Database Develop

Ad sponsered free apps increasing, Any type of firewall?

Well been doing alot of study lately and it seems ALOT of apps on the market that are full versions and are "free" seem to have ad sponsored elements in them. Sending your GPS data to whoever or other various things. Now while if the dev mentions on the description that their "Paid" version is ad free. Least its up front and honest about it. However alot of Apps I found out hide this info it seems. Is this going to be the new "Kazaa" on the G1? Back when Kazaa came out, is when the influx of "Spyware" was increasing. Im worried is this happening to the G1 now? While I can understand devs choosing this to make their app free and gain from it a lil. Whats to say other devs wont use this for other intentions that may have some negative impact?
Just wondering tho.. for modded G1s. Is there some sorta firewall app or so yet that might be useful? Anyways just thought I would post for discussion case I am worried over nothing.

Install AdFree from the Market.

Cool ill try that. Still tho some discussion would be good. Cause I don't know if this should be something to start getting concerned on. Apps running in background draining battery, and reporting info possibly and so. Or am I getting concerned over nothing?

Mysticales said:
Cool ill try that. Still tho some discussion would be good. Cause I don't know if this should be something to start getting concerned on. Apps running in background draining battery, and reporting info possibly and so. Or am I getting concerned over nothing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little paranoia is a healthy thing, too much is bad, but these ads collect all sorts of location information to profile you and provide relevent advertising, but who knows what else happens with the data etc etc etc
PS you need root access on your phone to use AdFree

Yea Im fully rooted, No worries there. =) Thanks for this heads up. I use host files as well on my PC.. since then never had a issue with spyware again. Any news on if he would let us update the host file ourselves? Id love to use the file I have on my PC. Heh.
Anyways as for discussion goes. Can these ads know your G1 email, or linked email account? Next off, is there a ability that these ads could read your personal data as text msgs, contacts (to spam phone calls) or anything like that? Android being a new OS.. not sure what devs and ads can do with access to a phone. Its like a new gateway has been opened.
Kinda wish a dev could comment if the G1 would even have this ability and if it could be a bad thing.
Edit: Good question, this Ad Free, is it like if you add a hosts file in a router? Like if I use the G1 to tether, is it blocking the ad banners even on tethered connections? Would be interesting to know for sure since imagine a built in firewall that protects tethered PCs too.

Mysticales said:
Yea Im fully rooted, No worries there. =) Thanks for this heads up. I use host files as well on my PC.. since then never had a issue with spyware again. Any news on if he would let us update the host file ourselves? Id love to use the file I have on my PC. Heh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use your own hosts file on your own phone, AdFree just automates the process, if you look at this thread it started off describing how to do things manually.
Anyways as for discussion goes. Can these ads know your G1 email, or linked email account?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly, I haven't looked into accessing the google credentials from the android APIs so I don't know for certain, might be a private API google only shares with it's own apps, that doesn't mean someone won't figure out how to access them however.
Next off, is there a ability that these ads could read your personal data as text msgs, contacts (to spam phone calls) or anything like that? Android being a new OS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you install an app there is a screen displayed of the permissions the apps ask for, read/write contacts, calendars etc will all be displayed, you should be able to see the permissions an app will have access to after it's installed as well from memory.
not sure what devs and ads can do with access to a phone. Its like a new gateway has been opened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be more worried what google will do with all the info it collects to be honest, but that's another issue altogether.
Kinda wish a dev could comment if the G1 would even have this ability and if it could be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are prompted during install as to what the app will be able to access, google leaves it up to you to accept it or not.
Edit: Good question, this Ad Free, is it like if you add a hosts file in a router? Like if I use the G1 to tether, is it blocking the ad banners even on tethered connections? Would be interesting to know for sure since imagine a built in firewall that protects tethered PCs too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends how the tethered setup gets DNS info, if it uses the information from the hosts file then yes, but this is dependent on what the tether setup does.

Mysticales said:
Its like a new gateway has been opened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if you never bothered reading the permissions requests when installing an app. They clearly describe what permissions an app wants to use and you can cancel the installation if you feel you don't want to give an app the right to access your personal info. So if you install a game that says it wants access to your Google Account info (which would include your email and thus all your associated google services) then you have only yourself to blame if the dev sends you a ton of spam or sells your email address.
Bottom line is read the permissions requested carefully and decide whether you trust the company/entity that created the app before installing it. Also, i'd be very wary installing any root apps, since root apps by their very nature can operate outside of dalvik sandbox and do practically anything they want to your system. I'm only running two root apps right now: Market Enabler and Wifi Tether. They are both open source.

Well of course I read the permissions thing. However still I would still wonder about things.

