MIUI4 on Samsung Captivate

MIUI has begun moving towards Ice Cream Sandwich.  It's unclear how much longer it will take before the switch is complete, but for those with the Captivate can get ready to make the switch very soon.  Here's what you can expect.

To be clear, there is not a design difference.  Sure, they icons may come off slightly more square or drop some of the gloss, but the same design principles that make MiUI great will still be used.

With that said, you will still have most of the improvements from ICS.  A good example is the settings app, which both versions are posted above.  With the ICS version, the settings have been cleaned up and simplified where possible.  Here's a quick list of the improvements you can expect from the ICS version.

Better Camera.  You can now shot in a panorama mode, letting you take one continuous image just by rotating the phone.  You can now do on-the-fly video effects, better face detection, and a simplified user interface.  My favorite feature?  It's super fast.  The time in between pictures has been improved dramatically.

ICS Keyboard.  At first I couldn't tell that it was different from the MiUI default keyboard, however misspell one word and you'll quickly see that it's the default keyboard from ICS.  The new keyboard sports a much improved spell checker, now only suggest 3 words at a time, and supports the use of third party dictionaries and spell-checkers.

Other Improvements;
New Contact Manager.
Improved Gmail
Improved Web browser
Re-sizable Widgets
Swipe to dismiss notifications, tasks and browser tabs


Download and Install
While they are a few glitches, I've found this build to be pretty reliable on my captivate.  Here's a link with instructions and required files XDA Post. 

Issues;
-Trying to access Data Usuage will end in a force close.  To get around this, simply click More, then Mobile Networks.
-Themes does not work out of the box.  In order to get the MiUI themes app working, use this patch.


Bottom Line
Given the age of the Captivate(July 2010) I thought ICS would be a bit out of it's reach.  However, just a few days in my Captivate is running as fast and stable as a brand new phone. 

Evernote Review

If there is one must have app for student, evernote is it.  It's not new to the scene, but it's steady streams of updates and ever growing list of tie-in services has carried it into 2012 as one of the best apps ever.  Here's a quick video introduction.

There's a few reasons evernote is the perfect note taking app.  Evernote, if you're not already a user, lets you takes notes anywhere.  From your computer, cellphone and tablet.  It lets you organize them into "notebooks", also giving you the options of tags and search.  It keeps all your notes in sync on each device.  It's free, but you also have the option to add more space if you need it.  While you can still type notes or record audio, there's a few new ways to take notes.

Skitch is one of the best drawing apps you'll ever have on your android or iPad.  It lets you draw new pictures, or over the top of another.  It's dead simple interface means there's no learning curves. 


Another tie in great for getting information on evernote is clearly.  It's a browser extension that lets you add a webpage to your notes.  It's extremely helpful, because it "cleans up" the webpage before it's saved as a note.  These means you don't have to cut copy and paste.  It's also very handy when you want to print an article for physical use.

These are just two examples of the ever expanding collection available in the "trunk". 

Bottom line;  While evernote still retains a slight learning curve, it's hands down on of the best note taking apps available.  It's growing feature set and number of tie-in services keep evernote ahead of the pack.

Cutting cost; Data Plans

After a successful holiday season, you may have become in the possession of a smart phone(or a new one).  While this is really awesome, nearly every major provider in the world will make you adopt a "Data Plan".  These on average range anywhere from $15 to $50 a month, depending on options.  Worst of all, many come with data caps.  Here's some advice from a college student, get the cheapest plan available.  Don't care, even if it's AT&T's shitty 200mb plan.  Here's why;

Take a deep breath, smell that?  It's wifi.  It's usually in our homes, classrooms, and office.  It's also in quite a few restaurants and businesses(except theaters for some reason)  There's also a 99.9% that your smart phone supports wifi, which is great.  Why is that great?  Because wifi doesn't count against your data plan usage.  Doesn't matter if you stream netflix all day long.  So where ever you go, use wifi.  For me, I have wifi at home, work and school.  So outside of the 20 minutes I spend transit, I'm always in reach of wifi.

Built in Monitors.  There's a small chance that you phone can monitor your data usuage.  If you're using a jailbroken iphone or rooted android, there's a good chance that your phone can monitor your usage.  The MiUI rom comes with the monitor app that's perfect for this.

