Looking at switching from an IPhone to a Winmo device (Touch Pro 2 to be specific) but need to know if some of the applications i use everyday are available. and at what price (if not free)
Shazam:Music Identification. real simple.
Pandora:found a few Cabs around, but no mention of compatibility with WVGA screens.
Urban Spoon: basically a program that uses your current GPS position to locate nearby restaurants.
Fandango/I.TV: shows local theaters, play times. allows purchase of tickets through the program.
Units: quick and easy unit converter.
now, are all these available with a nice finger friendly interface?
thank's for taking your time to help me figure out what all is available.
crazy talk said:
Looking at switching from an IPhone to a Winmo device (Touch Pro 2 to be specific) but need to know if some of the applications i use everyday are available. and at what price (if not free)
Shazam:Music Identification. real simple.
Pandora:found a few Cabs around, but no mention of compatibility with WVGA screens.
Urban Spoon: basically a program that uses your current GPS position to locate nearby restaurants.
Fandango/I.TV: shows local theaters, play times. allows purchase of tickets through the program.
Units: quick and easy unit converter.
now, are all these available with a nice finger friendly interface?
thank's for taking your time to help me figure out what all is available.
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In my experience with WinMO, simple apps that do only one thing are rare. The iPhone developers are more on that path. With WinMo, you are more likely to find full featured apps. For instance, instead of having an app that will just find the info for a song, you will more likely find a music player with that ability. I think Pocket Music Player (?) can do that. Think more like what kind of apps are out there for windows, you tend to get clones of those for the mobile platform. That is good and bad. For a power user, it is good.
I do know that a good unit converter exists. I for get the name. For a good list of apps, lookup the 2008/2009 smartphone magazine winners and runner-ups for WinMo apps (search google for "best pps apps") and you will find it. It lists a lot of good apps. Also, look up "ppc freeware" for some other good sites.
Shazam exists, do a Google for MusicID, i have a feeling it is only available preinstalled by the carrier but i may well be wrong.
Don't know about the rest.
2- if it is not compatible the graphical layout will be smaller (but in most case it's all right)
3/4- Google maps or the Web do it
5- to many app on the web
D'rath
Yup...
As it's been said, Shazam, and Pandora already exist. I have Shazam MusicID running on my Kaiser on T-Mobile, and it works just fine.
For the other two, why not just use Windows Live (or Bing). Same things all in one app.
http://www.discoverbing.com/mobile/index.html
if you're in love with the iphone UI, then that's one thing. But I'll be real... damn if I understand why one would want to install multiple apps that do simple tasks, when you can have one that does multiple tasks.
To each his own, I s'pose.
Sean D. said:
As it's been said, Shazam, and Pandora already exist. I have Shazam MusicID running on my Kaiser on T-Mobile, and it works just fine.
For the other two, why not just use Windows Live (or Bing). Same things all in one app.
http://www.discoverbing.com/mobile/index.html
if you're in love with the iphone UI, then that's one thing. But I'll be real... damn if I understand why one would want to install multiple apps that do simple tasks, when you can have one that does multiple tasks.
To each his own, I s'pose.
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the Shazam Application is free? i believe i had heard somewhere it was pay per use.
i believe you underestimate the capabilities of both the Movie application and the "where to eat" application i am asking about. unless Bing can make totally random suggestions about restaurants wherever you are by taking your current GPS location and looking around.
i feel like i will get Smited here for posting this, but this is what i am talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTTIpM4L12s
also has reviews, menu, etc. i understand you can find places to eat with a simple google search. but that doesnt work when you have no idea where to start.
with the movie application you have the ability to read reviews, watch trailers, find show times at each theater, location and buy tickets. also has a normal TV guide. but i do not use that often. or can you easily do all this through the internet browser or other means?
i fear i may sound like a "Fanboy" for the IPhone, but i really am tired of the phones lackluster hardware and generally slow performance, and the less then appealing battery life.
but i do like these applications VERY much. they may only do one thing, but they do them extremely well. that's why i want to know if they are available on this platform because i am very interested in getting a Touch Pro2 when they become available.
As is typical with iphone vs WM, the iphone apps are going to look prettier. But the same things do, or can exist on WM.
I got Music ID here in the development & hacking section, for free. And it works fine on my Kaiser.
I *think* you can get movie reviews on Bing... I THINK! But I know you can find them, and get info about them, and where they're playing.
But it can get you random restaraunts from around you based on your gps, or cell tower location. You can find "restaurant" by typing, or speaking it.
for movie showtimes at nearby theateres, you can lookinto "flix" or "cinemo." flix is for the uk, franc, germany and soon to be for italy and spain too. Cinemo is for the US and Canada. They don't let you buy tickets, but they provide useful info. Both are hosted on this site, so look for it in the development and hacking forum.
orlandojumpoff said:
for movie showtimes at nearby theateres, you can lookinto "flix" or "cinemo." flix is for the uk, franc, germany and soon to be for italy and spain too. Cinemo is for the US and Canada. They don't let you buy tickets, but they provide useful info. Both are hosted on this site, so look for it in the development and hacking forum.
