Database Users

My switch from WM6.5 to Android on the Nexus One and the apps that will keep me there

So I bought my first non-WM smartphone. Below is documentation of my quest to replace, and surpass, the experience I was used to with my Touch Diamond 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5. I am what you would probably call a windows mobile 'power user'. I've been averaging about one new WM phone every 6 months since 2005, most of them HTC. But I always keep up on what the other platforms are doing. This is just the first time I've taken the leap, and I quickly became aware of what new doors Android opened for me in just the first few hours of using the Nexus One. The OS is nice, but like most people, it really comes down to the apps for me.
I was initially thinking I'd do a big blog review, but I've run out of motivation. There's plenty of info on the Nexus One hardware and Android out there, so I don't need to rehash that stuff. What I haven't seen a lot of, though, is detailed accounts of people switching and what exactly they found.
There remains a couple major things missing from Android. The lack of an OCS client is probably the biggest one for me professionally, but since it's a Microsoft product, I don't see that changing any time soon. That and the lack of xvid playback will keep me carrying around my TD2 as backup for the foreseeable future. But other than that, I'm extremely happy and will definitely be sticking with the Nexus for a while. The next post will be a comprehensive list of (practically) every app I've installed, what they do for me, and how they compare to their WM counterparts (if there are any).
On to the apps...

