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Android App Reviews by codesplice

Hello, all.
I've got a confession to make: I like apps. A lot. To an unhealthy degree. I've got a huge stash of apps on my phone, and an even larger collection of .apk backups waiting to be reloaded whenever I feel like it. I love finding new apps to try out, and deciding which ones are worthy to be added to my collection. A lot of the apps that I find and want to try out are paid apps; without finding many thorough reviews on them, I don't know whether they are worth my money - but I can't stand the thought of missing out on the Next Big Thing. And so I buy them, download them, install them, and test them out anyway. If it's an awesome app and well-worth the money, I tell my friends. If it is money that could be better spent on another app that I've tried before, I tell my friends that, too.
Unfortunately, not all of my friends are interested in my opinion on apps. They only listen to me because of my rugged good looks (my theory). This makes me sad, because I spend a lot of time (and money, in some cases) trying apps out - someone else needs to benefit from that time (and money) as well. Until someone decides to pay/reimburse me for all the apps that I evaluate, the next-best thing I can do is offer up reviews to the community of any apps that I have found particularly useful. This is the driving force behind my desire to make this thread.
I will be running down my list of currently-installed useful applications and entertaining games. I will include screen shots, AppBrain links, and as much detail as I can muster up. My hope is that the rest of the community may find some benefit from these reviews - and who knows, maybe you'll find a kick-ass app you'd never heard of.
I'm open to questions, ideas, requests, suggestions, and pretty much any other type of communication or input that could be provided. I only ask that you be respectful - both of me, and of the app developers. And if this list helps you find a neat paid app to try out, please do support the developer(s). Piracy is bad, mmmmkay?
Enjoy!
-codesplice
Credit where credit is due: All screenshots are made using the free ShootMe app.
NOTE: Now that the Android Market has a shnazzy new web interface, I'm going to change the primary links for apps to reflect this. I will add the AppBrain links as a secondary, and hope to add direct market links at some point once I find a site to reliably provide this information. Stay tuned!
Reviews:
Minimalistic Text (Widget)
Clutch Pad(Multitasking App) UPDATED 2/24/11
CircleLauncher (Widget)
Swipe Pad (Multitasking App)
Keyboard Manager (App) UPDATED 2/23/11
Shift Puzzle Game (Game)
ElecroDroid (App)
Hella Umbrella (Game)
Digital Wall (LWP)
Shortyz Crosswords (App)
Elixir (System Info App)
Google Authenticator (App)
Zeam (Launcher)
Lookout / WaveSecure (Mobile Security App double-feature)
If you don't want to subscribe to this thread, you can follow me on that twitting thing, as I will post updates about new reviews there.

Minimalistic Text (widget)
App Name: Minimalistic Text (v.2.1.3, @AppBrain)
Developer: Devmil
Price: FREE
There is quite a handful of text-based widgets available on the Market, and a lot of them are very nice. There are widgets for displaying the time as text, the weather as text, the battery level as text.... but this is one widget that does it all. Just about every aspect of the widget is configurable, from the text alignment and rotation to the font size and colors to even the format for different types of data. You've got several options for the display type, whether you want to use digits or words or even a bar (for days of the week or percentage of battery charge). There is also an optional "blur" text effect which works wonderfully for making accented text appear to be illuminated. To top things off, this widget also functions as a plugin for Locale or Tasker and can be used to display variables from either of those applications. For instance, if you want a small text-widget to display what Locale/Tasker profiles are currently active, this is your answer for a very configurable solution.
For each widget you are also able to define an action to perform when tapped - whether it is launching another activity (my clock widget launches my alarm clock), opening the widget preferences page, or even reading out the text currently displayed on the widget. You are also able to save and restore your widget settings, so don't be afraid to experiment.
Given the sheer amount of customizations available to you with this widget app, the configuration menu may be a little bit overwhelming and complex when you first get into it. Play around for a few minutes, and you're bound to get the hang of it.
This is a fabulous widget, and one that I highly recommend to anyone who will take the time to tinker with it.
Verdict: A highly-configurable text-based widget to display pretty much anything you want, especially with Tasker integration.
Screenshots:
1) Widget(s) in action. I should note there are three separate widgets displayed: Time / weather up top, day / date on the bottom, and a battery level bar on the right-hand side.
2) Preferences Manager for all widgets
3) Text Style menu
4-5) Custom Layout configurator
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))

Clutch Pad[APP]
App Name: Clutch Pad (v.1.3v.1.4.2, @AppBrain)
Developer: stevealbright
Price: $0.99 $1.99
Clutch is an application that seeks to optimize and streamline the way you multitask on Android. It is currently in beta status, but is very functional in its current state. It is a powerful supplement to the built-in Recent Apps feature.
Clutch manifests itself as a small semi-transparent "trigger" area, which functions similar to "hot corners" on a Mac (I think. I'm a Linux/PC guy). This small region rides at the very top layer of the Android interface (in a user-configurable position) and is accessible no matter what application you may be working in. You can tap this region to instantly bring up a small grid displaying your recently-accessed applications. You can customize how many apps you want to be visible, configure the application to ignore your Home (Launcher) app in its list, and to visually distinguish currently-running applications from terminated apps. This makes it very easy to quickly determine if that app you just exited is still running or if it has been shut down as it should, as well as providing a quick (and lightweight) task switcher.
Nice, but nothing terribly fantastic. Yet. Clutch also has configurable swipe gestures - the most useful (to me) of which is a Last Task functionality. For instance, if I Swipe Up from the Clutch region, I instantly switch to whatever my previous app was. If I swipe again, I am moved back to the app I just switched from. This functions similarly to just pressing ALT+TAB quickly, and is very useful for quickly jumping between two apps.
This little utility is quick and lightweight, and I have found it to be extremely useful. It is still in development, and has many more features planned (and a price increase to accompany them - so get it quickly!) including support for additional gestures (open/close notifications, for example), on-click task control (press-and-hold to kill, for example), and configurable transition animations.
If you've got a dollar to spend, you would do well to add this application to your device in its current state, and I can only imagine the app's versatility and usefulness will increase with the further planned updates.
Update (2/24/11): Clutch Pad has recently been updated to version 1.4. With this update, the application has dropped the "Beta" tag, gained an additional "Pad" in its name, and has added additional features and configurable options. At the same time, the price has also been increased to $1.99. New features include additional swipe gestures, configurable transition animations (that are quite pretty), the option to toggle the trigger button via a press-and-hold on the Search hardware key, and a Favorites option to quickly launch your favorite apps. Options have also been added for additional visual tweaks and adjustments of both the trigger icon and the popup lists, and all known bugs have been fixed. With each incremental update, this app gets more and more useful and I find myself relying upon it more all the time. Even at the increased price, this is still one of my must-have applications.
Verdict: An innovative way to access recent apps, and the Last App gesture functionality is every bit as useful as Alt-Tabbing between apps on your desktop.
Screenshots:
1) Trigger icon
2) Recent apps list
3-5) Settings pages
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))

