2010

The new Android 2.1, more popularly known as the Android Eclair, is now available to be downloaded on the Samsung Galaxy Portal on T-mobile UK. The catch is, this upgrade is not available over-the-air (OTA), but has to be initiated by the user using Samsung’s mobile PC suite – Samsung PC Studio.

This is ridiculous, since the Android is a modified version of the Linux kernel, and at its core, is Open Source. However, for the upgrade itself, it has to be connected to a Windows PC. More on that later. For now, let’s focus on the upgrading progress. And this process took me a good 4 hours to complete, until I found the easy and shortcut way to do it. Trust me, follow this process and the upgrade is done within 15 minutes flat!

galaxy-portal.jpg

What I did wrong before:

  • Installed Samsung PC Studio which was on the CD that came along with my phone.[ This is version 1.4. etc, which is an old one ]
  • Connected my phone via USB cable, and opened up Samsung PCS, and hit the Upgrade button.
  • It goes to download the latest install, and then on to Step 3, which is actual upgrade on the phone, and then it goes on for ages, whilst the phone keeps flashing the Samsung logo.

Here’s the right way to do it.

  • Install the latest version, just to be very sure. Go to Samsung Mobile UK website, and select Samsung Galaxy Portal-> Software, and download the 1.5 version of Samsung PC Studio.
  • Once installed { i.e. after uninstalling the previous version and installing this one } , connect your Samsung Galaxy Portal using the USB Cable. Mount your SD card.

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Tech Meme: Strutting Leo, Sad Keanu, Mac vs. PC

by Sujoy on September 12, 2010

Well, everyone in the tech world is aware of the Mac vs. PC campaign from Apple. This time around, someone really amazing in the Reddit forum released this piece of creative genius by mashing up two of the most famous memes – Strutting Leo, and Sad Keanu with the Mac vs. PC ad.

Check out the awesome meme below.

Strutting Leo, Sad Keanu, Mac vs PC

Strutting Leo, Sad Keanu, Mac vs PC

Unsurprisingly, Sad Keanu is sad because nobody mentions Linux. Actually, that’s a fair point.

Image courtesy: Reddit via Dailywhat

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Microsoft Excel TipsIn the past couple of months of working on Excel and VBA Macros, I have been exposed to a few challenges which in the course of time, I have overcome. So, I thought I would share them with my beloved readers. This section: Excel Tips aims at sharing the small tips and tricks that I have come across which makes life easier for anyone working with Excel or VBA Macros. Cheers!

Keyboard shortcuts are like the secret tools of every power Excel user. If we use too much of Excel in our day-to-day work, these handy Keyboard shortcuts on Excell cell selection will save a lot of time, and also save you from dragging the mouse into frustration land.

So here, we go.

Selecting entire Column (vertical ) : – Ctrl + Spacebar

Selecting entire Row (horizontal ) : – Shift + Spacebar

Selecting all rows & columns : – Ctrl + A

Selecting first active cell  : Ctrl + Home

Selecting last active cell : Ctrl + End

Selecting all columns from a particular cell to the beginning of the column: Ctrl + Shift + Left

Selecting all columns from a particular cell to the end of the column: Ctrl + Shift + Right

Selecting all rows from a particular cell to the beginning of the row : Ctrl + Shift + Up

Selecting all rows from a particular cell to the end of the row : Ctrl + Shift + Down

Selecting first active cell in a row: Ctrl + Left

Selecting last active cell in a row: Ctrl + Right

Selecting first active cell in a column: Ctrl + Up

Selecting last active cell in a column: Ctrl + Down

Do let us know if these simple tips helped you out, and leave your comments. :) Cheerio and happy exceling.

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Finally, something good happening for Samsung Galaxy Portal on T-Mobile UK (No points for guessing what my current phone is).

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Portal Android 2.1

After being stuck with Android 1.5 aka the cupcake for almost a decade and a half ( it felt that long at least), T-mobile has finally decided to give its (now) older phone – the Galaxy Portal the much awaited Eclair upgrade. This would finally bring a lot of awesomeness to the new phone such as Live wallpapers, better ROM stability, much better memory utilisation and compatibility with all those new apps in the Android market which work for Android 2.1 onwards.

This announcement comes from a T-Mobile employee on its product support forums where customers have been moaning about why the carrier has been delaying the roll out of Eclair for so long, when 3-mobile released the Galaxy portal with Eclair out of the box. The announcement can be read here.

What is not clear, is that the employee’s comment mentions – We will be releasing a software update for the Samsung Galaxy Portal within the next month. This will update your Samsung Galaxy Portal to Android 2.1.

Hence, there is no ETA provided. Well, I’ll surely be refreshing that damn forum page for sure for at least a thousand times a day.

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