Database Users

Good Facebook App??

Does anyone know if there is a decent Facebook app out there? So far I've tried the default one that came with the EVO, Bloo and Facebook Touch and they just don't do it for me. Is there a Facebook app that is as good as say, TweetCaster or Touiteur with a decent widget?
Cheers...

Not one that I've seen, unfortunately.

You're better off sticking to the browser. Facebook on Android blows.

gqstatus0685 said:
You're better off sticking to the browser. Facebook on Android blows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know. If there was just one that was as good as TweetCaster... that would be tiiite.

I am fairly disappointed by how many options there are for Facebook, and how poor they really are. I find myself using the full website more often than not.
I still open the official FB application first, just to get a quick look, and if I'm still bored, I'll open up the site. The friendstream stuff, and the feed updates on contacts are pretty worthless, IMO. By default, there are like 3 different services pulling FB feeds, and there should only be one. I liked the way my Palm Pre worked, where everything was integrated into the OS--even FB chat.

Just use the browser. Another option is "FULL SITE", which gives you the desktop version of facebook.
Too bad they can't get the developer who created the facebook for iPhone app.

New Android Owner Looking for Interesting Apps

Let me start by introducing myself. I'm the new owner of a Droid 2 Global (but I'm posting in Plain Droid 2 General, because the distinction has no relevance for my questions).
I previously owned an HTC Titan (which I left stock, which is unusual for me). Before that I had an HTC Apache, which I customized heavily, back in the day when XDA only covered HTC WinMo phones. I was even customizing ROMs, although not at a particularly advanced level. I mostly followed other forums, but many of the important utilities used originated here.
But enough of the old history. I now have the D2G. Relative to the tiny low resolution screen of my WinMo phones, this was a real upgrade .
So the first thing I did was root the phone, and installed Fission. I've also installed various apps I've seen recommended, and am wanting to hear any suggestions people have for other apps.
I'm no interested in most of the things that top many "must-have apps" lists, like social networking apps, and I'm especially interested in knowing about interesting obscure apps, but I could still have missed some interesting mainstream apps.
I'm including an annotated list of my currently installed (non-rom) apps.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Current Apps:
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (com.adoble.flashplayer)
Adobe Reader (com.adobe.reader)
AudioManager (com.smartandroid.audiowidget) I'm not particularly happy about this app's widgets being refreshed by polling, rather than by somehow subscribing to the volume change events. Is there a similar root-only app hat works like that?
Barcode Scanner (com.google.zxing.client.android)
Compass (com.apksoftware.compass)
Dolphin Browser HD (mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser)
Droid 2 Bootstrapper (com.koushikdutta.droid2.bootstrap)
Earth (com.google.earth)
eSpeak TTS (com.marvin.espeak)
Fission Rom Manager Lite (br.romdownloader)
GMail (com.google.android.gm) Fission omits this since it is on the market
Goggles (com.google.android.apps.unveil) Interesting, albeit not practical
Google Sky Map (com.googl.android.stardroid) A bit more practical
Google Translate (com.google.android.apps.translate)
GPS Test (com.chartcross.gpstest)
Maps (com.google.android.apps.maps) Fission omits this since it is on the market
Root Explorer (com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer)
Shopper (com.google.android.apps.shopper)
Street View (com.google.android.street) Fission omits this since it is on the market
Superuser (com.noshufou.android.su) Downloaded latest version from market, so I am notified of updates
Terminal Emulator (jackpal.androidterm)
Titanium Backup (com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup)
Titanium Backup Pro (com.keramidas.TitaniumBackupPro)
Voice Search (com.google.android.voicesearch) Fission omits this since it is on the market
YouTube (com.google.android.youtube) Fission omits this since it is on the market
Update: Apps I've tried based on suggestions and think that I will stick with (unless I see something better) will be added to the above list, in bold.