Android Apps I've installed and believe I will continue to use.
This is a bit of a brain dump, so I apologize for not editing more thoroughly. Hopefully it will be useful to some, and feel free to suggest other apps you think I should try.
Advanced Task Killer - List of running apps that allows you to easily kill unwanted tasks. Nice to have for an OS that allows background apps, but I don't actually notice it slowing down, it seems to manage memory and close apps as needed.
Aldiko (replacing mobiReader, much better) - eReader with nice UI and quick access to several libraries of free books. Found Doctorow's books right away.
Amazon store - really just easier than using the web browser, but it also does barcode scanning and some other useful stuff.
BeamReader (replacing Adobe's wm reader) - rarely needed, but have to be able to see pdfs on the go sometimes
Beelicious - direct (cached) access to my delicious bookmarks. UI could be better and it's a bit of a pain to wade through them all, but it's useful.
BeyondPod (replacing YomoMedia, HUGE improvement) - It took me years to find a podcast downloader for WM that worked at all, but beyondpod is amazing. The UI is superb and inuitive. The customization is great. I have it setup to download only at night while charging. It remembers my place in podcasts and creates 'smart playlists' to make it easier to start listening. It also integrates with google reader, which is hugely useful because I can add new podcasts I'd like to listen to anywhere from google reader and then import then very quickly into beyondpod later. Also worth noting is the homescreen widget, which gives me access to basic controls and status from my home screen, no need to always navigate back into the app.
Browser (replacing Opera mobile) - Really there's not much difference here. Neither android nor WM have flash or silverlight support yet (although you can sort of get it on WM through skyfire, but that's not performant enough to be an everyday thing). Usability is about the same, but since multitouch zoom isn't enabled on nexus yet (though the hardware can technically support it), you have to use the zoom in/out buttons. This isn't as nice as zooming on the TD2 (zoom bar) or the HD2 (multitouch). Android does links to outside applications better though. It recognizes when you are browsing to a youtube video or RSS feed and will prompt correctly.
Cab4me - Nice little app for finding nearby cab companies making it very easy to see which is rated best, has cars available, and place the call. Not a must-have, but it's one of the little things.
Camera - very fast, 5mp (same as on hd2 and td2 wm phones), the LED flash is certainly better than nothing. Geotagging is default.
Car Home - this is Google's navigation 'car mode'. I think is this very cool, but honestly I won't end up using it much because I have navigation built into my car.
Carr Matey - dedicated app for recording car location so you can find it again. Another little nice thing I didn't have before. Android is just so much better at doing location-aware apps right now.
Documents to Go (replacing ms office mobile) - I'm using the lite version, which does not allow editing, but I have just never had the need to edit office docs on my phone. Sometimes I get one in an email and want to read it though, and this looks to do that fine. I'm happy.
Evernote (replacing Evernote) - I'm using this more and more as a dumping ground for everything that's not in email but I want to remember. This is what I use anytime I want to take a quick note (audio or text), or take a picture of a wine bottle or business card for later reference. It syncs with the cloud immediately and I can search that from anywhere.
Flashlight - not a big deal, but nice to have.
flickr droid (replacing shozu) - i like to have an easy way to upload a picture to flickr, this gives me that. I really like how android allows it to integrate with the normal gallery app. So after I take a picture I just have to view it, select 'share', and then select flickr droid (or other things like email, twitter, etc). It's more centralized than WM.
Flip2Silent and Vibrate During Meeting (replacing WM + HTC ringer management) - The ringer management on android is lacking as compared to WM. I used to be able to have my phone automatically go to vibrate during meetings, and silence the ringer after I pick up the phone (so it doesn't continue to be loud and annoying while I'm deciding whether to answer), AND there was a pocket mode to switch to vibrate and louder ring when the phone detected it was in a pocket. Vibrate During Meeting gives me back the meeting function, but it only works with the google calendar, not the exchange touchdown calendar in which all my actual meetings are stored. My work-around is to sync my exchange calendar with google via desktop outlook, but this doesn't keep it updated unless I have a desktop logged in. The good news is that the developer of this app says he'll look into touchdown. Flip2Silent gives me the option to just lay the phone screen-side-down to mute the ringer/vibrate functions. This will work while a call is coming in and I want to ignore it.
Foursquare - App for checking into various locations. It's treated like a game, you get points, but also get to see where your friends are and if they happen to be near you. Plus people leave tips for places.
g-backup and mybackup (replacing myphone on wm) - MS's myphone app on wm will automatically backup all user data (sms, mms, pictures, video, docs, etc) to the cloud every night. It can also restore these for when you get a new phone or hard-reset your current phone. I got used to having this. All my email and contacts are in exchange or the cloud anyway, but I don't want to lose these other things. MyPhone is also nice because all that data is accessible via the web. g-backup is cool because it will upload all this stuff to gmail, so you have it there, but it can't restore anything. MyBackup will backup and restore most things, but not pictures/video. So I'm using them both, but I'd like a more comprehensive solution.
Gallery (replacing HTC photo gallery) - The nexus gallery is implemented in 3d and is pretty cool, but ultimately it works about as well as the HTC version (which is also flashy). They need to add multi-touch zooming.
GCDroid (replacing gcz) - This is my geocaching app, but only until the official geocaching.com android app comes out (which is soon and it will be cool if their iphone app is any indication). Even though there isn't an official app for wm, the community created apps were pretty good. GCDroid is barely usable, but overall this category will be an upgrade over wm soon.
Glympse (replacing Glympse) - Something I'll rarely use, but it's cool when it applies. You can send a link to anyone that will allow them to track you via a webbrowser for x-minutes. So if you say you're on your way, they can actually see how far along you are.
Gmail (replacing hotmail) - both MS and Google have their email services integrated tightly with their mobile os. I used to forward all my gmail to hotmail so I could easily get it on my phone, so now I just flipped it. I like gmail well enough, and there are certainly features that are ahead of hotmail. I'm just happy to happy to have my personal email pushed to my phone.
Google maps (replacing google maps and bing) - This is definitely better than on WM, but ultimately it does the same stuff. It's smoother and a little easier to navigate (except, again, zooming is more difficult).
Meebo IM - nice to have an app that can log into ICQ, MSN, and GTalk all at once. Likely will rarely use it.
Messaging (replacing txt message HTC app) - this seems to be just what you'd expect. But at least it's very fast and predictable, unlike the HTC app which is sometimes laggy as hell.
Flixter Movies (replacing bing) - MS's bing app was good for finding local theaters and showtimes, this one does it with a bit more flash and some awesome additional features that i just found. It shows the rottentomatoes rating along with every movies. Plus, it has netflix integration, so it checks whether any movie is in my queue and lets me add it while browsing. It also has a list of recent dvd releases, which is great with the netflix thing. It also essentially serves as a mobile imdb. Very impressive.
Mother TED - dedicated app for watching TED talks. It seems ok but not great.
Music (replacing HTC media player) - Nothing special here. I don't know that I'll even use it much since i mostly listen to pandora or podcasts.
OpenTable - for the rare occasions when I make reservations (especially last minute) this will make it easy to find a place with an opening.
Pandora (NOT ON WM) - this is almost a reason to switch by itself. I hate that this isn't on wm yet. Very nicely implemented on android because it has a homescreen widget. I get all the basic controls without even having to go into the app, and I can use other apps while it plays in the background. Sound quality is great too.
Dialer - The android dialer is pretty basic, but it seems to get the job done. At least you can add a pause (with a comma) so that dialing conference numbers is somewhat doable (but still WAY harder than it should be, they don't do any smart parsing in meeting invites). This is still hard on WM though too.
PhoneFlicks (replacing official netflix wm app) - This is barely a replacement. Netflix's own app was better, this one is slower and harder to use, but at least I can do basic queue management from my phone, which is really nice sometimes.
SeattleBusBot - This is SO cool, and something I've wanted but couldn't find on wm. Seattle has the gps info of its buses available publicly, but their website is basically unusable on a phone (even on a desktop). This app will tell you exactly when a given bus is going to arrive, not just when it's scheduled.
Seesmic (replacing m.twitter.com on wm) - really good mobile twitter app. There are plenty of wm twitter apps, and HTC even builds one into the os now, but they tended to be slower. I think the HD2 is probably just as good as seesmic.
ShopSavvy - barcode scanning that tells you the closest places to get the given product and for how much. Haven't had a chance to see if this turns out to actually be useful, but I like the concept and test scans in the house have been accurate (which kinda surprises me because I had heard that phone barcode scanning doesn't work, but maybe the 5mp camera and snapdragon is making it more pratical).
TorrentFu (replacing starting torrents via Live mesh mobile) - This is a major upgrade (and rejected from itunes if I remember correctly). I finally switched to uTorrent on my server so I could use this. It uses the utorrent webui to connect, but exposes all the functionality like a local app. You can see progress, search for and start new torrents, and pause/resume. Very cool.
TripIt (replacing tripcase kinda) - I've only started experimenting with these two services, and i don't travel as much as I used to, but they are pretty good at what they do. Just forward your reservation emails and they build up a comprehensive itinerary and keep you updated. having a native app makes using these that much easier. Tripcase is on wm, tripit (which seems to be the better service) is on android.
tv.com - streaming tv from cbs, showtime, and some others. Haven't used this much, but always nice to have some free content.
Google Voice - At first I was skeptical about this because I don't have a real need to create a central phone number that rings all my phones, which was what i thought this service was for. Turns out you don't have to use that feature, and they also provide visual voicemail on android plus they send you transcriptions of the messages to your phone. so you can see who left messages and what they said (approximately) without even listening. So I'm definitely appreciating this feature.
Wapedia - native version of wikipedia. Nice and quick. why not?
y5 - Battery - This app is genius in its simplicity and value. It simply keeps track of where you are when you enable wifi, and remembers that going forward so it can automatically re-enable it when you come back to the same place. The rest of the time, it disables wifi to save battery. The end result here is that I never have to remember to turn wifi on or off when i come home or leave the house.
youtube (replacing youtube) - works well. nothing special to report except google's browser seems to be better at realizing when it should forward you to the youtube player.
yxflash (failing to replace coreplayer) - The only android app that claims to do xvid/divx decoding. I tried it on an xvid torrent that wm's coreplayer had no trouble with and it choked pretty hard. It played, but with extremely jittery video and slow sound. Not usable yet, but at least i know I might get something soon.
Touchdown (replacing exchange activesync on wm) - Saved the most important (and expensive @$22) for last. Without this app I wouldn't be able to sync my exchange data (contacts, email, calendar, tasks) with my phone because Android doesn't support all the required security features by default. (our company, like many these days, will not sync data with a platform that doesn't allow them to force the use of encryption, pin lock, and remote wipe) Beyond that, without the recently added feature of allowing me to flag emails for followup, I would not be able to switch to android because this workflow is too important to my everyday life.
Explanation: I check email on my phone often, and if I can respond then and there, I do, but if I can’t and need to follow up for any reason, I flag it. This creates a task in outlook which I will see the next time at my desk, so i KNOW i won't forget about it.
But there is an additional, more subtle, benefit at play here. And honestly, it's a little unfair to count it, but it makes such a huge difference in my enjoyment of my phone that I can't ignore it. I'm speaking about how the previously mentioned pin lock for exchange only applies (on android) to the touchdown app. I am not required to set a pin to unlock the phone itself. Ever since they turned on that requirement I've been punching in a 4 digit pin every damn time I wanted to glance at my phone, check the time, or even change the stupid volume! Now I'm finally free of that because google didn't bother to properly build in exchange support at the OS level. NICE! seriously though, this saves me so much annoyance it was almost worth the $530 by itself.

