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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.
I am not sure if this is how android is designed to work. In the application launcher I have the view type set as 'customizable grid'. I rearranged the icons on to different pages to categorize them as per type of application. This left empty slots on pages which did not have enough icons to fit the complete page. All the changes were saved. Now if I power off my infuse and bring it up again I see that a lot of the icons do not stay where i fixed them before powering off. I would expect this setting or configuration to stay intact. Is it not supposed to work how I expect? Thanks for reading my post. My phone only has stock applications.
On a side note - Does android have capability of creating folders within the application launcher app. I know it can be done on the home screens.
i have a similar issue, it seems to be that applications that you pay for and have a free download with a pay key like rom manager on a reboot it loads the icon for the unlock key which disapears after you attemp to open it. it may be that the extra icon not being in the config file reapearing causes it to alter the configuration. i dont remember if this was always an issue and it minght be related to the modded launcher from gtg. try another twlauncher30 version. maybe one from the captivate/i9000 section, maybe the 5x4 app drawer version.
I was finding my Archos 43 Gen7 device with its puny 256mb RAM unusable with regular launchers so I decided to roll my own from scratch: TinyLaunch.
The main development rules were:
- use very little RAM
- run on lots of devices (currently, back to Android 1.6)
- get out of the way and avoid doing anything in the background while other apps are running
- run fast once it's configured (but currently the configuration app scan is slow)
- nothing extraneous--no pretty extra icons, no help information, and of course no ads of any sort (not even a link to my other apps--all that is wasted memory)
I plan for the apk never to exceed 40K. Currently it's 26K: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9SH82NXqz3WREtqa0FWckF3TFU/
This is *extremely* low-featured. At base, it just presents a simple scrolling list of apps (with categorization features) with no icons (though you can turn on icons, at the expense of some speed: Menu, Settings). You tap on an app and there you are.
In particular:
- UGLY
- no widgets
- no shortcuts
- no automatic updates when apps are installed or removed
These limitations may make this useless to you. But if you just want a list of apps for launching, e.g., on a device for your kids to play with, TinyLaunch may be the thing for you.
The first time you run TinyLaunch needs to scan for apps. This is a very slow process on my Archos 43 (at least for apps moved to SD), though faster on modern devices. You also need to manually rescan apps after adding or removing apps. To do that, press MENU and Scan.
Instead of folders, I implemented a category system inspired by PalmOS, though with some variations (the main one is that apps can be in more than one category).
By default there are three special categories: All, Unclassified and Hidden. You can make some custom categories like "Games" and "Math and Science" by pressing MENU and New Category. To categorize apps, the easiest way is to switch the category to Unclassified (tap on the category selector at the top of the screen), and then long tap on an app to choose how to classify it. The app then disappears from the Unclassified category. Note that the Hidden category is a special category that hides apps from the All and Unclassified views (though a Hidden app can still show up in other categories if you like).
As I said, currently it's just a simple vertical list of apps. Eventually, I may implement the more usual tile-based view (making it look even more like PalmOS) if I can do so without detracting from development rules.
APK download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9SH82NXqz3WREtqa0FWckF3TFU/
Source code: code.google.com/p/tinylauunch
Kewl
Hi all,
I always believe it is better to use folders to organize apps on home screen in terms of better performance. However, I don't like TW lollipop folder icon, so I'm thinking about adding a lot of home screen pages and sort apps on different pages. What do you guys think?
Thanks.
Aminoacow said:
Hi all,
I always believe it is better to use folders to organize apps on home screen in terms of better performance. However, I don't like TW lollipop folder icon, so I'm thinking about adding a lot of home screen pages and sort apps on different pages. What do you guys think?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory, as you add more and more pages, the system has to cache more data into RAM, as the contiguous pages of the drawer must be ready for when you scroll to them. On the other side, while the system shouldn't need to cache the icons of the apps in a folder, it might just do that as well, as to access them faster when needed.
In both cases, I personally believe that the impact on performance should be close to negligible, especially in this allegedly refined version of TW and in a notably more powerful device. Who knows, it depends on how the launcher handles the resources.
does anyone have any experience with the Ticwris Max Android SmartWatch? mine is freezing at least twice a day, and fails when trying to do firmware updates.
