Author Topic: Android phones & apps thread (Read 9197 times)

vudu · « **on:** March 30, 2011, 04:01:09 PM »

Do we really not have a topic for Android phones? Rather than post this in the Verizon thread, I might as well start a new topic for Android phones & apps.

Has anyone else downloaded the newly released http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b/ref=topnav_storetab_mas?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011]Amazon Appstore?

Normally, I'm not sure why I'd want to buy something from here instead of the regular Android Market. However, Amazon has a free app of the day that's definitely worth checking out. They just launched the service last week and so far I've downloaded the following (all for free):

Angry Birds Rio ($0.99 regularly)
Angry Birds Seasons ($0.99 regular)
Doodle Jump ($0.99 regularly)
Shazam Encore ($4.99 regularly)
Sound Hound Infinity ($4.99 regularly)

There have been a couple other apps available for free that I haven't downloaded because I wasn't interested in them, but so far the lineup has been pretty stellar. Sound Hound Infinity is free for the rest of the day (and Angry Birds Rio has been free for the past week but I'm not sure how much longer that deal will be available) so you should check it out if you're interested.

MegaByte · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2011, 04:07:24 PM »

Yeah, I'm wondering if I'll ever need to buy an app at this point.

that Baby guy · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:50:50 PM »

I'm not even fond enough of Angry Birds to take advantage of the deal.

But that sounds great. I'll be downloading the app to my phone soon. I don't mind checking back every day to find something free!

Of note, a local developer, Trendy Entertainment, just released a free, ad-supported version of Dungeon Defenders on Android. I've yet to try it out, but I'll be giving this one a shot.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2011, 10:30:24 PM »

I've got to admit, Angry Birds is actually pretty fun. Ninjump is awesome too, and Slice it. If anyone has an HTC HD2, you need to do yourself a favor and ditch Windows Mobile 6.5 and flash Android onto it, and enjoy what will then be one of the best Android phones you can get right now. Of course, you never *need* to buy Android apps...

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #4 on:** March 31, 2011, 12:52:34 AM »

BTW, I have the HTC Thunderbolt, and it's awesome. I know better phones will be out next month...and even better phones will be out the month after that, but I got tired of waiting to upgrade, and supposedly VZW's unlimited pricing will end soon, and if you get a 4G phone now, you get locked in to the $29.99 price, so I couldn't pass that up.

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2011, 02:51:48 AM »

You think I could add 4G to my plan even though i don't have a 4G Phone since it cost the same as an unlimited plan anyway?

or is the unlimited the same as the 4G unlimited?

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2011, 12:32:58 AM »

I'm sure there's an iPhone equivalent, but there's a program called Evil Operator for Android that lets you put in two phone numbers, and it will make them call each other. It's...pretty awesome. It's subscription based, but you get one free call a day, and if you're into this kind of crap, then I suppose 300 calls for $32 isn't that bad.

rad.i.kal · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2011, 01:51:59 AM »

I have a droid 1 and I have a LOT of apps, played with many different apps. This site should have a tapatalk plugin, app for iphone/android.

I am no fan of amazon app store, cool idea, but me logging in with my info and then making it so one click purchase is activated, anyone could steal my phone and go crazy!

Stogi · « **Reply #8 on:** May 11, 2011, 04:31:00 AM »

Well it's official (for now). Android has gotten their killer app, making every other OS seem primitive. I'm talking of course about the new music service Google is rolling out for computers, android tablets and phones.

http://music.google.com/about/

It'll allow you to upload 20,000 songs, and access them from anywhere. That's incredible. That means most people will have their entire music collection online for safe keeping. I, personally, am drooling over what this means for sharing. If my friend has a CD I want, I can use his computer to upload it to my account and vice versa. Have you ever had a friend say "I'll burn you a copy"? Well that sentence can finally die.

I plan on creating an account for public use. One that I share with my friends all over the globe; each one adding their favorite songs. I am itching to implement it. I can't wait!

Ever since Grooveshark has been around, I've seen my music woes pretty adequately satiated. Using this service in tandem with Grooveshark, my music needs will be completely quenched.

I suggest everyone hurry up and request an invite.

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 11, 2011, 10:23:41 AM »

Thanks for your interest in Music Beta! We'll get back to you when your invitation is ready.

Music Beta is available free for a limited time.

does that mean they plan on charging for it at some point?

Stogi · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2011, 11:10:15 AM »

Yeah I saw that as well. I think and honestly hope that it is talking about a premium service, like Rhapsody or something and not just charging for storage.

20,000 songs at 5 mb is about 100 gb worth of space. That's easily the largest space online that is offered free, so I'm skeptical this service will stay free. I really really hope it does.

Plugabugz · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2011, 02:49:01 PM »

Does anyone here have the Nexus S?

I've had it since launch, and even though Orange give me only 500mb/month (which is included in my allowance, and wifi at home/work balance it out) it's still a wonderful device. And i have 2.3.4 already.

I was interested in Google Music but it's US only, so along with a lot of the things they announced at Day 1 of the IO conference, all that hype died in seconds.

Stogi · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2011, 03:39:23 PM »

Well US only for now.

I wish I was on a different network. I would have loved to grab a Nexus S or really just have the option to buy a device with Vanilla Android out of the box.

