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Android Software Thread - Tasty Desserts, Tastier Apps

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Unknown Soldier said:
What is the best music player out there for Android? My Droid X defaults to just the stock Android player, boo. After all the work they did with Blur they could at least have put in a custom music player like everyone else.
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I like to use MixZing, but I'd be interested to hear other recommendations too.
 
Stryder said:
I like to use MixZing, but I'd be interested to hear other recommendations too.
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They're all pretty similar imo, but I've enjoyed the test time I had with TuneWiki ("social"), Zimly (polished music/video), MusicMod (stock+wallpaper&gesture support), cubed (sleek UI), Mortplayer (folder structure), and another gesture-based player I'm forgetting.
 
I don't think the neogaf mobile site is really worth it. Regular neogaf reads just fine on my droid. The mobile site is too bare-bones for me.
 
Anyone having trouble with the stock gmail app today? Keeps force closing everytime I open it :(

Have tried clearing cache, rebooting, halp GAF!

Edit: HTC Desire, Android 2.1 if it helps...
 
demon said:
I don't think the neogaf mobile site is really worth it. Regular neogaf reads just fine on my droid. The mobile site is too bare-bones for me.
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The full site works fine but the mobile one has some cool goodies like highlighting your post, a refresh button that just pulls in and ads the newest posts instead of reloading the whole page and jump to bottom button. Plus it's more finger friendly. I prefer the mobile one.
 
Hey guys, a question from someone who knows jack about Android:

If I have my device rooted, can I do the following without installing a custom ROM (using file explorers, like Droid Explorer)?

- Remove stock apps, and system apps (like Browser and Music)

- Remove the stock launcher and replace with Launcher Pro/AWS

- Remove original Framework and replace with a new theme


Thank ya. I'm picking up the cheapo U8100 soon, but there aren't any ROMs for it - but Root is available, so I'd like to know what I can fix.
 
Lyphen said:
Hey guys, a question from someone who knows jack about Android:

If I have my device rooted, can I do the following without installing a custom ROM (using file explorers, like Droid Explorer)?

- Remove stock apps, and system apps (like Browser and Music)

- Remove the stock launcher and replace with Launcher Pro/AWS

- Remove original Framework and replace with a new theme

Thank ya. I'm picking up the cheapo U8100 soon, but there aren't any ROMs for it - but Root is available, so I'd like to know what I can fix.
Click to expand...

You don't even need to root to default to using Launcher Pro. If you use Launcher Pro you can at least hide stock/system apps.
 
Someone has probably posted this forever ago...

but I recommend grabbing the free Kindle for Android app. Then go nuts downloading piles and piles of classics for free.

War and Peace, Frankenstein, Life on the Mississippi - there are thousands - all free. App works well, low battery use, uses whispersync. Can customize font sizes, brightness and background (Since I have a Captivate I am using lowest brightness with black backgroud/white letters - battery lasts forever).

Not exactly an unknown app, but works great, free, etc. I enabled one-click buying and am having dozens of classics on the go by just one click at Amazon.
 
iapetus said:
You don't even need to root to default to using Launcher Pro. If you use Launcher Pro you can at least hide stock/system apps.
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Well, that's handy. But I'd still like to remove as much Huawei stuff as I can - some of their widgets and apps start on boot even if you aren't using them on any homescreens.
 
Ptaaty said:
Someone has probably posted this forever ago...

but I recommend grabbing the free Kindle for Android app. Then go nuts downloading piles and piles of classics for free.

War and Peace, Frankenstein, Life on the Mississippi - there are thousands - all free. App works well, low battery use, uses whispersync. Can customize font sizes, brightness and background (Since I have a Captivate I am using lowest brightness with black backgroud/white letters - battery lasts forever).

