397 replies to this topic

[johnmd20]

That's actually a fairly smart app. Especially in big cities.

I think it looks like a pretty shitty app, actually. I can't see how it would help and it might even hurt because it could lull you into thinking you're safe and then a car plows you from the left side, which the camera wouldn't pick up. Gimmick and not a good one.

[Snodgrass'Muff]

For those using tasker, I'm seeing a lot of comments about battery drain. How has your experience been? Anyone using it for the droid x specifically?

Seems endlessly useful.

[PortlandSoxFan]

I only set up one task; I figured I didn't want to go crazy with it before Froyo came out.

[mt8thsw9th]

I think it looks like a pretty shitty app, actually. I can't see how it would help and it might even hurt because it could lull you into thinking you're safe and then a car plows you from the left side, which the camera wouldn't pick up. Gimmick and not a good one.

The problem is it's probably only good for helping you not step in dog shit. Honestly, who holds their phone in front of their face with two hands while texting? Am I the only one that holds it near my belt when texting?

Edited by mt8thsw9th, 06 August 2010 - 10:42 AM.

[PortageeExpress]

For those using tasker, I'm seeing a lot of comments about battery drain. How has your experience been? Anyone using it for the droid x specifically?

Seems endlessly useful.

I'm on the Droid, not the X, but I haven't noticed any impact to battery life.

[Three10toLeft]

Edit: Wrong thread.

Edited by Three10toLeft, 06 August 2010 - 01:30 PM.

[Foulkey Reese]

Anybody have a good RSS reader that would work with Google Reader?

Tried Greader and it really sucked.

[PortlandSoxFan]

Anybody have a good RSS reader that would work with Google Reader?

Tried Greader and it really sucked.

Newsrob. LOVE it.

http://www.appbrain....app/com.newsrob

[CrouchingTonyHiddenPena]

I really enjoy the Droid X but I'm noticing several times throughout the day that the sheer size of the phone is more of a pain than it might be worth. Whether it be when I'm sitting down looking scrolling through the phone, I find myself having to adjust the positioning of my hand on the device to pull down the notification bar or do other actions with the X.I don't think I have small hands, probably average. But it is a pain in the ass, especially while driving. And yes, I know I shouldn't be on my phone while driving. I wish the Droid 2 would launch within the next 20 days so I could decide between the two devices,

Supposed to launch August 12th. You'll be able to check it out it in time.

EDIT: Best Buy is already taking pre-orders, so the launch date should be pretty accurate.

Edited by CrouchingTonyHiddenPena, 06 August 2010 - 12:23 PM.

[CrouchingTonyHiddenPena]

Widget Locker is my favorite app on the entire device. I put it up there with Tasker in terms of convenience.

You can customize the lock screen to whatever you want for shortcuts, to be able to run any one of those programs at any time by itself without having to unlock and allow extra apps to begin running. I have a personal slider setup for navigation to my house from anywhere & my Bank of America account, a vibrate/ringer toggle button, the camera & my music, etc. It even allows for the same iPhone slider to unlock as opposed to the stock slider, which is s nice touch for us converts.

It's the best $2 I've spent on any app yet aside from Tasker.

[OrlandoMerced]

Is anyone running a calendar app that is not stock? I'm looking for a nice one.

I just started using one called Gemini. So far so good. Looks a lot slicker than the stock one, syncs with google calendars if you want, and has 3 different widgets for your home screen.

http://www.appbrain....gemini.calendar

BTW, I've been liking appbrain to find apps much better than the stock android market.

[CrouchingTonyHiddenPena]

I just started using one called Gemini. So far so good. Looks a lot slicker than the stock one, syncs with google calendars if you want, and has 3 different widgets for your home screen.

http://www.appbrain....gemini.calendar

BTW, I've been liking appbrain to find apps much better than the stock android market.

That's what I use, and was coming here to recommend.

[amlothi]

For those using tasker, I'm seeing a lot of comments about battery drain. How has your experience been? Anyone using it for the droid x specifically?

Seems endlessly useful.

I think it really depends on how you set it up. If you consider battery issues when you create profiles, it's fine. For example, I use network provider to determine location (not GPS) and I just enlarge the allowable location circle in areas where I don't get good triangulation.

I have 11 profiles set up, and I don't see a noticeable difference in battery. I'm guessing that the small amount of power used by Tasker to periodically check things is counterbalanced by the power I save by not forgetting to turn things off when I'm not using them.

