Hello, all.
I've got a confession to make: I like apps. A lot. To an unhealthy degree. I've got a huge stash of apps on my phone, and an even larger collection of .apk backups waiting to be reloaded whenever I feel like it. I love finding new apps to try out, and deciding which ones are worthy to be added to my collection. A lot of the apps that I find and want to try out are paid apps; without finding many thorough reviews on them, I don't know whether they are worth my money - but I can't stand the thought of missing out on the Next Big Thing. And so I buy them, download them, install them, and test them out anyway. If it's an awesome app and well-worth the money, I tell my friends. If it is money that could be better spent on another app that I've tried before, I tell my friends that, too.
Unfortunately, not all of my friends are interested in my opinion on apps. They only listen to me because of my rugged good looks (my theory). This makes me sad, because I spend a lot of time (and money, in some cases) trying apps out - someone else needs to benefit from that time (and money) as well. Until someone decides to pay/reimburse me for all the apps that I evaluate, the next-best thing I can do is offer up reviews to the community of any apps that I have found particularly useful. This is the driving force behind my desire to make this thread.
I will be running down my list of currently-installed useful applications and entertaining games. I will include screen shots, AppBrain links, and as much detail as I can muster up. My hope is that the rest of the community may find some benefit from these reviews - and who knows, maybe you'll find a kick-ass app you'd never heard of.
I'm open to questions, ideas, requests, suggestions, and pretty much any other type of communication or input that could be provided. I only ask that you be respectful - both of me, and of the app developers. And if this list helps you find a neat paid app to try out, please do support the developer(s). Piracy is bad, mmmmkay?
Enjoy!
-codesplice
Credit where credit is due: All screenshots are made using the free ShootMe app.
NOTE: Now that the Android Market has a shnazzy new web interface, I'm going to change the primary links for apps to reflect this. I will add the AppBrain links as a secondary, and hope to add direct market links at some point once I find a site to reliably provide this information. Stay tuned!
Reviews:
Minimalistic Text (Widget)
Clutch Pad(Multitasking App) UPDATED 2/24/11
CircleLauncher (Widget)
Swipe Pad (Multitasking App)
Keyboard Manager (App) UPDATED 2/23/11
Shift Puzzle Game (Game)
ElecroDroid (App)
Hella Umbrella (Game)
Digital Wall (LWP)
Shortyz Crosswords (App)
Elixir (System Info App)
Google Authenticator (App)
Zeam (Launcher)
Lookout / WaveSecure (Mobile Security App double-feature)
If you don't want to subscribe to this thread, you can follow me on that twitting thing, as I will post updates about new reviews there.
Minimalistic Text (widget)
App Name: Minimalistic Text (v.2.1.3, @AppBrain)
Developer: Devmil
Price: FREE
There is quite a handful of text-based widgets available on the Market, and a lot of them are very nice. There are widgets for displaying the time as text, the weather as text, the battery level as text.... but this is one widget that does it all. Just about every aspect of the widget is configurable, from the text alignment and rotation to the font size and colors to even the format for different types of data. You've got several options for the display type, whether you want to use digits or words or even a bar (for days of the week or percentage of battery charge). There is also an optional "blur" text effect which works wonderfully for making accented text appear to be illuminated. To top things off, this widget also functions as a plugin for Locale or Tasker and can be used to display variables from either of those applications. For instance, if you want a small text-widget to display what Locale/Tasker profiles are currently active, this is your answer for a very configurable solution.
For each widget you are also able to define an action to perform when tapped - whether it is launching another activity (my clock widget launches my alarm clock), opening the widget preferences page, or even reading out the text currently displayed on the widget. You are also able to save and restore your widget settings, so don't be afraid to experiment.
Given the sheer amount of customizations available to you with this widget app, the configuration menu may be a little bit overwhelming and complex when you first get into it. Play around for a few minutes, and you're bound to get the hang of it.