Mysticales said:
Well of course I read the permissions thing. However still I would still wonder about things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google actually closed up some of the loop holes that apps were using on Android 1.0/1.1 to enable wifi etc.

jashsu said:
They are both open source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you audit the code and compile it yourself, you have no idea what the binary is actually doing.

Location data is only used for serving the right banners and calculate the profits the banner view/click has depending on the location (country) of the viewer.
Its not anything malicious and you can easily see the permissions when installing.
People all like free apps instead of paying a few dollars, but when an ad is added people try to get rid of it... Havent you all ever wondered why the ads are there? Just like on a forum as the one you are on right now? Right they generate at least a little bit of money for a dev that doesnt want to charge the users directly by letting them pay, but spends almost all his free time to keep apps updated, write new once and answering questions.
As soon as there is virtually no way too make money on a market, the market will die as developers/companies will move over to an other platform of development.

delta_foxtrot2 said:
Unless you audit the code and compile it yourself, you have no idea what the binary is actually doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not difficult to get the code from svn and compile it. Pretty effortless.

rogro82 said:
As soon as there is virtually no way too make money on a market, the market will die as developers/companies will move over to an other platform of development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many people don't like to view ads on their computers, let alone their mobile phone. Thus if people can block the ads easily, they will. Content producers and software developers will simply have to find a new business model to pursue. Maybe that's a free/premium differentiation model or maybe its microtransactions. That or they will have to deal with a percentage of their userbase blocking ads.

Well I am sure most devs Block ads too, either on their mobile or pc.. no one wants any type of issue.
Now again, I said I understand why they are there for free apps. Its just that as a user myself.. I like to know Im protected from potential hazards. Also alot of devs like to make something hot to use on later resumes and projects. Ive worked with alot of devs in my time start with nothing and grow to get bigger jobs in RL cause of the project. =)

jashsu said:
It's not difficult to get the code from svn and compile it. Pretty effortless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't say it was hard to get or compile it, but auditing the code to make sure nothing malicious is going on can be very difficult at times. There is a code obfustication competition each year and it's extrodinary what some can do and you'd never know unless it was pointed out to you.

Mysticales said:
Well I am sure most devs Block ads too, either on their mobile or pc.. no one wants any type of issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not just "issues" too many ads tick a certain segment of the population off to the point that they go to these lengths to get rid of them.
This is of course before you factor in this segment of the population are usually the least to click on ads, usually for ethical/moral reasons, so them getting rid of ads is usually no big loss.
Last time I checked AdFree was downloaded less than 5,000 times, now compare this to a speedometer app I made which anyone can run and it's been downloaded over 10,000 times I highly doubt any dev relying on ads will actually loose out by the people that can and are blocking them.

rogro82 said:
Location data is only used for serving the right banners and calculate the profits the banner view/click has depending on the location (country) of the viewer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The meta data that can be gleened from this sort of advertising can have all sorts of flow on effects and unintended consequences.
I see the world and potential pitfalls in things differently than others, I don't know why, but the more data collected the worst things can be.
If you are interested in what country they are from/in just pull the country code from the SIM card, why narrow it down to within a few metres?

Well since I have been using Adfree. Let me say this. My G1 seems to be running faster! I dont get as many force close/wait errors. Certain apps like atrackdog for one RUN faster. I mean without the ads running, it seems my apps speed through their task and do what they are supposed to. Kinda interesting note oddly.
Also lets say a app you know would be using GPS to locate you on a map. Thus triggering "Give app permission to use your GPS" which you know why it needs it. But does the app also tell you that it uses the GPS for Ads? So I dont always trust what it says when it comes to permissions as it doesnt mean in the underline that its not using the same permission to do other things. Would be nice if the G1 had a notice that the app uses Ad support.

Linux is a wonderful and powerful operating system that can do just about anything you can possibly dream of.
First, the hosts file hack is a piece of crap since all it does is it points potentially malicious domain names back to self. It doesn't take into account connections that are ip address based... those will still go through and there is nothing that can be put in the hosts file to stop that.
iptables on the other hand.... included in 1.0 and 1.1, and several custom 1.5's, can do many strong things; block by ip address (including if it tries to lookup by dns), block by port, *BLOCK BY USER ID*.
The latter is particularly interesting since each program installed on android is assigned its own userid. That means that with the correct iptables rule, you can block all network traffic for THAT PARTICULAR PROGRAM. Or you can blacklist/whitelist servers for that program, etc.
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/block...ingle-user-from-my-server-using-iptables.html
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux...ng-access-to-selectedspecific-ip-address.html
For example, when I issue this command:
iptables -A OUTPUT -o tiwlan0 -m owner --uid-owner 10017 -j DROP
My browser is no longer able to connect (since it is uid=10017) using wifi (tiwlan0 is wifi). Note: leave out the entire "-o tiwlan0" argument and it should block all outgoing on all devices for that userid.
To find the userid for a particular program, do "ls -l /data/data/program'sdatadirectory"

So on JF 1.51 is this ability already there? Yea I know Linux is great for iptables. Always is, even in routers hehe.
If its not in there already, Debian, how well does that work on the G1?