CircleLauncher (widget)
App Name: CircleLauncher (v.1.5.2, @AppBrain)
Developer: db-ware
Price: ~$1.37 (free, limited version here or @AppBrain)
As mentioned previously, I have a lot of apps. One of the problem with having a lot of apps is running out of room on your homescreens for app shortcuts. There are various widgets out there that propose a variety of solutions to this problem, but they often leave you with tiny, almost unusable icons. This would have been fine in the days where the trackball reigned supreme, but this is the oh-tens. It has to be finger-friendly.
One true solution that I stumbled across the other day is called CircleLauncher. What it does is really very simple, but it does it very well. It allows you to create a single widget to group similar applications together (I've used location-themed apps and clock-based apps in my example). Tape the 1x1 widget, and a lightweight menu appears to launch your apps. Pretty standard, but this menu is laid out (by default - you can change this in the settings) in a ring around the icon. As you slide your finger or thumb around the ring, the currently selected application icon grows to make selection a bit easier.
Note that CircleLauncher includes other layout types (configurable from the widget's config menu, which you access by selecting the widget and then press-and-holding the center) including horizontal and vertical lines. I was also very pleased with the way that the widget's application menu adapts to its position on the screen - stick it in a corner, and your full selection of apps will be displayed within a 90-degree pie slice.
Obviously, a menu such as this is a bit limited to a relatively low number of apps (more than 9 or 10 and the ring will be just too cluttered to be functional), but if you need to have quick access to just a few more apps from your homescreen, this should do the trick. Since there is a free version available, why not give it a shot and see if this widget can help you to organize your home screen a bit?
Verdict: An easy way to combine several app shortcuts into one.
Screenshots:
1) Plain widgets (labeled GPS and Time) - you can dress them up a bit more if you are artistically inclined.
2) One widget opened showing the full selection ring.
3) The corner widget open showing the adaptation to the position.
4) One icon expanded while my finger hovers over it.
5) Settings menu
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))

Keep going mate

gruzman said:
Keep going mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I surely intend to! Just have to figure out which app to post next
Thanks for the encouragement though. It is appreciated to know at least someone is reading over all this mess!

SwipePad Beta [APP]
App Name: SwipePad Beta (v.0.7.5, @AppBrain)
Developer: Conduction.mobi
Price: FREE
Keeping on the theme of "apps to help you access your apps", we come to SwipePad Beta. Similar in some regard to Clutch, this app also gives you "hot corner" functionality. Use the settings menu to establish what corners (or regions) you want to be active, and then slide your finger from a specified region to the center of the screen. Hold it for just a moment, and a 3x4 grid of application shortcuts magically appears. You can, of course, fully customize what applications should appear on this grid by simply pressing your finger on an empty square or by holding your finger over an existing icon until it is highlighted. The hot corners/region and swipe gesture should work pretty much any time that the screen is unlocked, and is a great way of quickly launching a new app without returning to your home screen.
The application offers to integrate task managing application by the same developer (which is a paid app) that I haven't tried out yet. Personally, I've got plenty of other ways of killing apps at this point - particularly once the function gets built into Clutch.
SwipePad is very nicely polished and quite responsive. It does what it does quite well. My only issue with it is that I just don't use it very frequently. I almost forget that it is there; I must be thoroughly conditioned to launching apps from the home screen. It's free, though, so give it a whirl and see if it can further help to optimize the way you launch apps from within other apps
Verdict: Clever use of hot-corners to gain quick access to up to 12 user-defined apps; non-intrusive to the point that you might forget to use it.
Screenshots:
1) SwipePad in action. Note that putting a link to SwipePad on your SwipePad gives you a quick way to access the settings screens.
2) SwipePad settings, with the hot corners highlighted in red at the bottom.
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))

is there a video demonstrating the use of Clutch? I want to watch it before paying for it.

Deff fav'ing this. Am looking forward to all reviews
(*is thinking about getting clutch)
Epic is as Epic does

Nice! Thanks bro!

waichung said:
is there a video demonstrating the use of Clutch? I want to watch it before paying for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I imagine there should be a video somewhere on the youtubes. Let me know if you find one and I will add it to the post. I'm about to go into work so it will be another 12 hours before I have access to the full internet, but I will look then if you haven't found anything.

