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Hey guys! Due to the massive amount of PM requests I've gotten for Honeycomb-specific apps, that work on Spacemoose's 3.0 build, I decided to just start this repo thread.
I desperately need a GSM Tab owner(s) to test any and all of the apps listed, so I can update each review, as far as what build each app works on, especially now that we've split into two separate Dev threads!!
Thanks to Spacemoose1 for breaking her back to get CDMA owners, and to ssserpentine for bringing GSM Tab owners, working ports of 3.0. If you haven't donated to their efforts, I'd certainly suggest doing so.
GSM Tab owners: check out ssserpentine's thread (with full Spacemoose approval) in the link provided, and don't hesitate to hit the "Thanks" button, to recognize all their hard work in getting a working port ready for your devices!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122959
Ok, on to the apps. I'm going to try to present this in as clear a manner as possible, giving a screenshot and brief description for each app. I encourage anyone who has found additional files (NO WAREZ PLEASE!), to please post them. Try to follow the layout I've set up, so people can actually see and know what they're downloading. The reason being is that there are a decent number of HC specific apps, but they're lacking in variety; many apps (ie. Social or News apps) manage to accomplish the exact same thing, and it sucks to download a redundant app. So, here we go guys, enjoy!
** IMPORTANT** - It's been brought to my attention that some of these apps (those that I got from the Amazon store) may require the Amazon Store app in order to install. I have NO idea why, but, PLEASE, download the Amazon apk just in case. Sorry for the inconvenience guys.
Amazon apk: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/Amazon_Appstore-release.apk
AccuWeather for Honeycomb- accuweather.com (46.82MB)
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
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A nice app with a clean, bright UI, and accurate forecasting. It runs, no problem, and the widget is nicely rendered as well. Until we get GPS functionality, the app can't run in "follow me" mode, so just set up locations manually - it's really easy. It's a huge file though, so be prepared to lose some SD space.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.accuweather.android.amazon.tablet-1.apk
Battleheart - Mika Mobile (46MB)
While not designed specifically for tablet devices, the simple fact that this game has zero on-screen controls, makes it (imo), perfect for devices like the SGT. Battleheart is a fun, involving, and surprisingly in-depth RPG/Strategy/Beat-em-up game, with a quick learning curve, very low load times, and some beautifully rendered watercolor-type graphics. This is perfect for killing time on the train or bus, and isn't graphic enough to be kept away from the kids either. At $2.99, I'd say the game is a good value. Sorry for the crummy picture... I guess Drocap isn't spectacular with action shots. The screen and characters render flawlessly!
*This app does not show up in the market, as of the Spacemoose 2.5 build, so I downloaded it from Amazon. Simply download and install the Amazon Store apk near the top of the OP, sign up for a free account, and search for the app; you won't be disappointed.
Catch Notes - Catch.com (1.54MB)
A really neat little app here, and a surprisingly deep one. Catch lets you set, tag, and share notes, pictures, videos, etc. to and from your computer, and with friends and family, via Facebook, Twitter, Buzz, and a lot more! At first glance, Catch seems to have potential to be one of those productivity apps you can't do without, especially if you're always on the go.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.threebanana.notes-3c74d7deeb79936174941e231f5167fe.apk
CNBC: Real Time for Android - NBC Universal, Inc. (3.0MB)
If you work in finance, like I do, or simply follow the markets regularly, you may have been disappointed at the lack of a good, comprehensive market app. Now that we have 3.0 on our Tabs, those worries can end; CNBC: Real Time gives you full market coverage (and can be customized to suit your needs), a real-time stock ticker, market news from across the globe, and a nice, compact widget for your homescreen. I've been using the Scrollable Stock widget app for a while now, and I've tried Bloomberg and several others, but I have to say that this app trumps them all. It's available in the market if you search for it, but in case you can't find it, or your pre-release GSM build doesn't have the market included, the apk is below. Go get it, you've got a real blue chip here!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/downloadfile-1.apk
CNN App for Android Tablet - CNN (1.47MB)
The CNN app is, by far, the most flawed app on this list. It's really disappointing because the market screenshots look gorgeous. Trying to launch the app from the drawer will get you a force close every time, but it's made up for by having a really slick, auto-scrolling stack widget, that WILL allow you to access news articles, as long as you have an active internet connection. If you have a CNN account, you can log in and post comments to your articles of interest as well. Can't wait for full functionality!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.cnn.mobile.android.tablet-1.apk
DroidIris - Alexandre Delattre (298.26KB)
This app may end up making it into my list of "must-haves", I like it that much! Listen, how annoying is it to search for images on Google??! It's kind of a process, and scrolling down, through pages of irrelevant junk is just tedious, right!? DroidIris solves the issue, by acting as a one-stop-shop for searching, not just Google, but Bing, Yahoo, and other browsers, for the best web-based images and photos. The UI is smooth and sexy as well, with fly-in/out transitions, and quick searching. You might just find yourself never using your computer to look for pictures ever again!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/org.droidiris-4bd62af2bbfd52efa09d01c70ddd43b2.apk
Etch n Sketch - PX Inc. (572.73KB)
For those of you who tend to wax nostalgic from time to time, here's a blast from the past! I remember wasting countless frustrating hours, attempting to "master" the Etch-a-Sketch, as a child, and now I can live out that early childhood trauma all over again! This app, while not Honeycomb specific by any means, could prove fun, especially if you have young kids. Road trips, grocery shopping, or "staying out of your hair", while sitting on the couch, this app could end up saving you headaches... unless you feel like taking your Tab back, and attempting a masterpiece of your own... then, all bets are off!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.px.sketch-b92fda86a59300fe89cff2a8edbecd36.apk
File Manager for Tablets (GoAruna) - Aruna Labs (3.6MB)
Ever wonder what would happen if Dropbox and Root Explorer got together and had a kid? Well, this is it; Aruna Labs has cooked up a file management app that (with a free web account), will allow you to seamlessly back up your files online. No more searching for an apk in Root Explorer, then sending it to Dropbox, and waiting for it to upload... GoAruna does it all from one interface! The free online account gives you 2GB of space, and expanded, paid options are available; I will personally be using this to store zip files from my psx emulator, since they don't run on Honeycomb. This will allow me to quickly free up at least another 1.5GB of SD space, and could do the same for you! Free in the market, but the apk is right here! Enjoy.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/file.manager.tablet.goaruna-1.apk
File Manager HD (Honeycomb) - Rhythm Software (1.07MB)
A nicely designed file manager app. If you're used to Astro, you'll probably love this. With cut, copy, paste, and cancel process options, and a couple different views to choose from, navigating your files is a breeze! It's nothing mind-blowing... it does what it's supposed to, and does it while looking good!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/File%20Manager%20HD_1.1.4.apk
File Station Tablet - Farago Software (551KB)
The third, and final file manager I plan on covering here, but that is no indication as to File Station's relevance on this list. While it doesn't give you the online storage options that some others do, what FS brings you is a clean, simple UI, easy navigation, drag and drop options (much more convenient than copy and pasts, imo), and a visually appealing interface. If you've been a long-standing fan of Astro, I highly suggest looking into this; it just works, and works well! Free in the market, and as always, the apk is below!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.farago.filestationtablet-1.apk
FriendCaster Tab for Facebook - Handmark (8.54MB)
I know you love that background don't you?! Right, this app was one of the first ones I found, and I absolutely love it! It runs smooth, has a clean, customizable UI, lets you comment, like, and view updates all in one spot. Best of all, it doesn't force close like the stock app is very prone to do. My only complaint it that the auto-scrolling stack widget is a bit too small, but in my opinion, this is a must have app!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/FriendCaster.apk
Google Body - Google Inc. (17.02MB)
It's hard to go wrong when downloading a Google app, and this is no different. Body is fantastic to play around with, and the fact that you basically have a human anatomy book in the palm of your hand, is just ridiculous. That said, unless you're a pre-med student, or just love messing around with random apps, you'll probably never find a viable reason to use this. It still looks cool though!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/Body_1.0.apk
Grocery iQ - Tablet - Coupons.com Inc. (8.80MB)
Initially, I only downloaded and tested this because it's a Honeycomb specific app; I don't really have a use for it, but I have to say, I might give it a go. The layout is clean, and easy to navigate, you can get location specific coupons for a plethora of different items, and you can create quick, customized shopping lists (with product pictures and other options) for each store you shop at! In the end, I decided to include this because 1) it works flawlessly, and 2) because I KNOW somebody out there is going to get very excited about having this app on their Tab!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.coupons.GroceryIQ.Tablet-1.apk
Maxthon Mobile for 10" Tablet - Maxthon (2.20MB)
Maxthon browser was something I'd never seen before, and seeing as how they made a tablet specific (albeit NOT 3.0 specific! ) version, I decided to give it a whirl. The layout is a bit lacking, especially when compared to Dolphin Browser HD, or even the stock browser, but the browser's real strength lies (imo) in its homescreen interface, which boasts 42 fully customizable quick links. The general UI is surprisingly good, and seems to have clearly been designed for thumb navigation, with important functions just off the edge of the screen, for easy access. I'm going to stick with Dolphin HD for now, mainly because I'm used to it, it's fast, and the new Fire UI (in blue of course) looks fantastic with Honeycomb, but I do have to say that I'd love to see some of Maxthon's layout configurations become standard for tablet specific browsers.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/mbt10.apk
News360 for Tablets - News360 LLC (1.69MB)
Snappy, versatile, and clean, News360 really does the job! The layout is nice, and navigation is intuitive and interactive (fly-in animations, full screen previews, etc.). The ONLY drawback I see to this app is the fact that the stack widget is huge, at 4x5, and doesn't seem to like to always stay active. Nonetheless, this app is stellar... another one I'd add to my "must haves" list.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.news360.news360tablet-1.apk
Newsr - Locomo Labs (239.86KB)
Newsr looks simplistic and unassuming, and you know what... it is. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. Here's the premise; sign in with your email address, and get all your RSS feeds beamed down to your Tab. The app does just that, but choose a feed, click on an article, and then hit the little "eye" icon in the upper right, and the related article flies in instantly. The lack of load times is always important for anyone on the go, but if you use another app, like my6sense, you may not find a use for this app. It's solid, but needs to be a bit more dynamic to catch my attention.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/NewsrHD_Legion.apk
Plume for Twitter - LevelUp Studio (1.92MB)
The artist formerly known as Touiteur, Plume resurfaced with a new UI, boasting a good amount of customization options. While not Honeycomb specific, they have altered the layout and UI to be tablet friendly, and it shows. The premise is basic... read your friend's tweets, leave your own, get direct messages, yada yada... but at least you can look good doing it. In my opinion, Plume isn't going to blow you away (the widgets are Sense-like scrollable widgets, and don't take advantage of the new technology or hardware real estate), but it's a nice app, with some nice features.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/Plume.apk
Tablet Wallpapers - Mobile Spy (2.70MB)
I know how frustrating it is to have a shiny, "new" SGT with Honeycomb, and not being able to find wallpapers that fit well in landscape mode. Zedge has a couple, but not many, and searching online is a crapshoot, both in terms of quantity, and quality. Tablet Wallpapers solves the issue, by delivering nothing but top-notch, high quality wallpapers, designed specifically for landscape mode tablets. I can't say enough about this app... the UI is slick, the search options are vast, and the wallpaper quality is stellar. If you want a replacement for your old wallpaper app, go get this... you'll love it!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.tabletapps.wallpapers-1.apk
TuneIn Radio - TuneIn Inc. (1.30MB)
Another of my favorite "on-the-go" apps here. TuneIn gives you a plethora of radio options, from sports to music, politics to food, and it's free!! Yes, there is a paid version in the market as well, but I don't personally need it. I can get my ESPN Radio shows in the morning, on my way to work, and catch my Seattle Mariners broadcasts at night, so I'm a happy camper. If you're on the go a lot, and want a little variety in your life (TuneIn offers language-specific broadcasts as well!), check this out! No need to pay subscription prices for satellite radio, when you've got everything you need in the palm of your hand!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/tunein.player-2.apk
Tweetcomb - Locomo Labs (281.71KB)
Like the name suggests, Tweetcomb was designed specifically for Android 3.0, and it shows! With an attractive UI, intuitive interface, and some nice customization options, this app does Twitter the way it was meant to be done. Look, an app has to be good when the only flaw I can find with it is that it doesn't have a widget ! Hopefully, Locomo will take care of the issue though. Another A+ app!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/BlackDroidTweetComb11.apk
WeatherBug for Honeycomb - WeatherBug by Earth Networks (2.46MB)
Get f'ing excited, because I know I am! This app was ripped straight from the SGT 10.1 system dump, but I couldn't get it to work until today. As such, it was a last-minute inclusion to the list, and I have to say, one of my personal favorites. With the AccuWeather app clocking in at a mammoth 46MB, while WB is only at 2.5MB, it makes it a no-brainer for me, as far as storage space goes. Not to mention.... look at that UI!!! It's clearly custom made for Honeycomb, and I'm really glad I got it to run (again though, no GPS means no "follow me" functionality). Adding locations is a breeze, and if there's one real complaint I have, it's that the widget is awful, especially when you see the care that went into designing the UI.
