The Android Cell Phone Thread

[ILLuminate]

Ayoooo

Back in the day there was a group on BBM for fellow sufuers.

Just found out through the new Beluga chat client for Android and iOS that it's basically all about group chatting. You can add pictures, locations, etc.

I started up a new Superfuture group on there, so far it's just me and Wild Style. If anyone wants to be invited, either PM me with the email address that you used to sign up for Beluga, or post it here if you would like.

It was a lot of fun being able to share pictures and chat on BBM, so hopefully this gets going on here.

Lemme know if you want in!

these types of apps are definitely cool, but they all have a crippling drawback-- all parties must have this app in order to use it to communicate with each other.

[evisu 2000]

^ Did Cyanogen ever fix that 4G/HDMI issue on the Evo? Too lazy to browse thru xda.

nope .

[S3lf1shly3mpty]

^ Did Cyanogen ever fix that 4G/HDMI issue on the Evo? Too lazy to browse thru xda.

No, but 4G will hopefully be in the final release of 7. It's already running on some make shift kernels based on CM, just not the official CM7.

[Ed x TWWK]

these types of apps are definitely cool, but they all have a crippling drawback-- all parties must have this app in order to use it to communicate with each other.

yeah, but downloading a free app with a pretty great UI isn't too much of a pain in the ass. Almost as easy as clicking on a BBM icon.

[aleopold]

just copped at&t's htc inspire. tell me cool stuff i need sufu.

[chantheman]

sadly im not cool but i would suggest words with friends and angry birds if you are looking for games that will drain your battery

[aleopold]

chan, just got wordswithfriends. hit me up. same username as here.

[TruMoo]

-XMXDm5yuAI

[aleopold]

i would assume that someone's got a mac, and for that person i have a question: can i sync my phone's calendar, contacts, etc. with the computer? i gave it a try, but am not really sure how to do it. thanks.

edit: just imported everything into google, so i think i'm good.

[daphneYOUfindME]

finally upgraded to a gingerbread rom on my htc droid eris. this phone is a dinosaur compared to what's out now but the performance is surprisingly good.

[freecat]

i would assume that someone's got a mac, and for that person i have a question: can i sync my phone's calendar, contacts, etc. with the computer? i gave it a try, but am not really sure how to do it. thanks.

edit: just imported everything into google, so i think i'm good.

there's the missing sync with isn't free but syncs everything and you probably can find a quick way to pay less for it. i use SyncMate to sync my sms and call log (they aren't synced by google afaik).

[aleopold]

^ yeah, i figure that for what i'm doing just putting everything into google contacts/calendars is good enough. i don't like to do a ton of aftermarket shit, like to keep it as close to factory as possible. thanks though free.

[ILLuminate]

yeah, but downloading a free app with a pretty great UI isn't too much of a pain in the ass. Almost as easy as clicking on a BBM icon.

it's hard to persuade a good percentage of your phonebook to download it and then consistently use it. a bunch of people i know used kik for maybe 2 weeks and then just stopped (by a bunch, i mean around 20 people so not really that many

[Nicorice]

^ yeah, i figure that for what i'm doing just putting everything into google contacts/calendars is good enough. i don't like to do a ton of aftermarket shit, like to keep it as close to factory as possible. thanks though free.

then android's probably not for you. google's credo is to build a good toolkit and let the developers run with it. which also begs the question, why buy a smartphone if you're not going to use 3rd party apps.

[aleopold]

^ i really think it might be because i've never owned a smartphone before and i'm scared downloading shit will ruin it i should stop bein a pussy though

[mike lowrey]

I don't think these phones need a ton of aftermarket stuff. I think I have only a few that are must haves - an agenda widget to show a calendar on the desktop, power control plus which is just a slightly improved version of the stock one, and facebook. all the rest are something I could easily live without and still get plenty out of the phone.

not sure if you want to sync in order to back up or actually keep in constant sync with your computer, but if its just for back up the simplest way is to export contacts to the SD card and sync the calendar with google.

[Nicorice]

well it obviously depends on how you use your phone. but it doesn't hurt to explore the alternatives.

gtasks, an rss reader are pretty essential, the stock messaging app isn't that great either. likewise with the stock music player.

[Ed x TWWK]

Just found out the magic of Chrome to Phone today.

Adds a button next to the URL box in Chrome browser that autolaunches whatever site you're on in the phone browser.

Props to rome1 for suggesting Phone2Chrome for the reverse action.

Also, theres getting to be a few more people in the Beluga group, you guys are missing out.

[aleopold]

mike, i was thinking backup my contacts on my computer if that was at all possible. it seems saving them to my google account should work though. same thing with the calendar, just want to keep all my shit in sync so i can look at it on my phone and computer.

i read earlier in the thread that a lot of people have advanced task killer, and i was wondering what the reason is. also, what is power control plus for? does it just tell you where your battery usage is going?

[evisu 2000]

yeah syncing them with your google account is good...

as far as i know advanced task killer is useless for the most part and drains extra battery. power control is just an easier way to do shit in 1 place, like enable/disable shit... like wifi, 3g, etc.

just played homerun battle 3d for 5 hours

anyone playing get at me, name is teddanson

[greasypeanut]

No, but 4G will hopefully be in the final release of 7. It's already running on some make shift kernels based on CM, just not the official CM7.

the newest cm7 nightly has 4g working, and from what ive read, many people are using it as their daily rom

http://www.goodandevo.net/2010/12/4g-now-working-in-cyanogenmod-rom-for-htc-evo.html

[mike lowrey]

i read earlier in the thread that a lot of people have advanced task killer, and i was wondering what the reason is. also, what is power control plus for? does it just tell you where your battery usage is going?

advanced task killer is used to kill processes/apps. I suppose it potentially saves a little battery to have less apps running in the background, or not? but in this case you of course shouldn't have the killer itself running constantly, just launch it to kill apps and then close it.

power control plus is similar to the stock power control widget but you can modify it. I think its great as it allows to control various often used settings from your desktop, without having to go through menus. like enabling wifi, 3G when travelling, GPS, screen brightness and so on. and yea you can also include battery % in one of the buttons. there are plenty of configurations to have whichever settings you need the most.

[hypsterism]

From what I've read on XDA android is actually very good at managing itself, and task killers should not be used

[bryanayrb]

android words with friends blows

[Ed x TWWK]

android words with friends blows

9876543210

[Becks23]

I think lots of people would gladly pay for a decent WwF that worked... I saw the reviews and couldn't even download, free or not.

[cphamwong]

anyone catch word of the new 4G sidekick coming out this spring? having had my sidekick for quite some time, this is exciting. the LX fucking stinks and I've been too cheap to cancel my contract.

http://gizmodo.com/#!5745071/reborn-4g-sidekick-revealed

forward facing camera top left of screen = skype swag

[bryanayrb]

I think lots of people would gladly pay for a decent WwF that worked... I saw the reviews and couldn't even download, free or not.

wordsmith is the closest thing imo

i forget the other one they made but it doesn't have pass and play so fuck that

the colour scheme in wwf is superior though

[chantheman]

i like wordfued. just like the cross platform ability of wwf more. just witch the shit wouldnt force stop all the time

[Ed x TWWK]

just snagged the update for WwF, it actually makes it playable again.