YouMail Visual Voicemail Android App Beta

Don't know if anyone else has seen this yet (or cares), but since I love YouMail, I thought I'd post this up.
They have a link in this forum topic to download the .apk file, but since it says it's a closed beta, I'm not sure if you need to have YouMail allow your YouMail account to use the software.
LMK
http://api.youmail.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15

Downloaded. It works pretty well. No option to save MP3 messages to SD. Uses polling, which can be a total pain in the ass, and kinda pointless for a voicemail system.
I actually started writing this app about a month ago, but the project manager(i assume) didn't really understand what I was talking about. I tried explaining to him that polling from the device is kinda a kludgy approach, and they should try and implement a different system. I even went so far as to writing a small server side program that would ping the device when there was new messages.
Here's the weird thing though, I sent him a long email one day asking him a bunch of questions about the hardware and software they're using for this system(so I can better design this software), and he never got back to me. THEN, a few weeks later(a month maybe) calls me asking how things are going.
Mind you, I hadn't signed any agreement with them, no deal was in place, and I do have other responsibilities. After a week or so I just assumed they were going with another developer. I assumed from the beginning that there were multiple people working on multiple apps, and they would just release the best one first. Oh well, that's my run-in with them.
Other than all of the above, the service itself is VERY useful. As far as the app is concerned, I think it's a great first-go, but it needs a little refinement. It's a bit slow, and scheduled server checks just isn't going to cut it. Why manually check my messages when I can have them deliver it in MP3 for to my email directly on my phone?
In anycase, good job whoever wrote the app!

I installed it and it shows my messages however it doesn't play anything. I click open and it just sits there. Im running cm 3.4 with hero 1.2, maybe thats why

How is this compared to PF Voicemail?

Probably not as cool as a dedicated app, but I:
1. Simply turn on email notifications on the youmail website with the option to attach an MP3 of the voicemail and send the emails to my gmail account
2. then I setup a filter in gmail to label all youmail messages with attachments to "YouMail"
3. I put a shortcut on my homescreen by "add shortcut" "Gmail label" "YouMail"
4. for good measure I tell the Android message settings to sync emails in the youmail folder for 4 days worth of voicemail in case I run into a problem with my network connection.
Instant Visual Voicemail with push.

wagz said:
Probably not as cool as a dedicated app, but I:
1. Simply turn on email notifications on the youmail website with the option to attach an MP3 of the voicemail and send the emails to my gmail account
2. then I setup a filter in gmail to label all youmail messages with attachments to "YouMail"
3. I put a shortcut on my homescreen by "add shortcut" "Gmail label" "YouMail"
4. for good measure I tell the Android message settings to sync emails in the youmail folder for 4 days worth of voicemail in case I run into a problem with my network connection.
Instant Visual Voicemail with push.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, that's pretty much what I do too...I wish you could set it up to automatically download attachments though, especially since the beta app kinda sucks right now.

The app is in Open Beta now - feel free to download and try it out.
The only thing we (I) ask is that if you find any problems, or have any suggestions - either send us an email ([email protected]) or join in the discussion on the forums.
And yes, currently you need a free YouMail account in order to use the app. At some point you'll be able to sign up as part of the installation process, but that's in a later version.