**To get the app to run without force-closing, go to the main Settings menu, and click on Location and Security. Then, click the "Google location search" box, and when the pop-up window comes up, tap Disagree. Then go into the app, and in the pop-up box, uncheck the bottom option (I believe it's an "Enable Location" option; you can leave the background updates on, and the app should run just fine.**
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/com.aws.android.squall-1.apk
Webport HD: Travel and Hotels - Webport.com (1.40MB)
Do you travel a lot, or are you planning a vacation for the family? Don't spend extra time scouring website after website, comparing airline and hotel prices, because Webport HD will do it for you! Designed specifically for Honeycomb, Webport HD brings you a super nice, all-in-one search engine for both airfare and lodging, allowing you to instantly compare locations and rates, and make the best decision quickly. While you can't book flights or rooms directly through Webport, they do provide the contact information to you, so you can get on the phone and make reservations, while looking at the information on your Tab! The UI is simple, and getting search results is accurate and fast... what more could you want?! We live in an age of convenience people, why would you want to waste more time than you have to? If you're a travel nut, get awesome with Webport!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/webport.com-1.apk
Wizz (Colorize Widget HD) - SnowBEE (1.1MB)
SnowBEE has brought us great widget packs before, but I have to say that this takes the cake. Formatted exclusively for Android 3.0+, Wizz brings your social networking and agenda widgets to the next level! While this IS a trial version (Pro version is in the works), and can be found in the market for free, it offers such a nice variety of widget designs, that it's almost impossible not to recommend this app. I do have some issues with the themes not sticking, and (up until last night) all the widgets, with the exception of the calendar, would set off the "Strict mode" red border in this build. With that issue corrected now, the widgets look and perform flawlessly, and will give an added dimension to any homescreen. I have no qualms about saying that I WILL be purchasing this when it goes Pro, but until then, the free version does the trick.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22585959/ColorizeWidgetHD1.4.1.apk
**If you too need a fix for the red border, check the post from ssserpentine, below. This solution worked instantly for me, and I've had no issues since!**
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14648436#post14648436
So there it is guys... my shortlist of apps that I was able to compile last night. I'll add more as I find them, and like I said earlier, feel free to post your own finds, as long as they're free apps. Just try to follow my formula if you can, with a pic of the app screen, and your thoughts on its functionality etc. That's it guys... thanks for stopping bye, and again a huge thank you to Spacemoose1, without whom, our Tabs would still be stuck in the dark ages!
tnx buddy , i got 1 question , i think the links you post are there for every apps u post here right , my question is , is in any way that 1 of your apps are pay versions ?
k0sh said:
tnx buddy , i got 1 question , i think the links you post are there for every apps u post here right , my question is , is in any way that 1 of your apps are pay versions ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't think so, since I got the majority of them off of the Amazon Market for free and the apk downloads I got elsewhere were double-checked against the official listings in the Android Market, so everything should be good. I certainly don't want to be posting paid apps, so if you let me know which one you're talking about, I'll take it down right away!!
jjhiza said:
I didn't think so, since I got the majority of them off of the Amazon Market for free and the apk downloads I got elsewhere were double-checked against the official listings in the Android Market, so everything should be good. I certainly don't want to be posting paid apps, so if you let me know which one you're talking about, I'll take it down right away!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i got no idea about those apps . i just asked you , and thanks to clear it for me and probably for them also .. tnx mate
see you around enjoy the HC .
Thanks for this thread and for allthe hard work that went into it.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Thanks a ton for this.
No problem guys. I've been following Space's thread since the day it went up, and I've seen how excited everyone is getting, but honestly, it kinda sucked to have a shiny new UI, and no good apps to put on it, nor the market access to get them. Having a few of these apps on my Tab makes it more usable on an every day level, for me anyway. Considering the only 3.0 app w/ widget that made it into the build was YouTube (which is broken for me), I wanted something more... something that could really show off the firmware, so I went apk hunting, and decided to spread the wealth. I hope you guys enjoy what I've found so far!
thx a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot !!!!
now i'm waiting for GSM version
like i said in PM, really great! nice and thorough
thanks again
It's my pleasure guys, really. I want everyone's first Honeycomb experience to be a good one. As soon as I get a couple more "every day" apps posted (and as soon as we get audio into a build), I'll start testing a couple of games. We might be stuck on that though, since a lot of the very best games seem to be Dual Core (Tegra) reliant, but I'll check.
Sent from my Droid using XDA Premium App
This is a great thread, nice idea
One thing, have you tried Google Books? Is it on the Market? And is YouTube as sexy as it looked in the promo videos?
| Don't Revive Me Bro | Follow me on Twatter
GANJDROID said:
This is a great thread, nice idea
One thing, have you tried Google Books? Is it on the Market? And is YouTube as sexy as it looked in the promo videos?
| Don't Revive Me Bro | Follow me on Twatter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I tried installing the books.apk from both the Xoom and SGT 10.1 dumps, but no luck I'm going to rip the one out of my Liquid Gingerbread build next, and see if it will fire up. YouTube has been hit or miss for me, honestly. I can't launch the app directly, without getting a fc, but the widget does work, and will take you to the appropriate video, and yes, the UI looks fantastic! I can't wait for full functionality! That's another issue though... I haven't been able to get video to play reliably at all (have Flash 10.3 installed too), but I'm sure Space will get everything sorted.
Update
**Added file size to headings**
jjhiza said:
Yeah, I tried installing the books.apk from both the Xoom and SGT 10.1 dumps, but no luck I'm going to rip the one out of my Liquid Gingerbread build next, and see if it will fire up. YouTube has been hit or miss for me, honestly. I can't launch the app directly, without getting a fc, but the widget does work, and will take you to the appropriate video, and yes, the UI looks fantastic! I can't wait for full functionality! That's another issue though... I haven't been able to get video to play reliably at all (have Flash 10.3 installed too), but I'm sure Space will get everything sorted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't even realise there were 10.1 dumps Haha. I know there's a 1.1.4 version floating around the internet, but when the Xoom dump leaked, I looked inside and everything was a Tablet variant. Haven't looked since, but maybe that could gibe some clues.
Possibly one of the things I'm looking forward to most is that wall of videos It looks fantastic. I'm sure they'll all be ironed out in future builds, burning guess GSM support is taking full priority.
| Don't Revive Me Bro | Follow me on Twatter
GANJDROID said:
Didn't even realise there were 10.1 dumps Haha. I know there's a 1.1.4 version floating around the internet, but when the Xoom dump leaked, I looked inside and everything was a Tablet variant. Haven't looked since, but maybe that could gibe some clues.
Possibly one of the things I'm looking forward to most is that wall of videos It looks fantastic. I'm sure they'll all be ironed out in future builds, burning guess GSM support is taking full priority.
| Don't Revive Me Bro | Follow me on Twatter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it seems Space is really pushing hard to get a GSM build out of repo and on to the download page! It looks like Alpha 2 isn't even going to drop for GSM though, since Space is working on the next release, and she said that she'll try to release both v3 versions at the same time. I'm hoping audio and GPS at least get ironed out in the build, but we'll see. The suspense is part of the fun of flashing alpha builds!
And I agree, the YouTube carousel is (imo) one of the best UI overhauls I've ever seen! I can't wait to actually play with it!
**Oh, and the 10.1 dump is from I/O... I found it a couple weeks ago. It's really similar to the Xoom, but with extra apps (gotta love Samsung bloatware!). The only reason I downloaded it was to post it on Space's thread, in the hopes that she could use it in her builds. If you want it though, I can throw it up here for you.
App Update
**Added 3 new apps to the OP; Catch Notes, DroidIris, and Etch n Sketch**
# Fuze will be included as soon as our devices get data connectivity, since the app requires a phone number to use.
Important update in op!
It was just brought to my attention by luke1333 that some of the apps listed, may need the Amazon App Store app in order to install properly. I'm totally bemused by this, considering they ARE apk files after all. Even though I did get some of them from the Amazon store, I was not expecting the files to have Amazon specific permissions!!
In light of that development, I've added the required apk to the TOP of the OP. Sorry if that issue has caused anybody any inconvenience.
Evernote for Android v. 3.1 Beta 1 works great on SpaceMoose1's Alpha 2.5
Can download here: http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=26568
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Awesome find! Thanks a bunch; I was meaning to get around to reviewing that, and it just got lost in the shuffle. I've got 3 or 4 new additions coming a little later guys, so keep an eye out!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab using XDA Premium App
Was hoping you didn't mind me posting, since it is your thread. And FYI, Wizz looks sweet. Playing with it now.
