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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.
** Claystone Launcher- A quick update and we just launched our first theme pack **
- A lot has been happened over the last month with Claystone Launcher
- We have now had over 14,000 downloads combined from the following App Stores:
Android Market
Android Freeware Market
Handango / Appia
SlideMe
MobiHand
GetJar
Handster
Aproov
** Themes **
- We just launched our first theme called BlueBerry and added skinning to the features
- We designed and launched a solid business user theme with a clear, crisp interface and colour scheme
- Our goal is to release many themes over the next few months (catching up wit the other launchers)
- Search Android Market fore the keyword "claystone" to install and see all the latest.
** New Features ***
- Besides themes we added sharing functionality and more customization and preferences (a big request from our users)
- Performance and memory management was tweaked and enhanced over a challenging 5 week period of intensive testing, retesting, and responding to user feedback and suggestions
- Launching a new home screen replacement has really been challenging because there are so many solid options already available
- Claystone works on more devices and adjust performance settings to match the hardware capabilities
- Performance can also be adjusted through Preferences if you want to tinker with speed and performance
** We Debuted Claystone on XDA Forums and your feedback is welcomed **
- We welcome your comments, feedback, suggestions and requests for additional Claystone themes.
- Inside the App you can conveniently "Share Claystone" item on the options menu to share Claystone with your friends.
- You can also conveniently rate Claystone and send the Claystone Team a feedback email from Claystone preferences
*** Thanks ***
- I thought I would take some time to reconnect with the XDA forum community and say thank you for all your support and feedback over the last two months.
- I have uploaded some of the latest screen shots and the current APK if you would like to see all the latest changes.
### Minimum Requirements
- Android smart phone or tablet
- Android 2.1 and higher
- OpenGL 1.1 and higher
- Normal screen size or higher
- Medium screen density (160 mdpi) or higher
Claystone Is Now Available in the following App Stores:
- Android Market
- Amazon Android App Store (soon)
- Android Freeware Market
- SlideMe App Store
- Handango App Store (Appia)
- GetJAR App Store
- Search for the keyword "Claystone" to install Claystone from Android Market
- To get the latest version use Android Market updates
Sound amazing and would live to help you test it, but where's the link?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Sounds sweet
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
Initial impression is that its very confussing and difficult to use... it took me a while to work out what I was looking at. Don't get the widget folder as it negates what a widget is. I do like the potential concept, but this really needs a lot more thought into user experience.
To start with look at changing the folder controls to make them easier to select.
This is a very original approach and I'll going to watch this one with interest...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
Often only shows black screen on HTC legend.
The dock icons are too big and there is hardly any customization possible.
But it is a really interesting idea and different from other launcher. I'll stay tuned.
Sent from my HTC Legend
Widget Question
pantera70 said:
Initial impression is that its very confussing and difficult to use... it took me a while to work out what I was looking at. Don't get the widget folder as it negates what a widget is. I do like the potential concept, but this really needs a lot more thought into user experience.
To start with look at changing the folder controls to make them easier to select.
This is a very original approach and I'll going to watch this one with interest...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We would really appreciate any more detail you can provide about Widgets. We are tweaking the UI throughout the beta program and any additional ideas or recommendations would be really helpful.
Kevin
Can someone post screen shots?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
claystoneinc said:
We would really appreciate any more detail you can provide about Widgets. We are tweaking the UI throughout the beta program and any additional ideas or recommendations would be really helpful.
Kevin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless I'm missing something the only place to add widgets is in the folder at the top of the screen. This limited the use of widgets... for example if I add a 2x2 clock thats all I can see and use unless I expand the folder. This is compounded by the difficulty in using the folder controls. Widgets are supposed to provide quick and easy access and viewing of apps and info you use most, currently this is lost in Claystone... If you could make widget use a little more traditional it would go a long way...
Like I said previously though the whole user experience would be vastly improved if you added larger controls to the folders making it quick and easy to expand/close etc.
