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What are your top 3 third party applications that you would love to have on your Windows Phone 7 Series? Most used applications for your daily routines, works, entertainment, what not ... Top 3 applications that you have in mind when asked about mobile applications.
Interesting to know so we could see what users expect to have on WP7 in terms of application.
It does not have to be Windows Mobile 6.x applications. If you think certain iPhone / Android / BB / Symbian apps thats fine.
I start with my top 3:
1. Offline navigation software
- like TomTom, CoPilot, iGo.
2. Opera Mini
- I just love the speed, thats all.
3. Good Facebook client
- Microsoft has one for WM6, but I expect much better than that. I read that iPhone version is better.
I basically use my phone for calls, messages and development... being last one like the only reason why I didn't keep my cheap old Nokia phone. Sometimes I'm using weather, GPS, reading emails or google for this or that but that's all and I'm just happy that I just can do such things whenever I would need them. I'm not really a crazy apps freak....
Got to be iGo as one of them for me!
gogol said:
3. Good Facebook client
- Microsoft has one for WM6, but I expect much better than that. I read that iPhone version is better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OS comes with great facebook integration already built in, no need for an app!
My top apps are:
FPSeCE (Playstation Emulator)
Spacetime 4.0 (Graphing Calculator Software)
Pandora
I know that, but I have doubt with that Facebook integration.
Not that I am saying it is not good, but from what I saw ... the integration is split into 2 hubs ... People hub where you can see status update of your Facebook friends and Photo/Pictures hub where you can see Facebook photo albums of your friends.
With dedicated Facebook app, all those will come in the same flow of information.
Well, not a big deal really, because I am using http://touch.facebook.com via web browser (Opera Mini).
Kloc said:
The OS comes with great facebook integration already built in, no need for an app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gogol said:
Not that I am saying it is not good, but from what I saw ... the integration is split into 2 hubs ... People hub where you can see status update of your Facebook friends and Photo/Pictures hub where you can see Facebook photo albums of your friends.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which, IMO, is the best approach possible. Heck, I might even start using Facebook this way. Why would I need that information in a separate application? Why would I want to view photos in anything but a photo viewing app? Or where else do I need contact information apart from the contact app?
Also, this approach theoretically should aggregate information from different networks in a way that makes sense. I mean, if you are a member of both Facebook and, say, Linked-In, would you really want two separate applications to handle data from these networks?
1.Opera Mobile 10
To read 3 different newspapers each morning on my Omnia II and have all my desktop bookmarks synced OTA to my phone. Been using Opera since v3.0 or so, love it.
2.GSPlayer
to listen to somafm.com !
3. Googlemaps
Works good enough, could be done much better (font size can not be set !) and leaks 2 DC's each time you start and stop it. Have to take another look at bing maps soon
Coreplayer!!!!!!!!
IGO
BattClock (used to display battery info)
For me, if I can reduce time spent then I will choose that way.
Instead of going into 2 hubs to read status updates AND photo updates, I would prefer to just go once to look them all
Like I said, this is not a big deal because there is facebook website itself which can be accessed via web browser.
Probably because I use facebook a lot
Oh yes, the idea of multiple social network integration is nice, dont get me wrong. Probably just because of that, I would start using Twitter! Atm I am only using FB.
vangrieg said:
Which, IMO, is the best approach possible. Heck, I might even start using Facebook this way. Why would I need that information in a separate application? Why would I want to view photos in anything but a photo viewing app? Or where else do I need contact information apart from the contact app?
Also, this approach theoretically should aggregate information from different networks in a way that makes sense. I mean, if you are a member of both Facebook and, say, Linked-In, would you really want two separate applications to handle data from these networks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Top applications: 'Real' Map-reader/GPS, Ebook reader,
Well, I might not be a typical user (and actually one of the things I liked about 'Windows Mobile Classic' was that it had a diverse ecosystem, catering for non-typical users!) but these are the two apps I use most:
1) A GPS/map-reader that works with real maps (i.e. topographic maps such as, in the UK, the Ordinance Survey series)
- so ideally, Memory-Map will port their software to WP7
2) An ebook reader that can read EPUB and TXT formats
- actually this is such an important use-case for me that I wrote a program to do it (see this thread). I expect to start porting it to WP7 just as soon as the SDK becomes available.
