[Discussion] Who else thinks the GS5 barely needs 3rd party apps?! - Sprint Galaxy S 5 General

On my GS4 I used Exdialer for the phone, EvolveSMS for texting, Dolphin for the web, etc. Honestly Sammy has impressed with the revamped apps this time around! Love the new phone dialer app with the chat head bubble for multitasking when on a phone call, and love the new messaging app as well and now (sort of) has quick reply and has that nice blue color. Also love the Toolbox feature as well for multitasking, although I wish the apps from Toolbox opened in a Halo-like window, that'd be awesome. So IMO, no more 3rd party apps needed for that!!

Agreed although it didn't take me long to install HandcentSMS though.

Yep handcent is all I need
Sent from my NSA screened S5

Still using Hangouts for my SMS needs. All the other native apps are nice though.

Related

[Q] Google Experience on a Vibrant?

I am first to admit I am a Android noob. I was too late to buy a N1 as I am not a developer, so I bought a Vibrant. I do enjoy it (when the GPS behaves). But it doesn't seem to run as smoothly as my friends N1. His Google Voice seems so much faster than mine. Navigation is quicker. Even browsing.
Is it possible to get a clean Android install on the Vibrant?
Is that what you guys are referring to as rooting or firmwares?
Is there a way to remove the daily briefing, Amazon MP3 and the other bloatware?
Yes, to have the stock "vanilla" Google experience it would require a root.
If you do not want to root I suggest Launcher Pro its the closest you can get to the vanilla experience without rooting. It also made my vibrant a hell lot snappier VS touchwiz crap.
PathogenX said:
Yes, to have the stock "vanilla" Google experience it would require a root.
If you do not want to root I suggest Launcher Pro its the closest you can get to the vanilla experience without rooting. It also made my vibrant a hell lot snappier VS touchwiz crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or.. ADW Launcher, I prefer ADW Launcher.. to be honest, USE BOTH. I know a lot of people suggest Launcher Pro for whatever reasons, ADW Launcher is about the same, if not better. It depends on the person and how they want to use their phone. And "touchwiz" crap is honestly NOT that bad. I enjoy the notification bars with the toggle wifi/silent/gps etc.
zephiK said:
Or.. ADW Launcher, I prefer ADW Launcher.. to be honest, USE BOTH. I know a lot of people suggest Launcher Pro for whatever reasons, ADW Launcher is about the same, if not better. It depends on the person and how they want to use their phone. And "touchwiz" crap is honestly NOT that bad. I enjoy the notification bars with the toggle wifi/silent/gps etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never got accustomed to ADW. Preferred the look of LP more anyways.
Also the wifi/silent/gps toggle and notification bar are still there even if you are using LP.
It keeps the nice features of TW but gets rid of that iPhone looking interface.
PathogenX said:
I never got accustomed to ADW. Preferred the look of LP more anyways.
Also the wifi/silent/gps toggle and notification bar are still there even if you are using LP.
It keeps the nice features of TW but gets rid of that iPhone looking interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They honestly don't look that separate from appearances at all. And I know that they're there but they're implemented WITHIN TouchWiz. The TouchWiz launcher is only ONE part of TouchWiz. You were blatantly insulting the whole (I guess you would call), "TouchWiz experience." With a "Google Experience" the toggle wifi/silent/gps etc aren't there.
I'm just saying that ADW Launcher and Launcher Pro depends on the person and that you shouldn't be so biased on saying "oh try launcher pro" because they're honestly both good. It just depends on the person's personality. Some people may enjoy the extra settings that ADW Launcher provide and its also Open Source, which can be a big deal for some people.
zephiK said:
Or.. ADW Launcher, I prefer ADW Launcher.. to be honest, USE BOTH. I know a lot of people suggest Launcher Pro for whatever reasons, ADW Launcher is about the same, if not better. It depends on the person and how they want to use their phone. And "touchwiz" crap is honestly NOT that bad. I enjoy the notification bars with the toggle wifi/silent/gps etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if I root, I can remove the unwanted apps? I notice slacker and Amazon mp3 running all the time. I've never even launched or signed into either of them
How would I get the original Google apps that Samsung and T-mobile replaced with their own?
Marshgeek said:
So if I root, I can remove the unwanted apps? I notice slacker and Amazon mp3 running all the time. I've never even launched or signed into either of them
How would I get the original Google apps that Samsung and T-mobile replaced with their own?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes if you root you can remove the 'bloatware' applications that come pre-installed with the phone. There are threads on XDA in regards about it, you can either use Root Explorer or ADB. Do some searching on the forums and I'm sure that you'll find it! Because it's a pain to explain how it SDK works and all that. Check out the stickied thread in the General forums and it'll briefly describe about how to remove bloatware.
Samsung/T-Mobile did not replace the Google applications at all, the google applications are never removed. I think you're misconceiving it with something else. The google applications are applications such as but not limited to: YouTube, Gmail, Account Sync and all things of that sort. Samsung basically just redesigned it so the UI looks "better" in their eyes (not saying that it does or anything but thats what Samsung believes in).
T-Mobile did not replace anything. All they did was change the market with the third tab as T-Mobile rather than Downloads. However they did add 'bloatware' as 30-day trials and things of that sort.

