Database Users

Yahoo Go! 2.0 for WM5

So Yahoo Go! seems to have come out today for devices running Windows Mobile. I downloaded and installed it immediately.
The first time I ran it I noticed it was VERY slow, and eventually crashed during initialization. I had to reset my 8525 to get it to run again. The second time around it ran (again, very slow). It deos require you to log in to your Yahoo account.
The UI is different and bit interesting. The front screen looks like it's intended to replace your home screen with today's date and links to calendar and contacts, as well as a box for searching. A mac-like dock down at the bottom rotates between the different features with a little animation.
There are sections for photos (flickr?) where you can upload your own and share your photos - weather, something called watchlists (I'm guessing RSS or something), stock reports, sports reports, news, and maps & directions. Each item gives you a preview before you actually run it.
I tried uploading a photo and the program crashed while changing the description. The interface looked pretty nice though - I'm assuming the photos end up on your flickr page. This may be a good reason to start photoblogging!
The maps function is pretty cool - probably a bit better than the google maps application for windows mobile. It also includes sat view, traffic, find nearby whatever, etc. It also gives you the option of connecting a GPS, but I don't have one handy although I'd love to see the directions function work with it.
The whole UI is an improvement on usual Windows Mobile standards, and once loaded the software runs reasonably fast and without hiccup. I think it is intended to be run all the time.
I'd like to hear everyone else's impressions.

i tried it but don't really like it.

The biggest disappointment for me is that ver 2.0 no longer syncs calendar info.
If you want to view your calendar, you now have to log onto yahoo before you can view it.

If you use yahoo for everything (email, calendar, etc.), this is a pretty nice thing to have. I'd call it essential in this case.
Otherwise, I think Livesearch is much more useful for looking up businesses in your area and getting driving directions and/or phone numbers to them.

Live search is pretty much useless unless you are in a major city.

I am really disappointed in it. Has good intentions and functionality, but the software seems extremely buggy and slow. I had to soft reset my phone a majority of the times trying the software out. Google Maps and Live Search seems much smoother. Hopefully they fix out all the bugs.

..........

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.

X10 - Need convincing and set-up help

Hi,
I hope I am adhereing to Forum 'etiquette' here.
I've taken ownership of an X10 on Monday, after having experience of the iPhone. First impressions are 'I hate it' in capital letters... I just can't get used to it and have a number of annoyances.
I'm hoping this is a case of user error as some of this forum users seem to think it walks on water, so apologies for this, but a few questions
1) Is there a recommended set up? It is currently configured as it was out of the box
2) Android App Store - I don't want to register for a google email account that I'll never use, do I have to? Can I not access a full app store online via the web?
3) I find the bundled Sat Nav useless... It can't ever find my current location.
4) I really miss the 'notification' of the iPhone, the little red number when you've got a text, facebook update, missed call etc. Timescape does not replace this as it constantly updates and my phone is always on silent 8-6 every day so I'm missing calls, messages and notifications.
5) Recommended apps?
6) Battery Life... I've hardly used the thing today, yet its used nearly 75% of the battery life and I've made 2 calls, a little bit of Facebook and 4 text messages.
7) Any general recommendations?
At this moment, I really am close to sending this back (7 day trial) and getting a HTC Desire or going back to the iPhone.
Thanks in advance
Stuart

