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The [Android] Thread: The root of all roms - market.android.com now live
Alegis
ImpeckableRegistered User regular
ImpeckableRegistered User regular
> new thread is up!
Welcome to the ever helpful Android thread!
Please touch the computer screen with your finger on your desired action:
You need to have threadOS v3.4 (Tiramisu) installed for the interactive touch screen menu to work. For those not running Tiramisu we provide an old-school legacy version below:
What's new in Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or 3.0 (Honeycomb, Tablets)?
Let's install some Apps!
Check the bottom of this post for the Appbrain profiles of other PAers so you can see what they have installed.
In addition, here are some general app recommendations per section:
Custom Homescreen & widgets:
Communication
Multimedia
System tools:
Text & References
Useful:
Useless but nerdy cool stuff:
Games
If you want to find and explore more apps or discover which apps PAers use it's recommended you take a look at:
Appbrain!
Welcome to the ever helpful Android thread!
Please touch the computer screen with your finger on your desired action:
Install Recommended Apps
Ask if the HTC HolyShitAmazing is a better choice than the Samsung Parallel Universe S or any other offering in the Google Phone Gallery
Tell Me About Rooting
Ask if the HTC HolyShitAmazing is a better choice than the Samsung Parallel Universe S or any other offering in the Google Phone Gallery
Tell Me About Rooting
You need to have threadOS v3.4 (Tiramisu) installed for the interactive touch screen menu to work. For those not running Tiramisu we provide an old-school legacy version below:
What's new in Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or 3.0 (Honeycomb, Tablets)?
Most of the new features in Gingerbread are behind-the-scenes performance improvements.
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.3-highlights.html
Some UI improvements, but not the complete overhaul that was rumored/expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx3pdWBlZ34
What about 3.0, Honeycomb?
Version tailered for tablets
What's new in Android 2.2? (Froyo)
The deal with task killer apps and why to avoid them:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.3-highlights.html
Some UI improvements, but not the complete overhaul that was rumored/expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx3pdWBlZ34
What about 3.0, Honeycomb?
Version tailered for tablets
What's new in Android 2.2? (Froyo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAZYSVr2Bhc
List of all the new (hidden) stuff in 2.2 for HTC Desire
* Speed
* App data backup
* Improved Enterprise / Exchange Support
* Push services - "Android Intent"
* Tethering / Mobile Hotspot
* Much faster browsing experience - V8 in browser
* New functionality in browser- Camera, orientation, geolocation
* Support for Adobe Flash and Adobe Air
* Search the Android Marketplace directly from Quick Search
* The ability to install applications on the SD card automatically
* One-button update or automatic update for apps
* The ability to purchase music from Android Marketplace (UPDATE: Not in 2.2. Probably 3.0)
* The ability to stream your own music from your desktop (UPDATE: Not in 2.2. Probably 3.0) Though there are apps for this
List of all the new (hidden) stuff in 2.2 for HTC Desire
Applications 'running' in the background are not necessarily running but in a sleeping state (for example: apps like gmail that check every x minutes for new mails). Killing these sleeping apps can decrease performance: the app needs to be restarted which brings it back into an active state - or it's not started anew at all and you lose functionality like mail notifications
There is a possibility some badly written app some does unnecessary polling of hardware in the background. You can try to spot these using 'monitor' apps like Watchdog
so in short: Task Killers: not a good idea in general
the longer story:
Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way
The effect of task killers on android
Some general App Tips & Tricks
There is a possibility some badly written app some does unnecessary polling of hardware in the background. You can try to spot these using 'monitor' apps like Watchdog
so in short: Task Killers: not a good idea in general
the longer story:
Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way
The effect of task killers on android
Stuff that's cool and/or useful and not immediately apparent. Check [post] to hit the post where it first appeared.
Add folders to the LauncherPro Dock bar [Post]
Swype: to immediately get a question mark, explanation point, hyphen or apostrophe instead of press-and-holding, swype to the spacebar (for question mark: swype from M to space bar immediately).
Don't forget to check out the other Swype tricks as well: http://www.swypeinc.com/10-ways-to-swype.html
Tasker: Read out SMSes while phone is in cardock: link.
Rooting: 'what's the deal'?
