The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
The Android Thread - Oh hey, Google is pretty cool.
Visti
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
What is Android
From Android's own site:
Introducing Android
Android Developers wrote:Androidâ„¢ delivers a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is now available.
Open
Android was built from the ground-up to enable developers to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer. It was built to be truly open. For example, an application can call upon any of the phone's core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users. Android is built on the open Linux Kernel. Furthermore, it utilizes a custom virtual machine that was designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment. Android is open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge. The platform will continue to evolve as the developer community works together to build innovative mobile applications.
All applications are created equal
Android does not differentiate between the phone's core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone's capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users are able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos.
Breaking down application boundaries
Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual's mobile phone -- such as the user's contacts, calendar, or geographic location -- to provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer can build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.
Fast & easy application development
Android provides access to a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used to build rich applications. For example, Android enables developers to obtain the location of the device, and allows devices to communicate with one another enabling rich peer-to-peer social applications. In addition, Android includes a full set of tools that have been built from the ground up alongside the platform providing developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.
Which Phones Does Android Run On
The HTC Dream, AKA The G1:
The HTC Sapphire AKA The HTC Magic / G2
The HTC Hero
The Samsung I7500
And it has been hacked onto a number of existing devices as shown by this wiki-stolen list:
* The Openmoko phones (Neo FreeRunner and Neo 1973) have limited support since Google's release of the Android source code on 21 October 2008.[47] As of 4 November 2008 (2008 -11-04)[update], the whole source stack compiles, with the kernel, user interface and most applications working, but telephony, SMS, suspend/resume and wifi, which rely on lower level hardware features, are not fully working.[48][49] In early 2009 Cupcake images were demonstrated and available as flashable images.[50]
* Motorola A1200 Ming[51]
* HTC Kaiser: a port is in progress, not all features work at the moment[52]
* HTC Vogue[53]
* HTC Touch Diamond: not all functions work (including Wifi)[54][citation needed]
* HTC Touch Pro[55]
* Nokia N810[56][57]
* Nokia 770[58]
* Asus EEEPC 701[citation needed]
* Asus EEEPC 1000H[59]
* Touch Book from Always Innovating[60]
* Dell Axim x51v [61]
* HTC Touch HD : similar to the Touch Diamond, not all features work such as wifi and audio during voice calls[62]
* Samsung Omnia: basic functions (no camera or wifi, occasional blockage, needs to be installed on an SD card) [63]
* Sharp Zaurus: Running basic version [64]
* Motorola A1200 Ming[51]
* HTC Kaiser: a port is in progress, not all features work at the moment[52]
* HTC Vogue[53]
* HTC Touch Diamond: not all functions work (including Wifi)[54][citation needed]
* HTC Touch Pro[55]
* Nokia N810[56][57]
* Nokia 770[58]
* Asus EEEPC 701[citation needed]
* Asus EEEPC 1000H[59]
* Touch Book from Always Innovating[60]
* Dell Axim x51v [61]
* HTC Touch HD : similar to the Touch Diamond, not all features work such as wifi and audio during voice calls[62]
* Samsung Omnia: basic functions (no camera or wifi, occasional blockage, needs to be installed on an SD card) [63]
* Sharp Zaurus: Running basic version [64]
Android Market
I guess some recommended apps should go here.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Visti on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Good apps:
Twidroid - the best Twitter app
Movie Finder - the best movie showtimes app, has direct links to IMDb pages, trailers, and stuff
Places Directory - Google's Places Directory shows you places around you!
Ringdroid - cut 30 seconds from any song on your phone and it's a ringtone! for free!
Sky Map - shows you what the stars in the sky are called and is really neat because it works with the compass in your phone!
PhoneFlicks - manage your Netflix account on your phone!
ShopSavvy - best barcode scanning price comparison app on the market!
and don't forget widgets! I like the Retro Clock widget, the Weather Widgets, and the BBC News widget
Another completely need-to-have app is TasKiller or equivalent. The open apps really start piling up and I find it a good practice to just open up TasKiller and nuke everything with the big red button after I'm done doing stuff. Paid version apparently lets you kill everything as a one-click shortcut. Sounds handy.
I'm also using Facebook Lite, which is mostly just a tiny browser that opens Facebook with special menu items for it, but its handy.
Then I use AndNav2 a lot, because it lets you download maps from your PC, so you can actually use the GPS while offline.. I don't know why none of the others include this. It was a lifesaver for me. Features turn-by-turn navigation and voice. 2 isn't on the market yet, but one can get it from their site.
Also www.cyrket.com let's you browse the market from your PC. Neat! Which brings me to another awesome app.. or awesome concept, because there are a lot of apps like it. I use ixmat scanner to scan qr barcodes that can launch websites, smses and stuff by you scanning an image with the camera. There's one on every app on Cyrket, so you can just scan the barcode and get the straight download link..