Windows Phone 7 is a paradigm-shift in how phones operate. Apps will no longer be individual screens, but will be subsumed into the overall user interface. Facebook is the most obvious example of that. If you take Tomtom, for instance, it will be peppered all over the phone in any of the following ways;
People Hub: Select a person and then hit the menu option to navigate to their home or workplace
Calendar Hub: Select a Calendar Entry and then hit the menu option to navigate to the Location of that entry.
Bing Search: Hit a search result to be navigated to its location if it is a real world place like a pizza restaurant, for instance. Once Tomtom is installed, instead of just the one option to be directed there by Bing Maps, you'll have a second option as well to navigate there by Tomtom.
Only once you're actually on the road will you get the Tomtom screen up with the 3D view of the road. The rest of the Tomtom UI will be embedded into these hubs.
I'd expect Twitter, Google Maps, Flickr etc to all melt into the phone's UI as simply extra menu options.
I think this is largely why the App list accessible from the home screen is so basic - it won't be the usual way to start an app. Normally the app will be called from a menu in part of one of the hubs. In this way, apps will organically feel like just an extension of the phone's usual functionality. Heck, I can even see the Photos hub doing something like footprints and recording the GPS coordinates, so you can use the Tomtom menu item in there to navigate to the place in the photo!
This is going to be totally awesome. And I think it's partly why the question of "Does it multitask" isn't so clear-cut...
I use my phone as a phone and as a PDA so most of what I need is already there (calendar, alarm, agenda, Excel, etc)
1) But I have to have an ewallet. I use SPB at the moment and fully expect them to port it to WP7.
2) I also would like some ereader that handles most file types (EPUB mostly).
Could care less about the whole Facebook/Twitter thing. Just hope they don't get in the way of how I use my phone. Will have to wait to see how the interface can be changed. If I have to have Facebook/Twitter in the middle of my processes I will probably not get a WP7 phone.
donnaw said:
Could care less about the whole Facebook/Twitter thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry that doesn't make sense? Do you mean you could NOT care less?
I would like to see all my apps on it I hope I will be able to port them!
I love opera and youtube
giggles33 said:
I love opera and youtube
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera should be made redundant by the new version of IE contained in WP7S. Youtube will become a subsumed service as part of the Pictures & Videos hub in the UI, and will simply be another source of video from the cloud, in the same way that Facebook posted videos are. I would also imagine that the Bing search engine will return Youtube hits.
Basically, be prepared for apps to function in an entirely different way to what you're used to - they will become simply extensions of your phone's functionality - many apps will be able to avoid having their own screens at all and instead rely on the hubs to provide their input/output.
Jim Coleman said:
Opera should be made redundant by the new version of IE contained in WP7S.
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Click to collapse
It's not likely that we'll see a version of Opera on WP7S as it's impossible to do a decent browser engine in managed code, because alternative browser makers will be the last to get access to native APIs (if ever), and probably IE will be much better than what we have now, but alternative browsers will not be made "redundant" by this. I can bet IE won't have text reflow, for example, which I personally love and severely miss when I try to use iPhone's Safari.
vangrieg said:
I can bet IE won't have text reflow, for example, which I personally love and severely miss when I try to use iPhone's Safari.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You would lose that bet.
I would like to see Skype on Win Phone 7
Making competitors (Opera must earn a lot of money with their OEM deals) redundant is just plainly impossible nowadays without some sort of "deal" made. It's really very interesting what will happen soon.
JM6 update: remove DMService "Software Update" (and other auto-starting apps)
I don't remember seeing this background service in JK5, so I removed it (I think it's for OTA updates, probably a carrier-specific thing that should be in the CSC). Anyway, I don't like apps like this that run with full permissions.
I first spotted it using "Advanced Task Killer" (in the "Running Services" section), and I used "AutoRun Killer" to prevent it from starting at boot time. Now I decided to just moved a few APKs out of /system/app to my SD card, although one could also use Titanium Backup's "Freeze" feature to achieve the same thing.
Here is the list of files I moved:
* syncmldm.apk/odex
* syncmlds.apk/odex
* wssomacp.apk/odex
* wssyncmlnps.apk/odex
A related discussion thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=811567&page=2
I will report if things get unstable, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be ok.