Very good! Thanks

Keyboard Manager [APP]
App Name: Keyboard Manager (v.1.1) Keyboard Manager (v.1.4)
Developer: ne0fhyk
Price: FREE $1.99
NOTE: This app requires root!!
It took me quite a while, but I finally weened myself away from requiring a physical keyboard on a mobile device when I got my NexusOne. With the multitude and variety of available software keyboards available for Android, I haven't really missed the physical keys. The only annoyance at this point is that I find keyboards that work great for one-handed operation in portrait orientation, like Swype or 8pen (if you're in the mood for adventure and don't really care how long it takes to get a message completed ), but are next-to-worthless for dual-thumb landscape input. With a physical keyboard, you'd just slide that bad boy out and away you go. For those of us with only a touchscreen and maybe a few additional buttons, it can be a bit of a chore to manually change the selected input method each time we rotate the device. If only there was a way for the device to read my mind and select the appropriate keyboard.....
As luck would have it, XDA member ne0fhyk has provided us with a solution to this difficulty, in the form of his Keyboard Manager application. Simply select what keyboard you want to use in each orientation (I use Swype for portrait and SwiftKey for landscape), and the app will handle the tedious business of choosing the appropriate input method. It's that easy, and it works.
Mostly. The app is a bit of a hacked solution, and requires root permissions to be able to get around the Android security feature which prevents applications from changing the input method. Installation is not always straight-forward (instructions are available in the first post of the application thread, and it may cause a few software keyboards to force-close if you change orientation while the keyboard is displayed. The current version (1.1) has come a long way from the previous releases in terms of usability, stability, and reliability, and I haven't had any major issues with it. I highly recommend that you give this application a shot and see if it will help you out with your input needs.
Update (2/23/11): Keyboard Manager is no longer available for free, but is now installable from the Android Market. The now-current 1.4 version has fixed most of the install issues and should be a very easy set-up for you. If you run into any issues with the purchased version, please contact the developer - he helped me solve issues specific to my device, and the application works like a charm now.
Verdict: A functional hack to auto-select the appropriate software keyboard based on device orientation.
Screenshots:
1) The optional persistent notification icon. Activating the notification will give you quick access to the Keyboard Manager settings page, and I recommend you leave it enabled until you get things set up the way you want. After that, disable the persistent notification at your own risk (the persistent notification keeps the process in the foreground and prevents Android from terminating it).
2) Settings screen
3) Selecting which keyboard to use
4) Demonstrating that the app has automatically selected Swype for portrait...
5) .... and SwiftKey for landscape.
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))

Shift Puzzle Game [GAME]
App Name: Shift Puzzle Game (v.1.2, @AppBrain)
Developer: Handmark
Price: $1.99 (Free ad-supported version here or @AppBrain let's you try out 15 levels; full version features 40 additional levels and no ads)
The Shift Puzzle Game is a tasty Android port of the ever-popular SHIFT game by Armor Games, which you can play free in your Flash-enabled browser at the Armor Games website. If you're not familiar with the original (as I wasn't until I found this app just an hour ago), then let me fill you in on the skinny.
Shift is a new take on the classic adventure-puzzle platformer game. Your mission is to get from point A to point B, dodging whatever nasty traps and obstacles may be in your path. The twist is the ability for you to literally shift the game universe upside down. White becomes black, up becomes down, and you find yourself walking on the flip side of the surface you were just standing on. You can (and will) use this clever maneuver repeatedly in order to successfully navigate each challenging level. Not quite tracking? It can be rather tough to explain... Hopefully the screenshots below will help clear it up (or go play the flash version for free here).
This implementation for a touchscreen device is phenomenal. The controls are large and appear on either side of the landscape display - and you don't even need multitouch. Just tap the left arrow to move left, the left-up diagonal to jump left, and the SHIFT button at the top to do that groovy shift thing. The gameplay is engaging, and the levels can be quite challenging (and quite addictive). The game is worth trying out (the free version) solely for experiencing the joy that is puzzle-solving by twisting the fabric of the universe, and you might just get hooked enough to purchase the full version. It would be two bucks well spent.
Verdict: Quickly becoming my latest Android gaming addiction.
Screenshots:
1) Main menu
2) First level
3) First level - SHIFTED!
4) It gets twisted!
(tested on NexusOne / Kang-o-rama 1.2 T1 (CM7.n13 / GRH78C / Android 2.3.2))

This is a little off topic but is anyone attempting a Tor app?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App

jinsfch said:
This is a little off topic but is anyone attempting a Tor app?
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just slightly off topic, but no worries.
A quick search on AppBrain found Orbot: Tor On Android. Impressive, since Android still doesn't have proper proxy support on its own...

Can't find clutch video on youtube...
Btw,i think swipepad is better than it as swyping from the bottom is easier than from the right
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

waichung said:
Can't find clutch video on youtube...
Btw,i think swipepad is better than it as swyping from the bottom is easier than from the right
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked for Clutch videos as well and was disappointed to see that there aren't any. I may try to shoot a video once I get home from the desert in a few weeks (hopefully).
You can change the position of the Clutch region to really any spot on the screen. And I don't really see the two as competing anyway as they have entirely different purposes: Clutch gives you quick access to your recently-executed apps, while SwipePad offers a fixed menu of apps for you to launch.

codesplice said:
I looked for Clutch videos as well and was disappointed to see that there aren't any. I may try to shoot a video once I get home from the desert in a few weeks (hopefully).
You can change the position of the Clutch region to really any spot on the screen. And I don't really see the two as competing anyway as they have entirely different purposes: Clutch gives you quick access to your recently-executed apps, while SwipePad offers a fixed menu of apps for you to launch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The likely alt-tab function of clutch is really fantastic but does it show the recently-executed apps or the running apps? I use swipepad together with the virtual task switcher which allows switching among the running tasks. These 2 apps are completely free and no need to paid $1 for the "swipepad: tasks". But I prefer quick accessing recent tasks to showing those apps running at the background.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

waichung said:
The likely alt-tab function of clutch is really fantastic but does it show the recently-executed apps or the running apps? I use swipepad together with the virtual task switcher which allows switching among the running tasks. These 2 apps are completely free and no need to paid $1 for the "swipepad: tasks". But I prefer quick accessing recent tasks to showing those apps running at the background.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The set {recently-executed} apps includes the subset {running apps}. The default behavior of Android is to show all recently-executed apps under the Recent Apps functionality, regardless of whether those apps are still running or have been terminated. I thought that Visual Task Switcher behaved the same way, but based on the application page it does appear to only display currently-running apps. Personally, I prefer to see recent apps (with a visual distinction between those that are still running and those that have been terminated), as I often end up re-launching the same app over and over; of course, you could also just pin a shortcut to those frequent apps to SwipePad. We all operate our devices in different ways, so either option is of course valid.
Visual Task Switcher (at least the last time that I used it) tended to make my phone lag significantly for whatever reason; I did use it for quite some time though, and was pleased with its functionality as a complete Recent Apps replacement (after configuring the long-press home trigger to launch it via CyanogenMod settings). Also note that the free version includes ads (which may contribute to the lag I was experiencing?) while the full version will set you back $1.99.

