The Basics - What is a QR Code?

So what is that mess of black and white dots that looks like your printer just threw up? Well, it’s called a QR code, which is short for quick response code. Developed in 1994 by Toyota, it is a new version of a two dimensional barcode. The UPC symbols that you see on most products these days is a one dimensional barcode. QR codes contain more data than UPC symbols. QR codes have been appearing everywhere lately- from webpages to magazines to business cards to billboards.

So now you’re thinking that’s real nice and all, but what does that mean to me and my Droid 2? The Android operating system that your phone uses is able to read these QR codes.  Just open any barcode app (like the highly popular Barcode Scanner app), and scan the QR code. The phone will open the appropriate app and take you to the info the QR contains - usually a web page. The QR code at the top of this blog post will take you to the main webpage of the How 2 Droid 2 blog. If you scan a QR code for a cell phone app, it will open the Android App Market so you can download the app with a couple of touches.

Thanksgiving Day Apps

Here's a collection of Thanksgiving Day apps to make your holiday easier and more festive. I've tried to put together a list that covers a little bit of everything - from Thanksgiving wallpaper, to apps that help you cook a turkey and give recipes for leftovers, to making your phone gobble like a turkey. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

FOR RECIPES AND LEFTOVERS

Epicurious (free)

This app from award-winning food site Epicurious.com includes over 28,000 delicious, professionally tested and created recipes from renowned magazines such as Gourmet and Bon Appétit, popular cookbooks, top chefs, and leading restaurants. Features a home screen "Recipe of the Day" widget and voice search.

QR Code for Epicurious

BigOven (free)

BigOven is another recipe app like Epicurious that lets you search for recipes, look up cooking terms, and put together grocery lists from recipes. The great thing that sets it apart from the others though is the BigOven Leftover Wizard(tm). Just enter up to 3 ingredients and it will spit out all the recipes that use these ingredients.

QR Code for BigOven

COOKING TOOLS

Kitchen Helper (free)

An app to do food, liquid, temperature and time conversions, common substitutions, a countdown timer and more. Also has a listing of Heirloom Weights to help convert those old recipes you have laying around.

QR Code for Kitchen Helper

Meat Cooking Reference (free)
Quick reference to cooking meat using oven, grill and deep fry for beef, turkey/chicken, pork, fish and lamb. Includes quick diagram of difference cuts or parts to help selecting meat at the grocery store and more.

QR Code for Meat Cooking Reference

Recipe Convert Free (free)

This app is a recipe unit conversion calculator. Convert volume and weight measurements in recipes. Makes scaling serving yields up or down easy.

QR Code for Recipe Convert Free

 

Holiday Meal Estimator (free)
This app determines how many pounds of turkey, cups of stuffing, and ounces of gravy you need to provide for your Thanksgiving Day feast based upon the number of adults and children eating, appetite level, and amount of leftovers you want.

QR Code for Holiday Meal Estimator

FUN STUFF

Burn The Turkey (free)
Still stuffed? Need a little help burning off that Thanksgiving feast? Burn the Turkey lets you place a delicious Thanksgiving turkey on your home screen that disappears as you exercise. Burn off 5000 calories and you’ve burned off an entire turkey.

QR Code for Burn the Turkey

 







Thanksgiving Turkey Calls (free)

Make your phone gobble, gobble, gobble! Over ten real and unique turkey calls, along with a detailed description of when a turkey would make the noise. Entertaining and educational!

QR Code for Thanksgiving Turkey Calls

Thanksgiving Wallpapers (free)

This app contains quality wallpaper images to celebrate the holiday. Great selection of artistic and funny cartoon thanksgiving themes including images of turkey, pumpkins, Indian corn, and pretty autumn colors.

QR Code for Thanksgiving Wallpapers

 

Review of Dock Apps

Previously, I reviewed the hardware options for a multimedia dock and covered how your phone operates in dock mode. Now, lets take a look at apps. There are a few apps out there that can provide some additional features to your phone while it is in the multimedia dock. I'm all about the goodness of free stuff, so I'm just going to review the free apps.


Just a quick note - A lot of these apps put your phone in airplane mode. Airplane mode turns off all of the wireless functions such as wifi, bluetooth, 3G, and the phone network.  While in airplane mode, you cannot make or receive calls, text messages, and email, but you can still play games, listen to music, etc.