I went one step further by removing the background OmaDrmConfigService from /system/app:
* EDIT * DO NOT REMOVE THESE FILES ! (read on to the next post, music and video playback crashes if this service is removed)
* DrmUA.apk/odex
* SisoDrmProvider.apk/odex
I also removed com.sec.android.app.samsungapps.una:
* UNAService.apk/odex
Based on what I read on the subject, I will probably get a few Force-Close when using the Samsung media player (which requires DRM for some media types), and it seems that Quadrant fails on H264+ video decoding...never mind, I'll see how things develop over time.
I should point out that this is not exact science, I am just experimenting based on feedback from other users, with similar Samsung Android devices. I may well make my Tab unstable in the future.
I should also explain that some self-restarting "start-at-boot" processes cannot be killed by "Autorun Killer", which is why I choose to move the APKs onto my SD card (backup...just in case). It is important to understand how "Autorun Killer" works by checking aLogCat output (apparently: 9 passes/attempts to kill the specified auto-run apps/services). For example, there's no point trying to kill unstoppable processes, as it wastes CPU cycles at boot time, and it may actually end-up generating instability in the initialization phase of the device. The "Autorun Killer" User Interface displays a list of running services, so from there you know that there is no point marking them as "disabled", because there is nothing the process killer can do about it => the solution is to uninstall the offending app.
GMail is a particularly annoying one, because I use the K9 email client in IMAP/Push mode, so I couldn't care less about GMail's Pull abilities, and I don't need it to run in the background. Maybe it handles contact synchronization, I don't know. At any rate, all of my device synchronization is configured to be run manually, I don't like automatic processes that launch arbitrarily in the background.
EDIT: well, I forgot to re-configure GMail notifications since I flashed JM6 (I wrongly assumed I had restored my old system settings using Titanium Backup). So hopefully this will cure it
As for SMS messages: I had to manually disable notifications in the "Messaging" system app, and enable them in "Handcent SMS" (which is the app I use for SMS/MMS purposes).
daniel.weck said:
I went one step further by removing the background OmaDrmConfigService from /system/app:
* DrmUA.apk/odex
* SisoDrmProvider.apk/odex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
* WARNING *
My music playback was crashing consistently each time I would move to the next song. I restored these 2 files (well, 4 really) and it is now working fine.
Yep, it looks like DRM is anchored deep into the system. Yet I couldn't find any relevant crash information in the LogCat, so it is effectively near-impossible to debug properly (I just read on forums that the DRM framework seems to be a prerequisite, so I tried that).
Oh well, not a big deal after all, I don't think the DRM services eat a lot of battery.
Dan
daniel.weck said:
My music playback was crashing consistently each time I would move to the next song. I restored these 2 files (well, 4 really) and it is now working fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I had to do the same.
So far JM6 seems very quick, the web browser has faster page scrolling after you give it a few minutes. I like it.
rotohammer said:
So far JM6 seems very quick, the web browser has faster page scrolling after you give it a few minutes. I like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I quite like JM6 too.
With cleverly-configured DroidWall and Autorun-Killer (and a dash of AdFree for good measure), the whole experience is very smooth indeed.
Although the stock keyboard is improved I still much prefer the overall feature-set of SmartKeyboard Pro (and of course I've paid for it, so I might as well continue to use it )
I currently use a mix of web-browsers, including the stock app, Dolphin HD, xScope and Miren. I have yet to find the perfect combination of features, and I am particularly picky with regards to text layout and zooming (I read a lot of online content). The pinch/stretch + double-tap zooming that automatically adjusts the text column width (fit-to-screen), and that centers the page properly, is *very* important in my book. I like the built-in touch gestures in Dolphin HD to quickly scroll up a long vertical page (and other navigation features), but unfortunately the pinch/stretch zoom is broken at the moment !
Anyway, I digress ! (off-topic)
Cheers, Dan
So I've finally joined the club and boy am I stoked. So, what are the first things one should do e.g. apps to get, slight customisation, games etc, help your fellow comrade.
I don't know if this thread has been done before, if not, maybe it could be a sticky?
the first advice i could give to you is: read the forums
That's the beauty of WP7. There's no real customization to be done and no real apps to get. You're good to go!
