I'm making this thread both to share what I feel are good apps and to discover other apps for myself. I have not installed Dexters 2.2 or rooted yet (though I intend to) so I'm not going to list anything that requires it, but feel free to do so yourself.
So:
Lockscreen: GOTO Lockscreen. I saw this a while back but never actually checked it out. It was featured on DroidLife today so I decided to check it out now and it's great. Great, elegant look to it, great functionality as well. I've been using WidgetLocker for ages and it doesn't compare. There were some issues at first but after rebooting everything seems to work perfectly for the most part(I saw someone mention this as well in the comments so I did it). It's also on sale right now. Might be a bit of a drain on battery.
HomeLauncher: LauncherPro (Plus). I love the look and functionality of this and most of all, the widgets (which are greatly enhanced by Signal's themes -that can be found in Android Themes section). Truth be told, ADW (/ADW EX) probably has more options and functionality at this time (and you can use Colorize Widgets app to replace LP widgets for free). For now ADW might be better, though I'm just waiting for LauncherPro rewrite to happen (going so slowly). GoLauncher as well is fantastic. As is Zeam. There are many great options right now (and so many more on the horizon).
Whatever the case, something that is crucial when using one of these (at least for me) is to select the option to "Keep in memory." I think all of the above have that option (not sure about Zeam). My biggest issue with launchers is that my screen always redraws itself so much (this is a problem with XT720 stock launcher as well), so I have to wait forever for my icons and widgets to load itself, which is really annoying. I've tried things to reduce it, but the only thing that ever got rid of it was to select that option. Now using LP with that option and no lags at all.
I also recommend getting home switcher for easy switching between launchers.
EDIT: SPB Shell 3D
Keyboard:
Stock XT720 keyboard isn't bad (for me). I tend to alternate between that and Swype. I prefer stock keyboard for use in landscape mode. Once I'm rooted I plan to install that app that lets you choose a keyboard for portrait mode (i.e that would be Swype for me) and another in landscape (stock).
EDIT: Stock Gingerbread keyboard
Music Player:
Stock is decent, but nothing special really. I do like the album cover flow in landscape mode though. I alternate between that and Connected music player, which is the ripped music player from the atrix and droid bionic I believe (I'm not sure where to get it since that thread has since been locked). Winamp is also pretty good. PowerAmp has a lot of features, but you get annoying popups after two weeks unless you buy the full version ($5). I'd love to know what others use.
Some apps specifically use stock music player so that's another reason I use stock. i.e. when using GoTo lockscreen, the lockscreen changes when you're playing music to give you music player controls, but only seems to do when using stock music player.
EDIT: Google Music/ PowerAmp
Browser:
Stock is not that great. Has that nice bookmark cover flow in landscape mode, but in terms of functionality there are better ones. I use Dolphin Browser HD now (blue theme). Best UI for browser out there currently imo. A lot of people seem to love Miren and Dolphin Browser mini, for reasons I can't understand (everyone says they are super fast but I never notice any difference on my already fast browser).
EDIT: Opera Mobile
Games:
Really loving Stupid Zombies right now, it's a lot of fun (though has slow loading times). Ninjump is great for quick little fun. Angry birds also remains fun, though repetitive. Would love to see what else runs great on XT720.
Customization/Widgets/:
Beautiful Widgets is great and has a huge range of themed clocks and toggles. The recently introduced "Super Clock" was a great improvement. So much customization with this. Colorize Widget is great if you're using something other than LauncherPro, Signals has themes for it also. Widgetsoid and MySettings, are great for quick access to settings.
Task Switching:
SwipePad is just phenomenal and has a great UI, I recommend you check it out if you don't have it already. Together with long press on home button, I have amazing task switching going on.
File Explorer:
File Explorer is a must for me on my XT720. It's how you can install APKs and browse your sdcard and everything and change things easily. ES File Explorer is great for that and has a nice UI.
There's more that I wanted to add I'm sure, but here's this for now. Feel free to share what apps you use on your XT720.