Shut The Dock Up! (free)
This app prevents your phone from making any noise from incoming calls or notifications such as email and text messages. When the app is in "silent mode", the ringer is turned off and airplane mode is turned on when the phone is placed in the dock. You will still be able to play music and hear the alarm clock though. Remove the phone from the dock and the airplane mode will be turned off and the ringer will turn back on to the previous setting. 


To set up the app, just select "Shut The Dock Up!" from your list of apps in the app tray. The one and only screen for this app will open giving you the choice between "normal mode" and "silent mode". Just touch the red arrow in the middle to switch between the two modes. 

Uses:

• Keeps phone quiet while in dock.
• Prevents phone from receiving phone calls, text messages, and email.

Likes:

• Easy to use.

Dislikes:

• There are no settings to adjust the operation of this app.

QR Code for Shut The Dock Up!

Dock Nothingness (free)

This app prevents your phone from going into dock mode when you place it in either a multimedia dock or a car dock. There is no setup involved with this app. When you place the phone in the dock, a screen opens that gives you two choices - “dock home” or “dock nothingness”. If you choose “dock home”, the phone goes into the regular dock mode. If you choose “dock nothingness”, the phone continues to display your homescreen.

Uses:

• Let's you put your phone in a multimedia or car dock without having the phone switch to dock mode.

Likes:

• Easy to use.
• Let's you choose which mode every time you place the phone in the dock.

Dislikes:

• None

QR Code for Dock Nothingness

Bedside Buddy (free)

This app, like Shut The Dock Up!, prevents your phone from making any noise from incoming calls or notifications such as email and text messages when in the dock, but still lets you hear the alarm clock and listen to music. However, it has a bunch of settings that let you customize it's operation.  

When you select the app, you are provided three initial settings:  "Action", "Trigger", and "Condition". 

The "Action" screen lets you pick what you want the phone to do when it is put in the dock. Your choices are: "toggle airplane mode", "toggle data sync", and "do nothing". "Toggle data sync" will prevent applications on your phone like Twitter, Weather, and push email from going out and getting information and updating. Choose "toggle data sync" if you still want to get phone calls and text messages.

The "Trigger" screen lets you pick whether the phone goes into silent mode either when it is put in the dock or when it is connected to the A/C power cord.

The "Condition" screen lets you choose a start and stop time for when your phone is in silent mode. This setting is a great feature since you can set it up so that the phone is only silent while in the dock at night and not during the day. Unfortunately, you cannot change the times for each day.

Uses:

• Lets you choose when to silence your phone when in the dock or connected to the A/C power cord.

Likes:

• Works with either the dock or an A/C power cord.
• Let's you schedule what time to start and stop silent mode.
• Let's you silence everything with airplane mode or just email and apps.

Dislikes:

• Can't set up a different schedule for each day.

QR Code for Bedside Buddy

Dock Simulator (free)

This app will put your phone into dock mode without actually physically having to be in the dock.  It works for both a home dock and a car dock. Dock Simulator does not work correctly on a Droid 2. When you start this app, you are given three choices - "home dock", "car dock", and "undock".

Selecting "home dock" is supposed to put the phone into dock mode, but this would not work on the Droid 2. Choosing "car dock" puts the phone into the car dock mode. To undock the phone, pull down the status bar at the top, select the Dock Simulator notification, and then select "undock".

Car dock mode

Uses:

• Lets you put your phone in dock mode without having a dock.

Likes:

• Can choose either the dock mode for the multimedia dock or the car dock.

Dislikes:

• Home dock does not work for the Droid 2.

QR Code for Dock Simulator

Droid 2 In Dock Mode

Okay, so now you have a multimedia dock for your Droid 2. (Check out last week's post for the dock review.) Now what?  Today, I will go through what happens when your phone is in dock mode.

The first thing you will notice when you put your phone into the dock is that you will see the main dockscreen instead of the usual homescreen.

Homescreen

Dockscreen

The main dockscreen is divided into four different areas:

• Main Dockscreen
• Dock Status Bar
• Dock Settings
• Dock Widgets And Application Shortcuts

Four Areas of Dockscreen

Main Dockscreen
In the center of your dockscreen is the current time and date along with the battery charge, and three dots which indicate which of the three dock widget screens you are in. Your wallpaper for the dockscreen is the same as the homescreen.


Dock Status Bar
At the top is the status bar. The status bar is the same whether your phone is in or out of the dock and shows email notifications, battery charge, signal strength, etc. And just like on the homescreen, you can pull down the status bar to get more info.


