Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

If you haven’t loaded “Launcher Pro” you are missing out. I have only been messing with it a few days now, but I LOVE IT and had to buy the full version! I recently just found “Launcher Pro Activities” which allows you to open specific tasks within applications including within the Android OS. This thing allows access to a ton of what might otherwise be hidden Android features and menus. This also lead me to finding a very nifty trick that allows you to open “LbsTestMode” (GPS settings and tests) in a single click, rather than punching a bunch of keys into the phone. You must have Launcher Pro installed to do this.

This was done on my Samsung Captivate running Android 2.1

1. Click an hold on a home screen where you have an available spot. (I actually added it to the main menu bar at the bottom, if you swipe your finger left or right you will find you have a lot more buttons that are open to be used)
2. Click Shortcuts
3. Click Activities
4. Scroll down the list till you get to “LbsTestMode” and click the down arrow to the left of it.
5. Click the first option under it which is “LbsTestMode, com.sec.android.app.lbstestmode.LbsTestMode”
6. Label it whatever you want, or leave it at the default.
7. Now you will have an icon that with a single click will take you directly into the LbsTestMode for changing and or testing GPS settings. 

I’m going to spend some more time with Launcher Pro Activities and see what else I can find. I’ve already found some additional tasks to run and I will be creating a list of them, what they do and how to find them. I would be a little careful on what you try yourself as there could be some potentially damaging tasks that you could be accidentally launching. -Greg

Thats right folks, you can get the new Samsung Captivate on the AT&T network for only $0.01 from Amazon.  This is with a new 2 year contract. Existing AT&T customers can get the Captivate for $99 with a 2 year contract. For whatever reason if you have the family plan its up to $149. If you are on the fence about getting an Android phone or the dreaded iPhone, now is the time to make the right decision and grab the Samsung Captivate. -Greg

Grab your Samsung Captivate now on Amazon.

Imagine if MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) opened its doors and allowed everyone to learn from them, with out registration or previous education. Imagine if anyone could sign up for a class, get lecture notes, videos, and even take the exams. Imagine if you could do all of this, on your own, on your own time and at your own speed. Sound unrealistic? What if I told you that it’s already possible, that MIT is not the only university, college, or school that’s offering this? What if I told you, it’s FREE!  Open Courseware Consortium is making it more than possible; it’s available now to anyone, anywhere. Knowledge from the some of the most recognized professors, scientist, doctors, and education institutions from around the world! I stumbled across this while reading about the latest Windows exploit and feel as if I have found a pot of gold! Please take the time to look at it and at the very least, tell someone about it! Tell everyone about it, make a phone call, send a text, send an email, just share this pot of gold with everyone you see today! –Greg

OPEN COURSEWARE CONSORTIUM

MIT – OPEN COURSEWARE

So, my Samsung Captivate just keeps getting better. Samsung will soon be introducing a Micro USB to HDMI cable. Allowing the ability of connecting my Captivate directly to any HDMI TV (or any HDMI device), via its Micro USB port, and playback video, pictures, and sound. It’s the ability to continue to grow even after production of the Galaxy S line that really just keeps pushing them closer to complete iPhone annihilation. Ok, so maybe that is a little far out, but its sure sounds good. Let’s see, Galaxy S keeps adding new features and abilties after production and the iPhone 4 keeps showing new faults, issues, and defects since production. Seems like its a pretty easy choice between the 2, but thats just me. -Greg

Available soon from Samsung

Over this past weekend I was able to put Captivates GPS and Google Maps and Navigation to real world good use. I took a 2-3 hour trip one way and ran Google Navigation and GPS the entire time both ways. The Google navigation itself worked as we all know it does, great.

That being said I’ll move onto the GPS itself. I know I’ve read on a few sites here and there of some issues and fixes for the GPS on the Captivate. I want to note before I go on that I did not change anything with the default use of the GPS, nor applied any type of fix. The GPS seemed pretty accurate, there was 1 moment when it though I was on an outer road along the highway when I started the navigation up, however it quickly repositioned itself to the highway. There were a couple times through out my trip (there and back) that it had some issues locating satellites, but it seemed every time I noticed this it would find them again fairly quickly. I don’t actually have a car mount for my Captivate just yet, so I used my empty sun visor CD holder. I was able to hear when it gave me directions and could pull it down and take a visual look at what Google was telling me. The first time I pulled it down to do this is when I noticed the heat.

Apparently running the Navigation keeps the screen live therefore the Captivate was getting very hot. Assuming that sliding the phone into my CD holder was also helping to trap the heat it was actually hot enough to make me concerned it would cause some damage. I used the A/C to cool it off then I hit the power button to force the screen off. This seemed to do the trick of keeping it cooler, while the Navigation app ran in the background it would still notify me of turns or anything it needed. I want to also note that when it does give you a new direction and the screen comes on, you will have to hit the power button again to turn off the screen.

The battery life was unbelievable for this, as it barely seem to use anything; I don’t even have a car charger yet, so I never had it plugged in. The entire driving trip, each way, barely used a notch on the old battery meter. I did have the screen off as much as I could, but the GPS and the Navigation app itself was still running in the background. So, I would say an average of 2.5 hours barely touched the batteries juice. I did of course charge the phone completely once I reached my destination.

The view of the Captivates beautiful Super AMOLED screen in the day light was excellent. I had no problems seeing the screen in brightest of sun on my trip. Visibility of the screen didn’t matter if I had sunglasses on or not. This made it very easy to look at the upcoming turns and or highway changes without the need for turning or covering the screen from the sunlight. This was with the power saving and auto brightness adjusting enabled.

Overall I’d say the with the exception of the significant amount of heat the Captivate creates with the screen being on for any extend period of time, which can easily be resolved by forcing the screen off just by hitting the power button, the Captivate GPS and Google Navigation experience a big win. -Greg

Most are aware that if you buy 1 of the 3 current Android phones from AT&T, that you won’t be able to sideload apps. That is you won’t be able to install apps that come from sources other than the Android Market. I should say you can’t easily do it, as there are 2 options to do this. First, you can root your device, which you will have complete access to do as you please with your phone. The second is using the Android SDK and load your apps that way, like you are “testing” it on your phone. Now the AWESOME guys over at Android Central have created a third and surely the easiest way to sideload apps on AT&T Android phones. The “Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine” is a Windows app that allows you to install any .apk file (Android App) you want from any source directly to your phone. Link to the get your copy and a video below. Android Central, you’re the best! -Greg

Get it here –> ”Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine”

Samsung’s Captivate has an enormous amount of hardware and software features. One of the things it does lack is a flash for its 5megapixel camera. I don’t really think a flash is big feature, as I’m not about to replace my real digital camera for my phones camera. When the camera in my phone begins near the 8+ megapixel mark then I would think a flash would become necessary. Short of the flash, the photo (5mp) and video (720hd) camera have quite a collection of features. The videos below quickly run through just about every feature and setting for both. I shot both of these videos using my fiancé’s HTC Aria and I have to say they turned out pretty well. I’d have to say the quality and tons of extra stuff for Captivate’s camera, make this first piece I reviewed a win for the Captivate. -Greg