This is a fabulous widget, and one that I highly recommend to anyone who will take the time to tinker with it.
Verdict: A highly-configurable text-based widget to display pretty much anything you want, especially with Tasker integration.
Screenshots:
1) Widget(s) in action. I should note there are three separate widgets displayed: Time / weather up top, day / date on the bottom, and a battery level bar on the right-hand side.
2) Preferences Manager for all widgets
3) Text Style menu
4-5) Custom Layout configurator
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))
Clutch Pad[APP]
App Name: Clutch Pad (v.1.3v.1.4.2, @AppBrain)
Developer: stevealbright
Price: $0.99 $1.99
Clutch is an application that seeks to optimize and streamline the way you multitask on Android. It is currently in beta status, but is very functional in its current state. It is a powerful supplement to the built-in Recent Apps feature.
Clutch manifests itself as a small semi-transparent "trigger" area, which functions similar to "hot corners" on a Mac (I think. I'm a Linux/PC guy). This small region rides at the very top layer of the Android interface (in a user-configurable position) and is accessible no matter what application you may be working in. You can tap this region to instantly bring up a small grid displaying your recently-accessed applications. You can customize how many apps you want to be visible, configure the application to ignore your Home (Launcher) app in its list, and to visually distinguish currently-running applications from terminated apps. This makes it very easy to quickly determine if that app you just exited is still running or if it has been shut down as it should, as well as providing a quick (and lightweight) task switcher.
Nice, but nothing terribly fantastic. Yet. Clutch also has configurable swipe gestures - the most useful (to me) of which is a Last Task functionality. For instance, if I Swipe Up from the Clutch region, I instantly switch to whatever my previous app was. If I swipe again, I am moved back to the app I just switched from. This functions similarly to just pressing ALT+TAB quickly, and is very useful for quickly jumping between two apps.
This little utility is quick and lightweight, and I have found it to be extremely useful. It is still in development, and has many more features planned (and a price increase to accompany them - so get it quickly!) including support for additional gestures (open/close notifications, for example), on-click task control (press-and-hold to kill, for example), and configurable transition animations.
If you've got a dollar to spend, you would do well to add this application to your device in its current state, and I can only imagine the app's versatility and usefulness will increase with the further planned updates.
Update (2/24/11): Clutch Pad has recently been updated to version 1.4. With this update, the application has dropped the "Beta" tag, gained an additional "Pad" in its name, and has added additional features and configurable options. At the same time, the price has also been increased to $1.99. New features include additional swipe gestures, configurable transition animations (that are quite pretty), the option to toggle the trigger button via a press-and-hold on the Search hardware key, and a Favorites option to quickly launch your favorite apps. Options have also been added for additional visual tweaks and adjustments of both the trigger icon and the popup lists, and all known bugs have been fixed. With each incremental update, this app gets more and more useful and I find myself relying upon it more all the time. Even at the increased price, this is still one of my must-have applications.
Verdict: An innovative way to access recent apps, and the Last App gesture functionality is every bit as useful as Alt-Tabbing between apps on your desktop.
Screenshots:
1) Trigger icon
2) Recent apps list
3-5) Settings pages
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))
CircleLauncher (widget)
App Name: CircleLauncher (v.1.5.2, @AppBrain)
Developer: db-ware
Price: ~$1.37 (free, limited version here or @AppBrain)
As mentioned previously, I have a lot of apps. One of the problem with having a lot of apps is running out of room on your homescreens for app shortcuts. There are various widgets out there that propose a variety of solutions to this problem, but they often leave you with tiny, almost unusable icons. This would have been fine in the days where the trackball reigned supreme, but this is the oh-tens. It has to be finger-friendly.