1) Is there a recommended set up? It is currently configured as it was out of the box
Unlike the iPhone, Android allows you to configure and personalize your phone as you like, what recommended setup are you looking for ? I have disabled Timescape and use handcent/K-9 for SMS/Email, though I still find Mediascape the best media player.
2) Android App Store - I don't want to register for a google email account that I'll never use, do I have to? Can I not access a full app store online via the web?
To use Googles Android market you do need a Google ID. I have never used mine to send email and it is only used for the Google applications I have downloaded. I only ever registered an Apple ID to be ableto download apps from the Itunes App store.
3) I find the bundled Sat Nav useless... It can't ever find my current location.
Have you got the GPS switched on ? My X10 locks onto GPS faster than my iPhone ever did. Download Google Maps.
4) I really miss the 'notification' of the iPhone, the little red number when you've got a text, facebook update, missed call etc. Timescape does not replace this as it constantly updates and my phone is always on silent 8-6 every day so I'm missing calls, messages and notifications.
These appear in the 'notification' drag down at the top of the screen. I prefer them to the iPhone as they stay there until I decide to clear them.
5) Recommended apps?
See other thread for this.
6) Battery Life... I've hardly used the thing today, yet its used nearly 75% of the battery life and I've made 2 calls, a little bit of Facebook and 4 text messages.
Wait a week or so, battery does improve and should improve further after the next firmware update in the next week or so. The X10 has a much more powerful processor than the iPhone so does use more battery, but having used the phone for a month I actually find that the battery lasts longer than the iPhone, although it does take longer to top-up and recharge.
7) Any general recommendations?
Use it, play with it, get used to it. Android is so different to the iPhone that it does take some getting used to. I personally love Android as it allows me to customize and personalize my phone far beyond what the iPhone allowed me to do.
At this moment, I really am close to sending this back (7 day trial) and getting a HTC Desire or going back to the iPhone.
The majority of the issues you raise above, you would also find on the HTC Desire.

Thanks for the reply, I just wondered whether there was a standard set up that most users used, seems not.
One final question;
There are far too many apps that I'll never use that I don't seem to be able to uninstall... E.g. I've got the Mail app, Google Mail and Moxier Mail... I'm only ever going to want one of these.
I haven't a clue what the Moxier things do full stop mind you, and I don't want GoogleTalk for example.
Is there a way to un-install or hide the ones I don't want?
And can I re-arrange apps, e.g. bring my Facebook onto the 4 icons you have on the homepage.
Sorry if this all sounds picky, I just want the customisation I'm used too.

"Is there a way to un-install or hide the ones I don't want?"
Not yet. We need to be able to root the device. (Like jailbreak on Iphone)
"And can I re-arrange apps, e.g. bring my Facebook onto the 4 icons you have on the homepage."
Press and hold on whatever icon you want to move.

StuartBrookes said:
Thanks for the reply, I just wondered whether there was a standard set up that most users used, seems not.
One final question;
There are far too many apps that I'll never use that I don't seem to be able to uninstall... E.g. I've got the Mail app, Google Mail and Moxier Mail... I'm only ever going to want one of these.
I haven't a clue what the Moxier things do full stop mind you, and I don't want GoogleTalk for example.
Is there a way to un-install or hide the ones I don't want?
And can I re-arrange apps, e.g. bring my Facebook onto the 4 icons you have on the homepage.
Sorry if this all sounds picky, I just want the customisation I'm used too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many of the pre-installed apps are not possibile to un-install. But if you load other mail apps then it will ask you which is the default mail app you want to use. The apps themselves take up such a small amount of space that you don't need to worry too much if you don't want to use them. Moxier etc are primarily used to access work/exchange email. There are many on here who are desperate to delete them but I have no real problem with them.
To add apps to your homescreen, just select he app in your app menu, hold onto it and drag it upto your homescreen. With default Android you have three homescreens to organise and you can add app shortcuts to any of these. From any homescreen, press and hold in an empty space and it will then ask which shortcut/app or widget you need to place there.
My own Android app whinge is that I cannot reorganize the apps in my app page, they are always displayed in the alphabetical order of whatever the developer has decided to name them.

Once we have root (jailbreak for android phones), we should be able to get rid of most of the unwanted apps that came pre-installed.

If those are the annoyances you are talking about, then the Desire won't fix anything because almost all of those "problems" are with android itself.
Battery life isn't much better on the Desire and the GPS is insanely quick to get a lock on almost everyone else's handsets.
I also wasn't aware that the iPhone was customizable...

Use Navigon for GPS navigation. Its by far the best for Android, similar to iGo & Tom Tom. Its also free if you know where to look! ;-)
Also make sure you turn GPS on and off when its used from the settings menu as it can drain battery. A-GPS also helps lock on as it uses the internet to track satalites positions for start up.