Mine failed too, how did you recover?
I own one and 6 months ago the screen went blank and staticky. I have been looking for someone to repair it and have emailed ticwris and kospet at least 4 times each but no one even bothers to answer. Any suggestions?
au.ant0ni said:
does anyone have any experience with the Ticwris Max Android SmartWatch? mine is freezing at least twice a day, and fails when trying to do firmware updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently got the Ticwris Max S and so far it's been great. The connection to the phone drops every now and then though. I haven't done the firmware update yet. Mine says it's on V1.9_20201221_20201221-2014.
I'm looking to customize it to get Nova Launcher working and for it to hopefully work to get notification from my phone like my TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is a phone companion.
I just bought a DM101 Max S (unbranded) running on Android 7.1.1 and so far I havent found any custom ROM for it.
These watches go by the name LEMFO, LEM 4, LEM T, TICWRIS, DM98, DM99, DM100 MAX, DM101 MAX S, etc..
Does anyone know about these watches? Theyre high quality little smartphones basically. If only the ROM was customized a bit more for app font scaling and size of font on apps. It runs apps but the font is so small on some and so are nav buttons (on most apps).
The best thing is I installed Blockchain app on my watch and now I can access my bitcoin wallet on this thing! insane!!
I also installed Chime, Cashapp, Facebook Messenger and they all run fine, but some have such micro sized fonts as I said.
Maybe someone can develop a magnify app that expands areas for this watch.
So Im requesting anyone whos interested to start tweaking this cool watch! Ill be trying a few things like trying to root my DM101 Max S, creating a magnify tool for expanding app interfaces.
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP DEVELOP THE FIRST ROM EVER FOR THIS AWESOME WATCH!
IM GOING TO TRY TO COPY MY ROM FROM MY WATCH AND UPLOAD IT HERE. ITS ANDROID 7.1.1
GeoffM said:
Mine failed too, how did you recover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know these watches can be flashed. Ive read that the ROM on it can go bad (largely due to premature ROM development). The trick is to not go overboard with apps. install only a few apps. the ROM isnt stable from the get go. There is a flash tool I saw somewhere with the ROM to reflash it. There is also a way to boot into recovery on the Max and Max S. Ill try to find it all and upload it here.
missionman said:
Does anyone know about these watches? Theyre high quality little smartphones basically. If only the ROM was customized a bit more for app font scaling and size of font on apps. It runs apps but the font is so small on some and so are nav buttons (on most apps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here are 2 things that may help.
1. Go to settings, scroll to the bottom and click more, scroll down to third-party apps adapter and turn it off (this causes apps to "fit" the screen better by reducing the size to the elements in the app, you don't want this).
2. download and install an app called Hidden Settings on the play store. In the app hit the search bar and type accessibility, the setting you are looking for should be the 1st of three results. Within that setting scroll down to font size and set according to your liking. There may be some text that is small but this should help.
I've had my Ticwris Max for a few days now and the more I discover the more I'm enjoying this watch.
knowledge5106 said:
I recently got the Ticwris Max S and so far it's been great. The connection to the phone drops every now and then though. I haven't done the firmware update yet. Mine says it's on V1.9_20201221_20201221-2014.
I'm looking to customize it to get Nova Launcher working and for it to hopefully work to get notification from my phone like my TicWatch Pro 3 GPS is a phone companion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got my Max S yesterday. I have it running through Nova Launcher (pro) and so far it's been a lot smoother compared to the default launcher. I'm also using a "sync notificator app" to forward my notifications from my main phone.
I'n my opinion the watch has a lot of potential. Just need to figure out a few minor issues.. like lack an always on display volume controls and/or Navigation overlays disappear (and the apps premission settings get reset to once the screen is locked.
ninpo said:
Here are 2 things that may help.
1. Go to settings, scroll to the bottom and click more, scroll down to third-party apps adapter and turn it off (this causes apps to "fit" the screen better by reducing the size to the elements in the app, you don't want this).
