It isn’t actually that difficult to get ADB (Android Debug Bridge) working correctly under Windows x64 (Windows XP 64bit, 7 and Windows 8 x64 are supported) – you just need to perform a few steps in the right order.

1. Download the latest 32-bit and 64-bit Java JDK from here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html (click the JDK link).
2. Install the 32-bit JDK first, then the 64-bit. Note — Technically you can just use the 64-bit version, but you will occasionally get errors about the 32-bit version (x86) being missing. Best bet is to install both. Both Java 6 and Java 7 are supported.
3. Once Java is installed, download the Android development kit for Windows from here: http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html – you can now opt to download the SDK install in .exe format, which is recommend (and will be used by this guide).
4. After the installer has finished downloading, run it. If you haven’t yet installed the JDK packages, the installer will remind you that they are required and won’t let you proceed.
5. The installer will automatically launch the Android SDK Manager and prompt you to install a number of default packages. Of those listed, only the first two options (Android SDK Tools and Android SDK Platform Tools) and the Google USB Driver package (located in the Extras tree, near the bottom of the list) are needed. After you have selected the packages you want, click Install (x) Packages. A new window will appear – any items without a green checkmark require that you select them, then click Approve before you can proceed.
6. After the process has finished, allow the Manager to restart the ADB process, then close the dialog box.
7. When it’s finished downloading and installing, enable debugging mode on your Android phone and plug it in. Windows should now automagically detect the correct ADB driver. Once Windows has completed the driver installation, open Device Manager and ensure that the “Android Phone” category at the top has an entry called ‘Android Composite ADB Interface’ (pictured below). If the driver wasn’t installed automagically and appears in Device Manager as a Nexus One (or whatever your model of phone is), you can find the driver downloaded by the SDK Setup in the folder you extracted the SDK to (by default, C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk-windows\google-usb_driver).
8. Finally, open a command prompt, navigate to the platform-tools directory in the SDK folder and type ‘adb devices’ — ADB should now list your device (note: adb used to reside in the tools directory, but was moved to platform-tools with Gingerbread. As of r16 (the ICS update to the SDK), fastboot is also now located in platform-tools).

Device Manager showing the ADB Driver is correctly installed

Note that some devices aren’t supported by the official ADB driver. Check the comments below for instructions on how to modify the driver INF to support your device.

This is a problem for anyone who needs to modify a driver .INF to support their device (*cough*Android ADB Drivers*cough*). Fortunately, there is a (slightly complicated) workaround.

To get started:

1. From the Metro Start Screen, open Settings (move your mouse to the bottom-right-corner of the screen and wait for the pop-out bar to appear, then click the Gear icon).
2. Click ‘More PC Settings’.
3. Click ‘General’.
4. Scroll down, and click ‘Restart now’ under ‘Advanced startup’.
5. Wait a bit.
6. Click ‘Troubleshoot’.
7. Click ‘Advanced Options’
8. Click ‘Windows Startup Settings’
9. Click Restart.
10. ???
11. Profit!

When your computer restarts, select ‘Disable driver signature enforcement‘ from the list. You can now load your modified driver. Reboot again once the driver is installed and all will be well.

For Data/Text:

Name: Rogers
APN: rogers-core-appl1.apn
Proxy: <Not Set>
Port: <Not Set>
Username: <Not Set>
Password: <Not Set>
Server: <Not Set>
MMSC: <Not Set>
MMS proxy: <Not Set>
MMS port: <Not Set>
MMC: 302 (might be different – is auto-set by your SIM card)
MNC: 720 (might be 72 – is auto0set by your SIM card)
Authentication type: <Not Set>
APN type: <Not Set>
APN protocol: IPv4

For MMS (edit the bottom entry in the APN list called ‘Rogers MMS‘):

Name: Rogers MMS
APN: media.com
Proxy: <Not Set>
Port: <Not Set>
Username: media
Password: mda01
Server: 172.25.0.107
MMSC: http://mms.gprs.rogers.com (IMPORTANT: in the default settings, this is listed as grps rather than gprs – make sure to correct this!)
MMS proxy: 10.128.1.69
MMS port: 80
MMC: 302 (might be different – is auto-set by your SIM card)
MNC: 720 (might be 72 – is auto0set by your SIM card)
Authentication type: <Not Set>
APN type: mms
APN protocol: IPv4

And that should be it. Make sure that the first ‘Rogers’ entry is selected, and your MMS messages should now send correctly.