Plugabugz · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2011, 08:24:40 AM »

Quote from: The Unagi on May 11, 2011, 03:39:23 PM

Well US only for now.

They said that about Google Voice, Google Books, Google Music, Android Movies, Gmail Voice, YouTube Movies and so on. All of those are US only. I find it difficult to get hyped about things that aren't available to me; and Google's track record with these things usually keep me erring on "never gonna get it until proven otherwise".

Quote from: The Unagi on May 11, 2011, 03:39:23 PM

I wish I was on a different network. I would have loved to grab a Nexus S or really just have the option to buy a device with Vanilla Android out of the box.

I guess we're lucky here, we have 5 major networks plus at least another 5 virtual ones. Coz they're all GSM and i have a 30 day contract i can go to any of them.

Flexibility FTW!

BlackNMild2k1 · « **Reply #14 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:50:20 AM »

Looks like Netflix just launched on Android last week
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.netflix.mediaclient

only works with a few phones right now though
http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevicesDetails?lnkce=nrd-d&pdid=587&lnkctr=nrd-d-m-587-netflixforandroidphone&trkid=4112558

Ceric · « **Reply #15 on:** May 17, 2011, 10:43:37 AM »

What tooks so long on Netflix for Android... I thought it already had it.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #16 on:** May 17, 2011, 08:21:49 PM »

I think I'm gonna install the leaked Gingerbread ROM for my Thunderbolt (or CM7) so I can watch Netflix on it...or just wait a few days for official support.

NWR_insanolord · « **Reply #17 on:** May 17, 2011, 10:39:03 PM »

I hope it works well, because I'm sick of Android people bitching about the lack of Netflix.

SixthAngel · « **Reply #18 on:** November 21, 2011, 10:38:00 AM »

Does anybody here know anything about putting a new os on an Android? My phone is rooted and everything so I can do a lot but the problem is that it is a version right before voice commands became standard. I use a bluetooth earpiece now and with the right programs I should be able to listen to music and make calls while my phone is in my bag. Since my os version number is too low it I can't do voice commands so I need keep taking it out to change songs or dial a number. (make fun of me for using an earpiece now but my phone is not getting stolen on the subway)

The makers of the version I'm using don't seem like they will ever upgrade. Since I live in China and don't know much about smart phones I'm not sure if the new verison will let me put in all the right settings etc.
Any ideas?

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #19 on:** November 21, 2011, 11:50:43 AM »

It depends on the phone, really. If the manufacturer doesn't make an update, there's a good chance that someone else has done so. CM7 runs on tons of phones, as does MIUI. A good place to look is forum.xda-developers.com - if you find your phone, then there will probably be a custom ROM running a newer version of Android. Typical installation process is to root (as you've already done), then install ClockWork Recovery, download a .zip of the ROM you want, put it on your MicroSD card, boot into ClockWork Recovery and choose install update from zip (where you would choose the .zip you just put on the SD card). Get ClockWork Recovery installed from ROM Manager (in the market, or sideload it from your SD card if you can't find it), then you can just open ROM Manager and boot to recovery if you're not sure how to do so manually.

BranDonk Kong · « **Reply #20 on:** November 21, 2011, 11:52:24 AM »

BTW, I'm installing Google Music and uploading all of my songs now. It's pretty awesome to have 20,000 songs available to stream to any computer or device. iTunes Cloud or whatever might give you 25,000 - but you have to pay $25, and the device you stream to (limited to 10 devices) has to either run iTunes or has to be an iOS device...these limitations (that you pay for) do not exist on the better, free, Google Music.

SixthAngel · « **Reply #21 on:** November 23, 2011, 01:50:18 AM »

Thanks Brandogg. I'm going to give it a try this weekend.
Do you know if there is any chance of the wireless carrier not recognizing my phone if use the wrong os? It seems unlikely but I'm not sure the OS is designed with regions and the type of wireless signal that can be used there in mind.

MegaByte · « **Reply #22 on:** November 23, 2011, 01:58:52 AM »

No, the cell phone radio has separate firmware from the OS.

nickmitch · « **Reply #23 on:** November 23, 2011, 02:44:34 AM »

Quote from: Brandogg on November 21, 2011, 11:52:24 AM

BTW, I'm installing Google Music and uploading all of my songs now. It's pretty awesome to have 20,000 songs available to stream to any computer or device. iTunes Cloud or whatever might give you 25,000 - but you have to pay $25, and the device you stream to (limited to 10 devices) has to either run iTunes or has to be an iOS device...these limitations (that you pay for) do not exist on the better, free, Google Music.

The 25,000 song limit doesn't include songs you purchased from iTunes, and those songs don't need to be manually uploaded. It's still hard to argue with free though.

TJ Spyke · « **Reply #24 on:** November 23, 2011, 03:39:43 AM »

I don't think most people have the majority of their songs from the iTunes Store. I have about 3,300 songs in my library and only about 5 of them were purchased from iTunes itself. The only complaint I have about Google Music is it seems to be extremely slow to upload songs to, in about 4 hours I was only able to add bout 600 songs. I thought it was bad when it took about an hour to transfer all 3,300 songs to my external hard drive.

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Author Topic: Android phones & apps thread (Read 9197 times)