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So I bought my first non-WM smartphone. Below is documentation of my quest to replace, and surpass, the experience I was used to with my Touch Diamond 2 running Windows Mobile 6.5. I am what you would probably call a windows mobile 'power user'. I've been averaging about one new WM phone every 6 months since 2005, most of them HTC. But I always keep up on what the other platforms are doing. This is just the first time I've taken the leap, and I quickly became aware of what new doors Android opened for me in just the first few hours of using the Nexus One. The OS is nice, but like most people, it really comes down to the apps for me.
I was initially thinking I'd do a big blog review, but I've run out of motivation. There's plenty of info on the Nexus One hardware and Android out there, so I don't need to rehash that stuff. What I haven't seen a lot of, though, is detailed accounts of people switching and what exactly they found.
There remains a couple major things missing from Android. The lack of an OCS client is probably the biggest one for me professionally, but since it's a Microsoft product, I don't see that changing any time soon. That and the lack of xvid playback will keep me carrying around my TD2 as backup for the foreseeable future. But other than that, I'm extremely happy and will definitely be sticking with the Nexus for a while. The next post will be a comprehensive list of (practically) every app I've installed, what they do for me, and how they compare to their WM counterparts (if there are any).
On to the apps...
Android Apps I've installed and believe I will continue to use.
This is a bit of a brain dump, so I apologize for not editing more thoroughly. Hopefully it will be useful to some, and feel free to suggest other apps you think I should try.
Advanced Task Killer - List of running apps that allows you to easily kill unwanted tasks. Nice to have for an OS that allows background apps, but I don't actually notice it slowing down, it seems to manage memory and close apps as needed.
Aldiko (replacing mobiReader, much better) - eReader with nice UI and quick access to several libraries of free books. Found Doctorow's books right away.
Amazon store - really just easier than using the web browser, but it also does barcode scanning and some other useful stuff.
BeamReader (replacing Adobe's wm reader) - rarely needed, but have to be able to see pdfs on the go sometimes
Beelicious - direct (cached) access to my delicious bookmarks. UI could be better and it's a bit of a pain to wade through them all, but it's useful.
BeyondPod (replacing YomoMedia, HUGE improvement) - It took me years to find a podcast downloader for WM that worked at all, but beyondpod is amazing. The UI is superb and inuitive. The customization is great. I have it setup to download only at night while charging. It remembers my place in podcasts and creates 'smart playlists' to make it easier to start listening. It also integrates with google reader, which is hugely useful because I can add new podcasts I'd like to listen to anywhere from google reader and then import then very quickly into beyondpod later. Also worth noting is the homescreen widget, which gives me access to basic controls and status from my home screen, no need to always navigate back into the app.
Browser (replacing Opera mobile) - Really there's not much difference here. Neither android nor WM have flash or silverlight support yet (although you can sort of get it on WM through skyfire, but that's not performant enough to be an everyday thing). Usability is about the same, but since multitouch zoom isn't enabled on nexus yet (though the hardware can technically support it), you have to use the zoom in/out buttons. This isn't as nice as zooming on the TD2 (zoom bar) or the HD2 (multitouch). Android does links to outside applications better though. It recognizes when you are browsing to a youtube video or RSS feed and will prompt correctly.
Cab4me - Nice little app for finding nearby cab companies making it very easy to see which is rated best, has cars available, and place the call. Not a must-have, but it's one of the little things.
Camera - very fast, 5mp (same as on hd2 and td2 wm phones), the LED flash is certainly better than nothing. Geotagging is default.
Car Home - this is Google's navigation 'car mode'. I think is this very cool, but honestly I won't end up using it much because I have navigation built into my car.
Carr Matey - dedicated app for recording car location so you can find it again. Another little nice thing I didn't have before. Android is just so much better at doing location-aware apps right now.
Documents to Go (replacing ms office mobile) - I'm using the lite version, which does not allow editing, but I have just never had the need to edit office docs on my phone. Sometimes I get one in an email and want to read it though, and this looks to do that fine. I'm happy.
Evernote (replacing Evernote) - I'm using this more and more as a dumping ground for everything that's not in email but I want to remember. This is what I use anytime I want to take a quick note (audio or text), or take a picture of a wine bottle or business card for later reference. It syncs with the cloud immediately and I can search that from anywhere.
Flashlight - not a big deal, but nice to have.
flickr droid (replacing shozu) - i like to have an easy way to upload a picture to flickr, this gives me that. I really like how android allows it to integrate with the normal gallery app. So after I take a picture I just have to view it, select 'share', and then select flickr droid (or other things like email, twitter, etc). It's more centralized than WM.
Flip2Silent and Vibrate During Meeting (replacing WM + HTC ringer management) - The ringer management on android is lacking as compared to WM. I used to be able to have my phone automatically go to vibrate during meetings, and silence the ringer after I pick up the phone (so it doesn't continue to be loud and annoying while I'm deciding whether to answer), AND there was a pocket mode to switch to vibrate and louder ring when the phone detected it was in a pocket. Vibrate During Meeting gives me back the meeting function, but it only works with the google calendar, not the exchange touchdown calendar in which all my actual meetings are stored. My work-around is to sync my exchange calendar with google via desktop outlook, but this doesn't keep it updated unless I have a desktop logged in. The good news is that the developer of this app says he'll look into touchdown. Flip2Silent gives me the option to just lay the phone screen-side-down to mute the ringer/vibrate functions. This will work while a call is coming in and I want to ignore it.