From here, not only can it monitor how much traffic I use, but it can send alerts when I get close to going over.  Best of all, it can automatically shutoff data transfer when I reach my quota.  

If you dig in your settings, you may also find a toggle like this.

Turning this off prevents your phone from using the mobile network.  Which is handy if you have a bunch of apps that use data all the time.

Don't buy Smart Limits.  A lot of providers will sell you a service that prevents you from going over your data and text message limits.  The entire purpose of avoiding overages is to save money; but you can't really save money if you're paying a monthly fee to save money.  It just kind of defeats the purpose.

I understand that this may not work for everyone.  They are a few places that don't offer wifi, but after watching your usage for a few months, you should know your limits.

What ever you do, don't try replacing DSL or Cable internet with tethering.  Caps on tethering are ridiculous, the speed is incredibly slow, and it's a hassle.  You can use the internet in your home to replace cableTV.  You can use the internet in your home to replace your phone.  You can not replace the internet in your home with tethering. 

2012, the year of...

As we start yet another year, there's sure to be a slew of crazy predictions.  Ranging from the Year of Linux to an 7 inch iPad.  Here's some of the predictions and why they won't happen any time soon.


Google+ over powers facebook
   Probability = 0%
Much like the defeat of myspace, it's not going to happen over night.  Google+ needs to keep gaining users to be successful.  I don't think it needs a lot of innovations, but just improvement and tweaks.  Look at what facebook users complain about and don't make the same mistakes.

What's much more probable is that Google+ struggles to gain any ground in the social market as we know it.  I can however, see google+ being a pretty big hit in the corporate world since Google Apps are so popular.  Since it ties so tightly into google search, I'm not sure that everyone will want to use it for personal networking.  That, which many cite as a strength, is it's ultimate weakness.


Microsoft buys Yahoo
   Probability = 5%
It's not impossible, but given the rise of Google and Bing, Microsoft no longer needs Yahoo.  5 years ago this could have been a game changing move, but now Microsoft could buy AOL or Altavista and have the same impact as Yahoo.  Sure, Yahoo still has millions of users, but it's on a quick decline.  Yahoo needs a boost, but bing is doing well all by itself.  Yahoo will end if it doesn't make changes quickly.

It's not to say that Yahoo won't find a buyer.  I can see many corporations buying into yahoo thinking that it's still worth fighting for.  I just have to call it as I see it, it's way pass it's prime and is destined to join AOL.


7 inch iPad
   Probability = 5%
Everyone keeps pointing to the Kindle Fire's success, concluding there must be a need for a 7 inch tablet.  But in all honesty, the kindle Fire sells because of it's price and features, not it's hardware.  10 inches are the defacto standard in tablets, and it will remain that way.  There's very little savings in making something 3 inches smaller.

Truth, the iPod is an mini-tablet.  If there is such a need for a mini-tablet or PDA, the ipod has it all covered.  I love my 10 inch tablet, but definitely would not want a smaller  one.  Given the fact that most cell phones are already 4 inches, a 7 inch tablet just doesn't add that much.


Linux goes Mainstream
   Probability = 0%
I'm a big fan of linux, and use it every day.  But given the fall of ubuntu, there's no other distro out there that's going to make a big move.  Mint, although popular, is attached to ubuntu, and will never go mainstream unless it breaks it ties.  KDE is on the right track, but It needs to win over Windows users, which usually don't feel the need to switch.

As Windows  Xp begins to die out, Linux does have a window of opportunity.  But as with linux, it's lack of organization and direction is it's downfall.  If Google ever was serious about building a linux distro, this would be a good time to start development.


RIP RIM
   Probability = 49%
With the rise of Android and iOS, RIM is at the "fight or take flight" point.  There's no choice in continuing the Blackberry platform.  RIM should adopt android and put a custom UI over the top, or RIM will disappear along with the blackberry users.  App developers are not going to be interested in another platform to write apps for.  RIM however does have a dedicated user base, and it's their unique software that has kept them in the race this far.  It would make much more sense for them to build on top of the android platform like Amazon did.