YouMail for G1
Hi,
Could I please ask that you send *me* a private email with details about who at YouMail you were talking to? I'm the one responsible for the Android app and this is the first I have heard of someone contacting us regarding this app.
Regarding your comments about polling. We would absolutely ***love*** to push your voicemail to the phone similar to the way our Blackberry cousins get their email. Problem here is that in order to do that YouMail would need an interconnect agreement with T-Mobile (and other carriers) letting us use their push technology (yes, the G1 software does support push). The chances of T-Mobile (and other carriers) allowing that to happen are pretty much nil. (We all know that competition is bad... don't we?)
So, out of the box, what the Android app does is:
* Poll every hour to catch up on changes you may have made via the dial-in interface, or the web site (you can adjust it to be as often as every 15 mins, or as infrequent as 'never')
* Poll a couple of minutes after you miss a call - to see if the caller left you a message
* Poll when one of YouMail's special TXT messages arrives (the kind that start with "New VM:....")
* Manually initiated
That's the best approximation to push that we've been able to come up with considering the limitations. The drain on battery is actually remarkably low.
Of course, if you choose to receive your voicemails via email go for it!
I'll put a post up on the YouMail forums explaining battery usage.
Thanks
Doug
InGeNeTiCs said:
Downloaded. It works pretty well. No option to save MP3 messages to SD. Uses polling, which can be a total pain in the ass, and kinda pointless for a voicemail system.
I actually started writing this app about a month ago, but the project manager(i assume) didn't really understand what I was talking about. I tried explaining to him that polling from the device is kinda a kludgy approach, and they should try and implement a different system. I even went so far as to writing a small server side program that would ping the device when there was new messages.
Here's the weird thing though, I sent him a long email one day asking him a bunch of questions about the hardware and software they're using for this system(so I can better design this software), and he never got back to me. THEN, a few weeks later(a month maybe) calls me asking how things are going.
Mind you, I hadn't signed any agreement with them, no deal was in place, and I do have other responsibilities. After a week or so I just assumed they were going with another developer. I assumed from the beginning that there were multiple people working on multiple apps, and they would just release the best one first. Oh well, that's my run-in with them.
Other than all of the above, the service itself is VERY useful. As far as the app is concerned, I think it's a great first-go, but it needs a little refinement. It's a bit slow, and scheduled server checks just isn't going to cut it. Why manually check my messages when I can have them deliver it in MP3 for to my email directly on my phone?
In anycase, good job whoever wrote the app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

mustang_52 said:
I installed it and it shows my messages however it doesn't play anything. I click open and it just sits there. Im running cm 3.4 with hero 1.2, maybe thats why
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you could send me some details I might be able to help.
The app downloads all message data via http.

Sistum Id said:
How is this compared to PF Voicemail?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm waiting to hear about before taking the plunge...

Left myself a message and I got the alert. I ran the app and then it says I have a message. I click on the number that was the caller and well nothing seems to happen. I see what appears to be a download button and across a phone/speaker.
Nothing seems to make any noise.
Also this app was in my recently ran apps tray so does this app start on phone turn on or do you have to manually start for the alerts. Also the polling is that to check for messages or to pull down the audio?
The reason I ask this stuff is there really isn't any discriptions of what does what and most apps appear to be straight forward.
Looks like I just got a text now saying I have a message. Thats what brings me to the polling. Does it poll every hour on top of the text message?

kizer said:
Also the polling is that to check for messages or to pull down the audio?
The reason I ask this stuff is there really isn't any discriptions of what does what and most apps appear to be straight forward.
Looks like I just got a text now saying I have a message. Thats what brings me to the polling. Does it poll every hour on top of the text message?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if this is or isn't the info you're looking for, but this info was in the original post for somebody who seems to be working on the app...
ymDoug said:
So, out of the box, what the Android app does is:
* Poll every hour to catch up on changes you may have made via the dial-in interface, or the web site (you can adjust it to be as often as every 15 mins, or as infrequent as 'never')
* Poll a couple of minutes after you miss a call - to see if the caller left you a message
* Poll when one of YouMail's special TXT messages arrives (the kind that start with "New VM:....")
* Manually initiated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Heh...finally an app is developing for YM I had posted here and even emailed a couple of devs and got nowhere. Even emailed YouMail and got the standard "not at this moment, there are no plans on supporting Android".

omario117 said:
I don't know if this is or isn't the info you're looking for, but this info was in the original post for somebody who seems to be working on the app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I"m blind and dumb. Thanks
Now if it only pulled down the audio it would be awesome. I guess thats why things are work in progress.

kizer said:
So I"m blind and dumb. Thanks
Now if it only pulled down the audio it would be awesome. I guess thats why things are work in progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if you're calling yourself that, I'm not calling you anything
If you did think I was, I apologize, I was simply trying to make the posting of my info seem credible, as opposed to "here's information but I'm not going to mention where I got it" or "look at the first post by such and such"...

I'd like to thank mustang_52 for getting back to me and helping figure out what was wrong. I believe the app is working correct for him now.
Just in case anyone is interested, there was a problem on one of the back-end servers where it wasn't creating the MP3 file that the app needs, so you were seeing "downloading" forever... we fixed it around noon today and everything seems to be AOK now.
There is a forum set up on the YouMail site that explains how the app checks for messages and the trade-offs we had to make since 'push' technology is effectively unavailable to us at present. (Unless of course we have some senior management from T-Mobile watching, and they want to contact me about making it available.........)
The forum is at: http://forums.youmail.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=8
Doug

Everything is working great since you fixed it. Thanks for such a great app.