So let me preface by saying Ive gone from iPhone to Android and have been watching WP since launch and plan on it being my next OS after I can get a hold of an off contract Verizon phone relatively cheaply or when my upgrade is up. I love how fluid it seems with its native apps and I want to get away from my buggy and laggy/stuttering Droid X (Which is the same for everyone I know with one).
But there's some things that you really don't take into account when you don't actually use the device everyday, so I figured Id ask here and see how WP stacks up.
What I am looking for info on:
-I use Android's file system to store non-market/root APK's to reinstall apps after wiping/updating the phone and such. I would like to unlock my WP for things like screenshot utilities; how does that whole scene work in a quick summary? I know about Chevron, but how are these apps distributed, updated etc.?
-How are non-native apps with scrolling smoothness these days in Mango? I cant stand the lag and stuttering in Android.
-Can you download from IE to the file system with homebrew? How about natively?
-How does Skydrive work for installers/loading installers, PDF's and other non-Office files? Can you browse it like a filesystem, as I currently use it as a Network Drive on my PC anyways.
-Does the universal volume setup become an issue? I use my phone as my PMP with headphones all the time, then I need it to be on vibrate for class and in general, also alarms randomly, and occasionally I play games with the media on. Will I be missing alarms or leaving the ringer on in class if I don't pay close attention or is it mainly just when going headphones to media? I dont quite understand how it works specifically.
-Quick ways to toggle WiFi and screen brightness with homebrew?
-Back up options for app settings and things if a wipe happens?
-Do you find yourself ever getting annoyed with the animations or the app list for less used apps that still get accessed once in a while?
-How bad is board reader for browsing forums or the free reddit apps? They dont have great ratings.
-Am I going to be panning a lot in IE without text reflow? I usually browse/do everything in portrait and dont like landscape much FYI.
Anything you really miss about Android or iOS?
I only know of TouchXplorer for HTC for file management but im sure there are others for the other brands. Not sure how you would go about storing files for re installation. Dont think anyone has figured out how to invoke the xap installer from files on the phone. Most of these apps are found here on XDA
Most apps are pretty smooth. Depends on the dev. Id say they are all smoother than android though.
Dont think you can download to the file system from IE
You can access Skydrive from the office hub. You can open media files and pdfs etc. Once again not sure about install files.
I havent had a problem with the volume. I use my phone for media and games. I just put it on vibrate when i need to which is easy to do on the lock screen.
Cant toggle from the homescreen yet, there are apps that are shortcuts to the setting though
There is a homebrew backup program here on XDA somewhere
I dont get annoyed by the animations. They make for a nice experience
The XDA app is a version of board express i believe and its not too bad. I Haven't tried any of the Reddit apps
There is a bit of panning. I find its just easier to find a good zoom level that you can read it on
Hope i helped
Mike415 said:
What I am looking for info on:
-I use Android's file system to store non-market/root APK's to reinstall apps after wiping/updating the phone and such. I would like to unlock my WP for things like screenshot utilities; how does that whole scene work in a quick summary? I know about Chevron, but how are these apps distributed, updated etc.?
I've never used TouchXplorer, so I don't even know if it is compatible with Mango, but if it is it would be the only file explorer option I know of. WP is not designed as an open system, so file explorers are not officially supported.
-How are non-native apps with scrolling smoothness these days in Mango? I cant stand the lag and stuttering in Android.
I have around 175 third party apps installed on my phone, and at least half of them exhibit enough lag/stutter that it is noticeable, and some are quite annoying, even some of the major apps (such as Accuweather.com and USA Today). Generally, it seems that if an app is fetching data from the internet while it is also rendering to the display, you will probably notice some lag/stutter. I've never owned an Android, but from the videos I've seen on YouTube and also from what I've observed watching my son use his Samsung Captivate, the lag (at least in third party apps) is comparable.
-Can you download from IE to the file system with homebrew? How about natively?
All apps are sandboxed on WP, so downloading to "the filesystem" is not supported.
-How does Skydrive work for installers/loading installers, PDF's and other non-Office files? Can you browse it like a filesystem, as I currently use it as a Network Drive on my PC anyways.
Again, I don't know about homebrew, but generally speaking SkyDrive only supports photos and Office documents from your phone.
-Does the universal volume setup become an issue? I use my phone as my PMP with headphones all the time, then I need it to be on vibrate for class and in general, also alarms randomly, and occasionally I play games with the media on. Will I be missing alarms or leaving the ringer on in class if I don't pay close attention or is it mainly just when going headphones to media? I dont quite understand how it works specifically.
This one is a bit tricky. As far as missing alarms due to turning the ringer on or off, that is probably not likely. Turning vibrate-only mode on or off is remarkably simple on WP. Just wake up the phone, press either volume control, and then tap the ringer icon to toggle it on or off.
However, that is the good news. The bad news is that the universal volume means that having the volume high enough to be able to hear the phone ring from your pocket also means that any app, game or media will also blast out of the phone at annoyingly loud levels. And conversely, if you turn the volume down far enough to play a game or listen to music at a comfortable level, but forget to turn it back up when you are done, you will miss calls, guaranteed. It has happened to me more times than I care to count.
-Quick ways to toggle WiFi and screen brightness with homebrew?
Quick setting toggles are not supported. You can, however, get a reasonably adequate shortcuts to the four main toggles (WiFI, 3G, Airplane mode, and Bluetooth) on your start screen. The unfortunate annoyance is that, depending on how you lay out your start screen, you may have a few button presses/scroll swipes necessary to complete the toggle of a setting). As for brightness, there is no toggle support for that.
-Back up options for app settings and things if a wipe happens?
There is no support for backup of app settings, game saves or SMS messages, period. None at all. You can (using a homebrew app) perform a complete device backup, but it cannot be transferred to another device.
-Do you find yourself ever getting annoyed with the animations or the app list for less used apps that still get accessed once in a while?
Do the animations annoy me? Yes. Contrary to the apparently popular opinion here, I find much of the animation on the start screen to be gimmicky (the people hub, game hub, and "me" hub icons especially so). And many third party apps flip their icons for no reason at all, just for the sake of flipping it. For example Flixster flips the tile between a static photo of a currently-playing movie on one side (with the program icon in the corner), and the program icon filling the tile on the other side. It serves no purpose.
With that said, SOME of the app tiles are VERY useful, such as most weather apps, which usually flip between current conditions and forecast conditions. Being a weather junky, I love that feature.
Regarding the app list, it is more than just an annoyance, it is a major frustration for me, every single day. With no app grouping capabilities at all (I wouldn't care HOW it was implemented, I just want SOMETHING implemented), finding apps in a long list can be a real chore. I don't like it at all. If you only ever plan to have 20 or 30 apps, it might be OK. But if you need more than that, the number of taps and flicks and swipes needed to find and launch an app can be time-consuming.
-How bad is board reader for browsing forums or the free reddit apps? They dont have great ratings.
I've only used the trial version of Board Express, and didn't like it at all. Most of the reports from people here are that it is painfully bad to use.
-Am I going to be panning a lot in IE without text reflow? I usually browse/do everything in portrait and dont like landscape much FYI.
That depends entirely on the layout of the web sites you visit. On some sites, the tap-to-zoom works very well, and makes the text fill the screen (without reflow, of course) at a nominally readable size. But on other sites, it just doesn't help at all, and I end up panning quite a bit.
Anything you really miss about Android or iOS?
I've never owned either, so I can't say. However, unless things change I will most likely be moving to an iPhone within a couple of months. WP has a LOT going for it, but unfortunately (for me) it still has too many gaps in its features, and some of them are too annoying to just live with them and wait patiently on Microsoft.
I hope the features that I need do get added in future updates, because I'd be happy to switch back. But after reading the snarky attitude of many of the fans here, I can't help but wonder if that same attitude isn't prevalent at Microsoft, which would kind of imply that those features won't be coming any time soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My answers are in blue.
To be honest, from your questions, I would say you would be better off staying with android, don't get me wrong, i love wp7 and it does everthing i need it to do, but you may find some of the stuff you want is not available and get frustrated.
I just switched and am very happy! After two years on android, wp7 feels so smooth and coherent
IMHO, go to a store or carrier centre and request a WP7 and play with it, as from what I believe, everyone has their own preferences.
My advise would be to stay away if you're a tweaker, which is sounds like you are.
pillsburydoughman said:
My advise would be to stay away if you're a tweaker, which is sounds like you are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was though, but sometimes you get sick of constantly flashing roms, chaning things around, and want something that just works.
I'm happy that now it seems as if I have much more time since I'm not constantly fiddling with my phone 24/7.
I guess that is dependent on the person themselves though
What I am looking for info on:
-I use Android's file system to store non-market/root APK's to reinstall apps after wiping/updating the phone and such. I would like to unlock my WP for things like screenshot utilities; how does that whole scene work in a quick summary? I know about Chevron, but how are these apps distributed, updated etc.?
*No, you will be stuck at your pc for deploying XAPs. However Dotcomp says there is a way to deploy XAPs from IE.
MS security is a complete joke, you can just download the XAPs from MS.
-How are non-native apps with scrolling smoothness these days in Mango? I cant stand the lag and stuttering in Android.
* Well get used to it, its the exact same on WP7. However there aren't many apps with long scroll list, most take advantage of Metro.
-Can you download from IE to the file system with homebrew? How about natively?
*NO, and no
-How does Skydrive work for installers/loading installers, PDF's and other non-Office files? Can you browse it like a filesystem, as I currently use it as a Network Drive on my PC anyways.
*Skydrive was a afterthought on this OS, my opinion. Works great for Office documents, OneNote, and pics. That's it.
-Does the universal volume setup become an issue? I use my phone as my PMP with headphones all the time, then I need it to be on vibrate for class and in general, also alarms randomly, and occasionally I play games with the media on. Will I be missing alarms or leaving the ringer on in class if I don't pay close attention or is it mainly just when going headphones to media? I dont quite understand how it works specifically.
* Depends on you. I'm used to multiple volume settings, so its a pain to me.
-Quick ways to toggle WiFi and screen brightness with homebrew?
* If you can call a wifi icon on homesreen quick, then yes, other than that NO.
-Back up options for app settings and things if a wipe happens?
*If on the go, NO. If at your PC, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19341502#post19341502
-Do you find yourself ever getting annoyed with the animations or the app list for less used apps that still get accessed once in a while?
* Actually the animations are what make this phone. They're pretty quick and elegant. I like the live tiles, but they ruin the glance and go concept, because I have to wait on it to flip.
The app list is horrid.
-How bad is board reader for browsing forums or the free reddit apps? They dont have great ratings.
*Board Express made by Tapatalk, is nothing like Tapatalk on Android or IOS. It is like a sick joke. The browser is faster on WP.
-Am I going to be panning a lot in IE without text reflow? I usually browse/do everything in portrait and dont like landscape much FYI.
* Double tap usually makes the text readable, but if the site has text and pictures you want to see, you're SOL.
Also if you like to read comments, or deal with a HTML5 website, you will find yourself having to load the full website a lot. I can't even get the smartphone version of mobile sites, IE9 doesn't render some correctly.
