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Sense is nice, but it's not the end all be all. Frankly, the only thing in it that I can't seem to replace is the calendar, no other widget seems to come close to looking as good.
A couple must have apps for me that haven't been listed (I think.. I just skimmed), is Titanium Backup for when you change ROMS and you don't want to risk instability by restoring data from a different ROM. Also, its good to back up old versions of an app in case the dev breaks it with an update (notorious for Screen Mode Widget).
Also, LED hacks for when I use my phone as a clock with the Bedside app (in the market, awesome night clock app!) so I can disable the phones LEDs (the four home keys at the bottom) so they're not blinding me right next to my face, heh. I have no idea why you should have to be rooted to do that, though. That should be a stock phone option.
Told my friend about Swype on Tuesday. He was so intrigued by it that he installed it that night. He showed me it this morning and I have to say, wow, I am definitely getting it when I get my Android phone. It absolutely blows my mind as to how efficient it is.
It really is great -- the worst part about these types of keyboards is really if you're using slang/non-words that it doesn't know. The great thing about swype is that if you manually tap out a word once, it adds it to the dictionary and recognizes it using the gestures going forward (i.e. you don't have to go to a separate settings screen or anything to teach it new vocabulary). It's very intuitive.
That is unbelievably awesome. My mind has been blown again.
Google better buy them up so they can add them into the Android OS standard, lol.
Don't have time to go back through the thread right now but I installed the beta on my Moto Droid and it's not compatible. :[
There are multiple versions due to the different screen sizes. Here's one after a quick google.
This is not an app. As far as I know its not even a proven concept but when I get the time I want to see if I can get it to work.
My idea is to use the console to initiate a tunnel to my home network running OpenVPN. With this connection established I would mount my music directory as a subdirectory of the SD card so that music apps can play my music as if it were stored locally. Again I don't even have proof of concept on this yet but I think it should work.
No reason to stop at music either. Having instant access to my photo and video library would be totally awesome.
Yep the only thing i miss from sense is that calendar. The Pure calendar widget is the next best thing i have found.
I did notice however when i tried a stock 1.6 rom on my hero it felt much faster than it did with sense and had i kept it i would have used a stock setup over sense.
Does Android 2.1 by itself have those nice widgets to turn WiFi and/or BT on/off?
Are there any PDF viewing apps on the marketplace? That would actually be quite useful for class... I'm itching to try Swype out too.
SetCPU, I have it set to 1Ghz on demand, and 250Mhz. Great for saving battery life and for making my phone blazing fast without too much of a heat hit
Root Explorer - As mentioned, it's awesome
AdBlock - Self explanatory
CacheMate - clears cache for you and can set to auto clear, on sale right now for a dollar, get it while you can
Rom Manager - I love it, easy themeing and updating and making backups
AutoKiller - tweaks Android's memory management settings. This one app alone makes my phone feel blazing fast and responsive ALL the time. I use Strict settings atm but I had great response with Optimum as well.
Swype is awesome as well, I'm in the beta so I have the latest version. Does the latest APK work for non beta users? I thought it had to register itself....?
Motorola Droid
I've also used root to delete apps I don't need such as the default Home since I use HelixLauncher and it's noticeably faster. Corp Calendar, Calculator, that annoying Amazon MP3 crap, etc. Also used root to disable camera sounds and such.
Great list of apps, I'll have to take a look at Rom Manager to see whether it will assist in me switching between roms -- currently I flash to nandroid backups to swap roms quickly, with titanium backup to maintain my apps (thanks to this thread I grabbed a copy, and LOVE its batch backup features).
Regarding Swype, I was using the first leaked release back in Dec/Jan timeframe but that then expired. I missed the beta signups (am in the queue currently..), but with a quick google found the 5612 apk online supposedly from the beta. Probably isn't the latest version compared to the closed beta, so if anyone knows where to grab a newer copy, let me know!
Woot! That is totally what I wanted to do only so much less work and with so many more features! <goes and donates to subsonic> Thanks!Try subsonic. It's exactly what you are talking about. I love it.
question on root.
it's been a while since i've rooted my phone and I really would prefer not to linger on which is the latest rom (i just wanted root to install setcpu and those things and get rid of amazon mp3)
however, should i just download rom manager (i think 4bucks) and it'll always keep me updated on the latest roms? in essence it's basically like windows update, but call it rooted droid update?
so by reflashing, i do it all from the program interface? don't have to link up to the computer and just hit go, basically?
Rom manager premium also has the ability to backup and manage roms, download themes and ROMs OTA, etc. It's definitively worth it.
I've been using premium for a little while, how does that backup different from a nandroid backup? I quite like the nandroid backup, except it takes quite a while to get different images restored.
Anyone w/a Nexus One using Trackball Alert? I'm surprised how little press the small things like that get in reviews... Being able to get colored notifications from an LED for different events is a big feature in my book (by default the N1 just does white except for like Gmail and one other app I think, that app enables others colors for any app, I hear the Droid has various colors by default as well?).