Add folders to the LauncherPro Dock bar [Post]
Get Apps Organizer (free). Label your games as "Games". Then use Desktop Visualizer to use an Icon to open Apps Organizer and the "Games" label. Voila, one icon on your desk, opens up into all your games. Click back to close.
Edit: Gah never mind you want the dock to launch it, my method for doing it on the desktop might work, let me test and get back here.
Edit2: It works, just long press on the dock space you want, hit "Shortcut", then choose Apps Organizer and Games, then pick the icon. Works exactly as above.
Swype: to immediately get a question mark, explanation point, hyphen or apostrophe instead of press-and-holding, swype to the spacebar (for question mark: swype from M to space bar immediately).
Don't forget to check out the other Swype tricks as well: http://www.swypeinc.com/10-ways-to-swype.html
Tasker: Read out SMSes while phone is in cardock: link.
'Do I need to root my phone to use my phone?'
No.
Android is a very open mobile OS, you can change all aspects ranging from homescreens to keyboards just fine without any kind of root unlock. Root is required if you wish to unlock certain permissions (e.g. adjusting the CPU speed) and/or install custom ROMs.
A custom ROM is a community-made modification of the Android OS, customizing it more in some way. Additional functionality (like joining ad-hoc wifi networks) or more sleek set-up (speed, control over battery life) can be gained and in some cases stability (more bugs) or your warranty lost.
'How do I get started?'
You will need to gain root access on your device and use a ROM specifically suited for your phone model.
Check the XDA dev forums, scroll down to the forums of your device and check out the Sticky threads. Be sure to follow them with care, backing up where they ask you to back-up your original stuff and using the right instructions for your device versions.
Rooting has its risks! Be prepared to have to tinker with your device in case shit goes wrong.
While flashing your device it's recommended not to charge the device - it may fool battery calibration a little bit (although that can be re-calibrated later).
Note that while rooted you may not be able to receive official OTA updates, or if you can - they will make you lose root. If you install a community ROM they will most likely incorporate the official update in a newer version.
There's an easy '1 button root' program called UNREVOKED which is compatible with the following devices:
All you need to do is make sure your drivers are set-up (USB debugging for Android) and then run the app. Windows users need to install hboot drivers as well.
There's a guide available that goes through the driver steps for the HTC Desire (likely similar for the other devices).
The ADB driver for HTC phones is usually included in HTC Sync (but make sure HTC Sync app itself is uninstalled before running unrevoked).
Recommended root apps:
SetCPU (free version can also be found on XDA)
Titanium Backup
ROM Manager
AdFree Android
ShootMe
Some example pimped homescreens from the thread:
No.
Android is a very open mobile OS, you can change all aspects ranging from homescreens to keyboards just fine without any kind of root unlock. Root is required if you wish to unlock certain permissions (e.g. adjusting the CPU speed) and/or install custom ROMs.
A custom ROM is a community-made modification of the Android OS, customizing it more in some way. Additional functionality (like joining ad-hoc wifi networks) or more sleek set-up (speed, control over battery life) can be gained and in some cases stability (more bugs) or your warranty lost.
'How do I get started?'
You will need to gain root access on your device and use a ROM specifically suited for your phone model.
Check the XDA dev forums, scroll down to the forums of your device and check out the Sticky threads. Be sure to follow them with care, backing up where they ask you to back-up your original stuff and using the right instructions for your device versions.
Rooting has its risks! Be prepared to have to tinker with your device in case shit goes wrong.
Also, before you do anything to your phone in recovery mode (you'll probably have to go there as part of the rooting process if you decide to, as well as if you are flashing any custom ROMs) make sure your battery is charged! If you're plugged in it won't charge while in recovery; this is probably the quickest way to brick your phone.
While flashing your device it's recommended not to charge the device - it may fool battery calibration a little bit (although that can be re-calibrated later).
Note that while rooted you may not be able to receive official OTA updates, or if you can - they will make you lose root. If you install a community ROM they will most likely incorporate the official update in a newer version.
