-
What to do after you bought your new phone?
இன்றைய (13 ஜூலை 2022) மெட்ராஸ் பேப்பர் இதழில் “செல்போனுக்குக் கல்யாணம் செய்து வைப்பது எப்படி?” என்கிற தலைப்பில் என்னுடைய கட்டுரை வெளிவந்திருக்கிறது. இந்தத் தொடரை எழுத எனக்கு வாய்ப்பளித்து, எழுதியதை மெழுக்கேற்றிய நண்பர், பிரபல எழுத்தாளர் திரு பா ராகவன் அவர்களுக்கு எனது மனமார்ந்த நன்றிகள். நண்பர்கள் கட்டுரையைப் படித்து விட்டு தங்களது கருத்துக்களைப் பகிரவும். நன்றி. முழுக் கட்டுரையும், இதழில் உள்ள மற்ற பல நல்ல கட்டுரைகளையும் படிக்க சந்தா தேவை, தமிழ் பத்திரிகை உலகில் தரமான எழுத்தியல் வளர உங்கள் சந்தாவும், ஆதரவும் பயனாகவிருக்கும். முதல் சில பத்திகள் கீழே: செல்லற்ற நல்லோர் என்று அநேகமாக இன்றைக்கு உலகில் யாருமில்லை. செல்போன் ஓர் அத்தியாவசியப் பொருளாகிவிட்டது. அதுவும் குறுந்தொழில் – சிறுதொழில் செய்பவர்களுக்கு அதுதான் அலுவலகமே. பல்போன தாத்தா, பாட்டிகளுக்கும் செல் அவசியம். அதுதான் வெளிநாட்டில் இருக்கும் அவர்களின் பேரன், பேத்திகளோடு பேசி, விளையாட உதவும் மந்திரக் கருவி. அப்படிப்பட்ட முக்கியக் கருவிக்குக் கையேடுகள் எதுவும் வருவதில்லை, பள்ளி கல்லூரிகளில் அதைப்…
-
Redmi 10 Prime
I was looking for a new phone to replace a Samsung M20 which had broken down and Samsung service was quoting a repair fee of INR 7000 – more than half of the price (INR 12,990) I had paid three years ago. Till now, my experience with Samsung mobiles has been good. My wife was having a Samsung Galaxy M31s, my sister and my son were using Samsung Galaxy M30s, and I have a Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite as my second phone, which I am very happy with. But recently, apart from the problem with this one (M20), I heard from a friend about a motherboard problem he was having…
-
Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite 2020
My mom wanted to watch YouTube on the Sony (non-smart) TV we have in our living room. This meant I had to buy a Google TV (used to be called Android TV) stick that connects to the TV’s HDMI Input. Right now, I have a Google Chromecast 2 connected to this TV, using which I can cast any content from an Android phone or Google apps from my iPhone or iPad. It doesn’t have a remote control, so my mom can’t go to say YouTube without having a smartphone. So I was considering my options. Last year, I had bought for my son, a Nokia Media Streamer device for…
-
Access your phone from your Windows 10 PC
Today’s Windows tip. Apple (Mac/iPhone) owners please look elsewhere. If you are using a PC running Windows 10 (upgrade for free to the latest build easily) and own a modern Android especially a Samsung phone (most of the Galaxy series sold in the last few years) then you will thank me for this tip. The list of supported Android phones is here. On your PC, look for a free app from Microsoft that comes with Windows 10 called “Your Phone”. Once you have it set up (instructions from Microsoft & from Samsung), you can stop picking up your phone every time when a notification alert appears in your phone, to…
-
Move from Android to iOS and transfer WhatsApp from Samsung Phone to iPhone
With the public backlash against WhatsApp with their privacy policy revision, this may not be the best time for this post, but still here it is. I recently got a new iPhone. I am coming to an iPhone after exactly a decade, my last was iPhone 4 in 2010 and now it is iPhone 12 Pro. While waiting for the new phone, I made a check list of all the items and apps that needed to be moved from the Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite) and where their data resided: Contacts – Google Contacts Calendar – Google Calendar Mail – Microsoft Outlook and GMail Notes – Evernote and Google…
-
Auto backup files and photos to Google Drive in Android
Google Photos pretty much solved the problem of backing up precious photos we take on our smartphone to the cloud. This eliminated the fear of losing the pictures when you upgrade your phone or the unfortunate event of losing/breaking it. I backup all my photos and videos in the full format to an external hard-drive and to Dropbox, even then I keep a copy in Google Photos in lower resolution as it is convenient and fast to search and retrieve photos. For the last many years whenever I set up a phone for a friend or relative, next to Gmail I install and configure Google Photos and Google Keep. Even…
-
For Apps is Mobile first and Web last?
As a farewell thought for 2020, let me leave you with an observation of a trend of last few years that got cemented this year. As an early developer for the web, I had believed that applications will get developed for the web first, depending on the market you then write native apps for iOS and/or Android. Using iPhone for the last few weeks, I am observing it is the other way round nowadays. Even if there is a web version of an app they are crippled compared to the native mobile apps. Look at Instagram where posting is not available on the web version (for God’s sake, why?), or…
-
Today’s special – Annoyances with apps
Today’s post is about two annoyances I have experienced with apps: #WhatsApp and #MicrosoftEdge. Forward in WhatsApp: WhatsApp drives me nuts. Whenever I forward a picture message with a text, it leaves the text out. I have to use the share sheet (in a circular way) to share to WhatsApp again. Why can’t I select multiple photos & videos, to share them to Google Photos or Drobox for safe keeping? URL copy ‘n’ paste with Microsoft Edge: Last few days Microsoft Edge browser was driving me crazy. Every time I copy a URL from the browser address bar and then paste it in Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn text boxes, I…
