Android Phones

[malcolmjamalawesome]

Who's got one? What apps are you digging?

[JClemy]

I love my android. Micdroid is kinda fun. It's the "I am Tpain" app only free. Pretty much all the google apps are amazing.

Shazzam, foursquare(stupid but fun), Evernote(which is cool but I never use), gigbox, IMDB, Movies, Ochocinco, Netcounter, Ringdroid, Torrentfu, Yelp.

They are all pretty good. You guys have better apps in America though.

I just did an article on why I chose my android.

http://www.gamerwok.com/main/2010/8/...-mobility.html

[bleep]

CNET Audio and Twit For Android for all my geeky podcasts. A Online Radio to stream KEXP. Yelp and Twitter are my necessaries for food and real-time searches. that's pretty much it, i like to keep it simple.

[shoegazer76]

Postin from mine right now. I've got the Motorola milestone. I've had some issues with the mic. People are complaining they can't hear me unless I hold the phone just right. As far as apps go I'm diggin the shit outta Shop Savy cause I'm a hustla baby. I go thriftin and pick up finds to sling so this app comes in handy during certain situations. Craigslist app is o.k. too. Weather bug app is on point. The barcode reader is awesome. There are tons of free apps worth testing.

[Boourns]

I just got a free upgrade to an LG Ally and have really been enjoying it. Short battery life, but I guess that's to be expected. Micdroid is lots of fun.

[faxman75]

Torrent-fu is the most brilliant app ever made,if you like to steal media.

[M Sparks]

I just got a Droid X. Google Goggles is fun, and I want to take Google Sky out, but you can't see any damn stars in Phoenix.

[tessalasset]

I'm glad we have this thread so I can rant/ask questions.

I don't download hardly any apps on my phone because the battery dies SO FUCKING QUICKLY!!! I swear to god, I make ten text messages and the battery loses a bar. It's ridiculous. I carry my ipod touch with me, too, so any time I'm in an area with wifi I prefer to use that over my phone. I have the first Motorola Droid (the one without the slide out keyboard). Speaking of which, the ipod keyboard is so much easier to use.

I haven't spent many hours researching to try to figure out how to use everything on my phone (I was a little ticked they give you pretty much a six-page booklet instead of a full comprehensive book like every other phone I've ever gotten). But this thing doesn't seem as instinctive as it should to me. I feel like I have to do three things to get one thing done. It lags like CRAZY. When I open the phone app, it'll take like five full seconds to update the most recent calls, so half the time I end up tapping someone's name I don't mean to call.

I feel like I must just be retarded with this phone, and it should be a lot better than I think it is, but I don't want to spend hours online trying to figure out how to streamline it.

Also the camera is absolutely horrible. I was just complaining about that with someone Saturday night. Five megapixels is nice, but when every fucking thing you take a picture of comes out blurry, it doesn't matter if it's high res. There's no flash, yet there's a little hole next to the lens which looks like one. It is not ergonomically comfortable for me to press the track ball to take the picture - is it possible to just press the screen like on an iphone? Right now if I want to take a good, in-focus picture of something, I have to use one hand to steady the phone and one hand to take the picture. There has to be an easier way. And forget trying to take decent concert pics. After you press the track ball, it still takes seconds for the lens to shut, so by the time you take that picture of Kevin Drew's face right in front of you, he's halfway across the stage. So, so frustrating.

Any tips or shortcuts you can recommend? I want to like my phone so badly, but this thing just makes me wish I had my old Verizon enV back.

[mountmccabe]

I did not know (and can't find any info on) a version of the Moto Droid without a slideout keyboard so I'mn't sure what you're working with. It almost sounds like you've got a Droid Eris but that's by HTC.

I have the Moto Droid (w/slide out keyboard) and yeah, the stock camera app has been OK for landscapes but I've gotten almost nothing worthwhile in terms of concert photography. And yes, on the stock camera app here there is an onscreen button that one can use to take photos. Even if your stock app doesn't have such a button I will be that there's a camera app in the market that does have one (I have not tried different camera apps.)

I've seen different Onscreen Keyboard apps in the market, too, but, again, I haven't looked because I almost exclusively use my slideout or voice text.

One thing that may help you find options is AppBrain, which is an app review site. You can get an AppBrain app for your phone so then it'll know what you already have on your phone and can access their reviews, etc from there, too.

I also do not have such issues with battery life; I got through all of Coachella with one charge and two spare batteries.

[mountmccabe]

Also one of the reasons I think I'm doing well with my phone is that I DO like spending time trying out different apps and configurations. I love the variety of options, even if many of them are terrible.

Also I've finally found a good Flickr app, Flickr Free. I can actually upload with this app (without causing a FC) and can customize pretty much everything on that upload. Good for browsing your photostream, too.


Also RingDroid can be used for cutting ringtones from mp3s (I just always use Audacity on my computer) but what it really does best is make accessing the music files you have easier from various other apps (Alarm Clock, setting notifications and contact ringtones, etc)

[malcolmjamalawesome]

I'm in the process of using Ringdroid to make this the alarm on my Droid Incredible:

[Mr. Fuzz]

Magical

[faxman75]

I'm glad we have this thread so I can rant/ask questions.