For a true windows power-user, it's worth shelling out the <$10 for Remote RDP. It works incredibly well, even when connecting to my Windows 7 PC from 3G across town (or presumably, the world).
The ability to USE MY HOME PC from ANYWHERE WITH NET ACCESS...
Absolutely incredible for a phone..
EDIT: my home net speed is pretty quick, which owes to fast remote access. Wifi will always be fast, though, and that's what this app is really designed for.

Good recommendation. Just downloaded the Remote RDP demo. Seems to work well.

Thank you for the run down... I just made the switch myself and a number of the apps you mentioned helped me fill some of my void from WM. I'm still a little pissed about the exchange issues but the real truth is any company I work for issues me a blackberry and doesn't allow other devices to connect to thier servers. I worked for one midsized company once that let me and that was the only time I was completely in love with my WM device. Since my personal email is through gmail the nexus one is really amazing as my personal phone.

Good Stuff! I'm in the same boat WM to Android and no turning back I'll check out some of the apps u listed...
One thing I'm looking for is a widget with power/memory/storage/sd gauges.
Always had this on the wm home for reference & cool stats!

If you geocache then GeoBeagle is the other main geocaching app. I don't cache much any more, but I have tried GeoBeagle and liked it, though I can't compare it to GCDroid...

Wanted to say thanks for the excellent app list. Touchdown is awesome. A way for me to connect to work without merging my exchange contacts with the rest of my phone. Now thats a win!

@Seraph321 - want to add my thanks for your app info. i'll be getting an N1 soon and knowing there are options to some of my "must haves" apps/features/functionality (e.g., Exchange) will help shorten my learning curve. i'm not going to abandon WM because it will continue to serve as my work phone. the N1 will be my after work/personal phone until i'm comfortable tweaking Android. that's my plan, but once i have the N1 my plan may change!

Great write up, and welcome to Android
A few suggestions
Text Messaging
The two heavyweights are Chomp SMS and Handcent SMS. Both are considerably better than the default SMS app, it mostly comes down to personal preference.
Browser
Dolphin Browser is hands down the best browser on Android right now. Multi-touch zooming, delicious integration, tabs, themes, and much more.
Flashlight
Do a market search for Nexus One Torch. It utilizes the LED from the camera flash to use as a flashlight. Very bright.
Ringer Management
Locale manages your phone based off time and location. Never used it myself, but heard good things, and I believe it was and Android Developers Challenge winner or something.
Backup
I'm simple and only need to backup text messages (most everything else is stored via SD card or synced with Google anyway). I use SMS Backup to backup my texts to Gmail, and it works fantastic. Uploads directly to my mail account, archives the texts, puts them in threads according to contact, tags them, and marks them as read. I can then easily search my text conversations from my phone or desktop browser via Gmail, and don't have to worry about deleting conversations from my phone and losing something. I've never used g-backup, so it may have this function already.
Twitter
I've tried a couple Twitter apps (not Seismic, though I'll be trying that next) and have landed on Swift, which currently is the fastest, and the best looking Twitter app I've used. I'm not a giant twitter user, so I don't know if it supports all the features any other apps might, but it works great for me, and would recommend it.
That's all for now. I don't have my phone next to me or I'd give it a quick run through and suggest something you might be missing, but I'll have to do that another time.
As for getting multi-touch support in google maps, the browser, and gallery... just wait, it's been hacked in for the G1/MT3G, it will certainly be hacked in for the Nexus One.

I'm still up in the air between ASTRO File Manager and Linda File Manager, but a file manager is an important addition to your tools, if you plan on keeping a lot of documents/files on board. Additionally, I know at least Linda has the DownloadCrutch functionality, associating itself with every filetype so that the browser will allow you to download such. To me, this last bit is essential.

