30 replies to this topic

[AggieJen02]

Just got mine yesterday. Upgraded from the Blackberry Storm. Just looking for some hints and good downloads for this thing.

[HeyMoe]

Just got the Motorola Backflip, which is an att phone with the Android system. Had a BB for 10 years myself, so I'm going thru the same learning curve.

[Tmoney]

My husband does. I'm not sure what apps he has but I'll find out.

[HeyMoe]

You should have an icon on your screen called "market". Press it and it takes you to the Android app store.

[BQ_90]

fucking work gives me a BB and then blocks every fucking thing.

[shiner raider]

Just got the Motorola Backflip, which is an att phone with the Android system. Had a BB for 10 years myself, so I'm going thru the same learning curve.

My dad just got one of those.

[Thethreeyardout]

do you have to buy all of those, or does it come with some loaded, but the ones you really want you have to buy?

how does that work?


oh, and can you use it like an I pod in your truck?

[Techsan]

do you have to buy all of those, or does it come with some loaded, but the ones you really want you have to buy?

how does that work?


oh, and can you use it like an I pod in your truck?

It comes loaded with some, but you have to download the rest. There are tons of free apps out there, you don't have to buy every single one of them.

Yes, you can use it like an iPod in your truck.

[AggieJen02]

I've already downloaded a TON of free apps.

But here's the first problem I'm noticing....battery life. It seems to drain pretty fast. I downloaded "App Killer" which tells you want programs are running in the background, and you can shut them all down at once. I go and do that, and I go back 15 minutes later (after not using the phone at all), and all of these apps are running again! Apps I've never used, and I can't figure out why they're running. Things like voice search, news & weather, Scoremobile, MP3 store, etc.

How do I get it so all these apps don't keep running in the background eating up all my battery?

[A History of Violence]

I have a Droid. I had an EVO for FIVE FUCKING DAYS, after waiting and jonessing for months. But the Evo battery was total shit. I had to turn everything off to get 4 hrs out of it, and then I said "what's the point of having cool stuff if you have to turn it off?"

Must-have apps
Advanced Task Killer. Free. Droid automatically loads a lot of apps that you'll never use, but which drain battery. This turns those things off.
Locale: $. Can't remember how much. Uses GPS to identify where you are, and you can pre-set settings accordingly. In other words, it could turn on wifi at the house & turn it off when you leave. It turns GPS on when you leave the house. Or it shuts off volume and everything else when you're sleeping.
Around Me. Free. finds stuff based on your location
Barcode Scanner. free. You can use it to download apps based on their QR code.
DoubleTwist. free. Music manager that will sync up your itunes music/playlists with your device.
LED Light. free. Uses the camera flash like a flashlight.
Moov. Free. Type in word or phrase and it searches everything - email, documents, contacts, song titles.
Quick Settings. free. Toggles settings like wifi, gps, brightness, etc
Urbanspoon. free. find restaurants.
Dolphin HD Browser: free. Much better than the built-in browser.
ESPN Score Center. free. All the scores, all sports, updated instantly.
Swype beta. Free for now. Type/text without lifting a finger. Literally.

And if you have Google Voice, download that app. I'm flying without a text messaging plan because I can send all text msgs via GV.

[dag]

jen, take it back. the droid shadow comes out in july. it's gonna be awesome.

[AggieJen02]

I downloaded Advanced Task Killer, and Automatic Task Killer. So hopefully that'll help with the battery problem. I figured out how to add the power widget, so I can click right on the desktop (or whatever you call it) to shut down wifi, gps, dim the screen, etc.


So far, it's light years better than the Blackberry (as I expected it would be).

I have a question more for my dad than me. He's a Blackberry user and is thinking about getting the Droid. He wants to know if you can sync up with Outlook on the Droid? I told him I didn't know, because I don't sync with Outlook. I know the Droid syncs with gmail. Anyone on here know the answer to that?

[Tmoney]

We used Yelp.com app while in NYC for restaurants and all things related to enterntainment. It connects you to google maps and show's you where it's at relative to your location.

Google maps is awesome because it's gps powered. I think it's on your phone though.

Husband told me he doesnt use the phone for anything but phone, email, and internet.

[yoshi]

I have a Droid. I had an EVO for FIVE FUCKING DAYS, after waiting and jonessing for months. But the Evo battery was total shit. I had to turn everything off to get 4 hrs out of it, and then I said "what's the point of having cool stuff if you have to turn it off?"

5 days! damn. from what i know about android, the incredible is the best out right now and the droid is just barely behind. im within two months of buying a new phone (any network i want) and since im ditching apple im trying to pay close attention to the android offerings.

[AggieJen02]

I think I've figured out the battery issue. I put a Power Widget on the desktop, and the Task Killer and Automatic Task Killer seem to be doing the job. I still have about 80% battery left after just light use today.

[surf]

if there is a bolt browser for that, get it. best browser bar none on blackberry. fast as shit and very much like a normal browser on a computer

[A History of Violence]

Android's great. It does what I need it to do -- integrate with Gmail and Gvoice, provide an OS that does some basic stuff.