Anything you really miss about Android or iOS?
YES! GOOGLE APPS! GAMES!
Youtube on Android is the greatest, Lazytube comes close but you have to pay for it.
Im used to sitting on my couch and flinging websites and videos from my phone to the TV(google tv), impossible on WP7.
Custom SMS, ringtones, and email notifications. You can do custom ringtones but its a hassle.
I can say I like the Email on WP7, however its not instant like on IOS or Android.
Oh, there is no auto update option. If there is a app that needs updating you have to open the market and tell it to update.
---
All of that being sad, you could still be Happy using WP7. It just totally depends on what you use your phone for.
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my lady took over the vibrant, lol.
-------------
Another thing, some people say they get tired of flashing custom roms on Android. The exact same OPTION is avaliable on WP7. You don't HAVE to flash either.
there are no custom roms for my phone...
I was continually trying to get my phone smoother, and smoother on android.
I just don't feel the need to with this. Once again, just my own two cents. I never said that it would be the same for everyone
Thanks for the replies so far. It helped me get a better feeling for WP and it seems like I should really just wait for all the new OS updates like Ice Cream and iOS 5.x+/iPhone 5 before diving into WP. I am a slight tweaker of Android, but I don't actually want to do that very much anymore. I just want a phone that works and suits my needs. Android suits my needs, but doesn't really work great and it annoys me.
WP seems like it would be okay for me. Im not an app whore anymore since Ive been a smartphone user for several years now and I pretty much just like to be able to get the news, read some forums, text a lot, use yelp to find places to eat, and occasionally pass some time on leisure games. Android is pretty weak as far as finding decent games IMO and I think WP could actually be better in that regard (iPhone is the only one I would consider good for leisure games, but if Ive gotten by on Android this long I think WP could be okay, especially since I still would have an iPhone and Droid for those games). Right now, using Launcher 7 on Android I only use 2.5 screens of tiles so Im not going to have too much of an issue with the app list I think (Homebrew folders support will do me fine in that regard as I can toss all the leisure games in there also).
What I am still unclear on is viewing PDFs that are hosted on websites because its a situation that I run into frequently enough that I need it to be able to view PDFs from sites or Skydrive (Either one). Can I navigate with IE to a site with a link to a hosted PDF and view it or not?
Can I leave my phone on vibrate (no ring) and still play headphones without turning the ring back on in doing so? This would be a huge issue if not because I can't be having my phone go off in class all the time. I rarely take my phone off vibrate, so I want to make sure I can leave silent/vibrate on and still play Zune without turning the ringer back on.
Does vibrate mean that alarms only vibrate and dont sound? ie. do I need to take my phone off silent ringer/vibrate all night if I want to hear an alarm in the morning?
--
I like how well Microsoft has seemingly written WP and I think eventually it will be great after Win8 and WP8. Maybe I just need to hold off for those phones and not waste money getting an off contract phone. If Win8+WP8+XBOX+Live services doesnt bring very tight integration and some nice new features, I think I'll lose all the faith Ive put into Microsoft the past 15 years.
Mike415 said:
Can I leave my phone on vibrate (no ring) and still play headphones without turning the ring back on in doing so? This would be a huge issue if not because I can't be having my phone go off in class all the time. I rarely take my phone off vibrate, so I want to make sure I can leave silent/vibrate on and still play Zune without turning the ringer back on.
Does vibrate mean that alarms only vibrate and dont sound? ie. do I need to take my phone off silent ringer/vibrate all night if I want to hear an alarm in the morning?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Mango both of these issues are addressed. You can put your ringer on vibrate and still listen to music, and even adjust the volume without affecting the "vibrate only" setting. However, when you turn the ringer back on, it will be on at the current volume setting, not what it was before.
Also, you can have the ringer on vibrate and still hear alarms. In fact, alarms are now treated as "special" by the OS, and they ignore both the volume and ringer (vibrate) settings. They start low, and get progressively louder until dismissed.
Mike415 said:
I like how well Microsoft has seemingly written WP and I think eventually it will be great after Win8 and WP8. Maybe I just need to hold off for those phones and not waste money getting an off contract phone. If Win8+WP8+XBOX+Live services doesnt bring very tight integration and some nice new features, I think I'll lose all the faith Ive put into Microsoft the past 15 years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WP will eventually be fantastic, and the ecosystem will mature. But I have to be honest and say that for me it isn't there yet, and it is unclear how long it will take to get there. If your only option right now is to go off contract to get a WP device, I would have to suggest that you wait at least until Apollo is released (which, by all credible accounts will be Q4 of next year).
My reason for saying this is because each time Microsoft does fix a problem, they do an admirable job. But they need to (IMO) be more aggressive with their release schedule. Following the "one small release mid year and one major release annually" model isn't enough. There should be smaller patch releases to address issues, rather than making people suffer with them for 6+ months.
Mike415 said:
Thanks for the replies so far. It helped me get a better feeling for WP and it seems like I should really just wait for all the new OS updates like Ice Cream and iOS 5.x+/iPhone 5 before diving into WP. I am a slight tweaker of Android, but I don't actually want to do that very much anymore. I just want a phone that works and suits my needs. Android suits my needs, but doesn't really work great and it annoys me.
WP seems like it would be okay for me. Im not an app whore anymore since Ive been a smartphone user for several years now and I pretty much just like to be able to get the news, read some forums, text a lot, use yelp to find places to eat, and occasionally pass some time on leisure games. Android is pretty weak as far as finding decent games IMO and I think WP could actually be better in that regard (iPhone is the only one I would consider good for leisure games, but if Ive gotten by on Android this long I think WP could be okay, especially since I still would have an iPhone and Droid for those games). Right now, using Launcher 7 on Android I only use 2.5 screens of tiles so Im not going to have too much of an issue with the app list I think (Homebrew folders support will do me fine in that regard as I can toss all the leisure games in there also).
What I am still unclear on is viewing PDFs that are hosted on websites because its a situation that I run into frequently enough that I need it to be able to view PDFs from sites or Skydrive (Either one). Can I navigate with IE to a site with a link to a hosted PDF and view it or not?
Can I leave my phone on vibrate (no ring) and still play headphones without turning the ring back on in doing so? This would be a huge issue if not because I can't be having my phone go off in class all the time. I rarely take my phone off vibrate, so I want to make sure I can leave silent/vibrate on and still play Zune without turning the ringer back on.
Does vibrate mean that alarms only vibrate and dont sound? ie. do I need to take my phone off silent ringer/vibrate all night if I want to hear an alarm in the morning?
--
I like how well Microsoft has seemingly written WP and I think eventually it will be great after Win8 and WP8. Maybe I just need to hold off for those phones and not waste money getting an off contract phone. If Win8+WP8+XBOX+Live services doesnt bring very tight integration and some nice new features, I think I'll lose all the faith Ive put into Microsoft the past 15 years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Mike,
Like you I mapped Skydrive as a network drive and simply drag/drop my pdf files there. PDFs are natively supported on wp7 once you download the official adobe pdf app.
The PDFs will show up on skydrive in the Office Hub. Infact if you use the Documents folder as the "root" of all your files and simple create folders within there, they will all show up in the office hub's skydrive folder. As you see I have a "PDF" folder with all my pdfs. You download them when you select it and it is saved to adobe's app storage locally on the phone.
Skydrive on the phone will also stream audio and video files! Sometimes my friends would share a video or some music with me and I'd be able to access it natively!
You can view any pdf or office document (provided it is in later version format i thnk office 2007 up) hosted on websites. It will download and open in adobe/office.
Also OneNote is absoulely terrific in the Office hub for syncing notes to the PC/web and phone. I use it extensively to manage my classes!
Hope this helped.
Mike415 said:
What I am still unclear on is viewing PDFs that are hosted on websites because its a situation that I run into frequently enough that I need it to be able to view PDFs from sites or Skydrive (Either one). Can I navigate with IE to a site with a link to a hosted PDF and view it or not?
Can I leave my phone on vibrate (no ring) and still play headphones without turning the ring back on in doing so? This would be a huge issue if not because I can't be having my phone go off in class all the time. I rarely take my phone off vibrate, so I want to make sure I can leave silent/vibrate on and still play Zune without turning the ringer back on.
Does vibrate mean that alarms only vibrate and dont sound? ie. do I need to take my phone off silent ringer/vibrate all night if I want to hear an alarm in the morning?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PDF's are just working fine. Just install Adobe's PDF app and IE will automatically hook them and forward them to the app. Same on SkyDrive, you can even zip those PDF's as WP is able to look into zips.
As for the sound it should work the way you described. Volume control is for everything on the device but the button for vibration is only for the ringer. So if you mute your device via volume rocker then everything will be muted. If you only press the vibrate button then only the ringer will be silenced.
Awesome, guys. Great replies. The volume issues and PDF issues seem like they would be fine for situations like mine. Loved the screenshots!
Really I dont see too many issues not to switch over eventually, as the replies here have quelled my main doubts. As more apps come and current apps are optimized theres very little reason to not switch for most people. Its just that damn app list!
Good thing there's homebrew folders now though!
Mike415 said:
Awesome, guys. Great replies. The volume issues and PDF issues seem like they would be fine for situations like mine. Loved the screenshots!
Really I dont see too many issues not to switch over eventually, as the replies here have quelled my main doubts. As more apps come and current apps are optimized theres very little reason to not switch for most people. Its just that damn app list!
Good thing there's homebrew folders now though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thankfully the games go into your xbox live folder though...
also you can tap a letter to quickly bring up all letters where you can quickscroll from letter to letter to find apps you have.
scoobysnacks said:
thankfully the games go into your xbox live folder though...
also you can tap a letter to quickly bring up all letters where you can quickscroll from letter to letter to find apps you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and search too. I actually prefer the app list to iOS pages of icons. The applist I know exactly where to find it alphabectically using the jumplist. Need twitter? Tap a letter jump to T and its in that group. iOS its a "which page is it?' scenario.
The homebrew folders is also pretty nice. I use it for all my "News" apps and "Social" app but it doesnt have live tiles so it defeats the wp7 purpose of glance and go
scoobysnacks said:
thankfully the games go into your xbox live folder though...
also you can tap a letter to quickly bring up all letters where you can quickscroll from letter to letter to find apps you have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sayonical said:
and search too. I actually prefer the app list to iOS pages of icons. The applist I know exactly where to find it alphabectically using the jumplist. Need twitter? Tap a letter jump to T and its in that group. iOS its a "which page is it?' scenario.
The homebrew folders is also pretty nice. I use it for all my "News" apps and "Social" app but it doesnt have live tiles so it defeats the wp7 purpose of glance and go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just planning on throwing all my leisure games (non-XBOX LIVE) in folders. Does the XBOX Live hub hold non-Live games too? I wouldn't really need folders if all my games were in the XBOX hub, but I was thinking that it was only for Live games.
