[Q] A few required apps? - Android Apps and Games

I own an Asus Prime TF201 tablet running ICS 4 and its rooted.
I am enjoying Android, however I was wondering if there was any apps to fullfil my needs. Please forgive my long list
Digital Assistant -
I've seen some note taking apps, but was wondering if there is one where i can just write on a widget on the homescreen? I don't want to have to write out a memo, takes too much time.
Also a way of syncing my calender, to do list etc with my PC?
Media Streaming -
I've got PS3 Media Streamer(also tried tVersity) on my PC and uPNP player and Bubble player on my Prime but it cannot detect the media device despite being DLNA compliant. Are there any good apps that will work?
TV Streaming -
Is there any way I can stream TV from my media centre PC to my tablet at all?
Updating -
My apps seem to constantly want to update causing slow down, is there anyway to set apps to update at night or at the push of a button to update them all in one go?
Syncing -
Any good apps to sync various files between my tablet and phone and PC? Like bookmarks etc
Sorry for the long list.

Related

Stream pictures and videos to tablet from Mac?

So I was wondering if there was a way to stream my pictures and videos from my Mac to my Transformer. I have google music for my music so that isn't really an issue, however I'd like to be able to hook my tablet to any tv and view the pictures on my Mac. I know it's probably easier done over LANwifi but it'd be nice if I could do it anywhere.
I assume once I get my mini hdmi cable it will be easy to hook it up to the TV, but getting the media is where I am stuck.
I use Subsonic (http://www.subsonic.org) to stream all my music and video's to my phone and tablet (or any other device)...
The server can be a mac, you can access your media via the web or via an android, iphone, pc widget/app... there is a lot out there...
It doesn't support image viewing (by default), but there is a mod which enables picture viewing support...
You can take a look at http://media.schattorie.nl, apps are available in the market...
does it cost monthly?
So I just got Plex, seems to work thus far. 4.99 for the app and the server on my mac is a free d/l. Just need to see if it works over 3g now...

[Q] The features you miss in the TF101 (compared to a notebook)

