Database Users

What's in your Evo?

Ok, I know I'm jumping the gun, but I thought this would be a good idea. We'll need somewhere to list and discuss apps for the Evo. I know discussions will go far beyond this thread, but a place to compile a list and links to download or for instructions or to troubleshoot and so on and so forth will be handy.
I'm not sure what I'm doing, but it appears the size of posts is limited and from what I've seen the thing to do is to reserve some space at the beginning of the thread to make helpful information throughout the thread easily accessible at the beginning so I'm going to reserve some space if I can.
Advice is welcome. Please offer advice. If I choke (and embarass myself) and end up not getting an Evo (not likely as I think I want it more than sex) or fail to keep the thread updated I'm gessing we have other options like an administrator letting someone else edit my posts or moving info to a better thread or something.
I'm thinking this could get to be a huge thread so I think I'll reserve 3 more posts. If that's too many I guess they can be deleted. If we need more can an administrator insert them? If you have ideas on how we should structure this please speak up.
Since I'm jumping the gun I guess the place to start is with what we think it will come loaded with and what we want it to come with. Eventually we'll just list what's available for the Evo.
I've never done this and may prove to be unreliable and considered just making this a suggestion so if anyone is experienced and gung-ho about it and wants to take over right now feel free to step up.

reserved
Uh oh, I gotta work.
HANDY LINKS TO APPS
http://www.androlib.com/
www.android.com
www.androidanarchy.com

reserved
INFO
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZSeLuJBWDU
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=668905
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=478117
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=473195

reserved
reserved for future 3.

*reserved for future laughter*
UPDATE 04/06/10 1145PM EST: LOL

bad idea?
Should I request deleting? I've never used Android so I seriously am looking for help finding, installing, and getting through issues. I know there are other clueless people like me also so why not make a one stop shop for the apps this phone can use.
One thing I think I may have just realized is where to get apps. I'm a winmo user and I think I've only bought one app and never understood why anyone needed Marketplace. I've downloaded apps from all over the internet and never even been to Marketplace. Are all (or most, or what) Android apps at android.com? I read there were like 30,000 android apps, but haven't seen them. I figured a market was an iphone thing.
Some of the best threads I've read were very well organized and were updated to make info easy to find. Some threads look promising, but get really long and you never know when you'll find what you're actually looking for. Maybe I just don't search well, but often what I think is a good search produces unsatifying results. This site is huge now and very difficult to search.
I really would love input from senior members and would like to know as much as possible before I get this phone. I have actually been worried about switching over to Android, but the new hardware and network seem too good(not to mention the new windows direction). I've heard good stuff about Android, but just don't understand it.
I'm worried about being stuck with just 5 or 7 screens. I know windows has to use apps to get it's multiple screens (UL, ilaunch, claunch...), but I haven't heard of anythig like that with Android. I've settled into touchflo and really like using the slider rather than flicking like I did with UL (especially multiple times to get where I want).
I'm under the impression the Android screens are customizable in that you can use shortcuts or widgets, but I'd like to have several full screen widgets (more than 6) and a launcher and a home screen with more info (even more than touchflo/sense on winmo). Is there anything like that?
Please tell me (and other untechies) about Android. Don't be a johnson. Sorry, couldn't pass that up.

hey I'm an asshole... and proud of it... I'm not known for my kindness
POW! -> http://www.androlib.com/
you say you want 5-7 homescreens now.... wait till you use it... you might use 3-4.... MAYBE... I only use 2, but hey that's me. Also if you are that freaking skitso there's a homescreen replacement out there with up to 10 or 13 or something absolutely retarded amount of homescreens if you MUST have that many.
You can customize like there's no tomorrow, makes winmo look like a gimped iphone in that respect. You can change basically every aspect of everything if you look hard enough.
Touchflow is senceUI... senceUI is touchflow... same exact thing. If you don't like your senceUI (what will come with the evo), you can do the vanillia android home if you want, or enjoy one of the many many homescreen replacements, of which there is about a thousand different themes for icons menus screens title bars etc etc etc etc etc.
watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZSeLuJBWDU
the apps don't run on the 5-7 screens, they're separate and "unlimited" based off of available ram, if you use up resources it closes the one android feels you aren't useing anymore to free up ram for your running app. It isn't as bad as it sounds in practical use, you won't notice it closing stuff in the background, the screens are only for widgets like in the video.
Like I said, customize your heart out. You don't have to be a rocket surgeon either, download a app, maybe a buck or two and go to town. There's free options, but it's not paying some big fruit company it's going into the developer's pockets so give them a buck if you like it. I have never paid over a dollar for any app I buy... and I have like 20 I felt the need to pay for. Small change in comparison to what I pay each month to use the phone... or what I paid for the phone in the first place.
Compare to a desktop or laptop and the amount of usage for a paid app... much better ratio of fun for price.
no need for this topic in my opinion, I'd recommend it be deleted, but it's your call if you feel like updating it with what you find useful in the link I provided.
I want a dollar for my time... thanks.