The GREATEST Android App Ever!

I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on this. They did a huge study on the greatest invention ever. You would think it would be the automobile or the electric light bulb. The invention that won, however, was the printing press - interesting.
MY FAVORITE:
Without a doubt, the greatest Android App IMHO is NANDROID. (Lol, I'm not even sure it is an "app" per se, or just a part of Recovery...)
It is the ultimate Mulligan. The perfect do-over. Ctrl-Z for flashaholics. We can try any new rom that comes along without risking a thing of the setup we KNOW we like.
That's mine, what's yours?
angry birds is mine....it makes the work day go by faster...lol
Pulse. Not only does it eliminate the need for a bunch other apps (Android Central, Engadget, other news...), but it is beautiful and intuitive. There really is no other app that has that level of quality IMHO.
PowerAMP is a close 2nd.
akarol said:
Pulse. Not only does it eliminate the need for a bunch other apps (Android Central, Engadget, other news...), but it is beautiful and intuitive. There really is no other app that has that level of quality IMHO.
PowerAMP is a close 2nd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow...Pulse is awesome. Thanks for cluing me into it.
Mine are probably:
Angry Birds
Tapatalk
RockPlayer (for playing .avi and .mkv videos)
Winamp
LauncherPro Plus
for me its app brain as it allows you to keep your apps list in a text file to remain consistent from flash to flash.
Pandora Radio. I use it everywhere. While I'm playing Xbox, while I'm driving, while I'm pooping, while I'm eating, plus I use it on every platform.
I never heard of Pulse before. The guys behind this did a great job. Best news app I've ever seen.
For RSS feeds you can't beat Newsrob. Not a fan of Pulse - too busy for me.
My rss reader of choice is Feedr, but app I can't live without goes to LauncherPro plus
Got to agree with th OP on "nandroid"... it was the only reason I rooted in the first place. But like the OP said, not to sure it counts as an app.
With that in mind..... LauncherPro(free), Launcher-X Pro, Switch Pro, mClock and BattStat..... hmmm.... there all just widgets. They court as apps right?
If not.... Mixzing, CardAce: Hold'em and Docs ToGo.
My top twp apps are:
Xiia player - steaming radio, best out of the few available, better than Pandora because IMHO the bit rate Pandora runs sucks ass, sounds like 24kbs mono to me. You can easily find commercial free internet radio like chronix.
Swarm - very nice torrent client.
Facebook! Just sayin'!
I thought pulse was awesome until google reader officially launched the app, I think it's much more functional than pulse though it's not at all stylish, but from a reader I just care about the content, and it's delivered nicely with the reader app.
I have a finite set of apps that I'd call best. As far as making my life easier, Titanium Backup (pro) is just wonderful. I've found myself restoring and backing up apps as I like to flash often. And it restores everything about the app, so I don't have to worry about missing stuff on a restore.
Also launcher pro has helped the convenience of using my phone. I trimmed the screens down to three and have two docks and just use folders so when I use my phone I'm not fiddling around with screens but getting exactly what I need.
indigo0086 said:
I have a finite set of apps that I'd call best. As far as making my life easier, Titanium Backup (pro) is just wonderful. I've found myself restoring and backing up apps as I like to flash often. And it restores everything about the app, so I don't have to worry about missing stuff on a restore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup(pro) is number one easily in my book. hell I'm using it right now! I have most of the time around a hundred apps and its made flashing new roms way less painless
I'd say there are a lot of better apps but I end up using Klondike solitaire the most.
Remote web desktop is pretty frakin sweet
xlGmanlx said:
Remote web desktop is pretty frakin sweet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TeamViewer > all remote desktop apps.
Mine would have to be "mikandi"
Sent from the MATRIX... while plugged into my EVO... using the XDA app... from a galaxy far-far away.......
If Nandroid counts it's number one, with Titanium Backup a distant second. Without these two apps there'd be a lot less rooted phones and active rom flashing, as others have mentioned.
TB isn't my greatest app ever pick since its primary use (for me at least) is backing up all apps + data before changing roms, which again I would only occasionally do were it not for Nandroid. To be a truly great app, a program needs to extend the functionality of your phone in a way that creates a valuable new function or enhances an existing one already on your phone, making it a more essential tool in your life and possibly replacing others you currently use.
The first app I bought was LauncherPro. I've tried most of the competition, and LP is the best for my needs. It's awesome but greatest app ever? I have a feeling that many of these features will eventually end up incorporated into Android.
"Pic to pdf" type apps are pretty amazing. Yes, you can do each step individually with other apps and share the same end-product, but in less than a minute I can open CamScanner, create and then upload a finished work order to Google Docs. I purchased CamScanner after trying them all last month, it has the features I need for my job and is already saving me a lot of time.
Final answer: the Google Search widget. Is that cheating? I get access to almost anything with one button press and voice input, from sending texts to maps/navigation to a comprehensive search that searches pretty much anything you want including apps, email, calendar, voicemail, texts, the web, etc. Can anything alse compare?
subsonic is nice too
i was gonna say rom manager.