Mike415 said:
I was just planning on throwing all my leisure games (non-XBOX LIVE) in folders. Does the XBOX Live hub hold non-Live games too? I wouldn't really need folders if all my games were in the XBOX hub, but I was thinking that it was only for Live games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the live hub holds all games!
It's a good thing too, I have a ton of games
scoobysnacks said:
the live hub holds all games!
It's a good thing too, I have a ton of games
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only drawback of the xbox live hub is that is missing the jump list. I'd really love to see it in there too.
On topic:
I'd really recommend you go into a mobile shop and try different devices. I for one came from Window Mobile 6.1 over 6.5 and Android (2.1 and 2.2) all the way to Windows Phone. First I was missing several things I know from my former mobile OSes. But once I got used to the limitations (which were a lot more before NoDo and Mango), I've never ever looked back. I'm a proud WP7 user. But it really depends on what you use your device for.
Hey all,
I’m thinking of switching from my Galaxy SII to a Windows Phone 7 based phone. As of now, the switch is temporary till SIII comes out but maybe who knows if I like it, I might just stick to WP7 after all.
Major usage of my phone is in Emailing, Messaging, VOIP, Calls, Navigation, Music, Browsing and News reading. I’m dependant on the following apps on the Android :
Swype
Google Reader
Gmail
Google Docs
Google Maps
Google Talk
YouTube
Any.do (Task management Application)
Dropbox
Polaris Office (Full fledged document editor)
IMO (Multi-messenger)
Skype
Teamviewer (Remote desktop)
My Data Manager (App to keep a track on bandwidth consumption)
and some less frequently used :
Zedge (just an easy to use source for wallpapers and ringtones)
SoundHound
Facebook
So given the above usage pattern and apps that I’m on dependant on, do you think I could switch to WP7 painlessly ? Are there any alternatives available for my apps ? (Swype or something similar is a must)
Couple of more queries..
Also, I’m thinking of getting the Samsung Focus so if I get an unclocked device would there be a possible scare of getting it locked again once I update the firmware (either officially or custom) ?
How is the battery life on the Focus ?
I am not much aware of Sideloading/Jailbreaking of a WP7 device and the Custom ROM scene , is it similar to Android ?
Can I debrand Focus or should I consider Omnia 7 instead ? (I’d prefer Focus as its thinner than Omnia)
What is the best ROM out there and when updating to a newer ROM does it wipes all the data ?
Is there any lag in the phone ? Maybe after installing too many apps (like how some Android phones lag)
Is multi-tasking experience (apps/services running in the background) similar to Android ?
are there any other limitations worth mentioning on WP7 / Samsung Focus?
and what about the plus side of WP7 when comparing to iOS and Android ?
Thanks
There is currently nothing remotely similar to Swype on WP7.
WP7, currently being a closed OS, does not have the option of swapping the native keypad for a Swype version. There's an app called Slyde that attempts to be like Swype, but it cannot until the ecosystem changes.
You will have access to document editing for Word and Excel docs via Office. It's quite handy, especially being able to pin files to your home screen.
Dropbox isn't so dandy yet, IIRC, but you will have access to 25GB of SkyDrive storage.
With what you've mentioned, I'm not sure WP7 will be a smooth transition for you. It's definitely worth a shot to see if you might like it, but will take some getting used to. See what you can live with and what would be a deal breaker.
The WP7 software keyboard is much nicer than I expected, expecially on a largish phone (I have an HD7) but it's true that there's currently no Swype or equivalent available.
There are lots of Google Reader apps available, some quite good.
Gmail integrates pretty well with the phone when you add a Google account. My phone is the primary way I access my Gmail now.
You might be able to access Google Docs through the web browser; I haven't tried. For actually reading and editing Microsoft Office documents, Office Mobile wors very well indeed.
Google Maps is available (via apps, or somewhat awkwardly via the web); Bing Maps is built into the phone and works well for me.
There are IM clients that support GTalk on the phone, but the only messenger network currently built into the phone is Live. That said, IM+ handles my GTalk-using friends very well.
There are a multitude of YouTube apps. You can also use HTML5 on YouTube via the browser just fine.
I don't know Any.do. There are a lot of task management apps on WP7, but I don't know how they compare.
Not sure how good Dropbox access is on the phone (obviously, you can download via the browser, and there are apps which use it as a way to transfer data, but I've never looked for a real DropBox client).
I would be quite shocked if Polaris Office is more full-fledged than Office on WP7. It's not impossible, but for a phone-based office suite it would be very impressive.
I don't know IMO, but there are a number of multi-network IM clients on WP7. My preferred choice is IM+ but that's just personal preference.
Skype is (finally) coming to WP7. The current app is actually pretty good, and it's still in beta. Considering MS now owns Skype, the future for Skype on WP7 should be very good.
I don't know if TeamViewer is available for WP7 yet. Remote Desktop (as in, Terminal Services Client, the built-in Windows feature) is, though... Also, SSH clients.
T-Mobile provides an app for tracking usage for my phone. I don't know what's availble for whatever carrier you'd be on.
There are a couple of cool apps that provide wallpapers and ringtones, with frequent updates (weekly or more). Never heard of Zedge, though.
There's a SoundHound-like feature built into WP7. Shazam is also available. SoundHound might be; I'm not sure.
Facebook is definitely available (both as OS integration, and through a now very good app).
Responses to a few select questions:
3. The homebrew and custom ROM scene is smaller than Android (though growing) but the Focus (gen1 phone, not the Focus S or Focus Flash) does support "interop-unlock" hacks through WindowBreak, can run WP7 Root Tools (run any app with full privileges, under your control though), and has custom ROMs.
4. If for some reason you get a branded Focus, yes, it can be de-branded. I'm not convinced that it's a good idea to do so (without just installing a custom ROM or some such anyhow) but it's possible. The update story on WP7 is generally much better than on Android, and you can force updates anyhow if the carrier is taking too long. Not many other reasons to debrand are coming to mind...
5. I can't answer the first part, but as for the second, yes you will completely erase the phone when installing a custom ROM. If you want to do so, I suggest making it one of the first things you do (this will save on trying to back up and later restore things, which - aside from contacts and media files - sadly is not automatic on WP7).
6. No. There are a number of technical reasons, but the simple fact is that a single-core 1GHz WP7 device has a significantly smoother UI than a (for example) 1.5GHz Android device. Since apps are *extremely* limited on what they can do in the background (by default), there's no risk of them slowing the phone's UI down no matter how many you install.
7. Not really. It's much closer to Apple's approach. The advantages are better battery life and no lag. The disadvantages are that apps pretty much can't do anything real-time while backgrounded, and need to resume (although it's very fast on apps built for Mango or later) when returned to the foreground. You can switch between apps quickly, though.
8. SD cards don't work the same as on Android. They are used for permanent increases to device storage. You can't use them to transfer data onto or off of the phone, and if you want to add or remove/replace one, you'll need to hard-reset the phone. That's the main thing not already mentioned that an Android user might find odd. Oh, and stock ROMs don't allow replacing things like the dialer and such (you can install alternates, you just can't replace the built-in one completely).
9. Faster, and smoother UI (even with theoretically slower hardware). Essentially no risk of malware from the Marketplace (apps are checked before approval). Timely updates, even for older phones (of course, "older" for WP7 only means about 18 months so far). Xbox Live games. Zune Pass streaming (costs money but it's awesome). Great integration with Facebook (pretty good with Twitter and can pull LinkedIn contacts, too). Excellent email and calendar, especially if you use any Exchange servers. Hardware-accelerated rendering in the browser. Consistent UI style in apps. All phones have very similar hardware specs, so fragmentation is not a problem. Live Tiles are great for at-a-glance info, and the app list is (for me) much clearer to use than the "grid of icons". Dedicated double-action camera button and dedicated rocker buttons. Local Scout is a pretty cool built-in feature. Really good developer tools make writing apps very easy and quick.
I'm sure there's a lot more, but it's 5AM and I need to sleep.
Swype -None, WP7 native keyboard prediction works impressively!
Google Reader - 6 or more apps available. Fuse seems to be popular.
Gmail - Syncs natively without any glitch.
Google Docs - You might have to save your docs onto Skydrive which integrates natively on the WP7 (free 25GB storage too!)
Google Maps - GMaps Pro or Bingle maps. But Bing works fine, integrated too.
Google Talk - IM+
YouTube - YouTube Pro or Prime Tube.
Any.do (Task management Application) - don't know this app's functionality.
Dropbox - BoxShot for Dropbox, 3rd party client, works without any issues for me.
Polaris Office (Full fledged document editor) - I've heard of this one. But Office built-in won't make you feel the need of Polaris. However, what sort of editing do you normally do?
IMO (Multi-messenger) - again IM+ (?)
Skype - there is a beta that won't run in background, but otherwise very much working, excellent call quality. It should come as an app in a month or two and hopefully integrated with Apollo (rumour).
Teamviewer (Remote desktop) - RemoteDesktop7
My Data Manager (App to keep a track on bandwidth consumption)- Very limited apps, one that might work is - Call Credits, but never tried it. Only read a review.
Zedge (just an easy to use source for wallpapers and ringtones) - Plenty of these sort of apps and can easily sync other websites too other than Zedge. Ringtones is an app that uses 3 different clients in a single app.
SoundHound - Yes, you won't need it though, music search is inbuilt.
Facebook - Yes inbuilt and there is an app.
Plus side of any windows phone in my opinion is, it's rapidly developing new platform which is a fresh UI, security is top-notch, integration works well, it's never frozen on me, I did not have to restart my phone once in last 7 months of using it, Zune and Xbox integration is amazing if you are a music freak or a gamer, 25GB of Skydrive access from your phone for documents, pics, music streaming - will only get better once you start using it. Integrated Bing maps, local scout, music discovery and search, accessing camera without unlocking the phone, search from lockscreen etc.
"You don't need an app for this or that and it just works!"
GoodDayToDie said:
Responses to a few select questions:
The disadvantages are that apps pretty much can't do anything real-time while backgrounded, and need to resume (although it's very fast on apps built for Mango or later) when returned to the foreground. You can switch between apps quickly, though.
I'm sure there's a lot more, but it's 5AM and I need to sleep.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the indepth response, it cleared a lot.
When you say that apps can't do pretty much anything, I hope at least apps like IM+ and Whatsapp can retrieve and send messages in the background.
drupad2drupad said:
Polaris Office (Full fledged document editor) - I've heard of this one. But Office built-in won't make you feel the need of Polaris. However, what sort of editing do you normally do?
Plus side of any windows phone in my opinion is, it's rapidly developing new platform which is a fresh UI, security is top-notch, integration works well, it's never frozen on me, I did not have to restart my phone once in last 7 months of using it, Zune and Xbox integration is amazing if you are a music freak or a gamer, 25GB of Skydrive access from your phone for documents, pics, music streaming - will only get better once you start using it. Integrated Bing maps, local scout, music discovery and search, accessing camera without unlocking the phone, search from lockscreen etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sometimes edit Word and PPTs on the move.
