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The [Android] thread - Phones and tablets in all shapes, sizes and desert flavors
Alegis
ImpeckableRegistered User regular
ImpeckableRegistered User regular
Welcome to the Android thread!
Here to help you put [stuff] on your phone/not-a-phone-with-a-big-screen.
Don't have one of the Android phones yet? You will ... soon
I for one welcome our Android overlords
>tips
The deal with task killer apps and why to avoid them:
>install some apps!
You can check out some apps on the web and queue them for install on either the official market.android.com.
See the bottom of this post for the appbrain profiles of other PA forumers (see what they have installed).
Check out apps made by 'Google Inc.' for official Google apps like Google Goggles and Google Translate
some other recommendations:
$APPS FOR FREE!
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 profiles
> other questions
I want the cheapest accessories for my phone!
Here to help you put [stuff] on your phone/not-a-phone-with-a-big-screen.
Don't have one of the Android phones yet? You will ... soon
I for one welcome our Android overlords
>tips
The deal with task killer apps and why to avoid them:
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
Rooting: 'what's the deal'? Do I have to root? what do I get/lose?
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
'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. You're no longer reliant on your manufacturer or carrier to push android updates to your phone. You could for example run a modified gingerbread (Android 2.3.3) on your ZTE Blade phone instead of Android 2.1 eclair.
Root also opens the door for automatic battery modifications by automatically underclocking your CPU when your phone is idle or screen turned off. Some ROMs have kernels that support advanced 'governor' settings so you don't have to tweak with profile settings either.
'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.
a few basic terms:
ROM: this is the OS you'll be flashing to your device. Examples include official ROMs, Cyanogenmod etc.
Recovery Mode: when you boot your phone to recovery mode (usually volume down + boot) you hit recovery mode. Rooting your phone installs a custom recovery mode (usually either clockworkmod or amonra) from which you can flash .zip files to your phone, such as the ROM you want to install
Nandroid: in Recovery mode you can make a complete system image back-up of your phone to which you can restore to. It is recommended to _always_ do this before wiping your phone and flashing a rom. This way you can return your phone to the complete image state it was before.
Radio: The firmware of the cellular radio can also be flashed, check the ROM page for which radio version is recommended.
when flashing a ROM of a different version (custom ROM or android version) you should wipe your device in recovery mode first. As such, you'll need to make a back-up of your messages, call logs, contacts etc first. Titanium Backup pro works (but requires root first, so root first, then back-up, then flash the ROM).
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.
Recommended root apps:
SetCPU, Titanium Backup, ROM Manager, ADFree Android, ShootMe (Screenshots)
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. You're no longer reliant on your manufacturer or carrier to push android updates to your phone. You could for example run a modified gingerbread (Android 2.3.3) on your ZTE Blade phone instead of Android 2.1 eclair.
Root also opens the door for automatic battery modifications by automatically underclocking your CPU when your phone is idle or screen turned off. Some ROMs have kernels that support advanced 'governor' settings so you don't have to tweak with profile settings either.
'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.
a few basic terms:
ROM: this is the OS you'll be flashing to your device. Examples include official ROMs, Cyanogenmod etc.
Recovery Mode: when you boot your phone to recovery mode (usually volume down + boot) you hit recovery mode. Rooting your phone installs a custom recovery mode (usually either clockworkmod or amonra) from which you can flash .zip files to your phone, such as the ROM you want to install
Nandroid: in Recovery mode you can make a complete system image back-up of your phone to which you can restore to. It is recommended to _always_ do this before wiping your phone and flashing a rom. This way you can return your phone to the complete image state it was before.
Radio: The firmware of the cellular radio can also be flashed, check the ROM page for which radio version is recommended.
when flashing a ROM of a different version (custom ROM or android version) you should wipe your device in recovery mode first. As such, you'll need to make a back-up of your messages, call logs, contacts etc first. Titanium Backup pro works (but requires root first, so root first, then back-up, then flash the ROM).
