Beijing Airport and the Firewall...

An 8 hour stopover in Beijing, not the first time, so I was aware that using things like Google, Facebook could be tricky. I installed NordVPN on my phone as well. In 2019 it allowed me to avoid the firewall and at least I could send some messages. But not so this time at the end of 2023...

By now, also NordVPN was blocked and I couldn't connect to any country. Didn't really think of a Plan B, thought it's just 8 hours, no problem. But then I saw my flight is getting delayed by an hour. Also no big deal, but would be nice to inform my sister who was going to pick me up. 

As Google and Facebook things don't work... I remembered that I still got a Yahoo mail address... But I need a SMS verification code to login - which I couldn't receive there...

Creating a new email address with some German providers ... No, even though these websites generally worked, the providers blocked China from creating new accounts.

Interestingly, despite the firewall I could still receive push messages like from WhatsApp, but of course answering them didn't work.

Then I thought that probably TikTok would work... Well, of course PlayStore doesn't work either.

Since I'm ironically still using a Huawei phone, I could use its specific app store. And then I saw Snapchat.. And I know that my sister uses it.

Installed it, luckily no email verification needed and as the app searched through my phone contacts, I could easily find her. 

Problem solved, but my sister was quite surprised to see me on Snapchat...^^

Why can't WhatsApp be more flexibel?

Anno 2018 - WhatsApp has 1.5 billion users and is therefore still THE messenger. However, there still many things I'd like to be addressed in the future...

Two years ago I wrote an article about things WhatsApp can improve in the future. Things like video calls have been introduced, documents like PDF can be sent, but there are many things I'd like to see different.

Starting with the way the account is used: The ID for the login is basically phone number from your SIM card. Therefore in situations when you lose your SIM card, switch to a phone with another SIM card format (especially on travels) and/or a phone broke down, it's getting complicated to use your previous account.

And even if when you need to use a new phone number, but with the same Google account there's no way to use a backup from your GoogleDrive since its connected to another phone number.

Especially that case could have been solved way easier. They could introduce an option giving your Google account or your email address as an secondary login option. Or is that too risky for being misused since the SIM card is a safer option of course (but it looks different if the phone gets stolen...).

It's definitely something which could be worked on since it's it would make the app more flexibel.

Speaking of 'more flexibel', the database export could be better. There are third-party applications making a proper export and not just a text file.

I remember the MyPhoneExplorer which could make short message exports nicely as an HTML file. I don't see why WhatsApp could offer something like that themselves.

Anyway, let's see what happens in the future and if they are going to add some features making certain things easier...

Facebook now suggesting possible future users

That Facebook uses the WhatsApp contacts to suggest possible friends is known by now. But today I saw something new...

It's called 'Add Friends Who Aren't on Facebook Yet'. And you can swipe through seeing different contacts from your phone - with phone numbers and even contacts which only had an email address.

So according to that message you can already send a request to a someone how is not on Facebook yet. Another way to get more users.

Let's see what else comes up in the future.

LINE chat history to another device

Since it´s quite easy with WhatsApp to move the backup via cloud from one device to another the way for LINE is a bit different...

And in general it can become a bit more time-consuming - depending on how many chat partners you have in your history. 

But it´s not too difficult: You go on your old phone, open the first chat and select 'Chat settings' in the upper right of the screen.

Then select 'Back up chat history' and select 'All' (which includes also the media files) to backup the whole chat history with that contact in a zip file to send it to your email address.

Do that with all your LINE chats you want to save. Then use your new phone, install LINE, log in and verify your account. Now download all the chat history zip files from your mail account to your phone.

In the next step you open the first contact for a chat, go again to 'Chat settings', but this time you chose 'Import chat history'.

Initially I copied the files to the LINE folder on the phone, but there was no need. LINE gets the data also straight from the downloads folder (see screenshot).

Follow these steps now one chat by one to get everything back from your old device to your new device. 

Overall it´s a bit more work - but the result is as wished.

Top 5 Japanese Language Learning Apps for Android

As you may noticed through the topics of my articles about certain anime games or language-related stuff - I am a fan of Japan and their language and this article shows you my Top 5 apps to learn that language.

Some of these apps I'm using for a longer time, some not even a year. But altogether they're quite helpful while being on the run or waiting for someone/something to repeat vocabulary, gain new knowledge or remaining connected with the Japanese language.