Manicmobileaddict said:
Should I request deleting? I've never used Android so I seriously am looking for help finding, installing, and getting through issues. I know there are other clueless people like me also so why not make a one stop shop for the apps this phone can use.
One thing I think I may have just realized is where to get apps. I'm a winmo user and I think I've only bought one app and never understood why anyone needed Marketplace. I've downloaded apps from all over the internet and never even been to Marketplace. Are all (or most, or what) Android apps at android.com? I read there were like 30,000 android apps, but haven't seen them. I figured a market was an iphone thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most legit apps can be found in the Marketplace, both free and for $$. Off and on, you may see someone post up an app here that they're working on, but the eventual goal is to get it in the Marketplace for the most part. It seems that you went looking for Moby ****, and only found a white whale!

johnsongrantr said:
hey I'm an asshole... and proud of it... I'm not known for my kindness
i never said that and you gotta admit the pun was too good to pass on[/I]
POW! -> http://www.androlib.com/
thanks
you say you want 5-7 homescreens now.... wait till you use it... you might use 3-4.... MAYBE... I only use 2, but hey that's me.
full screen widgets not homescreens, I use 8 now
Also if you are that freaking skitso
me?
there's a homescreen replacement out there with up to 10 or 13 or something absolutely retarded amount of homescreens if you MUST have that many.
You can customize like there's no tomorrow, makes winmo look like a gimped iphone in that respect. You can change basically every aspect of everything if you look hard enough.
cool
Touchflow is senceUI... senceUI is touchflow... same exact thing.
SenSe, different on winmo and android
If you don't like your senceUI (what will come with the evo), you can do the vanillia android home if you want, or enjoy one of the many many homescreen replacements, of which there is about a thousand different themes for icons menus screens title bars etc etc etc etc etc.
cool
watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZSeLuJBWDU
some pretty cool features there, but not too fond of the leap (2 handed op)
the apps don't run on the 5-7 screens, they're separate and "unlimited" based off of available ram, if you use up resources it closes the one android feels you aren't useing anymore to free up ram for your running app. It isn't as bad as it sounds in practical use, you won't notice it closing stuff in the background, the screens are only for widgets like in the video.
so it multi-tasks? cool. any limit to the # of shortcuts per screen?
Like I said, customize your heart out. You don't have to be a rocket surgeon either, download a app, maybe a buck or two and go to town. There's free options there if you're a jew,
I am
but it's not paying some big fruit company it's going into the developer's pockets so give them a buck if you like it. I have never paid over a dollar for any app I buy... and I have like 20 I felt the need to pay for. Small change in comparison to what I pay each month to use the phone... or what I paid for the phone in the first place.
Compare to a desktop or laptop and the amount of usage for a paid app... much better ratio of fun for price.
no need for this topic in my opinion, I'd recommend it be deleted, but it's your call if you feel like updating it with what you find useful in the link I provided.
its been useful to me so far, but we can delete it
I want a dollar for my time... thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do I do that, the tip?

Jye75 said:
Most legit apps can be found in the Marketplace, both free and for $$. Off and on, you may see someone post up an app here that they're working on, but the eventual goal is to get it in the Marketplace for the most part. It seems that you went looking for Moby ****, and only found a white whale!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same link the johnson gave? Any others?

Manicmobileaddict said:
Same link the johnson gave? Any others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
www.android.com
www.androidanarchy.com

What's in your Evo you ask?
A 1GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processor, the award-winning HTC SenseTM user experience, an 8.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel camera. The large vibrant 4.3 inch display, built-in kickstand, 3.5 mm headset jack and HDMI output make HTC EVO 4G an unparalleled platform for wireless entertainment. Download music, pictures, files, or videos in seconds – not minutes – and watch streaming video on the go on a network with download speeds that are up to 10 times faster than 3G speeds.1 With built-in mobile hotspot functionality, HTC EVO 4G also allows up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices, including laptop, camera, music player, video player and any other Wi-Fi-enabled device, to enjoy the benefits of 4G speeds on the go.

...That beats the gerbil on his wheel in my TP.

keatre said:
...That beats the gerbil on his wheel in my TP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
picture or it didn't happen

keatre said:
...That beats the gerbil on his wheel in my TP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reasons why I bought a Sprint Hero on Craigslist for $200 bucks lol

johnsongrantr said:
picture or it didn't happen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mad photoshop skillz.

keatre said:
Mad photoshop skillz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sir, for that, I bestow apon you +5,000 internets

universal remote/dongle
Anyone know of anything like Totalremote from Griffin that can use the sound to ir converter for phones without an ir port?
I bought Totalremote with the converter off ebay to experiment with on my Mogul, but can't get it to work (it works on my ipaq). The Mogul just has no universal remote solution (unless I can get the ipod method from Engadget working, for which I'll have to get a male 3.5mm to male 3.5mm cord one of these days).
Since I have the converter I'm hoping there will end up being an Android version of Totalremote. I'm very hopefull since iphone is doing one using the headphone jack and since for some reason HTC has moved their jack to the top of the phone (makes you wonder).

