Android apps
December 9, 2009 11:42 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for suggestions on Android Apps & widgets...
I'm after two things really...
The first is a general "what Android apps can you not live without? What really rocks?"
The second one is a specific problem I'm having with calendars. I've got a Google Calendar set up that also grabs feeds from my office and from my wife. HTC have a pretty cool little calendar widget that shows your next appointment in a 3x1 box. The problems is that appts for me and my wife are crowded out by stuff that my boss is doing. Are there any widgets out there that let you display the next appointment only from specific calendars BUT which don't hide the office entries when I go into the full calendar?
I'm after two things really...
The first is a general "what Android apps can you not live without? What really rocks?"
The second one is a specific problem I'm having with calendars. I've got a Google Calendar set up that also grabs feeds from my office and from my wife. HTC have a pretty cool little calendar widget that shows your next appointment in a 3x1 box. The problems is that appts for me and my wife are crowded out by stuff that my boss is doing. Are there any widgets out there that let you display the next appointment only from specific calendars BUT which don't hide the office entries when I go into the full calendar?
"CalWidget" doesn't support selection of calendars outside of the main calendar-app list, but it is on his to-do list and he's pretty active. (Be sure to donate if he adds it soon.)
posted by cmiller at 12:21 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by cmiller at 12:21 PM on December 9, 2009
I really like Weatherbug. The temperature is displayed at the top of my home-screen, so I always know how to dress before I leave the house. It also automatically alerts you to advisories, warnings, and amber alerts.
posted by a.steele at 12:47 PM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by a.steele at 12:47 PM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
Oh, that link says it's $2.99 a month but I'm using the free version. You can search for it in the android market.
posted by a.steele at 12:50 PM on December 9, 2009
posted by a.steele at 12:50 PM on December 9, 2009
Some of my favorites are:
Wapedia
Listen
Reddit is fun (not so great if you don't go on reddit of course....)
PrinterShare
Movies
and the newly released Google Goggles is very cool! Download just and play around with it!
posted by Funky Claude at 1:01 PM on December 9, 2009
Wapedia
Listen
Reddit is fun (not so great if you don't go on reddit of course....)
PrinterShare
Movies
and the newly released Google Goggles is very cool! Download just and play around with it!
posted by Funky Claude at 1:01 PM on December 9, 2009
I use Pure Calendar Widget. You can select which calendars to show on the widget itself, it also supports up to a 4x4 widget which will take up the whole screen. Well worth the ~$2USD I paid for it
-SMS Backup is great, I love how I can use my phone's gmail to search my sms messages. That might or might not be a good thing depending on who/what you message.
Sorry for linking to Androlib, their interface is so cluttered. I wish cyrket was still around.
posted by aGee at 1:08 PM on December 9, 2009
-SMS Backup is great, I love how I can use my phone's gmail to search my sms messages. That might or might not be a good thing depending on who/what you message.
Sorry for linking to Androlib, their interface is so cluttered. I wish cyrket was still around.
posted by aGee at 1:08 PM on December 9, 2009
Quick info dump copy/pasted from an email I recently sent a buddy who got a Droid; sorry for the stuff that's not 100% applicable to your question:
General apps/utilities:
AK Notepad -- great little notepad program.
Alarming! -- replacement for the alarm clock. Adds a ton of features. I think you can download the latest version free on their website (instead of the market); remind me and I can try to find that link.
StarContact -- alternate contact manager
Ring Toggle -- easily switch between ring+vibrate, ring, vibrate, silent
K-9 Mail -- I use it for exchange support; may not need this one
SimpleTimer
Google Sky Map -- super cool. Uses GPS and whatnot to show you where constellations are
Layar -- in theory very cool, overlays various things over google maps. Not a ton of content yet.
My Tracks -- can use this + GPS to track where you go. Kinda neat.
Locale -- I don't use this, but it's neat; basically, you set up specific settings (eg. turn wifi on/off) that get applied depending on where you are.
Places Directory
GMote -- install this on your phone, and an app on your computer, and you can control the computer with the phone, moving the mouse around with the touchscreen and stuff.
Barcode Scanner -- at the very least, it allows you to scan barcodes that link you to market apps
ShopSavvy -- uses barcode scanner to scan a barcode, and look up prices
SMS Backup
SMS Popup -- better SMS manager; can really manage the alerts that come in when an SMS comes in (change the LCD color, the vibrate pattern, etc to make it more noticeable), plus the popup is nice. There's also an app called Handcent (I think) that's another alternative that people like, though I don't use it.
Ultimate Stopwatch
Music/entertainment:
Shazam
Pandora
Listen
Mother TED -- easily browse/download TED lectures
StreamFurious
Sports scores: I don't _love_ any of these, but they do alright:
SportsTap
Scoreboard
Soccer LiveScores
Games: not quite all the ones I have on my phone. Generally in order of how much I've played them, though. Most are pretty simple.
Friction Mobile
Lexic -- word game
Trap!
Abduction!
ThrottleCopter
AirAttack Lite
Gem Miner
Flood-It!
FloodFill
Bonsai Blast
Orbs.Knockoff
Shot
Prime
Cestos
Pac-Man -- runs pretty crappy on my phone, could be better on yours.