2. download and install an app called Hidden Settings on the play store. In the app hit the search bar and type accessibility, the setting you are looking for should be the 1st of three results. Within that setting scroll down to font size and set according to your liking. There may be some text that is small but this should help.
I've had my Ticwris Max for a few days now and the more I discover the more I'm enjoying this watch.
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Thank you ninpo! I really appreciate this. Ill try it out. Im working on a dark mode next. If its not in hidden settings Im going to try to modify the firmware image and other various tweaks with Android SDK and other tools.
Theres not much more to be displeased about. This watch is awesome.
For those who need the info, here is the USB wiring diagram and useful photos for the DM100 Max and DM101 Max S for whatever reason you might need them for. I found it useful for buying DM98 and DM99 chargers which are way better than the box shaped charger the DM101 comes with. The thing is so loose and doesnt stay in place. Thats where mods or other chargers come in. HOWEVER, you must place the charger of the DM98 or DM99 in the PROPER ORIENTATION with respect to the contact diagram.
Reverse this and you can burn out your watch. Heres a diagram of DM98, 99 charger as well. They line up fine. Only thing that may/may not line up is the magnets but mods are up to you. Ill post about it as soon as I get my DM98 charger.
ninpo said:
Here are 2 things that may help.
1. Go to settings, scroll to the bottom and click more, scroll down to third-party apps adapter and turn it off (this causes apps to "fit" the screen better by reducing the size to the elements in the app, you don't want this).
2. download and install an app called Hidden Settings on the play store. In the app hit the search bar and type accessibility, the setting you are looking for should be the 1st of three results. Within that setting scroll down to font size and set according to your liking. There may be some text that is small but this should help.
I've had my Ticwris Max for a few days now and the more I discover the more I'm enjoying this watch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i turned off 3rd party app adapter like you said.
Next, which app of hidden settings do i pick for this watch? There seems to be some bad ones. I cant tell which one to install..
missionman said:
So i turned off 3rd party app adapter like you said.
Next, which app of hidden settings do i pick for this watch? There seems to be some bad ones. I cant tell which one to install..
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The one that I'm using is called "Hidden settings for Android" by developer, Common Tools.
I've seen " Settings Search" heavily recommended here but like you, I've found many with that name and wasn't sure which to use.
For those that are interested, I've uploaded a screen recording of my Ticwrist Max home screen setup on YouTube. Take a look if you're so inclined.
Ticwris Max home screen setup
ninpo said:
For those that are interested, I've uploaded a screen recording of my Ticwrist Max home screen setup on YouTube. Take a look if you're so inclined.
Ticwris Max home screen setup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted this on another forum but thought it might be a good fit here it describes my setup in greater detail.
Launcher:
The launcher that I'm using is called Lightning launcher. Lightning launcher is a highly customizable launcher that allows you to have an unlimited workspace. The launcher gives you complete control over all desk top items such as widgets, shortcuts, icons, and text. These items can be resized, rotated, placed on a grid, or placed freely within the desktop space. The launcher also allows for unlimited horizontal and vertical scrolling. Items placed on the desktop can have up to six assignable actions using gestures such as swipe left, right, up, down, tap, and long press. Assignable actions can include launching apps, shortcuts, and system actions. You can even have multiple desktop setups and easily switch between them. That is just a small sample of what this launcher is capable of. My current setup has a center page with an additional page to the left, right, top, and bottom of the center page.
Home page widgets:
I have two widgets on my home screen, BobclockD3, and Battery Reborn 2020. I've added seconds above the clock widget using lightning launchers dynamic texts feature. I have assigned gesture actions to the widgets in my setup.
Long pressing the clock widget opens the native clock app.
Tapping the battery reborn 2020 widget will give you comprehensive data and stats about your battery.
Long pressing the battery widget will launch an app called flashlight. This app simply turns your screen bright white which you can use to softly illuminate your surroundings in the dark. I like it because it does not kill your night vision but provides just enough illumination to see your immediate surroundings.
Swiping left on the battery widget opens a lightning launcher folder which slides down from the top right of the screen. This folder is a three-page vertical scrolling folder with each page holding three apps. The apps in the folder include Gmail, Google Voice, Google Duo, YouTube vanced, calculator, hi-q voice recorder, watch Droid assistant, Google translate, and wyze (home video surveillance monitoring app).