Love this YouMail app... THANKS!!!

[Q] App for sending and receiving SMS from PC over 3G ??

I have seen few apps that are capable of doing this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. But I am more interested in something that can do it over 3G. At work my desktop PC is not on a wireless network; there is Wi-Fi but on a spate subnet with no easy access to the main network. I do have Bluetooth / USB on my main desktop but I work from different PCs therefore its not very convenient for me to pair/connect it each time I go to a different PC. And I don’t use Wi-Fi at home either.
Then there are other benifits to using 3G like I can still access the phone even if I forget it somewhere (i.e at home in the car etc). The new HTC Sense services for HTC Desire HD will have remote access to SMS, call and location information , which is exactly what I'm after. But for now SMS alone is enough.
I came across one App called SMS2PC which can connect to a computer over 3G. But from what I gathered, with that the phone connects to the PC and pushes notifications, not the other way around. This is not going to work for me because at work I am behind a corporate firewall, so my phone cannot access the desktop.
Any other solutions ??
EDIT : i know SMS backup can backup text messages to google, but I can't reply from there. So that wont help much. And I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.

Is Google Voice avilable to you (specifically, you will need a Google Voice phone number)? If so, that will be my recommendation. In addition to free SMS and visual voice mail, you can use your Google Voice anywhere that you have access to a web browser. It doesn't have to be your phone.

foxbat121 said:
Is Google Voice avilable to you (specifically, you will need a Google Voice phone number)? If so, that will be my recommendation. In addition to free SMS and visual voice mail, you can use your Google Voice anywhere that you have access to a web browser. It doesn't have to be your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No google voice is not available ( as mentioned in my last line , coz I knew some one would suggest that).
I wonder why no one has made such an app so far.
Maybe I'll have to write my own.. haven't done any android programing yet, guess its about the time.. waiting for a break from work to start playing around with it a bit...

PhoenixFx said:
I have seen few apps that are capable of doing this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. But I am more interested in something that can do it over 3G. At work my desktop PC is not on a wireless network; there is Wi-Fi but on a spate subnet with no easy access to the main network. I do have Bluetooth / USB on my main desktop but I work from different PCs therefore its not very convenient for me to pair/connect it each time I go to a different PC. And I don’t use Wi-Fi at home either.
Then there are other benifits to using 3G like I can still access the phone even if I forget it somewhere (i.e at home in the car etc). The new HTC Sense services for HTC Desire HD will have remote access to SMS, call and location information , which is exactly what I'm after. But for now SMS alone is enough.
I came across one App called SMS2PC which can connect to a computer over 3G. But from what I gathered, with that the phone connects to the PC and pushes notifications, not the other way around. This is not going to work for me because at work I am behind a corporate firewall, so my phone cannot access the desktop.
Any other solutions ??
EDIT : i know SMS backup can backup text messages to google, but I can't reply from there. So that wont help much. And I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use smstools. It is in every major repo. However - from your non-technical wording - I assume that you use the gamerz OS (Windos). Worry not, you can easily compile the program yourself, or google for binaries.

HelloH said:
I use smstools. It is in every major repo. However - from your non-technical wording - I assume that you use the gamerz OS (Windos). Worry not, you can easily compile the program yourself, or google for binaries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I use Windows mostly . Thanks for that link, but I don't think thats quite what I want either. That seems to use the phone as a modem to send and receive SMSs; which means I'll have to connect the phone to a PC locally (i.e USB, IR, BT etc..).
I'm looking for a solution that allows me to connect to the phone remotely over the internet (phone online on 3G) to access and send messages. A setup where there is a PC client which polls the phone periodically for new messages and a server running on the phone allowing the PC client to gain access to its messaging service. So I don't have to connect/disconnect every time when changing PCs, it will also allow me to connect even when the phone is not with me (left behind at home / car ).

Ah, I got it now!
Well, of course you could compile SMSTOOLS for your phone
Or take a look at RemoteSMS or similar apps!
Also possible to remote control your handset via vnc-server. That one has far more possibilities than remote SMS-ing...

HelloH said:
Ah, I got it now!
Well, of course you could compile SMSTOOLS for your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’m coming from Windows development side, so pardon me for my ignorance on Linux dev. But from the little I know, you can't compile Unix/C code to Android, am I wrong ? At least not in a straightforward manner... You can only develop apps using their customized Java (Dalvic) , right
Even if its possible, I think developing an app from ground up is far more easier than trying to integrate smstools in to android. Besides, that doesn't solve my problem at all, because accessing the phone from the PC is the issue, and I don't see how running smstools on the phone is going to solve that.
HelloH said:
Or take a look at RemoteSMS or similar apps!
Also possible to remote control your handset via vnc-server. That one has far more possibilities than remote SMS-ing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RemoteSMS only works over Wi-Fi and BT, no 3G support .
I guess remote desktop is one solution, but I prefer a much simpler app. Besides VNC will not send me any notifications, I have to manually check. ..
Looks like I'll have to write my own app for this . Havent done any android development yet, looks like this is going to be my first project..

