Skip to main content

The android revolution

Still busy trying to get my AU Virtual classes ready, so with little time for my side projects...
But I changed my Nokia E71 phone (amazing piece of engineering, by the way) for a Samsung Galaxy S. My wife says it's a wannabe iPhone... I say under the bonnet it has a very different beast: the android OS.

I got tired of waiting for the android 2.2 version to reach the market... and all manufacturers are promising great new features in the phones "about to be released". So I made up my mind and entered the phone store. I was amazed by the range of options: iPhone 3G,3GS,4... Nokia E72 (I admit it crossed my mind...) and the android ones: HTC, Samsung, Dell... Bigger screens, or bigger memory, or faster processor, or a cheaper plan, they all sound tempting. My decision was based on the Operating System mainly and a balance between screen size and capacity to fit my pocket (the Dell Streak is fantastic... but I haven't seen mobile phones that big since the Motorola "bricks" in the '80s!)

Now I am discovering that installing the Development Kits and plugging the phone in "debugging" mode, I can access it through the computer, and I am slowly understanding the Java-based programming language. But I am having a lot of fun with the Application Inventor: a web-based tool by Google, where programming is not far from Grasshopper!
I imagine some of you will share my passion for this "visual scripting" tool, imagine my surprise when I discovered I can "click" procedures and instructions in a jigsaw puzzle looking environment, colour-coded and with shapes that, for example, expose components that need an argument and variables or constants you can use...


So, to the endless list of projects "Under NDA" I have added now tutorials and future android apps :)

Among the initial tests I did with my phone, I have plugged it to a server using Citrix and to a TV with a A/V cable. A bluetooth connection allows to use mouse and keyboard (that I've seen in the Dell phone but I couldn't on mine). The consequence is that in theory I could use my mobile as portable office: it would bridge the input-output and use a remote server for full desktop power. It was really exciting to see Revit on the 4 inch screen!!!

Still waiting for my firmware update, but I am really happy to have shifted to android. Now this is triggering a new series of side projects: from the office connectivity and the app tutorials to more ambitious architecture-oriented applications and an Artificial Intelligence project I will tell you when I get a chance.

Stay tuned, the future is coming!!!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My reading list
Mathematic explorations

Back on the saddle after a long silence, this time bringing a list of books that have kept me busy... is this a good excuse for not writing blog entries??? With a deadline for this afternoon I cannot spend a lot of time describing each book... yet I want to push myself to communicate some of the mind-opening good reads I came across recently. Most are not new books, and probably you will recognise them. Without further introduction, here's a list of books about maths, with a twist: Godel, Escher, Bach: and eternal golden braid by D. Hofstadter The_Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World by Ian Stewart Introducing Chaos, a graphic guide Art and Physics by Leonard Shlain Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension by Matt Parker So, these are some of my current and past reads. Have you read them? Any recommendations down these lines? In future entries I will explore books about design and programmi...

To BIM or not to BIM...
When BIM is not the answer

Is Building Information Modelling the catalyst of improvement in all things Architecture, Engineering and Construction? Is "BIM" the Midas touch for all innovation projects? This article explores the boundary conditions of BIM and suggests reasons for resisting its adoption. A new look to an old discussion. Introduction I am a confessed BIM enthusiast. Early adopter or visionary, I embraced the technology as soon as I was exposed to it, approximately 10 years ago, and have been trying to convince anyone willing to listen about its benefits. Now, a decade into my struggle to make a better world through BIM, I would like to step back and ask myself if there are good reasons why other people have not jumped at BIM with the same conviction... My logic is structured around the three letters of the acronym, hoping to identify the boundaries in these three dimensions. Boundary 1: Building Is Buildings  the only target of BIM? " We don't do Buildings, we do roads ...