One true solution that I stumbled across the other day is called CircleLauncher. What it does is really very simple, but it does it very well. It allows you to create a single widget to group similar applications together (I've used location-themed apps and clock-based apps in my example). Tape the 1x1 widget, and a lightweight menu appears to launch your apps. Pretty standard, but this menu is laid out (by default - you can change this in the settings) in a ring around the icon. As you slide your finger or thumb around the ring, the currently selected application icon grows to make selection a bit easier.
Note that CircleLauncher includes other layout types (configurable from the widget's config menu, which you access by selecting the widget and then press-and-holding the center) including horizontal and vertical lines. I was also very pleased with the way that the widget's application menu adapts to its position on the screen - stick it in a corner, and your full selection of apps will be displayed within a 90-degree pie slice.
Obviously, a menu such as this is a bit limited to a relatively low number of apps (more than 9 or 10 and the ring will be just too cluttered to be functional), but if you need to have quick access to just a few more apps from your homescreen, this should do the trick. Since there is a free version available, why not give it a shot and see if this widget can help you to organize your home screen a bit?
Verdict: An easy way to combine several app shortcuts into one.
Screenshots:
1) Plain widgets (labeled GPS and Time) - you can dress them up a bit more if you are artistically inclined.
2) One widget opened showing the full selection ring.
3) The corner widget open showing the adaptation to the position.
4) One icon expanded while my finger hovers over it.
5) Settings menu
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))
Keep going mate
gruzman said:
Keep going mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I surely intend to! Just have to figure out which app to post next
Thanks for the encouragement though. It is appreciated to know at least someone is reading over all this mess!
SwipePad Beta [APP]
App Name: SwipePad Beta (v.0.7.5, @AppBrain)
Developer: Conduction.mobi
Price: FREE
Keeping on the theme of "apps to help you access your apps", we come to SwipePad Beta. Similar in some regard to Clutch, this app also gives you "hot corner" functionality. Use the settings menu to establish what corners (or regions) you want to be active, and then slide your finger from a specified region to the center of the screen. Hold it for just a moment, and a 3x4 grid of application shortcuts magically appears. You can, of course, fully customize what applications should appear on this grid by simply pressing your finger on an empty square or by holding your finger over an existing icon until it is highlighted. The hot corners/region and swipe gesture should work pretty much any time that the screen is unlocked, and is a great way of quickly launching a new app without returning to your home screen.
The application offers to integrate task managing application by the same developer (which is a paid app) that I haven't tried out yet. Personally, I've got plenty of other ways of killing apps at this point - particularly once the function gets built into Clutch.
SwipePad is very nicely polished and quite responsive. It does what it does quite well. My only issue with it is that I just don't use it very frequently. I almost forget that it is there; I must be thoroughly conditioned to launching apps from the home screen. It's free, though, so give it a whirl and see if it can further help to optimize the way you launch apps from within other apps
Verdict: Clever use of hot-corners to gain quick access to up to 12 user-defined apps; non-intrusive to the point that you might forget to use it.
Screenshots:
1) SwipePad in action. Note that putting a link to SwipePad on your SwipePad gives you a quick way to access the settings screens.
2) SwipePad settings, with the hot corners highlighted in red at the bottom.
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))
is there a video demonstrating the use of Clutch? I want to watch it before paying for it.
Deff fav'ing this. Am looking forward to all reviews
(*is thinking about getting clutch)
Epic is as Epic does
Nice! Thanks bro!
waichung said:
is there a video demonstrating the use of Clutch? I want to watch it before paying for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I imagine there should be a video somewhere on the youtubes. Let me know if you find one and I will add it to the post. I'm about to go into work so it will be another 12 hours before I have access to the full internet, but I will look then if you haven't found anything.
Very good! Thanks
Keyboard Manager [APP]
App Name: Keyboard Manager (v.1.1) Keyboard Manager (v.1.4)
Developer: ne0fhyk
Price: FREE $1.99
NOTE: This app requires root!!