I had the Hero ROM on my Magic for a while and now I can't wait for multi-touch and flash in the browser to get to the Magic "natively".
Edit: I could drop a few Hero ROM screenshots from my Magic a bit later if anybody's interested. The UI is neat, but it changes how you use the phone a lot. No menu when sliding your finger up, for example. Now it's a button press.
2nd edit: Setting up screenshotting is a little tricky, but once it's up it's pretty cool.
Developer's website
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_K76rVIB-o
Do you have a G1, Centipede?
Only free apps in Europe? That seems kind of odd.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
The 100 megs of RAM don't really seem to make much of a difference in app performance, so it's mostly going to determine if you get the Sense upgrade or not. And I wasn't too fond of it. I hope they make it optional.
Also, was it Verizon that got the gimped Magic or was that Vodafone?
Same thing with Rogers, currently.
Are you a bad enough dude to install Android on the Touch Pro 2?
I was pretty sure that I'd miss having a physical keyboard, but the magic really impressed me. I've written every post in this thread on it.
Oh, and it's pretty easy to enable paid apps anyway, so I'm not that bothered.
Anyone else rooted their phone?
Yep, I've been running Cyanogen's builds for a while, they're quite nice.
Those looked nice! I wish somebody would make a ROM for Magic (Rogers/Scandinavia) that was optimized for speed instead of just putting more crap in it.
Also, whoever at T-mo decided to rename it the "myTouch 3G" should be fired, and maybe shot. That is probably the dumbest name I can think of. I mean, "HTC Magic" is kind of a dumb name, but that is just eye-throbbingly dumb.
"It's called the what?"
"The myTouch."
"What about your touch?"
"No no, your touch."
"My touch?"
"Exactly."
Of course, I always preface this the same way I do Linux. If you're interested in trying to push stuff to the limit once in a while, it's so for you. If you're not that bothered, it would still be a great set, but other stuff would be just as good, possibly even nicer.
I've been using SpeedHUD. You turn it on and place your g1 on your dashboard. The reflection from the window to the dash projects your current speed, heading, and acceleration along with graphs for the latter two in a transparent format in front of your eyes. So far, I love every second of it.
It also has an "over speed" warning for if you're going too fast. Of course you can adjust how fast "too fast" is. It has an audible warning something like a jet pilot being told to pull up when you're going to hit the ground.
My biggest complain with the G1, not Android, is the fact that I cant plug in headphones AND charge the phone at the same time! Whos damned idea was that?
Of course you can't! How would they get you to buy this fucker if you could?
Also, that HUD thing is insane. I want a car now.
Is anybody interested in developing for Android? I've been looking at it a little and it seems.. almost too easy.
Check out who I'm following, ie. Moblin, Jolicloud, UbuntuGeek, etc..
I'm gonna have to check out Bloo, the Fbook app is just atrocious.
Check out Babbler lite, it's free and there's a paid version. Pretty good for being free and I'm not sure if I'll switch to a paid version of either that one or bloo yet.
And I'm surprised no one's mentioned TuneWiki. I had no idea it worked with Last.Fm, and having a widget for it just makes it all that more awesome.
Also.. Bloo is the best thing since sliced bread. Uploading photos straight to facebook? Yes, please. Finger-friendly interface, yes please. A hyperactive, friendly developer with an up-to-date blog, fucks yeah.
P.S. The 'Tab' is a contract, just different.
XBL: Chewyy
Steam: chuvakie
Pro-tip: the soft keyboard is amazing. I'm sloppily hitting every other key correctly and it still predicts my text like 95% of the time. And when it doesn't, it's always on press away from being corrected. Across the three languages I use.
XBL: Chewyy
Steam: chuvakie
Now the Hero....
And Tunewiki is one of those social music things that keeps track of what music you play, you can compare it agaisnt other people, blah, blah. It also displays the lyrics to music as long as it is in their databased, and you would be surprise the stuff they have.
The thing that makes it so cool for me on the G1 is:
1)Integrated last.fm and shoutcast. Really cool having those two things in one app.
2)The music widget, which took place of my default music widget. I can use it to switch between songs stored on my card, lastfm and shoutcast pretty easily.
Also, I do believe the Magic is a lot slimmer than the G1. And I'm not even sure I like the look of the G1.
I bet there are some comparison vids on youtube, if you'd like to investigate further.
It is pretty easy.
I spent a couple of hours playing around with the SDK and wrote an app to generate a pin code for a system I use at work.
This is from someone who has never written any Java before, so I guess it's super easy.
Tall-Paul MIPsDroid
Lots of handhelds in the future, which is good. I figure by the time my 2 year contract expires on my G1 there will be plenty of android stuff to choose from.
XBL: Chewyy
Steam: chuvakie