Not exactly an unknown app, but works great, free, etc. I enabled one-click buying and am having dozens of classics on the go by just one click at Amazon.
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Personally i prefer aldiko since you can search for free public domain books from within. Functionality is similar to kindle from what i remember when i first used it a month or two ago.
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
I'm still on 1.6...I feel so alone.
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Root + Custom ROM? Or are you using an X10? If so, help may be on the way

edit: nevermind, its just a countdown for the US launch of X10, not 2.1/2.2.


Personally i prefer aldiko since you can search for free public domain books from within. Functionality is similar to kindle from what i remember when i first used it a month or two ago.
Click to expand...

I also use Aldiko, found it easier than Amazon Kindle as I didn't have to log in/sign up, and given that it only links you to a library full of free books searching for stuff was pretty simple. Grabbed Frankenstein, Heart of Darkness, Alice in Wondeland, Christmas Carol etc etc Was disappointed at the lack of pictures in Kama Sutra though :(
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
I'm on mytouch 3g. I haven't done any moding / rooting yet so not sure what to do.
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I'm pretty sure xda has a MyTouch 3G section, and I'm pretty sure they have root. Which means they probably also have at least 2.1 on it.
 
rykomatsu said:
Personally i prefer aldiko since you can search for free public domain books from within. Functionality is similar to kindle from what i remember when i first used it a month or two ago.
Click to expand...

thanks, just downloaded it.
 
Few more questions :D
what's the best/easiest way to take a screencap(droid)
and when I change my launcherpro icons to anythinh,they revert back to default after a minute :/
 
My next phone might be a Motorola!!!

Android and Me said:
http://androidandme.com/2010/08/news/motorola-motoblur-will-not-be-our-focus-going-forward/

Motorola Co-CEO Dr. Sanjay K. Jha blurred the future of MOTOBLUR last week when he said his company would not focus on the custom user interface skin for Android going forward.

During Motorola’s Q2 2010 earnings call, an analyst noted that the company had stopped advertising and promoting the custom UI and asked what the future of the brand was through the end of the year. Dr. Jha responded that it was hard to convey the value of MOTOBLUR in a 30-second ad spot and his company would focus more on their products and not on MOTOBLUR as a brand name.

“With MOTOBLUR, we have found that being able to convey the value proposition around MOTOBLUR is not an easy thing to do in a 30-second ad spot. We have decided that we will focus on the value proposition of products and not MOTOBLUR as a brand name in its own right. MOTOBLUR continues to be important and I think you will see increased functionality in MOTOBLUR. This notion of push-Internet is going to be very important to us, but as a brand name, which we make matter in front of consumers as a brand name, I don’t think that’s going to be our focus going forward, but we see the experiences that we deliver is being relevant and differentiating us.”
Click to expand...

This strategy of not focusing on MOTOBLUR was recently seen with the launch of the Droid X on Verizon. The device still featured Motorola’s custom Android skin, but there was no mention of the MOTOBLUR brand anywhere.

It has been rumored that the next major release of Android, codenamed Gingerbread, would make custom skins pointless so this could be one reason why Motorola has made the decision to phase out MOTOBLUR. Motorola worked closely with Google on the release of Android 2.0 and they could be doing the same for Android 3.0, so we should pay attention to these comments and see what develops.
Click to expand...

I need a mayor manufacturer to stick to Vanilla Android. If Motorola can update their phone line to vanilla Android the fastest, by not having a custom UI, they will probably get my money next time.
 
SimleuqiR said:
My next phone might be a Motorola!!!



I need a mayor manufacturer to stick to Vanilla Android. If Motorola can update their phone line to vanilla Android the fastest, by not having a custom UI, they will probably get my money next time.
Click to expand...

I miss your old avatar. :(

And here's to hoping that Gingerbread makes manufacturers include their own UI's as options, instead of forcing them.
 
SimleuqiR said:
My next phone might be a Motorola!!!