Some things I am using it for:

Set media volume to 0 default (don't like to have online videos playing sound when I'm out and about) but turned up automatically when I open certain apps (music, MLBatBat)

Set GPS to off, and only be used to certain apps (Maps, Nav, etc). I don't like other apps being able to "locate" me with precision. Maybe a bit of paranoia.

At home, Wifi on automatically and Mobile Data off.

At work, Wifi and Mobile Data off, but it turns on once every 2 hours to sync.

At night (set hours) and if phone is laying flat (not still awake), volumes down except for things I want (important calls, alarm).

At night, if battery low and not plugged in, turn everything off to conserve the battery.

Widget to set and remember current GPS location.
Widget to navigate to remembered location.

At shutdown > silent mode. (Hate the way too loud HTC boot up sound. "Quietly brilliant", the irony.)
At startup, wait 10 seconds > kill silent mode.

[maufman]

Tasker confuses and frightens me. I tried to set up a task that would make the phone switch into silent mode at 9:30am Sunday, then switch out at noon. (So I don't have to remember to silence my phone for church.) I quickly realized I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Can someone give step-by-step instructions for setting up a simple task, like one of the ones amlothi1 describes?

[amlothi]

Tasker confuses and frightens me. I tried to set up a task that would make the phone switch into silent mode at 9:30am Sunday, then switch out at noon. (So I don't have to remember to silence my phone for church.) I quickly realized I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Can someone give step-by-step instructions for setting up a simple task, like one of the ones amlothi1 describes?

I would suggest you setup a a location context for what you want to do. If you frequently are near your church at times when you don't want your phone to be silent, you can add a time context and day context also. My only thought is that, if you go at a different time (say, holidays) than Tasker won't know to silent your phone.

Also, if you use only a time/day context (and no location), it will go silent every Sunday even if you don't happen to be at Church that day.

Here is how you can use a time and a location.

1) Add a new profile. Choose the first context.
2) Enter your first context settings. (Let's say, time. So set the from and to times.)
3) Tasker will ask for the Task for this profile. (Under Audio, choose Silent Mode, then choose On.)
4) Choose Done. This will bring you back to the Profiles list.
5) Tap the time context (from 9:30 to 12:00) and choose Add.
6) Add your next context (Location). You can either choose the point on the map, or (usually more accurate) set this context when you are standing right outside your church and use "Get Fix" to have it find your current location.

I would suggest that you use Net only for the location setting and not GPS, as the GPS uses more battery. You can adjust the Radius of the location.

7) You can repeat the above to add a "Day" context also, but that is up to you. If the only time you go to that location is for Church, than a location context by itself would probably

Note: All our contexts are treated as "AND", meaning that all 3 contexts need to be true for the Task to be applied. After one of those contexts is no longer true (after 12:00, or you leave that location) Tasker will revert back to your previous settings automatically. (For most settings, but sometimes it won't switch back automatically. In this case, you can set it to revert to the original settings as an exit task.)



There are some good examples here:

http://tasker.wikido...m/profile-index

Edited by amlothi, 09 August 2010 - 09:20 PM.

[CrouchingTonyHiddenPena]

Beautiful Widgets is just all sorts of awesome. For those looking for a nice Sense-like animated weather widget, this is it. It also has a host of other widget icons for the main screen. The kicker is, within the main weather/date/time widget, each is it's own built-in shortcut. Touch the picture of the sun/clouds, etc, and the accuweather app opens up animated full screen. Touch the date, and the calendar app opens. Touch the clock and the alarm clock settings open up. You can also customize the widget to open up 3rd party apps for any of those, so if you use Gemini Calendar for example, just tell it to open Gemini when you touch the date on the main screen instead of the stock calendar. You can also download free different skins for the clock and weather icons to customize those as well. A well-developed visual treat of an app.

[CrouchingTonyHiddenPena]

Another 4 hours trying to find a decent sync solution (I listen and watch a lot of podcasts) and it's still a semi-disaster.

iSynchr, Songbird, iTunes Agent, DoubleTwist (got worse with the latest update), WMP, all of them will suck your soul and burp with glee.

