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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.
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.
I don't want to get into the details of my upcoming presentation, I'm not in sales. We're looking into potential tools in my workplace. I need suggestions for reasons why the Evo is an ideal smart phone. I've already outlined the obvious (Android's apps, large screen, 4G, fast...) and I DO NOT want to compare it with the iPhone.
I'm looking for bells and whistles (because of my target audience), things that other phones can't do--stupid cell phone tricks like, using your laptop remotely with your android device, that sort of thing...
I just need a few suggestions... thanks.
-jac
** I can't root the phone either.
I always get the best reaction out of Layar and Google Sky.
everytime i show phonemypc app to my coworkers they freak. might give that a look worth the 10 bucks
Presentation you say? How about HDMI?
Plug your phone into a massive projector or TV.
Then play a video on youtube about some features and you're good.
Also mobile hotspots/tethering means people can connect to your phone through wifi and use your 3G-4G internet on any device.
It has an err kickstand.
If you really wanted to you could run a desktop operating system on it, though you would need to root..
8MP camera for great still shots in ample lit rooms.
Some cool games in the market.
Of course theres flash!!
Can't think of anything else right now..
if we're talking stock unrooted, i really like the intergration sense did with contacts/facebook/twitter/gmail. i also show off the kickstand (it gets more oooh/aaah reactions than i expected).
tethering and a good cellular signal (lol you'd be surprised how many people ask me that) also comes up.
Show them Proxoid and explain the free tethering if they root.
Get a copy of LogMeIn Beta (it's floating around on here...) and show it.
Qik/Fring video chat
Google Voice
Google Maps + Navigation (If any of the people you're showing to are travelers/sales, show them the turn-by-turn navigation on the BIG screen, for free.)
SwiftKey and Swype
Voice Dial/Search
Gesture Search
Show them all their Google stuff syncs to it (email, contacts, etc.) so if they lose their phone, it breaks, whatever, they still have everything important.
Dropbox (Very useful for sales, doing presentations and whatnot)
Just let them use it for a little while, the EVO sells itself
How about voice-to-text feature.
Show them the screen; all 4.3 inches
if they are iphone users, show them you can install an app from the sd card without rooting your phone, the turn by turn is good to show off, facebook intergration, high quailty youtube vids,
Tell them how it f*cking prints money, builds you an island, and then flies you to it
All kidding aside, the kickstand is a huge one. If you're in a 4G area, big seller there, notification LED for missed calls/texts/emails/etc, front camera, HDMI if you have a good TV there.
Take off the battery cover and show them the MANLAND hiding inside!
scev5 said:
everytime i show phonemypc app to my coworkers they freak. might give that a look worth the 10 bucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, PhoneMyPC is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. That is an intense app. Thanks, I'd never heard of it. I'll try it tonight.
RemoteDroid - use your phone as a trackball keyboard to control your computer on the same wifi network, useful for powerpoint presentations etc (it's also been recently open sourced)
USB webcam - although in its infancy, allows you to use the evo's camera as a webcam on your pc. Its choppy, but it works if you're in a pinch.
Touchdown - An email client with activesync support for exchange accounts, one of the only mail apps that allowed me to access mail at work
Rockplayer - Plays a variety of multimedia files without the need to recompress, simply drag/drop to sdcard and play
Astrid tasks - An open source todo list manager that you can schedule notifications for, also has a widget for easy viewing of pending tasks.
PureCalendar - Self explanatory
Gmote.
With Gmote, you can use your phone as a remote control for your PC or laptop, including using it as a keyboard if you want. I use it often for PowerPoint presentations.
Geniusdog254 said:
Tell them how it f*cking prints money, builds you an island, and then flies you to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't forget it can grant you 3 wishes
redrazr7791 said:
Don't forget it can grant you 3 wishes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And one of those wishes can be for an iPhone 4 with the bigger geebees, the whyfies, and the three-gees. And it has apps.
TiKL - push to talk function to other Android phones for free.
Check out my thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=715767
Cool apps not found in market and some great unknown apps that are in the market. You'll get some cool ideas here as well as download links.
Don't forget to highlight Google Maps & Navigation...as it's hands down the best maps GPS application out there BAR NONE - and it's free.