Great stuff, I think a lot of people will be going from WM to Nexus because MS have failed to deliver for so long & there is now a great alternative with an OS that can be modded and a really cool handset.
So far I am happy to leave the N1 standard (not rooted) and play with apps - it is a real joy to have so many available & a single source for them.
Never going back !

+1 for Dolphin Browser... definitely a big step up over the default browser IMHO

SpyderMS said:
Great write up, and welcome to Android
A few suggestions
Text Messaging
The two heavyweights are Chomp SMS and Handcent SMS. Both are considerably better than the default SMS app, it mostly comes down to personal preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I find the text bubbles childish and cheesy. I much prefer the stock sms app with sms popup.

bofslime said:
Personally, I find the text bubbles childish and cheesy. I much prefer the stock sms app with sms popup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to agree though why doesnt the icon to the app on my home screen tell me how many unread SMS there are?

The Jones said:
I tend to agree though why doesnt the icon to the app on my home screen tell me how many unread SMS there are?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SMS Count
ok, at work with nothing to do, so I browsed through my phone, and here's a couple Apps you may be interested in. Some of these are useful, some are just kind of cool
AudioManager Widget
Nice little app that lets you adjust all your volume levels easily and quickly.
AppControl - Full Version
Best app manager I've used. Really fast, nice interface, and lots of options.
Barcode Scanner
Barcode scanning from the phone is fantastic. It's very pronounced in the Android community as well. You'll see barcodes not only on these forums, but on App websites like AndroLib.com, which let you scan the barcode, and instantly be linked to a website or Android Market page. It's not only useful on the Nexus One's 5mp camera and 1GHz processor either. Worked great on my G1.
Google Goggles
Take a picture of just about anything, and Google will search for relevant results.
Google Sky Map
Virtual Planetarium on your phone.
Layar Reality Browser 3.0
Augmented Reality browser. Displays information about objects in front of you overlayed on the camera display.
Pkt Auctions for eBay
If you use eBay at all, this is a great companion tool.
Shazam
Lets you identify music being played around you by letting your phone listen to and analyze it.

Personally, I find the text bubbles childish and cheesy. I much prefer the stock sms app with sms popup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
handcent settings -> conversation style.
handcent has a ton of settings options, including different settings for individual contacts (conversation style, font, notification tone, etc)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've already spent too much work time today finding and installing the ones I like.
I don't actually do THAT much texting, so I'm sticking with the stock sms app for now, but I did install sms popup and set my girlfriend to popup. That's convenient.
Someone mentioned SMS backup, and yes, g-backup does the same thing only for more data, but they both need a scheduling option.
I see the nexus one torch app requires rooted access. I'm no stranger to hacking my gadgets, but this app (plus tethering, and maybe installing to the sd card) are the only things I've seen so far that have me interested in doing it. Can anyone provide some examples of why they consider rooting a must?

You mentioned Wi-Fi tethering already, but that reason alone is a pretty big reason. You may also want to theme your phone. Any kind of advancements that developers like Cyanogen come out with will require root as well. Cyanogen is known for pushing the envelope, helping to increase speed, and overall functionality of the G1, and other devices; not to mention you will get features from new versions of Android faster than those without root. I'm sure there are other reasons to, these are just off the top of my head. A lot of people are waiting until someone finds out how to reverse the bootloader unlocking process before they root, in order to preserve their warranty, and that's certainly a good idea if you don't have a lot of use for root at the moment. I did it, like most people that did, just because I can.

I'll make sure to watch the Cyanogen stuff closely. I never followed the G1 enhancements, so I guess I don't know what to expect. Sounds like it's likely I'll do it at some point though.
Is it easy to get all your apps, especially the ones that you paid for, back on your phone after rooting? Does the marketplace just remember it all and let you re-download?
I should just search for these answers.

what app would you find useful ?

Hey guys.
I'm now looking for a bachelor thesis and I was thinking about writing an android application.
Preferably one of which aren't millions out there and a more complex one (using GPS and stuff).
So I'm hoping you could help me. Do you have any tips ?

Cool idea! good luck with this.
Unfortunately i can't think of anything my phone can't already do

May be some thing like an android firewall, which pops up when an applications initially try to connect to internet asking if we want to allow or reject the connection and remember the choice.. You know.. Much like an OS firewall. Something like littlesnitch (MacOS)
I dunno if this is possible, but would be great.

How about a GUI for bluetooth..
See what's connected and easily transfer files to another device..

I would double request for interactive firewall
Sent from my Legend using XDA App

Interactive firewall, that remembers your settings for each Application based on your GPS co-ordinates & the network you are connected to (Wifi, mobile and the IP range on the Wifi network - or options to that effect ) That's some advanced stuff to do!
Maybe build a complete network tool on top of the firewall? one that does subnet/CIDR calculating, pinging, MTR, tracerouting/pathping, SMTP/POP3 checker etc
I'd use it for sure!

Thanks for the ideas.
The BT GUI looks more interesting to me, but I see there's a bigger demand on the firewall.
Aren't there any similar firewall apps out there ?
I found Droid wall... Anyone tried it yet ?
On the other hand, I didn't find any BT app...
btw keep 'em comin'

grandioso said:
I found Droid wall... Anyone tried it yet ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, i'm using it, but... Always after installing new app i keep forgeting to set up rules for it on Droid Wall So interactive firewall would be awesome.

