Database Users

Android Apps for the Vogue Port

It was suggested that we start a thread specifically for the apps that run well on the Android port to the HTC Touch/Vogue. I personally own an (Sprint=CDMA) HTC Touch Diamond, but upon seeing the maturity level of Android running on the Touch, I immediately went to eBay and picked up the Touch handset...and I am glad I did. The only reason I boot back to winmo is for work calendar (Lotus), Skype (iSkoot kinda sucks), and Podcasts (hopefully we getting DoggCatcher soon).I've found that battery life with Togga on to be about 8-10 hours which I can live with it, but it's a pain to keep toggling if you really need to conserve (but it could be worse )I plan on posting more battery data soon, but need a few more days of collection. Hopefully we can find a more permanent way of managing the data connection with balance for battery life.
You can find many apps on http://slideme.org/, AndAppStore (both have phone clients - very market-like) and by searching ".apk" on 4shared.com
The apps I have found to run well on my CDMA with dzo/f00bar's (much respect) latest files:
-Scoreboard - I'm not that big of a sports fan, but this app is slick!
-aLastFM - Just got permission to post the link from the developer. Thanks Oleg!!
-Stocker - Simple but effective stock app, but no graphs. If someone could find a better one...
-Weather - Simple, but effective. Multiple Cities, current and forecast, with menu link to detailed outlook including radar from Undergroud Weather.
-AnyCut -Great for making shortcuts to just about any screen in the OS, especially useful for Battery and Sounds&Display
-TextEasy - for sending a text to multiple contacts, until someone can get a hold of ChomperSMS or K9SMS (K9Mail I have not gotten to work either, we need a better mail app, the native client doesn't even recognize URLS, wtf?!)
-OIFileManager - It's the only one I've tried, so can't comment on the others, but there are several out there. UPDATE: I tried out Astro and Glance. I liked Astro, but after a day it stopped working for me and gives me a force quit. I prefer Glance over OI FileManager, it's on 4shared I believe.
-OIFlashlight - amazing how handy this comes in
-OINewsReader - No frills RSS aggregator
-ShopSavvy - Did you say "We'll match any price"?...but be fast with your fingers, camera is not fine enough to capture the barcode
UPDATE:
I wanted to add SMS PopUp as another great app. You can find it along with a bunch of other APKs here. One of the G1 owners that grabbed all of the apps and is hosting them for download.
WANTED:
-DoggCatcher - for my daily podcast fix
-A true Skype client
-HEADPHONE SUPPORT!!
Please post replies with your own favorite apps that run well on this port (with links, please!)
Cheers!

Wow, no replies?!
I'm looking for SMS PopUp if anyone can post a link.
Cheers!

The Meebo app is well worth a look - look for it on 4shared.com. Lets you IM on just about any IM network (Yahoo, MSN, AIM etc). IMs appear in the notification bar while you are in any other program. Great stuff.

I believe im the only person hosting the meebo.apk at the moment.
Meebo Instant Messenger:
http://jonsingh.com/android/files/meebo.apk
I did recieve the "ok" from the meebo!
thanks
Jon

steve98 said:
The Meebo app is well worth a look - look for it on 4shared.com. Lets you IM on just about any IM network (Yahoo, MSN, AIM etc). IMs appear in the notification bar while you are in any other program. Great stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i installed and signed into my MSN account, however, just a white screen shows up. No list of contacts, etc. No menu options other than to add another account or sign off. Not exactly useful (at least this version). Is anyone using this successfully?
EDIT: I received a chat, and that gave me a buddy online, maybe no one on my list was signed on at the time I first checked.
Also, it doesnt remember your username and password, which is annoying because it randomly closed on me after tapping the notification in the bar during a chat session today. I'll keep looking for a better app or updated version.

Ideal2545 said:
I believe im the only person hosting the meebo.apk at the moment.
Meebo Instant Messenger:
http://jonsingh.com/android/files/meebo.apk
I did recieve the "ok" from the meebo!
thanks
Jon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you might be the only one who got the 'ok' from meebo but as i said, it can be found on 4shared.com also.