1. AnkiDroid

I'm using AnkiDroid for a longer time already, even for other languages. It's an app with large vocabulary lists which you can either download or create yourself. After seeing a new word you can decide if it's easy to memorize or not and thus you decide when you get to see it again - in a few minutes or even in a few months or years (just if you saw it quite often already).

In terms of Japanese you should start to learn hiragana and katakana at the beginning. I can say for me AnkiDroid played a big part in learning these first around 100 characters. And you should also create your own deck with Japanese words you collect through going through books, watching anime or hearing in video games.

2. Jsho
'Jsho' is an app named after the Japanese name for 'dictionary' (じしょ), because IT IS an dictionary. The app is an offline version of the famous Japanese dictionary website 'jisho.org'. 

This application is already quite helpful at the beginning because you can search for words by using our characters as well as Hiragana or Katakana. And this app has also a connection to AnkiDroid: Once you've found a certain word you can send it to your Anki deck.


3. IQQI Japanese

After being able to memorize the first characters it would also be helpful to actually write them. That's why you need IQQI Japanese! It's an alternate keyboard with included Japanese characters. You can easily switch from our Latin letters to both Hiragana and Katakana - even Kanjis can be chosen after putting the right characters together. 

With that you can type new words into your Anki decks by yourself and write messages to someone in Japanese.



4. Memrise

Another great learning app, but even more developed in many ways. There are several decks in any language available, so also in Japanese. The apps even has a points scoring system included where repetition brings you more points than new words. 

You see the word in English and you have several hiragana/katakana/Kanji characters and you have to put them together in the correct way - or the other way around. Or you listen to three Japanese words in order to find the correct meaning. Or putting sentences together in the right order. And everything brings points - as well as knowledge and experience of course.

If you have friends using the same app you can compare who of you did the most points during the last week/month or even in total.


5. LINE

With WhatsApp nowadays being the the messenger with the most users in the world, there are still other similar apps. Like LINE which is really big in Japan and a few other Asian countries. So if you want to communicate with Japanese people in order to improve your language skills it's quite important to have that messenger. 

Like in WhatsApp you can also do calls and video calls - which were introduced way earlier than in WhatsApp. 

And like in Facebook you can post pictures on your timeline and others can comment. And the PC application is way more secure and better than the WhatsApp version. 

Summary
So these were the five free apps which were and still are quite helpful for me improving my Japanese. Of course there are also apps teaching you the grammar better and so on, but this overview is great if you are 'on the run'.

Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

WhatsApp: Phone date inaccurate

You want to start WhatsApp, but you can't because a message pops up that your phone date is inaccurate? The solution should be quite easy.

The message is the following:
'Your phone date is inaccurate! Adjust your clock and try again.' So selecting 'Adjust date' doesn't solve the issue in the most cases - but sure, sometimes it's THE SOLUTION. 

But what if the date is correct and you're trying to change it all the time and it doesn't work? It's luckily just a bug having an older WhatsApp version installed.

So just go to your app store and update your application.
Following that the app will start regularly. Maybe you just have to confirm your phone number and username, but that's it.

I've heard that if you have this problem with an iPhone you may have to reinstall the app completely. I've only seen it on Android devices so far.

Sony Vegas: Rendering in portrait format

Many videos from mobile phones are recorded in portrait format. If you edit such a clip the basic settings for rendering are offering you the video in landscape format - but what if you don't want it?

Like if you want to share such an edited video on WhatsApp. Rendering from a video in portrait format to landscape is pretty impractical for a phone.

In my case it was a video in portrait format where I added some subtitles in order to resent it.

Luckily in Sony Vegas (my description is about Sony Vegas 13) there's a way to solve that problem in order to render a video in the correct aspect ratio.

So what to do?

• Edit your video in portrait format
• Go to 'File', 'Render as'.
• Click 'More filter options' and select 'Match project video aspect ratio'
• Now you can chose between 720p, 480p and 360p
• Click 'Render' and the process will finish your video in portrait format

So that's all. Have fun sending edited videos to your friends. And take advantage of WhatsApp Web.

Another step forward: WhatsApp for Windows

Today WhatsApp finally released its desktop version. It's a step forward following the WhatsApp Web version - but is it really better?

Actually it looks more or less the same as the web version. The connection between the computer and the phone also works via scanning a QR code on the screen with your phone.

So still no connection via email address or another user ID possible. A solution like in LINE I'd prefer more. But maybe they'll think about it in the future.

