Making a smartphone out of the HTC magic

As mentioned in my last post, the HTC Magic marketed in India, as it comes out of the box is no smartphone. It is crippled in not having access to the android market. Which means you have to hunt for apps available outside the market to make your phone smart. These are the apps I have found in about a month of searching - what are yours ?

Android Scripting Environment
A fantastic application that gives you a scripting environment, currently for Lua or Python on your phone. This is an early python script written as a poor man's mapping solution. Obtain your coordinates from GPS, construct an url fit for consumption by google maps and open the browser.


SkyMap
A great way to see the night sky. Using GPS and position information from the phone, the objects in the night sky in your field of vision are displayed.


Connectbot
A secure shell client allowing you to get a local shell (connect to localhost) or connect to an ssh server on a pc. Second screenshot shows emacs running in an ssh session.




FBreader
A very good ebook reader.


Nav4all
In the absence of the google maps application, this is an option to use a map with a GPS. Quite comprehensive maps and a wealth of options. On the flip side, this is free only until 01-01-2010, you cannot use offline maps and the interface is a little messy.


AndNav
A truly free mapping system. You have a choice of renderers (including google maps) and you can store the maps offline by 'preloading' them.


And finally, installing the android SDK on the pc is helpful in various ways. I used adb a couple of times to install apk files when for some reason it wouldnt work when browsing from the phone. And also, of course, to get these screenshots.

Airtel's HTC magic in India - buyers beware !

So, I returned to India recently and looking to get a mobile phone, settled on what seemed to be the only android phone available in India - the HTC magic. Could not find any detailed reviews specific to Airtel's offering, but it did not appear as if the phone should be any different from that described in other reviews or on the HTC website.

So imagine my surprise when I cannot find the promised integrated google applications on the phone. The biggest disappointment is that there is no android market to get your apps and you have to settle for what is available at Leafs 'Openmarket' or Handango.

Turns out there are two versions of this phone - one is the google version which has all the goodies and a HTC version which instead has none of the google goodies and some additional software (most of which I am not interested in, and none of which compensates for the lack of access to android market).

Searching around on the internet, I find I am not the only one to have been surprised by this after buying the phone. I think the blame is on the seller for not making the distinction clear. SO I hope this post helps warn other potential buyers to be prepared for this when you buy the phone.

Apart from this, the phone feels great and the virtual keyboard works wonderfully. And for the geek side, ASE (Android Scripting Environment) could be installed and using connectbot I have a local shell and can use ssh ! At some point, I think I will be tempted to take the risk and attempt flashing a new ROM.

Edit - 08 Nov 2009 - I rooted the phone and put in a new ROM - freedom !