Like ms_green says the dock is a little large and it makes the screen feel a little cramped.
A very short review, sorry for being blunt:
* On my Droid Incredible: great, now applications are even smaller/hard to read. UI is not very responsive. Toolbar buttons are too small but making them any bigger would mean even less real estate.
* Tablet: Ooooh now you're talking! The layout makes much more sense, especially in landscape mode. This is actually getting closer to WebOs' take on multitasked UI.
I think this app has a great future on tablets.
Ima dl right now
Sent from my SPH-D700-EPIC-using Tapatalk
Can someone post screenshots? Thanks
This is great!!! VERY GOOD!!! the concept is amazing
things u might want to improve:
The loading speed of panels are slow. Even opening the appdrawer takes no less than 3 seconds, not to mention browser etc
When u scroll vertically but a bit sideways on a panel it just pops u into another panel, very excruciating
Panels. seriously, all u can have is a home panel and a widget panel? i want to make my own (not just folders) for example media, games etc
"items" u can add. to be honest all there is is file explorer, browser and youtube (not to mention the youtube one really sucks). U need more of these "items", but i understand this is a beta
lol no offense
I could see this possibly having potential on a bigger screen, like a tablet maybe. But as it stands things feel too cramped on my 3.7 inch screen. Also things are a bit slow atm.
It's an interesting concept, but implemented in a moderately confusing fashion. The widget box resizes widgets oddly, making things look bulky, etc.
Great idea, though.
Opening the inbuilt contacts force closes the app for me.
But apart from that, a brilliant concept! I can't wait for new additions! Great job
Misleadingg said:
This is great!!! VERY GOOD!!! the concept is amazing
things u might want to improve:
The loading speed of panels are slow. Even opening the appdrawer takes no less than 3 seconds, not to mention browser etc
When u scroll vertically but a bit sideways on a panel it just pops u into another panel, very excruciating
Panels. seriously, all u can have is a home panel and a widget panel? i want to make my own (not just folders) for example media, games etc
"items" u can add. to be honest all there is is file explorer, browser and youtube (not to mention the youtube one really sucks). U need more of these "items", but i understand this is a beta
lol no offense
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the great feedback!
You can create more panels ("folders") as well, you can copy and paste any item in any panel. In our next drop we are going to make it simple by adding applications to the "create" menu.
Meltus said:
Opening the inbuilt contacts force closes the app for me.
But apart from that, a brilliant concept! I can't wait for new additions! Great job
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind telling us what phone/version you are using? We'll look into it. Thanks.
downloaded and will try it out on my Viewsonic G Tablet when I get home tonight
I'm a visual person. Anyone got screenshots?
Nothing to see here...
I just found this website with a fix for the keyboard lag in the stock browser:
smartadopter Wordpress -> TIP Improve Honeycomb Browser Speed
(I am new so not allowed to post outside links )
Basically it says:
1) as url type: about:debug
2) nothing will seem to happe.n BUT new menu options are available now
3) go to menu -> settings -> debug, and uncheck OpenGL Rendering
4) no more lag!
If this already floated around this forum, sorry. But if not, or for the people (like me) who missed it, enjoy!
I have not found any drawbacks of this fix. But if anybody find/knows any drawback/problem with this, please let me know.
Ill test this but im guessing scrolling speed will suffer as that uses the OpenGL.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Good advice. Will try it out now.
Tested and it works great. Scrolling is not affect either by this by the looks of it. Zooming works as well.
This fix isn't working. The input lag isn't gone completely, it's less noticeble, but it's still there.
And like someone mentioned before, scrolling isn's as smooth as before. Also YouTube videos don't work.
All this fix does is turn off hardware acceleration in the browser.
Some things get better, others get worse.
sassafras
Scrolling is not as smooth but I have no problems displaying YouTube movies.
But typing is a lot easier without (or with much less) lag.
So for me OpenGL rendering will stay off until the next update.