[APP] PDF Viewer update

I needed a PDF viewer for my own purposes, and the closest I could find was Maciej's PDF Viewer (=apv) app on the market. It was open source, and so I made a bunch of changes that I wanted or needed. Anyway, I now have a pre-release for version 0.3.0, which include a bunch of enhancements since Maciej's 0.2.9 release.
Here it is.
New features:
- speed optimizations
- page number display
- options including: full screen, reverse video, various tweaks, page with volume keys
- overhauled file selection: added icons for directories, added home directory option
- better font rendering

Now I posted pre-release 0.3.0 pre 2. Includes a monochrome feature to save memory and a zoom-to-width feature which I think people will find handy.

Sounds like you know what your doing. Not had a chance to test your app yet, but does it have the functionality to add bookmarks and highlight text?

Gonna try it out now, thanks!

No, there is no annotation, sorry. Just reading.

Its really nice with open source alternatives. Im gonna try it out.

I think i will love this. thanks bud

I haven't tried it yet but it would be great if you could add zoom to a fixed percentage
the reason I want that is some pdfs have huge fonts for the page numbering and while technically fit to width is working, there's still a fair amount of room on the sides. Obviously this should be sticky. A bonus would be it would remember the setting by filename

Works good, one option I'd love to get is fixed scrolling like with browsers

sark666 said:
I haven't tried it yet but it would be great if you could add zoom to a fixed percentage
the reason I want that is some pdfs have huge fonts for the page numbering and while technically fit to width is working, there's still a fair amount of room on the sides. Obviously this should be sticky. A bonus would be it would remember the setting by filename
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zoom settings are indeed remembered by filename.
You can also adjust how much the zoom buttons zoom by. If you set that to 5% or 10%, you can do zoom-to-width and then press the zoom button once or twice.
Eventually, I'd like it to detect the real edges of the text.

moav said:
Works good, one option I'd love to get is fixed scrolling like with browsers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't figure out how to implement that. Moreover, I find it's poorly implemented in the browser--it locks much better on my device into horizontal movement than into vertical movement!
Instead, there is a "vertical scroll lock" option. This locks the scrolling to be only vertical, unless you make a serious (1/5 screen width) swipe left or right which temporarily unlocks horizontal scrolling.

I`ve just tested this app for half an hour with a bunch of PDFs littered in my Desire. This is without exaggeration the best pdf-viewer I´ve seen so far.
Very useful:
- zooming in steps as little as 5% because most PDFs were made for monitors or printing and not smartphones
- inverting the screen for reading at night or low-light conditions. It also saves power on my screen to read white text with black background.
- and it´s FAST
What I miss:
- an option to forget about the layout of a PDF, so I can only get the pure text. This would be very useful for PDFs designed for magazines with a columned layout, which is a pain to read on a handheld computer.
Keep up the good work

germanhoss said:
I`ve just tested this app for half an hour with a bunch of PDFs littered in my Desire. This is without exaggeration the best pdf-viewer I´ve seen so far.
Very useful:
- zooming in steps as little as 5% because most PDFs were made for monitors or printing and not smartphones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember, too, that if you set the 5% zoom option, you can still long-touch the zoom buttons for a 2X zoom.

arpruss said:
Remember, too, that if you set the 5% zoom option, you can still long-touch the zoom buttons for a 2X zoom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, haven´t noticed that - that´s quite useful.
Originally I thought of requesting a feature to remember the place where I closed the document because I´m used to open things in the ES explorer.
Then I stumbled through the built-in file explorer - feature implemented
Maybe an FAQ or a short manual would be useful ...

germanhoss said:
Wow, haven´t noticed that - that´s quite useful.
Originally I thought of requesting a feature to remember the place where I closed the document because I´m used to open things in the ES explorer.
Then I stumbled through the built-in file explorer - feature implemented
Maybe an FAQ or a short manual would be useful ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a wiki on the project page. You can add a FAQ.

It's a great light app and it has some cool features which I miss on other apps. But my primary feature for PDF readers is smoothness.
It would be great if it would be working as smooth as Documents To Go (their PDF reader). By smooth I mean smooth rendering and scrolling. Also it won't hurt to have multitouch zooming.
I know it's easy to demand and hard to do but at least there are ideas what should be present in the next versions.

jankoboys6 said:
It's a great light app and it has some cool features which I miss on other apps. But my primary feature for PDF readers is smoothness.
It would be great if it would be working as smooth as Documents To Go (their PDF reader). By smooth I mean smooth rendering and scrolling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's largely a matter of speed, and it's going to be hard to improve that, except by expending a lot of memory for caching and background rendering.
Also it won't hurt to have multitouch zooming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, but it is a finicky feature to implement correctly and hence requires a multitouch device for debugging. I don't own one. Moreover, there are potential patent issues.