TouchWiz > Vanilla Android

Okay, the title is not totally true - but I had to name this post something to get your attention.
The point of this post is to inquire about why so many people hate on TouchWiz. I sold my Vibrant and moved to Nexus S for a various of reasons but I find myself missing quite a few aspects of TouchWiz.
For example, how Samsung put the bluetooth/GPS/silence/WiFi buttons in the pull down menu - brilliant use of otherwise empty space. How on the dialpad you could easily call someone without having to access contacts by simply typing their name. How the SMS app had great alternating text/color chat (yes I know handsent app, etc. but I am talking about stock). (And of course, I like TouchWiz launcher over Vanilla launcher but that is more of a personal preference than a superior feature.)
I am sure there are advantages Vanilla has over TouchWiz but after using both I hardly see why TouchWiz gets so much hate.
Okay I am back to trolling Nexus S forums.
Not a big fan of the iphone-esque square icons so I use launcherpro, but otherwise, it's great.
I like TW and ADW.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
TW + launcher pro is >>>> all
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Also there is great syncing between contacts in MMS app as well.
I type the company name of some contact and name appears in messaging app.
DarkAgent said:
Okay, the title is not totally true - but I had to name this post something to get your attention.
The point of this post is to inquire about why so many people hate on TouchWiz. I sold my Vibrant and moved to Nexus S for a various of reasons but I find myself missing quite a few aspects of TouchWiz.
For example, how Samsung put the bluetooth/GPS/silence/WiFi buttons in the pull down menu - brilliant use of otherwise empty space. How on the dialpad you could easily call someone without having to access contacts by simply typing their name. How the SMS app had great alternating text/color chat (yes I know handsent app, etc. but I am talking about stock). (And of course, I like TouchWiz launcher over Vanilla launcher but that is more of a personal preference than a superior feature.)
I am sure there are advantages Vanilla has over TouchWiz but after using both I hardly see why TouchWiz gets so much hate.
Okay I am back to trolling Nexus S forums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vanilla has no advantages. Touchwiz just adds extra features and functions on top of Vanilla. I personally dont like the launcher and running Launcher Pro Plus with Gingerbread theme. The people that say TW is not good, simply are too stupid to understand what Touchwiz is
Its hard to go back to Vannilla.........
I like the notification toggles and the full codec support (which isn't really TW, just Samsung). I hate the dialer / contacts changes, really miss old-school CM-modified contacts/dialer app. Launcher & messaging just don't matter one way or another because they're so easily replaced by superior apps.
Saiboogu said:
I like the notification toggles and the full codec support (which isn't really TW, just Samsung). I hate the dialer / contacts changes, really miss old-school CM-modified contacts/dialer app. Launcher & messaging just don't matter one way or another because they're so easily replaced by superior apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually prefer TW dialer vs stock.
Sense is another overlay. even better then Touchwiz. I heard MotoBlur sucks.
Yeah the only thing I hate about Twiz is the launcher. The other enhancements are great.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
TouchWiz is good. It's just ill-optimized.
Stock Android does not look good.
N8ter said:
TouchWiz is good. It's just ill-optimized.
Stock Android does not look good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gingerbread changes all that Vanilla android (pre 2.3) in my opinion looks fine. I prefer features than it looking pretty.
The launcher is the only part i dont like.
Everything else is awsome, I looked it over sense because sense feels heavy.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
zephiK said:
Gingerbread changes all that Vanilla android (pre 2.3) in my opinion looks fine. I prefer features than it looking pretty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TouchWiz adds features to Android. It doesn't take anything away, so that part of you statement (the last sentence) makes zero (0) sense. Some things like Mobile AP were huge advances over what Stock Android had to offer, not to mention the fact that Stock Android Widgets are simply terrible as well (which is part of HTC Sense's allure - it has Awesome widgets), as well as its Social Network integration.
I think you should think of these things more as a consumer than a tinkerer. They do outnumber "us" and they have expectations and requirements that the minority takes for granted.
Also, Gingerbread doesn't change anything. You can go use a Nexus S and see. It changes very little. A few cosmetic changes, and that's it.
You can buy a better keyboard on FroYo or Eclair no problem (or use Skype).
The UI overhauls were pushed back to Honeycomb, and I don't have much faith in Google - who have historically proved they are inept when to comes to UI design. I think they did buy a company that does this kind of work, so maybe they'll suprise me.