I really like Zeam mainly for the small footprint & speed, I've used LPP & the widgets are very cool. My preferred keyboard is SwiftKey, once you use it for a while the predictive text feature is really nice. I'm still using the stock browser, that along with ChromeMarks gives me access to all my desktop bookmarks. For music I've got MusicMod (Froyo) for the widgets & the MIUI music app. I'd also recommend SIMI Clock (Time, weather & battery level in 1 1x4 widget & a built in launcher) & SIMI folder widget. I also find SwiFTP very usefull, just fire up the FTP on the phone & copy files between the phone & my pc without a USB cable.
Lockscreen: default--dexter froyo
HomeLauncher: GoLauncherEX---no lags n a lot of options.....nice interface
Keyboard: swype---easy n handy
Music Player:winamp---no equalizer but fast n flexible
i ll recommend mixzing also.
Games:angry birds, world`s hardest game, fruit ninja, ninjump, soccerball, drop,pinball deluxe, brick breaker---all f em addictive
File Explorer:andrpzip, astro
Tools-- android assistant, set cpu---both help a lot in makin ure phone fast n unlaggy
Great post. I loved some of the suggestions.
Customization/Widgets/:
I use Sense Analog Clock. It gives me SD Storage, Internal Storage, Internal Memory, Battery Level and Temperature in one place. Edit: it gives me weather, time, lunar phase (even tough I don't use that info) and quick access to my alarms as well.
Music Player:
Because of the media scan bug, I've tested loads of music players. Most of the players based on folder navigation did not impress me. So I chose the simplest one for now: Gtunes. Once the media scan is back to business, I intend to come back to stock or winamp.
BTW, where do I get Connected music player?
Games:
Andoku is a must have for Sudoku lovers.
I'm starting to play Pocket Legends, but I don't see it getting very amusing in the near future...
Memory Trainer is nice if you wanna test yourself.
Misc:
Pulse - for news
Evernote - for note taking and journal
Gtasks - to synchronize my gmail tasks
AppMonster - to save my apps
Looking for:
A good personal finance app with online support. Unfortunately, Mint doesn't work down here.
just a reminder guys, before some one gets in trouble
no reference to WAREZ related apps here on XDA
it's the XDA Forum rules
aCCleaner
clear the cache nicely. worth a try.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.aCCleaner.free
hello, from argentina ,for radio app ?
very good. thx u
What about a boot animation changer? I tried BAC lite and it disabled my touch screen and I had to do a recovery to get it back. I am using the CBW update and universal androot on my 720. Thanks for any suggestions
Browser
Opera mobile
Why I download from many sites and no fail on downloading.
Launcher
Go launcher 2.31 beta great 3d and many launcher.
Filemanager
Efile work good for me.
Radio
Tunein radio best radio around.
Sent from my XT720 using XDA Premium App
By far the best app for me is Absolute system, it's paid but has so many goodies and is super well supported!
Just about the first app I install after Titanium Backup is Quick Settings and set it to have a status bar shortcut with hidden icon.
I have 186 apps installed on my phone, but those are my favorite:
Top 50:
aCalendar - cool looking
Adobe Reader
Alarm Clock Xtreame - ascending alarm
ALYac Adnroid Antivirus - best looking antivirus with awesome preformance also
AppBrain App Market - find it useful
Angry Birds - fun game
Battery Doctor - overcharging battery before calibration
BattStatt -Widget
BobClockD3 - Widget
Broken Screen - To [email protected]#$ your friends
CacheMate - easy to use cache cleaner
Call Faker - for annoying people
Catch Notes - Never used it, but I still find it useful
Compass
Desktop VisualizeR
Digitally Imported Radio - DI.fm app
ES File Explorer
Fancy Widget
Flash Player
Font Changer
Glow Hockey 2 - Game
Labyrinth - Game
LauncherPro Plus
Lyrics App
MissedIt! - widget
MoboPlayer - video player
Notepad
Optimize ToolBox - awesome app
QR Droid - barcode scanner
Quadrant Standart Edition
Robotek - Game
Root Explorer
SetCPU
ShakyTower - Game
Shazam - music finder
ShootMe - I like ShootIt! Trail more, but don't know why it seem to capture only black screen now
SiMi Clock Pro - widget
SoundHound - music finder
Skype
Stop Skype
SwithPro Widget
System Info Widget
SystemApp Remover
TeamViewer - Manage your PC from phone
The Worlds Most Pointless App
Titanium Backup
TuneIn Radio
Unit Converter
XDA-Developers app
Zedge
P.S.: Almost forgot - Battery Calibration... awesome app after flashing new ROM. (Thanks Mioze for letting me know it.)