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thanks for the info!
finger friendly is rare in winmo as of now...
one more question, when using google maps, (or TomTom, etc) can the program pull address information from contacts?
say im in google maps can i just start typing "current location" in the "start" and have it figure out i mean where i am now? and for the "End" can i just start typing my contacts name and have it automatically enter my contacts address?
and when viewing a contact, can i just click their address and have it automatically pull up Google maps (or any other navigation application) and show me that location?
crazy talk said:
one more question, when using google maps, (or TomTom, etc) can the program pull address information from contacts?
say im in google maps can i just start typing "current location" in the "start" and have it figure out i mean where i am now? and for the "End" can i just start typing my contacts name and have it automatically enter my contacts address?
and when viewing a contact, can i just click their address and have it automatically pull up Google maps (or any other navigation application) and show me that location?
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You can do the former, though not quite as you describe. You click the menu, go to Options and choose "Look up Contact". It then lists your contacts that have address info and will pop up the map to them and give you several options.
The latter you can't do with the built in Windows contact manager, but their might be a 3rd party one that can interface with Google Maps, I don't know.
crazy talk said:
i believe you underestimate the capabilities of both the Movie application and the "where to eat" application i am asking about. unless Bing can make totally random suggestions about restaurants wherever you are by taking your current GPS location and looking around.
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I think you're underestimating the Bing app. It's not just a web search. The Bing mobile app uses GPS or cell towers to locate you, and then offers local search for restaurants, gas prices, theatre / showtime listings, local businesses. It also gives local weather and traffic reports, AND has a GPS mapping app to give you directions to anywhere you find. And it can even do location-based web searches, pulling up wikipedia articles or news items about places you're near. And the whole thing is built with a finger-friendly interface (although it's still rough around some edges). Heck, it's even got voice-command -- click the "speak" button, say "sushi," and it'll list the nearest sushi places.
Bing might not have every last feature of Urban Spoon or the showtimes app you're talking about, but it certainly has a lot of power of its own.
FloatingFatMan said:
You can do the former, though not quite as you describe. You click the menu, go to Options and choose "Look up Contact". It then lists your contacts that have address info and will pop up the map to them and give you several options.
The latter you can't do with the built in Windows contact manager, but their might be a 3rd party one that can interface with Google Maps, I don't know.
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I am using the standard contacts app and have options for locating in Google maps, Bing (formerly live search), and Garmin XT. Garmin has a sub menu with locate and route to.
If you are running Google maps and you don't have 'locate in Google maps' in the menu for contacts let me know. I would like to find out what put it there.
By the way, as floatingfatman said, you can look up conacts in your mapping app. I can do this in Google maps, Bing, Garmin XT and Destinator.
Midomi is alot easier on the eyes than Musicid. As far as UrbanSpoon I wish there was an app for Winmo, but Bing is the next best thing. With emulators and all is there anyway to get it working on Winmo devices?
I have the touchpro2
midomi is a seems to be a really good app and it's free. it gives you the option to listen to a sample of the song, search youtube or buy the song. you could also hum or sing the song to start the search.
This is much more finger friendly than past versions of winmo. I'm sure it's still not up there with the iphone as far as that goes but it's getting a lot closer.
What's the best app for finding and navigating hiking trails?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Search the market for everytrail. A lot of trails posted but of course could always depend on your area. Its pretty nice because it can just pull your location and show the nearest hikes to you.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
You might also look into mapping programs that will let you load arbitrary maps into the phone, such as scanned trail maps or topo maps. None of the options are particularly quick to set up, as you'll have to get maps into them.
If OSM has good enough maps, you could use something that'll cache offline maps of it. Often there are decent trail maps there, although I honestly don't see how people have the time to create them given the tools OSM gives.... Anywho.
Backcountry Navigator, Maverick and Orux are a few I found googling.
BackCountry Navigator is damn nice, I've been playing with it all day.. You can pre-cache maps from a bunch of different sources and it has a specific offline mode to use the maps later, all very easy to do. I have a question out to them about calibrating and importing a custom map, something that I'm not seeing in the program but maybe I'm overlooking it.. Like there's an area where I mountain bike and the topo maps are REALLY hard to read the trails as they seem to blend right in with the contour lines, but I have several great high level trail maps that I'd love to be able to use.
OruxMaps is the most useful up to date. The essential feature is offline navigation, i.e. maps can be seen when there is no cell tower in sight. It is essential in the mountains (too high) in the forest (too far) and in high sea. Additionally one can switch the cell receiver completely off that gives more juice to GPS and actual navigation without recharge.