What about an updated version of Shopsavvy. Mine keeps saying there is a new version, but of course we can't update off the marketplace.

I'm looking for the Locale application. Even though we don't have GPS running, Locale still alows profile switching based on time and days of the week, which would be useful for office vs. non-office settings. If someone could post this I would appreciate it!

how do i install apps i have them saved to the storage card i just dont know how to load them up, sorry if this is a dumb question

thoughtlesskyle said:
how do i install apps i have them saved to the storage card i just dont know how to load them up, sorry if this is a dumb question
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they are in the AndroidApps folder then they should be installed already. I found that sometimes icons don't show up to launch the program, however. This is where AnyCut comes in handy. Use AnyCut to search in "Activities" to find your app. If you are not seeing it in this list then you may have to "manually" install the app. Open a file browser such as OI File Manager or Glance and navigate to your AndroidApps folder. Click on the .apk file and it should launch teh app installer.
Hope this helps.

Any word on aLastFM?

etx said:
Any word on aLastFM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the update first post.

Scoreboard.apk
I am very interested in the Scoreboard app, I got it running fine, but the other day the game I added to my favorite never really gave me updates until the game was over by a few hours.
Isnt this application able to provide real-time results?
I am having more success simply by going to www.nhl.com :-S

Thanks for aLastFM!
I was looking around and found another 4shared user with a bunch of APK's!
http://www.4shared.com/dir/11234070/20e0c1f0/sharing.html

Someone in the main topic said something about an ebay app. What is it and is it any good? Is it secure? It'd be nice to have for me.
There's been a couple apps I liked that didn't fit our screen plus having to reinstall android files often I lose all my saved info so it doesn't work out for me. Sprint needs to hurry up with an HTC Android phone.

Maybe a stupid question, not sure... Why can't someone extract the android market application from the G1 to be used on other phones? Seems a bit odd of Google to limit the market to only a specific phone.

There is a discussion about the marketplace on the big long forum. The marketplace is not open source. They're talking about the commands and encryption and such for it. I'd think it's not open because they plan on having pay for apps but I could be wrong

G1 Central
This is a must have for any one with a Grand Central account- G1 Central
http://evancharlton.com/projects/g1central
Allows you to place calls and check voicemail for your GrandCentral account. Pretty much allows for unlimited free calling. Works great on my friends G1.
Still missing a few features.. like the ability to call contacts that are only in your GC account, but still very good.
Heres the problem.. it crashes when trying to dial out on the Vogue!!! Ahhh!
So close to beating the telecoms... If anyone knows anything about error codes or how to get this working, I might have a GrandCentral account invite...

megalewis said:
I am very interested in the Scoreboard app, I got it running fine, but the other day the game I added to my favorite never really gave me updates until the game was over by a few hours.
Isnt this application able to provide real-time results?
I am having more success simply by going to www.nhl.com :-S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed this also. i resolved by changing my time zone in settings. Only problem is that this then modifies your "synced" time with your carrier, it adjusts + or - according to your time zone, so you have to comensate...each time you boot. Not by any means an elegant solution, but if you need realtime scores this is the answer. Probably better off sticking with NHL.com

aven_soulgazer said:
Someone in the main topic said something about an ebay app. What is it and is it any good? Is it secure? It'd be nice to have for me.
There's been a couple apps I liked that didn't fit our screen plus having to reinstall android files often I lose all my saved info so it doesn't work out for me. Sprint needs to hurry up with an HTC Android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the "Ebay.apk" from 4Shared, but it doesn't display properly. The tabs extend all the way to the bottom of the other screen which is a common problem for us vogue port users.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Latest PhoneAlarm beta gives email notification for emails

yup..that's correct, I have my little notification LED flashing when I have an email now..
you need PhoneAlarm (which I simple cannot live without and is ALWAYS the very first thing I install on my device)
so..I'm sure this tweak will be appearing in cooked roms soon

Hooooray for Penguin (the developer) for jumping on this!

twisted-pixel said:
yup..that's correct, I have my little notification LED flashing when I have an email now..
you need PhoneAlarm (which I simple cannot live without and is ALWAYS the very first thing I install on my device)
so..I'm sure this tweak will be appearing in cooked roms soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does this integrate with the HTC Sense user interface?