I've just posted 0.3.0 pre 13. This unfortunately has a new bookmark database, not compatible with previous versions, so people will lose their per-document settings. I am hoping this is the last such loss--the new format will make code maintenance easier and is easily upward expandable.
New features/fixes in pre 13:
- store horizontal offset in per-document settings
- better restore of zoom if orientation has changed
- fix round-off error which resulted in occasional horizontal one-pixel-width errors

I would also like to mention the color feature in your app is really great! Now I can read without hurting my eyes in the dark and it saves batter as well. Great feature indeed!
arpruss said:
That's largely a matter of speed, and it's going to be hard to improve that, except by expending a lot of memory for caching and background rendering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm what if you make the memory size for caching an option in the settings for users to choose their optimum size? Do you believe that this would make any speed improvements?
arpruss said:
I agree, but it is a finicky feature to implement correctly and hence requires a multitouch device for debugging. I don't own one. Moreover, there are potential patent issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see it's kind a hard/expensive to make this feature possible. Darn US laws on patents :-/ don't know if in EU is the same for Android apps but for C++ and other programming languages, there are no e-patents.
Keep on your great work!
PS: I'm using HTC Desire (CM7 rom)

jankoboys6 said:
I would also like to mention the color feature in your app is really great! Now I can read without hurting my eyes in the dark and it saves batter as well. Great feature indeed!
hmmm what if you make the memory size for caching an option in the settings for users to choose their optimum size? Do you believe that this would make any speed improvements?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe, but it would need a smarter pre-render queue than we currently have. I experimented with making one, but my attempts were buggy so I got rid of them.
Tell me which scrolling pattern you'd like to be faster? Currently the app (in render ahead mode) is optimized for ebook reading: you read a page, and while you read the page, the next one is rendered and shows up instantly when you flip pages (I generally do that with the volume-down key) or scroll vertically to it.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a bug somewhere, perhaps only on devices with larger screen resolutions (it works fine on my 854x480 Archos, but I am told that it doesn't work on a 1280x960 screen), which makes the next page not show up instantly.

LectureNotes app

I'm curious about peoples' opinions of the app "LectureNotes" by Acadoid Developer and how it stacks up against the other main players in the active digitizer game. I've only been using my TPT for a few days' worth of note taking and haven't settled on a specific app yet, so I would like to hear thoughts on how you chose your primary note taking app.

i use ezpdf reader usually and just annotate my notes onto the pdf lecture slides.
if i need free form writing, i use free-note as it has keyboard + pen input
or quill if i just need pen input.
personally i haven't tried lecture notes, but it seems like MyScript Notes Mobile preloaded with the TPT

Wow, pretty good app. I didn't know about it. Thanks!

I've been using TPT for about 2 weeks now, and like the OP, I haven't really quite settled on a specific handwriting app..
Key uses for me are:
- taking notes during meetings
- something to help me in my Japanese language study
- some silly doodling/sketching fun
Some apps I've tried:
- Notesmobile
- Antipaper
- Writepad stylus
- Lecture notes
- Asus' supernotes
- Freenote
- Quill
For lecture notes specifically, I like that I can choose checkered pattern for the background and set the pattern size, as that is perfect for writing in Japanese.
But I found that it lags quite a bit when writing, and there isn't an easy way for me to scroll between pages.
So I haven't really been using it much in the past week.
For the moment, I've sort of settled with using a mix of Writepad, Supernote and Antipaper. Sadly, neither Supernote nor Antipaper has stylus only option
Still waiting for the one app that can do it all!
Might never come, but I can always hope, can't I?

I use Lecture Notes and have more or less canned every other note software. Lecture Notes just has way more features that I need. It can export in many ways. It can backup all my notes to dropbox, great support for inserting images and easy to change color, pen thickness etc.
Only think missing is better organization of the notebooks themselves. When that's here, it will be perfect.
It's also by far the most stable of Quill, Notes mobil and asus supernotes.

Personally, I have tried a lot of handwriting notes apps until I cam to this one. At that time this one worked the best overall in my opinion. When I first started using it didn't have everything it has now. But it was already robust and never crashed. I had one issue after a full system crash and reboot that wiped out the content of one notebook. But I simply loaded my backup from the day before without issue and kept rolling.
I have about 15 different notebooks on there now and I use them daily for work notes as I am walk around the office working on equipment or meeting notes.
It doesn't have the handwriting recognition features you find in other apps but I think that is what keyboard are for and I wouldn't write a document up that way anyway.
My good things list.
First, The developer is always adding things per user requests. Options for everything you can think of.
Second, it is being developed directly on the TPT and it seems to be one of the only ones able to be truly palm rejection friendly by only allowing the app to pull input from the pen (Option can be disabled for those that don't have a pen).
Third, and again the endless options... every type of custom settings, scrolling options (one finger, two finger, scroll bars and bar thickness), export options, backup options, sharing options, zoom options, page size - color - patterns, simple drawing tools, cut paste - copy paste, and on and on... every time I turn on the tablet it seems there is anther update to this app.
The dev listens to the feedback and finds ways of making the ideas work. I have submitted several ideas that have become reality.
It isn't free... but I would buy it a second and third time if I could just to support the dev team.
I see a brighter and brighter future of this app.

Hi folks,
I am the author of LectureNotes, I was glad to read that the app is useful for you. Sorry for joining this forum and this thread so late, but I learned only very recently that there are couple of forum threads related to LectureNotes.
Note that I uploaded v1.12.2 today with a couple of minor additions, the most important one probably being the possibility to choose the directory where the app stores your notebooks.
Best regards,
Markus

acadoid said:
Hi folks,
I am the author of LectureNotes, I was glad to read that the app is useful for you. Sorry for joining this forum and this thread so late, but I learned only very recently that there are couple of forum threads related to LectureNotes.
Note that I uploaded v1.12.2 today with a couple of minor additions, the most important one probably being the possibility to choose the directory where the app stores your notebooks.
Best regards,
Markus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the trial version, but i am already convinced of buying the full version. I have a suggestion to make :
The software really needs a laso eraser it will make it more feature-full

Dear trt44,
LectureNotes has a `lasso´ eraser, moving the eraser in a closed path so that start and end point are close deletes the interior.
Best regards,
Markus

Perfect, i just tried the laso eraser and it works like a charm, so i bought the software .
I have another suggestion : The software lacks the ability to draw basic shapes (rectangles, circles, lines...), and from my humble point of view, basic shapes are very important for fast and accurate drawing when taking notes.