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.
Recommended root apps:
SetCPU, Titanium Backup, ROM Manager, ADFree Android, ShootMe (Screenshots)
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!
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!
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:
>install some apps!
You can check out some apps on the web and queue them for install on either the official market.android.com.
See the bottom of this post for the appbrain profiles of other PA forumers (see what they have installed).
Check out apps made by 'Google Inc.' for official Google apps like Google Goggles and Google Translate
some other recommendations:
$APPS FOR FREE!
- On Getjar paid apps are added to their 'Getjar Gold' list for free every week. Downside is you lose out on auto-update.
- Amazon Appstore has a free daily app. US Only
Custom Homescreen & widgets:
- Home screen replacements: Both Go Launcher and ADW Launcher are very solid customizable launchers.
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 - Includes some widgets like clock/switch controls with skinning support. Available for free on Getjar
Communication
- Texting replacement: Go SMS Pro or Handcent SMS - Both replace SMS and add 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 X (Free on getjar.com)
- K-9 Mail - popular e-mail client, in case you don't use gmail or don't like the stock gmail client.
- Kakao talk - Text iphone/android friends with this app over the internet rather than regular text. See also: WhatsApp which is free for the first year of use.
- SMS Backup+ - (Automatically) back-up or restore your SMS to your GMail.
Multimedia
- Soundhound or Shazam - Have your phone listen to any song playing and identify it for you.
- 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.
- Titanium Backup (requires root) - Make a back-up of anything, avoid the red apps. For non-root users, you can find back-up apps for other data (call logs, contacts, messages in particular - stuff you want to keep when you do a full wipe of your phone when switching ROMs) on the market or included in other apps like your messaging app.
- SetCPU (requires root) - Donate version also available on the android market. Underclock your phone to save battery when you don't need the extra processing power. Depending on your ROM kernel it may support some automatic profiles (governors) so you don't even have to define some (like 'underclock while screen off' etc).
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). GReader is another google reader app (with offline sync).
- Epicurious - Cooking guide, search for recipes from Epicurious.
- Many newspapers like NYTimes have their own android widgets.
- Evernote - take mental notes. If you want a more simple note app: Colornote
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. Alternative: Words with Friends will allow you to play vs iPhone bearing humans
To challenge or add PAers to your friends list:
check the Android Wordfeud thread - Angry Birds - Fling angry birds at pigs in wooden/glass constructs. Popular iPhone game free for android. See also: Angry Birds Seasons
- Barr - Time management in a pirate barr.
- Fruit Ninja - You cut fruit. Show 'em who's boss. 1$, pretty fun
- What the Doodle - Draw words online, opponent has to guess
- Throttlecopter - The classic helicopter game - press to ascend, release to descend
- Abduction - Doodlejump clone
- Project INF - Multiplayer top-down shooter.
- Shortyz Crosswords - It's crosswords. Everybody loves crosswords!
- Jewels - Bejeweled
- Papertoss - the classic flash game time waster
- EA Mobile has a few games like NFS Shift
- Game Dev Story - Sim game where you manage some employees to develop and ship games.
- Sliceit - Slice in right slices for slices right.
- Mini Squadrion - Fly and shoot planes
- Nesoid Lite NES emulator. You can also find game gear/SNES/etc emulators.
If you want to find and explore more apps or discover which apps PAers use it's recommended you take a look at:
> appbrain profiles
Find out which apps PA forumers have installed:
(post yours in the thread to have it added!)
> other questions
I want the cheapest accessories for my phone!
-Do a search on dealextreme
But what if I want something more expensive?
-Check ebay / your carrier shop / xda forums of your phone with recommended accessories
Alegis on
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This discussion has been closed.
Posts
I have been recommended the HTC Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S.
Both *seem* good, but I have no idea if they ARE. Will every Android phone be able to get upgraded to a newer version? Can I "buy myself into a dead end"?