I need a mayor manufacturer to stick to Vanilla Android. If Motorola can update their phone line to vanilla Android the fastest, by not having a custom UI, they will probably get my money next time.
Click to expand...
Too bad they're locking the bootloader from now on, it seems :-/
 
jiien said:
I miss your old avatar. :(

And here's to hoping that Gingerbread makes manufacturers include their own UI's as options, instead of forcing them.
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It's becoming very frustrating. I don't think will happen. To be honest, I think Google will find one manufacturer to partner with for a stock Android phone and the rest will run around with skins, kind of like today with the Droid 1 vs Droid 2, Incredible, Droid X, LG Ally, etc. And people that opt for the stock experience miss out - all the devices innovating and being released all the time will have custom UIs just as we see today from the Epic 4G to Droid X to Incredible. The bigger and better screens, processors, etc all go to these custom UI phones while the stock is thrown into the wild, aging and not offering any of the new cool stuff.

Motorola just said that Motoblur is important, not going away and a key in differentiating themselves. Why do none of these companies care about what the consumer wants? Bloggers, blog commenters, forums, Twitter, everywhere you can look users are saying we don't want your custom UI we want STOCK and will give our money to the manufacturer who makes and updates the best STOCK phone. But they don't listen.

If I can't get a solid stock Android 3.0 phone I'm probably jumping ship. It's a dealbreaker for me and it's not just about updates but the whole experience.

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/08/09/motorola-ceo-admits-droid-x-has-blur-talks-future-of-the-brand/

With MOTOBLUR, we have found that being able to convey the value proposition around MOTOBLUR is not an easy thing to do in a 30-second ad spot. We have decided that we will focus on the value proposition of products and not MOTOBLUR as a brand name in its own right. MOTOBLUR continues to be important and I think you will see increased functionality in MOTOBLUR. This notion of push-Internet is going to be very important to us, but as a brand name, which we make matter in front of consumers as a brand name, I don’t think that’s going to be our focus going forward, but we see the experiences that we deliver is being relevant and differentiating us.
Click to expand...
 
jiien said:
I'm pretty sure xda has a MyTouch 3G section, and I'm pretty sure they have root. Which means they probably also have at least 2.1 on it.
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What is xda? I'm completely oblivious to all this stuff. I was hoping T-Mobile would push a release for their most popular phone...guess I was wrong.
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
What is xda? I'm completely oblivious to all this stuff. I was hoping T-Mobile would push a release for their most popular phone...guess I was wrong.
Click to expand...

If you're looking to root/install custom ROMs, this is a pretty good walkthrough:
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Magic . That walkthrough will get you onto CyanogenMod's custom ROM.

The xda forum contains a bunch of custom ROMs and other mods. The mytouch forum section is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=480

But a lot of the best info can be found in the G1 section (just ignore/skip any install steps related to DangerSPL): http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=446
 
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
What is xda? I'm completely oblivious to all this stuff. I was hoping T-Mobile would push a release for their most popular phone...guess I was wrong.
Click to expand...
Also check androidforums and modaco. Androidforums is much more accessible if you're unsure of rooting, I did have a quick look earlier and they have a load oflinks to videos of how to root, install custom roms etc.
 
Man I give up trying to sideload on my Captivate. My phone is rooted so I removed all of those ATT programs. But no matter what I do, the device is never found on any of the programs like Sideload Wonder. Its in debug mode, ive mounted it, unmounted it. DLed both drivers for the pc like 30 times.
 
jiien said:
I miss your old avatar. :(

And here's to hoping that Gingerbread makes manufacturers include their own UI's as options, instead of forcing them.
Click to expand...
That's likely not going to happen. It would prove too unpopular with the OEM's.
 
i'm new to android and ran into my first problem. coming from winmo with it being such a niche product i never really had to worry about viruses. There was a droid app i wanted thats no longer on the market place so i ended up BTing it. Fancy Widget. Ended up giving my PC a virus which i zapped right away but now i'm worried about viruses and malware getting in on apps and grabbing info from my actual phone. Is android software farely safe or is there stuff that i should be avoiding?
 
