Just getting into the smartphone world, bought an HTC Thunderbolt and am really liking it. So far all the apps and widgets I've installed have been for managing the battery life. First day I got it I killed it in about 3 hours, normal use and management with widgets has gotten me 1 1/2 days so far at 40% remaining.
Anyone have some interesting/useful/cool apps they like to use on their Android?
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09:49 AM
PFF
System Bot
Darksyde Member
Posts: 611 From: Tonawanda,NY Registered: Oct 2009
Do Not DL Advanced Task Killer. Everybody will tell you it should be your first dl. But just don't do it, it actually uses more battery power. I have a bunch of apps I use on my phone but here's some links that can help with your phone. The 1st being the best. Try dl'n either DolphinHD or Skyfire for your browser. You will love either of them compared to the stock.
Not sure if this is your first 'droid phone, but when you decide to dig deeper and Root your phone and download new ROMS for it xda-developers will be the site you want to pay attention to. I also may be going way beyond what your looking for as well. I'll stop rambling now. lol
[This message has been edited by Darksyde (edited 03-19-2011).]
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10:30 AM
$Rich$ Member
Posts: 14575 From: Sioux Falls SD Registered: Dec 2002
i just got a free upgrade under insurance from the original droid to the droid 2, the droid 2 has some "mortorola widgets" that were not on the D1 i like picture frame plus it is a pitcure frame that scrolls through your pics, and also has a quick link to your galary and a fast start up button for the camera
other widgets i like are "fancy widget" its a clock and weather display
------------------ AIM:Onefast2M8 00 VW GTi VR6 -- Not stock 06 VW GTi 2.0t 99 Explorer Eddie Bauer 5.0 AWD
T-Mobile MyTouch 4G / HTC Glacier. I use "internet" and "google maps" often. Came with the phone. Google "goggles" sucks. Google "earth" in 3D is pretty neat. The "car dock" with the "genius" voice recognition works OK. Came with the phone. "Yellowbook" phone directory shows promise.
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11:25 AM
$Rich$ Member
Posts: 14575 From: Sioux Falls SD Registered: Dec 2002
I use dolphin mini. I also like Astro file manager. If you are a Conan fan Team Coco is pretty cool. Pandora. Netflix manager. Poynt is nice. I have an app called Emulator Roms, which allows me to download Roms for NES, SNES, Sega, PS1, and the proper Emulators. I play a lot of Mario on my phone. When I first got it I killed the battery fast, then installed a bunch of power and app managers and my battery increased. then I realized the increase was due to me being smarter about my use. So I uninstalled the battery apps and improved it some more. Those apps drain your battery. They run constantly, whereas most of the apps they kill don't. Check the battery monitor on your phone and it will give you a break down of your drains. "46% display, 20% cell standby, 2% Android OS, 1% browser, 1% Market, 1% netflix, yada yada" everything will be less than 1% because they aren't constantly doing anything. Then you add the app killer or whatever and suddenly you have "46% display, 20% cell standby, 17% App MANAGER 2% Android OS, 1% browser, 1% Market, 1% netflix, yada yada".
turn off GPS when you aren't using it. Turn off WIFI and Sync when you don't need them. Dim the screen if you don't need it too bright.
The best App I have it Rom Manager. (my phone is rooted) It allows me to change roms as I see fit. I am able to overclock my phone to 1.5 ghz when I am doing demanding things... Like playing Gran Turismo or something. Then I can scale it down to 500mhz to conserve battery life. I also have XBMC remote, because I use XBMC for my home theater setup. I have it running 100% of the time I am home, because I like to have music going all the time. I can control it from my phone anywhere within WIFI range, and it shows Movie/TV show/Album art and information, etc on my phone.