A few people also mentioned this, but the text-to-speech integration is also insanely cool.
And Swype (or really swapping out any stock keyboard) is a nice touch, as most phones are locked to a single input type.
If your phone is rooted, it also wouldn't hurt to use ShootMe or the other screenshot app I'm drawing a blank on ATM...I believe you can even remotely display the phone interface on a PC, which does wonders for any kind of presentation.
Then there's the cheese - games, live wallpaper.
As the title states, suggest away.
direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.
mightyeric said:
direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.
Not sure what the SDK will let you do, but is it possible to develop an app that can be pinned to the start page, that toggles 3g/wifi/bluetooth? I know we can just drop in to the Settings menu, but I would pay for an app that put those three in one easy place.
I would also like an app that rotates, like a slideshow I guess, all sorts of images from the various Xbox games I've been playing across the tile. That would look cool on the start page. Maybe it does a Bing image search to find the images to rotate, etc. I'm not a developer, but it was something I thought of earlier today.
dougp.me said:
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is comming in dec development almost done..
The direct sync with outlook is not possible with the WP7 SDK. That would have to be incorporated into the Zune sync software. The WP7 is meant to be a cloud device so I don't see this coming anytime soon.
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.
rruffman said:
this is comming in dec development almost done..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
love to see more on this...
JMackey said:
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That really blows. Just thinking about what various iPhone and Android apps can do easily, it seems this platform is much more closed than even iPhone's. The key to both Android and iPhones success has been as much the developer community as it has been the solid hardware the apps run on, maybe even more so the developers. The new WP7 hardware seems solid enough so far. If MS doesn't open up the SDK to a greater array of components, this will just continue to lag behind, even fall farther behind.
...Hoping someone can cook up some nice WP7 ROM's
ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!
an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.
TOA Duck said:
an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.
prubin said:
ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is supposedly coming in January according to reports this morning. See: http://www.wpcentral.com/rumor-january-firmware-update-wp7-include-custom-ringer-support-more
(Sorry, forgot to multi-quote.)
not sure if you can make do this or not, but I would like to be able to connect to hidden networks. Also be able to use the device as a wifi router.
Could it be made downward compatible? It would be nice to be able to run some of my already-purchased software.
As an alternative, the single-largest bummer of making this switch for me will be loss of the two coolest apps I have EVER had – “Pocket Earth”, and “Pocket World” by Bluepoint Studios. These apps, especially Pocket Earth, were stunning! I don’t know their status, but if you could buy the rights and the code and somehow rewrite them for WP7, I suspect you would do very well.
I need programs which are NOT web-dependent. Dictionaries, translation programs, an atlas, etc. which are device-based. Traveling internationally is where one needs the language converters and I work a lot on the plane. I’d prefer to give up space in the device than to continually pay for international data.
Best of luck,
Dave
Battery indicator showing remaining strength in percentage or bars.
A recorder...
There are a few out there, but I need it to either have voice activated start/stop, or stop/start control from my bluetooth. I am a sports photographer, and if I can describe what is on a picture that I take right after I take it, it is much easier to do my captioning when I get home. But I don't have time to take the phone out of my pocket and start/stop after each play.
It seems a lot of the suggestions are things to do with hardware. The only hardware access the SDK gives developers is the GPS, Accelerometer, and the radio. We don't even have direct access to the camera. (When an app takes a picture, it opens the camera app then sends the taken picture back to the app).
riceboyler said:
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will we ever be able to watch high quality youtube vids over 3g. Now you have to be on wifi. I know on iphone the vids are HQ over 3g.
1) Something that bypasses Exchange-enforced password entry. Android has it; and frankly, PIN enforcement is a meaningless layer of security that does nothing more than inconvenience the end-user.
2) Something that let's you copy synced Calendar entries and Contacts to the Phone instead of forcing them to exist in the stupid cloud. <--I would pay good money for this. Again, something that Android let's you do that I like.
Edited to Add:
3) An app that keeps the phone on and unlocked. I don't like this forced lock/timeout thing, I'd prefer to have complete control of when it is locked and when it isn't.
1) A Remote Desktop Application compatable with MS's current RDP services
2) Something that periodically rotates the Logon Screen Picture
3) Something that would quickly display Battery Life, Used/Remaining Storage, etc...