It took me quite a while, but I finally weened myself away from requiring a physical keyboard on a mobile device when I got my NexusOne. With the multitude and variety of available software keyboards available for Android, I haven't really missed the physical keys. The only annoyance at this point is that I find keyboards that work great for one-handed operation in portrait orientation, like Swype or 8pen (if you're in the mood for adventure and don't really care how long it takes to get a message completed ), but are next-to-worthless for dual-thumb landscape input. With a physical keyboard, you'd just slide that bad boy out and away you go. For those of us with only a touchscreen and maybe a few additional buttons, it can be a bit of a chore to manually change the selected input method each time we rotate the device. If only there was a way for the device to read my mind and select the appropriate keyboard.....
As luck would have it, XDA member ne0fhyk has provided us with a solution to this difficulty, in the form of his Keyboard Manager application. Simply select what keyboard you want to use in each orientation (I use Swype for portrait and SwiftKey for landscape), and the app will handle the tedious business of choosing the appropriate input method. It's that easy, and it works.
Mostly. The app is a bit of a hacked solution, and requires root permissions to be able to get around the Android security feature which prevents applications from changing the input method. Installation is not always straight-forward (instructions are available in the first post of the application thread, and it may cause a few software keyboards to force-close if you change orientation while the keyboard is displayed. The current version (1.1) has come a long way from the previous releases in terms of usability, stability, and reliability, and I haven't had any major issues with it. I highly recommend that you give this application a shot and see if it will help you out with your input needs.
Update (2/23/11): Keyboard Manager is no longer available for free, but is now installable from the Android Market. The now-current 1.4 version has fixed most of the install issues and should be a very easy set-up for you. If you run into any issues with the purchased version, please contact the developer - he helped me solve issues specific to my device, and the application works like a charm now.
Verdict: A functional hack to auto-select the appropriate software keyboard based on device orientation.
Screenshots:
1) The optional persistent notification icon. Activating the notification will give you quick access to the Keyboard Manager settings page, and I recommend you leave it enabled until you get things set up the way you want. After that, disable the persistent notification at your own risk (the persistent notification keeps the process in the foreground and prevents Android from terminating it).
2) Settings screen
3) Selecting which keyboard to use
4) Demonstrating that the app has automatically selected Swype for portrait...
5) .... and SwiftKey for landscape.
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))
Shift Puzzle Game [GAME]
App Name: Shift Puzzle Game (v.1.2, @AppBrain)
Developer: Handmark
Price: $1.99 (Free ad-supported version here or @AppBrain let's you try out 15 levels; full version features 40 additional levels and no ads)
The Shift Puzzle Game is a tasty Android port of the ever-popular SHIFT game by Armor Games, which you can play free in your Flash-enabled browser at the Armor Games website. If you're not familiar with the original (as I wasn't until I found this app just an hour ago), then let me fill you in on the skinny.
Shift is a new take on the classic adventure-puzzle platformer game. Your mission is to get from point A to point B, dodging whatever nasty traps and obstacles may be in your path. The twist is the ability for you to literally shift the game universe upside down. White becomes black, up becomes down, and you find yourself walking on the flip side of the surface you were just standing on. You can (and will) use this clever maneuver repeatedly in order to successfully navigate each challenging level. Not quite tracking? It can be rather tough to explain... Hopefully the screenshots below will help clear it up (or go play the flash version for free here).
This implementation for a touchscreen device is phenomenal. The controls are large and appear on either side of the landscape display - and you don't even need multitouch. Just tap the left arrow to move left, the left-up diagonal to jump left, and the SHIFT button at the top to do that groovy shift thing. The gameplay is engaging, and the levels can be quite challenging (and quite addictive). The game is worth trying out (the free version) solely for experiencing the joy that is puzzle-solving by twisting the fabric of the universe, and you might just get hooked enough to purchase the full version. It would be two bucks well spent.
Verdict: Quickly becoming my latest Android gaming addiction.
Screenshots:
1) Main menu
2) First level
3) First level - SHIFTED!