Many thanks for purchasing the app.
The app contains simple drawing primitives, they are part of the pencil toolbox (as long as you do not disable this in the settings). Choose `Show pencil toolbox´ in the pencil menu to get the toolbox displayed, click-and-hold to move it around. A single click on one of the standard or custom pencils chooses the pencil and a double-click on one of the custom pencils opens the `Custom pencil settings´ dialog; a click on one of the drawing tools activates the drawing tool, another click inactivates it.

OK, thank you, i will try it once i get home.

acadoid said:
Many thanks for purchasing the app.
The app contains simple drawing primitives, they are part of the pencil toolbox (as long as you do not disable this in the settings). Choose `Show pencil toolbox´ in the pencil menu to get the toolbox displayed, click-and-hold to move it around. A single click on one of the standard or custom pencils chooses the pencil and a double-click on one of the custom pencils opens the `Custom pencil settings´ dialog; a click on one of the drawing tools activates the drawing tool, another click inactivates it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so far this is the best note taking application for android platform, it works exactly the way it should. But the UI is a bit ugly frankly you should work it more. A software like yours deserve a sexy fantastic UI :
- Attractive icons cause the actual ones looks dead to me, note Books icons for example looks horrible
- The ability to go forward and back in pages using forward and back buttons (more convenient sometimes instead of just scrolling or doing a notebook overview and select the page from there)
- Notebook overview should have an icon in the top tools bar for easy access
One last thing, when you use palm heuristic there is no way to zoom but using the zoom function in the menu witch have a fixed zoom ratio, i suggest to add a zoom slider in the top tools bar where you can specify how much you want to zoom when using (or not) palm heuristic.
Thank you for the fantastic software and keep the good work on .

Many thanks for your kind comments. I certainly agree that the icons can be improved, but I am not an artist and I do my best.
The app allows to go forward and backward page-wise by using `One page forward` or `One page backward´ in the hand menu; alternatively, to move quickly through your notebook without changing mode or switching to notebook overview, switch on `Permanently display scroll bars´ in the settings and drag on the scroll bars (the bar thickness can be increased in the settings).
`Notebook overview´ is just two clicks away in all modes (one click on main menu and one click on the item), I do not think that it is worthwhile to add an extra icon.
When using the heuristic palm rejection, one or two fingers gestures for scrolling and zooming are restricted to the hand mode, but being in this mode you can scroll and zoom continuously. Besides that, there is a zoom slider at the left side, you can change zoom by dragging it (the bar thickness can also be increased in the settings).

Just wanted to say hello to you Markus and thank you for your amazing app.
I am loving your app more and more. I appreciate your email correspondence about features I asked about. It truly puts you and your application above the rest.
Cheers.

I just uploaded v1.13 into Google Play. The major new feature is to allow folders of notebooks (and folders of folders of notebooks, etc.), but I also added LectureNotes as an image receiver (so that the app shows up when you share an image) and fixed a bug that could cause the app to crash when using a template for a new notebook.
To allow folders affects all parts of the app (notebooks board, notebook content view, notebook overview, notebook index, notebooks board index, ...). I carefully double- and triple-checked all features and things should work as before. Please drop an email to me in case you noticed something unexpected and I will do my very best to fix it quickly.
Best regards,
Markus

Sweet, I requested this feature cause of large number of notes
Works good, but maybe change the icon of folders so they stand out more from the regular.

acadoid said:
I just uploaded v1.13 into Google Play. The major new feature is to allow folders of notebooks (and folders of folders of notebooks, etc.), but I also added LectureNotes as an image receiver (so that the app shows up when you share an image) and fixed a bug that could cause the app to crash when using a template for a new notebook.
To allow folders affects all parts of the app (notebooks board, notebook content view, notebook overview, notebook index, notebooks board index, ...). I carefully double- and triple-checked all features and things should work as before. Please drop an email to me in case you noticed something unexpected and I will do my very best to fix it quickly.
Best regards,
Markus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a wonderful feature Markus that I didn't realize I needed until just recently. Love it I like the idea of changing the icon on the folders so they stand out more. I also love the new storage location setting, it eases my mind to know it is on my external_sd.
Also, I dunno if I am just being dense, but I cannot seem to figure out the navigation menu when enabled in settings. Within settings, under Settings > Menu > Enable app's launcher icon menu and it says it provides a navigation menu at the app's launcher icon. I've always assumed this was an extra navigation menu in the top left corner, but cannot seem to ever be able to use it.
Any thoughts?

I am glad to hear that you like the new feature.
In case you switch on the menu at the app's launcher icon, you should see a menu when clicking on the icon in the left upper corner (in difference to the case when this option is off, then you get a message that there is no functionality assigned, with the exception of notebook content view where the changed pages are flushed to the file system). What happens in your case? Does the icon highlight when you click on it?

acadoid said:
I am glad to hear that you like the new feature.
In case you switch on the menu at the app's launcher icon, you should see a menu when clicking on the icon in the left upper corner (in difference to the case when this option is off, then you get a message that there is no functionality assigned, with the exception of notebook content view where the changed pages are flushed to the file system). What happens in your case? Does the icon highlight when you click on it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't seem to do anything when I click on it, with either my finger or with the pen. And it doesn't seem to matter if I have it enabled or not. Neither scenario causes the icon to do anything. It doesn't highlight or say/do anything. It also does not matter what screen I am at, the icon never does anything. Whether I am within a notebook, folder or at the notebooks board screen. Odd.
Would this have anything to do with that I am running ICS?