There are two apps I want that don't exist. One is dead simple - a timed SMS sender. How often have I thought "must text Mum about X" at past her bedtime, then forgot to send it come the morning. It would be well handy to be able to specify a send time for a message.
Other is location-aware to-do/reminder. Most "Remind Me" apps work on times - either set times or countdowns. That's not how I roll. I want reminding when I get somewhere, not at a time.
"Remind me of $message when I get [home|work]"
Where $home = joining wireless network "HomeNet" and $work = joining wireless network "Worknet"
You could also do notifications on leaving those networks - "When I leave work, remind me to pick up milk/eggs"
There are GPS versions of these, but I'm not leaving my GPS on all day just for one thing. Wifi is accurate enough for me (although you could build in GPS as well, for added accuracy if want/needed by the user)
Hand-written notes (a la Staesj) is good too. As is speech-to-text notes.

Those are all good ideas. I'd use all of 'em. Lol
Good luck mate!

johnnytruant - that is a BRILLIANT idea !!
Already contacted my professor.
If he won't agree with it, I think I'll stick with the firewall (if no one has a better idea).

johnnytruant said:
There are two apps I want that don't exist. One is dead simple - a timed SMS sender. How often have I thought "must text Mum about X" at past her bedtime, then forgot to send it come the morning. It would be well handy to be able to specify a send time for a message.
Other is location-aware to-do/reminder. Most "Remind Me" apps work on times - either set times or countdowns. That's not how I roll. I want reminding when I get somewhere, not at a time.
"Remind me of $message when I get [home|work]"
Where $home = joining wireless network "HomeNet" and $work = joining wireless network "Worknet"
You could also do notifications on leaving those networks - "When I leave work, remind me to pick up milk/eggs"
There are GPS versions of these, but I'm not leaving my GPS on all day just for one thing. Wifi is accurate enough for me (although you could build in GPS as well, for added accuracy if want/needed by the user)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are pretty much all already covered by Tasker...

Ah. I didn't know about Tasker.
Still, an easy-to-use, single-purpose location-aware reminder/notes app is probably more useful to more people - plenty of non-techie types, who would likely be scared of Tasker - would definitely find such a thing useful.

So I finally got this app as my bc thesis.
Get ready for the best organizer ever
There's gonna be a usual calendar, plus location based reminders, plus friend location based reminders, notes (usual/voice, with/without notification) and alarms (with shake/flip/cover/voice-to-snooze), web-sync, and much more

Personally the main thing I've been dying for is SAMBA shares from my phone, but without having to root. If this was possible (or at least easy to do) I'm sure it would have been done by now, though.
Otherwise I think a facebook video uploader would be nice. I can't share more than 1 at a time with the onboard apps and have never found anything better, so I end up using Qik and sharing them to facebook from there.
Another idea (which has already been done, poorly) is to use your phone as a mouse/keyboard. I am not sure how many apps there are for this, but the last one I used (I forget the name) was pretty terrible. It's handy for HTPCs. The app itself wasn't the big problem, it was the Windows server program. It would take focus randomly, freeze, and there was no good way to hide it other than minimizing it.

grandioso said:
Hey guys.
I'm now looking for a bachelor thesis and I was thinking about writing an android application.
Preferably one of which aren't millions out there and a more complex one (using GPS and stuff).
So I'm hoping you could help me. Do you have any tips ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No gps, but a video player (with flv support) that works on azure would be very useful to many people

grandioso said:
So I finally got this app as my bc thesis.
Get ready for the best organizer ever
There's gonna be a usual calendar, plus location based reminders, plus friend location based reminders, notes (usual/voice, with/without notification) and alarms (with shake/flip/cover/voice-to-snooze), web-sync, and much more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds great

what's the best music player ?

rewen said:
Personally the main thing I've been dying for is SAMBA shares from my phone, but without having to root. If this was possible (or at least easy to do) I'm sure it would have been done by now, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
estrong file manager can access pc samba shares no problem...not sure if thats what your wanting to do though...

kazzaz said:
what's the best music player ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I quite like Cubed.

Registered WP7 Developer looking for ideas!

As the title states, suggest away.

direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.

mightyeric said:
direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.

Not sure what the SDK will let you do, but is it possible to develop an app that can be pinned to the start page, that toggles 3g/wifi/bluetooth? I know we can just drop in to the Settings menu, but I would pay for an app that put those three in one easy place.
I would also like an app that rotates, like a slideshow I guess, all sorts of images from the various Xbox games I've been playing across the tile. That would look cool on the start page. Maybe it does a Bing image search to find the images to rotate, etc. I'm not a developer, but it was something I thought of earlier today.

dougp.me said:
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is comming in dec development almost done..

The direct sync with outlook is not possible with the WP7 SDK. That would have to be incorporated into the Zune sync software. The WP7 is meant to be a cloud device so I don't see this coming anytime soon.
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.

rruffman said:
this is comming in dec development almost done..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
love to see more on this...

JMackey said:
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That really blows. Just thinking about what various iPhone and Android apps can do easily, it seems this platform is much more closed than even iPhone's. The key to both Android and iPhones success has been as much the developer community as it has been the solid hardware the apps run on, maybe even more so the developers. The new WP7 hardware seems solid enough so far. If MS doesn't open up the SDK to a greater array of components, this will just continue to lag behind, even fall farther behind.
...Hoping someone can cook up some nice WP7 ROM's

ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!

an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.

TOA Duck said:
an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.

prubin said:
ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is supposedly coming in January according to reports this morning. See: http://www.wpcentral.com/rumor-january-firmware-update-wp7-include-custom-ringer-support-more
(Sorry, forgot to multi-quote.)

not sure if you can make do this or not, but I would like to be able to connect to hidden networks. Also be able to use the device as a wifi router.