40,000 apps to browse?
Ok, so I'm thinking 40,000 Android apps to browse through might be a little overwhelming.
Anyone care to discuss/recommend their favorite or essential Android apps and perhaps throw up links directly to them?

Manicmobileaddict said:
Ok, so I'm thinking 40,000 Android apps to browse through might be a little overwhelming.
Anyone care to discuss/recommend their favorite or essential Android apps and perhaps throw up links directly to them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this thread made me spit my mountain dew all over my hero. i hope your happy.
1)metamorph(rooted only; easily changes certain aspects of your phone whereas a flash might change others along with it)
2)wireless tether(rooted only)
3)facebook(not sense's watered down version)
4)estrong task manager (comes with a killall widget)
5)cachemate(makes your phone zippy when used correctly)
6)handcent(oh man...)
7)linda file manager(seems to be the best one, to me)
8)some sort of battery percentage widget(i actually havent settled on one yet)
9)picsaypro(mini photoshop on your phone)
10)google voice(google it)
11)iMusic+widget(limewire on your phone)
edit:
i compiled this list by simply sliding through my app drawer, but didnt even think; the fact is, with the latest 2.1 builds theres litterally NO i.s., so i do my best to keep my app download-age as low as possible. theres actually alot of apps i download, install, use, then uninstall. a fun game you can check out it What The Doodle?! online multiplayer...draw on screen your keyword, people try to guess. I cant remember the name of the other game...Attack!! or somethig. your a cow and you tilt the phone to jump from platform to platform (like teeter, but with a cow, and the final destination is a spaceship)
i expect with the evo i.s. wont be an issue (1g?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?) so maybe ill update the list as i feel the need to remember a long lost app and redownload it.

[Q] Any suggestions for apps like "where"?

I've used the app where for a while now. I was wondering if any of you could suggest any excellent alternatives to this kind of program? I recently installed poynt when I couldn't find where in the market. Later I found where in the sprint section of the market. I played around with both and of course neither are perfect and have their shortcomings. I don't like how more apps are now wanting to know too much about you or are gathering info behind your back and using it for marketing or for other companies. It's getting more difficult to find apps that aren't sneaky like that. I was very surprised in an article I've read recently talking about some really popular apps are putting their noses in areas of your phone and using that info. I remember astrid and the weather channel and coupons were a few that I can remember that the article said are not behaving themselves.
I know that as time progresses and technology gets better, that some of the things we preferred and took for granted are being splayed out on the internet for anyone who knows where to look to find it.

Where is a legit app, they need location etc to give u local stuff.
Sent from my Epic 4G

I know. I'm just wondering about other choices that do the same thing, maybe even better. Sometimes where can be a pain in the.

Yelp, places, and urbanspoon are all good apps. Yelp especially has the monocle feature which is alternate reality... by pointing the camera down a street it shows name location and rating of businesses

Street view navigation

Hi everybody,
I've been thinking about developing an app that would allow you to use street view navigation for some time now. The only thing I'm hung up on is that the images for street view only appear to be referenced by coordinates. I'm new to development in the android scene so I'm not sure if this will be difficult to work with or if it would be as easy as requesting the data from the GPS. If anyone has any insights, recommendations, or feature requests, please let me know. The app would be paid on the market but I would of course make it available here for you guys on xda, because I think plenty of people on here deserve to have free access to innovative apps.
Sent from my HTC Incredible

I have not worked with the GPS so no advice from me, how ever I will say that I have wanted this for a very long time If you pull this off, I will most likely purchase it to donate even if it is provided to us XDA guys for free. I hope you can get this going and I wish you the best of luck!

the ideas good but the image rendering will hammer any data connection and unless you have 3g minimum the user experience wouldnt be good the memory cache would have to be big as well to storge the streetview images ahead of where your position

Thanks
alix776, thanks for the valuable input, upon reading it, I would have to say that it's probably not a good idea to continue developing it, because, as you said, users would suffer from a poor user experience, and it wouldn't be available in areas with poor 3g. Perhaps it will be something that's in our future with verizon soon rolling out their LTE 4G, but for now, I think it's best to let it die. I think I got beat to the punch anyway, because there is a project that is scheduled for release in the very near future. It's called "Wikitude Drive," and is an AR (augmented reality) gps navigation app, which uses the camera to produce the image you see. This idea is a major improvement on mine (well, I bet other people thought of it too, so I can't really take credit for it) in many ways:
- Live imagery ensures that the image is consistent with what the user sees from the driver's seat
- Instead of showing the angle that the camera that took the street view images, the user sees exactly what they're doing, no matter what, which is great, because if you stare at the screen, you are less likely to lose sight of where you're going than if you were looking at a nonvolatile resource
- The image is produced locally on the phone, rather than using the 3g connection, which means a much happier carrier, and also a better user experience than with street view.
- It looks way cooler than anything I could design with street view, as the AR features make for a very nicely rendered UI.
I encourage anyone who runs across this thread to check out Wikitude Drive at the developer's website http://www.wikitude.org/drive
It seems that the app was (is?) in beta this summer, and was scheduled for full release this August, but it has been pushed back many times. I'm sure it will be out and in our pockets soon enough, but until then, I'll be patiently waiting. It looks quite worth the wait, and I bet they must be working very hard to encounter and fix bugs that they find.
Anyway, I wish you all well, and thanks for the interest.