4) It gets twisted!
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))
This is a little off topic but is anyone attempting a Tor app?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
jinsfch said:
This is a little off topic but is anyone attempting a Tor app?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just slightly off topic, but no worries.
A quick search on AppBrain found Orbot: Tor On Android. Impressive, since Android still doesn't have proper proxy support on its own...
Can't find clutch video on youtube...
Btw,i think swipepad is better than it as swyping from the bottom is easier than from the right
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
waichung said:
Can't find clutch video on youtube...
Btw,i think swipepad is better than it as swyping from the bottom is easier than from the right
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked for Clutch videos as well and was disappointed to see that there aren't any. I may try to shoot a video once I get home from the desert in a few weeks (hopefully).
You can change the position of the Clutch region to really any spot on the screen. And I don't really see the two as competing anyway as they have entirely different purposes: Clutch gives you quick access to your recently-executed apps, while SwipePad offers a fixed menu of apps for you to launch.
codesplice said:
I looked for Clutch videos as well and was disappointed to see that there aren't any. I may try to shoot a video once I get home from the desert in a few weeks (hopefully).
You can change the position of the Clutch region to really any spot on the screen. And I don't really see the two as competing anyway as they have entirely different purposes: Clutch gives you quick access to your recently-executed apps, while SwipePad offers a fixed menu of apps for you to launch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The likely alt-tab function of clutch is really fantastic but does it show the recently-executed apps or the running apps? I use swipepad together with the virtual task switcher which allows switching among the running tasks. These 2 apps are completely free and no need to paid $1 for the "swipepad: tasks". But I prefer quick accessing recent tasks to showing those apps running at the background.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
waichung said:
The likely alt-tab function of clutch is really fantastic but does it show the recently-executed apps or the running apps? I use swipepad together with the virtual task switcher which allows switching among the running tasks. These 2 apps are completely free and no need to paid $1 for the "swipepad: tasks". But I prefer quick accessing recent tasks to showing those apps running at the background.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The set {recently-executed} apps includes the subset {running apps}. The default behavior of Android is to show all recently-executed apps under the Recent Apps functionality, regardless of whether those apps are still running or have been terminated. I thought that Visual Task Switcher behaved the same way, but based on the application page it does appear to only display currently-running apps. Personally, I prefer to see recent apps (with a visual distinction between those that are still running and those that have been terminated), as I often end up re-launching the same app over and over; of course, you could also just pin a shortcut to those frequent apps to SwipePad. We all operate our devices in different ways, so either option is of course valid.
Visual Task Switcher (at least the last time that I used it) tended to make my phone lag significantly for whatever reason; I did use it for quite some time though, and was pleased with its functionality as a complete Recent Apps replacement (after configuring the long-press home trigger to launch it via CyanogenMod settings). Also note that the free version includes ads (which may contribute to the lag I was experiencing?) while the full version will set you back $1.99.
Hello,
I post this thread to present you my game Fractions available on market to the following place : //market.android.com/details?id=com.app.fractions.
Fractions is an addictive game combining mental calculation and speed.
Game has a grid containing squares having each 4 values that can take several different forms (fraction, percentage, integer, decimal, subtraction, addition).
For example, value 0.6 can be represented like that in the game : 6/10, 3/5, 12/20, 9-8.4, 60%, ... And all these forms are equals.
Game grid can have 2x2, 3x3 or 4x4 dimensions.
Fractions’ goal is to find all equalities between each squares’ values that are in contact on the game grid. For that, player can roll values of square clockwise by clicking on square and moving squares via drag & drop in hard levels.
For these hard levels, Fractions has a help menu that can be displayed during game and in which player can choose to show squares well placed thanks to a little orange square and to show squares well placed with values in good order thanks to a little green square. But, use of these helps increase game resolution time of 50 or 100 seconds.