Could it be made downward compatible? It would be nice to be able to run some of my already-purchased software.
As an alternative, the single-largest bummer of making this switch for me will be loss of the two coolest apps I have EVER had – “Pocket Earth”, and “Pocket World” by Bluepoint Studios. These apps, especially Pocket Earth, were stunning! I don’t know their status, but if you could buy the rights and the code and somehow rewrite them for WP7, I suspect you would do very well.
I need programs which are NOT web-dependent. Dictionaries, translation programs, an atlas, etc. which are device-based. Traveling internationally is where one needs the language converters and I work a lot on the plane. I’d prefer to give up space in the device than to continually pay for international data.
Best of luck,
Dave

Battery indicator showing remaining strength in percentage or bars.

A recorder...
There are a few out there, but I need it to either have voice activated start/stop, or stop/start control from my bluetooth. I am a sports photographer, and if I can describe what is on a picture that I take right after I take it, it is much easier to do my captioning when I get home. But I don't have time to take the phone out of my pocket and start/stop after each play.

It seems a lot of the suggestions are things to do with hardware. The only hardware access the SDK gives developers is the GPS, Accelerometer, and the radio. We don't even have direct access to the camera. (When an app takes a picture, it opens the camera app then sends the taken picture back to the app).

riceboyler said:
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will we ever be able to watch high quality youtube vids over 3g. Now you have to be on wifi. I know on iphone the vids are HQ over 3g.

1) Something that bypasses Exchange-enforced password entry. Android has it; and frankly, PIN enforcement is a meaningless layer of security that does nothing more than inconvenience the end-user.
2) Something that let's you copy synced Calendar entries and Contacts to the Phone instead of forcing them to exist in the stupid cloud. <--I would pay good money for this. Again, something that Android let's you do that I like.
Edited to Add:
3) An app that keeps the phone on and unlocked. I don't like this forced lock/timeout thing, I'd prefer to have complete control of when it is locked and when it isn't.

1) A Remote Desktop Application compatable with MS's current RDP services
2) Something that periodically rotates the Logon Screen Picture
3) Something that would quickly display Battery Life, Used/Remaining Storage, etc...
- MEK

[Q] New Omnia 7 owner - recommended apps? Tips?

I've got a Samsung Omnia 7 coming my way this week and it already has WinPho 7.5 on it. I own an Android phone and I won't likely be changing from that but I am very interested in what WinPho has to offer. With that said can anyone recommend some good apps and offer any tips on things that annoyed or frustrated when you first got your handset? Specifically I'm thinking of anything that might be simple on others phones but took you a while to find like a setting or some toggle option.
I'm really liking the idea of the unified messaging where you go from SMS to Facebore etc all without leaving the screen. Any other things that I should look forward to?

Thats the thing about WP, you really dont need any apps. If you have an unlocked device however, there are a few interesting apps here on xda.

Well It’s kind of hard to recommend you app's when you’re not from the Netherlands (since allot of app's that I use every day are Dutch). App's that are handy to have are the xda app, autopanorama, advanced config, windows phone device manager 1.7 (when your Omnia is unlocked), battery status and flashlight-x
Some games are really fun to play are; farm frenzy 2, OMG, rocket riot and tentacles

Welcome to WP7 Hope you enjoy using it, I personally love the Me and People hubs and like you mentioned the messaging integrated with FB chat! Put my favourite/most used/most useful apps etc. below to give you some ideas and also the more technical side if you're willing to get into that. Very easy to do and allows you more freedom for apps and hacks. You mentioned problems - the only one I have ever had which was very annoying was the in-call sound wasn't loud enough. I posted the fix below enjoy
Apps
Amazon Kindle - Kindle ebooks.
Apict - Polaroid
Baconit - Reddit
BBC News Mobile - News.
Convert2Go - Currency & measurement conversion.
Face Mask - By Microsoft Research. Add funny effects to your photos. (You'll love this and your girlfriend/kids even more so.)
Flashlight 7 - Perfect flashlight app. Constant LED.
Flixster - Movies app w/ Rotten Tomatoes.
The Guardian - News.
The Hype - Trending music app.
Metro - News.
MyEncyclopedia - Wikipedia.
NAVIGON - Very good SatNav.
Stop the Music! - When opened it removes any "Now playing" songs from the volume bar.
SkyDrive - By Microsoft. SkyDrive online storage.
Suggestion Box - By Microsoft. Make suggestions for improving WP7! You can vote up suggestions too. I urge you to download this for all our benefit
TipIt - For when you need to split a bill between friends.
TuneIn Radio - Excellent radio app.
WPCentral - WP7 news. Good app.
XDA
Games
Breeze, Minesweeper, Shuffle Party, Sudoku (free Microsoft games)
geoDefense - Addictive tower defence with a Geometry Wars feel.
ilomilo - Cute 3D puzzle game from Xbox.
Plants vs Zombies - On par with Angry Birds for quality and much more interesting.
Tiki Towers
Bejeweled LIVE
Fruit Ninja
Settings
Turn camera shutter sound off in ringtones+sounds
Battery Saver is the best thing ever invented, turn it on!
Set brightness to Low rather than auto, it's bright enough and saves a ton of battery life.
In pictures+camera settings you can choose whether to take pictures by pressing the screen. I do this because it then attempts to focus on what you pressed. Also whether when the phone is locked you can launch the camera using the h/w button.
Choose a background for your picture hub by hitting the three dots at the bottom right. Can also shuffle.
If you have more than one email account, you can link them together into one tile and inbox. When you send a new msg it will ask you what account. Love this. To do it go into one of your email tiles, hit the three dots and there should be an option to link.
Hacks
Sound Volume Fix
1. Open the diagnostic app by calling ##634#. From now on there will be a Diagnosis app on your App list.
2. Type *#0002*28345# to get to the Audio menu.
3. Locate the last option named “Device Gain (max/min)”, hereafter called profile, and select which volume to adjust in the first field (2 for call ear speaker, 5 for headphones, 7 for back speaker)
4. Push “Get”.
5. Input these values. [Profile 2] [Profile 5] [Profile 7]
5. Push “Set” after each one.
7. Exit Diagnosis and restart your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developer unlock (allows you to sideload any apps you want and perform some more effective hacks!)
You can get a free unlock from Microsoft if you are a student.
If not you can pay a tiny fee and get a officially supported unlock here through Chevron Labs. UPDATE: Tokens for Chevron unlocks have run out for the time being.
It's all very easy and completely safe.
Internet Sharing and Interop Unlock
Installs new option in settings menu for turning your phone into a WiFi! Interop unlock is included and that allows sideloaded apps to utilise native code. Very useful.
Instructions here.
Sideload/homebrew apps (can be installed once developer unlocked and some need interop unlock.)
Supreme Shortcuts - add tiles to go straight to WiFi for example.
Screen capturer
ImageWind - nice timewaster
Tango video call
Wario's Jewels - Gameboy emulator
Advanced Configuration - deserves to be in bold. This app contains a whole bunch of useful tweaks and allows for new theme colours and sounds.