Foursquare - App for checking into various locations. It's treated like a game, you get points, but also get to see where your friends are and if they happen to be near you. Plus people leave tips for places.
g-backup and mybackup (replacing myphone on wm) - MS's myphone app on wm will automatically backup all user data (sms, mms, pictures, video, docs, etc) to the cloud every night. It can also restore these for when you get a new phone or hard-reset your current phone. I got used to having this. All my email and contacts are in exchange or the cloud anyway, but I don't want to lose these other things. MyPhone is also nice because all that data is accessible via the web. g-backup is cool because it will upload all this stuff to gmail, so you have it there, but it can't restore anything. MyBackup will backup and restore most things, but not pictures/video. So I'm using them both, but I'd like a more comprehensive solution.
Gallery (replacing HTC photo gallery) - The nexus gallery is implemented in 3d and is pretty cool, but ultimately it works about as well as the HTC version (which is also flashy). They need to add multi-touch zooming.
GCDroid (replacing gcz) - This is my geocaching app, but only until the official geocaching.com android app comes out (which is soon and it will be cool if their iphone app is any indication). Even though there isn't an official app for wm, the community created apps were pretty good. GCDroid is barely usable, but overall this category will be an upgrade over wm soon.
Glympse (replacing Glympse) - Something I'll rarely use, but it's cool when it applies. You can send a link to anyone that will allow them to track you via a webbrowser for x-minutes. So if you say you're on your way, they can actually see how far along you are.
Gmail (replacing hotmail) - both MS and Google have their email services integrated tightly with their mobile os. I used to forward all my gmail to hotmail so I could easily get it on my phone, so now I just flipped it. I like gmail well enough, and there are certainly features that are ahead of hotmail. I'm just happy to happy to have my personal email pushed to my phone.
Google maps (replacing google maps and bing) - This is definitely better than on WM, but ultimately it does the same stuff. It's smoother and a little easier to navigate (except, again, zooming is more difficult).
Meebo IM - nice to have an app that can log into ICQ, MSN, and GTalk all at once. Likely will rarely use it.
Messaging (replacing txt message HTC app) - this seems to be just what you'd expect. But at least it's very fast and predictable, unlike the HTC app which is sometimes laggy as hell.
Flixter Movies (replacing bing) - MS's bing app was good for finding local theaters and showtimes, this one does it with a bit more flash and some awesome additional features that i just found. It shows the rottentomatoes rating along with every movies. Plus, it has netflix integration, so it checks whether any movie is in my queue and lets me add it while browsing. It also has a list of recent dvd releases, which is great with the netflix thing. It also essentially serves as a mobile imdb. Very impressive.
Mother TED - dedicated app for watching TED talks. It seems ok but not great.
Music (replacing HTC media player) - Nothing special here. I don't know that I'll even use it much since i mostly listen to pandora or podcasts.
OpenTable - for the rare occasions when I make reservations (especially last minute) this will make it easy to find a place with an opening.
Pandora (NOT ON WM) - this is almost a reason to switch by itself. I hate that this isn't on wm yet. Very nicely implemented on android because it has a homescreen widget. I get all the basic controls without even having to go into the app, and I can use other apps while it plays in the background. Sound quality is great too.
Dialer - The android dialer is pretty basic, but it seems to get the job done. At least you can add a pause (with a comma) so that dialing conference numbers is somewhat doable (but still WAY harder than it should be, they don't do any smart parsing in meeting invites). This is still hard on WM though too.
PhoneFlicks (replacing official netflix wm app) - This is barely a replacement. Netflix's own app was better, this one is slower and harder to use, but at least I can do basic queue management from my phone, which is really nice sometimes.
SeattleBusBot - This is SO cool, and something I've wanted but couldn't find on wm. Seattle has the gps info of its buses available publicly, but their website is basically unusable on a phone (even on a desktop). This app will tell you exactly when a given bus is going to arrive, not just when it's scheduled.
Seesmic (replacing m.twitter.com on wm) - really good mobile twitter app. There are plenty of wm twitter apps, and HTC even builds one into the os now, but they tended to be slower. I think the HD2 is probably just as good as seesmic.
ShopSavvy - barcode scanning that tells you the closest places to get the given product and for how much. Haven't had a chance to see if this turns out to actually be useful, but I like the concept and test scans in the house have been accurate (which kinda surprises me because I had heard that phone barcode scanning doesn't work, but maybe the 5mp camera and snapdragon is making it more pratical).
TorrentFu (replacing starting torrents via Live mesh mobile) - This is a major upgrade (and rejected from itunes if I remember correctly). I finally switched to uTorrent on my server so I could use this. It uses the utorrent webui to connect, but exposes all the functionality like a local app. You can see progress, search for and start new torrents, and pause/resume. Very cool.
TripIt (replacing tripcase kinda) - I've only started experimenting with these two services, and i don't travel as much as I used to, but they are pretty good at what they do. Just forward your reservation emails and they build up a comprehensive itinerary and keep you updated. having a native app makes using these that much easier. Tripcase is on wm, tripit (which seems to be the better service) is on android.
tv.com - streaming tv from cbs, showtime, and some others. Haven't used this much, but always nice to have some free content.