Doubt I'll be on Android by the time that's released, though, unless they change the way the phones are updated.
I like the Tw extra features, the look of it not so much. I use it with launcher pro which just gives a your own look, I didn't know how I would like it coming from MT3G LE. But I gotta say that's one of the features holding me back from buying the nexus s.
Vibrant
N8ter said:
TouchWiz adds features to Android. It doesn't take anything away, so that part of you statement (the last sentence) makes zero (0) sense. Some things like Mobile AP were huge advances over what Stock Android had to offer, not to mention the fact that Stock Android Widgets are simply terrible as well (which is part of HTC Sense's allure - it has Awesome widgets), as well as its Social Network integration.
I think you should think of these things more as a consumer than a tinkerer. They do outnumber "us" and they have expectations and requirements that the minority takes for granted.
Also, Gingerbread doesn't change anything. You can go use a Nexus S and see. It changes very little. A few cosmetic changes, and that's it.
You can buy a better keyboard on FroYo or Eclair no problem (or use Skype).
The UI overhauls were pushed back to Honeycomb, and I don't have much faith in Google - who have historically proved they are inept when to comes to UI design. I think they did buy a company that does this kind of work, so maybe they'll suprise me.
Doubt I'll be on Android by the time that's released, though, unless they change the way the phones are updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google also hired one of the guys who was in charge of WebOS UI design so I think they may have something stellar with Honeycomb.
Back on topic, all the things I hate about TouchWiz are easily replaced by Launcher Pro Plus.
The other TouchWiz additions are pretty functional and add a lot of value.
N8ter said:
TouchWiz adds features to Android. It doesn't take anything away, so that part of you statement (the last sentence) makes zero (0) sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a diehard CM fan form the G1 days, so TW was a bit of culture shock to me. Even ignoring the visual changes, and swapping out the launcher, I was cursing the dialer everytime I went to switch from dialer to contacts, or try to check how long ago I called someone.
N8ter said:
not to mention the fact that Stock Android Widgets are simply terrible as well (which is part of HTC Sense's allure - it has Awesome widgets),
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock widgets are functional. Sleek and functional too. Maybe not flashy, but they work. TW widgets? Ugh, don't get me started on that bit of bloat. LauncherPro widgets have them both beat though - better functionality than stock, better look than TW.
N8ter said:
I think you should think of these things more as a consumer than a tinkerer. They do outnumber "us" and they have expectations and requirements that the minority takes for granted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is why all I ask is they keep the changes modular. Leave stock launcher in, they have more than enough room to spare. Keep core functionality like the dialer standard across the board. Nothing to stop them from doing some "People" app or something like that to house the dialer changes.
The one thing I'll give Samsung, from a power user point of view - notification bar toggles were brilliant. Other than that, I cringe when I boot a new ROM and see stock TWlauncher, or just about every time I fire up the dialer.
Samsung's stock widgets are terrible compared to Moto and HTC's. Even SE and LG has better widgets.
The TW Launcher looks decent but it was rushed together to look like iOS and not much beyond that.
A widget slashed down to 4x1 or 4x2 (Daily Briefing with Just Calendar)taking up an entire home screen is not Sleek or Functional. No Mail, SMS/MMS, Calendar, Media Player widget. Not to mention they all look terrible, especially the Title Bars and bevels around most of them.
TouchWiz gives you less at a glance than Sense and the Droid X UI (which isn't really MotoBlur), so I tend to waste more time finding information on my Vibrant than I did on my HTC device.
If the market was full of good widgets, I guess I wouldn't have this particular problem.
Most of the other changes attributed to TouchWiz aren't necessarily linked to TouchWiz (or rather, can be implemented without being dependent on it).
Media Codecs can be added to Stock Android. DLNA, MobileAP, etc. can all be added to Stock Android.
Also, the inability to edit the shortcuts at the bottom of the screen coupled with the inability to set a decent home screen makes TouchWiz a PITA to use. You're basically forced to used 7 home screens unless you want to have a very odd Home Page setup with uneven scrolling to get from screen to screen.
Another thing I noticed is that icon placement seems to be different than other launchers. GMail unread count is played perfectly in Sense, but in TouchWiz the icon is set way lower than everything else. Motorola implemented unread counts into their Launcher, and I hope everyone else does the same (for Messaging, Email, Gmail, etc.).
Kubernetes said:
Yeah the only thing I hate about Twiz is the launcher. The other enhancements are great.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/Twerd.
-bZj