Swiping up on the battery widget opens the app drawer. The app that I am using for the app drawer is called JINA drawer. I like this drawer app because it is highly customizable and it gives you a great deal of information about your apps as well as the ability to manipulate the apps such as uninstalling, hiding, etc.
Top page:
The top page contains a lightning launcher panel that holds a calendar widget and an agenda widget. These widgets populate the entire screen and can be scrolled horizontally. The app that I use to get the widgets is called Digical, I am using the pro version.
Bottom page:
The bottom page contains a widget called weather & clock widget for Android.
Left page:
They left page contains a widget from an app called YMusic. This app is similar to YouTube music and allows for background play, audio and video downloads but is free. I like the widget because it fills the entire page with the album art of the song that I am listening to.
Right page:
The right page contains a widget from an app called accupedo. I prefer this app over the stock step counter because it gives you a lot more information in the app as well as within the widget. The widget is long but not very tall so I added static text from lightning launcher saying "Step Count" to help fill the screen out a bit.
Navigation:
For navigating the phone I use an app called fluid navigation. The way I have it configured, a short swipe from the bottom center is for home, a long swipe from the bottom center launches Google voice assistant. A short swipe from the bottom left would open a volume app called ultra volume this allows you to have many different volume panel setups, the one that I'm using is a horizontal bar that populates the entire bottom width of the screen. A long swipe from the bottom left would launch the native volume control panel. Swiping long or short from the bottom right would launch my app drawer. A short left swipe from the right bottom half will execute the back command, and a long swipe left will open the recents menu. A short swipe downwards from anywhere along the top will launch the bottom navigation bar app, and a long swipe will drop the navigation panel. I customized my navigation panel with an app called power shade, I have the paid version.
Apps:
I have quite a few apps loaded on the watch too many to mention here as this post is already very lengthy. Feel free to check out the video that I posted in this thread and you can pause while I'm scrolling through the app drawer to get an idea of some of the apps loaded on the watch. I have added a few more since the posting of that video, if there is enough interest I will compile a list of the apps and games that I have installed.
Conclusion:
I love this watch. I love that I can make it my own using the customization options that Android provides. The watch does have some quirks. I have to monitor it when charging because it tends to get pretty hot, sometimes. Also when running memory intensive apps the watch would heat up as well. There are times when the watch becomes unresponsive and I would need to do a soft reset, but thankfully that doesn't happen too often. The battery life is very impressive however, I cannot give an accurate estimate as to how long the battery would last during normal use because I am constantly tinkering with the watch. My main gripe is that although the watch is constantly connected to my home Wi-Fi or tethered to my phone, it would not always pick up notifications from apps that are connected to the web. I find myself periodically turning Wi-Fi off and then back on only to have a flood of notifications come through. Perhaps this is user error, or maybe it is a flaw in the watch software. Although these issues can be annoying it is by no mean a deal-breaker and has not tainted my enthusiasm or enjoyment of this watch. I hope this helps those who own this watch or similar watches to enjoy theirs as much as I enjoy mine. Feel free to engage me with questions or conversation as I really enjoy talking about this device.
ninpo said:
I posted this on another forum but thought it might be a good fit here it describes my setup in greater detail.
Launcher:
The launcher that I'm using is called Lightning launcher. Lightning launcher is a highly customizable launcher that allows you to have an unlimited workspace. The launcher gives you complete control over all desk top items such as widgets, shortcuts, icons, and text. These items can be resized, rotated, placed on a grid, or placed freely within the desktop space. The launcher also allows for unlimited horizontal and vertical scrolling. Items placed on the desktop can have up to six assignable actions using gestures such as swipe left, right, up, down, tap, and long press. Assignable actions can include launching apps, shortcuts, and system actions. You can even have multiple desktop setups and easily switch between them. That is just a small sample of what this launcher is capable of. My current setup has a center page with an additional page to the left, right, top, and bottom of the center page.
Home page widgets:
I have two widgets on my home screen, BobclockD3, and Battery Reborn 2020. I've added seconds above the clock widget using lightning launchers dynamic texts feature. I have assigned gesture actions to the widgets in my setup.