Google Voice - At first I was skeptical about this because I don't have a real need to create a central phone number that rings all my phones, which was what i thought this service was for. Turns out you don't have to use that feature, and they also provide visual voicemail on android plus they send you transcriptions of the messages to your phone. so you can see who left messages and what they said (approximately) without even listening. So I'm definitely appreciating this feature.
Wapedia - native version of wikipedia. Nice and quick. why not?
y5 - Battery - This app is genius in its simplicity and value. It simply keeps track of where you are when you enable wifi, and remembers that going forward so it can automatically re-enable it when you come back to the same place. The rest of the time, it disables wifi to save battery. The end result here is that I never have to remember to turn wifi on or off when i come home or leave the house.
youtube (replacing youtube) - works well. nothing special to report except google's browser seems to be better at realizing when it should forward you to the youtube player.
yxflash (failing to replace coreplayer) - The only android app that claims to do xvid/divx decoding. I tried it on an xvid torrent that wm's coreplayer had no trouble with and it choked pretty hard. It played, but with extremely jittery video and slow sound. Not usable yet, but at least i know I might get something soon.
Touchdown (replacing exchange activesync on wm) - Saved the most important (and expensive @$22) for last. Without this app I wouldn't be able to sync my exchange data (contacts, email, calendar, tasks) with my phone because Android doesn't support all the required security features by default. (our company, like many these days, will not sync data with a platform that doesn't allow them to force the use of encryption, pin lock, and remote wipe) Beyond that, without the recently added feature of allowing me to flag emails for followup, I would not be able to switch to android because this workflow is too important to my everyday life.
Explanation: I check email on my phone often, and if I can respond then and there, I do, but if I can’t and need to follow up for any reason, I flag it. This creates a task in outlook which I will see the next time at my desk, so i KNOW i won't forget about it.
But there is an additional, more subtle, benefit at play here. And honestly, it's a little unfair to count it, but it makes such a huge difference in my enjoyment of my phone that I can't ignore it. I'm speaking about how the previously mentioned pin lock for exchange only applies (on android) to the touchdown app. I am not required to set a pin to unlock the phone itself. Ever since they turned on that requirement I've been punching in a 4 digit pin every damn time I wanted to glance at my phone, check the time, or even change the stupid volume! Now I'm finally free of that because google didn't bother to properly build in exchange support at the OS level. NICE! seriously though, this saves me so much annoyance it was almost worth the $530 by itself.
For a true windows power-user, it's worth shelling out the <$10 for Remote RDP. It works incredibly well, even when connecting to my Windows 7 PC from 3G across town (or presumably, the world).
The ability to USE MY HOME PC from ANYWHERE WITH NET ACCESS...
Absolutely incredible for a phone..
EDIT: my home net speed is pretty quick, which owes to fast remote access. Wifi will always be fast, though, and that's what this app is really designed for.
Good recommendation. Just downloaded the Remote RDP demo. Seems to work well.
Thank you for the run down... I just made the switch myself and a number of the apps you mentioned helped me fill some of my void from WM. I'm still a little pissed about the exchange issues but the real truth is any company I work for issues me a blackberry and doesn't allow other devices to connect to thier servers. I worked for one midsized company once that let me and that was the only time I was completely in love with my WM device. Since my personal email is through gmail the nexus one is really amazing as my personal phone.
Good Stuff! I'm in the same boat WM to Android and no turning back I'll check out some of the apps u listed...
One thing I'm looking for is a widget with power/memory/storage/sd gauges.
Always had this on the wm home for reference & cool stats!
If you geocache then GeoBeagle is the other main geocaching app. I don't cache much any more, but I have tried GeoBeagle and liked it, though I can't compare it to GCDroid...
Wanted to say thanks for the excellent app list. Touchdown is awesome. A way for me to connect to work without merging my exchange contacts with the rest of my phone. Now thats a win!
@Seraph321 - want to add my thanks for your app info. i'll be getting an N1 soon and knowing there are options to some of my "must haves" apps/features/functionality (e.g., Exchange) will help shorten my learning curve. i'm not going to abandon WM because it will continue to serve as my work phone. the N1 will be my after work/personal phone until i'm comfortable tweaking Android. that's my plan, but once i have the N1 my plan may change!
Great write up, and welcome to Android
A few suggestions
Text Messaging
The two heavyweights are Chomp SMS and Handcent SMS. Both are considerably better than the default SMS app, it mostly comes down to personal preference.
Browser
Dolphin Browser is hands down the best browser on Android right now. Multi-touch zooming, delicious integration, tabs, themes, and much more.
Flashlight
Do a market search for Nexus One Torch. It utilizes the LED from the camera flash to use as a flashlight. Very bright.
Ringer Management
Locale manages your phone based off time and location. Never used it myself, but heard good things, and I believe it was and Android Developers Challenge winner or something.
Backup
I'm simple and only need to backup text messages (most everything else is stored via SD card or synced with Google anyway). I use SMS Backup to backup my texts to Gmail, and it works fantastic. Uploads directly to my mail account, archives the texts, puts them in threads according to contact, tags them, and marks them as read. I can then easily search my text conversations from my phone or desktop browser via Gmail, and don't have to worry about deleting conversations from my phone and losing something. I've never used g-backup, so it may have this function already.