thegios said:
How does this integrate with the HTC Sense user interface?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have to run it in Host mode
I don't use Sense, so can't say how well it works though.

twisted-pixel said:
you have to run it in Host mode
I don't use Sense, so can't say how well it works though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Host mode works great. To further enhance this, there is now a tweak on his forum to allow you to replace the network operators name with the current profile. Clicking on this will launch PA Host.
QUESTION:
Have you had to set "use broker" for alarms to get the email notification to work. Without this option set, i only get the notification when i wake up the device. I'm guessing its due to using a custom rom (pandora 1.3). Using the broker option does solve the issue.

twisted-pixel said:
you have to run it in Host mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this an option of the application?

thegios said:
is this an option of the application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
more like a stand alone way of running the app

thegios said:
is this an option of the application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes. Host mode is used when you do not have the today screen active - ie when running manila. Host mode will be enabled by default on the HD2 and an icon will appear in the top bar. This can be hidden and a shortcut used to open phonealarm if you prefer.
Its a great app with many options including data counter, call costs, automatic profile changes etc etc

ardsar said:
yes. Host mode is used when you do not have the today screen active - ie when running manila. Host mode will be enabled by default on the HD2 and an icon will appear in the top bar. This can be hidden and a shortcut used to open phonealarm if you prefer.
Its a great app with many options including data counter, call costs, automatic profile changes etc etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, one more: will it work INSTEAD OF the WM alarms function or will it have it's own handler?
I mean: if I set an alarms in this app, will it be set also in the WM alarms or does the app handle alarms in a completely different way (and this latter case, should I disable WM default alarms?)

I was very interested in this app until I saw the price. Why is so much stuff so expensive for windows phones? I had the iphone before and hardly had to pay for anything I wanted, and if I did it would be less then £1.00

snerkler said:
I was very interested in this app until I saw the price. Why is so much stuff so expensive for windows phones? I had the iphone before and hardly had to pay for anything I wanted, and if I did it would be less then £1.00
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then go back to iphone...

thegios said:
then go back to iphone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't dissing the HD2, it was just a genuine question as to why everything costs so much on windows phones as I don't understand? If one platform can give so much for free, or very cheap why not another? Is it people trying to cash in, or is it down to something like the costs to develop the programs?

snerkler said:
I wasn't dissing the HD2, it was just a genuine question as to why everything costs so much on windows phones as I don't understand? If one platform can give so much for free, or very cheap why not another? Is it people trying to cash in, or is it down to something like the costs to develop the programs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my guess: iphone apps are an hipe now so there are a lot more ppl downloading apps from apple store rather then wm apps, so developers can make more money by quantity rather than price...
In addition apple store cuts down a lot advertising costs as all iphone apps are in one single place, so developer does not need an extra effort (read: money) to advertise his app on too many websites/forums/etc)

thegios said:
my guess: iphone apps are an hipe now so there are a lot more ppl downloading apps from apple store rather then wm apps, so developers can make more money by quantity rather than price...
In addition apple store cuts down a lot advertising costs as all iphone apps are in one single place, so developer does not need an extra effort (read: money) to advertise his app on too many websites/forums/etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, that makes sense. If that is the case then having a dedicated 'app' store should help bring the costs down. One day hopefully

thegios said:
Thanks, one more: will it work INSTEAD OF the WM alarms function or will it have it's own handler?
I mean: if I set an alarms in this app, will it be set also in the WM alarms or does the app handle alarms in a completely different way (and this latter case, should I disable WM default alarms?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is totally customisable. For instance you can select whether you want phonealarm to control email, sms, mms, im, missed calls etc notifcations or leave it to WM. Also it gives you the ability to set repeat alarms, again completely customisable for each alert. The alarm function is not tied to WM and therefore resolves many issues that others have faced.
There is a trial that can be downloaded - fully working for 14 days. Suggest you give it a test drive. It will take some time to become familiar with the many options. There are skins that can be used to make it look more flash - all the info is on the forum. The support from Bruce is excellent. I had an issue this morning with the latest beta and within 1 hour i had a fix for it!.

