Summer/Fall 2011 Android Thread

[smody121]

Originally Posted by bjordan

LOL .. Sounds like it.



I was really used to and good at Swype, I didn't think a keyboard would ever pull me away from Swype but SwiftKey has. My initial reaction wasn't as strong as yours. :P

One thing you may want to change (that I did) was the "Long-Press Duration". I got tired of having to hold down keys so long to get punctuation marks. I set between 200ms and 300ms. Way better then 500ms IMO. It's under Advanced > Long-Press Duration under the settings.

I enjoy technology.

Thanks for the tip, set mine to about 250ms. Actually I didn't even know about long press and was using the abc button to go back and forth to add exclamations etc... super inefficient but it's how my old keyboard worked.

[trontron]

another +1 for swiftkey x. i somehow never really got used to swype despite trying it several times, but i'm really happy with swiftkey.

a few other apps that i really like and that haven't been mentioned (some of this is directed to newer android users):
- mighty text: send text messages from chrome browser, call notifications in chrome and so on. very useful if you use chrome

- i LOVE the autorotation control app (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.norightrotate). it's a super simple app that lets you automatically deactivate a specific "auto-rotation". i often lie in bed on my right body side and read tweets & stuff and don't want the screen to rotate. and with this app, it never does. (i just deactivate the right turn rotation and if i want the phone to rotate, i just rotate it another 180°)

- depending on what phone / skin you have, i recommend a different dialer. i still think the htc sense dialer is probably the best, but the standard android aosp is unfortunately rather bad. right now i use touchPal dialer (not really that big a fan of its layout, but it does its job nicely)

- alternative video player that work better with xvid / mkv files: rockplayer, moboplayer)

- tasker (more info in old thread and on their website). i don't use it extensively, mostly just for automatic (de-)activation of wifi and to start music player (and set the media volume) if i plug in headsets

to the guy that asked about the galaxy s2: everyone i know that has this phone REALLY loves it. it was definitely the best android phone when it came out in europe a few month ago. it seems that for people in the US, there are by now some interesting alternatives, so it's more a matter of taste.

[buccobaseball24]

At this point, why would anyone buy the Droid Bionic? Unless it comes with some huge surprise like insanely long battery life, how can anyone justify it with all the new phones coming in October?

$300 for a phone that will be outdated in a month? No thanks.

The Nexus Prime will have a faster processor, fresh OS preinstalled, and can't possibly cost any more.

The iPhone 5 will blow it away.

Maybe if it came out when it was supposed to (7 months ago) then it would have been worth a purchase.

[MiRee446]

@tron - thanks. Still not sure if I want to drop $600 on a cell phone though. Anyone have recommendations for non-Verizon devices?

[[Phill]]

I use GO Contacts EX which is an all in one contacts, call log and dialer. Not gonna claim its the best, but i cant work out what anything else has that its missing (im a huge GO fan if you havent guessed from my posts, lol).

For music i recommend Winamp and id also recommend some other program to deal with texts. Handcent SMS is the most used i believe, i use GO SMS Pro cos im a shill it seems, but it has some nice features Handcent doesnt have like standalone popups for texts and the overall look and usability is slicker imo and significantly Handcent never fully told the standard messaging program to go away so i would get phantom reminders when i restarted my phone which was more annoying than deal breaking. Significantly both let you use MP3s for messages over the stock system sounds and have repeating reminders (which i HATED that the stock program wouldnt do and caused me to be late seeing a lot of messages).

Weirdly i dont think browsers has been mentioned itt, im pretty sure Dolphin Browser is still considered the best.

Oh and News360 is AMAZING. Just uber slick and exactly how apps should work (already mentioned but 2+2's app is another great example of this). I use the News and Weather app which im pretty sure is news.google.com and Appy Geek which aggregates tech news.

[ColeW123]

So, I have unlimited data, but not texts. How can I "text" or chat rather with some people who don't have the same carrier as me?

[yeotaJMU]

Originally Posted by buccobaseball24

At this point, why would anyone buy the Droid Bionic? Unless it comes with some huge surprise like insanely long battery life, how can anyone justify it with all the new phones coming in October?

$300 for a phone that will be outdated in a month? No thanks.

The Nexus Prime will have a faster processor, fresh OS preinstalled, and can't possibly cost any more.

The iPhone 5 will blow it away.

Maybe if it came out when it was supposed to (7 months ago) then it would have been worth a purchase.

i thought i read that the iphone5 wont have 4g LTE


The bionic ought to be pretty legit, ive been reading the prime wont be out till around thxgiving.


edit: ok i see rumors now that the prime will be out in october, but ppl are speculating it may not be 4G (somehow). idk if i can wait anymore, lol.

[bjordan]

Also the Bionic has already been rooted which is a major plus.

http://www.androidcentral.com/droid-...already-rooted

[Aceium]

Originally Posted by ColeW123

So, I have unlimited data, but not texts. How can I "text" or chat rather with some people who don't have the same carrier as me?

Words With Friends chat ftw.

[dukemagic]

Originally Posted by ColeW123

So, I have unlimited data, but not texts. How can I "text" or chat rather with some people who don't have the same carrier as me?

i don't know if this is the best solution, but i just use google voice. yes it involves giving people a 2nd number but i like the app and i also use gvoice for voicemail so it works for me. i keep the small text plan for the people who don't have my gvoice number.

[ColeW123]

Cool thanks guys.

[trontron]

some instant messaging apps:
- skype
- facebook messenger
- google+ huddle
- what's app
as always, all these apps are only useful if your friends use them as well.

@MiRee446: it really depends on what kind of phone you're looking for. screensize, weight, possible custom skins, rooting / community support and so on... i recommend google for some research and then asking specific questions

[MikeyObviously]

I have a Droid Pro...and I could not recommend it enough. Probably my favorite phone I've ever owned.

Also, just got the 2p2 app, is dope.

[buccobaseball24]

Durr I forgot the iphone 5 isn't lte. Big beat for them/anyone who blindly lines up for an iphone.

Will the boinic be able to run ice cream sandwich? If so I guess its not that bad.

[NoahSD]

I'm really happy with my charge (can't say that enough) but lte wasn't a very noticeable difference. I could stream 480p videos on 3g already