The tracks can be uploaded to pop track sites including google maps. The only deficiencies I know of: UI requires some learning, stats charts can't be exported (particularly important for high profiles)
I own Samsung Omnia W running on WP7.5 Refresh. After I purchased my handset, I installed gMaps, so I didnt bother to have a look at inbuilt Maps app provided by Windows Phone.
I read that Bing Maps is also as good as Google Maps. Only problem is I dont know how to use it. When I open Maps, I can see option to get my current location. I dont see any option to discover places (Hotels, Parks, etc like in gMaps), nor I see any option to search any location, and direction/navigation to it.
Do I need to install any more app to utilise inbuilt Maps application. Is there any guide available to use Maps. Please point me to link, or post here.
Thanks.
Id use Nokia Maps rather than Bing
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
pvt_nemesis said:
Id use Nokia Maps rather than Bing
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
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Ya, but I use Samsung Omnia W, and its not unlocked. So I have to rely on inbuilt Bing Maps.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/how-to/wp7/web/use-maps-to-find-a-place
I found above link in which it has given details of Maps usage. Maps really looks nice in this link, but unfortunately in my phone, I can see only option "me" with Circle to show my location. I cant get any other options like Local Scout, Get Directions, Find Address.
In above link it is mentioned that certain feature may not work for all regions. I wonder if Bing Maps has no support for India!
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/how-to/wp7/basics/feature-and-service-availability
go read that and weep afterwards :laugh:
for the time being, i'd suggest to change the language of the browser and search (setup > language > last item in the list) to "ENGLISH (united states)", that way you'll unlock several options not available to us third-world-peasants-lumpenproletariat laugh like qr code search and local scout, however, be aware that there's no guarantee that it will work where you live. for instance, here i don't get results for shops and restaurants, but events and attractions work. ultimately it's useless for this place, but it looks so cool... :crying:
Saiyaku said:
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/how-to/wp7/basics/feature-and-service-availability
go read that and weep afterwards :laugh:
for the time being, i'd suggest to change the language of the browser and search (setup > language > last item in the list) to "ENGLISH (united states)", that way you'll unlock several options not available to us third-world-peasants-lumpenproletariat laugh like qr code search and local scout, however, be aware that there's no guarantee that it will work where you live. for instance, here i don't get results for shops and restaurants, but events and attractions work. ultimately it's useless for this place, but it looks so cool... :crying:
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Hey Thanks! It actually worked!!!
And guess what after changing language to English (US) {earlier I used English (UK)}, even Scout is working fine for India. I can see nearby Hotels, Attractions through Maps, Bing Search.
Place search, Navigation is also now working.
I'm using Google Maps to see traffic during my commute, NYC Metro area. Anyone compare traffic with Inrix, Waze or one of the other apps? I searched google and found information on the apps, but nothing that compared them for accuracy or timeliness. Even the TomTom or Navigon don't seem to have any comparisons on traffic. I'm looking for an app that provide up to date information, not historical.
I find Google could be hit or miss sometimes. Its a lot better than in past years.
Hi, for all my movements I'm using Waze - honestly I'm very pleased with it regarding updates on traffic, deadlines etc
I paid the $10 for CoPilot. Almost no data usage since the maps are on the device.
nice man, ty!
Google Maps will not allow me to download a large enough area to be useful. It's something like 10 miles across. In places like southern Oregon, your nearest neighbor may be more than 10 miles away, and cell towers are often nonexistent.
How can I download a larger map area under Android?
I'm currently frustrated because under iOS, xGPS allowed me to easily download any size area I wanted from Google Maps. I could even use my desktop to download and transfer the map to my phone via WiFi.
Is there any option to do this under Android? What about another mapping platform?
Note, I don't need offline routing or anything. Just a clear, high resolution map, preferably with terrain features, and a GPS dot for where I am.
blueandwhiteg3 said:
Google Maps will not allow me to download a large enough area to be useful. It's something like 10 miles across. In places like southern Oregon, your nearest neighbor may be more than 10 miles away, and cell towers are often nonexistent.
How can I download a larger map area under Android?
I'm currently frustrated because under iOS, xGPS allowed me to easily download any size area I wanted from Google Maps. I could even use my desktop to download and transfer the map to my phone via WiFi.
Is there any option to do this under Android? What about another mapping platform?
Note, I don't need offline routing or anything. Just a clear, high resolution map, preferably with terrain features, and a GPS dot for where I am.
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Check Maps With Me app
IF I HELPED YOU PRESS THE THANKS BYTTON
I've downloaded maps with me. It looks good for some things. Will be testing it out more on my weekend trip through southern Oregon.
Any thoughts on topo maps to go? That was another feature I really liked about xGPS but can't seem to replicate.
Google maps is pretty useless except for getting the most direct route
I Personaly Like Waze Social GPS Maps & Traffic or Scout GPS Navigation & Traffic