Am I the only one who enjoys motoblur?

I see all the hate on this forum about motoblur and how crappy it is. I seem to be the only one who likes it.
I've used TouchWiz, Sense, Stock and MotoBlur, and Moto is probably my favorite! Sense comes in second, Touchwiz can go die.
Why all the hate on Blur?
Ya not a fan of motoblur at all when I get this phone I'm going to be running launcher pro plus on this for sure might give blur five minutes of my time but that's it....
yes u are the only one
I like Blur better than sense and definitely touchwiz, but I think most people prefer the speed that the "vanilla" experience android delivers.
I have not owned a Motorola phone since the Verizon Moto Q, so I cannot say Blur is terrible or good, but from the looks of it the only thing I dislike is the blue and green call/contacts button. If I end up hating it I will just load up Launcher Pro or hopefully I will see some custom roms with stock at some point in the future.
I don't like blur but I can live with it. I find it better than HTC sense and the like but at least give us an option to turn it off like seriously Motorola.
PixoNova said:
I see all the hate on this forum about motoblur and how crappy it is. I seem to be the only one who likes it.
I've used TouchWiz, Sense, Stock and MotoBlur, and Moto is probably my favorite! Sense comes in second, Touchwiz can go die.
Why all the hate on Blur?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how I feel as well, although I do prefer "vanilla" over all...
I can see why some people might prefer the vanilla/stock android experience. But I always hear how Blur can be laggy on phones and such. I haven't experienced any lag (Moto FlipSide)
I do kind-of like Sense. Only if it's on a nice sized screen, unlike the Aria. But I most likely will be keeping Blur, as I like all the widgets available.
YES!!!!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I have tried droid x. Blur sucks. Even with the latest update the system was laggy. However it will work great sometimes but had sudden lags in launching browser. Sometimes it would hang and take a few seconds to go back to home screen. I returned it and will be getting thunderbolt when it comes out. I went back to att for 2-3 weeks until thunderbolt comes out. i will be porting my number back if I decide to get thunderbolt. I like htc sense specially the newest version that is in the inspire 4g and will be on the thunderbolt as well. It is snappy as hell. It might have to do with the second gen snapdragon processor.
I haven't used it yet, but the only thing I can see hating about it is the contact button (along with only having a three icon dock, but I could deal with that). Why the hell does there need to be a contact button? If you open the phone app you can go to your contacts right from there. I'd much rather see messaging or the browser. Some kind of central messaging app that pulled in all of one's SMS, emails, facebook, twitter, etc would be cool, I suppose. Better than contacts, at least.
That's a damn good idea a centralized notification button... But I guess it would have a big similarity to the notification bar tho. Still think that's a good idea tho
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
At first I was OK with blur but once you try out other options like Launcher Pro or ADW you might change your mind. Granted, Blur does have decent widgets to supplement it but it left me wanting more.
Now I'm using Launcher Pro + Beautiful Widgets and am loving it.
johnnydeathmatch said:
I haven't used it yet, but the only thing I can see hating about it is the contact button (along with only having a three icon dock, but I could deal with that). Why the hell does there need to be a contact button? If you open the phone app you can go to your contacts right from there. I'd much rather see messaging or the browser. Some kind of central messaging app that pulled in all of one's SMS, emails, facebook, twitter, etc would be cool, I suppose. Better than contacts, at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blur contacts works differently than standard android contacts, as it integrates with the social networking. I'd give more detail, but I haven't touched my backflip in a month and haven't had it on a stock ROM since ~november so I don't remember all the specifics. (Used a "deblurred" ROM someone at M3 cooked up till I got a free Aria)
