Creating Your QR Code Scanner and Generator

THIS LIBRARY HAS BEEN DEPRICATED, PLEASE USE BARCODE FRAGMENT LIBRARY V2

Hey Everyone...
Has been long since i posted any of the open source codes which could help you develop some awesome apps.
Well was working on couple of things.. :D

Anyways recently have been working with QR Code scanning and other stuffs...

WHAT IS QR-CODE?
As per wikipedia
QR Code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary,Kanji), or through supported extensions, virtually any kind of data.

We do have several libraries available.. (Many are paid and asks for upto $50k/1000 users and some free (zxing).
Now the obvious question is: WHY ANOTHER LIBRARY?

1. The library is based on Zxing
2. It is based on Fragments which means that you can simply add the scanner functionality in any of your existing application without changing even a single line of code.
3. You can invoke the scanner within a part of screen just like a small view, unlike the existing where you need to launch a new activity all together just to make a scan.

WHERE IS THE LIBRARY?
Here is the link : http://code.google.com/p/barcodefragmentlib/ (depricated)
Please use: https://code.google.com/p/barcodefraglibv2/

HOW TO TEST FUNCTIONALITY?
You can download the apk which has been generated from the provided source.

LICENSE?
As always its under Apache License. So feel free to use.


Lemme know if it helped.

Customizing Android Phones

Easy steps for phone customization

Phones, as i believe, is something very very personal. Then why my phone should be exactly like anyone else's phone around? Why should it even look or behave like someone else's?

OpenSource was crafted with this intention, they gave all possible opportunity to people to create their own environment. A place where they can have everything just the way they want.

When i talk about OpenSource in Phone environment i guess we all know what we are talking about here... Yepp Android Operating system.

Well here are some easy ways by which you can customize your phone and make it behave exactly the way you want.

STEP 1 (Non rooted / rooted phones ):
Widgets : This has been on Android since the beginning of time  :) Many of you must have been using it already on your phones and many haven't.
Widgets are by definition small portion of application which can work on your home screen and provide you a quck and easy way to access your application contents without even opening the application. For example the above screenshot contains three widgets
1. Google search widget
2. Clock
3. Music Player
 Put them together and your screen becomes gorgeous :)

STEP 2 (Non rooted / rooted phones ) :
Wallpapers : Again you have couple of choices. You can use a static image as a wallpaper or can go for live wallpaper. WHATS LIVE WALL PAPER ? Its a wallpaper which can perform actions. For example it can show you a ocean view and you will see the waves around. there are hundereds of free live wallpapers available on android market, just check em out :)

STEP 3 ( Rooted / Custom roms) : 
Ok.. so you stayed long enough to reach this section... this is for pro users who love to play in deep :)
There are plenty of options for you, namely Cyanogen, AOKP, MIUI and many others out there... all of them have some pros and cons. Cyanogen undoubtedly has the biggest community support followed by AOKP and MIUI. I personally use Cyanogen on my Galaxy Nexus device.

These roms give you plenty of options to modify the system not only on appearance but also you can overclock your processor and get an awesome experience which you could have never got from your phone.

Here are some of the things that you can do!

So you can see the customization at notification area and the Lock screen.

There are millions of other coool stuffs that you can start doing.. ( One of my Fav..  Run Ubuntu on your Android ) 

STEP 4 (Rooted / Custom Rom) : 

THEMES : YOu can install themes on your device... and trust me it ant gonna slow your system down.. :) 

Here are some changes which happened on settings and other places due to themes:

Change your phone every day with themes...

Hope you enjoyed and will try to make your phone a little more personal :)

Nexus All models Factory images released..

So now, you can get your phones updated to Jelly Beans (If you haven't got yourself updated yet) with official images.

Official Images also comes handy if you have screwed up your phone by putting in some nasty custom roms.

To Install the factory images there are some small BABY STEPS that you need to take.

I have already posted the method to install the factory image for 4.0 in my previous post which is here : http://abhinavasblog.blogspot.sg/2012/06/installing-custom-rom-on-galaxy-nexus.html

All you need to do is instead of downloading 4.0 OS build you need to download it for 4.1


The entire list of changes in Jelly Beans from ICS is provided here : http://www.android.com/about/jelly-bean/

Happy Jelly Beans... :)

Google Search

Google today has introduced a new way to search the web for hand held devices..

They have enabled gesture search...

What is Gesture Search.?
Well gesture here refers to handwritten text... Hence, when i say Gesture Search it simply means you can write what you wanna search on the screen... Yepp no typing on the keyboard...