Grid resolution time and number of moves realized are counted during game. When game is ended, you can compare your score with other players around the world and try to make the high scores. Players can configure their login used to share scores thanks to menu preferences.
A records screen lets you to visualize best high scores list for Fractions.
Each grid is randomly generated which lets you to play an infinite of different game grids with always the same goal : solve grid faster than you can with the smallest number of moves.
An elegant help menu lets you to see how to play to Fractions. Changes between screens are realized thanks to edges that are in bottom of the screen or by flip on screen right to left or left to right respectively to go to previous screen or next screen.
I made a little video to show how to play to Fractions available here :
youtube.com/watch?v=oNI5pgRtPZU
I wish people will like Fractions which is an original game .
Thanks by advance for your feedbacks.
Sylvain.
You should post the link to the game on the market as well so we don't have to go looking for it. In going to download it tonight and report back later.
Edit: I played it. I really like the concept of the game but there are a few bugs that have to change. One is pressing the back button doesn't allow you to exit the app. The command to exit pops up but it just takes you back to the last played game. Second is the fractions turning red when they are in the correct order. Its too easy to just click through and wait for everything to line up and turn red. A better option would be for the player to line the grid up without the red fractions and to submit their answer. If its wrong they keep going and submit again with another try. I like the game but it needs a few tweeks.
Sent from my Samsung Captivate running Andromeda³
For market link, I hadn't enough posts on forum to have right to put link in my threads.
First, thanks for your feedbacks.
For the back button, you have reason. You think I must remove confirmation exit dialog also or just keep confirmation exit dialog and when user click to yes quit the game ? (while actually the user returns to home screen).
For the levels 1, 2 and 3, I think it's good idea to remove red color for equalities to avoid people that click randomly until they find all equalities and they win the game. I'm going to add a way to valid grid when user think he found all equalities and the gris is solved. Perhaps, take in count in the ranking the fact that player has submitted grid too much time before win also.
Have you tried the levels 4, 5 and 6 ? I think for that levels red color is necessary because it becomes very hard. Indeed, squares are shuffled to the start of the game. So, it is necessary to drag an drop squares also to solve grid. Without red color for that levels, It will be too hard perhaps no ?
1. Say "Google" to search
If you're in America, you can open Google Now and say "Google" followed by your query to search the net. If you're not in America, you can trick Android into thinking you are. Open the settings on your device, choose "Language and input", then switch Google Voice Typing's language from "Automatic" to "English (US)". Next go to Google Now's settings and again change the language to "English (US)". You should see "Search or say Google" in Now's search bar. Faking an American accent: optional.
2. Now settings
You can open now in two ways - either swipe up from the Home icon, or swipe the lock icon up when the screen is locked. When you first start it, Now will run through the basics of what it does, and even show you some example cards. In Now's settings, you'll find each card has its own notifications settings, which apply to both the Now homescreen and the Notification shade. Standard means that new cards are accompanied by a ringtone and vibration, Low priority places them at the bottom of the list without any notification, and off, well, turns them off altogether.
3. Talk to Google Now
Google Now also includes Siri-like functionality, supplying spoken answers to your inane questions. Try things like, "what time is it in Kuala Lumpur?", "when's Tom Cruise's birthday I want to send him a card?", "how do I get home?" or "will it be sunny tomorrow?" and Now will speak the answer back at you or search the web for relevant pages.
4. Get more Google Now cards
Google Now presents relevant information such as weather and places on "cards". To begin with it may be a little sparse, but searching the web from any device will give you more. Just make sure your web history is enabled: visit history.google.com, hit the settings cog and ensure that Web History is on and not paused. Next, search Google for favourite football teams, planned flights and destinations and the relevant cards will pop up automatically.
5. Notification Shade
We previously referred to it as the "pully-down menu thing", but apparently it's officially called the "Notification Shade". Niftily, certain notifications in the shade can be expanded by sliding two fingers outwards on them, giving you an overview of the subject headers in your email inbox, for example. Moving two fingers inwards on a notification neatly contracts them, too.