[Q] Request for feedback: increasing my app usage

Hi all,
As a new dev in the android ecosystem, I am looking for other devs feedback on the following.
I have an app with about a few thousands user base. Growing slightly, but also with a decreasing active ratio.
As my revenue is ads driven, I'd like to experiment a few tricks to encourage users to use the app more, without being too intrusive.
A few ideas:
- show a notification after a few days that the app hasn't been used, to encourage the user using it again.
- feature: user can share the app's install page with friends (stimulate organic growth), via a share intent.
-> Devs, any stories on trying something similar?
Any feedback appreciated.

I'm a new developer, old-time programmer. Put 2 apps out December 21, 2009 and I'm approaching a whopping 30 sales; be happy you have 1,000+ (or more)
Wish I could help with the question, but I'm not really sure how to expose apps to a wider audience. I've thought about porting to iPhone/iPad and Windows Mobile to expand my user base. But I'm still pretty new to Android development and want to get more into it before learning yet another programming language right now.
I've actually thought of going to local bars and trying to strike-up conversations with people using smartphones and showing them my apps. Maybe buy them a drink LOL.
I firmly believe that if you have a solid working app and one person uses it, they may tell 5 of their friends and maybe 2 of them will buy it and tell 5 more people of which 1 or 2 might but it. Pyramid type sales but it's slow moving.
What kind of bothers me is all the damn FREE apps out there; I think they should be segregated from the Google Market; I've yet to go to any type of Market and get something for free! LOL And I wonder about free apps sometimes. Take SMS pop-up or whatever it's called. It's a decent app...it's free. I saw it at "over 250,000 downloads". Well, why didn't they charge $1.00 or $0.50 for it (do the math, I'll take $125,000!!). Any possibility it's forwarding people's text messages? Just sayn'

adn37 said:
A few ideas:
- show a notification after a few days that the app hasn't been used, to encourage the user using it again.
- feature: user can share the app's install page with friends (stimulate organic growth), via a share intent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your first option sounds REALLY annoying. Your second option sounds perfectly fine. See later on for further points on what might help.
Rootstonian said:
What kind of bothers me is all the damn FREE apps out there; I think they should be segregated from the Google Market; I've yet to go to any type of Market and get something for free! LOL And I wonder about free apps sometimes. Take SMS pop-up or whatever it's called. It's a decent app...it's free. I saw it at "over 250,000 downloads". Well, why didn't they charge $1.00 or $0.50 for it (do the math, I'll take $125,000!!). Any possibility it's forwarding people's text messages? Just sayn'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not everyone is in it for the money. Some people just maybe write something that is missing on the market but don't want to make money from it. It might be just their hobby. Not everyone needs to be capitalistic, trying to turn everything into revenue.
The Android market is a lot about freedom, and there is high competition between free and paid apps. If your sole intent is to make money on apps, you will probably better off trying to target iOS. The most recent news I have is that an average iOS user will spend 7 times as much money on apps than an Android user. I think this fact kind of speaks for itself.
However if you still want to stick by, here are a couple of things I would suggest:
Offer a (free) lite version of your application as this will give users the ability to see whether your app means business or not, and if they'll like it they might go further to go for the paid version.
Android market uses keyword searching (there's probably a better term), so make sure your description hits as many possible words that may be applicable to your product while not being too heavy to read.
Advertising... don't ask me where as I wouldn't be able to help much with that. But if you're in it to make money, you probably have a business model so you should have some capital too that you can put into advertising.
That's about all I guess.

@Rootstonian
I have apps on the market, and in the last 3 months have made over $1k off ads in my free version, while only making about $250 off of the full paid version.

Very good responses there This forum does have some very intelligent people on it!
I'm anti-adware unfortunately. If that hurts my sales, then so be it; I can live with that. I won't allow ads in my apps.
As far as free versions, I would have to write "crippled" versions of the programs to limit full functionality. Well, not going to do that either. And to be honest, who can't afford $1.00?
Actually, the 15 minute return policy has hurt me I think. Some apps just can't be reviewed in 15 minutes, to wit, my current (almost done) Spam Text Blocker. There is no way someone can evaluate that in 15 minutes, so I have to code some type of limit on how many rows can go into the spam database.
Anyways, I'm way off topic (as usual) and being negative which is usually something I don't do. And I must remember, my stuff has only been out ONE month.
I do use a Macbook Pro, and I have downloaded the iPhone SDK; maybe I should take a break from Android OS and port a couple of apps to iOS and see what they do.
P.S. A smart man doesn't limit his options. How does the apps with ads stuff work?