i am so addicted to wordfued

WasteLand Soldier said:
i'm new to android and ran into my first problem. coming from winmo with it being such a niche product i never really had to worry about viruses. There was a droid app i wanted thats no longer on the market place so i ended up BTing it. Fancy Widget. Ended up giving my PC a virus which i zapped right away but now i'm worried about viruses and malware getting in on apps and grabbing info from my actual phone. Is android software farely safe or is there stuff that i should be avoiding?
Click to expand...

read the permissions it requests at install and read user comments. The user comments are the fastest way to tell if an app is garbage, a hog or not safe.
 
Lyphen said:
Well, that's handy. But I'd still like to remove as much Huawei stuff as I can - some of their widgets and apps start on boot even if you aren't using them on any homescreens.
Click to expand...

Yeah you can do it on rooted stock. You just need an app like root explorer. There are others like Astro File Manager but this is how it is done in Root Explorer:

Navigate to /system/app
Press Mount R/W
Now just find the apps you don't want to have load and rename them by appending ".bak" (without quotes) to the file name. So for example you want to get rid of Amazon MP3:
Rename com.amazon.mp3.apk to com.amazon.mp3.apk.bak
Do this instead of deleting them just to be safe.
When you are done renaming the stuff you don't want, press "Mount R/O" to unmount, then reboot your phone. The apps you have named simply will not load. This will not harm the OS in any way.. you will simply be free of this useless crap! Just make sure you know for sure what it is you are renaming.
 
gcubed said:
i am so addicted to wordfued



read the permissions it requests at install and read user comments. The user comments are the fastest way to tell if an app is garbage, a hog or not safe.
Click to expand...

what permissions should i NOT be letting something request?
 
gcubed said:
i am so addicted to wordfued



read the permissions it requests at install and read user comments. The user comments are the fastest way to tell if an app is garbage, a hog or not safe.
Click to expand...
Have you tried Wordwise yet? Its similar, without the ability to chat, and you can only have three games at a time, but I think I prefer it just cause my games don't temporarily disappear when the server goes down.

On another note, I love Tasker. Probably going to buy it after my trial version expires. Anybody have any good Tasker profiles they want to share? Right now I only have a work profile set (switch to vibrate, change brightness), a youtube volume/brightness adjust when opened, and a list of apps pop up menu when I plug in headphones.
 
WasteLand Soldier said:
what permissions should i NOT be letting something request?
Click to expand...

something that doesnt seem normal for the app you are installing would require further investigation. If you get a game and it requires access to your system settings and the ability to make phone calls, you should probably look into it before installing.

That being said, if you stick with the more popular applications and don't pick up things that have only been installed by a handful of people you should be able to get most of the information you are looking for (good and bad) from the user comments... its one of the more helpful parts of the market, and the users are quick to jump on any issues and destroy its rating
 
jonnybryce said:
If I can't get a solid stock Android 3.0 phone I'm probably jumping ship. It's a dealbreaker for me and it's not just about updates but the whole experience.
Click to expand...

I think you may have mentioned this before, but have you rooted your phone? Given the power I now have over my phone since rooting, I can't even imagine ever leaving Android. And the fact that my phone shipped with Sense doesn't make me want to abandon the OS, it just gave me the impetus to gain full control over my device. Granted, rooting isn't always easy (though it's never really hard), and it's not necessarily friendly (but the community generally is), but it is still a viable option to, if you want, stock Android.

The fact that Android is built in such a way as to allow for complete customization is a testament to its endurance and excellence as an operating system, and that should mean more than the fact that some distributers of said operating system slap their own look on it.

Anyway, I can understand if you really don't want to take the time to get into rooting and other such activities with your phone. I just wanted to make it clear to you, and anyone else with Android, that while the manufacturer might not give you stock Android, you have the power (and many tools) to take it for yourself. And there are many, many really amazing developers out there offering everything you could want.
 
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