Sent from my GT-I9000M
APPS?
download OEM apps.
download what you need. Marketplace got almost everything
customization? you mean changing the color of the tiles? LOL
radeon_x said:
That's the beauty of WP7. There's no real customization to be done and no real apps to get. You're good to go!
Sent from my GT-I9000M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How adorable, another android troll. There's also no lag, a good music player, no fragmentation (It's good to know I can't buy a new phone and have it be outdated next week) and hell, gaming has already about caught up with Android. You guys have more, we have better.
z33dev33l said:
How adorable, another android troll. There's also no lag, a good music player, no fragmentation (It's good to know I can't buy a new phone and have it be outdated next week) and hell, gaming has already about caught up with Android. You guys have more, we have better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the problem is that the more you feed the trolls , they keep coming back for more.
i just realize that he is using a sgs...
eww.
saldawop said:
I guess the problem is that the more you feed the trolls , they keep coming back for more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it's pretty much a greek tragedy how incompetent these android users are "LOL my phone OS is better than yours *tap 3 times before an app finally pulls up then swipe left or right and watch the lag roll in* Yup, totally better, I troll you."
Ha. That wasn't really a troll. I just meant there's no setup or critical apps you need to get the phone running. Just grab whatever catches your eye from the market and you're golden. I like that aspect of the platform compared to Android. Until you want your phone to do something a specific way, it's bliss.
Sent from my GT-I9000M
kappo78 said:
So I've finally joined the club and boy am I stoked. So, what are the first things one should do e.g. apps to get, slight customisation, games etc, help your fellow comrade.
I don't know if this thread has been done before, if not, maybe it could be a sticky?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the world of WP7. Care to share which device you acquired?
MartyLK said:
Welcome to the world of WP7. Care to share which device you acquired?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't get it, aren't you the one who was pushing the WebOS users to outvote everything on that poll?
If you only get two games, get...
Ilomilo
Aphajax
Both will blow your mind into little wobbly pieces of grey blancmange and raspberry sauce. And all will be well in the world.
Wait! Someone's just put QUORUM down on a TW! Bastard!
radeon_x said:
That's the beauty of WP7. There's no real customization to be done and no real apps to get. You're good to go!
Sent from my GT-I9000M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on how you look at it.
Lacking the need for customization at a low level is good (Rooting to uninstall bloatware, etc.), but there are tons of instances where you have to hack the system up just to achieve trivial tasks. Adding Ringtons to you phone, accessing Camera Shutter options, changing the default Search Engine in the Browser (T-Mobile sets it to Google, and some Euro Carrier sets it to Yahoo!). Things like that. You can't even set a home page in the browser (so even though I can't stand searching through Google, there's no way to Set Bing as the home page and just open a new tab and search from there). The OS is literally devoid of options/settings that matter. Can't even toggle between EDGE and 3G to save battery without hacking the phone (and that hack doesn't even work for some phones).
These aren't deep customizations on any other smartphone platform, but for WP7 it requires going beyond rooting or jailbreaking an Android phone. It makes Android a bit easier to use than WP7 when you factor in OneClick Root apps and the ability to sideload applications without scouring threads/the internet for information to get this done (and installing a ridiculously big SDK on your computer - nevermind the fact that it requires a Windows PC as well).
Microsoft got it wrong.
The issue with Android settigs is not that there were too many. It's the way they are presented to the user. They're generally (especially in third party applications from independent devs) just thrown in the user face on one huge page. Decently organized options in groups or tabs... there's nothing wrong with that. They need to add tons of options for the system and stock applications, because making even trivial changes to some behaviors is impossible without going through more work than loading a custom ROM on an Android phone is right now.
Minimalistic is good if you do it right (iOS). Microsoft took it to the extreme and all it does is create a ton of usability faux pas.
z33dev33l said:
How adorable, another android troll. There's also no lag, a good music player, no fragmentation (It's good to know I can't buy a new phone and have it be outdated next week) and hell, gaming has already about caught up with Android. You guys have more, we have better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, you're trolling him.