There's an easy '1 button root' program called UNREVOKED which is compatible with the following devices:
unrevoked3 currently supports the following Android phones:
Sprint EVO 4G (HTC Supersonic)
Droid Incredible (HTC Incredible)
HTC Desire GSM
HTC Desire CDMA (HTC BravoC)
HTC Aria
Droid Eris (HTC DesireC)
HTC Wildfire (HTC Buzz)
All you need to do is make sure your drivers are set-up (USB debugging for Android) and then run the app. Windows users need to install hboot drivers as well.
There's a guide available that goes through the driver steps for the HTC Desire (likely similar for the other devices).
The ADB driver for HTC phones is usually included in HTC Sync (but make sure HTC Sync app itself is uninstalled before running unrevoked).
Recommended root apps:
SetCPU (free version can also be found on XDA)
Titanium Backup
ROM Manager
AdFree Android
ShootMe
Going to place some custom home screens posted in the thread here, as they're sleek and sexy and may serve as inspiration if you feel like customizing and tinkering a bit with your phone.
Post your own in the thread and let us know what you used to achieve the effect!
(most of these guys used launcher pro, but they detail the specific apps they use in posts following the images they posted)
Silas started this whole thing
s3rial one posts his work in progress
Allforce has a groovy abstract theme going on
phekno likes his phones bloody and sweet
Silas posting instructions for a special kind of fancy homescreen:
bullio posted a guide to get your notification bar black (fancier on some themes and black uses less resources to display on LCD)
example image:
Post your own in the thread and let us know what you used to achieve the effect!
(most of these guys used launcher pro, but they detail the specific apps they use in posts following the images they posted)
Silas started this whole thing
s3rial one posts his work in progress
Allforce has a groovy abstract theme going on
phekno likes his phones bloody and sweet
Silas posting instructions for a special kind of fancy homescreen:
An update and some helpful threads for anyone wanting to do something similar.
newone757's thread - The first, I think
h_zee13's thread - Widgets and stuff
Wheezy_be's thread - more icons and widgets in 7 colors
bullio posted a guide to get your notification bar black (fancier on some themes and black uses less resources to display on LCD)
example image:
Let's install some Apps!
Check the bottom of this post for the Appbrain profiles of other PAers so you can see what they have installed.
In addition, here are some general app recommendations per section:
Custom Homescreen & widgets:
- LauncherPro - Home screen launcher replacement. Very customizable. The paid pro version ($3) includes HTC Sense like widgets. Ars Technica review and guide with pics.
Alternative: ADW Launcher.
Snowstorm - Popular weather widget replacement - Multicon - Widget to place 4 smaller icons on the widget space of just 1 icon. If you really want to stuff your home screen.
- Digital Clock Widget - Another popular homescreen clock widget most peeps here use.
- Star Trek Combadge - Choose an action to launch when you click the fancy combadge. Engage!
- Beautiful Widgets - Paid app. Includes some widgets like clock/switch controls with skinning support.
Communication
- Handcent SMS - Replaces default SMS implementation, adding extra customization options for lay-out and feautures like pop-up windows.
- Skype - For Android 2.1 and up. Call skype friends over wifi.
- AndChat - IRC client for Android
- Google Voice - US only - Google Voice number on your phone, offering a different interface for your texting and calling needs. See the intro vid on the site for info.
- Alternative keyboards: Android supports keyboard replacements. Recommendations: Swype (not yet available on Market, but here is a beta), Swiftkey (free trial)
Multimedia
- Shazam -Let Shazam listen to songs for 30 seconds and it will show you the name and artist of the song. (No longer free unless you installed it earlier, 5 free tags a month limit. Alternatively: soundhound - also 5 tags/month limit for free version. You could use both and get 10 tags that way, or pay either to unlock full)
- Mp3 players - Doubletwist or Mixzing
- Pandora - Similar to last.fm radio. Search for an artist, stream radio of similar sounds
- Ringdroid - Easily turn any part of any mp3 into a ringtone.
- Internet browser replacements: Dolphin HD, Firefox, Opera Mini
System tools:
- Call Confirm - An extra prompt window to confirm you want to call someone.
- Estrong File Explorer - File explorer, browse internal/sd memory - install apps. Alternatively: Astro File Manager
- PDAnet - Free tethering: sharing the phone's internet connection with other devices. (Built-in in Android 2.2)
- Audiomanager - Home widget for easily managing all the different sound levels (alarm, ringtone,media) as well as vibration in one place.
