Pathik Shah

How to Install Android OS on your PC / Netbook / Laptop?

This tutorial will show you how to install Android 2.0 Eclair on your Asus EEE PC. It also works with most other netbooks.

Download the Android X86 port from http://www.android-x86.org/

-> Android-X86 Download Link

How to Install Android OS on your EEE PC?

After downloading the bootable android-x86 ISO, burn it to your USB drive using Win32DiskImager –  or UNetBootIn

Insert the USB drive in your netbook, set it to boot from USB drive from the BIOS options and then restart your netbook.

The installation process should start soon. You can use it as a Live USB to run Android without installing it or install Android to your harddisk.

If you choose to install it, select a partition to install it to and then format it using the EXT3 format. Choose to install the GRUB boot loader.

After the installation is complete, you can reboot your EEE PC to run the installed Android OS.

The OS is very responsive and works perfectly well, atleast with the EEE PC. Everything just works out of the box – Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Display, Mouse, Keyboard etc.

It can be used as a backup OS or just to show off a bit. It also has a makeshift version of the Android Market with a few apps compatible with the X86 platform.

How to disable Google Buzz

To turn off Buzz on your Gmail account, just browse to the bottom of the Gmail window and click on Turn Off Buzz.

How to disable Google Buzz Notifications

If you just want to turn off the Buzz email notifications which are sent to your inbox everytimes comments on your buzzes, do this -

Go to the Gmail Settings page -

Open the Filters tab and create a new Filter.

In the search criteria, enter label:buzz in the Has the Words field. Test search. It should show you all the buzz notifications.

Choose the Skip the Inbox action in the next step and create the filter.

All Buzz notifications will now be archived and won’t appear in your inbox.

Google has started its quarterly Pagerank update; many websites and blogs have already had their Pagerank updates. I was expecting it to happen around 30th June, but looks like they started it a week earlier.

PathikShah.Com is now a PR3 blog. My Alexa Rank is currently fluctuating around 420,000 which is pretty decent. The growth, while not spectacular, has been quite steady. My next aim is to become a PR4 by 2010.

Thanks to all my readers for making this possible.

HTC Hero

The Android scene is buzzing with activity, just after the official launch of the HTC Magic, HTC is out with a new Android Phone, the HTC Hero. What’s more interesting than its 5 MP camera and awesome specs is the HTC Sense UI it comes bundled with.

The specs of the HTC Hero are almost the same as the HTC Magic except for a 5 MP camera, more RAM, better design and a 3.5MM headphone port. It also includes native support for Flash.

HTC Hero Specifications:

• Dimensions: 112 x 56.2 x 14.4 mm
• Weight: 135 gms
• Display: 3.2 inch TFT Display, 320 x 480 pixels, 65K colors
• CPU: Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528 MHz
• RAM: 288 MB RAM
• ROM: 512 MB ROM
• Connectivity: GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G HSDPA / HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Camera: 5 MP Camera with AF
• OS: Android 1.5
• Audio Support: MP3, AAC+, WAV, WMA9
• Video Support: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, WMV9
• Battery: Li-Ion 1350 mAh

Read the rest of this entry »

Airtel has launched the HTC Magic / Google Ion / MyTouch in India. This is officially the first phone launched in India based on Google’s Android platform. The HTC Magic is powered by Android v1.5 and has much better specifications than the HTC Dream / G1. It sports a better camera, a virtual keyboard and is much slimmer and lighter.

HTC Magic Specifications:

• Dimensions: 117.7 x 55 x 13.7 mm
• Weight: 118.5 gms
• Display: 3.2 inch TFT Display, 320 x 480 pixels, 65K colors
• CPU: Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528 MHz
• RAM: 192 MB RAM
• ROM: 512 MB ROM
• Connectivity: GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Camera: 3.15 MP Camera with AF
• OS: Android 1.5
• Battery: Li-Ion 1340 mAh

Airtel is offering services like Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In Mobile Search, City Search etc with the HTC Magic. It is priced at Rs. 29,900 and will be available at all Airtel Centers and HTC resellers. Airtel will provide free data transfers of 100 MB per month for the first 6 months. It seems to be an unlocked version, will soon confirm this.

Great news, except for the price. I was really hoping to buy this when it came to India but 30K seems too expensive.