Wao.. so how do I do it?
As already mentioned this facility is only for devices with touch screen.
All you need to do now is

1. Go to Google
2. Click on settings in bottom of screen
3. Click on Enable under Handwriting

4. Save

That's it... now you can write and search ...

And one last thing... you can search in more than 20 languages... :)

Rooting Android 4.1.1 Galaxy Nexus

So.. many of you must be happy with your new awesome Jelly Beans... :) (Ofcrs people who got it)
and many of you will be sad hat you now lost all your rooted power...

Yes you loose root and your custom recoveries as soon as you put official Jelly Beans on your Galaxy devices.

We we have a solution now.. :)


It involves a small trick...


From my previous posts you already know how to root your devices till 4.0 (ICS)

Since we will be doing lot similar stuff here... so lets refresh your memory

• adb reboot bootloader
• adb devices 
• If cannot find your device
• Add Device
• Device Manager
• Right Click on Android 1.0
• Manually update driver
• Choose Driver from List
• Android Usb Devices
• Samsung USB Composite
• Fastboot oem unlock

Now this part is all new for Jelly Beans so read carefully and dont miss anything: 

• Start your phone...
• Copy CWM SuperSU in sd sdcard
• Shutdown your phone and restart the phone by holding down to Volume Up+ Volume Down + power
• Type in fastboot flash recovery <recovery-file.img>
• By using Volume key navigate to Recovery Mode
• You will reach to custom recovery
• Select Install zip from sdcard
• Select SuperUser zip from sdcard by pressing Power Button.
• Once installed type following command
• adb shell
• cd system
• mv /system/reboot-from-recovery.p /system/reboot-from-recovery.bak
• fastboot oem lock

That's it... You have your latest rooted Jelly Beans... :)

Android 4.1.1 Update for All GSM Galaxy Nexus

Yeah we all had been waiting for our official release of Jelly Beans...

With the Jelly Beans source floating around it was highly expected that the updates will be coming up super soon.

So here it is ... we just recieved two updates (Official Updates) from Google.

Download

• takju
• takju-JRO03C-from-JRN84D (8,914,753 bytes)
• takju-JRO03C-from-IMM76I (154,343,776 bytes)
• yakju
  • yakju-JRO03C-from-IMM76I (151,966,582 bytes, MD5: 81ac79422f7704e46f792944693080ce)

Unfortunately you don't get option to update your device. Well its not same with people who already have patched and have been using 4.1 from my previous posts.

I'll help you get the latest updates with a both the devices. (With the Patches and Without the Patch)

Lets start (For users with nothing fancy in their phone i.e their phone is still running stock ICS)  :

1. You need to install CWM recovery. (Don't worry this will be erased as soon as you update your device to latest version. )
2. Follow the link upto step 2. There is no need to do step 3.
3. Now start your device and copy the relevant zip ion your SD card. (Check in settings to know which zip should you download. )
4. In case you want to change your build version. Please follow this link (We have installed TAKAJU) and then install custom recovery from step 2 again.
5. Now follow these steps

Copy the zip to Device.

Switch off your device 

Start your Phone by pressing Volume Up + Volume Down + Power

You device should start in bootloader mode.

Use Volume up and Down to navigate for Recovery Mode

Press Power button to go into recovery 

Select Install zip from Sdcard 

6. Restart the phone.

Now for the users who already are using Jelly Beans 4.1
Download the file on your computer. (People who have used my previous posts to update their phones need to use takju-JRO03C-from-JRN84D.)

Use following commands

1. adb reboot bootloader
2. Choose recovery mode
3. You will see an exclamation mark on screen with android logo press and hold Volume up and Power button for approximately 10 secs.
4. You will see a recovery screen 
5. Choose option update using adb
6. adb sideload Downloads\update_jelly.zip

That's it. 

Once done you will be running on 4.1.1 version of Android OS.

Jelly Beans on Your Galaxy Nexus

UPDATE:  GET OFFICIAL GOOGLE JELLY BEANS UPDATE FROM THIS LINK

So many of you have been waiting to see this :)

Here is a step by step guide to install latest and greatest of Google Product on your Galaxy Nexus.

Before you starts with your sleaves up lets walkthrough with stuffs that gonna happen to your phone...

• Will flash your device and Install Google Takaju 
• Why you need that? Because the update has been released for this version only...
• We will Root our device
• Install the new Update
• The root access will not be available to you anymore, so you phone will be as good as new.