Wifi Keyboard works on 3g (yes dumb but )
3G might be blocked by some carriers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it's means it can be used over 3G

PhoenixFx said:
IAnd I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to be in the US to get a Google Voice account or use it for SMS. I am in Canada and use it for SMS all the time.
See this link. Note that despite the title this will work for any country.
http://www.wifitalk.ca/iphone/howto-google-voice-in-canada/

brunes said:
You don't need to be in the US to get a Google Voice account or use it for SMS. I am in Canada and use it for SMS all the time.
See this link. Note that despite the title this will work for any country.
http://www.wifitalk.ca/iphone/howto-google-voice-in-canada/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a try. Are SMSs free for international numbers as well ?
EDIT : I don't want to login through some unknown proxy server and give out my credentials. Besides, it is not a permanent solution. another dead end

Waiting for new ideas

exadeci said:
Wifi Keyboard works on 3g (yes dumb but )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PhoenixFx said:
Waiting for new ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hum ..... Have you tried it ?

PhoenixFx said:
I’m coming from Windows development side, so pardon me for my ignorance on Linux dev. But from the little I know, you can't compile Unix/C code to Android, am I wrong ? At least not in a straightforward manner... You can only develop apps using their customized Java (Dalvic) , right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linux is a kernel, and Android is a Linux kernel based operating system. You can compile anything (that compiles for GNU/Linux for the given architecture) for Android/Linux as well. It will be native code however (as opposed to DALVIK, which is VM code). You have the option to cross-compile on your PC, or to compile code right on your phone. It is a command line affair... not some nice one-click task.
BTW I did not see in their own advert, that RemoteSMS would be limited to wifi... you sure? (Would be pretty weird move from them, since communicating over wifi and 3G is not really different from the programmer's point of view)

Found this today , posted on XDA : talkmyphone.
Exacly what I was looking for .

YAY!
Thank you! I have been looking for something like this because I am also behind a corporate firewall at work.

[Q] instant messenging fot this phone? is there any?

i love the phone... love the interface... but i do a lot of IM'ing thru yahoo,gtalk, and FBchat and i cant find any app for that...
i thought all phones should have that... and i was surprised the windows7 phone dont have this feature.
so if there is no IM client i can use, i consider this phone FAIL for me. Will return

Yes there is a free IM chat in Windows Phone 7 Market Place. Look for Messenger WP7-2 by Miyowa. It functions very simliar to desktop version of Live Messenger.

But thats only for messenger... I do a lot on yahoo chat and gtalk... Thats why im beginning to hate this phone. I cant use my phone nemore to chat. Im stuck on my laptop for now.
Is there any news on having a universal chat client for this phone?

Yes ... I understand what you are saying. I think those would be developed fairly soon. This is a new Phone OS and the more phones that are sold, the more likely great apps will be developed. That said, some basic items are missing that should have been included in launch.
I wonder if you can get to Google chat through logging into Google account via the browser. I`m going to try that along with Yahoo.

I think the reason for the delay in Chat apps is that WP7 offers no Socket communication at the moment. Everything has to be done with Web Requests. Since most Chatting programs use a TCP or UDP port it may take a while until either someone develops a Web interface for those services or Microsoft update the SDK.

And a quick note... I tried Google Talk via the webrowser. It requires a plugin, but when I tried to download the plug in it says windows phone does not support .exe files.
Yahoo chat was more promising, but Adobe Flash 9.0 needs to be installed. Flash is not supported yet on the phone. It wouldn`t install so web chat through browsers won`t work at this time.
Let`s hope the chat clients are released quickly !

this looks interesting !
http://mim.live.com
I tried it through the phone's IE Browser and it seems to work !

I hope i will be soon... Coz i really need a IM client that works Yahoo and Google

Another interesting note. In my MSN Mobile Canada app, there is also a place to login to IM. Never knew it was there !

hahaha even the zune hd has a messaging app where you can message on Live IM and Facebook chat.

Does Zune HD have Google and Yahoo chat ? If yes, then that would be a good sign Microsoft would bring it over to WP7. Even if there wasn't, I can't imagine that it would be very long before it is available to WP7. They are paying developers big $ so I'm sure there will 1000's more apps and IM clients on the way. What Apple did in 5 years with iPhone, Microsoft will do in half the time if not less.