And lose my graphic acceleration? No thank you
No drawback?! Scolling looks like a freaking slideshow with that disabled ^^
Quick question for you guys... does the keyboard lag in Dolphin HD?
Not as much as the stock browser.
henkyie said:
I have not found any drawbacks of this fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me the drawback is very obvious ... scrolling through a thread in this forum is horribly slow without OpenGL. But the keybord works like a charm.
I think, I will stay with Opera for forums and use the stock browser for the rest with OpenGL switched on ... loading times in Opera are much slower.
Thanks for the tip though.
I notice objects on the page rendering with every swipe as I move down the page ...probably why scrolling is not as smooth.
Strangely the scrolling lag has disappeared. So now I have less typing lag and little scrolling lag.
So until the next update I am a happy camper.
The only lag in typing I have left has to do with the auto complete function of the on screen keyboard.
This warrants further study (in the words of someone famous) because I'm seeing the exact opposite effect.
I've gone back and forth between this site and another forum having a similar javascript textarea form, comparing text entry with the "Enable OpenGL Rendering" box checked and unchecked in the Debug menu. On both sites, text entry is WAAAY faster using the dock keyboard with the box CHECKED. This is using the stock browser, BTW.
If I use a virtual keyboard (Swype for tablets in my case), it's still faster with OpenGL enabled but not nearly as fast as with the dock keyboard.
There must be some other factors involved however, since this behavior is not consistent. At times the keyboard (dock and virtual) seriously lags regardless of the Debug setting.
I sure hope Google (or ASUS) can fix this issue since it's hugely frustrating when the keyboard lags badly. In a few cases, I've just given up trying to post a message and pulled out my laptop instead of fighting the browser.
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.
I did not make this app, I'm just helping a China Developer to post on XDA.
Super smooth on Android touch screen, avoid content not-follow-up problems.
1. Magnificent screen sliding respond, easy sliding on screen and no longer delay.
2. Incredibly smooth on zooming web pages or images as well as any operations needing to zoom.
3. Sliding to all directions is unbelievably quick and smooth.
4. Unbelievably quick and smooth lists rolling.
5. Much faster launching and loading Apps.
6. Speedy and accurate typing experience.
7. Much rapid on playing all sorts of games.
8. The first power-saving optimization app that does not affecting phones’ performance.
Super Touch allows you to experience unprecedented smooth smart phones.
Main functions：
One of this App’s main functions is to allow Android devices sliding much quicker and smoother, which will solve the problem of slow drag.
Sliding, dragging and zooming are far smoother; content follows up your fingertip; switching columns is also a lot quicker.
Lists rolling is extraordinarily speedier and smoother, typing is incredibly easier.
There is also a very practical power-saving optimization function, which doesn’t sacrifice the performance of the phone.
Important Instruction：
720P resolution is recommended a level of 600-1314
1080P resolution is recommended a level of 1520-3998
2K resolution with Qualcomm’s GPU is recommend a level of 5186-6998
2K resolution, non- Qualcomm GPU is recommended a level of 600-1520 ( For example, Samsung S6 and Series Edge )
2K or 4K resolution with Qualcomm GPU both can use level 9998.
The above information is only reference; please adjust to the most appropriate level for specific phones.
1. Higher the GPU ability is, the smoother it will be within a higher level, relatively, a high level with a poor GPU is less effective.
2. After launching touch optimization and being enabled, it can work without running in background (about 1 minute to take effect, depend on CPU’s performance)
3. Do not switch off auto start-up, every time rebooting system requires a auto optimization permission.
There will be a small portion of extra power consumption while enabling the optimization system, and after power consumption will go back to normal.
Advanced function is a smooth level of 300 – 9998, it can be open to use when a phone reaches the standard.
No Root permission needed for all functions.
Sliding optimization will be disabled for some devices while charging, (system controls the effect when it disables) It will be notified of the optimization system disabled while charging.
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEGYF_SE7SU
Download link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lucky.one
Screenshots
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