Hello Guys!
I am planning to get one of the Transformers (probably 32G+dock) and sell my notebook (will still have a desktop computer).
Now, I'm on a performance notebook (with piss-poor battery life), but I do not use it - only for web surfing, chat, watching movies, sending stuff & downloading - and maybe some games (1x a month LOL)
So my question is - what are the features you like or MISS in the Transformer compared to a notebook.
Thank you!
1) Proper browser with adblock.
2) Proper audio player (like Amarok/Clementine/Exaile etc.).
3) USB port for attaching keyboard (I don't have the dock).
Better task swapping(alt+tab) or windowed view.
Text selection. Android NEEDS a better text selection desperately.
Other than that it makes a pretty good laptop replacement for simple things. Using remote desktop to a windows machine, greatly improves #1, and moderately improves #2.
Magnesus said:
1) Proper browser with adblock.
2) Proper audio player (like Amarok/Clementine/Exaile etc.).
3) USB port for attaching keyboard (I don't have the dock).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
firefox is available in android, and you can add the adblock plugin.
also a system-wide adblock via apps.
i have no idea what you would qualify as a "proper" audio player. unless you're refering stictly to that list as "proper", the stock player is also a proper player, as well as plently you'd find in the market.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
gottahavit said:
Better task swapping(alt+tab) or windowed view.
Text selection. Android NEEDS a better text selection desperately.
Other than that it makes a pretty good laptop replacement for simple things. Using remote desktop to a windows machine, greatly improves #1, and moderately improves #2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alt+tab works with the keyboard dock.
Windowed view won't happen until there is a significant increase in system resources available to these devices. Everything currently runs in full screen because 1GB of RAM is just barely sufficient for most of the current apps, and Android devices don't use swap, which means apps get flushed out of memory if the system starts running low on RAM. Windowed apps would crash or degrade under the current Android memory management scheme, which was instated because phones and tablets are so starved for resources when compared to traditional desktops and laptops.
Text selection requires a long press because click and drag on a touchscreen handles panning. I'm not sure what else you're expecting from text selection when many apps allow you to modify the size of the selection to your heart's content. Those that don't integrate nicely with Android's built-in text selection are the fault of the developers.
Thank you for the replies.
Well, Just as finalhit said - firefox has a plugin, and AFAIK Dolphin Browser, too. And by the way, Ad-free is not working on these devices? Like on my rooted Desire?
Proper audio player - I saw the transformer in action and the stock player is great, also have purchased PowerAMP for my phone and the developer says, it'll work on HC 3.2, too. Will see.
Carrying on with Text Input ~
Android needs to be able to support Rich Text in Browser Email Apps (e.g. Yahoo) and also Copy/Paste text into an Email.
Copy/Paste works in Gmail but not in say Yahoo Mail.
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
FrankRr said:
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like that too, I tried plugging my USB SoundBlaster in but nothing happened.
What I miss most is a decent productivity suite, WP & Spreadsheets. I am using the beta of SoftMaker Office & it will do the job when it's released, but at the moment it crashes a lot & isn't mainstream.
Printing isn't that easy either ....
1) Definitely better text selection/manipulation - it works, but it doesn't feel right
2) Right mouse button - yes, it has long press, but it's long press, meaning it's not very fast. Make the right track pad button function the same as long press, and it will feel almost like a notebook.
3) Better file manipulation/transfer speed. Copying and pasting/moving files is a pain and is very very slow. Astro works, but it's nothing compared to the ease of windows/linux.
Android has all the functions I want, a lot of them just don't feel natural, or are cumbersome to use.
I like my TF, but I think it can't replace a notebook, unless we can port windows 7 on it..
mikelt89 said:
I like my TF, but I think it can't replace a notebook, unless we can port windows 7 on it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows 8 might run on it, as it has arm support and the TF meets the minimum requirements that MS has released so far.
cottinghamm said:
What I miss most is a decent productivity suite, WP & Spreadsheets. I am using the beta of SoftMaker Office & it will do the job when it's released, but at the moment it crashes a lot & isn't mainstream.
Printing isn't that easy either ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Documents to Go works well (given the limitations of the input methods, screen size, etc.)
Printign is a major issue. There are paid apps that I hear do printing OK, but they require a server program to run on a computer already connected to the printer. I have yet to find one that works well with a networked printer (either shared through the native Windows functionality or a dedicated print server).
FrankRr said:
What I miss most, is that the TF does not have a digital audio output via USB.
A notebook can simply be connected with a DAC by USB and I can listen to MP3s over my Hifi system ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can indirectly output to a DAC if you use the HDMI port. I have an Asus VH238H monitor that includes a SPDIF out, so I just hook up the Transformer via HDMI and have the monitor output the sound to my DAC.
For printing I use CloudPrint So far it works greatly (home & office) on my Desire - so that won't be a problem.
finalhit said:
firefox is available in android, and you can add the adblock plugin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firefox for Android is very far from a proper browser (in my opinion, proper browser is for example Google Chrome and desktop Firefox) and it's adblock is far from it's desktop counterpart. Maybe the new version will be better. In my opinion actually Firefox is worst browser for Android (the best being Dolphin Pad).