The messaging app does provide a universal inbox. the one one my backflip would pull everything but my gmail into it, and I'm sure I could have set it up so that it pulled that too.
PixoNova said:
...Moto is probably my favorite! Sense comes in second, Touchwiz can go die.
Why all the hate on Blur?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thunderpack said:
I like Blur better than sense and definitely touchwiz...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay please state why you like Blur better. I've never used it but am trying to keep an open mind. I just love Sense and as of now am not sure I can function without it so lets hear it. Obviously it's a personal thing but is there anything in particular...?
lol
yes you are
looks so simple and ****ty
opensourcefan said:
Okay please state why you like Blur better. I've never used it but am trying to keep an open mind. I just love Sense and as of now am not sure I can function without it so lets hear it. Obviously it's a personal thing but is there anything in particular...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much the style. I don't hate Sense, like I said, it comes second IMO. Overall, through general usage, that's how I determine if I like it or not.
As far as moto blur is concerned, IMO it works just fine as a launcher.
So here are the Pros and Cons as I see them
Pro
Simple Layout
Decent Widgets
Unified inbox
Motoblur.com (find my phone, contacts back and edit, remote wipe etc...)
Cons
Does not have a polished look or feel like stock or Sense
I feel like it was an interface designed for teens
Cannot customize the shortcuts on the launch bar
Only 3 shortcuts on the launch bar
Occasional lag when launching apps (this could be that I have only used blur on low-end to mid-level android phones)
No option to bypass motoblur account setup
Overall, it comes down to personal preference and how you feel about it. You won't know until you try it. So far, I have used launcher pro on every android phone I have ever owned, but I always started with the out of box experience before I made the switch each time. I like that LP is customizable, and fast, and you can make just about any device look similar to stock/vanilla android id you want. The only problem with LP is that when I tried it on the Inspire 4G it disabled all of the kick butt HTC widgets, but there are alternatives such as Beautiful Widgets.
My nervousness falls around the screen resolution. I tried Laucnher Pro on my galaxy tab. and it didn't look right with that screen resolution. The resolution on the tab is high enough to have 5 shortcuts on the home screen side by side, and LP only has 4 so things looked oddly proportioned and stretched...
Blur itself has some good features - namely remote wipe and the news widgets that you can set to sync over wifi only - if you want.
If you are really into account integration you get to mix them all into one interface...
twitter, myspace, facebook, photobucket, linkedin, picasa, etc.
I prefer to just use the apps for these products and not do the MotoBlur integration - and you can do this - just don't set them up in MotoBlur. If you don't use Motoblur widgets, then you never really see MotoBlur. Change the launcher to ADW and you are done.
Compared to the captivate and Touchwiz, Motoblur is a lot less intrusive. Calendar, Contacts and Email work the way they are supposed - and are easy to use. I bought my captivate for specs, but the software mods on calendar and email suck.
The only MotoBlur thing you can't turn off is the sync of contacts and settings that are done on the phone. So if you create a new contact on the phone it is also created on the Blur server as backup - you can't turn this off.
On the good side, if you wipe your phone and you have to set it up from scratch, using the same blur account, it recreates most of your settings and widgets and email accounts.
As for Lag - people complain about it, but I have had Droid X and Bravo and they run fine. But, again, i only use the news widget and no social network accounts.