- MEK
Evening all,
As I'll soon be back on android I've been looking at apps for things like twitter and such. But also trying to see what other useful apps I could will need. I use all iPhone native apps at the moment mainly because I've never really liked the iOS and didn't want to get attached to any apps. The only two external apps I use is Tapatalk and waze.
What are the apps you all use on a regular basis and any that I should avoid?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Allo for messaging is really nice, Duo for video calls, Chrome for your browser, and Swype or Gboard for the keyboard.
Basically avoid anything made by Cheetah Mobile.
Launcher - Nova Launcher
Browser - Samsung Internet Beta
Music - Shuttle Music Player (good looking, has any feature you could want)
Podcast app - Pocketcasts
As for chat apps, they can basically all do voice and video calling, ask your friends what they use and use it.
You'll run into more apps as you get into the world of custom roms and rooting. Xposed still isn't available for nougat.
aalxx said:
Basically avoid anything made by Cheetah Mobile.
Music - Shuttle Music Player (good looking, has any feature you could want) .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will this app work with iTunes? From a mac? This is the next thing I need to look at as all my music is stored on my iTunes which is on my mac!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
aalxx said:
Basically avoid anything made by Cheetah Mobile.
Launcher - Nova Launcher
Browser - Samsung Internet Beta
Music - Shuttle Music Player (good looking, has any feature you could want)
Podcast app - Pocketcasts
As for chat apps, they can basically all do voice and video calling, ask your friends what they use and use it.
You'll run into more apps as you get into the world of custom roms and rooting. Xposed still isn't available for nougat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's Wrong with Clean Master?
running water said:
Will this app work with iTunes? From a mac? This is the next thing I need to look at as all my music is stored on my iTunes which is on my mac!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, all my music is downloaded, you could try to download that music on your Mac and then use a USB cable to put it in your phone.
Edit: found something that might help you. This article (http://www.consumerreports.org/smartphones/how-to-play-itunes-music-on-an-android-smartphone/) shows how you can upload music from your iTunes library to your google play music library. I'm assuming you can download these songs somehow from one of the services.
choccy31 said:
What's Wrong with Clean Master?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Useless because LMK (low memory killer) exists. Contrary to popular belief android is pretty good at managing ram and "boosting" is unnecessary. Also cleaning junk is easy to do on your own. Basically it's an app which offers little additional functionality and uses misconceptions to make you think you need it.
Here's a couple of apps that I use relatively often, if not daily:
Texting (SMS/MMS): Textra
- Has been my texting app of choice at least the last 2 years. It's clean and simple and is everything I like in a texting app. And, if you're a fan of all things Dark Mode, they have it too.
- Chomp SMS is Textra's sibling app (same developer) and as all of the features that Textra has, plus theming.
Podcasts: Stitcher
Streaming music: Spotify
Keyboard: Swiftkey
- There's a bunch of keyboards out there, but this one's my personal favorite.
Mobile Payments: Samsung Pay
- I've never used Android Pay, but it's basically the same thing as Apple Pay, as both use NFC. I prefer Samsung Pay over both of those for the reason that you can use them at the older MST (magnetic strip terminals), where NFC won't work. If you've used Apple Pay and liked it, give Samsung Pay a shot. Most of the time, Samsung Pay works at places with the MST, in my personal experience.
Send Payment to friends/family: Venmo
- Simple and secure way to send money to friends/family. Useful so you can pay people back quickly, like if they paid for something for you and you have to pay them back.
Sending texts from your Tablet/PC: MightyText
- Similar concept of being able to send iMessages from your iPad or MacBook. As long as your phone's working, you shouldn't have issues sending messages. I've had times where I texted people using this app (there's also a Chrome extension too) and my phone wasn't on me... XD The free version only allows you to send 200 messages/month (I believe, correct me otherwise). Pro is a monthly subscription, but can send unlimited messages.
FluxionFluff said:
Here's a couple of apps that I use relatively often, if not daily:
Texting (SMS/MMS): Textra
- Has been my texting app of choice at least the last 2 years. It's clean and simple and is everything I like in a texting app. And, if you're a fan of all things Dark Mode, they have it too.
