Posts Tagged ‘Android’
Google Voice Open in the U.S. · Previously invitation-only Google Voice just opened to everyone in the U.S., offering free text messaging, multi-phone management, and voicemail features which, after more than a year of exclusive use, I couldn't live without. The three things I do on my mobile phone most--text, call, and check email--are powered entirely by Google at this point with Voice, Gmail, and Android. The Gmail/GVoice experience on Android is the main thing that leaves me cold when I look at an iPhone. It's just not as good. Here's more on how Google Voice makes the phone less loathsome (similar to how Gmail made email workable). · June 22nd, 2010, 8 comments
This Week in Google, Episode 47 ·
Great conversation today on TWiG with our guest Chris Messina, who dropped knowledge on the history and differences between OAuth and OpenID--which in an age of "Facebook wants to own all your sign-ons," is an important discussion. My tip this week: to grab the Android Swype beta within the next couple of days while it's still available, as previously-recommended ShapeWriter is no longer in the Market. · June 16th, 2010, 35 comments
While last night's southern California earthquake shook up the Padres game, I was standing in a doorway downloading an Android app.
Twitter was down, the news didn't have anything yet, but I remembered Reto Meier, a Googler who did an Android talk at I/O had demo'ed an earthquake detection app. It's called Earthquake!, and it's got some very useful features, especially when you're worried about the earth cracking open and swallowing your home whole.
More screenshots inside--click to enlarge.
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Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 yesterday in his WWDC keynote, and it's a gorgeous device with software upgrades that include multitasking, a video chat app called FaceTime, and more. I'm still a happy Android user, but I have to hand it to Apple. They continue to school the industry on aesthetics and marketing. Case in point: the FaceTime demo video.
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This Week in Google Episode 45 ·
In this week's episode of TWiG, Leo, Jeff, and I talked about Google's "ban" of Windows PCs for employees, Android tablets, the Sprint EVO (which I love), blogger journalism, and some of Steve Jobs' remarks at D8. My tip of the week was the new "Save to Google Docs" link in Google's PDF viewer. · June 4th, 2010, 4 comments
TWiG: The Un-iPad Episode ·
Hopefully better late than never: in this week's episode of TWiG, Jeff reboxes his iPad to return to the store, we talk Twitter developer relations, and my tip of the week was a web front end to the Android Market, at thanks to doubleTwist. · April 16th, 2010, 1 comment
New and aspiring Android users often ask me what apps I have installed on my Nexus One. The list changes pretty often--especially when Leo and Jeff recommend something good on TWiG--but for the most part I keep my Applications menu pared down to just the stuff I actually use.
Thanks to AppBrain, I'm now syncing my list of installed apps to the web for easy sharing and updating. Here's the complete list of what apps are installed on my phone right now. To the left you'll find a neat widget that shows their icons on a handset. Click on any icon to get more info about the app and what it does.
By publishing this list I'm coming out of the closet as cheap: not one of my apps cost anything! In my defense, I did indeed pay for the desktop version of PdaNet.
What other apps should I install or upgrade to the pay-for version? Post your suggestions--and your AppBrain list--in the comments. (Man I would love to see Leo's list!)
Android and Me Interview · Thanks a million to Eric Weiss at Android and Me--one of my favorite blogs for keeping up on Android news and tips--for interviewing me about my own Android habit, space travel, cloud comforters, third-party ROMs, and my favorite gadgets. · January 27th, 2010
Android users have a limited number of home screens on their phone (3 to 5, depending on what version you use), but folders group your home screen shortcuts into quick pop-up menus.
For example, I've got a few specific things I use on my phone when I go to the gym: a workout music playlist, a stopwatch app, my gym locker combination, a bookmark to an exercise program I'm following, and an app that tracks how far I've run. I only use these shortcuts when I'm at the gym, so I've put them all in a folder called "Gym," as shown here. When I get to the gym, I plug in my headphones, tap that folder, and everything I need to work out is there.
Here's how to create folders on your home screen to organize your Android icons.
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Gizmodo’s Essential Android Apps · A solid list of 30 good Android apps. While I don't have all of these installed, there are a ton of my personal picks here. (Downloading the Evernote Android beta now, which is not yet in the Market.) · December 11th, 2009, 1 comment
Matt Haughey on the Droid · One of my internet heroes Matt Haughey spends four hours with a Motorola Droid as a totally new user and doesn't have very many good things to say about the experience. A few of Matt's complaints are just a matter of his not being used to the interface, which is to be expected on any new mobile platform. (I didn't know how to remove apps from the iPhone home screen until I'd had the phone for awhile, either.) However, many of his points are valid. Android's got a long way to go if it leaves a savvy user like Matt frustrated. I'll be interested to see what Matt has to say after four WEEKS of using the Droid. · December 8th, 2009, 7 comments
Right now, Android is the phone OS you want only if your whole life is already tied up in your Google account. All of Android's can't-get-this-anywhere-else applications are made by Google. Android's Gmail client, Google Voice, Google Goggles, Google Maps, and even Google Sky and Google Listen are Android applications that either have no exact parallel on other platforms like the iPhone, or do things that their counterparts on other platforms can't match. Let's break this down.
Android's Gmail client is one of the two primary reasons why I went Android. If you live in Gmail in the browser, you'll swear by the fact that the Android Gmail client supports threaded conversations, labels, muting conversations, marking as spam--all the advanced Gmail goodness you get in the native webapp. The second primary app I use Android for is Google Voice. Being able to text via Google Voice for free as if it were the phone's native SMS application and get voicemail transcription in-app is awesome.* Beyond the Gmail/Google Voice two-punch, Google Maps gets updates on Android faster than on the iPhone or anywhere else, like turn-by-turn directions and What's Nearby. Finally, the brand new Google Goggles app looks like a search application I will use as often as search-by-voice.
The question is: where are the standout, can't-get-this-anywhere-else THIRD-PARTY Android apps?
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Apple made some exciting announcements about what's coming down the pipe for the iPhone this summer, so over at Lifehacker this morning I took at look at seeing how it all stacks up against Google's Android.
Overall I'm still a happy Android user, but I'll give it to Apple: the application potential and accessory control is looking really good. If they nail push notifications, iPhone 3.0 will be a really big deal. Check out the full article: Android Versus iPhone 3.0: The Showdown.
iPhone 3.0 Gets Copy and Paste and Then Some · Apple's finally caving and adding basics like copy and paste and proper MMS support to the iPhone operating system's third iteration, they announced today, plus a few other interesting goodies which catch it up to Android and then some. The iPhone still won't run background processes like Android can, but if they implement push notifications well maybe they won't have to. Yay for innovation and competition that leads to better products. · March 17th, 2009, 6 comments
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While last night's southern California earthquake shook up the Padres game, I was standing in a doorway downloading an Android app. 
I'm 