Twitter
I've tried a couple Twitter apps (not Seismic, though I'll be trying that next) and have landed on Swift, which currently is the fastest, and the best looking Twitter app I've used. I'm not a giant twitter user, so I don't know if it supports all the features any other apps might, but it works great for me, and would recommend it.
That's all for now. I don't have my phone next to me or I'd give it a quick run through and suggest something you might be missing, but I'll have to do that another time.
As for getting multi-touch support in google maps, the browser, and gallery... just wait, it's been hacked in for the G1/MT3G, it will certainly be hacked in for the Nexus One.
I'm still up in the air between ASTRO File Manager and Linda File Manager, but a file manager is an important addition to your tools, if you plan on keeping a lot of documents/files on board. Additionally, I know at least Linda has the DownloadCrutch functionality, associating itself with every filetype so that the browser will allow you to download such. To me, this last bit is essential.
Great stuff, I think a lot of people will be going from WM to Nexus because MS have failed to deliver for so long & there is now a great alternative with an OS that can be modded and a really cool handset.
So far I am happy to leave the N1 standard (not rooted) and play with apps - it is a real joy to have so many available & a single source for them.
Never going back !
+1 for Dolphin Browser... definitely a big step up over the default browser IMHO
SpyderMS said:
Great write up, and welcome to Android
A few suggestions
Text Messaging
The two heavyweights are Chomp SMS and Handcent SMS. Both are considerably better than the default SMS app, it mostly comes down to personal preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I find the text bubbles childish and cheesy. I much prefer the stock sms app with sms popup.
bofslime said:
Personally, I find the text bubbles childish and cheesy. I much prefer the stock sms app with sms popup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to agree though why doesnt the icon to the app on my home screen tell me how many unread SMS there are?
The Jones said:
I tend to agree though why doesnt the icon to the app on my home screen tell me how many unread SMS there are?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SMS Count
ok, at work with nothing to do, so I browsed through my phone, and here's a couple Apps you may be interested in. Some of these are useful, some are just kind of cool
AudioManager Widget
Nice little app that lets you adjust all your volume levels easily and quickly.
AppControl - Full Version
Best app manager I've used. Really fast, nice interface, and lots of options.
Barcode Scanner
Barcode scanning from the phone is fantastic. It's very pronounced in the Android community as well. You'll see barcodes not only on these forums, but on App websites like AndroLib.com, which let you scan the barcode, and instantly be linked to a website or Android Market page. It's not only useful on the Nexus One's 5mp camera and 1GHz processor either. Worked great on my G1.
Google Goggles
Take a picture of just about anything, and Google will search for relevant results.
Google Sky Map
Virtual Planetarium on your phone.
Layar Reality Browser 3.0
Augmented Reality browser. Displays information about objects in front of you overlayed on the camera display.
Pkt Auctions for eBay
If you use eBay at all, this is a great companion tool.
Shazam
Lets you identify music being played around you by letting your phone listen to and analyze it.
Personally, I find the text bubbles childish and cheesy. I much prefer the stock sms app with sms popup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
handcent settings -> conversation style.
handcent has a ton of settings options, including different settings for individual contacts (conversation style, font, notification tone, etc)
Thanks for all the suggestions. I've already spent too much work time today finding and installing the ones I like.
I don't actually do THAT much texting, so I'm sticking with the stock sms app for now, but I did install sms popup and set my girlfriend to popup. That's convenient.
Someone mentioned SMS backup, and yes, g-backup does the same thing only for more data, but they both need a scheduling option.
I see the nexus one torch app requires rooted access. I'm no stranger to hacking my gadgets, but this app (plus tethering, and maybe installing to the sd card) are the only things I've seen so far that have me interested in doing it. Can anyone provide some examples of why they consider rooting a must?
You mentioned Wi-Fi tethering already, but that reason alone is a pretty big reason. You may also want to theme your phone. Any kind of advancements that developers like Cyanogen come out with will require root as well. Cyanogen is known for pushing the envelope, helping to increase speed, and overall functionality of the G1, and other devices; not to mention you will get features from new versions of Android faster than those without root. I'm sure there are other reasons to, these are just off the top of my head. A lot of people are waiting until someone finds out how to reverse the bootloader unlocking process before they root, in order to preserve their warranty, and that's certainly a good idea if you don't have a lot of use for root at the moment. I did it, like most people that did, just because I can.
I'll make sure to watch the Cyanogen stuff closely. I never followed the G1 enhancements, so I guess I don't know what to expect. Sounds like it's likely I'll do it at some point though.
Is it easy to get all your apps, especially the ones that you paid for, back on your phone after rooting? Does the marketplace just remember it all and let you re-download?
I should just search for these answers.
This is combination of a gmail app question, accessory question and honeycomb OS question so I'll post it in general.
I received my Moto Bluetooth keyboard today.
This is a huge step forward in having this device be a laptop replacement for 90% of my non-work computer use. However, there are a few things missing:
1. Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch between active applications? Like alt-tab in windows? the dedicated app buttons are nice, but this means that I can only switch between certain apps.
2. Is there a way to change the behavior for the buttons? There is no "messaging" app in honeycomb. I would instead like this to map to gchat
3. Where are keyboard shortcuts in the gmail app? I want to be able to archive, reply, and forward by hitting y, r, and f.