I am using:
Handysafe (also with Desktop client)
Geocaching from Groundspeak - not perfect but there is no c:geo on WP7
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Hunter
Board express for Tapatalk
facebook
Mobiletag
MySPC 2011 (Sharepoint)
Schnelle Übersetzer (english - german)
Angry Birds
Bejeweled
Fable Coin Golf
Harbor Master
Bubble Birds

pLUSpISTOL said:
[/LIST]
Hacks
Sound Volume Fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what are the default values mate? do you know them?

dickturpin1976 said:
what are the default values mate? do you know them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
600/-1600 for 2
1200/-500 for 7
Would have to ask here for volume level 5 if you need it.

pLUSpISTOL said:
600/-1600 for 2
1200/-500 for 7
Would have to ask here for volume level 5 if you need it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks alot mate

For me unlocking the device and enabling WiFi tethering is the killer usage for the phone.
---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 AM ----------
pLUSpISTOL said:
Hacks
Sound Volume Fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is very cool, id not know about that.
Before I always had to crank th evolume all up, but still barely heard the other person.

I think, the best WP7 game is Chromatic!
Try to beat my score!

Oh wow.. so much for being notified about updates to this thread! Thanks for all the suggestions, if only I'd read about the Chevron unlock sooner I'd be a much happier user. Unfortunately by the time I realised how great a deal it was and how useful it would be they'd sold out of tokens. I'm hoping they will get some more in the future or I'm gonna be stuck with what MS choose to allow and that feels far too much like Apple's world for my comfort.
I've taken a look at the volume profiles, so far the only sound I'd wanted to change was the headphone volume but now that's done. I'm gonna take a look at some of the apps mentioned, already got Apict though since I loved how it was when I tried it.

I hardly use phone for anything else than game development, texting and calling.
oh, and I use "Endomondo Sports Tracker" frequently when I go hiking
I think it is the best App beside my games

TomyMMX said:
For me unlocking the device and enabling WiFi tethering is the killer usage for the phone.
---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 AM ----------
That is very cool, id not know about that.
Before I always had to crank th evolume all up, but still barely heard the other person.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, glad I made you aware of it
balcsida said:
I think, the best WP7 game is Chromatic!
Try to beat my score!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard of this new one, I'll need to try it

Hi guys. I've asked this on another forum but I didn't get any answer so far, so I'm asking here too. Being a new omnia 7 owner too, I think this thread is good enough.
So:
"Does anyone know how can I sync Hotmail contacts with my Omnia 7? Here's why I'm asking:
As you probably know, the contact pictures that come from syncing with Google are pixelated and look horrible. Why they didn't fix this so far is beyond me.
I've noticed that if I create a new contact, the phone asks where to "save" it, Windows Live or Google. If I select Live and then assign a picture to that contact, it has the same quality, so it's much better than Google. However, I don't want to manually create all the contacts, so I went into the account settings and unchecked the "Contacts" option in the Google "what to sync" section. The Live account doesn't have this option, only "Email" - why is that?!
To my surprise, the People section only shows 3-4 contacts after I unchecked that option! I really don't know why, because on Hotmail I have all my contacts listed, so I assumed they'll be synced with the phone.
So, what would be the best and fastest way to do this? Or some other workaround for the contact images problem...at least until Google finally fixes this mess...
Thank you. "

thedirtchamber said:
Hi guys. I've asked this on another forum but I didn't get any answer so far, so I'm asking here too. Being a new omnia 7 owner too, I think this thread is good enough.
So:
"Does anyone know how can I sync Hotmail contacts with my Omnia 7? Here's why I'm asking:
As you probably know, the contact pictures that come from syncing with Google are pixelated and look horrible. Why they didn't fix this so far is beyond me.
I've noticed that if I create a new contact, the phone asks where to "save" it, Windows Live or Google. If I select Live and then assign a picture to that contact, it has the same quality, so it's much better than Google. However, I don't want to manually create all the contacts, so I went into the account settings and unchecked the "Contacts" option in the Google "what to sync" section. The Live account doesn't have this option, only "Email" - why is that?!
To my surprise, the People section only shows 3-4 contacts after I unchecked that option! I really don't know why, because on Hotmail I have all my contacts listed, so I assumed they'll be synced with the phone.
So, what would be the best and fastest way to do this? Or some other workaround for the contact images problem...at least until Google finally fixes this mess...
Thank you. "
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hiya mate,
Sorry it's not the answer you're looking for - I have no idea!
I understand the problem. Don't know why Hotmail can't sync more than mail.
If you have some way of getting them onto Outlook that could be the way to go.
Other than that, best to ask here.
Good luck

Windows Phone News
Windows Phone News is the application that I would install immediately upon buying a WP7 device. You can get it at marketplace for free.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/4cfd516a-0e3b-e011-854c-00237de2db9e
Check it out if you didn't yet and you won't regret it.

