Speedometer / compass for Sony’s SmartWatch and Smart Wireless Headset Pro

Ever wondered how fast you were travelling, on a boat, in a bus or a taxi, or while riding your bike, but had no means at hand to find out? I often did. That’s why I felt the need of the Speedometer / Compass app for Sony’s Smart Extras – the SmartWatch and the Smart Wireless Headset Pro.

It’s an app that uses your phone’s GPS capabilities to read the current speed and direction of movement. Displayed are: the speed, clock, run-time, maximal speed reached, distance passed, phone battery status and the direction of movement.

You need to point SmartWatch / Smart Wireless Headset Pro towards the direction of movement in order to correctly read the compass indication, i.e. the green arrow that points towards North.

Get the app from Google Play!

Speed Dial (Standalone) for SmartWatch and Smart Wireless Headset Pro

I intended the first Speed Dial app for Sony’s Smart Extras to be extension of the Fast Dialer app, but I’ve received quite some criticism from people who – despite the clear description – were surprised that the Fast Dialer app was required for the Speed Dial to work on the SmartWatch.

Thus, here’s a standalone version of the Speed Dial app for both Sony’s SmartWatch and Smart Wireless Headset Pro that has the same functionality but no additional requirements. It makes the calls itself, and the speed dial numbers are configured in the apps preferences.

On the SmartWatch long tap on the number to initiate a call.

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Get the app from Google Play!

Call Log for SmartWatch

The basic functionality of browsing through the call log was not available for Sony’s SmartWatch, and it was greatly missed. Until now.

With the Log for SmartWatch application you can browse the list of calls and optionally, SMS messages, and make a call to a number from the log.

The app provides two display modes: LIST and DETAIL.

List mode

Following are the brief instructions:

SWIPE LEFT <-- TO SWITCH TO DETAIL MODE SWIPE RIGHT –> TO SWITCH BACK TO LIST MODE

In LIST MODE:
LONG TAP a log entry to view the DETAILS
LONG TAP on the SHADED RIGHT SIDE to MAKE A CALL

Detail mode

In DETAIL MODE:
LONG TAP on the X to DELETE AN ENTRY FROM THE LOG
LONG TAP on the BOTTOM GREEN AREA to MAKE A CALL

SWIPE UP / DOWN to browse the log

SWIPE LEFT <-- TO SWITCH TO DETAIL MODE SWIPE RIGHT --> TO SWITCH BACK TO LIST MODE

Get the app from Google Play!

Russian Orthodox Calendar app for iOS

The Orthodox Calendar app is now available for free for the iPhone and iPad devices.

The app is fully in Russian, it follows the Julian Calendar, and it displays the full list of feast and saints celebrated for each day.

Also, as with the Android version of this app, it is possible to navigate through the days, both past and future, by date, or in relation to the Pascha.

Fasting rules are also displayed, but are not to be taken too literally, they are correct, but it’s better to speak to your priest rather than rely on those notes only.

Download the calendar for free from Apple’s App Store today!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/russkij-pravoslavnyj-kalendar/id578156705?ls=1&mt=8

The first Dialer for Sony’s SmartWatch

Introducing the first Dialer app for Sony’s SmartWatch. It enables direct phone dialing, as well as smart T9 search through the contacts!

The app inherits a lot from the Fast Dialer unique functionalities which have been proven to work flawlessly in the last two years, since the time the Fast Dialer app was first published.

This includes the fast T9 smart search through the contacts by name or company name, as well as the search using two alphabets at the same time. The Available alphabets are:

* Latin (all Latin-based European languages are supported)
* Cyrillic (Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Bulgarian…)
* Greek
* Hebrew
* Arabic

Following are the short instructions and a brief video demonstration.

INSTRUCTIONS:

SWIPE LEFT: to delete the last typed number or character
SWIPE RIGHT: to delete all
SWIPE UP / DOWN: to switch to T9 search
SWIPE UP / DOWN: to list through the search results in T9 mode

LONG TAP ON THE TOP GREEN BAR: to make a call

To use pauses when dialing a number:
LONG TAP ON ZERO: to enter + in numeric mode
LONG TAP ON ONE: to enter ; in numeric mode
LONG TAP ON TWO: to enter , in numeric mode

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Get the app from Google Play!

Speed Dial extension for Sony’s Smart Wireless Headset Pro

The Fast Dialer extension for Sony’s SmartWatch now extends its functionality to Sony’s Smart Wireless Headset Pro.

Use the “Next” / “Volume up” and “Previous” / “Volume down” keys to make the selection, and initiate the call by pressing the “Play” or the “Action” key.

The Fast Dialer app is, of course, required to be installed on your phone!

Download the extension from Google Play for free!

Transfer of contacts using Corporate Contacts

The novelty of version 1.5 of the Corporate Contacts app is the import of contacts. The import is done from a vcf (vCard) file. Exporting to that same format was available since the first version of the app. What is unique about this feature is that all the data set and used by the Corporate Contacts app is being preserved during the export-import process, so the groups you set, locations, organizations etc. will not be lost.

This comes really handy if you’re not syncing all your contacts through Google, and you want to transfer all, or part of your contacts from one to another device. Essential, when you get a new phone, since the Android phone manufacturers rarely, or never, use the same contacts’ sync mechanism.

The process consists of three steps:

  1. Export some, or all of your contacts, by selecting them (via the “Multiselect” option in the context menu) and choosing “Share”
  2. Share as a single vCard. You can, for example, send yourself that file by bluetooth, email…
  3. Save the file on your new device, and import it via the Corporate Contacts app.

And you’re done 🙂 Your contacts have been transferred without being shared with the world.

Speed Dial extension for the Fast Dialer

According to Wikipedia:

Speed dial is a function available on many telephone systems allowing the user to place a call by pressing a reduced number of keys. This function is particularly useful for phone users who dial certain numbers on a regular basis.

The Speed Dial extension of the Fast Dialer app, for Sony’s SmartWatch does exactly that. The Fast Dialer app is – of course – required to be installed on the host device (i.e. phone), and through it the speed dial numbers are set.

Calls are made by long tapping one of the displayed numbers.

Here’s a short video to see the app in action.

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The app is free, get it today from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eir.dialer3.extension.speeddial

Skype out calls directly from the Fast Dialer

The Fast Dialer application has been known to be simple and useful, and people are finding new ways to make use of it, as shows the advice of Krakozawr who uses it to find his contacts and then choose whether to call, send sms, email, Skype message, or anything else that is available from the context menu of the contact.

But one thing that I was missing was the possibility to directly initiate a Skype out call. That turns out to be something I use quite a lot, and the use cases are really simple:

  1. You’re in “roaming” mode, you have internet access and Skype credit, or
  2. You’re at home, but calling abroad, and Skype is much cheaper.

If these scenarios look like the situations you find yourself in, check out the new version of Fast Dialer (3.5.0)!

Other novelties include extended options for the regulation of the dialing tones – since depending on the manufacturer and the phone model, the default volume settings may not be appropriate, so now you can choose what works best for you – as well as some minor fixes.