From the last thread.
Klyka, the wife and I have greatly enjoyed our Galaxy S phones. I was a little preturbed at the time it took to update, but that wasn't really a deal breaker.
When you connect headphones, is media volume control working for you? I basically just get off and full volume regardless of what level I set it volume to.
edit: Used Titanium Backup to wipe the data DSP Manager. Seems to be working now
Steam ID: Good Life
MichaelLC
I didn't really see it, might be in pay version. It does offer more individual controls, but it seemed more like a dev kit than an app, if that makes sense.
I haven't given ADW a true shot because I paid for a LauncherPro license. Figure I should use it.
A few peeps here (cokebottle and myself for one) can confirm the HTC Desire is good stuff.
Samsung's problem is that they're very late with updates (and the devices dont have a notification led - not everyone is fan of the device look either). basically you have the stock android version, manufacturers stick their own UI stuff on top of it (HTC Sense for HTC stuff), so you're stuck waiting for them to provide the update. HTC is the fastest of the bunch and HTC Sense is considered the best of the manufacturer UI enhancements. HTC Desire is getting 2.3 soon~ish (month or two?). End of april the Desire S hits town which is the same as the Desire except a little bit more RAM and gingerbread from the getgo.
Some android devs port modified android ROMs to devices. If you root your device you can flash a custom rom like cyanogenmod on it, at which point you don't rely on samsung updates anymore of course. If you're not a fan of the samsung ROM you can always do that.
Galaxy S's main strength over desire is the screen (SAMOLED? Supposedly more resistant and better in direct sunlight I've been told) and internal memory size.
The Desire is sort of the "default" Android phone. You can't go wrong with.
The Galaxy S is more powerful, so it should end up being updated for longer, it's just that the updates will roll out more slowly.
also 8s there anyway to switch a contact that I mistakenly put on phone to Google without putting it in over again? (Droid incredible)
WoWtcg and general gaming podcast
WoWtcg and gaming website
Sense has contact export functionality built-in to solve issues like this.
go to:
People > Menu > Import / Export > Export "Phone" contacts to the SD card (.vcf - Vcard File)
transer that .vcf file to your PC
Then on your PC, go to:
Gmail > Contacts > More actions > Import > Choose File
upload the file (might require some reformatting afterward)
Back on your phone:
Settings > accounts and Sync > Google > sync now
You'll have dupliacte entries at this point, at which point you can delete the "phone" contacts and leave the "google" contacts.
but they're listening to every word I say
My wife and I have the Sprint Everything Data Family plan. That's $130 a month for two phones, 1500 shared minutes, unlimited text, picture, video messages and unlimited data (no cap, for now). Since both of our phones are 'premium' tack an extra $10 each on to that. Add taxes and fees and subtract a discount I get through my employer and it comes to $155 a month.
I was hoping we'd have been above this in this thread
Sorry, I missed the update
Rebooting....
About the same for us, though we're (thankfully) not on 4G.
One of our friends got an iPhone, but not an unlimited data plan. O_o They actually dropped Sprint to do it, too. Like why wouldn't they get an iPod and just use Wi-Fi?
And 250mb/month is more than enough for emergency/boredom 3G use.
Android-related, how can I convince my wife to get an Android now that it's upgrade time? She likes her BB Pearl and isn't sure if she'll get used to the touch keyboards.
So, get her an android phone WITH a keyboard?
Point her in the direction of the android phones with slider keyboards (like the Droids)?
(Note, I have yet to meet a touchscreen keyboard that I didn't grow to hate, so I totally am with her on not wanting to go touchscreen only.)
I'm not a huge fan either, just trying to find a cheap 'droid since BB seems to be really behind with applications and innovations. Seems to really like the Blackberry layout so will prob. just get another.