- No Lock: enable/disable (widget) the 'slide' lock whenever the phone wakes up from standby.
- MyPhoneExplorer - This is a PC application to back-up/restore/manage your Android phone contacts/messages/etc.
- Spare Parts - Unlock easy access to some system options that can't be found in the default menus like wifi sleep policy and animation/font settings.
- Quick Settings - Quick access to some of the most-used settings like sound/wifi control. One screen accessible from search button.
- aLogCat - View logcat messages on your phone. Basically shows all the warnings/errors going on in your phone, convenient if you get force close windows to track down the issue.
- Tasker - ($) Automatize some actions like turning on wifi when you open some apps, read out SMS messages if you're in the car etc.
- App 2 SD (move apps to SD) - App will notify you which apps you have that can be moved to the SD (2.2 Froyo only). It will notify you when you install new apps that can be moved.
Text & References
- Wapedia - Wikipedia in mobile form. Alternatively: Quickpedia or mobile.wikipedia.org
- 3banana - Take notes and sync with your snaptic account
- RSS readers: Newsrob is a Google Reader client with offline sync. Google Reader has an official app with nicer interface but lacks the offline cache. Pulse has a fancy image interface but only for select feeds (like engadget).
- Epicurious - Cooking guide, search for recipes from Epicurious.
- Aedict - Japanese/English offline dictionary with Kanji search. Indispensable when going to Japan. For kanji search: use search by radical, which is the stroke count of the kanji (+- 2) and the 'sections' called radicals, sorted by the amount of strokes.
- Many newspapers like NYTimes have their own android widgets.
Useful:
- Barcode Scanner - Essential - use the phone's camera to scan barcodes/QR codes.
- Easy Spirit Level - Your phone is now a spirit level, congratulations
- Cardiotrainer - Useful for fitness exercises. Turn on your GPS when you take a run around the block and it will save your trajectory which you can view on your stats page. Plenty of alternative apps out there.
- Astrid - Personal task manager (to-do lists)
- Gmote - Stream music from your desktop to your android or use your phone as an input device via Wifi (useful for presentations).
- Chrome to Phone (Android 2.2 only). Install chrome to phone from the market, install the chrome extension (Firefox exention is called FoxToPhone) - send URLs, maps etc directly to phone through the android internets cloud.
- Handycalc - Scientific calculator including unit conversion, graphs etc.
- Alarm Clock Plus - Extensive alarm clock replacement with options like setting dates, crescendo volume, snooze & math question settings etc.
- Dropbox - Access your Dropbox folder easily from your phone, share taken photos etc easily by sending them straight to your dropbox.
Useless but nerdy cool stuff:
- Google Sky Maps - Point at the sky, see star names. Sure to impress your ladyfriends.
- Solaris - Is there an electromagnetic storm in your area? What's the auroral activity like in the north? See it on a 3D earth.
- Tricorder - Congratulations, your android phone is now a tricorder. Measure the magnetic field around you among other things.
Games
- WordFeud - Play 1v1 scrabble at your own pace. Play in up to 20 games at once, challenge other PAers!
To challenge or add PAers to your friends list and gloat with your score:
check the Android Wordfeud thread - Alchemy - Combine elements (starting from water, earth, wind and fire) to form new elements. Gotta catch 'em all.
- Barr - Time management in a pirate barr. Link goes to forum post in thread
- What the Doodle!? - Draw words online, opponent has to guess
- Throttlecopter - The classic helicopter game - press to ascend, release to descend
- Wikipathia - Find the quickest path between two random wikipedia articles.
- Abduction - Doodlejump clone
- Project INF - Multiplayer top-down shooter.
- Fruit Ninja - You cut fruit. Show 'em who's boss. 1$, pretty fun
- Shortyz Crosswords - It's crosswords. Everybody loves crosswords!
- Jewels - Bejeweled
- Angry Birds - Fling angry birds at pigs in wooden/glass constructs. Popular iPhone game free for android.
If you want to find and explore more apps or discover which apps PAers use it's recommended you take a look at:
Appbrain!
