Casting from Android Youtube app to Humax Freesat

... and no Chromecast or special TV appears to be needed.

A funny thing happened as I clicked to 'screencast' from my Android phone (running Lollipop). I had simply wanted to watch a YouTube video by pushing it to my Chromecast dongle plugged into the TV.

I had launched the YouTube app, clicked the Cast Screen icon at the top of the app and expected to see my Chromecast listed and then choose it to cast YouTube to the TV.

My 'funny thing' was that in addition I saw a second device labelled FS-HMX-01A-0000-****. That label I guessed was not the Chromecast but more likely my Freesat Humax HDR 1000S set-top box. So I chose this and hey presto, a Chromecast is not required to cast YouTube to the TV.

But it's only available in YouTube. This extra device, with the Humax box device ID, does not appear in any other apps when you press the cast icon. So the device doesn't appear when you use the drawer shade shortcut 'Cast Screen' nor in 'Netflix' and not even in the actual Chromecast app itself.

An explanation has yet to appear but I can surmise that YouTube may be unusually compliant. For example, if you have a Playstation 3, and run the YouTube app both on the PS3 and the phone, it's possible to pair them with a code and control the PS3 YouTube app with the phone. That's a slight gain in usefulness.

There is casting and then there's Chromecasting

'Casting' or 'mirroring' your phone on a big screen is quite the feature for social or family gatherings but you can also imagine its uses in meetings and school lessons. The industry standard called 'Miracast' has been in place for ages - it uses a wireless connection to send a copy of a phone or laptop screen (and sounds) to a TV. Of course and sadly, the sender and receivers need to be pre-registered which creates a Bluetooth-like hurdle. (Hec it's my TV.) Following this the paired devices rely on a wireless signal to send what may be a lot of data.

Most TV makers have given Miracast their own spin and branded names, possibly for self promotion but no doubt to the detriment of it 'taking off' in the public mind. Those who have tried to send from one device to another will have had success moderated by the 'standard' not being the best of standards. More a 'it might work' kind of standard.

Google's Chromecast (and possibly Apple's AirPlay too) work a bit differently. Instead of say, your phone downloading media from the Internet only to immediately send it to the TV, the Chromecast simply picks up the media from the Internet and displays it on the TV. Your phone essentially tells the Chromecast what to show and where to get it. The result by removing a hop from phone to TV provides a better experience by many accounts. The process is made possible by apps, such as iPlayer and ITV equivalents.

Playing with your phone will find a 'cast screen' command in the notification pull down shade and 'cast full screen' in some apps. Use this and you'll have mixed results because, like Miracast, you're needing to send a lot of data to the Chromecast and TV.

HP Touchpad (tablet) is not dead or bricked

It's a scary moment when you can't bring your device back to life. The fix on this page also worked on an old phone where the unit had overdischarged. The HP Touchpad has been incredibly reliable, but if it were to crash with the wireless still running, it's going to run down the battery to nothing, or worse over-discharge the battery. It can be brought to life in various ways below.

• Normal start - Press Power - but if it doesn't start
• Soft reset - Press Power + Home button for 10 to 60 seconds or
• Press Power + Volume up button for 60 seconds
• See other variations which people have reported at http://forums.webosnation.com

Of course  none of the above will work if there's no power in the unit. And there are situations where it's not possible to get power into the unit - possibly the unit has crashed and is stuck into a loop OR as someone suggested the unit has over discharged the battery. The solution was to change to a different charger. The normal HP Touchpad USB charger is more powerful than many. If you try a regular charger, the Touchpad may complain that it's not getting enough juice.  What fixed it was to use the low USB current from a desktop PC. Within a minute it was getting a trickle of energy and it could then be weaned back to its regular charging current.

I found the solution at WebOSnation and I have to thank the guy who, fearing the worst, took his apart to trickle charge the battery. Realising this was a last resort, I read more to find the guy suggesting the low current charger. I've tried something similar with a charging problem on a phone and the battery was totally flat. I removed the battery, connected the terminals to a Universal phone battery charger (a few £ on ebay). An hour or so later the old phone battery had enough juice to cope with a normal charge. 

A proper science explanation for this is welcome.

HP touchpad was bought for the ridiculously low price of £89 when HP's sold off the stock when after 6 weeks trading they realised that this was not going well. A year later (August 2012) it is able to dual-boot between Android ICS and WebOS. Android has the edge with tons of useful apps. To do the upgrade to Android see the help at liliputing.com. It is only a bit scary.

Sony Ericsson Xperia arc review - Android mobile

A reviewer of the HTC Sensation, fresh from the seduction by a press briefing, was talking about its 3D interface. Noticing that the weather icons now animate in 3D he adds, "this provides a more immersive weather experience'. Not only is this most hilarious, it typifies just how much the phone makers are driving people's wants. The wants seem to have exceeded the needs.  

Reviews about Sony Ericsson's awesome phone, the Xperia arc have majorly misled me over the last several months (mid 2011). After reading so many, you imagine that not having a dual-core processor in 2011 is going to have an impact on an already fast and responsive phone. 

But I have yet to do anything on the 'xperia arc' that leaves me waiting for a page to turn; a video to change orientation or a web page to load. It's pretty fantastic really that portable devices used to do things at a fraction of the speed of a desktop computer, but now they seem to have caught up.  

Reviews of Android devices by phone-kids on the web just occasionally focus on usability; lightness; the value of having hard keys; how well they nestle in the hand and how well supported they are by the maker. But instead of reviewing how a phone works for the user I read trivia. One kid doesn't like the quality of a plastic cover - even though it ends up hidden behind a phone case. Another kid remarks on the size of the included memory card even though I've not begun to fill it after several months. 


The Xperia Arc is a quality design and is fit for purpose and well fit even for playing around. The Xperia ArcS appeared in late 2011 and has the dual-core processor.











*http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/sony-ericsson-xperia-arc-review/