So lets start 

Step 1 Flashing TAKAJU

Please refer to http://abhinavasblog.blogspot.sg/2012/06/installing-custom-rom-on-galaxy-nexus.html 


Step 2 Rooting Your Device
Please refer to http://abhinavasblog.blogspot.sg/2012/07/root-galaxy-nexus-gsm-only.html

Step 3 Installing Jelly Beans

• Download the Jelly Beans Update from here
• Copy it to SD CARD
• Shutdown your phone
• Press Volume Up + Volume Down and Power button together
• Navigate to recovery using Volume buttons
• Select Recovery using Power Button
• Select install zip from sdcard
• choose the downloaded file in sdcard
• reboot

That's it.. Now your Phone has latest and Greatest Android 4.1 OS.




ENJOY :)

Root The Galaxy Nexus (GSM Only)

Disclaimer: Neither Abhinavasblog, nor Google Inc. should be held responsible for any damage happened to your device in the process of Rooting your Phone. 

Rooting your Galaxy Nexus is the easiest thing you will ever know...

WHY ROOTING?
Well... there is no single answer for this. So before we talk about "why rooting" lets know "what is rooting".


WHAT IS ROOTING?
Android is a Linux based Operating System... (For Non techies: Linux is just another Operating System like Windows and Mac ).

By default user do not have permission to modify any integral settings of the operating system, this has been implemented to save the OS from Users as they can accidentally perform some awesomely crazy changes.

This limitation also takes away the power from your phone as some times software need those kind of permissions to work. This permission is known as ROOT PERMISSION.

Hence the word ROOTING came up.

So back to our basic question WHY ROOTING?
In order to get complete access t make modifications and customization of the Operating System you need to root.


WILL I LOOSE WARRANTY?
Yes and No..

Yes if you go with your rooted device to claim warrany and No if you reflash the original os : Please reffer to my previous post to know how to flash original OS.


ENOUGH TALK LETS FIGHT
Caution: Please make sure your battery is above 50% of charge. Take Backup as all your data on mobile will be lost.

Step 1 Unlock Boot loader:

• adb reboot bootloader
• adb devices 
• If cannot find your device
• Add Device
• Device Manager
• Right Click on Android 1.0
• Manually update driver
• Choose Driver from List
• Android Usb Devices
• Samsung USB Composite
• Fastboot oem unlock

Step 2 Install Recovery:
Recovery is a piece of tool that allows you to install/ update/ replace/ reset your OS. The default recovery that we have in our device has very limited set of capabilities.
There are several options available to you I personally liked

Download from Here : http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager/
I myself am using Touch Recovery It is from the same place but specific to Galaxy Nexus GSM.

• fastboot flash recovery  optimus_prime-touch-v5.5.0.4-6-GSM.img
• fastboot oem lock

You have successfully flashed the new Recovery. Restart your phone.

Step 3 Install Root:

Download Super User Zip from WGeekz link v0.94

• Copy the zip to Device.
• Switch off your device 
• Start your Phone by pressing Volume Up + Volume Down + Power
• You device should start in bootloader mode.
• Use Volume up and Down to navigate for Recovery Mode
• Press Power button to go into recovery
• Select Install zip from Sdcard
• choose the zip file 

Once these operations are performed its all done..  Choose option to restart your phone.

Once restarted you should be able to see an application names SU / SuperUser.

THAT'S IT YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ROOTED YOUR PHONE.

Installing Custom Rom on Galaxy Nexus

Installing Custom Rom on Galaxy Nexus

Step 1 Unlock Boot loader:

• adb reboot bootloader
• adb devices 
• If cannot find your device
• Add Device
• Device Manager
• Right Click on Android 1.0
• Manually update driver
• Choose Driver from List
• Android Usb Devices
• Samsung USB Composite
• Fastboot oem unlock

Step 2 Installing ROM :

There are several ROMs available, In this i will cover how to install the Googles own Rom.

Since there had been various varients for Galaxy Nexus phone i decided to try with "takaju" ROM.

Why TAKAJU? Well its the only ROM with Google Wallet and few other Google related tweaks available. The same method should work for any images available.
Also refer to this if interested in Jelly Beans :) :http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/04/24/the-takju-mystery-unraveled-its-the-u-s-gsm-galaxy-nexus/

Download your Favorite from : https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images

Once Downloaded all you need to do is 

1. Extract the download to any normal folder
2. Double Click on FLASH_ALL.SH

That's it... it will take some time and you will be having your latest and greatest device ready.

