm your own 3D videos using the dual has three USB
ports and an HDMI
port, enabling
connections to a
keyboard, mouse,
speakers and
HDMI-compatible
monitor. There is
still no informa-
tion on an India
release date or
pricing.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

34 DO IT YOURSELF

RUN ANDROID OFF A USB DRIVE

LET ANDROID POWER

YOUR NETBOOK
Just like you can get a live bootable Linux OS on your system without any
installation, Android can help you do the same on a non-touch screen
device. Read on to know how you can create a live Android OS set right
from your USB device!
BY KAMAKASHI S

I
f you have heard enough about the Android
platform, but are wary about investing in an
Android-powered device, here is one way you
can power up your netbook or laptop with a non-
touch version of Android.
This version, the Android x86, is equivalent to
Android OS version 1.6 (there is a stable release for
version 2.1 and an unstable one for version 2.2 as
well), which was originally called patch hosting
for Android x86 support.
This project was originally created as a patch
for non-compliant systems to be a part of the The system is extremely light and boots
Android technology movement. It offers support up without any delay on an Intel Core 2
Duo-backed system.
for Intel chipsets to run the platform on devices

like netbooks and tablets, especially those using

Atom processors. Thus you can enjoy Android on
your Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 powered
netbooks and laptps too.

THE REQUIRED TOOLS

Plug in your USB device and start UNetbootin. Load the ISO and
select the device to mount the Android OS.
Once you have decided to take Android on a dry
run, youll need a USB drive with at least 256 MB
of free storage space. It is advisable to back up any
data on it so that this becomes a dedicated boot-
able device for the Android OS.
tNext, you need to arrange for the Android X 86
setup files. Go to http://go.chip.in/nlotp, and save
the android-x86-1.6-r2.iso file listed under the
Stable Release section. Alternatively, you can use

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT

 DO IT YOURSELF 35

the Version 2.2 bridge to mount. For that download

the " android-x86-2.2-generic.iso" file instead from
the Stable Release section.
Next, mount the ISO le to create a live boot-
able USB drive. Go to http://go.chip.in/lndnf and
save the Windows version of UNetbootin. Now, you
can proceed to turn your USB into a Live Android
OS boot source.

SETTING UP THE USB DEVICE

Once you have all the required tools set up, pro-
ceed to converting your USB drive into a bootable
Live USB drive. Plug in your USB drive and run the
UNetbootin application. Select the Diskimage
Select the 'Live CD - Run Android-x86 without installation' option
option and browse to and load the ISO le. Next, and proceed to load the OS on your system.
set the type to USB Drive and select the USB
drive from the drop down menu. Click OK, and
your live bootable USB is ready for use.
After all the les are copied, you will be
prompted for a reboot. You can click Reboot to
launch the Android OS right away or you can use it
through the ash drive when required.

BOOTING UP THE SYSTEM

If you want your system to boot into the Android
OS, you must change the boot sequence. For that,
start your PC and enter the BIOS menus. Set your
ash drive as the booting drive. If your system
doesnt support booting ash drives, you can
directly burn the ISO le on to a CD and use the
CD as a live OS instead.
On booting, select the Live CD, and select the Just like in a regular Android device, you can customize the intro
Run Android x86 without installation option. screen with widgets.
Being light, it takes little time to load up.

SURFING ON ANDROID
The Android x 86 extends support to cameras,
Wi-Fi, and more. Although it has been tested on
several platforms with positive results, it may not
work ne with every setup. For instance, we tried
using the setup with a Dell laptop. The camera and
recorder worked ne, but the Wi-Fi options did
not work. Moreover, it requires a SD card to save
data; it doesnt really save or pick up anything
from your hard-drive. Any apps you install will
be available for the current session only, and you
will not nd them on reboot. Although Android
does offer a decent surng experience, it is not
recommended that you install the OS on your The OS comes with a set of pre-existing apps and widgets. Since it
hard disk. doesn't support Wi-Fi, you might not be able to do much.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

36 DO IT YOURSELF

GAIN SUPERUSER ACCESS

GETTING TO THE ROOT

OF YOUR ANDROID
The biggest advantage of using a smartphone with an open source OS is
the level of customization you can have with it, that too without too much
professional help. Rooting your phone will help you get started. Heres a
quick guide to help root your Android device.
BY KAMAKSHI S

U
nlike jailbreaking, rooting is a perfectly
legal and well promoted process, which
comes with several benets. For starters
you can upgrade the rmware on your phone to
house the latest operating system. However, if you
are a new user, ashing your memory even with
adequate back up may not be such a smart thing
to do.