Handcent sms. Best text messaging app out there and its free. Launcherpro is also awesome.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

i would get a cpu control app like setcpu, or if you want to overclock go with droid overclock by jrummy, i personally cant use an android phone without fancy widget. i also noticed that there wasnt an xda app in there

orkillakilla said:
Handcent sms. Best text messaging app out there and its free. Launcherpro is also awesome.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, I'd go ADW launcher though

theimpaler747 said:
Agreed, I'd go ADW launcher though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
theres a new version called adw ex and it costs$2.50 but it is SO worth it. so much more customization. i also second handcent sms.

botnryan said:
theres a new version called adw ex and it costs$2.50 but it is SO worth it. so much more customization. i also second handcent sms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it, and love it as well

Here's some worth checking out:
Google Voice: Google Voice will transcribe your voicemails to text, store them on the web, make them searchable, and allow you to archive them forever. Single most amazing thing to happen to phones since they got data connections. Ignore the rest of this list and get google voice. It's worth the few minutes of setup time.
qik: You can stream video live to the web. I haven't really found a great use for it, but how cool is that?
Dropbox: If you don't use Dropbox on your PC, that's a whole other story I need to tell you about, but there's an app for your android. It syncs your data to the cloud and keeps all your computers in sync with the newest versions.
Google Sky Map: Do you see a constellation? Hold your phone at arms length in front of the stars in question and google sky map will tell you their names, the name of the constellation, and other cool stuff. It's one of those you have to see it to believe it.
Jorte is a much better calendar than the default one. You can put much more useful widgets on the desktop and see the names of your events when you're in monthly or weekly views.
ADW is an awesome launcher (I use it), but Launcher Pro is probably cool too.
Get your bank's mobile banking app. Super useful.
Verizon has an app that shows you your minutes used, txts sent, and data downloaded.
Cool games:
Rocket Bunnies
Mechanics Touch
Robo Defense
Repilica Island
Air Control
Buka
Radiant
Totemo

Feedback on the suggestions: (Updated)
Its really not clear what Handcent SMS gets me over the default provider, especially since I don't use SMS very much. Also if I do decide to go Google Voice in the future, said app becomes somewhat moot, since AIUI only the GV app works well with GV's SMS.
ADW Launcher EX looks interesting. I do have some reservations though. I remember that early on all replacement launchers had issues that varied from effectively locking you out of the phone by breaking (with the breakage surviving restarts), through to eating up battery like crazy. Have those all been pretty well resolved?
The XDA-Developers app has ads, and more importantly does not seem to let me refer back to older posts while composing.
I'm not sure what to make of Dolphin HD. It has ads unless you buy a license, but those ads are hidden away in places like the bookmarks management screen (while the bookmarks sidebar is what you use most of the time). It does support downloading any file even if no app for the format is installed. On the other hand functionality like a password manager is only available in an add-on (and the password manager one is a paid add-on).

I've used both adw and launcher pro, I loved adw but I just didn't find it as stable or as smooth as launcher pro, so I stayed with launcher pro, just a little input for your consideration
Sent from my WICKED FAST Droid 2 Global with fission using XDA app

I'm sure there is someone who will disagree, but I really like Dolphin HD browser. It may be a hair slower than some other browsers, but I really like the bookmarks bar on the left side.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

Some other apps I've found are the miui music app (best music player app I've found) and also the miren browser from the miui rom. Worth checking out and they are free.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

I just downloaded that miren browser, I haven't heard of it. I'm going to have to test it for a while.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

AdFree if you don't like the ads. Cachemate, drocap2. Just some suggestions
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

Tried the miren browser. I still prefer dolphin though.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

chompSMS over Handcent for me. Main reason for these is the popup notifications. Saves me from turning on screen, unlocking, dragging down status bar, tapping message, and then being able to read it. Auto lights up screen (20 sec configurable for me) and opens a pop-up window, you can instant-reply there too. Oh and the quick-compose, I map that through the LauncherPro activities feature to search button + P to instantly start composing an SMS.
andChat if you ever need irc
tTorrent Lite looks nice haven't used it just have it installed
K-9 Mail much better than gmail (gmail hogs precious vertical viewing area when in landscape mode)
GTask, enable tasks in google labs on your gmail (if this is still a labs feature and not official now).
MusicJunk: I won't spoil this one for you.
I'd say that's it.