So I found myself faced with an issue – I was about to go on a fairly long trip, however I was planning on taking a route different from the one Google had suggested. While I could use the web version of Google Maps on my phone, I wanted to use the actual app. The solution, as it turns out, is very simple.

The trick is to set everything up on the web version of Maps first. This gets tricky, depending on how sever the changes to the route are. I my case, I only needed to drag one route marker to change the route to go where I wanted it. Here’s the before route, and the after (not my real start and destination, just an example).

So the cheat is actually very straight forward – after finalizing your route in web Maps, copy the link for the map (don’t use the address bar – use the Link button in the top-right corner of the map) and paste it in to a URL shortener like Is.Gd, then enter that URL on your Android phone. The browser will ask if you want to open the link in Maps or another program, so just choose maps and your custom route will appear, with full directions, right before your eyes.

Edit: I should clarify that Google Navigation for Android has a ‘Recalculate Route’ option, however if you aren’t planning on using it, or it isn’t available in your area, this is the solution.

]]> http://laslow.net/2010/12/16/cheat-how-to-get-custom-routes-on-google-maps-for-android/feed/ 3 http://laslow.net/2010/08/30/and-htc-doa-part-5/ http://laslow.net/2010/08/30/and-htc-doa-part-5/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:15:57 +0000 Laslow http://www.laslow.net/?p=1003 Continued from Part 4 (read from the beginning).

I took a trip to the UK at the beginning of the month, and when I returned on the 13th immediately checked my credit card statement. I wasn’t surprised to see that the refund still hadn’t been processed (now past the 14-business-day cut-off mark for credit card refunds). I called HTC yet again, and after a bit of hold time was given some good-ish news.

The agent confirmed that yes, HTC’s warehouse had received my phone and they had accepted it. However, someone at said-warehouse hadn’t closed the ticket in their system which prevented the refund from being processed. I was promised that the ticket would once again be escalated and that the escalations team would get the warehouse to close the ticket and things would get moving again.

I asked if HTC would compensate me for the interest accrued on my credit card from having this charge sitting on it for nearly two months, but was told they wouldn’t do anything. It was worth asking about, though.

So, on Tuesday the 17th I once again checked my credit card statement and there it was! A line item showing a credit for the DoA Nexus One. Although I wasn’t happy with the time it took to deal with the issue, and the interest charges that built up from it, I was ready to put the issue to bed.

And then I got the following email from HTC:

Dear Laslow,

Thank you for using HTC Customer Service. We want to make your next visit even better and would like your feedback. If you haven’t already done so please help us improve by taking a quick survey on your experience using HTC Customer Service.

Get Started

Thank you very much for your time. Be sure to visit us online at http://www.htc.com to read the latest announcements and check out our newly released products.

We are unable to receive replies to this email account. Please visit us at http://www.htc.com if you have any questions or need further assistance.

Sincerely,

HTC

I couldn’t pass it up. I filled out the survey and was completely honest about the experience I had with trying to get a refund for a DoA unit and how ridiculous that I had to choose that route in the first place, rather than having the option to simply get a new, non-refurbished replacement like American customers. I submitted it, and then completely forgot about it.

This morning, while I was off rebuilding a borked IPCop box, HTC left me a voice mail message that went something like this:

Good morning Mr. Laslow. My name <redacted> from HTC, and I’m just calling to follow up on your return. I am very, very sorry that it took so long to process your refund. I’m also very sorry that you received a DoA unit in the first place. If you need any further assistance with this, please call us at 866-449-8358. Once again, we appreciate your business and are very sorry about this whole thing.