WHAT IS ROOTING?
In the simplest of terms, rooting means getting
superuser privileges on your Android device.
While the term rooting
is not new for Linux
users, it means gaining
right to script on the
kernel shell. It is similar
Windows administrator
rights in Windows, who
can control every run-
ning aspect that the OS
offers. For most phones,
this root access is not
really encrypted so root
access gives you com-
plete access to every
aspect of your OS.
WHY ROOT?
To start rooting, you must give access to With a rooted phone,
the external application. For this, keep the you can uninstall
Unknown sources option checked.
ROM applications that
After collecting the required tools, prepare
your phone for rooting by enabling the USB
Debugging option.
you dont need, but once these apps have been
removed, you cannot reset your phone to fac-
tory settings for damage control. So when you do
remove an app, make sure that you know it will
not hamper the regular working of your phone.
If upgrading the OS versions gives you the jitters,
you can use apps that need root access to perform
exclusive functions like tethering.
HOW IS IT DONE?
For this demo, we would be rooting a Sony Erics-
son Xperia X10 mini pro that has been upgraded
to Android 2.1 clair. The procedure to root the
same phone for Android version 1.6 is the same.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT

 DO IT YOURSELF 37

However, after every rmware upgrade, you will

have to root your phone. Make sure you back up
your data after every root process.

WARMING UP
If you wish to start with a rmware upgrade on
your phone right from the vendors, visit http://
go.chip.in/siuty. Download, install and update
your phone using the upgrade offered. Next start
your phone, go to Settings | Applications. Check
on the Unknown sources option. Proceed to the
Development sub menu and turn on the USB
Debugging option.

GATHER THE TOOLS SuperOneClick v1.5.5 ideally roots Android v1.6. This phone was
Apart from the updates for your phone, you need running on v2.1, which is automatically detected by the application.
to install you phone drivers and the SuperOneClick
tool. You can get the phone drivers from the Sony
Ericsson PC component from http://go.chip.in/
relxm, and you can download the SuperOneClick
tool from http://go.chip.in/lxevg.
Install the phone drivers and plug
in your phone to your PC with the USB
cable. Unzip the contents of the ZIP file
and youre ready to start with the rooting
process.

ROOTING THE DEVICE

Once your phone is connected to your PC, make
sure that the drivers load up and your system
recognizes the device. Start the SuperOneClick
application and click Root.
If it throws up any errors, try rooting the Once the OS version is verified, click Root to proceed with the
phone again. If the app goes into a loop instead, rooting. If it loops the process, restart the USB Debugging option.
just restart the USB Debugging mode on your
phone while it is still connected to the PC. Once
rooted, your phone will spot a superuser app. You
can now go ahead and explore.

BACKING UP DATA
Once you have rooted your device, you may want
to upgrade the rmware to the latest version of
Android. It is advisable to back up all you data on
to your SD card with a reliable tool. One such tool
is Titanium Backup Pro.
Priced at Rs 270.22, you would also need the
BusyBox app to help you back up your les. Apart
from these, youll need a tool to back up your
messages. You can use Backup to Gmail, which is
priced Rs 90.25 and can back up all your messages After rooting, the Superuser icon is made available to your phone.
and send them to your Gmail account. You might have to give the application 'su' rights to proceed.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

38 DO IT YOURSELF

HOW TO TETHER YOUR ANDROID DEVICE

EXPAND YOUR NET

WITH TETHERING
With the advent of 3G and unbelievably fast Internet speeds from mobile
service providers, tethering is going to be a big hit with Android users.
Share your service providers 3G speeds wirelessly, by USB or by Bluetooth;
the choice is yours.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA

T
ethering basically means using an Internet-
enabled device as a modem for another
device, generally a notebook or a PC. What
this means is that you can ditch your broadband
service and tether your Android device with your
PC and use it a modem, sharing your mobile Inter-
net service between your phone and your PC.
TETHERING WITH FROYO
Most Android devices in the market today run on
Android 2.1 clair or 1.6 Donut and only recently this point, Mac does not support USB tethering.
have newer products running on 2.2 FroYo been
introduced. If you are using an Android FroYo
device, tethering will be pretty easy as it is a
built-in option in your
wireless and network
settings. All you have to
do is choose from teth-
ering it via USB cable or
turning it into a Wi-Fi
hotspot.
Tethering with your
USB cable is simple if
youre running Win-
dows 7, Windows Vista
or Linux. The Android
users guide gives you have a built in option for tethering, but that doesnt
simple, easy to follow
instructions and cong- which you can still tether your device for Internet
Google has added tethering as a feature to urations to setup your
Android 2.2 (FroYo). device for USB tethering.
It gets a little more complicated when you tether
with Windows XP. First, you must download a con-
guration le tetherxp.inf and save it on your PC.
When you connect you device to your PC with the
USB cable, Windows XPs New Hardware Wizard
will open and ask to install drivers for your new
device. Here, you must manually select and install
the conguration le you have downloaded, which
then congures XP to support USB tethering with
your Android device. It is also worth noting that at
Turning your FroYo device into a Wi-Fi hotspot
is much quicker and easier. As long as your mobile
phone service has a data plan, all you have to do
is go into the wireless and network settings and
congure your device to act as a Wi-Fi hotspot. You
can leave it as an open access point or even assign a
WPA2 PSK password to restrict access. The advan-
tage of portable Wi-Fi hotspot tethering is that
more than one device can use your Internet at the
same time. It is also easier to tether for Windows
XP and Macintosh users and other cellular devices.
TETHERING WITH CLAIR
OR EARLIER
Android operating systems before FroYo did not
mean you cannot do it. There are many ways in
access, either by using tethering apps, rooting your
device, or using a proxy server.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT

 DO IT YOURSELF 39

TETHERING APP THAT NEEDS ROOT Proxoid. This method

ACCESS is completely free and
Android Wi-Fi Tether is an app that turns your relatively easier than
device into a Wi-Fi hotspot with one simple tap. rooting your device,
There is a fair bit of conguration to be done but it does require
before you can get there though. First, you have to installing the Android
get root access to your device, a fairly complicated, SDK software on your
multi-step process that uses an unofcial Android computer and changing
add-on, which can turn your device into a brick if your browsers proxy
applied incorrectly. You can read the Getting to settings each time you
the root of your Android article in this issue to get want to tether.
better information and directions on rooting your
Android device. TETHERING APP
Once you have rooted your phone, you must WITHOUT ROOT
download and install the Android Wi-Fi Tether app, By far the easiest
which is available at 'http://go.chip.in/witether'. method for tethering
Note that the app is made specic to your devices is by using the PDANet
hardware and so a different version must be down- app. The free version of Proxoid helps share your Android device's
loaded for different devices. This app can now turn the app gives you access Internet connection with other devices.
your device into a Wi-Fi hotspot and clients can to all basic websites and
connect via ad-hoc Wi-Fi mode or by Bluetooth to gives you limited 14-day access to secure (https)
get access to the Internet. websites. The full version is currently priced at $24
Although this process is free and doesnt require (approx Rs 1,125).
any extra software or messing with your com- You can nd both versions of the app on the
puter's settings, you can do serious harm to your Android Market and you will also need to install
Android device if something goes wrong. the PC software from the PDANet website. Once
you have installed the app and the software, all
TETHERING BY PROXY you need to do is make one small adjustment
If you are not condent enough to root your device, to your phones settings by checking the USB
you can try using the Proxoid app to tether your debugging option in your devices development
phone via USB. Proxoid turns your Android device settings. Now connect your device to your com-
into a proxy server that your computer uses to puter, run the PDANet app, and select Enable USB
make Internet requests. tether.
The app is currently free on the Android Market, There is also an option
but to get access to your devices Internet connec- for Bluetooth tethering if
tion, you need to install the Android SDK or device you wish to tether your
drivers onto your computer, tweak some of the device wirelessly. Now run
settings, and then congure your browser to use the PDANet software on
a proxy server whenever you want to tether. You your computer, right-click
can download and install the Android SDK from on the icon in the system
the Android for Developers page or get a modi- tray, select Connect from
ed version for Proxoid from http://go.chip.in/ the pop-up menu, and
proxoid-sdk. Once installed, connect your device youre ready to surf.This
via USB and set it so that the USB debugging option is the quickest and easiest
is turned on. method for tethering, but
Now you must congure your browser to use a if you want access to secure
proxy server to connect to the Internet. Proxoid sites such as online bank-
uses the server name localhost and port 8080. ing and credit card pay-
You also need to run a batch le named start- ment pages, you will need
tunnel.bat in the proxy-adb folder. Once the to spend approximately Rs
proxy settings have been done, all you have to do 1,200 to buy the full version PDA Net is the easiest way to tether
is run Proxoid on your device and check Start from the PDA Net website. your device via USB or Bluetooth.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

40 TECH TALK

CAREERS IN APP DEVELOPMENT

GIVE YOUR CAREER AN AN

While there are many great apps that have been developed for smartphones,
this is clearly a market with lots of growth potential, especially as
smartphone functionality continues to evolve. And with growing demand for
apps comes an increase in career opportunities for mobile app developers.
BY KUSHAL MAMOOWALA

