Android People...UNITE!

[starscream]

So got my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate on Robbers (Rogers) recently and I gotta say I am happy that I made the switch.

How many of you are using Android devices? Any recommended apps? tweaks?

I dunno NOTHING about all this Rooting/Rom/Sideloading stuff, so any light and information/explanation would be awesome.

As far as I understand Rooting = Superuser access, Rom is like the OS and different builds of it and Sideloading is installing apps that are NOT from the marketplace BUT you need to have rooted your phone to do so..This all correct?

[thanu31]

Got the Galaxy S vibrant unlocked on my rogers line, almost same position as you, dont know anything about rooting and stuff.

Here to learn lol

[yearoftherat]

Here's a good forum to help you guys out:

http://androidforums.com/

[Mazda3X2]

Got the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant on Bell. Like it so far.

Curious to what the Froyo update brings us when it gets here.

[fourtrack78]

i got one for the wife last nite

[SilentJay]

Just picked up a Bell Vibrant last night, unlocked it, and put it on Rogers.


The Froyo 2.2 (which is already being released in some parts of EU) supposedly brings little tweaks here and there, but nothing earth-shattering. Anyone else experiencing not-so-stellar battery life? I know the CPU/GPU are power hogs, but the screen is supposed to be low consumption.

[thanu31]

yes^
Im only getting out about 8hours with data usage
If i play games, that goes down :(

[Kevin@nextmod]

Its normal on the droids. And don't trust the battery indicator on the top because its wrong. It might show its half but when you check you battery status in settings, it'll show like 35% left. What i use on my vibrant is time widget that my friend made. IT accurately shows the time percentage according to the settings from yoru phone. Also add in advance apps killer. Very useful for killing the apps that are still running after you've been using. I've managed to have my phone's battery last me average 3 days without charging.

[sevsev]

App killers aren't recommended, especially on 2.2

The phone manages it itself and it hurts more than helps. I was getting lots of force closes and weird things happening when using an app killer and now without it all is great

I'm running an unlocked HTC Legend on Rogers, switching to the Desire Z when it's released.

Also there is a battery trick that people have been saying works (on HTC's at least). Charge your phone for 8 or more hours while it's on, unplug and turn it off then charge for another hour, unplug and turn on for a couple minutes then turn off and charge for another hour. Some people are getting a good chunk of extra time out of their battery

[thanu31]

Its normal on the droids. And don't trust the battery indicator on the top because its wrong. It might show its half but when you check you battery status in settings, it'll show like 35% left. What i use on my vibrant is time widget that my friend made. IT accurately shows the time percentage according to the settings from yoru phone. Also add in advance apps killer. Very useful for killing the apps that are still running after you've been using. I've managed to have my phone's battery last me average 3 days without charging.

3 days....dam
is that with full data usage?

[kLuMzi]

The Froyo 2.2 (which is already being released in some parts of EU) supposedly brings little tweaks here and there, but nothing earth-shattering. Anyone else experiencing not-so-stellar battery life? I know the CPU/GPU are power hogs, but the screen is supposed to be low consumption.

Froyo should fix the lag issue for SGS. that's all i need, the rest is awesome on this phone

Also advanced task killer helped me alot with my battery life

[openuser]

Got Telus Moto Droid (Milestone) and got my sister a Droid 2..

I find the following apps really worth trying:

Astrid Tasks (Task list), Astro File manager, Better cut (for customizing desktop icons/label), K-9 Mail, Weatherbug or WeatherEye, SystemPanel (Phone CPU, Battery, Usage history for individual apps/overall), Wikidroid, Kindle, NewsRob (Google Reader)

For Google Branded apps
Gesture Search, Google Goggles, Google Shopper, Google Sky map

For keyboard - Smart Keyboard or Swype if you already have one



As for battery life, I get about 16 hours on average. (mild usage)

[SSmoked]

the best app for the andorids is "find my droid" my bro has it on his desire.

[bhrm]

HTC Legend on Bell.

Enjoying it except the random reboot crashes during calls.

[still2ill]

HTC magic with rogers

Amazing phone, I dont have any complaints for it except recently my battery has been dieing faster than before. I would be able to go without charging my phone for at least 2 nights but now I HAVE to charge it every night :(

My fav apps are...funny jokes, moron test, google sky map, movies and battery left

F an iphone/crackberry...DROID IS TAKING OVER

[Kappa]

i have the xperia x10 and its pissing me off.... i cant download anything from market... it always fails no matter how many times i try it.. and the update all button does the same thing.. pissed at my phone... atm..

[Aitch]

I picked up the HTC Desire about a month ago on Telus. Awesome phone, loving the HTC Sense system that is loaded on it. The best part about Froyo (2.2) is that apps can be loaded to the SD card. I was running out of room with a week of getting the phone, and couldn't wait for Telus to push the update out (apparently it will be mid-Nov or later) so I loaded the stock HTC 2.2 update (Euro only). You can do this without rooting, you just need to format your SD card to be non-carrier specific. Google "goldcard" if you're interested in this type of thing.

As far as apps go:
WidgetUnlocker - lockscreen replacement that can have multiple sliders, widgets, and you can interact with it without unlocking
Tasker - by far the most useful app; the ability to customize many many profiles and activate them based on numerous factors. The possibilities are nearly endless, although there is a bit of a learning curve. Having just a bit of basic experience with computer programming helps when trying to figure out how to set up the profiles. Can also control WidgetUnlocker, i.e. turn the lockscreen on and off for different profiles.
Quick Settings - for times when you have to adjust something that Tasker didn't take care of
K-9 mail
Handcent SMS
Folder Organizer Lite - allows you to switch icons, create smart folders (with different icons)
Tapatalk Pro - forum browsing made easy
ASTRO file viewer
Dropbox - the best mobile file syncing service, which you can use across all platforms
Due Today task list - syncs with Toodledo, which is great because I use that to sync with the PocketInformant app on my iPad. Also has a great widget. Waiting for PI to come to Android.
Ganalyticz - Google Analytics client, free and easy
Post-it Desk - free post-its widget
TD banking
Angry Birds - get it while its free (think it still is) its seriously addicting. Even to pay for it, its worth it.
Swype - best keyboard by far. They're trying to keep it for OEMs now, so you have to find a link to one of the beta releases. Still works just fine.
Fancy Widget - replica of the HTC clock/weather widget, which offers more customization and you can put it on the WidgetUnlocker screen. Also discontinued but again, you can find links to the older versions.

Note that out of all that, I only paid for Tasker and Tapatalk IIRC. Tapatalk its necessary to pay to have the option to reply to posts. I can get into more detail on Tasker if anyone's interested.

[SilentJay]

The one thing that's kind of annoying for me, is the abundance of Bell apps that occupy my application windows, that I can't remove.


For the x10, my gf has one and it annoys the hell out of her after playing with my Vibrant :chuckle Take heart though, the x10 is supposed to get 2.1 in the next few weeks, while my Vibrant is supposed to get 2.2 (aka flash10 support) in the same timeframe. The difference from the stock 1.6 to 2.1 is huge apparently!


Angrybirds is only free for some devices, it seems - it doesn't even come up on the x10, though there is an entry for AngryAvians for those who have rooted their phone.