4. in fact why do the arrow keys not do what I expect them to in gmail? They jump between links in the content of the email. I want them to be able to let me hop between emails not only within the current one. Perhaps this would be solved by keyboard shortcuts of j and k.
5. Why hasn't anyone made a decent office/productivity app yet? Is this that difficult? Is there a way to force my browser to not use the mobile version of google docs?
6. I hate to say it, but I miss blur. Only for the fact that motorola understands how to integrate with exchange well.
Blur can download attachments, reply to email, manage calendar invites, look up in the GAL, etc much much better than the crap support that google gives out of the box. And before anyone asks, TouchDown for Tablets has issues in honeycomb and does not work for me.
That being said, these are all minor software tweaks. I love the device and really hope that moto/google can address these issues.
If anyone has any known workarounds or solutions please let me know as well.
I don't have my Xoom (yet) and I don't have a keyboard. But I do have an OG Droid. And you can setup your shortcuts for it by going into Settings->Applications->Quick Launch. You might check to see if that option is there for the Xoom.
Android apps do not have keyboard shortcuts, period. The onscreen keyboard isn't meant for that and it's not designed to be used with an external keyboard (primarily).
Dang! While I was typing my thread someone else had apparently a similar question... could one of the admins/moderators please merge my thread with this??!!? Thanks!
Bauxite said:
Android apps do not have keyboard shortcuts, period. The onscreen keyboard isn't meant for that and it's not designed to be used with an external keyboard (primarily).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
android-tips.com/use-keyboard-shortcuts-to-switch-between-applications/
It does look like there are keyboard shortcuts, but some of them have been dropped in the move to honeycomb. This is odd because I would think that more people will be using external keyboards to do actual work with honeycomb.
bryz2 said:
5. Why hasn't anyone made a decent office/productivity app yet? Is this that difficult?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe the fact Honeycomb has been out all of 6 days...
You ever try writing a complex program such as that? No?! I didn't think so. Things like that take time. not even MS can pump out a copy of office in 6 days with their enormous development staff.
chaoscentral said:
Maybe the fact Honeycomb has been out all of 6 days...
You ever try writing a complex program such as that? No?! I didn't think so. Things like that take time. not even MS can pump out a copy of office in 6 days with their enormous development staff.
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Click to collapse
lol. Quite defensive.
1. the sdk has been out for a while. Ever think about why there were apps on launch day? Those companies must have millions of people!!!
2. Since you asked, I have written much more complex apps. I'm a systems engineer. Phone apps are relatively simple.
3. Android has been out for years now. There is still not a decent office app on any flavor of android.
bryz2 said:
3. Android has been out for years now. There is still not a decent office app on any flavor of android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There pops the bubble
zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-devices/2011/03/02/asuss-eee-pad-tablets-show-off-android-30-40091991/#story
hopefully if they keep releasing devices with keyboards, keyboard support and office applications will only get better.
bryz2 said:
lol. Quite defensive.
1. the sdk has been out for a while. Ever think about why there were apps on launch day? Those companies must have millions of people!!!
2. Since you asked, I have written much more complex apps. I'm a systems engineer. Phone apps are relatively simple.
3. Android has been out for years now. There is still not a decent office app on any flavor of android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The API was finalized two days before the Xoom was released. Also the SDK is completely unusable without a Xoom to test on, so if a developer didn't have one there was almost no way they could start developing it before it came out unless google gave them a pre-production unit. This is why there are so few xoom apps right now, you could not develop for honeycomb without one unless you were okay with the emulator going .001 frames per second.
Google Suggests Google Docs. I think its very good considering it is web based.
We use it in our organization, publishing live statistical information about the operation every few minutes to shared spreadsheets, from which our users can interact.
Google Docs users can open, edit, share spreadsheets, Txt Docs with formating, and now Power Point without any issues from Android Devices, Apple, and any other web device.
I think Quick Office is also good for a small screen, and it has been out for years.
Or, Email moves docs around very nicely as well.
But in the end, Android is not Ubuntu. Andriod is not MacOS. Android is not Windows
If you would like to create complex documents, pick up a laptop. I hear they are available, and portable.
youngproguru said:
Google Suggests Google Docs. I think its very good considering it is web based.
We use it in our organization, publishing live statistical information about the operation every few minutes to shared spreadsheets, from which our users can interact.
Google Docs users can open, edit, share spreadsheets, Txt Docs with formating, and now Power Point without any issues from Android Devices, Apple, and any other web device.
I think Quick Office is also good for a small screen, and it has been out for years.
Or, Email moves docs around very nicely as well.
But in the end, Android is not Ubuntu. Andriod is not MacOS. Android is not Windows
If you would like to create complex documents, pick up a laptop. I hear they are available, and portable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly why I want a Google Documents app for Android tablets, since Google Documents doesn't load well in our browsers.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
Hi everbody,
I've been using my transformer for about a month now and all in all I am very happy with it. It has been rooted and Custom ROMed since day 1 and I got a big amount of apps on it.
As I use the transformer mostly for things I did with my regular computer, it has now come to a point where I find the transformer a bit too less integrated with my android phone.
With my regular PC it's been a one-click-action to send my current browser window to the phone via "Chrome2Phone" and vice versa with "2cloud".