I actually like go sms, its very customizable and has the pop ups like chomp, although I disable them from time to time. And I also found hancent a little buggy, sometimes it wouldn't send my messages, go sms sends them very fast, almost as soon as I hit send.
Sent from my WICKED FAST Droid 2 Global with fission using XDA app

rusty815 said:
I actually like go sms, its very customizable and has the pop ups like chomp, although I disable them from time to time. And I also found hancent a little buggy, sometimes it wouldn't send my messages, go sms sends them very fast, almost as soon as I hit send.
Sent from my WICKED FAST Droid 2 Global with fission using XDA app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, Go SMS, like most apps, uses too much vertical space. Who needs half an inch for a message ? I wish more would do it like k-9 mail and just make it like 1/4th inch high at the max.

I don't use very many social networking apps and mainly use my phone for media purposes aside from some of the more popular news type apps like Tapatalk, Pulse news reader and stuff here are a few you may be interested in:
Media Apps:
BeyondPod - If you like podcasts this app is amazing. Doggcatcher is pretty good also, but I simply prefer the more minimalist style of BeyondPod.
iSyncr - if you want to sync music from itunes to your phone
PlayerPro - imo this is the best music player for android hands down. its very customizable and has a ton of options and features. If you are interested in trying it check out the Sens skin for it.
RockPlayer - plays literally any video format. Eventually I hope to move to vPlayer, but that isn't all that stable on the Droid 2/X phones atm.
XiiaLive - a shoutcast streaming player with a pretty good interface. I think Winamp may also stream as well.
System/Widget Apps:
LauncherPro - other people have mentioned it. To clarify I have never had a reboot lock problem or any battery drain from it and I have been using it since I got my droid 2 back in the summer (4-5+ months), so I can confidently say it is more than stable and very fast.
Volume Toggle (Free or Pro) - I have been using free for months. Its similar to AudioManager except superior in every way. I am fairly sure it works with system change events in the latest versions of it. If nothing else give it a shot. It has a nice widget you can tap to change profiles and can auto-profile things like the headset. The ads in the free version are so minimal you wouldn't notice them as they only exist down in the profile creation screens so you wouldn't see them 9/10 days.
SimiClock - A great homescreen widget with date/time/weather and a super minimalistic look.
Launch-X (Free or pro) - A pretty neat launcher widget with a decent amount of customization.
Other Interesting Apps:
TippyTipper - easy tip calculator
Urbanspoon - find good places to eat fast!
psx4droid- Play playstation games on your phone
An app you will probably never hear of:
SimplyNoise - A White noise generator. It really helps me when studying and/or programming. Its basically a version of the website http://www.simplynoise.com/ stuffed into a concise little app. Its kinda weird, but I really like it!

swift key
its a keyboard with the capability of predicting the next word you're going to write and it works very well with the physical keyboard (the whole purpose of owning a droid 2 lol) it is a paid app but it is so worth it

facebook showed up on the market

Not tab optimized

Er, I hate Facebook. But, can't you just use the browser for it?

Friendcaster works great on the tab!

mj0528 said:
Friendcaster works great on the tab!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it, I paid for it because it work great but then it was updated and tab optimized and the issues began. Some stuff will not show up on status updates, I can no longer sync to my contacts, which was great because my texting app (heywire) would show a picture of the person I'm texting with. Also if I click a photo someone posted it shows a completely different photo.
All that also happens on my cell phone along with the tab. I check it in the web browser now but sometimes the app was just faster and more easy to used.

Even though it's not optimized, I'm glad they finally updated it to include support for tablets. I was using the Samsung Social Hub before and just installed Overcome's ROM so I can get rid of the Hub now.

I tried FriendMe, Friend Caster, and just found Facebook (official?) apps. I still prefer to use the browser...
Facebook app keeps force closing. Can't check friend list. And it seems slow to load anything. For me the web-based UI is what I am familiar with and the one I seem to keep going back to.