Help modifying home screen w/ Tribuchet

Hi guys!
I just installed Pac rom KK, which works great. I'm almost fully done playing with it
Unfortunately I get stuck at the very end with something that to me (as a user, not a dev) seems quite trivial.
Seeing how I've tried to find different solutions for many hours without making any progress, I turn to you in desperation.
What I want to achieve is a clean home screen (like a painting, and nothing else, not even navigation bar) along with no use of physical buttons.
I've set everything up with full screen, gestures, pie control, and all the good stuff which makes the phone easy to navigate.
What I have left to do, and where I am stuck is:
- adding app drawer to something other than the icon, and physical buttons (basically meaning quick settings, pie control or gestures)
- removing app drawer logo from the home screen, along with the home screen dot (the one showing which home screen, and if more also how many there are)
- also locking home screen (meaning that it won't bounce)
For you who have taken the energy to read this far (which I very much thank you for), I'm sure you realize that these are easy fixes.
Thing is...I don't want to use a launcher such as nova or AWD.
...I don't want do download another pie control for the sake of having one where you simply (being the keyword) can add app drawer.
....I have removed navigation bar (which I want removed), so can't use navigation actions.
I'm sorry for being so extremely picky, but I've spent to many hours trying to get this juuuust right. I hate basically dumping this on you guys, but I'm really at loss here.
The "easiest" workaround I could come up with was to write a small app, which only function would be to open the app drawer, and then hook it up to Pie Control. Only problem is, I can't code for sh#t. I do have Xposed, so a nice and slim Xposed solution would suit me just fine. The only thing I want to keep away from is apps doubling in function (one gesture app doing this and that) and/or apps that might have a problem interacting.
If anyone would care to help me with this, I would be so grateful.
Thank you so much on beforehand!
Summary of specs: Xperia Z2 (d6503), Pac-man Rom KK (RC-3) (4.4.4), Xposed

munte89 said:
Hi guys!
I just installed Pac rom KK, which works great. I'm almost fully done playing with it
Unfortunately I get stuck at the very end with something that to me (as a user, not a dev) seems quite trivial.
Seeing how I've tried to find different solutions for many hours without making any progress, I turn to you in desperation.
What I want to achieve is a clean home screen (like a painting, and nothing else, not even navigation bar) along with no use of physical buttons.
I've set everything up with full screen, gestures, pie control, and all the good stuff which makes the phone easy to navigate.
What I have left to do, and where I am stuck is:
- adding app drawer to something other than the icon, and physical buttons (basically meaning quick settings, pie control or gestures)
- removing app drawer logo from the home screen, along with the home screen dot (the one showing which home screen, and if more also how many there are)
- also locking home screen (meaning that it won't bounce)
For you who have taken the energy to read this far (which I very much thank you for), I'm sure you realize that these are easy fixes.
Thing is...I don't want to use a launcher such as nova or AWD.
...I don't want do download another pie control for the sake of having one where you simply (being the keyword) can add app drawer.
....I have removed navigation bar (which I want removed), so can't use navigation actions.
I'm sorry for being so extremely picky, but I've spent to many hours trying to get this juuuust right. I hate basically dumping this on you guys, but I'm really at loss here.
The "easiest" workaround I could come up with was to write a small app, which only function would be to open the app drawer, and then hook it up to Pie Control. Only problem is, I can't code for sh#t. I do have Xposed, so a nice and slim Xposed solution would suit me just fine. The only thing I want to keep away from is apps doubling in function (one gesture app doing this and that) and/or apps that might have a problem interacting.
If anyone would care to help me with this, I would be so grateful.
Thank you so much on beforehand!
Summary of specs: Xperia Z2 (d6503), Pac-man Rom KK (RC-3) (4.4.4), Xposed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well tasker can do most of this, like mapping the action of opening the app draw on certain events on the pie controllers or hardware button press. the only thing it cannot do is hide the app draw button. as far as I'm aware, this cannot be archived without changing the launcher. although perhaps changing its icon to a transparent one may help in this matter.

angelus0w said:
Well tasker can do most of this, like mapping the action of opening the app draw on certain events on the pie controllers or hardware button press. the only thing it cannot do is hide the app draw button. as far as I'm aware, this cannot be archived without changing the launcher. although perhaps changing its icon to a transparent one may help in this matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your help!
I will look into it, and I'll repost my fix

[APP][5.0+] Hue Essentials - Philips Hue & IKEA TRÅDFRI

Discover ways to get the most out of your smart lighting.​
Imagine unlimited possibilities in your smart home. Set scenes and fast effects to your mood.
Experience Dance Sensation in your entertainment area with Philips Hue Entertainment. Enjoy a more colorful ambiance on your IKEA TRADFRI gateway.
Feel more in control with schedules and automation from sunrise to sunset. Widgets, Shortcuts, Quick setting tiles, and Wear OS help you get more out of your smart lights.
Control multiple bridges simultaneously without switching between them.
Supported bridges
Philips Hue bridge
IKEA TRÅDFRI gateway
deCONZ (ConBee)
diyHue
Scenes & effects
Create the perfect ambiance from your photos or the included photo library. Experience special animations like lava, fireplace, fireworks, or lightning.
Wake up at sunrise and go to sleep at sunset with fading lights.
Get into the party on the beats of your music. Sync your lights for a night of disco with strobe effects (updates 25 times/sec).
Quick access
Create rooms and groups to organize your lights. You can even put a light in several groups. Place widgets for temperature sensors, easy control of lights, setting color and brightness without opening of the app.
Add shortcuts to your home screen for quick opening of your room. Control your lights through an optional notification in the notification panel.
Smart lights & controls
The unique ‘Touchlink’ search allows you to find new (3rd party, Zigbee) lights. Use included wizards for easy setup of your devices.
You can set scenes, actions, or even multiple scenes on a button to make your switch a real investment. Experience the right ambiance during different times of your day with your motion sensor. All of your creations are stored on the bridge. Easy for you and your family.
Advanced
Configure endless automation possibilities through the Tasker plugin.
Make it look like you are at home using 'Away from Home' (out of home control).
Communicate directly with your Hue bridge using the API debugger. View technical details of your Hue bridge and update its resources like lights and sensors.
You want it all?
Fast performance with ad-free experience. Purchase the premium version to unlock full content.
Translations
If anybody wants to help out on translations, please check out the Crowdin project at: https://crowdin.com/project/hue-essentials
Download
Google Play
XDA Labs

Reserved

Great :good:

Possiblity of adding Quick tiles support and voice?