I don't download hardly any apps on my phone because the battery dies SO FUCKING QUICKLY!!! I swear to god, I make ten text messages and the battery loses a bar. It's ridiculous.

Try turning off background data in your settings. Also, turn down your brightness as much as tolerable. This will help a great deal with your battery. The background data especially. The only reason you really need to keep on background data is to access the markteplace (which it will prompt you to turn it on when you go there anyway) and if you like to get instant notifications for all of your apps, whenever there are updates, you will still get those whenever you turn it back on but it won't be running constantly and draining your batter, also turn off auto sync for your e-mail . If you are ok with checking your e-mail on your time, this will work and should dramatically increase your battery life. You will still get phone calls and texts messages. I also have wifi, bluetooth and auto sync turned off. Other things that I don't use that can drain your battery are live wallpapers and blue tooth. Bluetooth doesn't drain a bunch but again, all of these things running at the same time will have an impact. When I first got my phone my battery wouldn't make it through the day. After these changes the life literally doubled.


As far as the camera go, I completely agree. I was so excited about the 5MP it was boasting only to see some crappy quality photos. They failed here, no question. I have found an app that I like and slightly improved (nothing dramatic) and also has a bunch of other cool features and recieved a number of good reviews on line and in the market place. It's the only app I have paid for and I think it was about $5. I'm pleased with it but still disapointed in the camera in general. The fact is, there is nothing that is going to make the camera good in low light. It's simply not going to happen or be useful for night time shots. It is however fine for daylight shots and sunny outdoor coachella photo's. I use Pro Zoom Camera 5X for pictures. It actually has a bit of a zoom since the stock camera doesn't include any. It's not much but it's better.

Here is an example of a concert photo though from this past Saturday night. I was front row Mezz so above the stage but the zoom helped and even though it was low light, the picture came out ok enough, much better than I could have done with the stock IMO.

[Mr. Fuzz]

ghey

[faxman75]

Whoah, that's pretty clever to spell it that way. I'm going to keep looking at pictures of pretty girls playing beautiful music while you figure out trendy internet lingo.

[PotVsKtl]

NewsRoom, Astrid, Dolphin Browser, Torrent-fu, Cubed, Gmote. Oh, and root it for the wireless tether.

[wscmx13]

I love my Droid X.It can only get better with Android 2.2 upgrade

[guedita]

The Daily Dilbert app is a hoot. Daily.

[I.F.A.]

I just got the T-mobile MyTouch (after having bitched for a year about how I just wanted a "dumb" phone that made calls... I'm a dirty hypocrite) and I love it.

I'm still trying to figure it all out, but so far so good. The only thing that annoys me so far is that I get double alerts when I get a new e-mails, but I assume there's a way to turn off or uninstall one of them.

Which, how do I uninstall apps? Bueller?

[mountmccabe]

NewsRoom, Astrid, Dolphin Browser, Torrent-fu, Cubed, Gmote. Oh, and root it for the wireless tether.

Astird can die in a smouldering fire. Dolphin seems to have as many upsides (easy tabbed browsing) as downsides (bookmarks eat it.)

I have Gmote but've never used it. Cubed looks like it could be good.



Amy I am sure there's a way through Settings but I'm unfamiliar with your phone type. You can uninstall via the market, though (as long as it'sn't a stock app.)

[faxman75]

Which, how do I uninstall apps? Bueller?

Should be settings>applications>>manage applications>>>click on the application you want to uninstall and then you will have the option to either clear cache or uninstall the app.

[I.F.A.]

Thanks!

[PotVsKtl]

Cubed looks like it could be good.

The actual cube interface is a little too gimmicky for me but there's also a "Wall" view mode that just displays all the album art in a scrollable list (and fetches missing art automatically.) Better functionality imo, not advertised with the app.

[I.F.A.]

Also, I LOVE the Pandora app. LOVE!

[wscmx13]

the Last Fm app is pretty rad

[tessalasset]

I did not know (and can't find any info on) a version of the Moto Droid without a slideout keyboard so I'mn't sure what you're working with. It almost sounds like you've got a Droid Eris but that's by HTC.

My bad. Eris is what I have.

[M Sparks]

Oh, and root it for the wireless tether.

It's built in on the Droid X!

[captncrzy]

Marc's Droid told me I'm not very good at animals.

[PotVsKtl]

It's built in on the Droid X!

That's crazy, do they explicitly say there's no penalty for tethered bandwidth? Up until now manufacturers have sort of just turned a blind eye.

[M Sparks]

My bad. Eris is what I have.

There seems to be a lot of confusion on this. Droid is the brand name of certain Android phones on Verizon, although they are made by different companies. I had lunch with someone today that had told me she got a Droid a while back. I said something about hers having a keyboard and she said it didn't. She pulled it out and it was some candybar shaped Android phone from T-Mobile. (Which really should have had a slider keyboard because it was super thick anyway, and had a very small screen.)