Must-have android apps for rooted phones

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.
 
entropism said:
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.
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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.
 
T4rd said:
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.
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+1 for Titanium Backup. The donate version is worth every penny, it can batch restore without prompting you for each and every app, which is an absolute must have if you switch roms and use more than like 4 apps. It also backs up market info for the apps, so if you wipe, flash a new rom, and restore your apps you'll still get market notifications about new updates.
 
Over the past few days of having swype, I have quite literally noticed longer battery life due to needing the screen on less because I text faster with swype than the physical keyboard, and I was pretty quick before.

Awesomeeee
 
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.
 
ROCKETR said:
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.
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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.
 
quadnad said:
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.
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That is unbelievably awesome. My mind has been blown again. :p

Google better buy them up so they can add them into the Android OS standard, lol.
 
ROCKETR said:
That is unbelievably awesome. My mind has been blown again. :p

Google better buy them up so they can add them into the Android OS standard, lol.
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If I could have the preciseness of the SenseUI keyboard, and the epic swypeness, I'd never have a phone without it.

Also, to ANYONE PMING ME ABOUT SWYPE!

Include your windows live ID so I can send you the bloody beta file :D
 
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. :[
 
The_Engineer said:
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.
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Try subsonic. It's exactly what you are talking about. I love it.
 
Disposed said:
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.
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As someone that's used Android both with and w/o Sense, what other big improvements does Sense provide? Does Android 2.1 by itself have those nice widgets to turn WiFi and/or BT on/off? All I read about Sense within phone reviews is the Tweeter/FB apps and widgets which frankly don't interest me all that much (don't use Twitter, barely use FB, probably won't want a widget for it, or an app that combines it w/anything else)...

I ask because I'm trying to decide whether to wait for AT&T to announce the HTC Desire (or the Samsung Galaxy S) or just get a Nexus One unlocked right now. Now the Desire has a couple other advantages (touchpad vs trackball, and physical buttons), and the Galaxy S may have a few more still (larger screen, potentially better touch sensor like the Droid's or the Incredible's)... But none of it is a deal breaker, and I'm tired of waiting for AT&T. So I was just wondering about Sense in general...

I know I can flash a Sense ROM on a N1 anyway, altho I think BT functionality is still not working there and that's crucial for me.
 
Impulse said:
Does Android 2.1 by itself have those nice widgets to turn WiFi and/or BT on/off?
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yeap. looks like this. There is also a facebook widget in stock 2.1.

I should mention that I updated my cyanogenmod to the latest version via cmupdater....and good GOD cmupdater was a pain in the ass. Anyway, in the end after a few tries I got it all up and running, and the only real change worth mentioning (so far...) is the app launcher now has five columns. I prefer it with four (I find it too cluttered), and with five it is quite slow. Thankfully you can turn off the extra column to turn it back to the regular launcher.
 
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I personally didnt care for sense all that much. I liked the calendar and some of the widgets and thats about it, otherwise its unnecessary bloat that slows the phone down.

With all of the home replacement apps if you want a fancier look than stock you can use those.

Im sure some would disagree but i wouldnt wait based on sense for any phone.

Now on the other hand HTC makes nothing but high quality phones and they do stand behind them like no other company i know of.
 
Thanks for the input... I'm just about ready to buy the Nexus One at $520 outright if AT&T hasn't announced anything else by mid-May, I just can't wait any longer and unfortunately switching carriers is not really an option. Sprint's my only other viable option, for me it wouldn't be substantially cheaper, and the won't have 4G down here anytime soon either (Verizon doesn't exist here, T-Mo has no 3G).
 
Just posting this from my modaco flashed N1. It's great fun to play with Sense UI on the N1 and it works beautifully EXCEPT that Swype doesn't work. The biggest thing I like about Sense UI over the stock/cyanogenmod is that it's SMOOTH. I also quite like the PDF viewer and office doc viewer... Google should take a hint from either HTC or their own chrome/gapp philosophy and crank up the smooth.

It's great fun to mess around with different roms...
 
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.
 
Impulse said:
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.
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Stock android can view PDFs, it's just the Sense UI version is a little smoother...
 
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.
 
soulesschild said:
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.
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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!
 
quadnad said:
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!
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I can try sending you the latest beta .apk but I'm not sure if it'll work. You're welcome to try if you want, just PM me.
 
wormbaby said:
Try subsonic. It's exactly what you are talking about. I love it.
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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!

<this was OT now that it no longer requries a rooted device, but stinking amazing nonetheless
 
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?
 
Lanx said:
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?
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I assume you're talking about the one by clockwork -- yeah, it's pretty good. Comparing it to windows update is a little generous, considering you need to reflash updates and such rather than installing/applying an update package, but it's worth having.
 
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?
 
Lanx said:
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?
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Well you don't need a PC to flash ROMs, you essentially boot into a BIOS-type screen where you can make backups of your existing setup, restore a backup, flash a new ROM, etc.

You can download them straight to your device, but these applications make it slightly more convenient by placing the links to the latest ROM right on their listing.
 
Rom manager premium also has the ability to backup and manage roms, download themes and ROMs OTA, etc. It's definitively worth it.
 
soulesschild said:
Rom manager premium also has the ability to backup and manage roms, download themes and ROMs OTA, etc. It's definitively worth it.
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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.
 
quadnad said:
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.
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It's relatively the same but just uses Clockwork. The reason why I prefer it is because it's easier to manage and every time I wipe I don't have to do a separate step, I just tell Rom Manager to do it's thing and it does. :D
 
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?).
 
Impulse said:
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?).
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Yeah I'm using it, I really like it. It's funny how this isn't a feature of the stock rom, when the phone is clearly capable.
 
Another vote here for:

ROM Manager
Root Explorer
Titanium Backup
SetCPU - with OC'd kernels
MetaMorph
Swype
LEDs Hack
Wireless Tether

Before 2.1 went live, you had to root for voice input keyboard so that would have made the list if it wasn't enabled in 2.1. Droid is a great phone and I find new things each day to do with it.
 
Getting a milestone tomorrow <3 Fucking loooove working for best buy right about now...
 
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