I really love my HD7 and WP7. Everything that's available just works with nice looking interface.
Like all of you, I need YM, Facebook Chat & GTalk badly. Without these, I could never use my HD7 as my main phone.

I am also enjoying my HD7, it just has to be understood that this OS isn't a month old yet and the development of new apps take time, they cannot just be ported over from previous OSs. I for one like the direction this OS is going....still waiting patiently for a tethering app.

I think people are letting MS off the hook when they say its a new OS that why some thing are missing. The first Pocket pc phone edition that came out in 2000 had MSN messenger. That was 10 (Ten) years ago.

Yes there certainly was a few features missing out of the gate. No doubt Microsoft will fix. Now that they have the phone out in the market we either return it, or find ways to make it work until the app is developed. I know my iphone was missing features when I bought it but Apple finally came around.
As for Yahoo chat, try logging into http://m.yahoo.com/messenger from the browser. It seems to work quite nicely. Again short term work around.

And on the theme of accessing chat clients through mobile browser (two examples provided earlier), here are a number of Web-based (cloud) IM services that are either free or have a small charge for paid service. Seems to be very good solution as many of them integrates all chat clients into one interface (kind of like Fring).
http://im.about.com/od/joiningtheimworld/tp/web-based-chat.htm

alabij said:
I think people are letting MS off the hook when they say its a new OS that why some thing are missing. The first Pocket pc phone edition that came out in 2000 had MSN messenger. That was 10 (Ten) years ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a messenger app, what's the problem?

nrfitchett4 said:
there is a messenger app, what's the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it was updated over the weekend, a vast improvment over the first version

sutt359 said:
And it was updated over the weekend, a vast improvment over the first version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the point is, it should be a default on every Phone... Instant messaging should be on of the defaults of this new WIN7 OS
this messenger i think is a third party app...

tux-lover said:
the point is, it should be a default on every Phone... Instant messaging should be on of the defaults of this new WIN7 OS
this messenger i think is a third party app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
apparently microsoft hired this 3rd party to make the official app.
And if its so important, then why do I not know one single person that uses it???
I think it is a cultural difference. In the USA, we tend to stick to text messaging since most of us have unlimited texting on our smartphone plans.

Share texts between phone and tablet

Anyone know of any apps (current or in development) that allows for text messages that come in to an android phone to be answered and responded to from a tablet?
I know theres similar functionality for answering from a computer, but this would be great over wifi or bluetooth.
(Also thinking out loud here, if the two are paired over bluetooth, would it be at all possible with some kind of development to use the tablet like a headset to answer or place calls from the phone?)
These are things that I dont expect people to say "Heres an .apk" but want to get these ideas out into the open to see if anyone has anything to contribute or point us in the right direction.

text
Try using Google voice on both phone and tablet with the same account then you can get ye messages and text.

Thanks but...
1) Google voice isnt currently available for the Xoom.
2) I'd like something that doesnt require me to notify all my contacts of a number change and have them be confused about which is actually my cell phone number.

Google voice works fine through the browser

Yes you can. You can send texts from your phone on your tab using the free app Remote Web Desktop.
This app gives you your phone desktop on your tab, send texts, add files to your SD card, etc.

Gotta admit, that one is pretty great, i can see myself using it on my comp.
A little sluggish and slow on the tablet going through the browser though.
What im looking for is essentially the functionality of that on the phone side, but a dedicated app on the tablet, obviously optimized for the screen real estate and interface that will refresh on its own, have its own notifications on the tablet etc.
Basically an app that looks and acts like a dedicated sms client on the tablet, only its doing all the actual sending and receiving on the phone side and pulling it over wifi or bluetooth.
This is basically what HP has in store for the touchpad and pre3 so im not exactly expecting someone to just link to it and move along. I'm really hoping someone developing some kind of similar solution sees this and reaches out to the community.
Thanks for the suggestions and please keep them coming...always love seeing new apps.

WHY?
gbenj said:
Anyone know of any apps (current or in development) that allows for text messages that come in to an android phone to be answered and responded to from a tablet?
I know theres similar functionality for answering from a computer, but this would be great over wifi or bluetooth.
(Also thinking out loud here, if the two are paired over bluetooth, would it be at all possible with some kind of development to use the tablet like a headset to answer or place calls from the phone?)
These are things that I dont expect people to say "Heres an .apk" but want to get these ideas out into the open to see if anyone has anything to contribute or point us in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am wondering why one would want to do this? just really curious as to your thought behind the question....

