The Download: Moto G Gets Android 4.4.2, KitKat, in Record Time! And more.

We don’t know about you, but over the past few weeks we’ve had visions of KitKats dancing in our heads. We’re excited to tell you we’re starting to roll out Android 4.4.2, KitKat—the very latest version—TODAY on Moto G!

What better way to kick off The Download—a regular feature that gives you the scoop on the many software updates we are rapidly cranking out. In addition to the roll out of KitKat on Moto G, our software team has been busy as elves in a workshop shipping new features for you.

Here’s the latest Download, issue 1:

Android KitKat Comes to Moto G - Our KitKat family is expanding! When we launched Moto G last month, we committed to delivering Android, KitKat, to devices by early 2014. We are thrilled to start delivering on that promise early. Starting today, we are rolling out Android 4.4.2 to Moto G phones bought on Motorola.com or Amazon.com in the U.S. KitKat will come to other Moto G carriers and regions soon as well. This latest version of Android brings some cool new features, including printing emails and photos from your phone. Read our release notes for detailed information.

This update continues our effort to get our users the latest Android software as fast as humanly possible. We began by pushing KitKat out to Moto X users on Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, just weeks after Google announced the new OS—and our most recent expansion over the past few weeks includes Moto X on US Cellular and Sprint and DROID ULTRA, DROID MAXX, and DROID MINI. We also started to roll out the software in Brazil for retail devices. More carriers and regions will follow very soon.

For more information on KitKat and deployment on Motorola devices, check out our software upgrades page.

Enhanced Touchless Control - With our latest update to this feature, customers who use a device PIN to lock their phone can use Touchless Control without entering the PIN first. Don’t worry—no personal information is divulged without a PIN. And, you can also use your voice to enter your PIN. Go to the Google Play Store for more information.

Spreading Holiday Cheer - We’re getting into the holiday spirit! Turn your Moto X running KitKat off and on—and experience a little cheer with our new start-up animation. For those with a Moto G, download the Motorola Boot Services application from the Google Play Store to take part in the animated holiday tidings.

More Camera Goodness for Moto G and DROID - We’re taking the latest Camera features on Moto X on KitKat and making them available for Moto G, DROID MINI, DROID MAXX, and DROID ULTRA. This brings some enhancements photographers will love—such as Drag to Focus and Expose (manual exposure and focus with just a touch), locking exposure during Panoramic shots, and additional language support. Check out the Google Play Store for more information.

Improved Active Display - We’ve squashed some bugs! Active Display—battery-friendly notifications that fade in and out when the phone display is off—is now optimized for KitKat and works better than ever. It’s all part of our mission to listen to our users and iterate quickly. Go to the Google Play Store for more information.

More Kernel Sources! - Over the last few weeks, we released the Android 4.3, Jelly Bean kernel source for Moto G, and yesterday we released Android 4.4, KitKat kernel source for Moto X. Enjoy your custom ROMs!

The Download - Yeah, that is pretty recursive if you ask me. But our last big feature is a regular software blog which provides you with the latest on all the cool, shiny, new features and upgrades that are headed your way. Subscribe in the upper right column to stay up to date on the latest.

The last few months have been quite a wild ride. We are working hard to continually improve the experience on Motorola devices and look forward to hearing from you. Your feedback will be heard and acted on. Feel free to comment here or on our profiles on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Management

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The New DROIDs Have Landed

For tech enthusiasts who demand a smartphone with high performance and stand out design, an all new team of DROID devices have arrived. DROID ULTRA and DROID MAXX are now available exclusively at Verizon Wireless stores, and DROID MINI will be available in-store over the coming days.

The next-generation DROIDS feature advanced design and performance that matters. DROID ULTRA is the thinnest 4G LTE smartphone you can buy, measuring 7.18mm, with a 5-inch HD display. DROID MAXX is the longest lasting 4G LTE smartphone in the world, giving users two full days of battery performance on a single charge. DROID MINI is a super compact device that proves that power comes in all sizes.

True to the DROID heritage, these new devices continue to pioneer innovative features. We’ve re-engineered the DROIDS from the inside out to enable amazing new software capabilities including: 

Touchless Control: lets you use the phone hands-free even when the device is asleep, allowing you to place phone calls, send texts, find directions, or search the web.