When I had the iPhone, I got sucked into the Apple itunes 'buy shit' vortex. I bought apps that did cool stuff that I might use. Well, after a year or so, I never used some of that shit. There was an app that let me control my Windows desktop. Very cool, but....why? I had an app that streamed my iTunes music, over the air, to my phone. Very cool but...what's the point? I had fuckloads of cool but pointless apps. So I deleted most of them.

When I passed that phone on to one of my kids, I was using the native stuff, Twitter, Facebook, and maybe 2 or 3 other apps. I never missed the other shit.

Now that I have Skype on my PC and GVoice on my Droid, my monthly wireless bill is half of what it was -- like $60 a month. I ain't no Internet millionaire like the rest of you guys, so $60 is still Real American Money to me.

[AggieJen02]

I guess I have to get used to using gmail. So far, that's the drawback I'm seeing with the Droid. Everything has to go through gmail. Not a fan of gmail.

I've heard the HTC phones will sync with Outlook. But not the Motorola Droid. I'm going to miss having my email automatically pushed through to my phone as soon as someone sends it. Now I have to route it all through gmail, and when you do that, gmail won't leave your emails on the server which sucks.

[yoshi]

I guess I have to get used to using gmail. So far, that's the drawback I'm seeing with the Droid. Everything has to go through gmail. Not a fan of gmail.

I've heard the HTC phones will sync with Outlook. But not the Motorola Droid. I'm going to miss having my email automatically pushed through to my phone as soon as someone sends it. Now I have to route it all through gmail, and when you do that, gmail won't leave your emails on the server which sucks.

outlook isnt an email provider, its an application that manages email...you can have gmail managed through outlook if you want. you may need to go the ms exchange route, although im not aware of the particulars with android support. AHOV probably has more insight into that than myself.

[A History of Violence]

Learn to love GMail and it will love you long time. It's the 5th greatest thing on the Tubes, after movies of nekkid ladies, illegal MP3 downloads, illegal movie downloads and pictures of nekkid ladies

[AggieJen02]

outlook isnt an email provider, its an application that manages email...you can have gmail managed through outlook if you want. you may need to go the ms exchange route, although im not aware of the particulars with android support.

I know that. But I use Outlook at work all the time for both my email and my calendar, so it's what I'm most comfortable with and most used to. And the Droid system will not work with Outlook to pull in your contacts or calendar. You have to do everything through gmail, which I'm not sure I like. Maybe just because I'm not used to it yet.

My dad uses Outlook exclusively for everything for his work, and he was thinking about getting the Motorola Droid. So I have to tell him that's not a good idea. HTC is the only one that has the programs that will "talk" to Outlook to pull in your contacts/calendar info. I already spoke to tech support at Verizon about just this issue.

[surf]

never used outlook. used lotus notes though. maybe it's because of the way it was set up at work but i'll never use that piece of shit again if i don't have to. gmail and yahoo work just great for me. synced them with my phone and now i never even log in to them anymore unless i'm sending out resumes in my job search

[Scot]

I have a Droid. I had an EVO for FIVE FUCKING DAYS, after waiting and jonessing for months. But the Evo battery was total shit. I had to turn everything off to get 4 hrs out of it, and then I said "what's the point of having cool stuff if you have to turn it off?"

http://gizmodo.com/5571829/htc-evo-getting...pdate-next-week

[A History of Violence]

Sadly, phone access is mission critical to me, so I couldn't wait 3 weeks for a fix.

Plus, I've seen leaked Sprint memos that the Evo is going to drop in price in December, and the new Droids look as good or better.

But, the fact is that I've become a phone Luddite. I don't need to stream video, get NASCAR news as it happens or receive immediate Facebook status updates on my phone. I need to make calls, map, text, email and do some light web surfing. I have a laptop with a solid-state drive -- boots in about 25 seconds -- that I can use for any heavy Web lifting.

I ranted on The Nerdery about this, but phone companies need to make phones that can run on the batteries they come with. Period.

[AggieJen02]

Well, the task killer programs I downloaded seemed to do the trick. With just average use, I'm going on about two days between charging.


Question...there are some apps that came already installed on the phone that, for whatever reason, ALWAYS seem to run in the background (like Amazon mp3 store). How do I delete those? I can delete the ones I downloaded myself, but can't figure out how to uninstall the ones that came on the phone. I read that was one of the big problems with the EVO...stupid pre-installed apps like NASCAR constantly running in the background.

[A History of Violence]

I don't know about those always on apps. I've read some threads about them - mp3 store, corporate calendar, etc -- but no one has a definitive answer. I just kill em every few hours.

[Thethreeyardout]

I got one of these things showing up in the morning Fed Ex.

I don't speak phone geek, how are you likin' this thing now that you have it broken in?

Is there some class I can go to for this?

[HeyMoe]

http://www.motorola.com/consumers/v/index....0008406b00aRCRD

FAQ and how-to-videos here

[Thethreeyardout]

thanks, Moe...I have been reading about it some today.Upgrading to "Froyo" seems to be important, what ever that means.I think I understand the concept of "teathering" and that appears to be a real plus.Maybe now I might actually text somebody.

[AggieJen02]

Stupid question....

How the hell do you open an email attachment on the Droid? I click on the little paperclip...nothing. I try the menu screen...nothing. It's probably something ridiculously easy, but I can't figure it out.