M
obile app development is How much growth have
quickly turning into one you seen in the recent years
of the hottest IT sectors. in the mobile app market?
Android is currently the second Has the growth of tablets
highest selling mobile phone OS and also added to the enthusi-
gaining popularity according to a asm?
study from Gartner Inc. Gartner also There has been a signicant
claims that $15.9 billion is expected growth in the mobile industry,
in end-user spending in 2012 alone which has also had a positive impact
and mobile apps will soon drive hard- on the mobile app industry. The
Salil Bhargava, CEO and
ware sales, advertising spending and smartphone segment has seen an
spokesperson, Jump Games
technology innovations. exponential growth in the consump-
In addition, Androids open source tion of mobile apps in the past couple
code enables developers all over the world to put of years. The growth of tablets has denitely added
their programming skills to use and develop their to the enthusiasm, with companies like Apple
apps individually. Several app and game develop- and Google launching tablets that offer iOS and
ment companies have sprung up in the recent past Android apps respectively.
and developers are quickly growing in numbers in
India and all over the world. How much has the Android phenom-
Google and the Android website already pro- enon influenced this growth?
vide users with a software development kit (SDK). The Android phenomenon has had a signicant
Application programming is generally done in impact on the growth of mobile apps, with a lot of
Java and the advent and adoption of HTML5 into developers focusing on the Android platform to
Web browsers and mobile Web browsers means a leverage their product offering.
sound knowledge in HTML5 and Java is critical for
future Android app developers. How much app support do you pro-
It is vital to understand the user experience as vide to Android users?
these apps are much more user driven than tradi- We believe that it is a very key market for us
tional softwares. and so we make sure that every game we develop
We spoke with Salil Bhargava, CEO and spokes- at Jump Games is also available on the Android
person for Jump Games about the prospects of platform. Android is vital in terms of our product
mobile phone app development. strategy and roadmap going forward.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


ANDROID JOLT
Considering that an open source OS
has frequent version upgrades, is it diffi-
cult or easy to adapt to the changes of a
popular app?
Adaptation to changes and upgrades is an ongo-
ing process for any mobile app as the platform for
which it has been developed evolves. With business
and technology trends changing on a regular basis,
it is imperative to keep updating your app to meet
the market requirement.
When you have apps which have
been a major hit across platforms, is it
more difficult or easier to maintain their
popularity?
It is both actually. While the popularity of the
app will help in getting the extra push in acquir-
ing new users and thereby keeping the app up the
popularity charts, it is also an ongoing process to
keep updating the app (it could be by adding new
features, additional levels, new game modes, etc)
to retain user interest and keep them coming back
for more.
With companies integrating social networking,
navigation and documentation apps into their
devices, there is a lot of scope for other apps and
games to be integrated as well. Developers that
stay abreast of the latest technologies and inno-
vations could make their apps stand out from the
rest of the pack.
TECH TALK 41
TOP 10 APP CATEGORIES FOR 2012
 Location-based services (LBSs) - Location is one of the main
enablers that deliver services to users, and Gartner expects the total
user base of consumer LBSs to reach 1.4 billion users by 2014.
 Social networking - Social network platforms are sucking in
increasing amounts of network traffic. They are becoming portals,
transit hubs and cloud storage for increasing amounts of messaging
and e-mail traffic, videos, photos, games and commerce.
 Mobile search - Visual search is usually related with product search
to enable price comparisons or to check product information. This
would allow users to take actions based on the result, like making a
call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and so on.
 Mobile commerce - Over the next 24 months, Gartner expects the
emergence of uniquely mobile functions, such as the ability to check
in to a store to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a
photo of an item or bar code in the physical store.
 Mobile payment - In order to get consumers on board, payment
solution providers need to address ease-of-use for users and ease-
of-implementation for customers without compromising security.
 Context-aware service - Context-aware applications provide
improved user experiences by using information about a persons
intentions, history, environment, schedule, connections and
preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve the most
appropriate content, product, or service.
 Object recognition (OR) - High-end devices have increased sensor
and processing capability to enable sophisticated applications
recognize the users surroundings, including objects of interest.
 Mobile instant messaging (MIM) - Gartner expects MIM to attract
consumers to new types of unified communication (UC) clients,
provided by over the top (OTT) service providers such as Skype.
 Mobile e-mail - Gartner expects mobile e-mail users worldwide
to increase from 354 million in 2009 to 713 million in 2014.
E-mail addresses are personal and potentially very sticky, thus
provide carriers, e-mail service providers and OTT players with an
opportunity to lock in consumers.
 Mobile video - Devices with larger screens offer the ideal platform
for video consumption and with careful marketing and consumer
education. Gartner believes that carriers and content providers
would be able to drive mobile video usage in the coming years.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
42 TECH TALK

DEVELOPING ANDROID APPS

GEAR UP: ANDROID AP

With the constant rise in the number of tablets and smartphones powered
by Android, switching to app development in the Android space makes sense.
Moreover, since the OS is based on another open-source operating system,
Linux, migrating might not be as cumbersome as you may have imagined.
BY KAMAKASHI S