The Windows version is recommended to work with Windows 8 or higher, but some users also mentioned that it's also usable with Windows 7. In the same step there was also a Mac OS version released.

The only difference to the web version is that the desktop app has it's own window and that you can see the amount of new messages with a white number in a red circle at the WhatsApp icon in the taskbar.

I hope they use this desktop version to create better chat backups in coming updates. A HTML export shouldn't be such a big deal. And other messengers have it - so hopefully it's going to come.

Anyway, I see the introduction of a desktop version a step in the right direction which they will hopefully use to build on.

Is LINE better than WhatsApp?

(c) LINE (c) WhatsApp

LINE is a messenger and especially in Japan often used. But is it better than the even more popular WhatsApp? Here's what I found out.

Recently, I wanted to know how the messenger works and if LINE has some things better solved than WhatsApp. Interestingly, there're a few things.

But from the beginning: I downloaded LINE from Google Play Store and after starting I could already see who from my phone contacts also has this app installed. Quite WhatsApp-like. The chat itself is as easy as it should be.

The emojis are in comparison to WhatsApp really different. The emoji list starts with white-colored heads, but there are also some of the already known yellow faces. LINE also has more animal-referring emojis. So basically it's different. In addition LINE has stickers (bigger, moving icons) like you may know from Facebook, which WhatsApp hasn't included.

Like in WhatsApp there are also free calls included, but LINE already has the video call feature. Video calls are expected to be added in WhatsApp in the future, but in terms of that LINE lies ahead by now.

I also saw that there's a PC version for LINE. With an email verification - which includes a few exchanges of numbers to make the connection more secure - it's also possible to login on your computer. It's somehow reminiscent to the classic ICQ. A real messenger software installed on your PC.

And everytime you connect with your PC your phone gets a message. So in case of an inauthorized usage you'll be informed. And your phone don't have to be online to use LINE on your PC. Unlike WhatsApp Web where your phone needs permanent Internet connection to be used.

The whole identification with your email address is something WhatsApp also needs in the future. Also in this point is see that LINE is ahead.

Another interesting feature in LINE is the included timeline - something we all know from Facebook and that's something WhatsApp doesn't have. Anyway, it gives LINE users the opportunity to share content with anyone they want from their list. Ok, WhatsApp has broadcast messages and the profile status - the last one LINE also has - but it's a entirely different way to share a message. In the privacy settings you can also decide which one of your friends is allowed to see it and who not. I wouldn't say WhatsApp should have that but it's an interesting approach.

Also interesting is the 'KEEP' feature: LINE offers every user 1 GB of cloud space to save pictures, messages and so on. So you can touch a message and chose 'Save to Keep' in order to move it into the cloud. Same as WhatsApp LINE has also the search option to find special messages with keywords.

Additionally LINE has also included a coins system in order to purchase more stickers or even games and apps.

So let's take a look at this overview to see the important points:

Where LINE is better 

- video calls included
- login with email address or ID (not just phone number)
- a PC software version and the phone doesn't need to be online 

Where WhatsAPP is better 

- no in-app purchases

Where both can improve 

- a better chat backup as an HTML, not just a colorless text file

Conclusion

Comparing to WhatsApp LINE has a few features which the worlds no.1 messenger doesn't have yet. But I expect these to be added to WhatsApp soon - especially video calls. A possible email verification is also on my wish list. Same as independent usage from other devices.

The only advantage I see in WhatsApp is that there are no in-app purchases. Even the subscription has been changed to 'forever free'. Else it's worth to mention that WhatsApp has more than a billion users and LINE just around 220 million, but it only looks less in comparison. It's still a lot. Else, they're pretty equal in my view.

But there's one thing where I see both can improve: The chat backup and export. Both WhatsApp and LINE only have an export option as a colorless text file. I'd like to have an HTML like with in 'MyPhoneExplorer'. That tool made it possible with SMS exports in a nice website file.

But anyway. It's worth to test and use LINE, but you just need someone to communicate with. You usually find more WhatsApp  than LINE users, but in Asia it seems easier. Just give it a go and you'll see.

Seven things WhatsApp should improve in 2016 and beyond

WhatsApp is getting more and more users and the app has experienced a lot of improvement over the years, but there's still room for more - and these are my thoughts about what can be done and about features which are likely already in the making...