My First Android App - Released to the market - Named "PicAround" :)

Hi Guys,
I have just released a new app for the Android users.
I am an excited entrepreneur/developer, worked and developed the App all by myself
The app is free and I would like the world to enjoy it
I am posting here for 2 reason.
The Obvious one: to reach out! :fingers-crossed:
But the more important one:
I would love your feedback and notes and maybe some tips for how to get it out there with no budget
All of my friends are already running "alpha" for me on their personal devices.... but it`s only the tip of the iceberg from a technical point of view.
So this is where you guys come to the rescue :highfive:
So.... some details:
My App is Named: “PicAround”.
Basically PicAround is a "Mobile Camera App That Instantly Shares Everyone’s Event Pictures"
The App tries to reduce the hassle of getting your pictures from other people that were present at the event as you did. no need for emails Facebook, Dropbox, etc,
and it is easy to use:
Step 1. Select the event your are at from a list of local events (GPS Based)
Step 2. Capture the moment with the PicAround camera!
Everybody’s pictures taken at the event will be saved to a shared album instantly!
I believe it will match perfectly for large scale events, such as weddings, concerts, football games and so on..
You can find it on the app store:
Just search "PicAround"
I will also post a blog post soon enough about the process of developing the app - the server side.... tools and so on....
Hope you give it a try and like it

Hi there,
Nice idea! Congrats for the work.
My remarks:
1) Why do you force your users to use Facebook?
1.1) App opened and the first thing that poped up was Facebook login screen. I closed it and then.... that's it. I couldn't do anything else with the app. Just saw the logo. Had to leave the app and come back again to,, again, see the Facebook screen.
1.2) I was shown the Facebook login screen, asking to entenr my e-mail and password. I do have Facebook installed in my phone, so I would expect just to press OK and seamlessly log into Facebook, without having to enter my credentials... are you using API 3.0?
Give me a shout if you need some help with point 1.2, I have implemented it.
I left you rating/review to support ya
Cheers and good luck!
Ps: Dont forget to update this post with links do Google Play and Screenshots when you have 10+ messages in this Forum

Hi , thanks for the remarks
PhilCals said:
Hi there,
Nice idea! Congrats for the work.
My remarks:
1) Why do you force your users to use Facebook?
1.1) App opened and the first thing that poped up was Facebook login screen. I closed it and then.... that's it. I couldn't do anything else with the app. Just saw the logo. Had to leave the app and come back again to,, again, see the Facebook screen.
1.2) I was shown the Facebook login screen, asking to entenr my e-mail and password. I do have Facebook installed in my phone, so I would expect just to press OK and seamlessly log into Facebook, without having to enter my credentials... are you using API 3.0?
Give me a shout if you need some help with point 1.2, I have implemented it.
I left you rating/review to support ya
Cheers and good luck!
Ps: Dont forget to update this post with links do Google Play and Screenshots when you have 10+ messages in this Forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for the relay and remarks:
I would like to respond to some of your remarks and maybe you will have some tip for me.
The events are public, meaning: all people at the area of the event can take pictures (currently there are no restriction).
So the least I am doing is to display a layout over the image with the name of the person who took it.
If I would create my own unique login mechanism (leaving the technical Burden aside) - users will be able to pick an unreal name - which I think is unfair to the users with real names
I could add login with google or some other login sdks available - do you think it will make it better? would you like to login with a different network instead?
In addition - In the future - I could use the social goodies Facbook offers (with the user approval of course) Which I would not be able to do without.
Currently (and in the future) I am not doing anything "bad" with the user info - only using it to display his name over his pictures at the event album.
As for SDK 3.0 - I was trying to use it - but is seems to fail - probably because the new SDK does not support android 2.1(update) versions (SDK < 8 not support) - it is not official (or at least I could not find a reference for it) - so I submitted a defect to Facebook about that.
(cannot post the url for the defect yet - 8 more to go - but I can email it if needed.)
I do not want to leave 2.1 behind as long as I have the option (my phone is 2.1 nexus one!! )
Would love any tips about this issue. (I have tried hard to use the native sdk).
about the timing of when to popup the facebook login screen...
If I would not do that immediately - then there is a chance that exactly at the moment the user is trying to take a picture - I would have to popup the login screen - sound bad to me.
(On the other hand - I am pretty sure - nobody will have his first try of the app - during an event - he would probably try it at home first).
What do you think about this? should I postpone the login screen to a later time? or maybe I could show an explanation to the user before the login, for the reasons I want her/him to login with facebook?
Again thanks for the replay and the Google Play review

Nice!
Hi,
This is feedback to tell you that this App is really great! It simplifies life and creates a whole new Idea for picture Sharing. Well Done On the app but I would Like to Advice you to keep on adding features overtime and if you dont already have sharing over social networks, it may help! Well Done Again!,
Regards,
Tripplemin

tripplemin said:
Hi,
This is feedback to tell you that this App is really great! It simplifies life and creates a whole new Idea for picture Sharing. Well Done On the app but I would Like to Advice you to keep on adding features overtime and if you dont already have sharing over social networks, it may help! Well Done Again!,
Regards,
Tripplemin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback
I do have sharing... you can share to all networks using the native android sharing menu.
Thanks for the feedback