Active Display: provides the information you need to know just by glancing at the phone’s display - for stuff like time, texts, social updates, calendar notices, etc. Active Display subtly lights up a portion of the screen with notifications without having to wake the phone or pick it up.

Quick Capture: DROID can go from pocket to picture in an instant. Just shake to wake by quickly twisting your wrist and tap anywhere on the screen to snap a pic, or press and hold to capture an action sequence with rapid-fire shots.

DROID Zap: the fastest and easiest way to share photos and videos with a friend or a group of friends nearby. Swiping up on a picture instantly shares it with fellow Android users nearby, and to receive, all they need to do is swipe down on their screen.

The new DROID devices help you do things faster and stay connected to what matters most. DROID ULTRA will be available for $199.99 and DROID MAXX for $299.99, with a new two-year customer agreement. DROID MINI is $99.99 and will be available August 22. For more information, visit droiddoes.com.

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BluePiano: A New Android Bluetooth Input Method

BluePiano Bluetooth Input Method for Android

The input method BluePiano extends Android with Bluetooth data acquisition.

This new input method provides a Bluetooth-enabled soft-keyboard. This soft-keyboard captures Bluetooth data and forwards the received data to input fields of arbitrary apps. The data appears as entered by the user (watch the video on YouTube).

BluePiano is typically used for barcode scanning with external Bluetooth barcode-scanners or for generic data acquisition tasks (e.g. to capture raw external GPS or medical device data). English, German, French, Russian and Swedish keyboard layouts are available.

BluePiano is easy to use and provides you with connectivity feedback in the notification bar. For backup purposes BluePiano is also able to scan barcodes using camera barcode scanners (using the built-in or an external camera scanner app).

BluePiano works with all Bluetooth SPP devices (Bluetooth devices supporting the Serial Port Profile, RFCOMM). Special Android-enabled bar code scanners are NOT required. HID devices are not supported.

Video Tutorial

Installation

Download and install BluePiano from Android Market (see market://search?q=pname:com.tecit.android.bluepiano.demo). After installation a wizard guides you through the following steps:

BluePiano Logo

1. Activate Bluetooth
   See also: Android Settings – Wireless & networks.
2. Discover your Bluetooth device
   Please note that the Bluetooth device must be “discoverable”. See also: Android Settings – Wireless & networks – Bluetooth settings.
3. Pair your handset with your Bluetooth device.
   You need to enter the pairing PIN on your handset. See also: Android Settings – Wireless & networks – Bluetooth settings.
4. Adjust the Bluetooth device as input device for BluePiano.
   All data received from this input device will be transformed and treated like any other manual input. You may also long tap the ?123 key on the BluePiano keyboard and then invoke Bluetooth Device Manager.
5. Enable the input method BluePiano
   In order to use the new soft-keyboard you need to enable it in Android Settings. Confirm the security question. See also Android Settings -- Language & keyboard.
6. Activate the input method
   Do this by long-tapping on any text field of any app. In the upcoming menu select Input Method and check the BluePiano input method. Use the same method to activate your default keyboard again.
7. Finished!
   Now read a barcode with the external Bluetooth device (e.g. barcode scanner). As soon as the data is received by BluePiano it is entered into the current edit field. As an alternative you may press the barcode key on the BluePiano keyboard: The built-in camera scanner is invoked, the barcode is decoded and the data is entered automatically into the active edit field.

BluePiano Settings - Manual

Configure BluePiano using the installed wizard or navigate to Android Settings -- Language & keyboard and then select BluePiano.

As an alternative you may long-press on the ?123 key of the BluePiano keyboard. In the upcoming option menu select the required function.

Keyboard Options 

BluePiano Settings

• Data Prefix
  Use the placeholders ${ENTER},${TAB}, ${BACKSPACE}, ${DOWN},${UP}, ${LEFT} and ${RIGHT} to control the cursor or input focus before the captured data is inserted into the input field of the current app. The placeholders specified above can be abbreviated with${E}, ${T}, ${B}, ${D}, ${U}, ${L} and ${R}. A multiplier specified immediately after the placeholder (e.g. ${E5}) instructs BluePiano to simulate the specified key n times (5 times the Enter key in this example).
• Data Suffix
  Use the same placeholders as above to control the cursor or input focus after captured data was inserted into the input field of the current app.
• Camera Scanner
  The default setting “Internal Scanner” reads bar-codes using the camera bar-code scanner integrated into BluePiano. If you prefer to select the camera scanner to be used each time, select Always ask. If a specific app is selected, the software always uses exactly this camera scanner app without asking.
• Search Key Function
  This entry specifies the action when the hardware search key is pressed (this key is usually marked with a magnifier symbol, it is also available on the hardware keyboard): Invoke Camera Scanner opens the camera scanner when this key is pressed (you do not need to activate the soft-keyboard beforehand). In this case the search key acts as hot-key for barcode scanning.
  Choose Do nothing if you do not want to change the default behavior of the standard search key.