Kent_Davis said:
I am wondering why one would want to do this? just really curious as to your thought behind the question....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want this kind of app too... heres my reason. My phone sits on its dock once i get home in the bedroom and i tether the wifi to my tab. So i dont have it nearby but my nook always is
Sent from one of those missing Droids

Another reason is that its much more comfortable to text and type from the tablet. (Its amazing how tiny my Incredible feels after using the Xoom for a few days.)
Like the previous post says, if I can be sitting on the couch with the tablet, leave the phone plugged in in my room, and get notifications etc on the tablet that would be great.
Plus, if i'm gonna be using the tablet more and more around the house, it would be much easier to sit there with one device on my lap instead of constantly switching between the tablet to the phone when I get a text.
Think of it as a phone extender where the main phone functions are accessible on the tablet over WiFi or bluetooth, whatever is easier.

I just wanted to throw my +1 here. I feel silly juggling my phone and tablet. I'd love to be able to walk away from my office and only have to worry about grabbing one device.

Didn't find it sluggish, xoom tethered to my N1 on Tmo's fast network. If you find something else, please share, thanks!

There is definitely a need for this. I use the google voice app on my iPad for SMS more than on my N1. I also use the talkatone ios app for voip google voice calls as well. Not having a google voice app for Honeycomb is ridiculous.

Ditto I will be needing some sort of app like so. Reason- I dont own a cell phone but I wouldnt mind pay the $20 a month for the data service and being able to text using sms.

Basically he (and me too) is looking for something that acts like Motorola's Webtop App.

neonerz said:
I just wanted to throw my +1 here. I feel silly juggling my phone and tablet. I'd love to be able to walk away from my office and only have to worry about grabbing one device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
thefoss said:
Basically he (and me too) is looking for something that acts like Motorola's Webtop App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly!

I concur. This is one thing I did like about the Galaxy Tab before I sold it for the Xoom...I could answer email and TXT from one device. When you're at home using your Xoom it does make a difference in lifestyle having to grab my phone every time it beeps for a TXT...lets face it most people don't talk as much over the phone as they used to.

Very much needed app. I'd be willing to pay $10 easy for it too.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

I believe that this on the new HP Toucpad when its synced with WebOS phones. This would be awesome!
—-----------————---------------
Still rocking DJ05 with Voodoo5 Blazed Eclair 1.2ghz with GingerLiberty
------——-———-----—----—------
Sent from XDA Premium App
----------------—-----------------
DungeonDefendersUsername: TheSonicEmerald

I've been thinking about this alot over the past couple of days even to the point that I began to investigate and play around with the Android SDK to see what I might be able to do, which is not alot at the moment.
I thought of this app functioning as follows:
1) We currently have a bunch of applications that allow the user to view and respond to their text messages through an interface on the browser or computer application using an app on the phone that "broadcasts" the messaging features of the phone out over either WiFi or bluetooth. (For example, the ones mentioned earlier in this thread.)
2) We also have something called "Remote Notifier" that sends out a "ping" when a new message is received to a listening service on a computer which notifies the user on the desktop.
3) If the existing functionality of those two are combined, we have an application that can put together a list of the messages on the phone (primary location), send it out to a secondary location (in this case a tablet), while also notifying the secondary location (tablet) of a new message received.
The app on the phone also gives the secondary location the ability to respond and edit the message list on the phone.
4) The second piece of the equation we would need is an app for the tablet, preferably optimized for the screen size in a 5manner similar to the way Gmail and the native email client handle messaging, (with a list of messages on the left, and the conversation view on the right) that allows the user to browse their messages on the phone and reply within the app.
If the app on the tablet could "look" to the phone as the service provider instead of the network, I could even see notifications being created from within that app and displayed on the tablet just as if it was actually receiving the texts itself.
While I am technical enough to debug a little and troubleshoot alot, I don't have the programming background to create this from the ground up. Is there anyone out there that would be interested in working with me to build something like this?
I feel as though I have the Idea of how this will function pretty well planned out, and if there is someone who wants to do the legwork involved in the building/programming, I can definitely write and draw up use cases, user flows, and wire-frame designs for how both sides of the application would work in both the front and back end.
So, is there anyone out there interested in and capable of helping to put this together for the community? I really feel that if it is done well enough, it could take off and maybe even Google would take notice and build it in natively moving forward...If they're not already working on it.
Thoughts, questions, concerns? I would appreciate any and all feedback.
Thanks for reading....this has been a long post

if you really want to try without having to code anything try the appinventor.appinventor.googlelabs[dot]c o m/learn/setup/[/url]
ill try messing around with it later once im finished working on my woodshop project (im 14). But it you want to id try it out.