A
ndroid has become a very exciting plat-
form for budding developers to challenge
their Java skills. Although the technology
is quite recent, its success has been booming to
say the least.
With a plethora of apps already available on
the Android Market and users ocking to buy
Android-based devices, now is the right time to
put your Java skills to good use. Heres all you
need to know about Android:
OPEN-SOURCE
Since the technology is projected as being open-
source, you can modify the source code for any
personal use without any legal violation. The
operating system itself is a code combination of
C and Java, just like Linux, which is also coded
mainly on C.
As a developer, you can contribute not just to
app development, but also to develop add-ons and
plug-ins that can help the system become a bit
more robust.
THE OPEN HANDSET ALLIANCE
What makes Android a better environment for
application development is the open handset alli-
ance that Google has entered into with 80 tech-
nology and mobile companies. Not only can you
switch between phone and port data with ease,
but as an app developer, the number of downloads
for your app can also grow wider because the
technology is in its original form across devices.
While there are things like form factor and
hardware composition to worry about, the com-
patibly issues are ironed out by the Android SDK
itself, as the relevant compatibly packages are
made available in the source code by default.
THE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
As knowledge of modication to the source code
of the OS is irrelevant while you develop the apps,
you dont really need to master C.
You only need to be procient in Java,
because the OS features a modied Java Runtime
Environment called as the Android Execution
Environment, thus making its installation and
upgrade process convenient.
However, there are certain preset guidelines
that your app needs to follow if you wish for it to
run on the target devices with ease.
GARNERING THE ARMOR
Once you have decided to take the Android road
to app development, you will realize that the SDK
is designed to make the process as comfortable as
can be. To start off, you would need the Android
SDK and AVD Manager to utilize the latest tools or
platform.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT


PP DEVELOPMENT 101
Begin with the standard Android SDK package.
You can install it from http://developer.android.
com/sdk/index.html depending on the OS of the
system that you need to develop your app. If you
are confused about which Integrated Develop-
ment Environment (IDE) to use, you can settle for
Eclipse.
To run the Eclipse IDE, you would need to
equip your machine with Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede)
or greater and the Eclipse JDT plugin, JDK 5 or
JDK 6 (just the JRE alone would not work) and
the Android Development Tools plugin. You will
nd the Eclipse tools at http://www.eclipse.org/
downloads/.
TECH TALK 43
Sachin Pandit
While there are many packages that you
can use from the site, the one recommend on
the Android Developer forum consists of the
following utilities:
 Eclipse IDE for Java Developers
 Eclipse Classic (versions 3.5.1 and higher)
 Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers
Other IDEs that you can opt for include Apache
Ant 1.8 or later, IntelliJ or Emacs. However, the
Android SDK is not compatible with Gnu Compiler
for Java (gcj).
Once you have all the tools in place, you
need to check your computers hardware
prole before you start the coding process.
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
44 TECH TALK
SETTING UP YOUR SYSTEM
The Android SDK, its specied plug-ins and IDEs
can work ne with Windows, Mac OS and Linux
operating systems which support 32-bit applica-
tions. It can work with Windows XP (32-bit), Vista
(32- or 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit), Mac
OS X 10.5.8 or x86, Ubuntu Linux version 8.04 or
later, or Lucid Lynx, which comes equipped with
the GNU C Library (glibc) 2.7 or later.
You will require between 195-600 MB of free
space for the tools, apart from the required
tools mentioned in the previous section. All the
specied tools can be found at http://developer.
android.com/sdk/index.html.
CRACKING THE CODE
Once you have your system set, you need to start
developing your app. You can either develop a
standalone utility app or a service that runs in
the background.
If you are planning to contribute to make the
source code to the Android OS better instead, you
can either send forth reports or send bug xes, or
add to the tools and utilities in the form of plug-
ins, services and apps. For details on how you can
contribute to the open source project of Android,
visit http://source.android.com/index.html
The apps that are compatible with Android
devices need to work efciently in the Android
A sample code on the Android SDK and an emulator that helps you
see what you have coded in real time.
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
execution environment, and hence the rst
requirement is that it needs to be compiled in an
.APK le format.
While this is a mandate, another mandate is to
code the required manifest les with the required
details. These manifest les will help make the
app available only for those devices which fulll
the required hardware, OS version, and form fac-
tor values.
While these mandates have to be followed by
you as an app developer, the ofcial forum has
also put up certain practices that can help you
make your app more efcient and hence more
popular when you put it on the Market.
These practices include designing apps that
dont drain the battery, have a good response
time, and dont crash. For more details, you
can visit http://developer.android.com/guide/
index.html.
The process for putting your apps up for sale
or free distribution is explained in detail in the
article titled in this issue.
TESTING YOUR FINAL PRODUCT
Like every other software that you code, it is a
good practice to test your product on the coding
level (white box testing) and also with sample
values once the app is ready (black box testing).
The SDK and Eclipse IDE provide you with a strong
set of tools to not only test your apps, but to also
debug them with efciency and ease if you detect
any code errors on nal testing.
When you carry out black box testing on your
app, you can gure out a simulation on how the
app would run on your target users device. Thus,
you can not only avoid unwanted forced shut
downs of your app, but you can also create regu-
lar xes and patches if your app has developed a
runtime error reported by users after it has been
released.
SHARING SUCCESS
If you nd it difcult to code and need some
inspiration to continue your app journey, there
are several reference libraries, video tutorials and
blog posts that can come to your rescue. These
include developer tips and talks with successful
app makers, and they will keep you updated on
new features and plug-ins that can help you code
your apps better.
 TECH TALK 45