Discover and explore apps, add them to your download queue and the AppBrain app on your phone will install/update all your selected applications. Convenient when filling up your phone for the first time.
http://www.appbrain.com
Find out which apps PA forumers have installed (and stalk them using the Appbrain Follow feature): (post yours in the thread to have it added!)
http://www.appbrain.com
Find out which apps PA forumers have installed (and stalk them using the Appbrain Follow feature): (post yours in the thread to have it added!)
Alegis on
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No sane man could hope to keep up with the Android phone launch list,
which is why Google employs an army of insane men to update the Google Phone gallery:
If you don't want to click the image you can click this instead
There's a 'compare feature', pictures, specifications and list of offered phones by carrier.
older, slightly out-dated round-up post by rndmhero
Any idea what's up with that?
I take offense
Going to bed in a bit, I'll take a shot at hardware round-up and rooting tomorrow. Haven't had the urge to root myself so never bothered. Feel free to suggest some or explore appbrain profiles or your appbrain recommended apps list.
also the Droid X and Droid 2 to the Verizon lineup
Yes, they are so breautiful.
excitement!
I think it's a Motorola thing because the same thing happened to the Droid 1.
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
I was about to say the same. I think you can turn off vibrate for total silence, but you have to go through settings and fuck around. Unfortunately it's kind of all or nothing that way.
And the Captivate to AT&T.
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Well, assuming it's an app store. Only thing I saw was that Amazon is reaching out to developers for Android and then having them sign some NDA before they hear the details. *shrug*
My logical conclusion is we can expect an Amazon Android phone soonish. Or maybe a tablet, or Kindle integration. That would be interesting.
If it's buried in settings normally, would something like the Quick Settings app give you a faster way to do that (albeit still having to use the screen).
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
That's what I was thinking, yes. Potentially making the kindle run a modified Android OS. Man that'd be interesting.
The best part of this app is the comments.
This could be really interesting.
But nope, it looks pretty solid that Amazon is going to launch their own app store.
Copy and pasted from TechCrunch because I didn't see the link on their RSS feed.
We’re still going over the details, but if the information we’ve obtained is accurate, it appears there are a number of interesting tidbits around payments paid out through this store. And a number of new restrictions. Ugh.
Amazon’s entry into the Android app space follows Verizon’s move into the area as well with the forthcoming V Cast apps. I can’t wait to hear what Google thinks about all this competition on their devices. Hopefully Google CEO Eric Schmidt will talk about it tomorrow at TechCrunch Disrupt.
Update: Okay, some details:
* For each sale of an App, we will pay you a royalty equal to the greater of 70% of the purchase price or 20% of the List Price as of the purchase date (70/30 is standard, this 20/80 split is somewhat odd and confusing)
* The List Price is apparently in place so that you can’t sell your app cheaper on other “similar services” — meaning other app stores, presumably
* The “similar services” should also include the forthcoming Chrome Web Store, if I’m reading this correctly
* There is a $99 fee to be a developer in this program (the same as Apple’s iOS developer program)
* It seems like if your app is available on other platforms, you have to make sure to update it at the same time on Amazon’s store that you do in any other store (this will piss off a lot of developers)
* Apps will have to be laced with Amazon DRM — meaning they will only work on devices they approve (obviously)
* Amazon has the right to pull any app for any reason (obviously)
* Apps can also be shown on amazon.com (this is up to Amazon)
* You can offer free apps
* The app store is U.S.-only (at least for now)
* This part is interesting too: “We have sole discretion to determine all features and operations of this program and to set the retail price and other terms on which we sell Apps.”
Those are the details for now. It’s not entirely clear how closed or open this store will be. Also not clear is what Android devices this store (and its apps) will run on. More to come, I’m sure.
Also coming are rumors of an Android based Amazon tablet.
Of course, the only thing I ever run that could possibly bother me with all mobile networks/data off is my morning alarm clock. YMMV.
I'm guessing this is probably related, and should really start using Tasker to keep data off and poll once an hour, or so.
But the Amazon marketplace annoys me, as does the Verizon one :x
it's possible there are free alternatives just for the focus thing
That does look good, but I'm not sure about buying apps on the off-chance. Thanks for the help though.
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
Its Froyo, its good. Flash and other things.
http://androidcommunity.com/nexus-one-gets-froyo-2-2-1-update-available-to-install-now-manually-20100924/