Things that'll turn Android from Good to PERFECT

List things you wish Android would change (stock) that'll make it perfect...note, nothing about apps or third party skins...I'll start with 3 though I can think of a lot more
1. Better looking notification bar...I like the look of the icons, but the notification bar still has that 1.0 feel to it...not a fan
2. Better looking and more functional media app...and movie player
3. Better looking buttons and selection actions.
(doesn't matter if desired changes are superficial or system deep)

PS. I can't wait until this UI refresh that Gingerbread guarantees...ALSO...
am I the only person who loves when Apple announces new ****, because Android then does better and so on and so forth....the Apple, Android beef should be encouraged by fanboys on all sides...we all benefit greatly.

The dialer needs to be more functional. I cannot afford to scroll down 500 of my contacts to find a name, a simple keypad/numberpad on the contact section would suffice just like it works for sense ui.

mythamp said:
The dialer needs to be more functional. I cannot afford to scroll down 500 of my contacts to find a name, a simple keypad/numberpad on the contact section would suffice just like it works for sense ui.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried google gestures or voice dial? They work great but I dont have enough contacts to justify using them, wish I did but for me its quick to scroll.
Also the tab on the right is handy but im sure youve probably tried these things

mythamp said:
The dialer needs to be more functional. I cannot afford to scroll down 500 of my contacts to find a name, a simple keypad/numberpad on the contact section would suffice just like it works for sense ui.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried Dialer One? It is pretty awesome.
But I agree, the default dialer should work a lot better.
To add to the general discussion, I dont think there is much wrong with the media player but I would like the addition of an EQ and the ability to scroll through the playing song with more accuracy - something the iPhone does particularly well.
I also think the market needs massive improvements to make Android truly great. There may be 50,000 apps but when so many are themes and porn, that number becomes meaningless. I would rather there were only a few thousand really good and useful apps instead.

The UI should natively support themes to change icons, colors, etc

Perfect is yet far away. With basic features like call recording missing, it's take some time.

gllu said:
Perfect is yet far away. With basic features like call recording missing, it's take some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it's something provided only by third-party apps on other phones, I don't think it should be called a "basic feature".

gllu said:
Perfect is yet far away. With basic features like call recording missing, it's take some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure recording a call, in America at least, is illegal unless you notify the person being recorded..

Wisefire said:
I'm pretty sure recording a call, in America at least, is illegal unless you notify the person being recorded..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Negative Ghost Rider...
In the US, it is determined by the state that you live in. Many states have what is called "single party" laws, which means that as long as one person is aware the call is being recorded (you), then it's legal.

I cant take my android phone to work. The inability to go to work is easily the largest single weakness of the phone imo. Millions of people need exchange (fully functioning and not through a third party server work around) and to connect to stand alone installations of outlook, often both. It rankles that I am still going to have to buy a winmo phone when when 7 hits to replace my old winmo phone because my 39 mflops N1 is a no go for work.

Decent copy and paste functionality would be nice. yikes even apple gives you that

Sync Tasks with Google Calendar
Sync Sports Calendars
Set "Peak Times" for Google Sync

crachel said:
Sync Tasks with Google Calendar
[*]Sync Sports Calendars
Set "Peak Times" for Google Sync
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i managed to find a workaround for that one, i found an exportable calendar for my local baseball team that did the trick, shows up just fine on my phone, its only googles native sports calendars that dont work in android

I sure would like support for wireless proxy servers, and for the phone to properly pull default gateway information via DHCP like it is supposed to.

gllu said:
Perfect is yet far away. With basic features like call recording missing, it's take some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since when is call recording a "basic feature"...wow

As much as I love Android, I think the UI could use a lot of work. It lacks cohesiveness, and can be quite bland.
This guy can change all of that, however: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/27/palms-matias-duarte-has-joined-google-as-user-experience-direct/

How about these two simple features:
1) Native support for sound profiles. Coming from a blackberry this was shocking.
2) Unified gmail/hosted gmail inbox option. Not everyone would enable it but again a blackberry user is used to getting to all messages in one box. Currently I am constantly changing between 4 accounts in gmail. Super annoying.
Android is the best mobile OS out there but I think it isn't ready to be called perfect.