P.S.P.S: Lockscreen Widget pro too...
OriginalLucy said:
What about a boot animation changer? I tried BAC lite and it disabled my touch screen and I had to do a recovery to get it back. I am using the CBW update and universal androot on my 720. Thanks for any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolute system has many excellent tool, boot animation downloader included.
It's a paid app, but totally worth it Sherry, euh i mean Lucy .
I really like the functionality of "BusyMe (Lite)" which automatically set your ringer to vibrate (or: to quiet) during meetings on your Google Calendar and then return to normal afterwards.
No more hassle due to phone calls during meetings ;-))
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fernandodunn.android.busyme.lite
Taken quite a while for this thread to get any attention.
Some more apps:
Pulse
Speed X 3D
Afroid (XT720 light)
Apparatus
Cover Art Downloader
Androidify
Google+
SPB Time (I love this alarm clock though it's $6 as opposed to $2 when I bought it)
PowerAmp (really looking forward to the massive V2 update)
OriginalLucy said:
What about a boot animation changer? I tried BAC lite and it disabled my touch screen and I had to do a recovery to get it back. I am using the CBW update and universal androot on my 720. Thanks for any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem too. Really annoying. The home screen would come up and the touch screen did nothing. I was finally able to get a different bootup screen, but I had to work through a couple before I found one that wouldn't have that problem. I'm currently using the one where the apple logo is displayed and then pulled off the screen by our favorite android sporting a red and white stripped suit.
I noticed a couple things while messing around with it:
1- the boot animation sounds never worked for me
2- If I tried copying over larger boot anims, I would run out of space, but the CLI never told me that, so only part would be copied. (I think this has to do with the memhack/cache tweak)
3- When the touch screen went out I would just use ADB to recopy the original bootanim, then restart and then touchscreen would work again. (Save you a recovery).
In the end, I had to put a smaller file size on there but it's better than that eyeball bootanim, that was freaking me out lol.
With Dexter's Froyo installed and Gingerbread theme upgrade
So:
Lockscreen:
See Music Player
HomeLauncher:
LauncherPro (Plus), Launcher7(I simply enjoy it for being slick, and its status bar, but with a black status bar from gingerbread I've no need for it anymore.)
Slidescreen, this is a beautiful launcher that can also be ran as an app overlaying your current launcher.
If you simply want information, details stats, this is the one for you
Slide screen is slick and its advertisement for the free version, is an add to get the paid version.
sidenote--Home Switcher for Froyo
Keyboard:
Better Keyboard 8
Music Player:
Cloud Skipper
Serves as both a very accessible player and has its own lock screen with full access to the player itself upon hitting the unlock key.
Browser:
Opera Mini
xScope
Games:
Fruit Slice (not my slice of pie but some may like it, ran well)
Glow Hockey (Great game, if it supports vs over wifi, then wow)
Hex Defense (Plays like defense Grid)
Ninja Dash
Ninjump
Pew Pew (was interesting, but a little awkward for me)
Return Zero (interesting racer, and not too taxing on the system either)
Speedx 3D
YooNinja
Customization:
Metamorph is what i use for themes at the moment. May change to something else later on.
File Explorer:
OI File manager
I love saving space, and OI looks simple and efficient and runs extremely smooth.