i have no idea what you would qualify as a "proper" audio player. unless you're refering stictly to that list as "proper", the stock player is also a proper player, as well as plently you'd find in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using Amarok, Clementine, Exile or sth similar (or Foobar if you only have Windows, but it's quite bad looking). I tested most the music players in the market and none of them are even comparable. So I resigned from using Tranformer for listening to music and bought USB sound card for my laptop instead (without it the sound quality of my laptop was... well quite horrible ).
Amarok/Clementine/Exile have clear interface with your files or library on the left (you can use both) and a playlist on the right. You can add tracks to the playlist, remove them, shuffle them, star songs, generate playlists based on the stars, select to repeat a track or repeat the whole playlist, filter the library (for example - you type John and you get all John Williams albums listed), the playlist is created by drag and drop etc. Also they play all music formats (flac, mpc included). If you never used a music player like this - try them, they are really good.
Most (all of them?) players in android market are designed for playing one album at a time (no playlist), have interface more suited for phones than tablets and no ability to use folder view (some can but are regenerating the index every time I unmount my samba share - and it takes ages). If I'm wrong - and there is sth like Amarok on the Market - please tell, I'll buy it in a second.
Magnesus said:
Try using Amarok, Clementine, Exile or sth similar (or Foobar if you only have Windows, but it's quite bad looking). I tested most the music players in the market and none of them are even comparable. So I resigned from using Tranformer for listening to music and bought USB sound card for my laptop instead (without it the sound quality of my laptop was... well quite horrible ).
Amarok/Clementine/Exile have clear interface with your files or library on the left (you can use both) and a playlist on the right. You can add tracks to the playlist, remove them, shuffle them, star songs, generate playlists based on the stars, select to repeat a track or repeat the whole playlist, filter the library (for example - you type John and you get all John Williams albums listed), the playlist is created by drag and drop etc. Also they play all music formats (flac, mpc included). If you never used a music player like this - try them, they are really good.
Most (all of them?) players in android market are designed for playing one album at a time (no playlist), have interface more suited for phones than tablets and no ability to use folder view (some can but are regenerating the index every time I unmount my samba share - and it takes ages). If I'm wrong - and there is sth like Amarok on the Market - please tell, I'll buy it in a second.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because the default Music player doesn't show the now playing and playlist views on the same page together doesn't mean you don't have such functionality. Remember what you're dealing with here; it's just a 10.1 inch screen. It doesn't take much to clutter the UI with a lot of menu options, especially when all the UI elements have to be doubled and tripled in size in order to be legible on the tiny screen.
Now, as far as the features of the default Music app, there's plenty to keep most listeners happy. Upon starting the app, in the upper left hand corner you have the ability to sort your music collection by New and recent, Albums, Artists, Songs, Playlists, and Genres. On the right, you can Search through all of your music, refining your results by the previously mentioned sort categories. Once you choose a specific artist, for instance, you can tap once on the "All songs" option to play all of the artist's selected music, or you can just select one album of theirs to play, either of these options taking you to a list of songs added to the queue. Long press will allow you to add the selected songs to the playlist of your choice. Once in the now playing queue, you can sort the songs by name or by album, or shuffle the whole thing. Then once you finally play a song, the now playing screen allows for toggling shuffle and advanced repeat functions just like what you're used to with other applications. The default player also supports mp3, ogg, and flac, and probably some other formats that I haven't tried yet. The only thing missing is the ability to "star" your music, which is a feature I always saw as pointless.
Seriously, why would you even bother with third party music apps at this point?
And what about the microSD slot on the tablet? I'm planning to get a 32GB A-DATA - will it work normally like with my Desire?
rtadams89 said:
Documents to Go works well (given the limitations of the input methods, screen size, etc.)
Printign is a major issue. There are paid apps that I hear do printing OK, but they require a server program to run on a computer already connected to the printer. I have yet to find one that works well with a networked printer (either shared through the native Windows functionality or a dedicated print server).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
printing works well for me, but yes, requires a server at this point -- free app: https://market.android.com/search?q=printershare&so=1&c=apps
I do use it as a laptop replacement. I find that 95% of the time I do not need to go back to my laptop; however, I do miss the ability to have more than one app on the screen at once (chatting and browsing at the same time is annoying). I also miss a full office program. I have tried DTG and polaris, and both work quite well by comparison to other office apps, but are not a replacement for MS Office or Libreoffice.
I also have a server in the basement for media serving running ESXi 4.1. I have 2 VMs on it: File/media server running ubuntu 11.04 and a windows VM for running various other things like video transcoding. I would not want to do either of those functions on an android tablet either.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