Long pressing the clock widget opens the native clock app.
Tapping the battery reborn 2020 widget will give you comprehensive data and stats about your battery.
Long pressing the battery widget will launch an app called flashlight. This app simply turns your screen bright white which you can use to softly illuminate your surroundings in the dark. I like it because it does not kill your night vision but provides just enough illumination to see your immediate surroundings.
Swiping left on the battery widget opens a lightning launcher folder which slides down from the top right of the screen. This folder is a three-page vertical scrolling folder with each page holding three apps. The apps in the folder include Gmail, Google Voice, Google Duo, YouTube vanced, calculator, hi-q voice recorder, watch Droid assistant, Google translate, and wyze (home video surveillance monitoring app).
Swiping up on the battery widget opens the app drawer. The app that I am using for the app drawer is called JINA drawer. I like this drawer app because it is highly customizable and it gives you a great deal of information about your apps as well as the ability to manipulate the apps such as uninstalling, hiding, etc.
Top page:
The top page contains a lightning launcher panel that holds a calendar widget and an agenda widget. These widgets populate the entire screen and can be scrolled horizontally. The app that I use to get the widgets is called Digical, I am using the pro version.
Bottom page:
The bottom page contains a widget called weather & clock widget for Android.
Left page:
They left page contains a widget from an app called YMusic. This app is similar to YouTube music and allows for background play, audio and video downloads but is free. I like the widget because it fills the entire page with the album art of the song that I am listening to.
Right page:
The right page contains a widget from an app called accupedo. I prefer this app over the stock step counter because it gives you a lot more information in the app as well as within the widget. The widget is long but not very tall so I added static text from lightning launcher saying "Step Count" to help fill the screen out a bit.
Navigation:
For navigating the phone I use an app called fluid navigation. The way I have it configured, a short swipe from the bottom center is for home, a long swipe from the bottom center launches Google voice assistant. A short swipe from the bottom left would open a volume app called ultra volume this allows you to have many different volume panel setups, the one that I'm using is a horizontal bar that populates the entire bottom width of the screen. A long swipe from the bottom left would launch the native volume control panel. Swiping long or short from the bottom right would launch my app drawer. A short left swipe from the right bottom half will execute the back command, and a long swipe left will open the recents menu. A short swipe downwards from anywhere along the top will launch the bottom navigation bar app, and a long swipe will drop the navigation panel. I customized my navigation panel with an app called power shade, I have the paid version.
Apps:
I have quite a few apps loaded on the watch too many to mention here as this post is already very lengthy. Feel free to check out the video that I posted in this thread and you can pause while I'm scrolling through the app drawer to get an idea of some of the apps loaded on the watch. I have added a few more since the posting of that video, if there is enough interest I will compile a list of the apps and games that I have installed.
Conclusion:
I love this watch. I love that I can make it my own using the customization options that Android provides. The watch does have some quirks. I have to monitor it when charging because it tends to get pretty hot, sometimes. Also when running memory intensive apps the watch would heat up as well. There are times when the watch becomes unresponsive and I would need to do a soft reset, but thankfully that doesn't happen too often. The battery life is very impressive however, I cannot give an accurate estimate as to how long the battery would last during normal use because I am constantly tinkering with the watch. My main gripe is that although the watch is constantly connected to my home Wi-Fi or tethered to my phone, it would not always pick up notifications from apps that are connected to the web. I find myself periodically turning Wi-Fi off and then back on only to have a flood of notifications come through. Perhaps this is user error, or maybe it is a flaw in the watch software. Although these issues can be annoying it is by no mean a deal-breaker and has not tainted my enthusiasm or enjoyment of this watch. I hope this helps those who own this watch or similar watches to enjoy theirs as much as I enjoy mine. Feel free to engage me with questions or conversation as I really enjoy talking about this device.
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Thank for all the info ninpo.
Could you help with some pre purchase questions?
Can you install WhatsApp and does it work well?
Same question regarding waze and spotify.
Is the device and the interface slow comparing to mobile phones?
Again, thanks a lot