Was looking into this last night and found the issue to simply be DRM on some songs. I found a good program online with a free trial that strips DRM from iTunes libraries for all songs and video, and stripped my entire library overnight. It's called SoundTaxi. It also saves the entire library and its sub-folders in the exact same setup, but in mp3 format, on your pc. After doing it, I simply copied the new mp3 "iTunes Media" library folder onto my Droid X and waited for it to finish transferring. Either that or pony a huge sum of cash to strip DRM off of your actual iTunes files within iTunes (yikes). Hope this helps.

Edited by CrouchingTonyHiddenPena, 11 August 2010 - 11:05 PM.

[SeoulSoxFan]

Was looking into this last night and found the issue to simply be DRM on some songs. I found a good program online with a free trial that strips DRM from iTunes libraries for all songs and video, and stripped my entire library overnight. It's called SoundTaxi. It also saves the entire library and its sub-folders in the exact same setup, but in mp3 format, on your pc. After doing it, I simply copied the new mp3 "iTunes Media" library folder onto my Droid X and waited for it to finish transferring. Either that or pony a huge sum of cash to strip DRM off of your actual iTunes files within iTunes (yikes). Hope this helps.

That's awesome CTHP - am doing it right now. Now if I can only find a podcast player that properly groups and sorts video podcasts as well as audio podcasts.

[JerBear]

If you aren't using Gesture Search yet, you should be. Especially now that you don't have to active the app with an actual screen press.

http://googlemobile....ure-search.html

[deconstruction]

Anyone here use btunes? I just upgraded to a 32gb card and it's constantly force closing trying to refresh/access my 25gb library. Seemed ok when I had only 13g of music on there. doubletwist seems to handle it better, but still closes a few times a day.

[Monbo Jumbo]

http://www.androidce...w-voice-actions

thanks

playing with it now - waaay cool

[PaulinMyrBch]

As most of you know I'm always a bit behind the curve when it comes to apps, usability, and features. But I'm getting more aggresive.

Do they make an app or a combo of apps that will do the following.

Allow me to place my phone (Incredible) in the window mount of my car and somehow the phone will read me the Boston Globe sports articles in the morning on my way to work? I've got a 25 minute commute and listening to the phone read me the stories would be perfect.

[SeoulSoxFan]

As most of you know I'm always a bit behind the curve when it comes to apps, usability, and features. But I'm getting more aggresive.

Do they make an app or a combo of apps that will do the following.

Allow me to place my phone (Incredible) in the window mount of my car and somehow the phone will read me the Boston Globe sports articles in the morning on my way to work? I've got a 25 minute commute and listening to the phone read me the stories would be perfect.

Combination of Voice Actions and text-to-speech apps? Or Tasker queuing up pages and turning on VA + T2S apps?

[Foulkey Reese]

I think Corsi might have already posted about this in one of the threads, but "No lock" is an awesome app that gets rid of the swipe lock screen. I didn't realize how much that annoyed me until I got rid of it. Great free app.

[TallerThanPedroia]

I've been looking in vain for a simple MP3 player app. I'm a curmudgeon about MP3 players in general, so it's a problem. I just want something that allows me to throw a bunch of MP3s into a list and then play them either in order or shuffled. Like the original Winamp, basically (I was sad to see they don't have an app). I don't want to be bothered with trappings like ID3 tags, or downloading lyrics or album covers from the internet. The words "playlist" and "library" give me fits (I'm still happily using my Creative Zen Nano 1GB MP3 player - screw iTunes).

The closest I've come is music folder player, but the basic controls are fairly clunky. Anyone know anything better?

[Fratboy]

I don't think there's anything out there that can let you create a music list easily on the fly, so I've resigned myself to doing it on a PC. I did find some freeware called mp3tag to help me with my tagging chores.

Until you can create a playlist on the fly or queue songs up like you can with Winamp, mp3 players on any kind of smartphone are going to be relatively useless.

***

Is there anything that works like the Apple Genius in the Android world? The stock player doesn't have anything like that, and I don't know if that's a feature I'm going to miss per se, but it might be a nice touch.

[TallerThanPedroia]

RockPlayer seems to be a very versatile video player.

[amlothi]

For those using Tasker, here are some tips that I've discovered as I've played with it more. Explanations and examples put into spoilers to conserve thread space.


1) If you are using a profile to turn Wifi on based on your location, combine it with a Wifi near context.

Rationale: This conserves power and makes your profile more accurate.