Dock Settings
On the left side of the screen are dock settings icons.  Touching the top setting icon switches the phone from the dockscreen to the homescreen.  To return to the dockscreen, either touch the "home" button, or pull down the status bar at the top and touch the notification that says “connected to multimedia station” .  The middle icon is for the alarm clock and timer settings.  This is where can set an alarm or timer. The bottom icon is the brightness setting. You can switch between a bright and a dim mode.  Bright mode lets you easily see the display during the day or in a well lit room. Dim mode creates just enough light in the dark so you can see the display but not so much that it will keep you awake if you have your dock by your bed.

Notification For Returning To Dockscreen

Alarm Clock Settings

Dim Mode

Dock Widgets And Application Shortcuts
On the bottom part of the dockscreen is the area for the dock widgets and application shortcuts.  The default widgets that appear are the weather, play all (for music), and picture slideshow widgets. You can scroll through additional dock widget screens to both the left and right by swiping your finger along the widgets.  For some reason, all of the widgets that are available on your homescreen aren’t available in the dockscreen.  Dock widgets include:

• Airplane Mode Toggle
• Bluetooth Toggle
• Calendar
• Contacts
• DLNA
• Gallery
• GPS toggle
• Music
• Picture Slideshow
• Play All (music)
• Weather
• Wifi Toggle
• Youtube

Dock Widgets and Application Shortcuts Screen

Miscellaneous
The built-in "menu", "home", "back", and "search" keys perform the same functions whether your phone is in the dock or not.  


Next Time:  I'll cover some apps that are helpful when your phone is in the dock.

Droid 2 Multimedia Docking Station Review

One of the first accessories I bought for my Droid 2 was the Motorola Multimedia Docking Station. So what does this thing do you ask, well it:

• Serves as a convenient stand
• Recharges your phone while in the dock
• Let's you access the multimedia functions of your phone such as pictures, music, and videos
• Makes your phone display the time and weather
• Let's you use the phone as an alarm clock

There are three options available when purchasing a multimedia docking station for your Droid 2.


Option 1 - Motorola Droid 2 Multimedia Docking Station

Photo by Mami

This is the official docking station from Motorola designed specifically for the Droid 2. It includes:

• Multimedia station
• AC power supply
• Adapter insert
• User Guide

This currently sells for $24.99 at Amazon.

Option 2 - Motorola Droid Multimedia Docking Station

This is the official docking station from Motorola built for the original Droid. It includes:

• Multimedia station
• AC power supply
• User Guide

This dock currently sells for $14.70 at Amazon.  So, the big question is....Can you use your Droid 2 phone in the original Droid multimedia dock? The answer is YES. The only major difference between the two docks, besides price, is the "adapter insert".  The Droid 2 version allows you to dock your phone with a case. The original Droid dock will not hold a Droid or Droid 2 with a case on it. The adapter insert is only used to fill up the enlarged opening in the Droid 2 dock to fit a phone without a case.

Option 3 - DIY Multimedia Dock

If you are only interested in being able to put your phone into the "dock mode" to access the multimedia and clock functions, all you need is a decent sized magnet.  Just put the magnet against the back side of your phone and voila!  You are now in dock mode.


Here is a link showing how to make your own multimedia docking station:
http://droid2hacks.com/droid-2-hacks/how-to-make-a-droid-2-media-dock/


Next Time:  I'll cover what you can do with your phone in the dock mode.

Out With The Old And In With The New

I have a friend who is into instant gratification and usually ends up buying the latest greatest gadget that comes out on the market.  I, on the other hand, am a procrastinator and will research all of my purchases until the cows come home, which usually means that the newer version of the product is ready to be released.  Cell phones are a perfect example.  In the ten years that I have had a cell phone plan, I have owned a total of two cell phones.  My friend on the other hand has owned seven cell phones over the past ten years.

Two months ago I finally broke down and purchased a Motorola Droid 2 at the urging of my friend.  Actually, it wasn't really "urging", but more like an ultimatum.  It seems that he was going to start charging me by the minute for all the time I would spend using his "latest and greatest" cell phone.  Also, he mumbled something about being embarrassed to be seen in public with me and my antiquated cell phone.

Since I won't be spending any more time researching cell phones, I decided to put a blog together about using my new phone.  I plan on providing info on:

• basics of using the Droid 2 phone
• basics of using Android 2.2
• how to use apps
• comparison of apps
• info on accessories

I hope you find something useful.

And now a moment of silence for my old, but ever reliable Motorola e815.