Not much but basic formatting in word and the ability to edit the layout and slide design is what I need.
Yeah thats the most exciting part of WP7. Its a rapidly developing platform and on top there's gonna be a unification of the mobile and desktop OS. I hope they build a deep seamless integration between the two and they play well with each other.
anseio said:
There's an app called Slyde that attempts to be like Swype, but it cannot until the ecosystem changes.
With what you've mentioned, I'm not sure WP7 will be a smooth transition for you. It's definitely worth a shot to see if you might like it, but will take some getting used to. See what you can live with and what would be a deal breaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't find any info on Slyde app ?
Well, the responses here have cleared a lot for me. I m definitely gonna give it a shot. Now my only gripe is Swype, I'm far too dependent on that. I hope there is something out there in the homebrew community.
Btw, is there a possibility that the current generation phones would get the WP8 update ? Well there are rumors that it wouldn't but then Windows Tango is primarily being released to make sure WP7 can run on lower spec devices.
It is confirmed all WP models will get Apollo update will pretty much be like with iOS some features will not be available. The next major update is no promise but that is over 2 years so if you have not updated your phone by then not much can be said.
tricurious said:
I couldn't find any info on Slyde app ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad. It's called Slydr, not Slyde.
It is NOTHING like Swype. Since it cannot replace the native keyboard, in order to use it you have launch the app, type what you want, put it on the clipboard or choose an option to send it as sms or email.
It does not work from within SMS or email, so replying while using slydr will mean that you have to leave the message, open the app, type what you what, copy it, return to the email using back arrow long press and then paste.
Looking forward to the options that WP8 may make for.
IM+ and Whatsapp and the like can use Push Notifications to receive messages while the app is not in the the foreground. Technically it's not the app doing the receiving (it's not running); instead the app tells the OS to listen for messages from a specific server, and to mark them as being intended for that app. When the messages arrive, the phone will display a notification and, if the app's tile is pinned to the Start screen, can also show a number of waiting notifications (typically, the number of messages received). When the app is run again (either resumed, or launched anew, or launched directly by tapping on a notification "toast" popup) the app will check with its server for all the messages that arrived while it was "out".
The overall effect is very much like the app continuing to receive messages in the background, except in weird edge cases (for example, if you try to resume the app while there's no data connection available, it won't be able to retrieve the messages that arrived earlier). On the plus side, the push notification system is much easier on the battery than almost any third-party app running in the background would be. It is technically possible to have apps actually run in the background (there are a couple ways, with varying degrees of official support and different limitations) but the battery hit for doing so tends to be pretty harsh (one reason why Android has a reputation for awful battery life).
Everybody is welcome to post their opinions but flame is against the forum rules.
PLEASE USE REPORT BUTTON.
I'm swapping from Android to Windows Phone, and was hoping if anyone is bored enough to read this they might suggest some Windows Phone Apps that might suit my needs.
In no way do I expect anyone that hops in to respond to each type, or google around for me, but I expect I'm not the first person to make the Android -> Windows phone swap, so maybe some of you will have a quick idea of ones to try out. You don't need to spend a lot of time explaining every app, if you're busy. Every platform is different though, so rather than spend 10 hours looking for something that everyone in the community already knows, I thought I would just toss out some quick questions.
1. RSS feeds. On Android I use gReader Pro. It's a pretty basic app that allows easy setup for RSS feeds and syncs them with your google reader account. Not very exciting, but it's easy to use because my feeds are already set up via google, so a decent app that can do the same would be nice.
2. Google Voice. I'd like to make and receive texts, as well as make calls on wifi (receiving calls isn't a big deal, but would be a plus). I downloaded GoVoice, which seems like it will be pretty decent, but am open to suggsetions.
3. Podcasts. I used Doggcatcher on Android, which allows you to stream, download + save, and sync podcasts. It has a decent search function to help you get started.
4. Tasker. This one is more difficult to explain, but essentially it allows you to program a set of tasks, like a macro function. Essentially I have it set up for "Off" (as in data/wifi/bluetooth/gps/gsm disabled), "Data" (same as off but wifi enabled), "Loud" (same as data but with notifications and media volumes all the way up), and "Car" (same as Loud but wifi off and speakerphone and GPS enabled). Basically I use this to change the state of the GPS, WIFI, and volumes, so that I can quickly switch a number of settings at once. Great app, if you have some patience and have an Android kicking around.
5. Astrid Tasks. A pretty basic reminder app. I'm sure there are plenty of these for Windows Phone, but any suggestion would great. If it can store backups to the computer, or sync with a cloud based system, that would be a plus.
6*. Something to show running applications quickly. I'm not sure if this is actually an issue for Windows Phone, but sometimes apps go "rogue" on Android, so being able to make sure that a particular app isn't a battery drain would be nice. I was using System Panel on Android. If this isn't needed, disregard the question.
7. A good alarm app. I was using Gentle Alarm on Android, which has a widget to show you the next alarm that will go off, and allows easy creation of various alarms, which can be set for audible, vibration, specific days of the week to repeat on, etc. You can also ensure that alarms will always be audible, regardless of if everything else is muted, which is nice for at night when you don't need an email waking you up, but need to make sure the alarm is at maximum volume in the morning.
8. Anything else you can think of that is a must have for daily use. I'm a student and don't really have a lot of time to play with the phone for games, but hey, we all have to pass the time every once in a while.
9. Onenote. I like how this app syncs easily, but I can't view my handwritten notes that I write on my tablet. Is there a workaround that allows you to see these?
------ I'm only using this Lumia 710 on WIFI, essentially as a PDA + GPS, so anything handy that can prevent battery drain is a plus, as I don't require GPS to constantly be on, and I certainly don't need phone/data(non-wifi) to constantly be on.
In short, I appreciate any input you might have, even if it's only for one of the things I have listed. The phone seems great in general, and had most of the important things already installed (the email, calendar, navigation, office, etc., is fantastic as is, which is a great bonus compared to Android, where I had to use 3rd party apps for most of the core aspects).
Regards,
--bb
Weave
Skype
Music and Video with Zune
Not possible
Ask Ziggy
not needed
Default alarm
Board Express Pro
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------
Nokia Drive
Crackle
Nokia Creative Studio
Contract Killer
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:16 PM ----------
Box
SkyDrive
MetroTube
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
pvt_nemesis said:
Weave
Skype
Music and Video with Zune
Not possible
Ask Ziggy
not needed
Default alarm
Board Express Pro
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------
Nokia Drive
Crackle
Nokia Creative Studio
Contract Killer
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:16 PM ----------
Box
SkyDrive
MetroTube
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all of the suggestions. That should keep me busy for quite awhile. :good:
Try also fantasia painter for photo editor. Is awesome and free. The only app i am missing since switching from wp7 to android
Sent from my HTC Explorer A310e using xda app-developers app
Before I get into my list, I'm just going to run down how apps and multi tasking work on WP7 in case you don't already know.
#1: No app can truly run in the background. The only way to get an app to continue running is either to have it up and prevent the screen from turning off, or (if supported by the app) allow it to run under the lockscreen, which means when you press the power button, only the screen turns off, the phone does not enter a sleep state.
-----------------The exception to this rule is when an app is playing music. If the app dev has done it correctly, he should have handed the music playing off to the system, so once you set up the music source in app, you should be able to minimize it and use the next/previous/play/pause controls. In fact you can even go to grooveshark's beta html5 in internet explorer; HTML5 can plug in to this system media playback! I was very excited to learn that. But at least on grooveshark, next/previous controls don't work.
#2: HOWEVER each app can have a "daemon" which is essentially a set of tasks that are run periodically by the system (minimum of every half hour). So if you use google latitude, latitude apps will only be able to update your position every half hour (or at longer intervals, but no shorter). This system of background daemons is actually very very good as it encourages unique thinking from the developer side, and still gives the user the benefits of true multi tasking without the battery drainage. What a daemon can do isn't that limited, but it's the fact that no internet connection can remain active in the background that poses a lot of problems (for example, IRC clients cannot have multi tasking for this reason). Since things can only run every half hour, you don't have to worry about things like turning off your gps, since nothing is allowed to just turn on the GPS and keep it on.
#3 : Also there's still push, of course. Lemme break that down for you: push notifications can either be through the live tile (rather than having a background daemon update the tile, things are pushed to it immediately as they arrive), or push can be used through statusbar notifications. One unfortunate oversight in this system is that if you have an app that you do not pin to the start menu, and if it has a notification and you did not hear it... there is no list of missed notifications. This doesn't come into play that often; for me it only happens with eBay, where I don't want to bother having that on my start screen but I might miss some alerts.
#4: Battery Saver mode is YOUR FRIEND. You can get nearly another day out of your phone (or I can with my Titan) when battery saver kicks in. You can enable it so that it turns on when the battery is low (%20), or manually. However, it disables all background daemons and push notification in order to save battery.
#5: Multi tasking and switching between apps. Hold down the back button to see the list of the last several apps you used (or in the case of my unlocked ROM, all of the apps you have used since boot). When you minimize an app (press the start button), it gets "dehydrated" which means it's just suspended to RAM. It works like you'd expect; start typing something in one app, switch over to another to look something up and switch back to the first to resume typing. To remove an app from the list, or "exit" the app (since it isn't actually running the only thing this does is remove clutter or perhaps free up some slots), you "back" out of them. Press the back button until the app goes away.
One of the reasons, in my opinion, that windows 8 is getting a lot of negative flack is because people don't know that live tiles are good. It doesn't help that, last time I checked, there were no useful live tile apps in the 8 marketplace yet. So frustrating! People hate what they don't understand, because hating on the internet is the standard state of existence. I encourage you to think about what you do on the internet every time you sit down on your computer, and see if you can find an app with live tile to do it for you. For me, I had a routine of checking my email(s), going through a lot of webcomics, reading news feeds, etc. That was my daily routine. Now with WP7, I have each aspect of my routine as a live tile, so I can literally replace that entire process with just looking at the start screen.
The other thing about live tiles and metro that people fail to understand is that active push notifications, where unnecessary are BAD, for a few different reasons. Push notifications are "active" and live tiles are "passive". This is because live tiles do not make any noise or otherwise prompt you to look at them; they are simply there and deliver content when you pull out your phone. Let me put this in perspective: say I pull out my phone to look up something on wikipedia. I can see that I have 2 new emails, some new RSS articles and a facebook notification. Number 1: I don't feel the urge to go and clear the unread count of all of these things, as I would if they were all aggregated in the statusbar like on android (because you need that statusbar for things, and if it's cluttered and you don't keep up on it, it quickly fills up and becomes overwhelming). I can leave them alone for now and go to wikipedia. Now if this were an android/IOS device, I would have gotten an audible notification for each of those three things, and I would have taken time out of whatever I was doing IN LIFE to tend to my phone.
