How To Trade Forex on the Samsung Galaxy S

How To Do Forex Trading on the Samsung Galaxy S
Forex trading is one of the things I find interesting. However, once a person becomes a serious trader, it's a bit hard to be away from your PC, wondering how things are going.
I for one, cannot bear not knowing what the current exchange rate is and to think, I am only trading with play money!
So I decided to install a forex trading system on my phone. First up was my Desire, and it is a big relief for me to know that rates and trading are but a few clicks away.
Here is the link to a tutorial which shows how to install forex software on the Samsung Galaxy S


 

 

 

Got The Galaxy S

 
I am now the happy owner of a Galaxy S, an early Xmas present from my beloved mother.
We went over to a Globe Business Office to apply for a Globe line.
Luckily, I had the sense to call ahead two days before, to inquire about the Galaxy, as well as the promo. In the course of my inquiry, I informed the Globe staff that we intended to get the unit on Thursday and without my explicitly stating it, I was to find out later, that a unit was actually earmarked for us.
It was also great timing that we arrived before 5:30 so there were very few people in the store. The person who attended to us was very efficient and inside of 30 minutes everything was done with the exception of the unit, which I was informed, was down to the last piece, which was unfortunately, reserved. Then the staff noticed my name on the box! It was reserved for me! That to me concluded a very serendipitous series of events and I was a very happy new Galaxy owner and Globe subscriber.
Ok, the purpose of this post was to provide first impressions so here they are:
Good Points:
The Galaxy screen is really great, for most people, this alone will seal the deal.
The phone is super light and slim. The phone weighs only as much as my Sony Ericsson K810, give or take a few grams.
Music player audio quality is very good.
Battery life is very good.

 
Bad Points:
GPS is erratic and has problems picking up signals
FM audio quality is not good, unlike the Omnia 2 which had awesome FM sound
Phone feels fragile
The package is pathetic given the fact that this is a premium phone. No case and no memory card.
No Froyo upgrade yet, but its expected on September 23

 
So, does the Galaxy dethrone the Desire?
Nope, for me, the Desire is the BEST phone right now. But the Galaxy is a close second, and for the next few months, I won't be experiencing any gadget envy at all, even if the Desire HD should land on Philippine shores.
Personally, I feel that the Galaxy is at its best as a multimedia and social media phone, the type you take on vacation. The Desire on the other hand, feels and behaves like a solid business tool, except for the battery which I hope to sort out with an extended battery later on.

 

The New Sheriff Is In Town – HTC Desire HD

 
I was waiting to see how the real thing looked like before I got my Desire. The rumors were flying fast and furious about the successor of the Desire but I needed my Android NOW so I had no choice.
Barely a week after I got my Desire, the HTC Desire HD and the Desire Z were launched in London, hot on the heels of the Nokia smartphones.

So do I regret my Desire purchase?
Not by a long shot. The HD seems to be nearly similar to my HD2 in size and form factor so its not the type of phone I can carry around in my pocket. At this point the size of the Desire is perfect for me.
Will I be getting the Desire HD sometime in the future?
You bet, but not to replace my Desire. From the looks of it, it might replace my HD2, but I was holding out for a WM7 to replace the HD2 so I don't know who's going to be replaced…
Will I still get the Galaxy ?
The answer is yes, and the Desire HD just might replace it IF, the screen of the HD is comparable and the multimedia, especially the music player is up to par.
Some might be asking, why get the Galaxy at all?
The answer is because it's a bargain for me at this point. Besides I just launched my Android site and I am about to jump into social media for work so I have no time to wait for the HD. The fact that the social media experience is supposed to be better integrated on the Galaxy is also a big factor.
Moreover, I have not even seen the Desire or the old HD2 being offered by the local telcos so it will be expensive for some time.
I have to admit that I am loving the design and ease of use of HTC more and more. This is why I will only replace my HD2 with another HTC.
Anyway here are my preliminary impressions of the Desire HD.

• The size is ok for multimedia. The 4.3 inch screen will most definitely trump the Galaxy
• The Galaxy however seems to have the better screen, but that remains to be confirmed
• In the HTC, EVERYTHING works. My Omnias GPS is driving me nuts.
• The 8 megapixel (with flash) is another big plus over the Galaxy
• The build quality will probably be like the HD2 which means rock solid and oozing of quality. Beats the Iphone any day.

If it were not for my need to have MS Office applications to sync with my work PC, I would have gone totally Android. For those who need to keep a task manager easily accessible to shut down applications, the memory and resource management of Android is heaven sent. 

As it stands now, here is my wish list of phones:
1. HTC Desire HD
2. Samsung Galaxy S
3. WM7 Phone, preferably HTC or Samsung
4. Nokia N8 (maybe)
Time to fill up my vision board again.

More Useful Info for the HTC Desire Owner

The "getting to know you" portion of a new phone is always a fun time where you learn all the new things that your phone is capable of. Of course, like all things new, there will be some faults and issues that will come to light, because devices, like people, are never perfect.

So here are a few links I ran into while checking out some details about my new tool:

XDA Developers Thread about HTC Flaws and Annoyances with Workarounds

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=666332

Android Headlines Article: HTC Desire Ultimate Review: Everything you could possibly want to know

http://androidheadlines.com/2010/04/htc-desire-ultimate-review-everything-you-could-possibly-want-to-know.html


This is an awesome SMS application for the Desire and other Android phones. Check it out.

It's FREE

http://www.handcent.com/index.php


Tips And Tricks for the Desire from the Geekzone NZ forum
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=97&topicid=60136

Some information for HTC Desire owners

 
In keeping with my purpose for putting up this blog, here are some useful links for HTC Desire present and future owners.