1: A better backup

I liked that they included the backup in the cloud like with Google Drive on Android devices. But unfortunately you can't see the database copy after opening the cloud folder, because it's hidden.

On the other hand you can simply just copy the database from the phone with USB, but you can't use it anywhere else. A (secured) way to open it on the computer would be great - for example something like a 'WhatsApp Database Manager', where you can add old chat histories to the current one or extracting a specific year from the database. Just a better way to manage it.

2: Video calling

Applications like Skype or FaceTime on Apple devices show how it's done. Even Facebook included it for a while. After the Whats App phone calls were introduced last year it's known that video calls will probably be added in the future.
In my view WhatsApp has a big advantage comparing to other applications: Most of the users want it simple and that's surely a part of the success of WhatsApp: No email registration and it just works with the phone number. Via Skype for example you have to find a Skype name and so on. In the 'green messenger' it'd be just one button more and the ordinary user doesn't need much explanation. That's why I fear WhatsApp video calls can be a threatening thing for the Skype phone apps...

3: More independent from the phone

The introduction of WhatsApp Web was a way in the right direction. With this new feature you are now able to use the messenger from a web browser, but it's still depending from the smartphone because it needs internet connection.
Anyway, it's a huge advantage if you want to sent files which are only found on your computer via WhatsApp. You don't have to photograph something on your PC - you can actually send it.
But I think in the future it should be less depending from the phone. For example like having the opportunity to log in via email and use it from any place. What about using the WhatsApp app on multiple devices like?
Ok, the account should still be connected with the phone number, just for having an alternate way to log in. There'll be cases where you can't use the WhatsApp-depending phone number.
Example: You know you are in a foreign country for like two months and you just want to use a prepaid card there. Now everyone needs your number, instead you were able to just add the new number to your account and communicate like before. Ok, you can convert your account to the 'new' number, but than it's just connected with that number.
Long story short: One account and the opportunity to log in via multiple ways:
Your email address, your phone number, your temporary phone number. Or even Facebook (see below).

4: Sending more different file types

WhatsApp is still limited in terms of which kind of files can be sent. Like PDFs can't be transferred at all or pictures will be comprized in a lower resolution. Both examples show room for improvement. So: Adding an option for document files would be nice- same goes for Office stuff like docx or xlsx. And about sending pictures in higher resolution they can keep the current way as standard but adding the option to sent in full resolution via checkbox would be a cool thing.
Another example: You can't sent video files properly via WhatsApp Web, you had to copy them to phone and sent them that way. Could have been easier, but WhatsApp Web is still young... :)

5: WhatsApp chat within Facebook

Many people were concerned by the time it was announced that Facebook would buy WhatsApp in terms of data privacy. Since then the user couldn't see much difference and it didn't actually happen that much. But I expect that Facebook and WhatsApp will slowly merge! Things like selecting an image in WhatsApp and an appearing option like"Share it on Facebook". Or seeing the Facebook name in the WhatsApp account information and vice versa. Will it that be wished and can give us advantages? I think at first lots of people will complain but are going to continue using it anyway. I already see the benefit of using WhatsApp as an alternate way to chat and sent things within Facebook which would be WhatsApp Web unnecessary.Will it replace the Facebook Messenger? Maybe after WhatsApp had a successful introduction of alternate ways to log in and both account information have eventually merged...

6: Better chat history export

Currently you can export the chat history as a simple txt-file via email. It's pretty colorless comparing to the app with all the different smiley badges. The images are added in the attachment of the mail.
There are third party apps where you can get a proper export as an html files, which are of course way better. But for that you have to root your phone and you need the database in a preferable older version - the current one should be in the crypt9-format. For the usual user impossible. Anyway, I hope that they are going to add this html export option soon.

7: Advanced options for Chat groups

Groups of WhatsApp chats are a great way to communicate with multiple people in a closed area, but it becomes a problem if it's overused and you have to go back to a specific date to find something - there's no clear structure. I'd like to have an option where you can select a month or even a date to go back. By now it takes a lot of time scrolling. And how about working with hashtags? Twitter started it and other platforms like Instagram or Facebook also use it by now. It would be revolutionary for WhatsApp, but it could improve searching for special messages. Also, how would it be to make polls in WhatsApp groups? For certain things, you don't have to write an answer - just select an answer about e.g. 'Who'd like to go to the cinema on Sunday night?'