Also, you can find different messaging and music apps, etc, if you don't like how something is set up on your phone. I use HandCent. You can also set triggers based on location or time. So, say you get to work at 7. You can set your phone to go to vibrate and change your wallpaper to something work appropriate at 6:55. Then when you get home at 4 you can have it change the wallpaper back to the wimminz you had or Angus Young or whatever and it can change your ringtone to Live Wire and turn on your wifi and launch you home theater remote. or whatever you want it to do. I use time base triggers because they don't eat battery like location based, but I really prefer location because I can set it to silence my phone at the theater or church or my parents, or set reminders when I get close to the bank or the grocery store, etc.
Oh I really like Netflix... oh wait.. iPhone only...
Yes, but that is due to agreements and such, not due to Android not being able to handle it. By all accounts it is on its way. Not a big enough selling point to turn me off of Android.
***I do admit I am unsure if there would be annoying DRM issues. God I hate DRM... another thing to hate about iDevices
[This message has been edited by TommyRocker (edited 03-19-2011).]
Originally posted by TommyRocker: ***I do admit I am unsure if there would be annoying DRM issues. God I hate DRM... another thing to hate about iDevices
I have no DRM issues, as I buy very little of my media from iTunes.
Last thing I will say on it in this thread.. Sorry for stepping in your thread....
But you do not have to break an idevice to avoid DRM issues. My iPad 2 is not Jail Broken as of yet, and I have all of my music on it. I do not buy most of my stuff from iTunes, because it comes with the hard copies I have bought. Every Blu-Ray movie I have bought, comes with a digital copy, all my cd's I can transfer myself.
But I listen to the radio mostly. If WunderFM exists for Droid.... BUY IT!!! Best App ever for listening to radio stations around the world!
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12:47 PM
Black Lotus Member
Posts: 340 From: Washington State USA Registered: Jan 2010
Called up T-Mobile a week after I got my phone. Me---"I want to unlock my phone." T-Mobile---"Why?" Me---"Because I am traveling to Thailand and I want to use a local SIM card to save money" T-Mobile---"That's a good idea!" Got the unlock code the next day. In fact my past three T-Mobile phones were unlocked by them just by asking. But do I need to unlock the phones workings at the root levels? Nope, so I'm happy.
But do I need to unlock the phones workings at the root levels? Nope, so I'm happy.
I wasn't trying to recommend rooting... In fact, Android doesn't need to be rooted for any features you would need for normal use. I did it just because I like to tinker, and because Playstation games were laggy without the overclock. For the VAST majority of users, I would say don't root...
As for Wunder Radio... Android Market has it, but TuneIn Radio is free and widely accepted as being superior.
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01:40 PM
Patrick's Dad Member
Posts: 5154 From: Weymouth MA USA Registered: Feb 2000
Google Sky. More fun on a clear night than Google Earth could ever be. Funny when you point it down.
Pandora. I have a couple of stations, so I can listen with headphones on my way to work. (I walk)
Angry Birds. Stupid fun, but fun, anyways.
OK, so I'm not a heavy user. My D2 is probably going to waste.... BTW, I usually get a day out of a charge. I don't do anything unusual about power management.
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09:03 PM
Mar 20th, 2011
CoolBlue87GT Member
Posts: 8404 From: Punta Gorda, Florida, USA Registered: Apr 2001
HEYTELL : A free app, used to be an iPhone only app, now available w/ Android phones.
It turns your phone in to a push to talk phone. Works very good. Has a neat feature that allows you to see a map, showing your location & the location of the person your talking with. You can turn this feature on or off, in case you don't want to give away your location.
I've been using it for about a year, it comes in very handy. Instead of texting someone, you voice text them.
This is way better than any of the "Top 10 Apps" lists I could find online, they all listed the same not all the interesting stuff. Already downloaded and playing with a few of the ones suggested here.
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06:56 PM
PFF
System Bot
WhiteDevil88 Member
Posts: 8518 From: Coastal California Registered: Mar 2007
I just dow nloaded Google Voice, visual voice mail. Sooo cool. It transcribes your voicemail so you can read through them, and play back selected messages.
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08:57 PM
htexans1 Member
Posts: 9110 From: Clear Lake City/Houston TX Registered: Sep 2001
Talking tom is fun and useless fun... pull his tail and while he listens make him cuss...