 
Top Accessories For HTC Desire
http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/blog/2010/04/top-10-htc-desire-accessories/


 
The HTC Desire Section on the HTC Forums
http://www.htcforums.com/desire/


 
The HTC Desire Page on XDA Developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=594


 
And a secret key sequence for accessing the extended settings of the HTC Desire:
From the call screen, use the keypad to enter the following sequence:
*#*#INFO#*#*

Shopping for a new Android phone

New Phone Shopping
For work reasons I had to get an Android phone so for several days I went on a research frenzy, learning as much about Android phones and the choices available.
Now I have to admit, I went into this research with a favorite in mind, the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S. So there was a wee bit of bias and I was basically looking to add just a few more positive comments to confirm my choice so I could hightail it to the nearest Samsung shop.
But in order to give my choice a semblance of being "well-thought out", I had a short list of three choices

1. Samsung I 9000 Galaxy S
2. HTC Desire
3. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

The specs of these phones are very close to each other. In terms of screen size, the Samsung and Sony have 4 inch screens while the HTC has a 3.7 inch screen. They all have 1 GHZ processors, the HTC and Sony are Snapdragons while the Galaxy S is a Hummingbird. 2 of them have 5 Megapixel cameras (HTC and Samsung) while the Sony has an 8 Megapixel camera. All are capacitive touchscreens. Their cash prices are within 5k of each other.
But for comparisons sake, here are best "zero interest" prices, though the period is different for the Galaxy (all prices in Philippine Pesos):

1. Samsung Galaxy S – 33,000 ( 3 months)
2. HTC Desire – 31,000 (12 months)
3. Sony X10 – 31,000 (12 months)

A disclaimer of sorts, before the purchase, I had 1 phone from each of the manufacturers being evaluated. I have an Omnia 2, HTC HD2 and a Sony Ericcson P1 ( I actually have 2 more Sony's, a K810 and a W850).
The reviews are all over the net and I will just post the links later, in the meantime here are the final pros and cons about each phone which I used to finalize my decision about which to choose.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S    

PROS:

1. The Super AMOLED screen the best, by a big margin
   
2. Hummingbird processor, coupled with graphics processor makes it theoretically faster.
   
3. HD recording (but all 3 will be equal when they are upgraded to Froyo 2.2)
   
4. Largest onboard storage (16 gb)
   
5. Long battery life
   

CONS:

1. GPS performance is mediocre at best
2. No camera flash
3. Phone is prone to pausing and delays
4. Problems synchronizing with Windows using KIES
5. Plasticky feel, build quality is not as sold
6. Quality control issues
7. 
   
   Some apprehensions about Samsung support
   
   
   

HTC DESIRE

PROS:

1. Excellent and mature interface (HTC Sense)
2. Solid build quality
3. Good track record in customer support
4. Excellent GPS performance
5. Froyo 2.2 OTA update available now
6. Fast and responsive

CONS:

1. Battery life is quite short
2. Camera is nothing to write home about
3. Small memory card (2 GB)
4. Limited memory available for applications

 
SONY XPERIA X10

PROS:

1. Best camera by a large margin
2. Scratch resistant screen
3. Good battery life
4. Good GPS performance
5. Solid build quality

CONS:

1. No FM radio
   
2. No smart dialing
   
3. No multi touch
   

After going over all of the reviews, I finally decided (with some reluctance) to get the HTC Desire. As I said earlier, I went into this exercise wanting the Galaxy S, having been salivating over it for the past 60 days or so.
However, the 2 major deal breakers for me were the crappy GPS ( my Omnia 2 has mediocre GPS too) and the build and quality control issues. When you pay 30k ++ for a phone, you expect everything to work. The E72, one of the phones on my shortlist of wanted phones, or even my E71, have much better GPS performance than the Galaxy and the build of the E series is reknowned.
So being the proud owner of a new HTC Desire, do I regret the decision?
I most definitely don't. The phone is awesome, and it feels so solid. In fact, it has replaced the Omnia 2 as my main phone. I still have the Omnia 2 but it has been demoted a bit to the less-used sim.
I only have one regret – I should have gone to the Android OS much earlier. So far, the OS has been really great, fast and stable. The programs included in the stock package are excellent and the free apps via the app store are quite competent.
There are a few areas where Android still has to play catch up, which is in the multimedia and connectivity with MS Office applications. For instance, the sound of the Omnia 2 is well ahead of the Android pack and the storage space of 16 GB for programs under Windows Mobile 6.5 is unheard of in stock Androids.
I must confess though that I have decided to get one more Android phone in the near future. And yes, it is the Samsung Galaxy S. Before you point out that I had criticized the phones value for money, let me say that the reason I will get it is because of a serendipitous sequence of events where I will give up my Sun broadband sim which has been performing dismally ever since I got it, and an irresistible offer from Globe where I can get a great data and voice package while ending up spending less.
Hopefully I will have the Galaxy S in a few weeks and once I do, I can do a real life comparison of both devices.
Lastly, I am tempted to get the X10 too, because of its great camera. That's how much I like the Android system.
But Nokia has the N8 coming up and from all indications, this is the best camera sensor ever. It packs a digicam sized sensor in a smartphone! But that is another story which I will post here in the future.
In the meantime, I am loving my HTC Desire more and more each day and won't trade it for anything else at this point.

 
Links to the reviews:
From GSM Arena
Galaxy S
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9000_galaxy_s-review-478.php

Desire
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire-review-468.php

Xperia X10
http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_xperia_x10-review-463.php