krabman said:
I cant take my android phone to work. The inability to go to work is easily the largest single weakness of the phone imo. Millions of people need exchange (fully functioning and not through a third party server work around) and to connect to stand alone installations of outlook, often both. It rankles that I am still going to have to buy a winmo phone when when 7 hits to replace my old winmo phone because my 39 mflops N1 is a no go for work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried Touchdown? It's a $20.00 app, and it's one time.

jmbrown32 said:
As much as I love Android, I think the UI could use a lot of work. It lacks cohesiveness, and can be quite bland.
This guy can change all of that, however: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/27/palms-matias-duarte-has-joined-google-as-user-experience-direct/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's only as bland as you make it.

Apps we miss!

Symbian Sxx, Windows CE, IOS, Android, etc...
I tried them all but didn't find the ... how to say it.... yes cheeriness & easiness which I found in my new WP8 devices!
but yet, I still feel like I'm left behind, because all of the missing Apps like (Instagram, Whoshere, Tumblr, Keek)
It is true that whatsapp has shortened the distance but it has its flaws like:
1- can't read long messages
2- no broadcast
3- can't save videos to my library
4- slowness
5- can't forward messages to recent contacts
and other things...
I tried to find if whether these application are coming to WP8 or not by contacting the official websites and twitter accounts but no luck!
if anybody has any information about that, please share it.
Thank you,,

No Luck either ...
Yea, I have tried to log a couple of questions with WunderList and SpringPad on their forums/email and the response is working on it. Wunderlist does have an app in the WP8 Store but it's not available/compatible for my phone.

Flipboard pls

I really would like to have TapaTalk (because BoardExpress, ForoPlex and ForumTalk just don't work for me), and TeamViewer.

I would really like a SiriusXM app. That and Google+ integration (just like how Facebook and Twitter are integrated).

I would also love it if the phone had separate "audio profiles". For example, if I plug in a pair of headphones, all the volume should automatically adjust to the settings I had it on last time I had headphones plugged in. Then when I unplug them, the volume should all revert back to what it was set to before.
Also, also a Sonos app would be fantastic!

Snapchat, Instagram, Draw Something 2, official 4Pics1Word, Dropbox, Starbucks, University of Arizona app, etc......
I can tell you that my next phone won't be a Windows Phone.

DarkSeL said:
Snapchat, Instagram, Draw Something 2, official 4Pics1Word, Dropbox, Starbucks, University of Arizona app, etc......
I can tell you that my next phone won't be a Windows Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I am not trying to change your oppinion, why do you need the official "4pics1Word" app? It's not a multiplayergame and there are multiple similar games on windows phone ("What's The Word" for instance).
Also, there are dropbox clients for windows phone as well. There's boxfiles for dropbox, there's Filebox and there are others as well. And they work. Why do they not suffice?
Draw Something 2: I got fed up with Draw Something after 2 weeks. What does DS2 do better than DS?
Even Though I do not use instagram I can see how people might want that. Same goes with snapchat for me. I just do not see the use-case for me (appart from sexting), but those are two big names that are missing on WP, alternatives (like Lomogram or Picit) don't cut it because they are incompatible with the already existent userbase on android and ios.

I miss
Ibirds UK
Memory Map navigator or anything that uses the .qct maps
Instagram obviously
Bubble Galaxy
Matching with Friends
Scramble with Friends
Dice with buddies
Battlefriends
candy Crush
mini Golf matchup
chess.com
chess with friends
top quiz
to name just a few, why on earth did i get this Nokia 920, now no one wants to swap with me, big mistake coming to a windows Phone, love the UI, love the phone, hate the lack of Apps...apps make a smartphone, my fault should have done my research, just hope I can swap this phone any time soon

Snapchat, taptalk, instagram

I miss samsung photostudio available on wp7

Haven't switched from android yet, but seriously thinking about it. Will miss;
Minecraft PE, google voice, native google apps (gmail/gcal/g+/etc), and specific apps like memdroid that are easily replaceable
(ranked order)

Missed Hulu for the longest time till it came out last week.
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