Best Android Apps and Customizations

I have just got rid off dirty HTC Sense UI and changed every default stock applications like launcher(homescreen), email, sms, dialer, gallery, music player, lockscreen, to custom apps. The default HTC Sense UI was not that attractive with the curved phone dock a the bottom and absolute no customization to any stock apps. I hate the tiny fonts that show up on the HD Phone and you cannot increase fonts at system level or Apps level. HTC Forget that. The default android fonts looked so small in dialer, contacts, email and everywhere. There is no option provided by HTC to increase font sizes anywhere in their apps. I had no option, but to get rid of all HTC Shit. So here are the list of apps i have brought and replaced default stock HTC apps.
After using Jailbroken iPhone where you can customize all stock apps, I found Android also offer similar function with more user control then iPhone. On Android phones you can complete change all the stock apps and have your own choice of applicaitons. I am going to highlight issues with base/stock Android apps on my HTC Desire HD and what i have replaced it with.
The customization drive for me started with the incapabilities of HTC Desire HD to change lock screen wallpaper. I had previous HTC Wildfire and it allowed to choose lock screen wallpaper. But i was shocked and disappointed to find out this HTC Desire HD dosent have this, even with its running Froyo 2.2. I searched Android Marketplace for lock screen apps and found WidgetLocker Lockscreen App.
 WidgetLocker Lockscreen ($1.99)

See the full gallery on Posterous

This app can help you customized more unlock buttons and customize wall paper. Also, it can activate on calls so that by mistake your chick dosent touch the End button. The app said, you can show if you instal ADWNotifier which intern needs ADWLauncher EX . I was introduced to whole new customization sets of app.

Before settling on this app, I had also brought Screen Suite Lockscreen & Lock 2.0 - Full  but i didnt find them good.

ADWLauncher EX (€2.30).

See the full gallery on Posterous

The application that manages your homescreen and list of all apps on your phone is called Launcher. This  ADWLauncher does the same effectively. It offers you to have a iPhonesh homescreen with bottom 4 icon dock, screen transitions and animations like Nexus, etc. You can define rows and column grid for number of icons to be displayed on homescreen. You can have customized backgroun and dock layout. I am loving this and I have replaced the default HTC Sense UI. 
There is another competitor Launcher app called as LauncherPro. I have not tried it. But i read its very easy and popular too.


ADWNotifier (free). Only works with ADWLauncher

See the full gallery on Posterous

This is very good app to notifiy you with badge number like iPhone. If can alert you about number of missed calls, no of sms, no of email, etc. But it need ADWLauncher installed. 


K-9 Mail (free)

See the full gallery on Posterous

The default email client on HTC Desire HD was horrible. The super tiny fonts, not customizations and bad integrations. After trying many email clients finally i gave a try to this free client. I thought free apps are not good. But i was wrong. This is one of the best email client i have seen developed by 3rd party. I was using ProfiMail for symbian but the UI was horrible. This app is just B&W and cool. It offer customization on color, font sizes, preview lines, alerts, etc. I have yahoo, gmail and personal imap email configured.

Go SMS  (free)

See the full gallery on Posterous

This is the ultimate SMS app. The default HTC sms was horrible. This Go SMS offer lot of customization and cool themes. It can show pop up sms on arrivals. You can send batch sms, group ringtones, contact sync. You should try this.

Dial One (Free)

See the full gallery on Posterous

Dial One is the best dialer which is fast and easy. Its very simple and customizable.It offers - Speed dial, Call log grouped by contact, Send contact, Customizable, Swipe between screens, Tone dial, Export calls, Simultaneous search on calls and contacts on two languages
I have also tried  RocketDial Pro (Smart Dialer) . Its an interesting dialer with only Hand writing recognition method search. There is no keypad typing support. 

Gallery Pro (¥180)

See the full gallery on Posterous

The stock HTC Desire HD image gallery app is just a big shame on HTC. Its so horrible and just plain thumbnails. This Gallery Pro app will make you happy. I had Samsung Galaxy S and this app is pre bundled on it.

Contact Group Manager ($9.99)

See the full gallery on Posterous

The base HTC Contacts(People) app is another horrible thing. This expensive Contact Manager is a worth try. I wish they had a dialer built in.


Other apps that I have brought and Like are -

Winamp   

SystemPanel App / Task Manager

Camera ZOOM FX

App Protector Lite

twicca BETA

MyBackup Pro

DroidIn Pro

AutoRotate Switch

JustPictures!

Note Everything

Quickoffice ConnectMobileSuite

Seek Droid

ES File Explorer

Quick Settings

Quick Battery

Roblock

eBuddy Messenger

Contact Widget DEMO

Simple Note

Posted via email from Sameer Chavan's Design Blog

Galaxy S Android and iOS iPhone 3GS - Hands On experience

I have been using iPhone 3GS on 3G at Seoul, korea for almost a year. Back to Pune, India I decided to buy the famous Andorid 2.1 Eclair , Galaxy S (I9000) Samsung phone. I was delighted to have a large 4” Super AMOLED screen and 1GHz snapdragon processor. But as I started to use, it fell short of my expectations compared to my previous iPhone 3GS.  Well, here are few good things and bad things about Galaxy S in short

What i Liked about Galaxy S -

• Large AMOLED screen.
• Same look and feel like iphone. So no learning.
• Samsung has very well integrated SNS (Social Network Service - Facebook, Twitter, Gmail).
• The Contacts book can show latest SNS updates for each contact.  You can comment and post from there
• The Dialer has T9 search that directly match contacts in adress book as you type numbers. Unfortunately it only matches the First Name field.
  