Spoiler

Per the website, Tasker rates contexts for power-hungriness in the following (ascending) order:

State
Day / Time
App
Network Location
Wifi Near State
GPS Location
Gesture Event / Orientation State (accelerometer activation)

So,set up your profile as follows:
Context 1: Location (Network only, no GPS) with a wide radius (I use about 1 km)
Context 2: Wifi Near with the name of your desired access point, and make sure you allow Tasker to turn on the Wifi radio to search for the Wifi Near

Why this helps?

Tasker will use the least power hungry context first. So, it will not check for the Wifi Near context until the Location context has been satisfied.

If you use the location context only, your Wifi will be on (and scanning constantly) when you are within the location area that you defined. In the above case, once you enter the defined location area, Tasker will turn on Wifi only periodically (you can set the length of time in the settings) to check for the Wifi Near.

Once the desired Wifi access point is found, Wifi will be turned on and stay on. Note that the Wifi Near check only causes you to "leave" the profile if the Wifi access point cannot be located during 2 consecutive checks, so this gives you some leeway if you lose connection to the Wifi AP only for a few seconds. Outside of the location area, the Wifi will not be turned on as there is no reason to look for the Wifi Near.

2) Use Alerts when creating new/complex profiles so that you can easily see events are occurring as you want them to.

Spoiler

I use the "Flash" alert because it quickly displays the text on the screen, but does not interrupt what you are doing. if you "tap" on the Flash alert, the alert is ignored, so you are still "tapping" whatever is on your screen behind the alert.

This is helpful when testing new profiles so that I know when the profile becomes active or inactive, or when certain tasks occur. The alerts can always be removed later once I have the profile working as desired.

I also like to use the "Flash" alert to quickly flash a message on the screen when things change status. For example, Wifi connected/disconnected vs Mobile Data connected/disconnected. This just helps me be alert if I suddenly lose my connection while I am in the middle of doing something.

3) Use Variables

This lets you do a lot more things than you could normally do with the predefined options in Tasker.

Spoiler

For example, I have a variable for "Connected". It is set to 1 whenever I am online, and set to off whenever I am offline. Using this variable, I can then define profiles (using the Variable as a context) or Tasks within profiles (using the IF function) to only activate when I am online/offline.

Here is how I did it. It takes 2 profiles to make sure the variable is set whenever I am online.

Context: State > Mobile Network on
Task: Set Variable %connected to 1.
Exit Task: Variable Clear

Context: State > Wifi Connected
Task: Set Variable %connected to 1.
Exit Task: Variable Clear %connected

You can also use this variable with the "Wait Until" Task for actions that require a connection. For example, there is a Wifi Hotspot that I go to that requires me to login through their webpage portal. When I connect to that Wifi hotspot, I want Tasker to automatically launch that webpage so I can login. The problem is, Tasker is too fast and will launch the page before I am connected. So, I use a "Wait Until %connected equals 1" command first. Then, the page will launch as soon as I have established a connection to that hotspot.

Also, with this same Wifi Hotspot, once I login it remembers me for a few hours. So, if I walk outside and then go back in a few minutes later, I don't want the webpage to open automatically every time. I solved this by using another variable.

So, in my profile for that Hotspot I have the following:

Context 1: Location (Network only)
Context 2: Wifi Near
Task: Wifi On
Task: If [%Starbucks does not equal 1] (i.e. I have not activated this profile previously since the last time I was home.)
Task: Wait Until [%connected equals 1]
Task: Browse URL [website URL]
Task: Set Variable %Starbucks equals 1

Notice that I don't clear the %Starbucks variable on the exit task. So, it stays at 1 even when I exit the profile.

In my Home profile, I added a "Variable Clear" to clear %Starbucks when I arrive home. You could also set up a profile that activates every X hours and clears the variable if you want to do it that way.

The first time I enter the location, the %Starbucks variable is not set, so all actions will be completed. The second time, it will still turn on Wifi, but will not launch the website.

4) Use the "Perform Task" function.

The Perform Task function allows you to call a Task that you have named and saved. This is incredibly useful if you find yourself using the same series of Tasks under multiple profiles.

Spoiler

This is a real simple example. I have a Task I call "Maps". It looks like this:
Task: GPS On
Task: Mobile Data On (If %connected is not equal to 1)

I use this for several profiles, because I have many apps that use Google Maps.

Context: Application > Google Maps
Task: Perform Task "Maps"

Context: Application > Places Directory
Task: Perform Task "Maps"

Context: Application > My Tracks
Task: Perform Task "Maps"

In each case, I want to turn GPS on when I am using that application, and turn Moble Data On if I don't otherwise have an internet connection.