Some points about stressors here (and when I say stressors, I don't mean overwhelming stress you can feel, but stress in the clinical sense, which is objective): having your phone beep at you constantly stresses you; for most people it's difficult to put their phone out of their mind until they have seen what the notification was. This is not good.
Moreover, feeling the need to go and clear unread counts/managing your statusbar is also somewhat of a stressor; if it starts overflowing you'll either learn to not use things that create notifications (somewhat limiting your experience with a smartphone), give up all hope and never look at the statusbar again, or just clear it out and miss out on things you wouldn't have if the information was presented in an orderly fashion.
Live tiles, being passive, are also more efficient in terms of time spent on the phone and your phone's battery life. Notice how in my example, I observed the new content only when I was already pulling out my phone to do something else. With things aggregating in bulk, I can view them in bulk at points of the day where I was already on my phone. This is opposed to pulling out my phone every 15 minutes because something new happened... which wastes time pulling your phone out of your pocket many times a day, wastes battery when turning the screen on/off many times a day, and if you use wifi; wastes even more battery when the wifi radio is turned on/off sporadically many times a day.
So yes, live tiles are an objectively less stressful approach to mobile devices and less distracting from tasks at hand. The same concepts can be applied to windows 8; rather than having popup notifications for all your facebook, email, rss, etc bombard you while you're trying to write a paper... all of that information is silently aggregated for you in the background.
------------The List-------------------
For alarms,
627.AM
Built in Alarm app.
For task / project management
Tasks by telerik
Or just use the built in calendar app
Or use Onenote and Pin your task list to the start screen.
For RSS
Wonder Reader hands down, none of the other google reader clients are quite as fully functional and polished.
Fuse is pretty but I never got the hang of using it.
For Wifi Video calls
Tango. It's pretty limited in that the android and IOS client are updated with better features, and you can only call other people with tango... but the service itself is more efficient and more reliable than the skype app was last time I tried it. Moreover it supports push for accepting calls, something skype doesn't. Also I like the concept of not having "online / offline" states. You call someone, and they choose to answer it or not. Why would I need to log into a phone...
I used to take notes on a tablet at school, and ran into the same problem as you. Only solution I know of is to print your notes back into onenote. You'll have duplicates of everything unfortunately.
Podcast functionality is built in.
For random recommendations...
das Image (Better image search)
Image Map (Renders all of your pictures on a map based on GPS loc info)
Dynamic Background (Unlock) (Updates the lockscreen picture every half hour choosing randomly from a pool of selected images)
Battery Status (Unlock) (Live tile for current battery percent, also tracks battery usage and graphs it for you)
EnClock (there is no stopwatch built in to WP7, and you never know when you need one)
eBay
HandyScan (Helps you take good pictures of papers, backs up to skydrive. Better to keep documents in here than with regular pictures).
Keep Alive (by jaxbot, it prevents wifi from turning off)
Nokia Drive (Unlock unless you get a nokia device)
MetroPaper (Read it later / pocket)
Metrotube + Supertube (youtube apps. 1 is awesome, 2 lets you download videos and even create offline "music" playlists)
Photo2cloud (back up full res photos to skydrive independent of PC)
Supreme Shortcuts (Unlock) (Lets you pin any setting page to the start screen)
WeatherLive (There are plenty of other weather apps... but weatherlive works, it's incredibly thorough, updates live tile using GPS location, is pretty, etc)
Zite (Gives you news articles based on google reader feeds and who you follow in twitter, good for every time I go to the toilet )
If you use IRC or SSH
The SSH Client Pro
TinyIRC
And now that you are a part of the WP community, you should invest in AND pin the live tiles of each to your start screen:
WPCentral
WMPoweruser
Games! I Don't like to play serious games on my phone; I like something I can whip out at any time and turn off at any time, no consequence. That said, I make an exception for the Final Fantasy updated / rerelease for WP7
COLLAPSE (Probably my favorite mobile game. It's an easy puzzle game, but satisfying to plow through at ludicrous speed. There are some very hard rounds with special conditions though.. story mode is dumb but it has unique challenges and you need to play through it to unlock all the quick play modes).
Final Fantasy
Wordament
Fruit Ninja
Dodonpachi Maximum (Genre: Bullet Hell. If you don't know what that means then try it before you buy it. If you love bullet hell; buy this. It's by CAVE).
Wizard's Choice (A casual text adventure).
link68759 said:
Lots of good info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the detailed response!
I've started using Onenote as a to-do list, but I made a recent post as to why that's causing me problems (or so it seems).
I seem to be syncing everything from onenote, and my device has basically filled up overnight as it downloaded my files. Microsoft told me to contact Nokia about it, and then disconnected?
It seemed like a good plan to me as well. I don't really need to see detailed graphs and notes on the phone, just a couple simple folders.
I may just reset the phone and give the other apps you suggested a shot, and not connect with my microsoft live ID at all. I went from plenty of space on the device to none, in a matter of days.
I'm not sure if podcasts were an issue as well, and how it saves and deletes them. I only stored what I would consider a small amount, maybe 200 megs or less.
Nokia drive works great. It takes up a lot of space, but I have it on my feature phone as well, and the GPS acquisition time on the Lumia 710 blows away my E5-00, and my Droid X. It's just incredibly fast at locking in.
I'll do a reset tomorrow and give the other apps a shot, and try to avoid anything that could be crushing my storage. All I really need for storage is email, nokia drive, and basic apps/news/podcasts, which on my android (nav aside) shouldn't really take more than 1 gig of space. A few small games to pass the time, and some apps for productivity, and I should be back in business.
Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to determine what is using X amount of space, so I'll have to do a full wipe and install items slowly, to sort it out.
There isn't a proper app to view this kind of thing, is there?
Regards,
--bb
I'll reply to your other thread about one note.
You can't not connect with your live ID if you plan to download apps unfortunately.
For viewing used space, Zune does divide it up for you, I don't remember how specific it gets but it should be divided into space used by music, videos, podcasts, apps. I don't think it's possible for an app to view usage, because each app is sandboxed; that is they have their own folder on the device and they are not allowed to leave it.
Nokia Drive shouldn't need to take up a lot of space; you can just download the maps of where you live and where you might possibly go spontaneously, as opposed to your whole country XD. Yeah I've had good luck with my phones and GPS, WP7 in general does an excellent job with GPS.
Oh I forgot to mention in my first post; WPCentral and WMPoweruser are good because they do a lot of app/game reviews, usually the reviews are on new apps in the market. This is pretty much the only way I discover new apps
link68759 said:
I'll reply to your other thread about one note.
You can't not connect with your live ID if you plan to download apps unfortunately.
For viewing used space, Zune does divide it up for you, I don't remember how specific it gets but it should be divided into space used by music, videos, podcasts, apps. I don't think it's possible for an app to view usage, because each app is sandboxed; that is they have their own folder on the device and they are not allowed to leave it.
Nokia Drive shouldn't need to take up a lot of space; you can just download the maps of where you live and where you might possibly go spontaneously, as opposed to your whole country XD. Yeah I've had good luck with my phones and GPS, WP7 in general does an excellent job with GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha!
I will look into setting up a new windows live account for OneNote to-do type lists. I know Office sometimes used to have issues with multiple live accounts on the same computer, in Windows 7, but I think that's mostly fixed now. I use google calendar anyways (to sync), so realistically it's not the end of the world for me to keep the accounts disconnected from my school Onenote live account.
I guess I synced all of Nokia North America at once (1.9 or so gigs of a download). I certainly don't need more than 20% of it. In fact, my whole state, now that I look at it, is only 36 megs.
Now that you've given some ideas of how to approach it, I'm liking this more than any of my other previous phones (iPhone, BB Bold, Droid X, etc). It needs some time to grow as an operating system, and Nokia really needs to put an LED notification light on future models [shakes tiny fist], but I think they're back in the game!
Thank you very much for all of your help.
//Edit: I read your other post responding to mine. I think you're right. I could probably do a wipe, use the same account, but move the basic to-do lists to a separate folder, pin them, and make sure to never ever open the school folder itself in Office on the phone. That sounds like it would work ok as well, as I must have opened a school folder that overwhelmed it and just started syncing massive amounts of pdf's, inking, and so on, along with the simple things.
I just wanted to also mention that all that you typed out would make for a great sticky. That's a ton of great info.
Thank you again for all of the feedback.
You made some excellent points about how smartphones add lots of unnecessary stresses when they're constantly distracting us with notifications, as well as how live tiles really help ease you into information you need, and information you might not, but are willing to take a brief glance at. I'm a big Windows 8 fan, and have used RP, RTM Pro (currently), and RTM enterprise. I think Live Tiles are fantastic, whether it's on my phone, my convertible laptop, or my desktop. I think you're absolutely correct about how people just don't quite understand how handy it will be yet.
//BTW: I bookmarked your post as a sort of "zen" explanation I can refer back to, or link to a friend, so they understand the unity and purposes in the next stage in Windows products.
///Afterthought: I still would like a notification LED on the phone, as long as it's customizable. On Android and Blackberry I would always disable the light for all of the nonsense things, but keep it enabled for things like a missed call (because that could be my son needing a ride, or something else that's important), or for a severe weather alert. Random emails would just have to wait until I turned on the screen.
Sorry to bump my own thread again, but I have a question about three of the apps that link68759 mentioned.
"Supreme Shortcuts (Unlock) (Lets you pin any setting page to the start screen)"
"Battery Status (Unlock) (Live tile for current battery percent, also tracks battery usage and graphs it for you)"
"Keep Alive (by jaxbot, it prevents wifi from turning off)"
By "unlock" I'm assuming he meant an unlocked bootloader, and not locked to a cellular carrier? I did the basic test today, and mine appears to be locked, which is a shame because both of those functions would be great.
As far as "Keep Alive" goes, I can't seem to find that specific app/dev combo in the market. I don't use 3g/4g data on this phone, or any phone anymore, so is that an app that is better than keeping the scanning on, or is it a battery drain? I'm just not sure I follow the concept, because I can't find a description of it.
Regards,
--bb
bladebarrier said:
Sorry to bump my own thread again, but I have a question about three of the apps that link68759 mentioned.
"Supreme Shortcuts (Unlock) (Lets you pin any setting page to the start screen)"
"Battery Status (Unlock) (Live tile for current battery percent, also tracks battery usage and graphs it for you)"
"Keep Alive (by jaxbot, it prevents wifi from turning off)"
By "unlock" I'm assuming he meant an unlocked bootloader, and not locked to a cellular carrier? I did the basic test today, and mine appears to be locked, which is a shame because both of those functions would be great.
As far as "Keep Alive" goes, I can't seem to find that specific app/dev combo in the market. I don't use 3g/4g data on this phone, or any phone anymore, so is that an app that is better than keeping the scanning on, or is it a battery drain? I'm just not sure I follow the concept, because I can't find a description of it.
Regards,
--bb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll need to flash a custom ROM, which you can luckily do on your 710.