Just apply to admob, its easy. They give nicely detailed usage statistics too

hi all,
Thanks for the feedback.
On "tell a friend about this app" feature:
Your second option sounds perfectly fine. See later on for further points on what might help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll just stick with that, then. Any idea what's best to link to? A blog? Android market?
I'm still looking for an app that does it in a nice way, as a case study.
I'm a new developer, old-time programmer. Put 2 apps out December 21, 2009 and I'm approaching a whopping 30 sales; be happy you have 1,000+ (or more)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel you. Unfortunately, this is all about execution and idea potential. As coders, we are often thinking about code quality, this is only the 1st step.
On ads: at the end of the day, it might be a hobby to design apps, but fun decreases when it comes down to fixing bugs for the sake of it. Ihmo, a slight revenue is good, as it encourages devs to keep up enhancing their apps.
I'm anti-adware unfortunately. ... And to be honest, who can't afford $1.00?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not a big fan of ads neither. It's all about culture. On Android, people are reticent to pay.

Good points and well said Adn
I actually got into this starting with Google Market apps, but my true goal is to get into corporate mobile development. I feel this is a technology barely in it's infancy. Just as almost all business' needed a web page, I think the same will hold true for a mobile app.
I just put in my resume to a company looking for an iPhone developer (1 year contract), but they also wanted to talk to Android developers too (wish me luck LOL).
Now, I'm on the fence as to what platform to go with. I think with the iPhone AND iPad, that iOS is the way to go with regards to corporate coding; so I'm going to head in that direction for now.

Help enhance my demo Xoom at [redacted] to increase sales!

I'm an employee at [removed (PM me if curious)] and we are selling WiFi Xooms. We haven't sold ANY yet! I need some help and advice.
First I need to solve a problem. Some SOB uninstalled the Google Books app, and a factory restore not only didn't fix that, but it wiped the bundled in music as well! I figure I can just make a dummy account for the Xoom and reinstall the Google Books app, but I need to add music so that people can try the music app and test the speakers.
How can I put music on the Xoom so that the music app will have nice album art like before?
Second, I need a way of locking certain apps and settings IE, I need a child-proofing app. The Xoom didn't come with any kiosk software so any Apple fanboy can sabotage the tablet! I also could use a way to return the tablet to a default demo setup, just in case something does happen, like Ti Backup. (The boss says I can't root it )
Is there any app that allows me to "Lock" the settings and/or access to certain apps?
And finally, I need suggestions on apps that show off the functionality. Bonus points for things the iPad CAN'T do. I need apps that show off the power and graphics ability of the Xoom. They have to be fairly easy to use as people might open them themselves, but others I can use to quickly demonstrate features.
Also, I need apps that don't use an internet connection, as sometimes the public wi-fi goes down. That way if it does go down, I can still demonstrate the Xoom's abilities.
Help me sell Xooms and show up all those iSnobs that come into my store!

TheGeek007 said:
I'm an employee at [removed (PM me if curious)] and we are selling WiFi Xooms. We haven't sold ANY yet! I need some help and advice.
First I need to solve a problem. Some SOB uninstalled the Google Books app, and a factory restore not only didn't fix that, but it wiped the bundled in music as well! I figure I can just make a dummy account for the Xoom and reinstall the Google Books app, but I need to add music so that people can try the music app and test the speakers.
How can I put music on the Xoom so that the music app will have nice album art like before?
Second, I need a way of locking certain apps and settings IE, I need a child-proofing app. The Xoom didn't come with any kiosk software so any Apple fanboy can sabotage the tablet! I also could use a way to return the tablet to a default demo setup, just in case something does happen, like Ti Backup. (The boss says I can't root it )
Is there any app that allows me to "Lock" the settings and/or access to certain apps?
And finally, I need suggestions on apps that show off the functionality. Bonus points for things the iPad CAN'T do. I need apps that show off the power and graphics ability of the Xoom. They have to be fairly easy to use as people might open them themselves, but others I can use to quickly demonstrate features.
Also, I need apps that don't use an internet connection, as sometimes the public wi-fi goes down. That way if it does go down, I can still demonstrate the Xoom's abilities.
Help me sell Xooms and show up all those iSnobs that come into my store!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10% of your commission, and you got a deal
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