He means that the stock functionality in the WP7 system is above and beyond Android and iOS. And it is. Everything comes from Microsoft, integrates nicely, and performs well. Aside from Microsoft and Manufacturer Apps (i.e. HTC, LG, Samsung Apps), there aren't that many apps that you need on a WP7 device to be functional - besides games. Twitter is missing in the People Hub, so that's a biggie, and the Facebook integration doesn't include all functionality, so you need that.
I suggest Twitter, Seesmic, Facebook (Seesmic because it includes both and is a nice hub to use when you don't need heavy duty FB/Twitter functionality). Microsoft has a ton of free apps that are useful. Your manufacturer (especially if HTC) will fill in many of the other gaps. Foursquare is in the Market.
Adobe Reader is in the market. Amazon and Amazon Kindle is there. eBay has a very nice App in the market. Messenger by Miyowa sadly I have to recommend it because it's the best of any Messenger app in the market at the moment.
If you have an HTC phone you don't need a weather app. The HTC Hub Tile is Live for Weather. If not, I recommend Weather bug or Microsoft's little weather app. Weather Channel is a 9MB app and I can't see how that ridiculous size is justified given how WeatherBug and Microsoft's weather app are both < 2MB (if not 1 or below).
Microsoft has a few free games to try out. AlphaJacks is like Words With Friends for Windows Mobile ("Try It" version is free forever, but Ad Supported). Haypi Kingdom is a nice strategy game that is multi-player (also available for iOS and Android, so there is no shortage of people to play with/against).
Office Apps aren't needed (Office Mobile)
NoteTaking Apps aren't needed (OneNote Mobile)
Exchange Clients aren't needed (In-Built Functionality)
Music Players aren't needed (Zune)
Radio Apps aren't needed (Zune)
Slacker and Last.FM exist for Internet Radio.
Shazam is available with Unlimited Tagging.
Microsoft has a List App in the market (and HTC has one in their Marketplace).
Poynt, AP Mobile, IMDb, Fandango are all there.
But there aren't many needed apps, TBQH. Most apps are slower to use than the web browser because they tend to take excessive amounts of time "Updating..." Loading a web browser or performing a voice search often outperforms them, IME.
I'd get the biggies. Personally I'd avoid crap that you don't necessarily need and use the space for stuff that matters (Music, Pictures, Documents, etc.).
You can save documents from SkyDrive to your computer by opening them up from the Office.Live.com website and saving them to your Office Hub in Office Mobile. OneNote Mobile Syncs perfectly. There is an option to keep your Camera Roll in Sync with SkyDrive (this can use a lot of data if you take lots of pictures).
N8ter said:
Actually, you're trolling him.
He means that the stock functionality in the WP7 system is above and beyond Android and iOS. And it is. Everything comes from Microsoft, integrates nicely, and performs well. Aside from Microsoft and Manufacturer Apps (i.e. HTC, LG, Samsung Apps), there aren't that many apps that you need on a WP7 device to be functional - besides games. Twitter is missing in the People Hub, so that's a biggie, and the Facebook integration doesn't include all functionality, so you need that.
I suggest Twitter, Seesmic, Facebook (Seesmic because it includes both and is a nice hub to use when you don't need heavy duty FB/Twitter functionality). Microsoft has a ton of free apps that are useful. Your manufacturer (especially if HTC) will fill in many of the other gaps. Foursquare is in the Market.
Adobe Reader is in the market. Amazon and Amazon Kindle is there. eBay has a very nice App in the market. Messenger by Miyowa sadly I have to recommend it because it's the best of any Messenger app in the market at the moment.
If you have an HTC phone you don't need a weather app. The HTC Hub Tile is Live for Weather. If not, I recommend Weather bug or Microsoft's little weather app. Weather Channel is a 9MB app and I can't see how that ridiculous size is justified given how WeatherBug and Microsoft's weather app are both < 2MB (if not 1 or below).
Microsoft has a few free games to try out. AlphaJacks is like Words With Friends for Windows Mobile ("Try It" version is free forever, but Ad Supported). Haypi Kingdom is a nice strategy game that is multi-player (also available for iOS and Android, so there is no shortage of people to play with/against).
Office Apps aren't needed (Office Mobile)
NoteTaking Apps aren't needed (OneNote Mobile)
Exchange Clients aren't needed (In-Built Functionality)
Music Players aren't needed (Zune)
Radio Apps aren't needed (Zune)
Slacker and Last.FM exist for Internet Radio.
