Community Forums => General Chat => Topic started by: vudu on March 30, 2011, 04:01:09 PM
Title: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: 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 (http://[url=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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: MegaByte on March 30, 2011, 04:07:24 PM
Yeah, I'm wondering if I'll ever need to buy an app at this point.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: that Baby guy 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong 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...
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 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?
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: rad.i.kal 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!
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Stogi 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 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?
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Stogi 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Plugabugz 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Stogi 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Plugabugz on May 12, 2011, 08:24:40 AM
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".
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!
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 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 (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 (http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevicesDetails?lnkce=nrd-d&pdid=587&lnkctr=nrd-d-m-587-netflixforandroidphone&trkid=4112558)
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Ceric on May 17, 2011, 10:43:37 AM
What tooks so long on Netflix for Android... I thought it already had it.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: NWR_insanolord 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: SixthAngel 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?
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: SixthAngel 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: MegaByte on November 23, 2011, 01:58:52 AM
No, the cell phone radio has separate firmware from the OS.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: nickmitch on November 23, 2011, 02:44:34 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: TJ Spyke 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.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Morari on November 23, 2011, 10:43:40 AM
I've been signed up for Google Music since the closed beta. I've yet to try it out though. I have over 1,200 individual songs though. The thought of uploading them all is daunting to say the least. Besides, I don't know that I'd ever really use the service. I can't think of any situation where I would personally rather stream my music from Google than just listen to it locally on one of the many capable devices I have.
It's been hinted at, but I haven't seen it spelled right out... Does the service replace your uploaded tunes with higher quality files from their library? I have a lot of old Napster files that weren't too great back then, and have only gotten worse as times goes on. Sadly, only about half of my collection is lossless, so that might be an appeal if true.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: MegaByte on November 23, 2011, 11:00:32 AM
You don't upload them manually. It uploads them in the background after you tell it which folders to grab.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: TJ Spyke on November 23, 2011, 01:24:53 PM
It still takes quite a long time though, it also appears that you can't upload songs that have DRM.
I am uploading my library to it, but like Morari I can't see any situation where I would likely even use it.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Stogi on November 23, 2011, 03:22:11 PM
It's not that bad really. Just open up the manager before you go to sleep. It'll be done before you wake up.
I've already uploaded over 10,000 songs. Took me about 3 or 4 nights.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Morari on November 23, 2011, 06:52:28 PM
Let it go at night? I'd have to turn all of my torrents off then! Seriously though, it's still not a reason for me to use it. Not unless Google is going to let me redownload everything in high-quality, lossless form afterward. :P
It's an interesting service, but it doesn't have any appeal for me. I don't buy into the "cloud", not for anything.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: Stogi on November 23, 2011, 07:59:44 PM
It's nice if you have an android phone. And even if you don't, it's nice to have playlists that you've constructed easily findable on the internet. No need to reconstruct them on Grooveshark. Plus, if you have a wide variety of obscure songs as I do, it's nice to be able to play them outside of my home.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong on November 29, 2011, 09:53:15 PM
I flashed Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.1) onto an HTC HD2 at work today and played with it for a little bit. It's very, very nice. It really is a perfect blend of Honeycomb and Gingerbread, with some other nice touches. Hopefully my Thunderbolt gets a real version of ICS soon. It amazes me how the HD2, a Windows Phone, is probably the most supported Android phone that is not a Nexus device.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on December 06, 2011, 06:14:44 PM
Android reaches 10 Billion Downloads - Google Celebrates with 100 $0.10 Apps 10 Apps a Day $0.10 Each http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/12/10-billion-android-market-downloads-and.html (http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/12/10-billion-android-market-downloads-and.html)
Quote
We wanted to celebrate and share this milestone with you, the people who made it possible. So what better way than by offering you more of the apps you love? We partnered with some of the top Android developers to make a bunch of great apps available at an amazing price. Starting today, and continuing for the next 10 days, we’ll have a new set of awesome apps available for only 10 cents each.
Asphalt 6 HD: http://goo.gl/KNYbR (http://goo.gl/KNYbR) Color & Draw For Kids: http://goo.gl/n0qtX (http://goo.gl/n0qtX) Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro: http://goo.gl/cnZz2 (http://goo.gl/cnZz2) Fieldrunners HD: http://goo.gl/vu44s (http://goo.gl/vu44s) Great Little War Game: http://goo.gl/cro3L (http://goo.gl/cro3L) Minecraft: http://goo.gl/o0GlB (http://goo.gl/o0GlB) Paper Camera: http://goo.gl/wtnOC (http://goo.gl/wtnOC) Sketchbook Mobile: http://goo.gl/kqv44 (http://goo.gl/kqv44) SoundHound: http://goo.gl/QoxqC (http://goo.gl/QoxqC) Swiftkey: http://goo.gl/rhmY7 (http://goo.gl/rhmY7)
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong on December 06, 2011, 09:53:04 PM
GTA3 launches December 15th...on dual core Android phones and tablets. It's also going to be available for the iPad and iPad 2, and iPhone 4 and 4s.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on February 23, 2012, 10:06:06 PM
Free 50GB of cloud storage to all Android users http://blog.box.com/2012/02/android-users-get-50gb-free-get-your-box50gb-and-enter-the-box-mobile-giveaway/ sign up by March 23 to get it. and a chance to win 20 Galaxy Tabs too.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong on February 23, 2012, 11:22:15 PM
On a side note (or just a different subject I guess), Dead Space was just updated for Ice Cream Sandwich. It fixes an issue where it would only play in portrait mode, even in landscape (so almost half the screen was missing). I might have to throw $6.99 at it, it's pretty amazing for a cell phone/tablet game.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong on March 10, 2012, 09:28:14 PM
There a bunch of apps for $.49 in Google Play (the new Market), including one of the coolest apps I've ever used, Paper Camera. Dead Space and Shadow Gun are in there too...and N.O.V.A. 2 as well.
Title: Re: Android phones & apps thread
Post by: BranDonk Kong on March 11, 2012, 10:34:38 AM
Modern Combat 3 is on there for $.49 now too, if you're into FPS.