A GATHERING FOR UBUNTU DEVELOPERS

Indias First Ubuntu

Developer Day
In an effort to unify developers and open source partners, Canonical hosted its
inaugural Ubuntu Developer Day in Bangalore.
BY KAMAKSHI S

January saw Indias rst inaugural Ubuntu Devel-

Jon Melamut, VP Product and Sales, OEM Services, Canonical delivered
the keynote speech at the event.
oper Day. Canonical, which provides Ubuntu solu-
tions worldwide, launched the rst ever Ubuntu
Developer Day in Bangalore. There were several
presentations for technologies, including Ubuntu,
Ubuntu uTouch and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.
There were also demonstrations on platforms like
the Ubuntu Netbook Edition, Ubuntu Light, and
Ubuntu 10.10.
We were very pleased with the interaction at
the event and the opportunity to update this very
important audience for Ubuntu, said Jon Mela-
mut, VP Product and Sales, OEM Services, Canoni-
cal. He went on to add, We were expecting around

W
ith the meteoric rise in interest sur-
rounding Android technologies, it was
the turn of another Linux based oper-
ating system to take the spotlight. The end of
200 people, so to get at least a 50 percent increase
on our forecast shows the popularity of Ubuntu in
a key country like India with its huge potential for
users and developers on open platforms.

The day long event saw many enthusiastic Ubuntu developers coming together. The question-answer sessions saw a healthy exchange of ideas.

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011

46 TECH TALK
CAREERS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
MCA: BUILD A CAREER IN IT
If you didnt get into the engineering college of your choice, dont lose hope.
You can opt for an MCA degree instead and still have a bright career in IT.
BY PRI YANK A T ILVE
M
CA, or Master of Computer Appli-
cation, is a post graduate degree
that is quite popular amongst those
with IT backgrounds as well as those new to
the eld. Its an extensive three-year mas-
ters program divided into six semesters that
grooms you into a full-edged IT professional.
The course is developed in sync with the latest
trends in IT and covers areas like software devel-
opment, systems management, systems develop-
ment, systems engineering, application software,
management information systems (MIS), hardware
technology, networking, etc.
WHY MCA?
After having successfully completed the MCA
course, a student can establish a career as a Soft-
ware Programmer, Software Engineer, Software
Developer, Systems Analyst, Software Application
Architect, Software Consultant, etc.
Thiruvengadam P, Leader, Human Capital Advi-
sory Services, Deloitte in India says there is a
healthy demand for MCAs in the industry. An
MCA is a person who has either a skill of develop-
ing a system into proper code or can be trained
and developed in any area of IT, like testing,
programming, etc. A person who has certain
limitations of getting into good quality engineer-
ing colleges could opt for MCA as it gives them a
denite career opportunity. After three years of
MCA, you would denitely have a job. They can
further do additional courses to enhance their job
prospects and qualications.
Gaurav Sharma, who completed his MCA from
Uttar Pradesh Technical University in 2006 and
now works as Senior Software Engineer with SAIC
India, agrees with him, You start working in
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
the third year of MCA itself, so it actually comes
to two years. You save one year and earn money
as well. Since youve done masters in computers,
you are supposed to be already groomed in terms
of technical and professional aspects. Most com-
panies dont groom their MCA freshers on how to
deal with the client. Its all expected from them.
He states further, Stepping into the market
having a MCA degree opens many doors for you.
You can go for research work, pure development,
support and maintenance, application enhance-
ment, testing, and even teaching. In MCA, you are
supposed to study 36 subjects in an elaborative
manner. These 36 subjects help you choose your
subject for research and teaching and for develop-
ment. In MCA, you need to complete two profes-
sional trainings, which give you a very clear idea
about the current market trends. So having prior
knowledge in the area youll be working in helps
you in searching for the right job.
WHO CAN CHOOSE MCA?
Its a degree anyone can pursue regardless of their
educational background. Gaurav says, I wanted
to do something in my career which is related
to the computers. I have done B.Sc. and I wanted
to do a professional course that would give me
good exposure to computers. As I had no IT back-
ground, MCA proved to be a very good platform
for me, because the rst semester gave me ample
time to bridge the gap.
On the other hand, Thiruvengadam P feels that
MCA is also a great and easy option for those who
could not get into engineering. MCA is an easier
option. Engineering has problems associated with
it in terms of fees, the ability to get into the right
institution, and so on. The number of people who