Shazam is available with Unlimited Tagging.
Microsoft has a List App in the market (and HTC has one in their Marketplace).
Poynt, AP Mobile, IMDb, Fandango are all there.
But there aren't many needed apps, TBQH. Most apps are slower to use than the web browser because they tend to take excessive amounts of time "Updating..." Loading a web browser or performing a voice search often outperforms them, IME.
I'd get the biggies. Personally I'd avoid crap that you don't necessarily need and use the space for stuff that matters (Music, Pictures, Documents, etc.).
You can save documents from SkyDrive to your computer by opening them up from the Office.Live.com website and saving them to your Office Hub in Office Mobile. OneNote Mobile Syncs perfectly. There is an option to keep your Camera Roll in Sync with SkyDrive (this can use a lot of data if you take lots of pictures).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, no real apps to get doesn't exactly sound right. It makes it sound like anything released on this platform is bad.
To OP though, Ilomilo and Twin Blades are the only games I have that live up to my XBL expectations (and sadly I have most of them) there are other good games but Ilomilo overall. other than that Netflix is the only other one I'd deem necessary.
I knew exactly what he means when I read the post. Perhaps English isn't his first language, but it wasn't a hard statement to decipher...
Netflix is useless if you're not a subscriber, so I wouldn't deem it necessary at all. No one is going to subscribe to Netflix just to watch movies on a phone. Just doesn't make sense, IMO. If you're a subscriber, though, have it's nice to have...
The only necessary apps are those for social networking, and XBox Live Extras.
The Manufacturer Hub Apps (some/most of them) are a given.
TBQH, most smartphone OSes are like this. If the platform is missing something, like Android is, the Manufacturers usually add it in (ThinkFree Office, Amazon MP3, MobiTV, Exchange support, etc.).
One thing most of us forgot is Navigation Software. At this point if you want decent navigation with Turn-By-Turn directions, you're basically required to pay a subscription fee for TeleNav or whatever the phone comes with.
I've tried A-to-B Navigation. It's useless for all practical purposes.
Social Networking and Navigation Software are the only ones I'd say are necessary.
Also the Carriers are allowed to change the default search provider in Internet Explorer, so if you're a Bing user like me the usability of in-browser search is... terrible. T-Mobile Maps the Search button (and address bar search) in IE to Google and some Euro Carriers change it to Yahoo. Severely inconsistent and bad considering most people use the address bar to perform searches.
There is no option to change the default search provider. And performing that hack requires more manual labor than rooting and installing a custom ROM on an Android computer (and involves making registry changes, etc. on your Windows PC).
N8ter said:
I knew exactly what he means when I read the post. Perhaps English isn't his first language, but it wasn't a hard statement to decipher...
Netflix is useless if you're not a subscriber, so I wouldn't deem it necessary at all. No one is going to subscribe to Netflix just to watch movies on a phone. Just doesn't make sense, IMO. If you're a subscriber, though, have it's nice to have...
The only necessary apps are those for social networking, and XBox Live Extras.
The Manufacturer Hub Apps (some/most of them) are a given.
TBQH, most smartphone OSes are like this. If the platform is missing something, like Android is, the Manufacturers usually add it in (ThinkFree Office, Amazon MP3, MobiTV, Exchange support, etc.).
One thing most of us forgot is Navigation Software. At this point if you want decent navigation with Turn-By-Turn directions, you're basically required to pay a subscription fee for TeleNav or whatever the phone comes with.
I've tried A-to-B Navigation. It's useless for all practical purposes.
Social Networking and Navigation Software are the only ones I'd say are necessary.
Also the Carriers are allowed to change the default search provider in Internet Explorer, so if you're a Bing user like me the usability of in-browser search is... terrible. T-Mobile Maps the Search button (and address bar search) in IE to Google and some Euro Carriers change it to Yahoo. Severely inconsistent and bad considering most people use the address bar to perform searches.
There is no option to change the default search provider. And performing that hack requires more manual labor than rooting and installing a custom ROM on an Android computer (and involves making registry changes, etc. on your Windows PC).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not only that, but I wouldn't subscribe to any version of Netflix because of the cost. I watch maybe 2 to 4 rented movies a month. And some months, none. To have to pay a fee just to use Netflix is wasteful. Yet that's how NF works. I would, however, subscribe to NF if there was no fee. The only cost would be the rental charge.