Now with the transformer I have to use a chat app or twitter or anything alike to transfer the links to my phone. It takes a little to much effort to open the chat app, open the message, click the link... you get the point.
But instead of searching for a solution limited to this particular problem, it came to my mind, to ask you, how you "connect" both android devices to get the most out of it:
How do you get the best symbiosis-like experience out of an Android Tablet together with an Android Smartphone?
I'm not talking about having contacts in sync or tethering the phone to the tablet, it's more meant like the above things...
Maybe how you accomplish having apps and their data in sync, easily transfer things back and force from phone/tablet,
make notifications appear on both, have ringtone settings, locks, themes etc synchronized, have the same media on both devices, have a permanent dlna server on one of them to be available at every time, use one device as the input device for the other and so on.
Please think about everything that connects both devices in a smart way. As you can see I'm suffering from a lack of ideas considering how to make most use of my devices.
Is there a way to make an app bought/downloaded from the market on the phone automatically appear on the tablet and vice versa?
I hope we can collect a good collection of input, app recommendations to get more out of our great devices.
I am happily waiting for your answers,
thanks in advance
modmatt
FYI: My setup consists of a Transformer 16gb wifi on the Revolver ROM and a Motorola Defy with CM7.2.
Textab
Swyped from my Nexus One
How about a Samsung Galaxy Note? http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote/note/index.html?type=find
EDIT: it's a 5" (or 5.3 maybe?) tablet/phone combo. Supposed to be able to fulfill both roles.
I have my tablet using my phone's internet when I'm not at home, I have my contacts and calandar synced on both and have a dropbox account. I also have the app Tablet Remote which isn't as I would like it yet but currently does allow me to control my tablet with my phone and vice versa.
I use my phone for music, texting, reading e-mails/news on the go and my tablet for when I settle down. I'd say they're working pretty well as a combo.
@Mutnat Isn't that a bit too big? I mean 4,65 inch is also enormous but it seems it's getting bigger and bigger!
By using more cloud services (Dropbox, Cashbase, etc) and using Tablet Talk for SMS stuff -- works waaay better than TexTab or Bluetooth SMS.
No_u said:
@Mutnat Isn't that a bit too big? I mean 4,65 inch is also enormous but it seems it's getting bigger and bigger!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likely, yes. Too big for a phone, too small for a tablet. But having never tried one, I can't say for sure.
First of all thank you for all the answers!
The answer from No_u is pretty much what I expected to read
Thanks to Spidey01 I learned about a new cloud service to manage my expenses.
I already read about the shared text stuff beforehand, but unfortunately most of my mobile to mobile communication has shifted to Whatsapp and while there is a solution to run Whatsapp on the tablet, it adds more conflicts, as the tablet left at home with wifi permanently connected catches all those messages I'd rather get on my phone.
Concerning the Samsung Note I go with Mutnat. But it's definetly not an option for me as I prefer to have to separate devices.
One thing I'd like to throw in is Skifta, which is a fairly simple DLNA Server/Client that can be run on any android device. Start it on the phone, start in on the tablet and watch all your phone photos on the big screen.
Still curious what others do, so keep the thread going
Nice Weekend for all of u
SiNJiN76 said:
Textab
Swyped from my Nexus One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd recommend TabletTalk over Textab..
Cool thread idea. Hope we get some more responses coming in.
I've been playing with Evernote and it has some sync-between-devices features.
Box.net is great for cloud storage and with esfile explorer, you can view the contents as an on machine folder on android. Gladinet has a free program that lets you mount cloud services as local folders. Add foldersync from the market to android and you can sync cloud folders to all machines.
Not ideal and not the continuous client you're aiming for, but helps keep the folders (pics, documents, movies, etc) in Sync.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
hi,
he I use DeskSMS for SMS on Tab ...
Work in 3G Wifi ...
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
on exactly what you want, no, i have never seen and dont know. but if you are willing to make an app that collects this data and sends it to the likes of box.net or dropbox and receive it and open on the other device would be good.
Apps like Colornote, Astrid and Evernote sync so quick notes on the phone end up on the tab and Google Voice works on the tab too. I use that number for text messages.
I have found twonky mobile very good for sharing media between devices.
I recommend Google Chrome as your main browser so that you're synced across all your devices. However it works just on Android 4.0.
I'm using so a GNEX, a linux PC, a Windows PC, a Windows laptop and my Transformer and it makes life a lot more easier.
In addition I recommend Google Music makes the handling with Music over multiple devices much easier.
And last but not least Google Docs for documents.
The only thing which I'm missing is an app which gives me the possibility to sync all my ebooks.
Nebucatnetzer said:
The only thing which I'm missing is an app which gives me the possibility to sync all my ebooks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Aldiko and Aldiko Sync. The pro version has an automatic sync to dropbox. The great thing about Aldiko Sync is it remembers where you left off reading and saves that state, so when you switch devices you can immediately start reading.
This is using the app Onlive Desktop, available in the market but daftly "not compatible"
Alternative download links near the bottom of this android police page:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/0...-and-more-hands-on/#download-and-availability
OK so download the app from android police.
go to the onlive website, sign up for an account, ignore the USA only nonsense, it works fine in uk.
install the app, sign in, and you get, windows desktop with Office.
you can minimise, resize windows, spell check works, its fast and smooth and the most awesome app i have ever seen - it ROCKS
You need to pay $5 per month for internet explorer but Office is free with 2gb dropbox storage.