TheGeek007 said:
I'm an employee at [removed (PM me if curious)] and we are selling WiFi Xooms. We haven't sold ANY yet! I need some help and advice.
First I need to solve a problem. Some SOB uninstalled the Google Books app, and a factory restore not only didn't fix that, but it wiped the bundled in music as well! I figure I can just make a dummy account for the Xoom and reinstall the Google Books app, but I need to add music so that people can try the music app and test the speakers.
How can I put music on the Xoom so that the music app will have nice album art like before?
Second, I need a way of locking certain apps and settings IE, I need a child-proofing app. The Xoom didn't come with any kiosk software so any Apple fanboy can sabotage the tablet! I also could use a way to return the tablet to a default demo setup, just in case something does happen, like Ti Backup. (The boss says I can't root it )
Is there any app that allows me to "Lock" the settings and/or access to certain apps?
And finally, I need suggestions on apps that show off the functionality. Bonus points for things the iPad CAN'T do. I need apps that show off the power and graphics ability of the Xoom. They have to be fairly easy to use as people might open them themselves, but others I can use to quickly demonstrate features.
Also, I need apps that don't use an internet connection, as sometimes the public wi-fi goes down. That way if it does go down, I can still demonstrate the Xoom's abilities.
Help me sell Xooms and show up all those iSnobs that come into my store!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, if the person wiped this and the device will not reset it when it is wiped you need to call Moto and let them know or call your Home Office and let them know. PM me what store you work for and I will try and help as best I can.

Verrrrry interesting original post...
I'm guessing Best Buy. First thing:
Move it out of the stinking netbook aisle at the very back, put it in a more prominent place, where it deserves to be. If you hide stuff like that, people aren't gonna see it, therefore they aren't gonna buy it. This should be basic stuff for a retail chain, but for some reason these types of things slip their mind. When I went to bestbuy to get my xoom, I wouldn't have even known it existed if I hadn't done some research beforehand, and the tablet was waaaaaaaaaaay in the back of the netbook section, and I mean the VERY back...last "stall" there.
As for your boss, I think he can take the hit on ONE xoom to sell many of them. Tell him that the most effective way to "ipad baby-proof" the thing is to root it and install TitaniumBackup. He probably thinks rooting means radically changing things, which currently, it doesn't. You're going to have to explain it to him, probably in baby terms if he's anything like most managers I've had, who didn't know their butt from a hole in the ground. If you put it in terms of profitability, he MAY understand.
As for cool apps, just give the sales force a demo model to play with when they're not doing anything else. Let them get to KNOW the device. When I go to buy something, it's not so important for the sales person to know what they're selling me because I already have done a ton of research, but I am not your typical customer. You're going to get a lot of people in there who aren't really that tech-savvy, so if the sales people on the floor know how to use the device, they can demo some of the cooler features to the people.
For example:
Your grandmother walks into the store, she's looking for something to use to email her grandchildren, perhaps a video chat occasionally and she wants something EASY to use, fairly inexpensive and something she's not going to have to pay the geek squad to set up. Well, right this way ma'am, I have something that would be perfect for you, <insert sales demo here>... unit sold.
Another example:
Younger person comes into the store, looking at iPads. Ask them what they're looking to do with the device. If your sales force KNOWS both the iPad and the Xoom, it's kind of a no-brainer to be able to make the best sale for the customer and isn't that what business is all about?
I rarely go into a superstore like Best Buy and find truly knowledgeable people when it comes to the latest electronics. The BestBuy in South County, Missouri lost a sale not too long ago from me because they told me I couldn't buy the Verizon Xoom off contract, which is nonsense. So I simply went to another store and bought it. Perfect example of a person not knowing what the heck they're talking about.
I realize that there are a LOT of new products out there, but it's the responsibility of the store's employees (and ultimately the store's management) to LEARN about these devices so that when people ask BASIC questions, they can answer them.
It wasn't too long ago that I attended a sales lecture at college. Younger people (age 35 and under) normally knew what they were going after when they went to buy tech, and often preferred to be left alone to fiddle with the product a bit and basically only needed help during the actual sales process (or the retrieval process if the item was locked in a secure case). People 35 and over almost universally wanted help from start to finish because their understanding of the tech wasn't always so great. To sell to that person over 35, which is going to be a sizable portion of your business, your employees need to know that device and demo what it it can do on a moment's notice.
So, to me, you've got the "location, location, location" problem and also the "knowledge, knowledge, knowledge" problem if you haven't sold any of these things yet.
Here's something you can do, which will really appeal to older folks... set up one xoom on one side of the aisle, set up another one in sight of the first, but farther away, perhaps on the other side of the aisle. When someone comes in and asks what the xoom can do, just turn on video conferencing and SHOW them how cool it is. Have your sales people be able to demo the different features.
You can also show them how much FASTER the xoom is rendering web pages than the iPad. Everyone loves to save time, irrespective of age.
Another thing the xoom does EXTREMELY well is reformatting text. It will automatically reformat the text when you zoom in on a website, to make it readable. In fact, it makes the text beautiful.
You can show them how they can have live widgets on their home-screens, and the iPad can't.
Honestly, if people knew what the xoom could do, who in the hell would buy an iPad anyway???
Motorola made a HUGE mistake with their superbowl commercial too, they didn't show what the xoom could do. Nobody is going to buy a device like this because it looks cool. Sure, that's something they think about, but that's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down their list, probably down around "what kind of towel do I need to use to clean the screen" or something. What matters most is functionality and price. If it doesn't do what I need it to do, if it doesn't enrich my life in some way, what good is it??
I guarantee you that if you gave me 10 minutes with 10 people who were going to buy an iPad, and they gave me a fair chance to demo what the xoom could do, at least 7 of those would buy the xoom instead. The number would be even higher if it was just a basic netbook buyer, because a good netbook is even MORE expensive than the xoom.
It baffles me that these things aren't FLYING off the shelves. I think that's mostly due to bad sales tactics and poor marketing. It's unfortunate too because it's such an amazing device.
Oh yeah, FLASH. iPad can't give you the web like a desktop can, but xoom can.