ardsar said:
It is totally customisable. For instance you can select whether you want phonealarm to control email, sms, mms, im, missed calls etc notifcations or leave it to WM. Also it gives you the ability to set repeat alarms, again completely customisable for each alert. The alarm function is not tied to WM and therefore resolves many issues that others have faced.
There is a trial that can be downloaded - fully working for 14 days. Suggest you give it a test drive. It will take some time to become familiar with the many options. There are skins that can be used to make it look more flash - all the info is on the forum. The support from Bruce is excellent. I had an issue this morning with the latest beta and within 1 hour i had a fix for it!.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read on a couple of forums that latest versions crash HD2: is this correct?

snerkler said:
Ok, that makes sense. If that is the case then having a dedicated 'app' store should help bring the costs down. One day hopefully
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is, but is simply sucks...
try OpnMarket
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-opnmarket.html
similar to apple store for only freeware apps

For those who are interested in similar product, can try PhoneWeaver from SBSH or Phone Suite (or something like that) from SPB..

thegios said:
I've read on a couple of forums that latest versions crash HD2: is this correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had any issues on my HD2.
Phone weaver doesn't have as many functions like call costs, data counter etc. i also found the profile options to be more limiting. Phonealarm gives u more for your money. However this is my opinion and others will have different views. try them and see ....

ardsar said:
...The alarm function is not tied to WM and therefore resolves many issues that others have faced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this mean that if I set an alarm with PhoneAlarm at lets'say 8:30 on the manila main page the alarms box (on the right of to the date box, just below the clock/weather box) will display OFF instead of 8:30?

Best Notes app - Would prefer a Sense-like Widget...

Anyone point me in the right direction, I really like the HTC Sense Notes Widget found here However, I cannot get it to work because I've removed sense.
Any ideas or replacements - Thanks

jaypeezee said:
Anyone point me in the right direction, I really like the HTC Sense Notes Widget found here However, I cannot get it to work because I've removed sense.
Any ideas or replacements - Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now I use two things - evernote and notification notes. Notification notes is great for quick little notes...in my case, I usually use it for shopping lists. It holds the note in the task bar until you delete it, which makes for really easy access
Evermore is a cloud based note storage service that allows you to store text or media notes from your phone or pc, and will sync them between whatever devices you use it on.

XM Notes.
8pen from my supersonic yea....

david279 said:
XM Notes.
8pen from my supersonic yea....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After posting, I came across XM Notes - I like the interface but dislike appearance of the widget. My search continues

Have you tried GTasks? It does the trick for me.
Supa Sonic Sent

I really like OnePunch its free off the market and places editable sticky notes on your screen or you can just use it as a note app and not bother with the sticky note feature. If you do like the sticky notes you can change the colors of them as well as edit them without worry of the need to delete and recreate them from scratch. I myself have one of my pages devoted to sticky notes.

Use Catch Notes (formerly 3banana) here.. Good stuff.

Evernote. Use it for all my lectures.
Sent while sitting on the toilet.

Note widget is the name of the one I use. Can have it have transparent background. It's also free.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Thanks everyone for the great input...
Some of your suggestions, although great, were a little more than what I was looking for. After some extensive market searching I found one that I really enjoy. Its called Staesj
I should have been a little more clearer on what exactly I was looking for. I was looking for a note app that would allow me to place a nice looking widget on one of my home screens, which ultimately would allow me to click on it and immediately edit it using a keyboard or a finger to scribble. I don't plan on using it as a to do list app or storing important notes but mainly for quick entries when on the road or on the phone (i.e. a phone number).
Staesj is a very simple, yet effective little app with a very small footprint. I came across other apps, specifically Multi Memo, which did EVERYTHING i wanted however I noticed a few drawbacks. 1) The app pulls a GPS location for every app entered (boo). 2) a separate widget app is required to display the notes on your home screen 3) seemed rather large for its purpose

if anyone comes across anything better, im always up for suggestions thanks.

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

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

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

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

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

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