Media Player:
Mobo Player
Management:
1-Click Clear
Appkik
As for games and excess apps, the ones that can't be ran from SD i backup with Appkik for later use to free up memory and space on the phone.
@ OriginalLucy
I used the following two videos for switching the boot animation
Search youtube for:
ANDROID Boot Animation (How-To Change It)
CyanogenMod Boot Animation
Got it running to replace that really bad boot animation from Dexter's Froyo
Great rom but the Boot animation was driving me bonkers.
Hope this helps out.
An easy way to change your boot animations is set up a folder on your SD card named Boot Animations and put the zip in there. Then go into /system/media and copy the original and put it on your SD card in case something ever happens and you can replace it with the original. Take your new boot animation and just replace the one that is in /system/media and reboot.
Obviously make a back up before you do this b/c not all work well.
Also watch your size. While they do look cool, some take up a ton of space.
wondering why no one mentioned some of these:
- "LBE privacy guard" --> control & take away the rights of your apps, e.g. don't allow facebook to access your contacts or send SMS , in my opinion one of the best apps so far. only for rooted devices!
- "history eraser"
- for users in Germany: "Öffi" -> great app for public transport, in germany we call it "öffentliche Nahverkehrsmittel"
- SMS Backup & Restore
- Titanium Backup
- WhatsApp -> like SMS , but works via internet connection and sends messages via internet -> no costs for sms
I recently installed CM7 on my touchpad, and I had a few questions for those using android. I have an android phone so I'm pretty familiar, but many applications are not optimized for tablets, landscape or just the resolution. What are some tips or suggestions you all have.
1. Laucher : using go right now, but I'm not liking it too much. Most launchers don't play well with the horizontal orientation, or the bottom taskbar.
2. Phone calling: I would love to be able to make calls though google voice or something. I like gmail calling on my computer, but I'm not sure that will work. I have skype but would like something free. I use ooma at home but their app is expensive and has bad reviews.
3. Weather: I already have enough trouble finding a weather app for my phone, but most don't seem to work in landscape.
4. Market : there seems to be a lot of incompatible apps, even amazon mobile. I tried the market fix but no luck.
5. Keyboard : I'm using SwiftKey x tablet right now and love it, but woud like to hear other people's suggestions.
Thanks,
-Keith
Thumb keyboard is outstanding. Was free app of day from Amazon a while back
Sent by Logo the turtle
Launcher - I have tried them all and I always come back to the stock ADW that comes with CM7 because it is the most configurable and generally works well in landscape mode. I also use the ICS theme to get the buttons and status bar more to my liking.
Phone Calling - CM7 is still in Alpha so some stuff still does not work.
Weather - Don't know what you are looking for in a Weather app or widget but I use the 3D Digital Weather Clock for local weather (tap on the Sun/Moon to get the 5 day forecast). There are a ton of things out there.
Market - I guess I haven't had a problem with anything that I have needed or wanted. You could try programs like LCD Resolution or LCD Density and change it to 200 to see if more stuff shows up in the market for you.
Keyboard - Thumb is great.
market 3.3.11 works just fine for me
Hey guys,
I've been giving a GSM RAZR a thorough going-over this past week for an upcoming review, and in doing so have found a few interesting hidden features. Thought I'd start a thread about 'em, since I haven't seen anything mentioned here (Or elsewhere).
- First up, installing an alternate launcher automatically sets the new launcher as the default. Odd that Moto would do this. Also odd is that the long-press home task switcher/app drawer is specifically part of the Blur Home, so you get whatever task switcher your new home app feels like defaulting you to (Usually Android's standard one).
- You can still create shortcuts to the Blur Home's app drawer and app drawer groupings in alternative launchers (Long press on empty home space/add shortcut/app groups), so you can - for example - use Launcher Pro or ADW with the Moto app drawer by placing a shortcut to 'All Apps' in the dock.
- The above shortcut business also applies to stock Blur Home, letting you use the app drawer groups like folders. That's not really 'hidden', though.