I was stunned; I never expected to hear back from HTC at all. I’m not, however, surprised by the fact that they simply apologized rather than offering some form of compensation (be it an accessory, a t-shirt, anything really). Regardless, I’m happy that this is over and I can finally end the tale of an HTC DoA.

I know it’s impossible to expect Google to preload hundreds of megabytes of map data on to your phone (you know, those pesky storage restrictions and all), but how about this: after Maps provides the directions for your route in text form, and you click ‘Show on map’, Maps could pop up an option (this could also be a configurable setting) asking if you want to preload map data.

My crappy mock-up of the prompt made on my netbook with a trackpad.

If you choose yes, it downloads the map data from Google’s servers for the planned route and caches it to your SD card. If existing map data is present that overlaps, it uses that after checking to make sure it’s up-to-date.

Probably a long shot that something like this could ever be implemented, but it would make life for those using their Android device as a Sat Nav so much easier, especially if you’re going on a long trip.

So the unthinkable has happened – I actually received the shipping label from HTC yesterday! I immediately boxed up the phone and dropped it at a nearby FedEx box, and then proceeded to hammer the F5 key on the FedEx tracking screen.

Also to my surprise was the fact that the shipping label was for Priority Overnight shipping, and that the package reached its destination at 7:45am (PST) this morning! I’ll update this post later on when HTC contacts me regarding my refund.

Update (07/16/2010): Still no contact from HTC. However, after re-reading the initial email they sent, it does state:

Once we receive the items we will review the condition and we will contact you by phone or email if we have any further questions. If no additional information is needed a refund should show on your credit card within 14 business days of receipt of the return.

So at this point I’ll be sitting back and waiting for my credit card balance to update. I did end up ordering the replacement phone from Google on Tuesday, and it arrived (in working condition, no less!) this morning! Good thing, to, because I hear that this is Google’s last batch of N1′s that they’ll be selling through the web store….

Concluded in Part 5.

It’s day 5 now and still no shipping label. I called HTC again and got a slightly different answer out of this rep. This one told me that my ticket had *just* been escalated and was on it’s way to the warehouse now. When I told him that the other agents had told me it had already gone up to the escalation team, he started backpedaling and said that although the ticket had been escalated it takes them time to look things over.

4 days? Ya, right.

So I asked for a supervisor. After waiting on hold (no music, just silence so you never know if you’ve been cut off), a ‘supervisor’ came on the line (supervisor is in quotes as, having working in a call centre before I have first hand experience pretending to be a co-workers supervisor – it’s a very common practice). I asked again what was going on, and she had yet another story. Apparently, HTC’s shipping system has been ‘down’ for ‘a few days’, and they have no ETA on things. She assured me, though, that (for real this time!) my ticket has been escalated, it should be at the attention of the warehouse, and I should have a label by Monday or Tuesday.

So, starting Monday afternoon (as nobody’s around to man the phones on weekends), I’ll continue with my daily phone campaign trying to find out when I can possibly expect to send back my wife’s brick…err…Nexus One.

Continued in Part 4.

Day four of the return process and no real progress to report. According to the details given to me by HTC on Monday (see part 1), I should have received a shipping label in my email the following day. When I didn’t, I called HTC support back. The agent I spoke with told me to check my spam folder (already done – nothing), and then said that she would ‘escalate the ticket’ and a label sent out right away. I thanked her, disconnected, and waited.

And waited.

End of day Wednesday rolled around and still no shipping label. I called HTC again and was told that it can take an extra day when things go through the escalation process and that I should expect it to show up in my email no later than Thursday.

Well, here we are on Thursday and still no label.

I called HTC yet again, and was told that yes, I should have received the shipping label today. The agent then proceeded to tell me that he update the ticket, ‘increase the priority’, and that I should keep waiting.

Really, HTC? I’m normally a pretty patient guy, but come on! I’ve heard of American customers getting new, replacement phones within days, but we Canadians need to go through this gong show of a return process and then re-purchase the device because otherwise we end up a refurbished phone instead of a new one. This is bad PR, people. It’s time to start spreading the news.

Find out what happens next in Part 3.