Bluetooth Options

BluePiano Settings Part 2

• Manage Device
  Use this function to adjusted the Bluetooth input device. Keep in mind that the device must be paired before it can be used. See also: Android Settings – Wireless & networks – Bluetooth settings. This function is only enabled if the Bluetooth connection is not suspended.
• Suspend Connection
  Temporarily disable BluePiano Bluetooth connectivity.
• Suspend Timeout
  If a Bluetooth device is unavailable for more than the specified number of seconds (e.g. out of range or switched off) it will be suspended. If a device is suspended you can’t capture Bluetooth data with BluePiano. A notification is displayed and you need to re-activate the device manually. The default timeout is 120 seconds (2 minutes).
• Vibrate on Error
  If activated, your handset vibrates in case of Bluetooth or connection errors.
• Disaster Recovery
  Some handset models are using buggy Bluetooth stacks (firmware with Bluetooth SPP errors). This SPP bug makes it impossible to connect to a Bluetooth SPP device. If you experience this problem we recommend rebooting your phone, to restart Bluetooth manually or to instruct BluePiano to restart the Bluetooth service automatically. Please note that until now no reliable solution to this problem is available.

General Options

• User Manual
  Link to this blog-post.
• YouTube videos
  Link to TEC-IT’s YouTube channel.
• License Check
  Checks and displays your current license for BluePiano.
• About
  Displays copyright and credits for 3rd party software.

Feedback Please!

Feedback and feature requests are highly welcome. Just contact TEC-IT.

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Video: Android Bluetooth SPP Connectivity for All Apps

TEC-IT released a short video on YouTube which demonstrates the use of the Bluetooth Reader GetBlue.

You will learn how to configure GetBlue in order to be used as Bluetooth software wedge. The Bluetooth barcode scanner must be paired with your Android handset, then it is adjusted as input device for GetBlue. As data-sink (the target application for the scanned data) the GetBlue Keyboard is selected. Using this configuration  it is possible to inject captured barcode scanner data as virtual user input into each application.

See for yourself:



GetBlue acts as "middleware" between hardware and apps. Thus, each (legacy) Bluetooth bar code scanner supporting the serial port profile can be used.

The video quality is satisfying - but far away from perfect. We will produce a HD video with sound in the near future. In the meantime we are awaiting your video comments!

Many thanks!

Video: How to use Bluetooth Barcode Scanners with Android

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Automated Data Acquisition for Android - Update

TEC-IT (http://www.tec-it.com) published version 0.7 of the Android data acquisition app GetBlue!


GetBlue captures device data and saves this data directly to a local file, to a Google Spreadsheet or forwards it to adjustable HTTP/TCP data logging servers. Bi-directional communication is supported, server responses as well as manually entered data can be sent to the connected device.


Currently the following devices are supported:

• Any Bluetooth device supporting the Serial Port Profile (SPP, RFCOMM),
• Any TCP/IP device (IP-Address/Port combination), 
• And new in this version: any installed camera barcode scanner (e.g. the ZXing camera barcode scanner, cyrket market  information) 

Currently GetBlue is available as freeware - the manual data acquisition functions are available unlimited. Automated data acquisition functionality (like uploading captured data to a TCP data logger) are slightly restricted. All data collection parameters are adjustable by the user via the Settings dialog. The data-source,  the target server, various data capturing parameters like time-outs, retries, data packet size, etc. are adjustable.

Android owners are using GetBlue for a variety of functions:

• Testing app for serial Bluetooth devices
• Automated data collection
• Simple TCP debugger
• Bluetooth tester for Android 1.5/1.6 or higher

TEC-IT continues to enhance and extend the app. Every feedback from users is highly welcome. Check out the current version for yourself: Android Market Link (install it directly from the Android Market using your handset).

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