Didn't you say you worked at (Hint - That was easy) - Anyways when I purchased my XOOM from (Staples) it was right in the front near the registers? Had its own display with other accessories, etc. I've been in retail sales before and the only way I would imagine to make more of a push on the product is have both positive and negative reviews about the product compared to other competitors. I believe in 100% honesty and if you are straight forward with a customer and tell them the benefits and disadvantages of the unit compared to what’s on the market currently they will appreciate it. Honesty in my opinion goes a long way then any marketing gimmick a retail chain will try to implement on its staff or customer.

stevenege said:
Honestly, if the person wiped this and the device will not reset it when it is wiped you need to call Moto and let them know or call your Home Office and let them know. PM me what store you work for and I will try and help as best I can.
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Oh it boots, but its missing the Books app and the music that was preloaded. Hence my problem. I guess doing a factory restore from recovery mode won't get back the music. :/

if you have a Nexus or some other phone that can do mobile hotspot on display or some phone that can do mobile hotspot, that'll be your best chance of getting internet connection. from there you can reinstall anything.
i think most of the displays i've seen failed because of the lack of internet. every ipad i've seen always had internet connection. impressed with some of the free games like Gun bros or dungeon and defenders

vkuber said:
Didn't you say you worked at (Hint - That was easy) - Anyways when I purchased my XOOM from (Staples) it was right in the front near the registers? Had its own display with other accessories, etc. I've been in retail sales before and the only way I would imagine to make more of a push on the product is have both positive and negative reviews about the product compared to other competitors. I believe in 100% honesty and if you are straight forward with a customer and tell them the benefits and disadvantages of the unit compared to what’s on the market currently they will appreciate it. Honesty in my opinion goes a long way then any marketing gimmick a retail chain will try to implement on its staff or customer.
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Darn! I made it too easy. ^_^
I'm very honest in my sales, I always mention its V1.0 of the software and that the apps aren't there yet. Its very hard to explain its potential without demonstrating it somehow.
And yes we have an endcap right near the registers with lots of accessories. The Xoom deserves a prominent place in our store TBH.
It really irks me, people come in to the store and in that sheepish voice ask "do you have any iPads?". By the time I say "No. But I would love to show you our android ta..." they are halfway out the door.
Still looking for a "kiosk-mode" or "kid-safe" app that locks the device settings in some way. That and apps that really bring out the Xoom's best qualities.

Hey check this out for app locking. http://htcdev.net/topic/1224-kid-mode-for-your-tablet-and-smartphone/
Sent from my HTC Incredible using XDA App

Also, I'm looking for a way to keep the device on and at full brightness 100% of the time (it will be plugged in 24/7). I know under apps/development you can keep it from powering off while charging, but that doesn't keep it bright.
I'll look into zoodle, but perhaps "kid-mode" is too much control. But its a start. Thanks. ^_^

TheGeek007 said:
Also, I'm looking for a way to keep the device on and at full brightness 100% of the time (it will be plugged in 24/7). I know under apps/development you can keep it from powering off while charging, but that doesn't keep it bright.
I'll look into zoodle, but perhaps "kid-mode" is too much control. But its a start. Thanks. ^_^
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Download Quick Settings (Free) from the market. Once installed, in the menu, choose customize and drag the Screen Timeout to the top area. You can set it to "Never Timeout". This appears to keep the screen from dimming, at least in the 5 minutes I tested it.

Gotta say +1 on the bad placement at best buy. They even had a whole featured section called "tablets" with the streak, galaxy, Ipad, etc. I had to ask someone if they were selling xooms. They were out (this was wifi release day) but they directed me to their demo model all the way on the other side of the store BEHIND all the computers, near the random stereo cables. Went to staples and it was front and center and in stock. Sorry BB, I came to you first and you let me down.
But forget about attracting new people to buy the xoom, put it somewhere that I can find it if I came there SPECIFICALLY for it.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

My suggestion would be putting the wallpaper of android that came preinstalled. Put games like gunbros,dungeon defenders, cordy on the center homescreen. Also gmail widget. And YouTube app is very pretty and lots of people use it and it'll be a very good bet to get people. Also, sideload Amazon appstore as well as the market on there. Picsay also is an awesome little app. Good luck.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Are you allowed to lock apps with a password? If so, there ares dozens of solutions already in the Android market:
https://market.android.com/search?q=app+password&so=1&c=apps
Just apply a password to the apps you want to protect, at least I assume its thats simple... I haven't tried these apps myself, so you'll have to experiment.