have got the basic skills like numerical analysis
and aptitude can opt for MCA instead of engineer-
ing, which focuses on learning a lot more than
what is required for coding in the IT industry. Also,
the private institutes that offer courses similar to
MCA have tie-ups with companies for placement,
which is good. So before opting for an institute,
you should check their records, credentials, place-
ments, etc.
GROWTH PROSPECTS
An MCA fresher starts as a programmer and
acquires additional skills as they interact with
their teams. They would move on to becom-
ing analysts, architects or senior programmers
and, in the long term, even project managers.
However, they could hit the ceiling in terms of
growth because of their non-engineering back-
ground, but if they are smart enough, they can
easily surpass it. It all depends on their skills,
Thiruvengadam P says.
Gaurav agrees. The very rst advantage is that
MCA is a masters degree that helps in building your
career. For instance, if you have completed B.Tech
or BE, after a particular stage, your growth can
stagnate, so if you want to be a project manager
or head of a particular department, you wont be
given preference. At that stage, you would need to
take admission in some distance learning course to
be the eligible for that post. But with a MCA degree,
you have the advantage of having the required edu-
cational experience. So according to me, MCA is a
complete package.
QUALIFICATIONS AND ENTRANCE
EXAM
There are many institutes that offer MCA courses
across India, and these courses are accredited
by the All India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE), New Delhi. Its a post graduate course and
a candidate has to appear for a written entrance
exam. Candidates have to secure 50 percent or
above in their Bachelors or equivalent degree. Some
universities may also require the candidate to have
studied mathematics during graduation.
There are two kinds of entrance exams one
is the common entrance exam like NIMCET con-
ducted by the NITs, while institutes like the
Symbiosis (Pune), Birla Institute of Technology
(Ranchi), etc. conduct their own entrance exams.
Additionally states like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa
and Maharashtra also conduct their own common
TECH TALK 47
entrance exams. Even though there are different
entrance exams, the content is more or less the
same. It tests the candidates for mathematical,
logical, analytical, basic computers and general
knowledge.
Gaurav has a word of advice for those wanting
to pursue an MCA degree. Work hard in the rst
and second semester, because the study method
and preparation mechanism for exams is very dif-
ferent in MCA. These two semesters are the foun-
dations of your degree. Students should normally
start preparing for the entrance exam of MCA in
the years of graduation itself. Elite institutes offer
a very good environment to study and handsome
employment opportunities through campus place-
ments. If non-IT students study the basics of C, C++
(or any other computer language), it will work to
their advantage, since many universities include
these languages in their entrance exam.
SOME INSTITUTES OFFERING MCA
 Delhi Institute of Advanced Studies, New
Delhi
 University of Madras, Chennai, Tamil
Nadu.
 ICFAI University, Tripura
 Fergusson College, Pune
 Annamalai University, Chitambaram,
Tamil Nadu.
 Apeejay Institute of Technology, Noida,
Uttar Pradesh.
 Bangalore Institute of Technology,
Bangalore.
 Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra.
 SIES College of Management Studies,
Nerul, Navi Mumbai
 Sinhgad Institute of Management and
computer application, Pune
 Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute,
Mumbai
 Institute of Information Technology and
Management, New Delhi
 Nirma Institute of Technology,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
 Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh.
 MET Institute of Computer Science,
Bandra, Mumbai
 Indira Gandhi National Open University
(IGNOU)
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
48 TECH TALK
INNOVATIONS
A BIONIC ARM FOR
THE DISABLED
Robotic prosthetics can be life changers for those with physical disabilities,
but such technology demands a hefty price, which not many can afford.
Nitesh Kumar Jangir shows us an economical alternative and explains the
working of his robotic bionic arm.
BY KAMAKASHI S
NITESH KUMAR JANGIR
Nitesh hold s a B.E . i n Elec t ron ics &
Communication Engineering from RGPV
University of Technology of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal. His other projects include infrared
music transistor, PLCC with microcontrollers,
DTMF controlled UMV, automatic CCTV, and
automatic currency checker. An avid robotics
enthusiast, he has attended training programs
in Texas Instruments 32-bit microcontroller
and several others as well.
MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT
P
hysical disabilities are hard to cope with,
especially if youve been used to life with
normal motor skills. While prosthetics is
the way forward, the huge costs mean that it isnt
the most viable option. However, Nitesh Kumar
Jangir from RGPV Bhopal has designed a robotic
bionic arm with advanced sensors, which is not
only useful but also economical for people with
disabilities.
His project has been entered into various com-
petitions, including Prayas at IITB, IIT KGP and an
international conference at Nirma University. It
has also cleared round one of the Intel Embedded
Challenge.
THE IDEA
Although it is not rare to nd disabled people
with articial limbs, the numbers are still rela-
tively small because of the high price and cost of
maintenance. Nitesh explains, Prosthetics give
new life to a person with physical disability. If a
person loses his arm in an accident, an articial
body part is a boon to them.
He goes on to add, Development in the eld of
prosthetics has been going on for a long time and
many people are using these arms, but these are
still out of the reach of many people due to their
high cost and unavailability of proper resources,
so people who cant afford them remain handi-
capped. This led me to develop my bionic arm,
which is of low cost and can work like costly
prosthetics.

