Posts From Mike Szczys

Mike Szczys
Mike Szczys

Mike Szczys is a professional musician but spends all his free time working with hobby electronics. As Contributing Editor for Hackaday.com he became interested in Android as some of the early hardware hacks started popping up on the Internet. What followed was a gradually rising addiction to all things Android.

How to Overclock NAND Devices with PLL2

How to Overclock NAND Devices with PLL2

July 8, 2013
Anyone who's remotely interested in the topic of overclocking hardware will enjoy reading about the proper way to do so on NAND based devices that have PLL2 rather than PLL4. Notice my use of the term 'proper,' as right off the bat, the guide makes a reference to burning out the hardware if this is...
ADB and Fastboot Quick Start Guide

ADB and Fastboot Quick Start Guide

July 2, 2013
I run Linux exclusively and I was not happy when my Android device stopped enumerating as a mass storage device. The OS version I have right now doesn't automount MTP, so how am I supposed to get files on and off of my phone? There are several options, but I think the most simple answer...
Guide on Using the Repo Tool

Guide on Using the Repo Tool

July 1, 2013
Everyone who builds ROMs knows about the repo tool, right? I say wrong. You can build ROMs all the live long day and know nothing about it. But you'll face-palm after learning about what you're missing. The repo tool is a Python script that adds a layer of abstraction between you and Git. Git is of...
Dos and Don’ts of Android Design

Dos and Don’ts of Android Design

June 20, 2013
As long as you're coming from some type of programming background, the unseen part of app programming will not be very hard. Java is a pretty forgiving language and a good IDE makes all the difference. But that doesn't mean the User Interface is going to be easy. A fair amount of upfront planning for the...
MicrowaveTimePicker Brings 4.2 TimePicker to 2.1+ Devices

MicrowaveTimePicker Brings 4.2 TimePicker to 2.1+ Devices

June 19, 2013
It's frustrating to see slick new features that you can't use when supporting devices with older versions of Android. Sometimes Android adds in support for a few previous versions, like when the ActionBar was added. But other times, you're just going to have to do it yourself. That's what XDA Senior Member icechen1 did to make...
Heimdall Suite 1.4.0 Released

Heimdall Suite 1.4.0 Released

June 17, 2013
The release version of Heimdall Suite 1.4.0 is now available after an epic wait. You may remember hearing about this version of the suite way back in October when the release candidate was first announced. That's quite a slow pace for the last steps toward a stable release, but it sounds like the time was...
Why Devs Should Avoid ‘Null’ when Inflating Layouts

Why Devs Should Avoid ‘Null’ when Inflating Layouts

June 16, 2013
We've all done it at one point or another. You are hammering out some code and need one aspect of a method call to work so you just put null in for the rest of the parameters instead of actually researching how they work. I've actually done the very thing Dave Smith writes of in his...
Test Libraries with Libraries for Developers

Test Libraries with Libraries for Developers

June 6, 2013
I was really excited back in April when I heard about a list of open source Android apps that could be used for learning. Here's an app that will go hand in hand with that kind of resource. XDA Junior Member DesarrolloDroide has been hard at work on "Libraries for Developers." It's an app that features a...
Parse SDK Helps Add Push, Social Integration, Cloud Storage, and More

Parse SDK Helps Add Push, Social Integration, Cloud Storage, and More

June 4, 2013
I've never heard of Parse before, but a quick look into what they're all about really drives home the value of this type of service. The package comes in the form of an SDK to include when developing your app, and server-side services that go hand in hand with it. When XDA Senior Member MaartenXDA first discovered Parse, he...
Using Internal/Hidden Classes of the Android API

Using Internal/Hidden Classes of the Android API

May 30, 2013
Pssst... over here. Yeah, did you know about the Hidden Android Classes? Shhh... it's a secret. They let you do stuff you otherwise couldn't. You can read internal data, like the text message database stored on a phone. You can also gain lower level access to the hardware in order to extend your app's access...
Weather App by Example Teaches JSON, HTTP, and API Use

Weather App by Example Teaches JSON, HTTP, and API Use

May 28, 2013
Developers who are just getting started can leap through the learning curve by reading code written by more experienced programmers. It becomes even more useful if you can read an explanation of what each code chunk does, like with this weather app tutorial. Francesco Angola, who also wrote that guide on using Httpclient, has done...
Flash Custom ROM and Recovery to Samsung Galaxy S 4

Flash Custom ROM and Recovery to Samsung Galaxy S 4

May 24, 2013
After reading about Dan Rosenberg's bootloader exploit for the Samsung Galaxy S 4, I figured it would not be long before someone would craft a package for loading custom ROMs. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised that Dan is the one who figured it out. You may know him better as XDA Recognized Developer Djrbliss. In his...