TheGeek007 said:
I'm an employee at [removed (PM me if curious)] and we are selling WiFi Xooms. We haven't sold ANY yet! I need some help and advice.
First I need to solve a problem. Some SOB uninstalled the Google Books app, and a factory restore not only didn't fix that, but it wiped the bundled in music as well! I figure I can just make a dummy account for the Xoom and reinstall the Google Books app, but I need to add music so that people can try the music app and test the speakers.
How can I put music on the Xoom so that the music app will have nice album art like before?
Second, I need a way of locking certain apps and settings IE, I need a child-proofing app. The Xoom didn't come with any kiosk software so any Apple fanboy can sabotage the tablet! I also could use a way to return the tablet to a default demo setup, just in case something does happen, like Ti Backup. (The boss says I can't root it )
Is there any app that allows me to "Lock" the settings and/or access to certain apps?
And finally, I need suggestions on apps that show off the functionality. Bonus points for things the iPad CAN'T do. I need apps that show off the power and graphics ability of the Xoom. They have to be fairly easy to use as people might open them themselves, but others I can use to quickly demonstrate features.
Also, I need apps that don't use an internet connection, as sometimes the public wi-fi goes down. That way if it does go down, I can still demonstrate the Xoom's abilities.
Help me sell Xooms and show up all those iSnobs that come into my store!
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Quick list:
Flash (47% of all web sites have flash according to a research firm as of today)
Higher quality cameras (Many times better then the iPad 2)
Excellent battery life
A solid screen. (It might help if you turn the brightness off auto and place it at 100%)
Put it next to the ipad2's, not by netbooks. (some kind of DroidDoes-eque banner would be great, but I can understand that could be hard to get.)
A SD slot (stress that it WILL happen soon. (like may)
4G upgrade (Stress it's FREE, something the iPad 2 will never have, and that it's a hardware upgrade and will only take a matter of days)
I would load up a couple of graphically advanced games on the main home screen. (like maybe GunBros and SpeedX 3D, both of which are fun, free, good looking games)
Stress how open it is to making it individual (ease at which to customize)
If the person looks tech savy, be sure to say the boot loader is unlockable.
Stress the widescreen (16:9) over the "full screen" (4:3) iPad
Use some of the tablet optimized apps to show the multipane options. (show this next to the iPad as an OS designed for a tablet screen, not a handheld screen.)
And lastly for my list, compare the browser to the ipad browser, with tabs and a fuller experience. it earns high marks.
Hope this helped and wasn't too repeative.
(p.s. on the hole lack of books app, just go through and reinstall the apps and register with the same account as the Xoom is on.)
p.s.s. just customize it, make it look like a person uses it, not like it just came from a factory.

Another thing you can show them...
HDMI Out, with HD support. They could even do video chats on their TV (something the ipad can't do w/o an expensive add-on, and even then it doesn't look very good due to it not being HD and being in 4:3).
The ONE area where the ipad beats the xoom is standby battery. But for all that battery, you give up all the cool widgets and what makes android cool. So to me, it was a no-brainer.
If you have the authority, send a demo xoom home with your sales associates, let 'em keep it for a weekend or something so they KNOW what all they can do with it. Encourage them to play with it and do whatever they want. Once a person gets ahold of this device, they'll realize how amazing it truly is and they'll start to spread that enthusiasm to customers. I loved my android phone at first, but after a week of playing with it, I wouldn't trade it for a dozen iphones.
It's all about getting these things in peoples' hands. If they can SEE what it does, they'll want one, it's just that simple. It beats the ipad in virtually every area. When you couple that with the fact that the xoom is incredibly customizable, themeable, unlockable and the browsing experience is so much better, it's a winner of a tablet.
If they want a tablet to play the guitar, drums or some other synthesizer nonsense, then the ipad is for them. If they want to CONNECT to other people and experience the web as it's meant to be, they need the xoom.

Google maps with 3d buildings look great on zoom.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Prepare your Xoom with Moboplayer and load it up with some movies in different formats with all different kind of subtitles (.srt, .ass (this is a subtitle format), and be sure to get some .mkv with built-in subtitles). Then choose the correct subtitle for the correct customer.

>It really irks me, people come in to the store and in that sheepish voice ask "do you have any iPads?". By the time I say "No. But I would love to show you our android ta..." they are halfway out the door.
I don't know what you can do for the Xoom, but it'd help your sales pitch by not starting with a "no."
That said, there isn't much you can do or say, other than to wait for Moto to drop its premium pricing--or until it releases the 16GB SKU at a more competitive price.
http://ubergizmo.com/2011/04/16gb-motorola-xoom-on-its-way

Most people don't want a Xoom and you can't make them.
Sent from my Captivate