The nice thing about setting up my profiles this way is that I can change the "Maps" task once, and it changes for ALL of my profiles that call that task. So, if I wanted to add another step or change something, I only need to do it in one place.

Another thing you can do is to use this to nest your profiles, should you ever need to get that complicated. This is incredibly useful if you want to activate both a Menu task and an Execute task in the same profile. See the next example.

5) Learn to use tasks as Menus.

When editing a task, click on the little tools icon, and under Task Type you can change from Execute to Menu. (Execute will cause Tasker to execute each step, the Menu option will instead display a Menu and let you choose from the Tasks.)

Spoiler

For example, if my Wifi is turned off (because I exited a location with known Wifi for example) and my Mobile Data is not already connected, Tasker can pop up a menu asking me if I want Mobile Data to be turned on or off.

Name: Mobile Data On/Off
Set the Task as a Menu type.
Task: Mobile On
Task: Mobile Off

Then, in my "Home"profile I have as follows:
Context 1: Location (Network only)
Context 2: Wifi Near
Task: Wifi On
Exit Task: Wifi Off (probably not needed, but I added it just to be certain)
Exit Task: Wait 1 minute
Exit Task: Perform Task "Mobile Data On/Off" (If %connected does not equal 1.)

So, when I leave home, Tasker will turn off Wifi and wait 1 minute (to allow my mobile data to connect, if it is on). Then, if I don't have a working internet connection, it will prompt me to turn on Mobile Data. When the menu pops up, I just click once (On or Off) and the menu disappears.

[EddieYost]

I just installed this. My league hasn't drafted yet, but it looks promising.

[EddieYost]

Yep...rookie mistake. I've got the same one as you.

[Rossox]

Any recommendations on a good photo album app? The default photos viewer is pretty blah.

[Foulkey Reese]

About time!!

http://www.droid-lif...ay-sign-up-now/

[EddieYost]

Thanks Corsi. Boy I am a rookie...I have no idea how to scan that. Luckily its in the Android market as well.

[opes]

Thanks Corsi. Boy I am a rookie...I have no idea how to scan that. Luckily its in the Android market as well.

Search for an app called barcode scanner
You run the app, and put it up to bar codes or these square codes.

[EddieYost]

So a friend of mine...not me...obviously....just installed barcode scanner...and was waving the wrong side of his phone over Corsi's barcode for a good solid minute. What a moron eh? Luckily I am too smart for that. Anyway...that is pretty slick. Thanks!

[EddieYost]

Does anyone know if there is a way to stream music and/or videos from a NAS on your local network to your Android phone?

[sonsoftrotnixon]

Does anyone know if there is a way to stream music and/or videos from a NAS on your local network to your Android phone?

Check out GMOTE on the android market. I use it to stream music from my work PC.

[EddieYost]

Very cool. Thanks!! I just set it up so my NAS is a share listed in the GMOTE server and I was able to browse it no problem and play music from my iTunes library.

Now what I need is something that will just plow through my iTunes library and convert all of the m4p's to m4a's...but wait this is the wrong thread for that.

[NoXInNixon]

Before Froyo, whenever I'd get into my car, bluetooth would detect my phone and immediately start playing from my Doubletwist playlist. Since the Froyo update, it still detects the bluetooth but it doesn't start playing right away. What setting do I change to get it back to the way it used to work?

[Three10toLeft]

Does anyone know of a camera app that allows you take a picture with a button on the screen instead of the button on the phone?

I feel like if I had a softkey option it would eliminate a lot of the blur effect on some of the photos I try to take on the DX. So far, I'm somewhat disappointed in the Camera quality. Especially compared to the iPhone 4.

[Caspir]

On the Incredible, you can long press the screen to take a pic. The X doesn't do the same?

Edit - update for Flash, Froyo only. Just install the .apk from the sd card, or Chrome to Phone the link and install directly. It fixed some browser lag for me.

Edited by Caspir, 04 September 2010 - 08:17 AM.

[3rd Degree]

Does anyone know of a camera app that allows you take a picture with a button on the screen instead of the button on the phone?

I feel like if I had a softkey option it would eliminate a lot of the blur effect on some of the photos I try to take on the DX. So far, I'm somewhat disappointed in the Camera quality. Especially compared to the iPhone 4.

Search for FxCamera in the Market. I use it and I love it.