Stock Browser

I don't like the Chrome browser that has become "stock" over the stock browser on the N7 because:
Chrome is connected to my Office's Chrome browser so private things i browse on my tablet show up in my search history at work. Plus I want N7 bookmarks to be different than my office bookmarks
The bookmark widgets are horrible on Chrome and much better on stock Android.
Because of this, I ended up rooting and flashing CM10's M1 build, which is somewhat stable...and I love the stock browser's simplicity and love the widget pack that's there by default.
I would like to go back to a stock ROM ....4.2 but want to get rid of Chrome and somehow load the stock browser. Is there a way to ditch Chrome and sideload stock? Need some help/direction.
Thank you!

Why not create another Gmail account just for logging into Chrome at work?

i have the stock android browser on stock 4.2.1. can't remember where i got it, might have been from another site, but i put it in /system/app, set permissions and rebooted, and it works. (requires root)
i agree about the bookmarks. i like how the stock browser works with my Android Pro Widgets bookmark widget.

yogi2010 said:
i have the stock android browser on stock 4.2.1. can't remember where i got it, might have been from another site, but i put it in /system/app, set permissions and rebooted, and it works. (requires root)
i agree about the bookmarks. i like how the stock browser works with my Android Pro Widgets bookmark widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link and instructions. Do i need to figure out a way to uninstall Chrome or can stock and Chrome work side by side. Would prefer to ditch Chrome all together....
If you can't ditch Chrome (easily) what would happen with the bookmarks widget...would it connect to Chrome or Stock?...
Thanks again!

mmoreimi said:
Thanks for the link and instructions. Do i need to figure out a way to uninstall Chrome or can stock and Chrome work side by side. Would prefer to ditch Chrome all together....
If you can't ditch Chrome (easily) what would happen with the bookmarks widget...would it connect to Chrome or Stock?...
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i uninstalled Chrome using Titanium Backup. the bookmark widget you are talking about i believe comes with Chrome so will disappear with Chrome. i haven't tried to connect that widget to the stock browser, so i don't know if it would work. i have used the APW bookmark widget from the market for a long time, and it works great with the stock browser.
Edit: the APW widget also works with Chrome but doesn't seem to fetch thumbnails as well as with the stock browser. If you switch to stock you might have to re-bookmark your sites, unless some are backed up on the Google servers from before!

[Q] A few questions about the stock s4 browser

Hey guys, got my S4 this morning and love it of course, what a great device. I have a few questions about the stock s4 browser though. I do browse quite a lot on daily basis and when I realized ICS browser (+) don't work, I tried the stock browser. Things I don't like on the stock browser:
1. no text reflow
2. no way of syncing bookmarks from my pc (ICS browser + did this, it automatically synced all my bookmarks from my desktop PC's chrome)
I don't think I can live comfortably with this browser. I've tried chrome (randomly changes font size, eww), ics browser and ics browser + (neither of these work on the s4) so far. Basically, I want a browser that does text reflow and syncs bookmarks. Any ideas? Thanks.

Would also like to know this..
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app

1- i think Dolphin have text reflow option
2- Stock browser will sync bookmarks with desktop Chrome
edit : i think there is extension for Chrome desktop to Sync Bookmarks with Dolphins account

yahyoh said:
1- i think Dolphin have text reflow option
2- Stock browser will sync bookmarks with desktop Chrome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it isn't syncing for me. how do I get it to sync?

Eclap78 said:
it isn't syncing for me. how do I get it to sync?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sign in with the same account u use for Chrome

Couldn't you accomplish all those features you want with Mozilla Firefox?
Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2

yahyoh said:
sign in with the same account u use for Chrome
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's no sign in that I can see for the browser

Try Dolphin or Opera Mobile.
ICS+ unfortunately only works in ICS (which is a shame because it was my favorite with the thumb controls).
For the sync, goto Settings=>Google (profile)
Tap your Google account (that's synced with Chrome) and make sure Browser is ticked ON.