App recommendations?

Hi All,
Many of you are coming from the likes of the Note 2 (or even the original Note) but I'm sure there's plenty like me that are new to the phablet scene and definitely new to the S-Pen scene. So it seems appropriate to start a thread asking people - what apps do you recommend to use with your shiny new device? Going beyond the usual recommended android apps, what ones do you feel really make use of the Note's features (such as the pen, or the massive screen or whatever).
Please, suggest away!
handy note and handy scanner dude
I would of said sketchbook, however they have nicely included that with the device now! It's a brilliant app for getting your artist on!
I'd also suggest emulators for games as the big screen is certainly easier than the smaller devices out there! Drastic DS emulator has arrived on the play store recently.. It's abut £5 but imo worth its price tag, it allows you to play Nintendo DS games (Roms) really fluid and of course with the s-pen!! ! If you was a fan of the old Zelda games etc this gives you a change to play catch ups wit the latest outings of Link.
Netflix
SwiftKey - Brilliant keyboard replacement that I feel that corrects a lot more reliable than stock.
Spotify - Free 48 Hour trial of millions of music tracks (You can keep creating a trial account, in theory not actually pay.. But you'll end up in love with your play list you've mashed together and just pay the sub (what happened to me).
Go Sms pro - again a nicer more configurable Sms /mms replacement of stock app. Also includes a go Sms to go Sms feature where you can send pics, doodles, recordings, videos to anyone with gosms installed for free.
If you live in the UK *** 0800 wizard. Allows you to dial 0800/0844 numbers using your network minutes.
Order and chaos - MMO game, works really well with the big screen and adreno 330... Similar to world of war craft.
Es file Explorer - allows you to browse the memory on your phone/SD card memory a lot easier.
Be great if people added their favourite apps into this thread... Nothing beats a good app download session
:thumbup:
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app
Some nice apps there, thanks Ry2mkk!
Drastic is an amazing DS emulator. Has fast forward feature for all you poké masters.
I second SwiftKey as well.
Firefox works nicely. Can download add-ons like adblock.
I prefer nova launcher and Hd widgets
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using xda app-developers app

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