- Chomp SMS is Textra's sibling app (same developer) and as all of the features that Textra has, plus theming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got my S8... I've been using Textra for 2+ years and I was going to make it my default SMS app on S8. I have a Gear S3 watch too and when I went to swap the default, phone warned of 'missing functions' if I didn't stick with Samsung Messages app.
Any thoughts here? I'm inclined to ignore!
kartman_canada said:
Just got my S8... I've been using Textra for 2+ years and I was going to make it my default SMS app on S8. I have a Gear S3 watch too and when I went to swap the default, phone warned of 'missing functions' if I didn't stick with Samsung Messages app.
Any thoughts here? I'm inclined to ignore!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be a few things. Sammy's stock messenger works like the Apple texting app, in that you get in-line read/receive notices and "other person is typing" icon things if you are both using the Sammy app. Most other features Textra can probably do just fine, Im betting if you installed a 1:1 clone of the Sammy app but with a different app sig and title, youd get the same warning.
Gentle Alarm app is a great clock/alarm. I've had it on all phones since my Samsung Captivate.
Waze is a good choice to stick to, over Google Maps. I love Google Maps, but Waze is FAR better on your battery for some reason. On my Note 5, with the screen on, fairly bright, and Google Maps navigating me somewhere, even plugged in the battery drains. But with Waze, it not only doesnt drain but charges properly, even if I also run music from the phone over bluetooth. Google owns both, but they give different directions sometimes, which is odd...but not a huge deal.
Google Play Music i think is a good suggestion, you can grab a 4 month free trial (which also includes Youtube Red) to test it out. Ive been using it over Spotify and IHeartRadio for a while.
Battery Widget Reborn is the best battery status monitor.
Dark Sky is the best (IMHO) weather app.
ES File Explorer is obviously a decent recommendation.
PowerAmp for playing music files stored locally.
QuickPic for viewing photos (unless you use the free Google cloud storage for photos).
Textra, of course.
There are others I cant think of now.
EDIT to add another thumbs up for Swiftkey, with a caveat. For me on my last three devices (Note 5, Xperia Z Ultra, Nexus 5) Swiftkey lags HARD on the Hangouts app and a few other apps. It was pure chance I got the issue across three phones, but it is a "common" issue with no real fix and has been around a while. If you do experience that issue with Swiftkey, my next keyboard recommendation would be Minuum. I dont use its teenie tiny mode that its famous/infamous for, I use it in the "full" keyboard layout and it is at least as good as Swiftkey.
Been using Textra for a while now. Tempted to use the S8 default messaging app for a while to see how it feels and what it offers so I'll be able to fairly compare it to Textra.
Agree with the following recommendations others have mentioned:
QuickPic for photo albums
Google Play (free) and Pandora for streaming
Waze for navigation (I live in the DC area and real-time traffic conditions can easily make a difference of 45-60 minutes in my commute)
Any task killer app is counter productive... I've written many posts about this topic in the past explaining why. It basically creates a bunch of work for the operating system with no benefit.
However, using the built-in running apps button and closing some apps you're not using can help because of the way some apps don't play nicely in the background.
Skype for video calls
SwiftKey for keyboard. I've been a long time Swype user (and alpha tester), but Nuance hasn't done much with it since they bought it, and it's losing traction
Nova for launcher
Chrome browser
Hangouts for chat
MightyText -- mixed results with this one. Really liked it for a while, but it took a significant toll on my battery, so I didn't always keep it installed. When I tried it again recently, it was much less reliable than I remembered. I had some duplicate messages and many missed messages that I never received in my browser, and many I sent from the browser that never made it to my recipients. Reliability is fundamental in texting, so I'll avoid this one most likely.
Nine for enterprise email
Useless because LMK (low memory killer) exists. Contrary to popular belief android is pretty good at managing ram and "boosting" is unnecessary. Also cleaning junk is easy to do on your own. Basically it's an app which offers little additional functionality and uses misconceptions to make you think you need it.[/QUOTE]
So true
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Join by Joaoapps (allows sync of messages to chrome desktop so you can sms from there)
PlayerPro (music player)
Nova Launcher Prime
Timely (perfect clock app with chill wakeup sounds)