Deeco7 said:
Possiblity of adding Quick tiles support and voice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick Tiles have been developed and have just gone live in 0.12.alpha.
Voice activation is a different story. There is Google Now and Google Assistant to take advantage of. First one can only use their commands ("set an alarm" etc but not really anything related to our app. No "turn on the lights".) The latter has actions that make sense but it is only in a conversation. (Turn on the light, do you want to turn on the light?, What room? Living-room, etc.). It is quicker to buy a button and get it even installed. So, we need a better alternative like Google Assistant Direct Actions. This is not available without signup (yes, I did signup but no response yet). This is for home automation and suits me fine. It is just the wait until Google's response.

wow 7,50 €lol...hell na
i rather use 4 free apps, that do exactly the same ...even so u might have one or two feature ...i wouldn't recommend anybody to buy this DLC app haha

I bought the app to support the developer, all the upcoming features sound like a dream come true to me. I also like the slick look of the graphics, so thanks a lot and keep up to good work. To anybody else reading this, go ahead and buy this app, it's nice and handy and the upcoming features are even more awesome. Just skip a lunch and starbucks, cheap bastards.

Please, widgets!

I just bought the app, and I'm excited about the features, but I am curious about the quick tiles. When I tap on a tile, it just sends me into the configuration screen without toggling the settings of my lights at all. How do I use these to quickly change the settings of my lights? What am I missing?
I have also noticed that my lights will remain stuck on an effect, even if I have tried to change the bulb status via another method (Alexa, or the button on the back of the Hue Go, for examples).

K405 said:
I bought the app to support the developer, all the upcoming features sound like a dream come true to me. I also like the slick look of the graphics, so thanks a lot and keep up to good work. To anybody else reading this, go ahead and buy this app, it's nice and handy and the upcoming features are even more awesome. Just skip a lunch and starbucks, cheap bastards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your positive response. At the moment I am working on bug fixes mainly. I expect that most errors have been dealt with for now. Next features I am working on are the schedules, rules, sensors. These should come through in one of the next releases. Some parts are quite far by now. Main issue is lack of time due to school! Soon it is holidays again and frees up time.
For those who have reported "unknown lights" in the section "all lights", I never knew how many lights Hue Essentials would pick up. I have a hard time finding those lights myself in shops and on the internet. Bought some of those IKEA, Osram, etc, for testing, but must say that Hue lights from Philips are best of them all. Just too bad the Hue lights are so expensive. IKEA lights could do with a real improvement...
Many people joined the translation program through the app. Really wonderful to see all those languages coming through! Thanks for all your support!

undy said:
Please, widgets!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Widgets are on the list. First I am working on schedules/rules/sensors.

kaw143 said:
I just bought the app, and I'm excited about the features, but I am curious about the quick tiles. When I tap on a tile, it just sends me into the configuration screen without toggling the settings of my lights at all. How do I use these to quickly change the settings of my lights? What am I missing?
I have also noticed that my lights will remain stuck on an effect, even if I have tried to change the bulb status via another method (Alexa, or the button on the back of the Hue Go, for examples).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you configured the tile in those settings? If so, it could be a bug that needs to be fixed. Let me know the details of your tile action and type of device.
If you start the effect through Hue Essentials and try to stop it through another method, like Alexa, it will not stop. Effects are played locally and not running on the bridge. Note that this may change in the future releases of the app. You need to stop the effect through the buttons in the app/notification.

what we need is a very good and comfortable home screen widget. didnt find any good out there.

punkt said:
what we need is a very good and comfortable home screen widget. didnt find any good out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I get the message. Widgets are on the wishlist (I do not know if this is the same as Santa's list but perhaps we get it before Christmas). For now I first need to complete another request; IKEA TRADFRI Gateway will be integrated as another bridge in one of the next releases.

Is there also a functionallity to add custom actions to the hue dimmers for every button, a bit the same as iconnecthue voor ios?

Blueone said:
Is there also a functionallity to add custom actions to the hue dimmers for every button, a bit the same as iconnecthue voor ios?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We love iConnectHue as that developer has shown what Hue can do! Surely, we still need to work on the sensors (smart controls). Our idea is to create extra functionality. There is just a bit too much on the wish-list. First, I am adding IKEA gateway to one of the next releases. Next is scenes and more effects, maybe we will have a look at entertainment at the same time. Widgets are on the list.

Room/Group Colours?
Maybe I'm missing something but I see that I can apply the same brightness level, scenes, and effects to all the lights in a room but I can't see how to set all lights in a room to the same colour without going into each individual light setting...?
Thanks!

SuperThomasLab said:
Yes, I get the message. Widgets are on the wishlist (I do not know if this is the same as Santa's list but perhaps we get it before Christmas). For now I first need to complete another request; IKEA TRADFRI Gateway will be integrated as another bridge in one of the next releases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I need to purchase "mehrere Brücken" for tradfri? I've already purchased premium.
I really love your app!!

Shucker27 said:
Maybe I'm missing something but I see that I can apply the same brightness level, scenes, and effects to all the lights in a room but I can't see how to set all lights in a room to the same colour without going into each individual light setting...?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. Applying the same colour to a group will be added!

hanz0 said:
So I need to purchase "mehrere Brücken" for tradfri? I've already purchased premium.
I really love your app!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The IKEA Trådfri is still under development and not released yet. I think it takes a few more weeks. Still sorting out some bugs
Once it is included in Hue Essentials:
It depends on what you want. If you only want to use the Trådfri gateway, you can just delete your old bridge and then scan for the gateway. If you want to use Trådfri and Hue at the same time, then you would need multiple bridges.