[jvincent]

Android apps, what's your favourite?

I decided to succumb to the smart phone craze and picked up an HTC Magic on Rogers. I figured that eventually Google is going to take over the world so better to get on early. Sorry iPhone guys.

The phone arrived yesterday and I spent most of the evening in the marketplace looking at apps.

Given that the Android is relatively new compared to the iPhone the number of apps is significantly smaller, but there are some cools ones out there.

Right now the coolest one I have on my phone is Google Sky. It works really, really well. You get a view of the sky based on where you hold the phone and it shows stars, constellations, planets, a horizon line, etc. Also cool is that if you point it at the ground it "sees" through the earth. The Sky app is unique to Android so far.

Other apps I've got right now that look pretty good:

K-9 for email: much better than the built-in mail app.
iMap weather: I like the GPS location and radar overlay.
Shazam: Haven't tried it yet but it's the same as the iPhone
Ultimate Stopwatch: A neat stopwatch app.

What other apps do the Android users like?

 

[Mike1767]

I find Locale really useful. You can set different situations (place, time, etc) and have it perform different operations on the phone (like set the phone to silent while at work). I also like Trapster which tracks speed traps and cameras while you drive. You don't have to actually use the phone while driving, just set it somewhere and it'll verbally inform you of upcoming traps.

 

[name777]

Meridian - media player;
Trap! - game;
FBReader - books;
DiggDroid - Digg;
TaskKiller - you get the idea.

 

[CraigB]

SportsTap - for sports, duh! I like the latest update with the alerts for your favourite teams
WeatherChannel - I have both home and the cottage bookmarked so it's nice to see what the weather could be like if I didn't have to work for a living!
Sudoku - to get me home on the subway.
PixelPush -for uploading pics and videos to Flickr
Battery and DataWidgets

A few that have possibilities, the LCBO app (for finding out what stores have what quantity..once they add in the location and a few other things it will be great)

I also tried out FishingBuddy on my last trip to the cottage but was too scared to have my Dream in the boat with me, but it will let you take a picture of the fish you catch, you put in the species and weight, and it will GPS mark where you caught it and what the weather conditions were.

 

[Coop]

This has got to be the coolest app yet, the Layar Augmented Reality Browser available now in the Android Apps Store (is there a store?). Anyways I have to wait till next year when it comes out for the iPhone

 

[jvincent]

Downloading Layar right now. The Android store is callled "The Market" BTW.

I also rooted my phone this weekend so I have access to paid apps now. I have yet to find anything worth spending money on yet though.

 

[name777]

Buy Robo Defense - fantastic game. I'm playing a free version now.

 

[jvincent]

Tried out Layar in the parking lot yesterday. It's very cool. I made fun of the iPhone guys in the office today.

I also just found the hypnotic spiral app. I've been mesmerizing people all day.

 

[nathan]

- Cyanogen 4.0.1 - Not technically an app, but still. I highly, highly recommend moving to a non-Rogers ROM. Phone overall feels much snappier than the base ROM.
- Robo Defense is always fun...I'm a bit sick of tower defense games, but it's nice to have one on-the-go.
- I bought dxTop a while ago, and while I only threw on Cyg's 4.0.1 ROM last night, and it has 5 screens rather than dxTop's 4, I sort of got used to the way dxTop does the multiple screens, so I still use it.
- wifi tether for root users is an absolute must and works excellent.
- I like a lot of the various music players, but Android gets a bit confused when you use Bluetooth Pause/unpause, and often you get two of the players going at once. So I stick with the stock app.
- Weatherbug I like very much.
- Toddlerlock...for my toddlers.
- Steel for browsing. I find it much nicer than the built in browser. Built on the same engine, but some nice features.
- last.fm for music
- Snesoid, Gensoid, nesoid, gameboid,

But what I really want, more than anything, is a way to pause/ff/rew music without having to unlock the phone. I miss that on my Blackberry.

 

[jvincent]

Good list.

On the subject of ROMs, I'm running the IonHoFo ROM. It has some of the Cyanogen optimizations in it and it too is much snappier than the standard.

I'm using AHome right now. It can go up to 10 screens IIRC. I'm up to 4 right now.

 

[nathan]

Yeah, I can't remember why I chose dxTop over aHome...and maybe aHome does this as well, but with dxTop, if you swipe a direction (up, down, left, right), it goes to a specific screen regardless of where you are, so even if you're on the bottom screen, swiping right will go to the right screen...then down goes back down. It took some getting used to, but I've gotten very used to it. The aero theme looks really nice too. Not sure I'll need more than 4 screens, but maybe at some point. Especially now that I have apps2sd working, so space isn't really an issue anymore.

I downloaded the hypnotic app after I saw your last post, very nice. And I had tried layar, but I suspect it might be better in a larger town than where I am now.

Oh, and google sky is pretty slick.

 

[jvincent]

After a few weeks of trying different ROMs, I finally tried out one of the Hero versions. I have to say, I quite like it compared to the "stock" ROMs.

The Hero widgets are pretty nice and the Touch Flo UI is a big improvement. I think I'll probably stick with the one I'm using for a while.

 

[nathan]

I had read that the Hero ROM's were a bit sluggish...not because of the hardware, everything out now uses the same processor, but just because it's 'more' than what's on the G1/Magic builds. So I stayed away from them.

I've gotten a bit used to the 'stock'-ish ROM's.

Would still like play/pause control on the lock screen, or tied to the volume buttons. Oh well, can't have it all I guess.

The CLIQ looks pretty slick, don't know how the UI is, and I'd sort of miss the number row, but the directional pad would be nice. Oh well, only 9 months until I can upgrade.

 

[jvincent]

The Hero ROM I'm using is actually pretty fast. I'd even say faster than the stock ROM.

I'm using a "lite" version that has a bunch of the fluff removed.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=557051

 

[billy416]

Google Sky - coolest thing ever and impresses anyone i show it too
LCBO - whoever mentioned it before, it does show locations and quantities now. Very handy for my job
WiFi ON/OFF widget - much better than going to setting menus
Traffic Views - haven't used it on the road yet, but it tunes into local traffic cameras based on GPS positioning.

I have Layar but i find it lacks enough content. The Wiki layer just seems to tell me where all the subway stations are within the viewing range.

 

[thewatcher]

I've been using Data Counter Widget by Roy Solberg, but it zeroes out when turning the phone on (HTC Magic)

is there a good data counter widget that will keep track for a full month?

 

[jvincent]

I've been using 3G Watchdog. No issues here.

 

[thewatcher]

thanks - just installed it and it looks pretty good!

 

[JamesK]

I've recently installed some useful applets on my Nexus One. One is WiFinder, which displays what access points are in the vicinity. Another is a file manager called EStrongs File Explorer, which not only can be used for accessing files on the phone, but can also access smb and ftp servers. With this, I can browse the file shares on my home network. Both are available on the "Market".

 

[apn]

Does WiFinder work well outside the US i.e. is it scanning or using a db-lookup based on location?

I was using Wi-Fi Locator in NYC, but on returning home, I found that it allows lookup based on zip/city/state etc. with no options to enter Cdn info.

I'm not a gamer, but my fave apps thus far are;

- Squeeze Commander
- JuiceDefender
- XE Currency
- 3CXPhone
- CardioTrainer
- Astrid tasks