ADVICE:

Though not mandatory, its advisable to lock your boot loader once the installation is complete

Steps:

• adb reboot boatloader
• fastboot oem lock

iPhone Flaw Found

Hi Everyone...

I just found a security issue with iPhone.

You can access any contact information and even make calls even when the iPhone is locked.

Here's the steps to reproduce this:

TO SEE THE CONTACTS INFORMATION WHEN IPHONE IS LOCKED:
1. Long press on screen when the iPhone is Locked.
2. You will see that your Siri is activated.
3. Say any common name like "Mom Contact" or any name you feel a person may be having.
4. Siri will provide you the result of all possible matches for Contacts.
5. Now you can click on contact name to see the contact information.


TO CALL A NUMBER WHEN IPHONE IS LOCKED:

1. Long press on screen when the iPhone is Locked.
2. You will see that your Siri is activated.

3. Say "Call Mom" for instance, you will again be given options by Siri

4. Just say the name, the call will go.

Hope you will keep your mobile safe until a fix for this is found.

For Ubuntu Users

Hi There...

Its a small update (may be known to many of us).

How to open folders with root permission in Ubuntu?

Well here are the steps to achieve it...

Getting Started

1. Open the terminal and install first the nautilus-gksu with this command:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-gksu

2. Run now this command:

sudo cp /usr/lib/nautilus/extensions-2.0/libnautilus-gksu.so /usr/lib/nautilus/extensions-3.0/

3. Restart now nautilus with this command:

nautilus -q

4. Right-click now on any file or folder and select "Open as administrator":




And you are done :)

Update Android 4.0.4 ICS On Nexus S

Google pushed out 4.0.4 update for its Google Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus and Xoom users.

Here is info for updating your Nexus S without voiding your warranty.

Before you go into this check for update if available by dialling *#*#CHECKIN#*#* (*#*#2432546#*#*)

Also you can go in Settings -> About Phone -> System Updates

If it ain't there .. no worries it is here :D above steps were just to save you from all these steps :)

Download the update from here

Step 1: After downloading the update file, rename it to “update.zip”. (So it's easy for you to find it during the process)

Step 2: Copy this file to the root directory of your Nexus S

Step 3: Power off your device

Step 4: Keep pressing Volume Up button and then while holding Volume up press Power button.

Step 5: By using your volume keys for navigation, go to “Recovery” option and select using “power” button.

Step 6: You’ll see an exclamation mark on your screen. Hold the Power button followed by Volume up button

Step 7: From the Recovery menu, select the update from SD card option and browse to the update.zip that you have copied in step 2. Select the power button to confirm.

Step 8: Now select “reboot system now” option. That’s all you need to do. 

Voila, your Nexus S will now taste the new and amazing Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. 

Samsung ICS Update - Force It :)

Don't tell me!! You didn't get the NEWS!!
Yes Samsung rolled out the official build of ICS for its SII series. The rollout has been for Europe & Korea and is expected to land other countries soon...

Check the Facebook!!

But for my Tech Hungry friends... waiting must be an issue....

So here it is.. Thanks to our Friends @ XDA now you can use the official ICS on your Samsung SII.

I9100XXLPQ (Official Final Build) 
Base Firmware: I9100XXLPQ (4.0.3)
Build Date: 9th March 2012
Modem: XXLPQ
CSC: OXALPQ
Change List: 223505
Kernel Version: 3.0.15

DOWNLOAD (FileFactory) | Mirror (HotFile) MD5: 013D99661014CCFF2404C273D70D212D (Thanks To SamMobile) (DO A WIPE BEFORE FLASHING!)

Stock Kernel:

• Download (.TAR) MD5: 7C1ACDE0CC8A221746EBEF2F6975FA04 (Thanks To Intratech)

Stock Modem:

• Download (.TAR) MD5: 223BD8B9B2B67AF8E12DA88B32E92963 (Thanks To Intratech)

So now you have all the tools for big Magic... Now what?

- With 1 File In The Package:

1. Extract the firmware
2. Open the included Odin
3. Put your device into Download MODE (Home + Volume Down + Power)
4. Click PDA and select *.tar.md5
5. Then finally click START! -With 3 Files In The Firmware Package:

Extract the firmware

1. Open the included Odin
2. Put your device into Download MODE (Home + Volume Down + Power)
3. Click PDA and select I9100_CODE_*.tar.md5
4. Click PHONE and select MODEM_*.tar.md5
5. Click CSC and GT-I9100-MULTI-CSC-*.tar.md5
6. Then finally click START!

Yepp, you are all done...  Now enjoy with your ICS :)