Pics attached!!!!!!
wow. That's cool. Works well.
Anyone have it working with the keyboard dock??
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
Keyboard dock works perfectly.
The back key works like the ESC button in excel for example.
shortcuts work in word too.
The 2gb storage is not dropbox btw, its onlive's own servers. There is only 1 save place in the app which auto syncs with their cloud storage on the onlive servers, which is not connected to your transformers file structure.
So to open apps on your computer you have to go to:
http://files.onlive.com where you login again and use a web interface to upload, download, delete, rename.
I did this in dolphin browser - you cant do this from within the app, you have to use an alternate browser.
Makes it a bit harder to keep all your files synced etc but i think they are working on improving the storage / saving relationship so it will be like ubuntu and share your data - who knows if or when though!
only thing i have found missing - no macros in excel, you cant open the VBA coding pages or bring up a macro tab or recording ability. not the end of the world but would have been nice!
website interface pic attached:
how did you get the dock to work?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
not sure what you mean? Is your dock not doing anything at all in Onlive?
I just started typing and using the trackpad, nothing special, it was always working.
try restarting or maybe unplugging and replugging your dock into the tablet to see if that does it.
Got it to work had to uninstall the app and reinstall
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
I wish there was a way to change the keyboard language then its will be perfect
Well, you can change the language allright (I tried Word in french) but the keyboard layout seems to be impossible to enable... so as much as I like the concept, this app is useless for me, as I just can't type in french...
Must be the reason why it is not available in my country, according to the Market.
Does networking work on it? Is there any way to get another browser on it without having to pay for IE?
It's nice but the novelty wears off pretty quick IMO. The features are too limited. I would rather use splashtop to stream my own win 7.
horndroid said:
It's nice but the novelty wears off pretty quick IMO. The features are too limited. I would rather use splashtop to stream my own win 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree Nice to have a familiar page to work on, but unless you have wifi access it is useless. Several other tools offer many of the functions, without the strings attached. Also company not clear about security of your saved docs.
The transformer is compatible if you install by going to market.android.com in your browser and pushing the install to your device. Weird, but it works.
Sweeny Russ said:
The transformer is compatible if you install by going to market.android.com in your browser and pushing the install to your device. Weird, but it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be compatible from the market on the tablet that's how I got it.
External mouse seems to work OK but the right-click was not working properly (at all). Scroll wheel wasn't working either.
If anyone is paying for the plus features can you install programs on it?
I heard you can but that would be awesome if you could use steam or something or install onlive.. (lol)
It might be a really limited version of windows 7 but if you can install programs that's pretty cool. I have a macbook unfortunately so I think it's really cool being able to play around with windows 7 even if it's not full featured. And to give onlive credit. Quite a few of those "touch screen" tablet like windows 7 devices run around $1,000 or so. I've played with a few at the MS Store. Not everyone might have a use for this but I'l sure some will and it's just really cool to be able to do.
I too would only be interested in this if I can use some of my familiar windows apps, like photoshop and after effects..that would be the only reason if onlive can get these apps installed and working on my TF, otherwise I will stick with splashtop and just remote to my home-based PC.
luna_c666 said:
I too would only be interested in this if I can use some of my familiar windows apps, like photoshop and after effects..that would be the only reason if onlive can get these apps installed and working on my TF, otherwise I will stick with splashtop and just remote to my home-based PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then OnLive will have to pay Adobe a ton of licensing fee, which will be passed down to the users, or resort to using advertisements.
Either way, I am not willing to pay a fee or deal with advertisements to use programs that I already have(not gonna say own, lol) on my personal computer.
i have just used word and excel to prep a finance report, works fine. Bit slower and clunkier than doing it on a PC, but if you dont have a PC and therefore cannot use splashtop then this is a decent solution.
i needed to use both word and excel, you just cannot do that in polaris - it only allows 1 type of document open at once so you can flick between the two.
i tried using kingsoft office but you cant even do bullet points in its word, and its excel cant even do formulas lol
so for me to use word and excel, onlive is the only way and it worked fine, even if a bit slower than an actual PC.
thumbs up from me!
First off,
Congrats GOOG, looks like we have a great (and affordable) tablet to play with! Some of the issues like missing SD, HDMI (has this been confirmed?) are really no big deal for me, 16GIG is huge, cheap storage is really spoiling us
Second,
I haven't used an Android product yet (this will be my first), moved from my amazing Motorola E6 (it was Linux/EZX based, a rooted device ran most linux ported apps for EZX, xmms baby) to the slick Nokia E71, and to Apple (currently on 4S). I have always known that Android is the way, but didn't move (too many choices in hardware?)
Ques 1) Will all Android market place apps work on the Nexus Tablet? I have seen some power apps (incredibly we have Total Commander port for android, Christian rocks, waiting for Alex to release DC port now)
Ques 2) How well do android spread sheet applications work on Tablets? Has anyone really stress tested complex excel / open office functions on Tablets? How will a spreadsheet feel on a 7 inch? Can I open Spreadsheets from email, edit, save a copy and send back on the fly?