The a wifi radio turning on/off takes more power than one that is idly connected. So if you use the phone frequently, it's better to stay connected. If you aren't going to touch it for many hours at a time, better to let it disconnect and turn off.
But if you aren't using cellular then you'll need wifi to update information in the background.
Some more here
Dialpad7
Handyscan
Photogram
Skype
Sleep Bug
Tango
UC Browser
whatspp= messenger
Yelp = to find nearby things
Google is watching us more than ever?
When Android know about you anything.
READ THE DUMB F&Q - CLICK ME
original write by anonymous
In this 5 minuts article we describe all the very weird things in Android, and we want to ask you - what do you say?
at first we saying that all of this is on built-in apps. Why to do that? ads custom, know what to upgrade for android, control in market, corperation with government entities like many times is past (Events in France on cooperation with cellular companys and government that they wiretapping your calls), read news, think about it - how google now know where you live, what you doing, where you visited.. and also you should take a look in this - https://history.google.com/history/ your all seraches and history. this site have my history from 2011 at least - and this site was published only from 2012 as seen in archive.org - likethe google history, why they not collect new info and not tell us right now - this maybe happend. keep reading.
One. (Shown all over the news) - "Next Android version will change the way the root work":
We asking, what happend to our "good times" Android experience? ("Open source", "Android will be different then iOS" Etc.)
Google want her privacy in system files, in control, in blocking permission root apps.
Keep reading, this was to notice what happend right now.
Two. Suspicious processes running in the background all the time
Three. Very Strange Permissions:
Hint: Android asks for credit card information on first running. ok its useful, fast, and great reason to take this details.
"Connect & Disconnect from Wi-Fi" - Dont cofuse we talk about other apps like "Factory Mode" etc. that running all the time in the background, why it need to turn on\off the Wi-Fi..? there is the main Wi-Fi settings, where YOU control the Wi-Fi, this is auto control. probably you not even see when Wi-Fi turned on it self. check in your built-in apps. its comfortable, came with the phone - you not need to install or update apps. and this came to many apps that nod need this. come on check it on few apps.
"Share your device's screen with another device" - Wow that was cool if was a built-in TeamViewer app! (wtf?!)
"Modify battery statistics" - in other words fake the battery status and deleting statistics, so the battery stats is not secure way to know what working and used the battery (!). (After long waiting for explain, they told me that is wrong spell. sure. the great perfect Google wrong in spell 4 official versions?! no, its modify.
"Downloading files without notification" - (you dont even noticed that something download, maybe right now)
"Add or modify calender events and send emails without host's permission" - In other words, the hosts is you. and emails send from you to another "mysterious" people. very smartly they put "Add or modify calender events" in start to hide this.
"Internet Browser" have permissions to - "Record audio" , "Take pictures and videos" (Allows application to take pictures and record video at any time).
"Mobile Tracker"! - Service that connects to the Internet and if your phone stolen you can lock him, wipe the device.
But I dont noticed that he canto call, send & read sms, record audio, share screen, read browser data (cookies etc.) and history, set an alarm in "Clock" (?), Access to NFC and more.
This was should be great options to my stolen phone. and very hurt for my private info.
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Four. System applications linked to each other. - if one is turned off - problems starting.
The Android system built like this, that system applications linked to each other - you can check with few programmers that know this.
This is a nightmare of every programmer, when something get wrong, - to start searching problems and fix them. maybe rewriting the whole code. but google wants this.
Well, its like we'll have to install GTA V,ARMA 3, and COD:Ghosts to play Pacman.
You have turned off one - the other will continue to operate
Five. Permissions granted to applications that not supposed to do that
Gallery - can record audio, calling, etc.
Adjust color (with this you set sharpness and color tone, this of course very small option in Settnigs) - can view sms, terminate processes, access Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and etc.
And more like in "Three".
Thanks for helping, google.
very small part of "Help" premissions. check it.
Six. Almost every app has strange permissions that it should not have, check it yourself.
Seven. p.s.
We expected that Google, the "can do anything" company, in couple versions of Android will greatly improve the system and make it run faster.
(damn, windows 7 has same requirement) Although that iPhone have barely one processor with two cores, running like a cannon against my SGS4.
True, it is Android, we have higher resolution and quality and have more things to handle - but we espect that this 4*4 cores (SGS4) "computer" do more.
Maybe just another hidden processes in the background causing it?
Factory Mode - for some reason gives all permissions that you can in cell-phone. Why this running on your device now?
Eight. The Smart Google
In few words they do on you the trick. they can say that all permissions need for some reasons, but is great reason to connect you to the Internet 24\7 365 day in year. and the all hints points on something else.
Last. We care.
we care that "Hangouts" replacing our default message apps (why to put 2 applications of texting? its like to use the same cameras to take picture. one for us, one for google.)
some people dont care, and they are right. we become indifferent that all the world dig in our lifes. but it should not like this.
what you feel if steal your credit card, watch on you in bathroom, have your "deleted" snapchat images, take a look on your sister?
And what if in one day I waill want to use this?
mmm.. not really
What you say?
for the great people that read this - you must change it, do somethig. take the globe.
Flash CM, Use AppOps, Xprivacy
@Dimness
One.
Its not Google who wants her privacy, its you who want your privacy. If you'd have read them xda news post a little slower you would've notice why root is getting harder. Its because with root, comes the easiest way for viruses and hackers to access and take control of your phone and its info. Google is simply juking them out for you. They make rooting harder - most definitely not impossible! Alot of root apps have contained such viruses in the present!
Two.
Only if you new the filesystem. Android is open source, unlike iOS. Open Source means you can change it and add or remove what you like - When you know what your doing! Those "Suspicious processes" are just background processes for the framework, systemui, and all the other things that make android usable. Like display, hardware drivers and such. I don't know every background activity in Windows 8 - Guess Microsoft is hacking me
Three.
Really :shaking my head:
"Connect & Disconnect from Wi-Fi" - Well its not confusing. You disconnect when you want - connect we you want. O' so simple - anyone else spotting the strangeness?!:laugh:
"Share your device's screen with another device" - Wow that was strange if this wasn't a setting for a thing called BLUETOOTH
"Downloading files without notification" - Its for Google Play Updates and updates in general (really Dimness, really?)
"Add or modify calender events and send emails without host's permission" - Do I gotta?:laugh: Wow, man, its for if you add something to another calendar app not by Google - It adds it to Google calendar. The Emails are only if you want to send statistics to Google...
"Internet Browser" - Never seen it, been all threw android for the last 4 years, even the source...but never seen it You the only person whos noticed...
"Mobile Tracker" - Its for GPS, clocks, time zones, time, calendar updates and just about all of your NFC and network provider:silly:
Four.
WTF!?
Five.
These permissions are for task that you choose to be done.
Im done for now as I choose not to rwad such dumb accusations, maybe you should polish your info:laugh: And just one question - why would a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR company need your info, pics and etc? Why I can explain the rest, but for now its 11PM - nice life...
Aiko0923 said:
@Dimness
One.
Its not Google who wants her privacy, its you who want your privacy. If you'd have read them xda news post a little slower you would've notice why root is getting harder. Its because with root, comes the easiest way for viruses and hackers to access and take control of your phone and its info. Google is simply juking them out for you. They make rooting harder - most definitely not impossible! Alot of root apps have contained such viruses in the present!
WTF hackers lol
Two.
Only if you new the filesystem. Android is open source, unlike iOS. Open Source means you can change it and add or remove what you like - When you know what your doing! Those "Suspicious processes" are just background processes for the framework, systemui, and all the other things that make android usable. Like display, hardware drivers and such. I don't know every background activity in Windows 8 - Guess Microsoft is hacking me
TURN OFF ALL OF THIS, and guess what? my phone working great over 2 moths with games, apps and ALL
so why you need this procces ah?
Three.
Really :shaking my head:
"Connect & Disconnect from Wi-Fi" - Well its not confusing. You disconnect when you want - connect we you want. O' so simple - anyone else spotting the strangeness?!:laugh:
so you turn on the wifi with chat-on? with other apps that need this permission? you too much .........................
"Share your device's screen with another device" - Wow that was strange if this wasn't a setting for a thing called BLUETOOTH
You cross the line, bluetooth to share screen? you even know what it is? how much old you 5... lol the permission not even in bluetooth permissions - its on "Personal Information" sector .............
"Downloading files without notification" - Its for Google Play Updates and updates in general (really Dimness, really?) WITHOUT notifcation u cant read - even google play notificate when auto update, its not GOOGLE PLAY because the permission NOT IN GOOGLE PLAY, its on very many apps. (really, man? realy?)
"Add or modify calender events and send emails without host's permission" - Do I gotta?:laugh: Wow, man, its for if you add something to another calendar app not by Google - It adds it to Google calendar. The Emails are only if you want to send statistics to Google...
send emails without host's permission
that not qeustion if u want or not...
"Internet Browser" - Never seen it, been all threw android for the last 4 years, even the source...but never seen it You the only person whos noticed...
check your self in app manager you dumb.. i have sgs4 its not have to be in all devices
"Mobile Tracker" - Its for GPS, clocks, time zones, time, calendar updates and just about all of your NFC and network provider:silly:
NFC cant connect to internet!! this like bluetooth when you need to text message - this 2 things Not related at all
Four.
WTF!?
Five.
These permissions are for task that you choose to be done.
Im done for now as I choose not to rwad such dumb accusations, maybe you should polish your info:laugh: And just one question - why would a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR company need your info, pics and etc? Why I can explain the rest, but for now its 11PM - nice life...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EDIT: THE F&Q DUMB ITS ON QUOTE IN BLUE - OTHER INFO IN THIS COMMENT.
--
YES its for GPS, ITS THE WAZE!!
THEY NEED THIS PERMISSION, YES YES,
THIS THE ONE SIDE OF THE COIN, BUT IN Eventually ALL YOUR INFO SEND TO INTERNET.
THE "NEED OF PERMISSION" IS GREAT REASON, BUT THEY CAN TAKE YOUR INFO IN 1 SEC.
WHY NOT TO DO THAT? YOU ARE VERY HALPFUL INFO.
ads custom, know what to upgrade for android, control in market, corperation with government entities like many times is past, read news you are in 2014. not in dinosaurs age.
sandm4n said:
Flash CM, Use AppOps, Xprivacy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks
you think this is true at all?
This has become a concern to me as well. Not particularly the permissions aspect, but how Google handles the massive amount of private information they receive in general. I've stopped using the non-transparent aspects of Android, including gapps.
chaz3 said:
This has become a concern to me as well. Not particularly the permissions aspect, but how Google handles the massive amount of private information they receive in general. I've stopped using the non-transparent aspects of Android, including gapps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You right im with you, so mutch weird stuff.
You're confusing Samsung's apps, Google's apps (Gapps) and the apps you're installing yourself.
Thread closed since this thread appears to be disguised as a discussions thread, but is spreading wildly inaccurate info (see my line above) and seems to welcome different opinions with insults (I've cleaned those as well.)