• The best is wifi Hotspot. The mobile acts as the wifi hotspot and my wife can use my internet plan to browse internet on her phone (iPhone), even when i am on Edge service. Horribly in India 3G service is not with every operator. Big scams have hit.
  
• Good 5MP camera but without Flash.  HD video recording.

 

What i hate about Galaxy S and Android -

• The most important thing is SPEED. Even after a 1GHz processor the phone behaves like a old 200Hhz Nokia phone. Having used Nokia N97, I think Symbian system is far better in performance then Anroid.
• The Phone hangs constantly and there is a known Lag problem for Android and Galaxy S. Things just dont show up. Funny is when someone calls, the phone rings and i dont see the screen activated with Accept button. Its black for few seconds. Very shameful.
• I just miss the iPhone Gestures for keypad to place curser and select text. Android has a horrible mechanism to select text. You have to change the mode of keypad to 4way Arrow buttons. Then use thse arrow buttons to move the cursor. Very shameful and unusable. 
• They keyboard is very slugish and Predictive text is a big nonsense. It types all the wrong words. iPhone spell check and auto correction is far better then foolish word prediction android.
• Galaxy S has a hardware problem with Proximity sensor. Most of the time when you hold the phone to your ears the screen dosent go off and your chic hits the Big Cancel button.
• The auto rotation of screen is also buggy. Even if you change the phone orientation, the screen hangs in the pervious orientation. You need to shake the phone hard to unlock the buggy roation Gyroscope.
• Samsung Galaxy S which use Kie as desktop software to sync data has bugs. My Galaxy is not recognized by Kie. This problem is written everwhere on internet and Samsung has done nothing.
• Samsung has perfectly copied the iPhone as a typical Korean company always does. The Galazy S shape is having similar corner radius like iphone. Even the home button is similar to iphone, only its square instead of circular. The number of hardware button location is also copied from iPhone. The look and feel of for icons docs and homescreen is exactly like iPhone. 
• Samsung is not a Responsible and dedicated company like Apple. They are not worried for Galaxy S  bugs as they have many other mobiles to sell. Samsung phones come with bugs and they never correct it. They just discontinue the phone and release new model.  Samsung makes around  Apple only has one phone. Apple is CUSTOMER caring company. They will release patch immediately to eveyone if there is aproblem.

Generic Anroid Problems -

• As compared to Apple iOS operating system for iPhone, the Android OS is horrible. Even Symbian is far better then Anroid. Only that Symbian is not designed for touch interfaces.  The Android OS is not smooth like iphone. The scrolling or paging is jurkey and hangs. I have hardly seen any application crash in iPhone. But Android and Galaxy S are full with application crashes, not respongind, exception errors, and what not.. 
• The Emailing application takes lot of time to load emails. It dosent scroll properly.  You cannot edit the quoted email text.
• There is no Copy and Paste from email to other apps or from Internet pages to other apps. This was one of the best features in iOS.
• Not the worst part. Just compare Android and iPhone app from the same company. Example the most popular- Facebook.  Facebook app for iPhone will be beautiful, but for Android it will be half backed. eg. when you click any comments it wil leave the native app and go to browser. Half done work.  Not only this app, take Skype. Skype dosent work in many android phones.  I have notices that the same company makes a perfectly designed App for iPhone but when it comes for Android, they just throw some code to say that they also have android app.  Why is this ? Is it because they follow Apple Human Interface Guidelines properly and for Android they dare to make all mistakes ?

Advantages of Android over iOS (iPhone)

• The best part of Android, i think is, they have allowed more freedom to apps developers to access native OS features and apps. Eg. You can attach a file from your SD card. Or write to the calendar and photos. For iPhone, the native apps cannot be touched or modified by 3rd party apps. The apps developers have to import data and make another copy in their apps database. 
• Android can be customized by handset manufacturers to make their unique homescreens and dialers and SNS integrations. But i heard this is going to stop.
• Well, you can replace battery and add external memory card.
• Have better camera and FM radio. iPhone dosent have Radio.

What i miss in Android -

• There is no good music player like iTunes. There is no desktop iTunes like app to sync music and take backup of data
• Upgrading of Android OS is hell and country dependent. iPhone OS is updated globally at the same time. I am Still waiting for Android 2.2 Fryo update to my Galaxy S for India
• Wort part is, the Samsung Kie desktop sync app for Galaxy S is only for PC and Windows. I have Mac and i have no option to update my Galaxy S. I think Google is paying every handset company to not to have a Mac OS desktop app.

Posted via email from Sameer Chavan's Design Blog