6. Rotation lock
You're sitting on a plane watching a vid in horizontal orientation. Suddenly, the plane banks sharply to the left and - oh no! - the video changes orientation. This worst-case-scenario can be avoided by tapping the rotation lock in the Notification Shade, which keeps the screen in its current orientation. Tap it again to unlock the rotation.
7. Turn notifications off
Install enough apps and the notification bar at the top of your Android device becomes the digital equivalent of an unending stream of ticker tape. In fact, Airpush is an entire advertising company that makes money in this way. Fortunately, each and every app you install in Jelly Bean has the option to turn this off. Go to its info page under Apps, uncheck the box labelled "Show notifications" and enjoy your empty notifications bar.
8. Equalise your music
The ability to adjust those all-important bass and treble settings has been sorely missed on Android devices - so much so that a bunch of apps have been made to enable it. It's fixed in Android's stock music player, though. Open a music file in the stock player, hit Settings then choose Equaliser. Here you'll find manual sliders, a load of presets and bass and 3D effects. Unfortunately it doesn't work for the whole device, but it will give your tunes a little more oomph.
9. Rearrange your home screens
Long-press on any icon or widget on your homescreen and you can move it around, and other icons and widgets will shift out of the way to fit it in. Bigger widgets can also be resized by long-pressing and releasing them, and then dragging the circles that appear on the edges. It's actually quite fun and satisfying. We just spent three hours doing nothing but this.
10. Fling to remove
Homescreen app clutter (surely the worst of all types of clutter) can be quickly and easily defeated. Long-press an icon or widget, then fling it upwards and it'll ascend into shortcut heaven. This won't uninstall the app, though - it'll still reside in your app drawer.
FYI, the original article that you copy and pasted this from, lists 50 tips and tricks...
(Copying and pasting articles is bad mmmkay?)
I was finding my Archos 43 Gen7 device with its puny 256mb RAM unusable with regular launchers so I decided to roll my own from scratch: TinyLaunch.
The main development rules were:
- use very little RAM
- run on lots of devices (currently, back to Android 1.6)
- get out of the way and avoid doing anything in the background while other apps are running
- run fast once it's configured (but currently the configuration app scan is slow)
- nothing extraneous--no pretty extra icons, no help information, and of course no ads of any sort (not even a link to my other apps--all that is wasted memory)
I plan for the apk never to exceed 40K. Currently it's 26K: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9SH82NXqz3WREtqa0FWckF3TFU/
This is *extremely* low-featured. At base, it just presents a simple scrolling list of apps (with categorization features) with no icons (though you can turn on icons, at the expense of some speed: Menu, Settings). You tap on an app and there you are.
In particular:
- UGLY
- no widgets
- no shortcuts
- no automatic updates when apps are installed or removed
These limitations may make this useless to you. But if you just want a list of apps for launching, e.g., on a device for your kids to play with, TinyLaunch may be the thing for you.
The first time you run TinyLaunch needs to scan for apps. This is a very slow process on my Archos 43 (at least for apps moved to SD), though faster on modern devices. You also need to manually rescan apps after adding or removing apps. To do that, press MENU and Scan.
Instead of folders, I implemented a category system inspired by PalmOS, though with some variations (the main one is that apps can be in more than one category).
By default there are three special categories: All, Unclassified and Hidden. You can make some custom categories like "Games" and "Math and Science" by pressing MENU and New Category. To categorize apps, the easiest way is to switch the category to Unclassified (tap on the category selector at the top of the screen), and then long tap on an app to choose how to classify it. The app then disappears from the Unclassified category. Note that the Hidden category is a special category that hides apps from the All and Unclassified views (though a Hidden app can still show up in other categories if you like).
As I said, currently it's just a simple vertical list of apps. Eventually, I may implement the more usual tile-based view (making it look even more like PalmOS) if I can do so without detracting from development rules.