[Q] Streaming Music from home PC

Hello,
I'm looking to extend my music collection available on my device by streaming from my PC, either on my home network or on other WiFi networks. 3G is generally not up to the job, so I'm not interested in that.
I did a quick google and found a program called JukeFly, but it's not available in my region, and I can't find it on Marketplace. Is there a way to get JukeFly on my device?
I know that I can add music to my SkyDrive, but this is only accessible through the Office Hub, so is a bit clunky to access and I presume I'll be limited to opening one track at a time.
I've come across Media Buddy, which works with Windows Media Centre, but I'm really looking for something that will at least appear in the Applications list in Zune on my device.
Anyone got any clever solutions?
Thanks
When you're at home you could use a DLNA app.
Or you could install TVersity Server (it's for free) on your PC and then download and install either myMedia WP7 or TVersity Remote on your device. Works like a charm for me.
Streaming from your PC to WP7
There is an app in the marketplace called Tonido. It is really good at what its for. It reminds me of orb before it got screwed up, but tonido you should enjoy

Google Music on generic Android devices

I've installed Google Music on my D2G running Galnet MIUI and I'm loving it.
I have another Android device, a supercheap WM8650 tablet running Uberoid. I want to turn it into a cloud player using Google Music so I can play my music on it without having to buy more high-capacity microSD cards.
So I installed Google Music on it (latest version - I'm not in the USA so I have to download the apk externally), and it promptly stopped working. I googled a bit, and it appears Google Music has trouble running on generic devices. I'm wondering if the reason for this is known, and if there are ways to fix this problem. I'd have no problems using one of the alternatives, but from what I'm seeing Google Music is the only one that doesn't have ridiculously restrictive storage - I have 15 gigs worth of ogg files, so stuff like Droptunes is useless to me.
You could try browsing to music.google.com from a browser that supports user agent spoofing, like dolphin HD, and set it to a Desktop user agent?
I know that's kind of a crappy workaround, but I'm not sure about why GM wouldn't work well on generic android devices...
BroidDrionic said:
You could try browsing to music.google.com from a browser that supports user agent spoofing, like dolphin HD, and set it to a Desktop user agent?
I know that's kind of a crappy workaround, but I'm not sure about why GM wouldn't work well on generic android devices...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds fine in principle, but doesn't work so well on my tablet - it's very slow, and it takes a long time for the site just to load the list, let alone launch the player. I really need a native app.
The only alternative I've found so far is Audiogalaxy (a name I remember fondly from the early days of peer-to-peer... *sigh* ), but that isn't a cloud storage player, just a streaming player. In other words, if I want to have my library permanently available I need to have a computer with significant storage always on and connected, acting as a file server. A Windows computer, so I can't use any old diskless laptop with a USB thumbdrive. And if my connection or power goes down I can kiss my files goodbye. And the server wastes power.
This will do as an emergency measure, but I really need someplace to put my files. Is there a music player that will work from normal ftp storage? I have a website, I could easily upload my music to the space I use for it.
Bumpty bump.
what distro/android version is the app made for (ex: 2.1+). Which version is running on your tablet?

[Q] Missing DLNA apps

Hi- I don't seem to have the two apps that Motorola lists on their support site that can be used to stream via DLNA, Media Share and the DLNA app itself. I recently successfully rooted the phone so I could remove some of the factory bloat, but I know I did not remove either of those apps. Any idea what gives? I am running 4.0.4; was on with Moto tech support and he suggested wiping the partition (factory reset?), but I am leery of doing this while rooted. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. TIA!
Scrondar said:
Hi- I don't seem to have the two apps that Motorola lists on their support site that can be used to stream via DLNA, Media Share and the DLNA app itself. I recently successfully rooted the phone so I could remove some of the factory bloat, but I know I did not remove either of those apps. Any idea what gives? I am running 4.0.4; was on with Moto tech support and he suggested wiping the partition (factory reset?), but I am leery of doing this while rooted. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In ICS the DLNA apps are integrated to the system apps, check out the music app and press the menu button, it should show an option to play on another device.
janitux said:
In ICS the DLNA apps are integrated to the system apps, check out the music app and press the menu button, it should show an option to play on another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, when I open My Music, I can scan for DLNA servers (which my phone finds-my PC running Plex, and my wife's laptop), but not my Pioneer receiver, which is DLNA compliant. I assume this because it is a client device. So, how can I stream from my phone to my receiver? Are there apps that can do this directly, or do they all have to go through a server? I have several music players {Poweramp, Winamp, JetAudio), but none of them offer the ability to stream to a DLNA device. Many thanks.
BubbleUPnP does what you are looking for. It can read files from any server (including local files), and play on any compliant renderer (works with my Smart TV). Also, I found the app Twonky to be pretty neat - you can play videos from video sites (e.g., YouTube and Vimeo) on compliant receivers.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bubblesoft.android.bubbleupnp&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pv.twonkybeam
rp181 said:
BubbleUPnP does what you are looking for. It can read files from any server (including local files), and play on any compliant renderer (works with my Smart TV). Also, I found the app Twonky to be pretty neat - you can play videos from video sites (e.g., YouTube and Vimeo) on compliant receivers.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bubblesoft.android.bubbleupnp&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pv.twonkybeam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll give both a try. Thinking about it, I really can't see a scenario where I'd want to play from my phone to my receiver if I wasn't at home, so I guess it doesn't matter if my PC gets involved as the server. I just wanted to see if I could work it just between my phone and receiver.

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