THE GENERAL IMPACT OF
THE PROJECT
While an arm equipped with complex neural
networks or articial intelligence technologies
can be most convenient, they are also expensive
to develop. Talking about his creation, Nitesh
explains, This robotic arm works on the galvanic
response of the human body. Due to the response
of the skin and muscle tissue to these external
and internal stimuli, the resistance can vary.
When correctly calibrated, the galvanic skin
response can measure these subtle differences.
The galvanic skin response, known as GSR, is
highly sensitive to emotions for some people. I
have used this concept for this project, where I
have calibrated this arm to the human body. It
is not just a simple robot arm with embedded sen-
sors, but it can also intimate the wearer about the
temperature of objects. The idea was to design an
arm similar to those made using neural technol-
ogy, but only cheaper.
THE DESIGN
Nitesh describes what is required to work such
a complex system. The system requires eight
electrodes, foot Opamp, one ATMEGA16 micro-
controller, ve servo motors, one LM35, one LCD
screen (which I used from my Nokia 3310 handset),
one Bluetooth or infrared-based wireless control
and one GSM module.
A working module of the artifical arm,
which is powered by a mobile phone.
TECH TALK 49
The entire setup of the bionic arm, including all the required
components and cicruitry.
THE WORKING
The system consists of two components, the bri-
quetting machine and a crushing machine. Nitesh
elaborates, The main functionality of this arm
depends on galvanic response of skin. Galvanic
skin response, also known as electro dermal
response (EDR), psycho galvanic reex (PGR), or
skin conductance response (SCR), is a method of
measuring the electrical resistance of the skin.
There has been a long history of research on elec-
trodermal activity, most of it dealing with spon-
taneous uctuations. This product takes galvanic
skin response as input for the product and facili-
tates movements.
To measure this response, I have designed
a circuit with electrodes and a powerful ampli-
er using an operation amplier. This amplier
increases the sensitivity of the signal to something
that can be easily evaluated for decision making.
The data is fed to a microcontroller unit accord-
ing to the predened conditions and data comes
from a galvanic response meter device, which will
move the servo motors connected to this micro-
controller unit.
He adds, The muscle re-innervations proce-
dure allows the re-routed nerves to grow into the
chest muscle and direct the signals to the robotic
arm through the surface electrodes. A power-
ful sensor like LM35 helps to detect temperature
variations. Depending on the use of microcon-
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT  MARCH 2011
50 TECH TALK

trollers, the count of servo motors can be altered,

but ve motors is required for the basic hand
movement mechanism. The most important part
of the system is to program the microcontroller in
accordance with the GSR inputs. This is achievable
using winavr (for avr series). A single servo motor
can normally move up to 1.5 kg, so a combination
of ve can easily carry out the work with usually
associated with the working of an arm.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
The usefulness of this project is very evident, and
needs no further reiteration. However, you cannot
qualify its success unless it has been tested in real
life situations. Nitesh agrees and says, For check-
ing its practicality, I went through a long process
of testing. This involved visiting hospitals and While this is a prototype of the arm, it
testing it on real patients. My prototype uses three provides near accurate data recordings.
movements (upper, lower and hand grip) that can
work efciently with a power supply of 9 volts. For
more movements, more servo motors and switch FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY
mode power supply needs to be added. Nitesh reminds us that one of the important fac-
Each arm needed to be specically crafted for tors considered for the project is its nancial
the person it was tested on. After initial difcul- viability. The cost of this product depends upon
ties and with a little bit of practice, they found the the conguration that is required. Minimum cost
system very helpful. As per out test records, our with essential functionalities is between Rs 8,000
system scored 70 percent in handling abilities, and Rs 10,000, which is quite economical. This is
and 74 percent reliability, with a response time of because we used simple technology and cost effec-
4 milliseconds. He added. tive components.

The complex circuitry helps to generate movements and reflexes A visual interpretation of a bionic arm
that are senstive to temprature changes. attached to a severed human hand.

MARCH 2011  INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP INSIDER SUPPLEMENT