Ques 3) Do you guys login in to remote VNC sessions using your tablet? What has been your experience on Android tablets? Is it smooth? My wife uses an iPad, and we use that to remote control a laptop connected to our LCD, I hate the experience
Ques 4) I intend to use this tablet for a lot of reading (black background, grey text), will Nexus 7 have any application that could render PDF text having unicode UTF-8 fonts + ability to reflow the text so that it fits the page width? I haven't seen any such application in the Apple iOS space, but incredibly Adobe did this on Symbian (UTF-8 with text reflow).
Quest 5) How do Android tablets fair in terms of productivity tools? (PIM, Task Management, Email, Reminders)
... I actually have a bunch of more questions, but I guess I will have to hold until we get more reviews of the Nexus 7.
Oops... I didn't realize my Sony T1 reader is an Android device. So this makes Nexus 7 my second, my bad.
Besides, *bump*
hashibahoohaa said:
First off,
Ques 2) How well do android spread sheet applications work on Tablets? Has anyone really stress tested complex excel / open office functions on Tablets? How will a spreadsheet feel on a 7 inch? Can I open Spreadsheets from email, edit, save a copy and send back on the fly?
Ques 3) Do you guys login in to remote VNC sessions using your tablet? What has been your experience on Android tablets? Is it smooth? My wife uses an iPad, and we use that to remote control a laptop connected to our LCD, I hate the experience
Quest 5) How do Android tablets fair in terms of productivity tools? (PIM, Task Management, Email, Reminders)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2) In my experience the basic excel functions work (sum, avg, etc.) I have had trouble with some of the more technical ones, and IIf statements do not work at all.
3) If you are talking about remote desktop...it still sucks.
5) I like android for productivity there are lots of apps and widgets, and they claim there is even newer and better stuff in 4.1 that this tablet will take advantage of.
Welcome to Android! Unfortunately I'm new to the tablet space, but I can answer your first question.
1) Android apps were made to be versatile. Well coded apps (key word there), will usually scale correctly according to what screen size you have. So a dev who makes a good phone app, should have it scale to a tablet screen.
Unfortunately, the lack of Android tablet success has led to a lack of "tablet specific" layouts for apps. So tablet users tend to have blown up versions of phone apps instead of UI's that take advantage of the extra real estate. But I think the success of the Nexus 7 might change a few developers minds.....
Edit- So just to clarify, most market apps will work on both phones and tablets. Unfortunately the wide variety of devices out there means you are much more likely to get occasional compatibility issues. Just a sacrifice you have to make for all the choice Android offers.
StyleNSkillz said:
2) In my experience the basic excel functions work (sum, avg, etc.) I have had trouble with some of the more technical ones, and IIf statements do not work at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually if N7 can do Google docs without the horrible text box (save / cancel) rendering for individual cell edits, I would be very comfortable. Google docs is fully portable with my Open Office (Libre Office) sheets.
3) If you are talking about remote desktop...it still sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, VNC as in running a TighVNC server on Windows/Linux and accessing it using a VNC client from the tablet. I am worried now, with my wife's iPad, I at-least get real estate to vent my frustration on, with 7 inch I may need a wall next to me (to bang my head on)
5) I like android for productivity there are lots of apps and widgets, and they claim there is even newer and better stuff in 4.1 that this tablet will take advantage of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please name a few of tablets?
Nospin said:
Welcome to Android!
Edit- So just to clarify, most market apps will work on both phones and tablets. Unfortunately the wide variety of devices out there means you are much more likely to get occasional compatibility issues. Just a sacrifice you have to make for all the choice Android offers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate - I think 4s is my last apple device, I am moving.
But too many hardware options with Android - none perfect, I wonder why GOOG bought Motorola Mobility
hashibahoohaa said:
First off,
Ques 1) Will all Android market place apps work on the Nexus Tablet? I have seen some power apps (incredibly we have Total Commander port for android, Christian rocks, waiting for Alex to release DC port now)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took the Samsung Tab for a spin yesterday, not bad at all (the slate with all those ports missing in N7 making users drool over it, it's nice. I installed a couple of applications from the market (TC for one), very smooth indeed. Thanks for confirming this. I hope I will need very little applications besides the stock applications on the tablet.
Ques 2) How well do android spread sheet applications work on Tablets? Has anyone really stress tested complex excel / open office functions on Tablets? How will a spreadsheet feel on a 7 inch? Can I open Spreadsheets from email, edit, save a copy and send back on the fly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this as well yesterday on the Samsung tab - I tried the Acer 7 tab as well, but I think it was a old android version (HC). Polaris Office Spreadsheet may fit my needs - but really need to spend an hour or 2 to really know if it gets the job done.
Ques 4) I intend to use this tablet for a lot of reading (black background, grey text), will Nexus 7 have any application that could render PDF text having unicode UTF-8 fonts + ability to reflow the text so that it fits the page width? I haven't seen any such application in the Apple iOS space, but incredibly Adobe did this on Symbian (UTF-8 with text reflow).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If anybody has used a PDF reader which does UTF8 + text re-flow + font adjust, please let me know - this would be killer feature for me if it works.
Quest 5) How do Android tablets fair in terms of productivity tools? (PIM, Task Management, Email, Reminders)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like K9 could be my email solution - has anybody ported mutt to android yet?