I'm currently paying around 80 a month (post-tax/fees) for 550 minutes and unlimited everything else. If cheap is what you're looking for, you should find how how Virgin Mobile's coverage is in your area. They use Sprint's coverage area, but don't have Sprint's cross-roaming agreements with Verizon in place, so it ends up being less coverage than Sprint proper offers.
At any rate, Virgin Mobile has the Optimus V available which is honestly a great low/mid range phone. It's all prepaid, with no contract and $25 a month for 300 minutes and unlimited text/data.
Yeah. Great phone, except for the aforementioned internal memory complaint. I didn't know the Desire S was launching next month, though. Neat!
Sidenote: Is there a site that lists available Android phones on a per region basis?
If your contract is up, check with amazon wireless for some pretty great android phone deals.
So apparently, even though I copied Google Earth to my SD card, and my phone recognized it on my SD card, when I deleted it I magically freed up 30mb of internal memory. o_O
Any way around this (without rooting)?
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
That sort of stuff is baked into the phone by the carriers. You can't remove it, last I heard.
EDIT: Only semi related, all the Droid X's (and most Android phones, it seems) now say that they come with 8gb internal with a 2gb SD card. They apparently were 16gb cards at one point. When I went to play with the phone at the Verizon store three different rep's pointed out to me that they hadn't updated their info card and that it only comes with a 2gb card now.
The one I got from amazon totally had a 16gb card in it on top of the 8gb internal. I'm pretty stoked about that.
EDIT EDIT: Man the App store needs to designate somewhere what apps are made for, say, dual core, or what. I just saw a game that looked decent but, aside from being $10, the little video said something about a tegra chip, so Xoom I guess it's for. Nowhere in the description for the game though does it say it's meant for dualcore/tablet phones.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Also, there's an app for Calvin and Hobbes comics that you should get, because that's just a great comic.
I dunno, it was taking up 32mb total, and with no cache that I can remember seeing when I uninstalled it.
I have one, and I've been pretty happy with it overall.
Gave up on Birds due to the lag and bad physics. Yes, I expect the bird's shape & weight to accounted for in a free phone game.
Ok. Because I am stupid, is there a "how to do this for dummies" site, 'cos I know nothing about the rooting.
basically comes down to installing the hboot (on unrevoked website) and ADB driver (install HTC sync, then uninstall htc sync - the app might interfere).
When the device is rooted you will be able to start the phone in 'recovery' and flash files like ROM that way.
You can try any rom but I recommend leedroid as it doesn't change too much from the default rom (some battery saving and performance improvements, HTC Sense is still there)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=628
When you start the phone in recovery (boot the device with volume down pressed in) you're also able to make 'nandroid' backups. Basically a backup of the phone image and data, very important. If something goes wrong you can revert to your old state. So you make a nandroid backup before you begin.
Then you throw a program like Titanium Backup on to backup system settings. Backing up app settings doesnt seem to be recommended. Apps like Launcher Pro have their own backup feature though.
In titanium backup backup all the system settings (that aren't red). This will include stuff like your messages.
Copy your SD card contents to your PC, because you need to make your SD card ready for 'A2SD'. this can be done with the Rom Manager app copy pasted from the 2nd post in the Leedroid thread
copy back the SD content to the SD card, as well as the leedroid 2.3d rom file
Once your backups are in place you can start flashing the rom.
You boot the device into recovery, wipe cache/dalvik, then 'flash rom from zip file' and select the 2.3d file.
After it's done you boot it up, start up titanium backup, restore settings and restart the device (your messages wont show until you reboot). Then you're set
if you need more info etc there's also a leedroid wiki
http://leedroid.com/bravo-home/
You should now have ample internal space and also notice improved battery life. The downside is that you can't use official updates anymore unless you unroot. Not to worry though, community is usually quick in applying HTC patches. With the Desire S rom also leaked it'll probably be out before the gingerbread rom is out for desire too (and you're also not reliant anymore on softbank updates either).
Man... resistive touchscreen? Hmm, guess since it's older?