There's no browser sync option under the google account, only chrome and that is ticked. The stock s4 browser still won't sync the chrome bookmarks. they do work in chrome, but not the "internet" stock browser. Chrome is ok on the s4, I guess, but some websites display some fonts with different sizes on the same page making it all look bad, plus there's no text reflow in mobile chrome.

Must be because of Samsung then. They probably want you to use some weird Samsung sync instead. Figures.
Chrome Mobile is pretty much the worst browser for Android at the moment. It doesn't reflow right all the time, randomly changes text sizes (especially in forums), isn't the smoothest, has input lag and can't use Flash in any iteration. The stock browser is so much better than I don't know why Google's Chrome team can't get it right.

ChronoReverse said:
Must be because of Samsung then. They probably want you to use some weird Samsung sync instead. Figures.
Chrome Mobile is pretty much the worst browser for Android at the moment. It doesn't reflow right all the time, randomly changes text sizes (especially in forums), isn't the smoothest, has input lag and can't use Flash in any iteration. The stock browser is so much better than I don't know why Google's Chrome team can't get it right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, the stock browser is pretty good actually, much better than chrome. but chrome syncs. which is a big plus. other than that, chrome sucks. ics browser worked on my s2 (jellybean) and it's a shame it doesn't work on the s4. let's hope there'll be a new browser soon that does sync, reflow and has a bookmark button next to the address bar. that's all I'm asking from a browser.
A little bit off topic, but any news on people working on some roms for the s4?

Eclap78 said:
yeah, the stock browser is pretty good actually, much better than chrome. but chrome syncs. which is a big plus. other than that, chrome sucks. ics browser worked on my s2 (jellybean) and it's a shame it doesn't work on the s4. let's hope there'll be a new browser soon that does sync, reflow and has a bookmark button next to the address bar. that's all I'm asking from a browser
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thing is, stock browser also syncs with Chrome. But that's the Android stock browser apparently and not the Samsung stock browser for whatever reason.
Dolphin is pretty good and I think there's a Chrome extension to sync it to Dolphin.
Firefox Mobile syncs with Firefox and Opera Mobile syncs with Opera.
My most preferred browser is probably Opera just because it has been consistently smooth and quick while doing things like reflow properly.

ChronoReverse said:
Thing is, stock browser also syncs with Chrome. But that's the Android stock browser apparently and not the Samsung stock browser for whatever reason.
Dolphin is pretty good and I think there's a Chrome extension to sync it to Dolphin.
Firefox Mobile syncs with Firefox and Opera Mobile syncs with Opera.
My most preferred browser is probably Opera just because it has been consistently smooth and quick while doing things like reflow properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when I say stock browser on the s4, I mean the stock samsung galaxy s4 browser. and that one unfortunately doesn't sync with chrome. shame. I've never used dolphin, that's about the only browser I've never tried.

It must be a bug, it has always synced the Chrome destop bookmark.

how often do your bookmarks change? just make shortcuts on one of your home screens imo.
i havent gotten my s4 yet, but on my droid 3 i just use adw launcher & create all the icons i want with the websites i use most, and/or the apps i use, with the icon i like for it. this way i dont have the ugly bookmark icons on the shortcut.

Not to hijack this thread, but how in the world do you go to the home page one has set for the stock Samsung browser? Cannot find a Home button anywhere. Also, cannot get desktop view to stick, has to be rechecked after anytime browser is closed. Anyone know how to make it permanent, other than using a different browser?

Naked browser ftw. Or nb pro the paid version.
Sent from my GT-N7100

Eclap78 said:
Hey guys, got my S4 this morning and love it of course, what a great device. I have a few questions about the stock s4 browser though. I do browse quite a lot on daily basis and when I realized ICS browser (+) don't work, I tried the stock browser. Things I don't like on the stock browser:
1. no text reflow
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither do i. Sam sets the text reflow, please.:crying:

someone needs to port the 4.2.2 AOSP browser to s4 touchwiz stat, had been doable for all previous galaxies and touchwiz versions so shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
otherwise both chrome and the sammy stock browser are literally unusable in this day and age...

where did it go the 'open behind this' option on link longpress?? aaaaahhhhhhhh