Caller ID faker is great to get competing Chinese food places to talk to one another.
Talking Tom is fun. We have a friend that used to post weekly TT updates on facebook. he'd have adventures in almost becoming a special at a local Chinese place, and all sorts of fun.
I recently installed EasyTether to use my X's 3G when our Charter went out.
I also really like Wireless File Transfer, which allows me to bring up and manage my phone data in a web browser. You can also download files off your phone if you don't have a cord and the bluetooth transferring is as troublesome for you as it was for me.
I have an incredible. Love it, but the battery life kind of blows.
Do none of the apps to save battery life work on it?
I know the one I was playing with he claimed several times longer battery life when set to that mode. Of course he was more into making it work hard so he could run all kinds of stuff, so it wasn't great.
Brad
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06:24 PM
TommyRocker Member
Posts: 2808 From: Woodstock, IL Registered: Dec 2009
Do none of the apps to save battery life work on it?
I know the one I was playing with he claimed several times longer battery life when set to that mode. Of course he was more into making it work hard so he could run all kinds of stuff, so it wasn't great.
Brad
In my experience, and it also seems to be what you'll find on the Android Forums... No. They actually eat more battery because they are running constantly. You'll be better off remembering to turn off GPS and WIFI and dim the screen when in dark rooms and so on. I am able to go all day on a charge with my overclocked G2 with moderate internet/facebooking, lots of texting, and moderate to heavy gaming.
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06:30 PM
Xanth Member
Posts: 6886 From: Massachusetts Registered: May 2006
My thunderbolt is supposed to have bad battery life, and it did when I first got it, I've managed to get two full days out of it. One of my desktop screens contains GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Mobile Web, Hotspt, Autosync, and Brightness widgets.
I just keep everything turned off unless I'm actively using that feature.
[This message has been edited by Xanth (edited 03-22-2011).]
The task killers might drain your battery, but if you can get one that doesn't run all the time then it really speeds up your phone when you need it to. It might just be because I have an older Android, but if I don't use it for awhile it builds up a ton of background apps and then I'll go to turn it on and it just is SO SLOW. So I need a task killer.
I use my phone HEAVILY and the battery is almost shot... I will get 6-7 hours out of it if I use it like normal. 12 if I don't use it a lot.
EDIT: I'm looking up battery saving techniques. While I turned off a lot of the syncing, I'm learning a lot that could save my battery life so I can actually use it for a whole day. You'd think after over a year I would have looked at this....
[This message has been edited by theBDub (edited 03-22-2011).]
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08:34 PM
Mar 26th, 2011
Flamberge Member
Posts: 4268 From: Terra Sancta, TX Registered: Oct 2001
There is an app called Fake me out of here. If you want to get out of a situation, you give the Droid a little shake, and a bit later, you set the time, it rings like you have a call. Answer it and pretend it is bad news and you have to go.
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01:43 AM
Apr 16th, 2011
Xanth Member
Posts: 6886 From: Massachusetts Registered: May 2006
I just found a great one the other day, I believe its been around awhile but it still seems to work great. It's called "Apps Organizer", it allows you to sort your apps into different Labels and create shortcuts on the home page quickly and easily. Reduced a lot of icons on my phone.
Best part is, its completely free, and has no special permissions:
Originally posted by theBDub: The task killers might drain your battery, but if you can get one that doesn't run all the time then it really speeds up your phone when you need it to. It might just be because I have an older Android, but if I don't use it for awhile it builds up a ton of background apps and then I'll go to turn it on and it just is SO SLOW. So I need a task killer.
You DO NOT NEED a task killer. It does more drain than not having it. I have one of the weakest slowest cpu'd 'droid phones out. ATK is a waste. Your basically taking the functionality of what the 'droid OS is meant to do, away from it. I had ATK on my wife's and my phone. Once I read up on it and removed them the battery life has increased.
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11:51 AM
TommyRocker Member
Posts: 2808 From: Woodstock, IL Registered: Dec 2009