I have to say the best game for Xbox Live is the Harvest. Feels like diablo with a sci fi twist. The bad thing though is if your a typical Xbox console gamer, you won't find much that will interest you on WP7.
I swear its a new puzzle or tower defense game ever week.
you can of course customise your lock screen, you could also install "pin to start" which apparently offers customised live tile (don't have it myself, not my type of thing". Apps wise, get the HTC You tube app if you have an HTC device, would also recommend pdf reader and the amazon kindle app (if you like books) beyond that, there are nearly 9000 apps to choose from - I think there are even a couple of "fart" apps if that floats your boat...........
I've already mentioned Adobe Acrobat Reader X and Amazon Kindle.
Not all applications have Live Tiles, and TBH without a Live Tile an app would have to be very important to merit a spot on you home screen (no one wants a home screen that scrolls for miles). I have issues keeping Seesmic/Twitter/Facebook on the Home Screen, for example, without a Live Tile. Games like AlphaJax are good cause the Tile is Live (tells you when it's your turn and how many games you have waiting on you, for example).
The HTC YouTube app is good, but it's only for HTC devices (I already said the Manufacturer apps were a given since they fill in obvious gaps in functionality i.e. YouTube, NotePad/List App, Flashlight, Attentive Phone, Live Weather Tile (HTC), Sound Enhancer, etc.).
The customization that I say is missing isn't really "customization" in the XDA-Developers sense.
Setting a Home Page in the Browser, Setting the Default Search Engine in the Browser, and Options for things like how long you want Toast Notifications to stay on the screen aren't any type of deep customization. It's simply a trivial setting that Microsoft needs to add. These things are missing all over the OS and need to be added in ASAP. It acually makes the OS a chore to use in many instances.
They also need to make carriers unable to alter the default search engine. It sucks for people who use a certain search engine, and makes it take 3x longer to perform searches if you don't want to go through Google. There just need to be an option for the three biggies (Bing, Yahoo, Google) or the ability to allow the bing homepage to set itself as the default search engine (or Yahoo, or Google).
I am new to Android and just got my DINC2 this past week. What are peoples opinions of "Must Have" apps?
BTW, I work at a help desk, so if there are help desk specific apps that might be cool.
TIA!
Your question is pretty broad. It's about the same as asking that about your PC, and for both, you're going to get as many different responses as there might be people responding. So maybe the better question is what do you want to do with your Inc2 and maybe we can point you in some directions for some apps to fill that role.
As an example, I use my Android device to help me manage my diabetes. I use an app called OnTrack for this. This is a must-have app for me, but most people won't need nor use it.
It's also my primary portable media device, which I use a few different apps for.
As for anything to help with a helpdesk related job, I can only think of email access if it is externally accessible, and a task management app. The stock email client will likely work for your email access. For task management, I've yet to find one I was really happy with, but Astrid is pretty good, and I'm currently in the process of getting to know Taskos.
Thanks for your reply!
I kept the question broad on purpose. I have been using my iPod Touch and my wife's iPhone for years so I could come up with a list of my "Must Have" apps for those. The way I figure it is a smart phone is similar to a computer, but probably doesn't have dozens and dozens of apps installed (or at least not used daily). So I was hoping people would list their 5-10 most used (useful) Android apps.
My co-worker who has been using his Android device for a few years suggested:
- LookOut antivirus (like it so far)
- Android Assistant (dito)
- Launcher Pro (haven't taken the time to customize, so sticking with Sense for now)
- Barcode Scanner
After a little Google'ing I installed the following:
- Facebook App (just because)
- Angry Birds (loved the iOS version)
- arcMedia (seems decent, lots of codec support)
- ASTRO File Manager (UI seems very intuitive)
- Google Music (I got an in invite to the Beta)
- Pandora (use this on my laptop a lot, thought I'd try it on my DINC2)
- ShopSavy (again, loved the iOS version)
- xda
A few off the top of my head:
Titanium Backup - Requires root, but great for freezing bloat and backing up the device
Root Explorer - Doesn't necessarily require root, but is handy for going through the file system
EverNote - Keeps a LOT of my recipes handy, as well as notes for other things
DropBox - I occasionally need info there, so it's really quite handy for that
Google Reader - For reading my RSS feeds
Skype - Not critical, but handy when I'm without cell signal but have wifi
Titanium Media Sync - Keeps my pics backed up to Dropbox
XDA and DroidForums apps - Well, gotta be able to catch up when mobile
There are others I use, but honestly, I have found the stock apps cover most of what I need nicely. I will say that although I doubt I actually need it, I am playing around with JuiceDefender.