Next up, we're going to need to install Launcher Pro. I'm not a huge Launcher Pro fan, since its development seems to have dried up, but this works regardless of whether Launcher Pro is your default launcher or not. As above, however, installing a new launcher will automatically set said new launcher as the default, and short of uninstalling it or installing a third launcher/a home switcher app, you cannot set Blur Home as the default again.
You can get around that by placing a shortcut to the Blur Home itself on the Launcher Pro desktop. It'll also pop up in 'recent apps' once you have Launcher Pro installed. Strange.
Anyway, the reason we want Launcher Pro installed is that it gives you many more options when placing shortcuts on the desktop of any launcher. Under shortcuts (Or in Blur Home's case, Shortcuts/App Actions/) is a new category called Activities. This lets you place a shortcut to any part of an app that can be called as a separate activity. Effectively, you can place a shortcut directly to one part of another app - although, be warned, some of these turn out to be shortcuts to 'Force Close', or 'Reboot the phone' because the OS doesn't expect these apps to be opened in this manner. Some are genuinely useful, however, and some are a little more interesting..
Of note:
- You can create a shortcut directly to Universal Inbox, rather than having to tap Messaging, then Universal Inbox. Yay!
- You can get directly to the Albums view of the crappy stock music player, or the Folders view of the gallery, avoiding those awful splash screens you get when launching either of these normally.
- You can get directly to different views in the calendar, like the Diary/Agenda view.
Now, it gets really interesting. Some of the app activities you can make shortcuts to aren't accessible through the apps themselves, the very definition of 'hidden'. Some of these are obviously hidden because Moto cheaped out on the firmware and bundled things like an FM Radio app into the stock Music player, which doesn't work because the RAZR doesn't have an FM Radio to the best of my knowledge (Even if it did, the app doesn't do much beyond demand you insert headphones and endlessly scan for channels).
- There's a debugging tool for the homescreen, which has settings for things like 'orientation changes', acceleration factor, and 3D widgets. None of these seem to work, unfortunately.
- The most interesting - profiles for the homescreen. If memory serves, a few previous Moto phones had this, and it has of course been an element of Sense for some time. You can choose from Home, Work, and Other, and they do work - widget layouts will be saved. It tends to force close when switching back to one layout from another, and occasionally changes the wallpaper to the Droid 3 stock with the three lines (Funnily enough, that wallpaper isn't in the wallpaper gallery for the GSM RAZR) but it does work.
I'll chuck some screenshots up shortly, and additional features as I find 'em.
I can't open the flashlight app. It says that i don't have the rights to do. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Hi, I think it only works if you are using the stock launcher... I'm using NOVA launcher and it doesn't work... Using the in-built Huawei widgets doesn't work with Nova either....you've got to use ones from the play store etc.
Solution:- use the torch feature from the notification tray. Hope this helps.
falsivas said:
Hi, I think it only works if you are using the stock launcher... I'm using NOVA launcher and it doesn't work... Using the in-built Huawei widgets doesn't work with Nova either....you've got to use ones from the play store etc.
Solution:- use the torch feature from the notification tray. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. I didn't even think about it. I'm using Nova too. Not a big deal but i was curious why i couldn't open it. Thank you.
falsivas said:
Hi, I think it only works if you are using the stock launcher... I'm using NOVA launcher and it doesn't work... Using the in-built Huawei widgets doesn't work with Nova either....you've got to use ones from the play store etc.
Solution:- use the torch feature from the notification tray. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've seen, none of the Huawei-supplied widgets work with third-party launchers - I tried putting the Huawei weather widget onto Nova and it crashed it (necessitating an uninstall-reinstall to fix).
There are three ways to get your torch to work;
Access it from the notification pull-down
Draw a letter on the screen with your knuckle (needs to be enabled in "Smart Assistance" - I use "c" for camera, "e" for torch, "m" for PlayerPro and "w" for weather), or
Swipe up from the lock screen.
Of these, I've found the last to be most convenient - the most likely times that you'll want your torch are when your 'phone's locked.