What are your thoughts about these improvements? Which kind of things you'd like to change or add? Or would you prefer to keep it as it is? Let me know in the comments.

Google Play Store error: 'Insufficient storage available'

Installing apps on android-based systems can sometimes be a problem. The download works, but then... 'error'

After WhatsApp failed to work another time yesterday evening a message appeared that my version is too old and I should install the latest update.

So then I did what they wanted: I went to the Google Play Store and selected 'Update' to download the latest version.

After the download the software started to install. Or better it attempted to install. In the end it failed with the message 'Insufficient storage available'.

I remember having the error once before, I guess one and half years ago. Probably the error isn't only a WhatsApp problem.

Last time also the Facebook messenger failed to install.

So let's fix it: I deleted some files from the internal storage to get some space. I also removed some apps I don't need with the application manager.

After that I made a reboot of my phone and tried to install the application once again. This time the update worked and WhatsApp was running again.

Last time it didn't worked that way: After all attempts failed I decided to make a factory reset to 'solve' the issue.

The change of messaging

It's fascinating how quick the way of messenging has changed over the last ten years. Let's take a look back at my experiences in Germany!

Back in 2004 I had honestly barely contact with the internet and messenging. I didn't even had a mobil phone. I can remember using internet chatrooms just for fun - for example at school or in an internet café. 

But just two years later it started to change: I began using a mobil phone with writing text messages and using ICQ as an instant messenger on the computer.

This software has been quite popular back then. You could use the included searching option to find people you may know. You could also exchange the nine digit long 'ICQ' number with your friends or tell them your individual nickname. If you had been at another computer you used ICQ2GO in the web browser. It was the time where I was at 9th and 10th grade.

We also used another social media platform which was really popular that time. It was a website made for the youth to keep in touch with people which they have met at parties in the local region.

Just one year later by the end of 2007 if I am not very much mistaken it seemed that everybody switched to another social media site. Unlike the previous website the users were named in their real names instead of using nicknames. And site was made for entire Germany! They added the countries Austria and Switzerland later. 

Besides that and the whole design there wasn't much difference concerning both websites. But somehow the users went from one platform to another. Meanwhile ICQ has still been used.

So far so good, but then came Facebook. During the years 2010 and 2012 most of the users I know being at the German social network site switched in different time periods to Mark Zuckerbergs famous website.

The switch to Facebook was also a problem for ICQ. Facebook's included chat in its own messenger made it easy to use with a smartphone app. Ok, also ICQ had an app, but using just Facebook seemed much easier.

But there was also WhatsApp: I knew it since the begin of 2012 even if it was available a few years longer. Since the people in my social environment also got android-based smartphones and many other people also started using it this application it was used more and more. Especially since 2013.

Currently WhatsApp has almost replaced SMS messaging if you look at the messaging behaviour of many people. The reasons are of course that you can use it easily with the data network mode in flatrates and you can send messages to people with using another network provider for free. Messaging over wireless LAN is also very helpful, especially if you are in another country. Transferring pictures to your friends is also possible.

Ok, the last point is nothing new: The in my experience rarely used MMS and the messenger ICQ was also able to do that. Many years ago we used bluetooth to send pictures from one phone to another - so a connection between two devices. Yes and before that there was also IR (infrared).

But there's also not everyone using WhatsApp or Facebook. I have contacts which strictly avoid these opportunities - they use the classic email or SMS instead. Or Google Plus.

Future expectations

After seeing so many technologies and software changing over the years it's hard to predict what's next. But it seems like the technologies which are easy to use mostly gain acceptance.

Let's take WhatsApp as an example: You just have to download the app and it works. Your account is your phone number. In ICQ you have a completely different number while a file transfer over bluetooth is more complicated than just sending a picture via WhatsApp.

Facebook is unlike other small social media websites a real platform: There are games, famous people or companies have its own 'sites' - the whole world is connected! It's an almost invincible opponent for the other competitors. It's also easy to use, the smartphone apps are getting improved all the time.

The Facebook messenger is good way to send messages to people using both computer and smartphone. You don't have this opportunity with WhatsApp - you need a mobile phone number.

But after we know that Facebook bought WhatsApp we can expect they will develope an easy way to combine these two apps somehow. Maybe there will be a connection between both accounts so that you can send a WhatsApp message while you're sitting on the computer using your Facebook account.

But let's see what the time will bring us. The internet is getting faster and the opportunities are getting more which makes very hard to be successful.