Clipper is one that I use a lot. The free version works excellent. It is a quickly accessible clipboard you can access from your status bar for all your log on data and different email signatures. I have to use several different email sigs depending on the level of security required for the recipients.
Well if all you want is a list of apps that people use regularly...
LauncherPro - Launcher/home replacement (paid version)
Slacker - Streaming music (the latest version blows, though)
Winamp - Better than the stock media player
Waze - Social mapping and realtime traffic
OnTrack - Diabetes oriented health management
eBuddy - Multi-protocol IM client
Arity - Advanced calculator
DriverDiary - Vehicle cost tracking tool (fuel, etc)
File Expert - File browser (I liked this one better than the other common ones)
Package Buddy - Shipping tracking tool (as in shipping packages)
Tweetdeck - Social networking app primarily used for Twitter
I don't do a lot of gaming, but I do some.
Wordfeud
Angry Birds
Live Blackjack
New android One X owner. Had an iphone before and I'm a bit confused over certain things. I have done my homework.
I haven't found any appealing reasons to root the phone... But there's certain things I'd like to know to set up this phone!
One thing I am having trouble getting used to is that the space between the icons on droid is too big. Can it be fixed with or without root?
Is it possible to sort apps manually or into categories, i just find the A-Z/time sort choices.
Essential Apps, the best one for each own thing? Swiftkey 3 for keyboard, airdroid over ESfileexplorer, Avast for antivirus security(necessary?) Dropbox for cloud..
What softwares do you use to sync music, videos and other content. HTC Sync Manager or is there better?
Is there a page like idownloadblog that keeps you easily up to date, posts guides, apps, tweaks from both sides of the river. Official and pirate stuff.
MOD EDIT : As explained , we do not like warez on XDA
Asking a lot so help me with whatever you'd like I'll look aroound meanwhile Thanks,
u can find everything in here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps
Welcome to the Android world mate!
1. Try a custom launcher: for example Nova Launcher from play store. The problem might also be that you are used to the tiiiiny screen of your former i-device.
2. Launcher settings, don't know if it's possible on stock Sense launcher.
3. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1938854
4. No knowledge on that area.
5. www.xda-developers.com (forget about the pirate stuff though)
6. No. At least you won't get any help here @XDA to find such site.
We have absolute zero tolerance on warez and other questionable content. You might get banned for requesting such things. If you have money to buy a 500€ piece of hardware, you must be able to afford a 1€ app. Right?
loved the nova launcher
i'm having a though luck finding a quick compose sms widget
gopro and handcent sucked, the things is , that i'd like is something like chomps sms (bitesms) quick compose but not in notification, on the home screen as a widget.
do you know any such widgets+
android is awesome, do not understand why appstore and cydia is so much more developed. cant even find a simple note taking app like writeroom..
One thing I am having trouble getting used to is that the space between the icons on droid is too big. Can it be fixed with or without root?
Try Apex too.
Is it possible to sort apps manually or into categories, i just find the A-Z/time sort choices.
Apex or Nova
Essential Apps, the best one for each own thing? Swiftkey 3 for keyboard, airdroid over ESfileexplorer, Avast for antivirus security(necessary?) Dropbox for cloud..
It was all depends on your preferences.
What softwares do you use to sync music, videos and other content. HTC Sync Manager or is there better?
Since you come from iOS, try AirSync + Doubletwist player to sync your itunes playlist.
Is there a page like idownloadblog that keeps you easily up to date, posts guides, apps, tweaks from both sides of the river. Official and pirate stuff.
up to date, guides, tweaks, mods just look here in XDA. if you cant find them, you're not reading them enough. hehe.