Other (minor) tips I've thought of:
Some of these are probably obvious, and you've figured out already. Others may not be.
-- if you hold the Home button, after a couple seconds it brings up
the last 6 apps you ran
-- you can make links on the desktop to txt people / call people. I have, for example, a full screen of links to people I normally txt. You can also create a folder, and put those links in a specific folder.
-- you can also make links to web bookmarks on the desktop; I combine this with bookmarks I have at nextbus for my bus stop, to have links to my stops on the desktop (I don't know if you really take the bus, so this may not be as helpful for you)
posted by inigo2 at 3:09 PM on December 9, 2009 [6 favorites]
General apps/utilities:
AK Notepad -- great little notepad program.
Alarming! -- replacement for the alarm clock. Adds a ton of features. I think you can download the latest version free on their website (instead of the market); remind me and I can try to find that link.
StarContact -- alternate contact manager
Ring Toggle -- easily switch between ring+vibrate, ring, vibrate, silent
K-9 Mail -- I use it for exchange support; may not need this one
SimpleTimer
Google Sky Map -- super cool. Uses GPS and whatnot to show you where constellations are
Layar -- in theory very cool, overlays various things over google maps. Not a ton of content yet.
My Tracks -- can use this + GPS to track where you go. Kinda neat.
Locale -- I don't use this, but it's neat; basically, you set up specific settings (eg. turn wifi on/off) that get applied depending on where you are.
Places Directory
GMote -- install this on your phone, and an app on your computer, and you can control the computer with the phone, moving the mouse around with the touchscreen and stuff.
Barcode Scanner -- at the very least, it allows you to scan barcodes that link you to market apps
ShopSavvy -- uses barcode scanner to scan a barcode, and look up prices
SMS Backup
SMS Popup -- better SMS manager; can really manage the alerts that come in when an SMS comes in (change the LCD color, the vibrate pattern, etc to make it more noticeable), plus the popup is nice. There's also an app called Handcent (I think) that's another alternative that people like, though I don't use it.
Ultimate Stopwatch
Music/entertainment:
Shazam
Pandora
Listen
Mother TED -- easily browse/download TED lectures
StreamFurious
Sports scores: I don't _love_ any of these, but they do alright:
SportsTap
Scoreboard
Soccer LiveScores
Games: not quite all the ones I have on my phone. Generally in order of how much I've played them, though. Most are pretty simple.
Friction Mobile
Lexic -- word game
Trap!
Abduction!
ThrottleCopter
AirAttack Lite
Gem Miner
Flood-It!
FloodFill
Bonsai Blast
Orbs.Knockoff
Shot
Prime
Cestos
Pac-Man -- runs pretty crappy on my phone, could be better on yours.
Other (minor) tips I've thought of:
Some of these are probably obvious, and you've figured out already. Others may not be.
-- if you hold the Home button, after a couple seconds it brings up
the last 6 apps you ran
-- you can make links on the desktop to txt people / call people. I have, for example, a full screen of links to people I normally txt. You can also create a folder, and put those links in a specific folder.
-- you can also make links to web bookmarks on the desktop; I combine this with bookmarks I have at nextbus for my bus stop, to have links to my stops on the desktop (I don't know if you really take the bus, so this may not be as helpful for you)
posted by inigo2 at 3:09 PM on December 9, 2009 [6 favorites]
Must have: root access, CyanogenMod's latest stable or bleeding-edge ROM, depending on how much excitement you like.
Apps that require root access: WirelessTether, CM Updater, SetCPU, Swapper, TasKiller, TA Utility (I think it requires root, could be wrong)
General applications: Any Cut, CalWidget, Car Mode, Google Map with Navigation, Google Sky Map (more cool than necessary), K-9 Mail, Profiles, Phonalyzr, QuickOffice, ShopSavvy, SMS Popup, Snap Photo (free), Twidroid, Wapedia
posted by zippy at 7:53 PM on December 9, 2009
Apps that require root access: WirelessTether, CM Updater, SetCPU, Swapper, TasKiller, TA Utility (I think it requires root, could be wrong)
General applications: Any Cut, CalWidget, Car Mode, Google Map with Navigation, Google Sky Map (more cool than necessary), K-9 Mail, Profiles, Phonalyzr, QuickOffice, ShopSavvy, SMS Popup, Snap Photo (free), Twidroid, Wapedia
posted by zippy at 7:53 PM on December 9, 2009
Response by poster: inigo2 - if you hold the Home button, after a couple seconds it brings up the last 6 apps you ran
Now why the hell haven't they made a bigger noise about that...?
cmiller
I'll watch that guy, thanks.
everyone
Shazam is pretty damned cool. SkyMaps is beyond cool. It's going to take me some time to get through all of these.
posted by twine42 at 1:48 AM on December 10, 2009
Now why the hell haven't they made a bigger noise about that...?
cmiller
I'll watch that guy, thanks.
everyone
Shazam is pretty damned cool. SkyMaps is beyond cool. It's going to take me some time to get through all of these.
posted by twine42 at 1:48 AM on December 10, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by halogen at 11:50 AM on December 9, 2009