APK download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9SH82NXqz3WREtqa0FWckF3TFU/
Source code: code.google.com/p/tinylauunch
Kewl
Do you type your name, email or address multiple times throughout the day? If yes, then Texpand is for you. It will save you lot of time if you set it up right. Texpand is text expansion app designed to assist you with your frequently typed texts. It is a bit different than other text expansion apps that you might have used in other platforms; it uses floating windows to assist you with your typing. The demo video above shows thoroughly how to get started, it is a must watch to get the most out of it. It includes the following features:
• Sort you phrases by usage count, last used time, shortcut name and phrase
• Backup and restore you phrases to/from Google Drive or your local storage
• Floating window to let you complete your expansion if you type your shortcut correctly or to show you
suggestions based on the word you typed or selected
• Expand by selection e.g.: if you select name and you have shortcut name defined to expand to your full
name the floating window will show you either complete your expansion green button or yellow suggestion
button
Settings:
o Specify if shortcut name matching is case sensitive (case sensitive by default)
o Whether to add space or not after expanded text
o Whether to show floating indicators while typing. Note that if you disable floating indicators text
expansion will be immediate i.e. when you type the shortcut text it will immediately expand to its
corresponding phrase.
o Exclude apps from text expansion e.g.: if you don’t want to expand text in a particular app go to
Settings > Exclusions and click the plus(+) button then choose the app you want excluded from the
list of app then Texpand will not expand text on the apps you add to exclusions neither will it show you
suggestions. To remove an app form exclusions click it from the list of exclusions then dialog will
prompt you if you want to remove it click yes to remove it.
Known cases where Texpand will not work:
• If the app is not developed using standard Android SDK namely PhoneGap SDK that uses HTML5 for UI
elements. Texpand only works if the app uses native EditText widget but stay assured that this is what
almost all apps use.
• Texpand will not work on password fields but this is by design not a limitation. Because if text expansion is
enabled on password fields it may interfere with what you think you are typing. Note that some app have a
show password option if the password is not being masked by dots or asterisks then it is not regarded as
password field so Texpand has no way of knowing this is a password field so it will expand your texts as it
will on normal input fields.
• Texpand does not support input fields on webpages
• Word processor apps use highly specialized input fields, they are not currently supported but I am trying to
find a way to make them supported by Texpand.
• Text expansion by selection may not work in some apps, in which case the apps choose to handle selection
themselves without notifying the system.
• Finally floating app like Facebook chatheads may cover the floating indicator in this case you could expand
text by disabling floating indicators. In the future I will add app preference settings that will let you disable
floating icons on specific apps.
P.S.: If you have more issues I will be happy to hear from you go to settings and click send feedback.
Good but gives a warning
Thanks for this great tweak !
I really like it and it seems to be working fine and it is really customizable by its settings.
The only problem I found is that my antivirus (avast) is giving a warning and prompting to uninstall it. I guess it's a false Positive.
The other thing I would have liked is a small animation when expanding text although not an essential thing.
(also you say something about a video in your post but it isn't there ?)
AlienFever said:
Thanks for this great tweak !
I really like it and it seems to be working fine and it is really customizable by its settings.
The only problem I found is that my antivirus (avast) is giving a warning and prompting to uninstall it. I guess it's a false Positive.
The other thing I would have liked is a small animation when expanding text although not an essential thing.
(also you say something about a video in your post but it isn't there ?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AlienFever, I am glad you like it you see I am new to xda I can not post link to the YouTube video but go to play store and search for Texpand you will find a demo video in the playstote page
I noticed that with Facebook chat heads, the correction bubble appears underneath the chat head making it impossible to use with Chat Heads.
@Isaias Matewos, Can you also please add some macro features like Current Date / Day / Time. etc.Thanks for the wonderful app, I think it's a must app for every Android Power user.
Just wanted to thank the dev, I'm loving this app.