New Android Apps thread

trekfan55

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I am looking for a good calendar/tasks app.  I have always been a pocket informant user but the new UI is not too practical.
 
What I need is not too hard:
 
1.  The ability to create events and tasks easily.
2.  To synchronize them easily, prefrerably to my google account so I don't have double and triple tasks/events showing up.
3.  A nice interface with pop up reminders and a quick ability to snooze, edit out, or move/postpone tasks and events.
 
Any ideas?
 

Orange Julia

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trekfan55 said:
I am looking for a good calendar/tasks app.  I have always been a pocket informant user but the new UI is not too practical.
 
What I need is not too hard:
 
1.  The ability to create events and tasks easily.
2.  To synchronize them easily, prefrerably to my google account so I don't have double and triple tasks/events showing up.
3.  A nice interface with pop up reminders and a quick ability to snooze, edit out, or move/postpone tasks and events.
 
Any ideas?
I use the calendar in google. I have in sync with my calendar for work in outlook (having it go in one direction only so that i don't duplicate) and it works well on my SG3
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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Someone talk to me about Archiving vs Deleting in gmail.
 
With the newest update to the gmail app, google really doesn't wants me to archive everything rather than delete stuff. I've never archived anything before. If I have stuff that I want to save I just leave it in my inbox, if it's an e-mail I don't need I delete it immediately.
 
What exactly is the point of archiving and doesn't this count against your allotted storage?
 

Orange Julia

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Dernells Casket n Flagon said:
Someone talk to me about Archiving vs Deleting in gmail.
 
With the newest update to the gmail app, google really doesn't wants me to archive everything rather than delete stuff. I've never archived anything before. If I have stuff that I want to save I just leave it in my inbox, if it's an e-mail I don't need I delete it immediately.
 
What exactly is the point of archiving and doesn't this count against your allotted storage?
If you go into your gmail app settings you can select that the "swipe" deletes emails instead of archiving them.  Right now it is defaulted to archive for whatever reason.
 

Caspir

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Dernells Casket n Flagon said:
Someone talk to me about Archiving vs Deleting in gmail.
 
With the newest update to the gmail app, google really doesn't wants me to archive everything rather than delete stuff. I've never archived anything before. If I have stuff that I want to save I just leave it in my inbox, if it's an e-mail I don't need I delete it immediately.
 
What exactly is the point of archiving and doesn't this count against your allotted storage?
You can retrieve it after if you archive just by searching. I've always archived, and I didn't realize people deleted their mail from their Gmail accounts.You have near unlimited storage, i mean it is lfiterally almost endless. I send and receive between 300 and 800 emails per week. and I use less than 4% of my total storage despite never deleting anything. I have gone back and grabbed old emails to check on something more times than I can count, and since I'm an inbox 0 freak, archive is one of the best features of Gmail, IMO.
 

JakeRae

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Just got the S4 (upgrading from the Moto Droid 3) and I need to find a few mote apps...

--Alarm Clock (there are tons and most are crap, I love the one on my old phone but I can't find it)
--Twtter app? (I had tweetdeck, but don't see it in the store)

I'm sure there are more I'll think of...

I use Alarm Clock Plus for my alarm clock and am very happy. It's best feature is that the alarm can be set to launch other apps rather than just make noise.
 

trekfan55

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Do all Android email apps read the emails online?  Or do they leave the email on my phone so i can read it when I don't have service?  (or if I want to retrieve a reservation and don't want to pay roaming charges).
 
If so, which ones do this?
 
Also, does push email exist for Android?
 

Caspir

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Of course you can push email to an Android phone (but not from an iExchange or whatever Apple mail is called IIRC). And Gmail downloads emails directly to your device for offline reading. No idea about other mail clients, but Gmail does it.
 

SuperManny

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I'm loving android so far but wanted to see if anyone had suggestions on the following two items:
 
1. Visual Voicemail - this comes free on the iPhone so I was surprised that Verizon offers it for $3 a month but I would rather not pay a monthly charge if there are alternatives. 
 
2. Music Transfers - Samsung Kies is the default here but I haven't tried it yet. What does everyone use to manage their music library on the phone?
 

Orange Julia

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Music transfers- i just plug it into my computer and physically move music over into the folders on the sd card  I have Kies though.
I have tmobile and i think visual voicemail is free.
 

Caspir

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Charging for visual voicemail? Verizon is truly evil. No reliable alternatives that I know of. Keys is easy but I use Google Music for the cloud and just use my sd card otherwise. Kies is ok I guess, but I hate installing shit like that so I don't use it.
 

saintnick912

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AT&T has a free visual voicemail app that shows length and caller and lets you play and delete individually, but there is an extra fee for text transcriptions. Not sure if Verizon works the same.
 

Orange Julia

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Oh, you know you can use google voice for free and that turns your voicemail into an email if that's what you're looking for.  It doesn't do a terrible job.
 

SuperManny

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saintnick912 said:
AT&T has a free visual voicemail app that shows length and caller and lets you play and delete individually, but there is an extra fee for text transcriptions. Not sure if Verizon works the same.
 
From the looks of it Verizon only offers visual voicemail for a fee which is not surprising since they try to nickle and dime customers. 
 
I'm going to check out google voice.
 

SumnerH

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Music transfers- i just plug it into my computer and physically move music over into the folders on the sd card 



Yeah, this is one of the areas where Android shines over the iphone. There are absolutely no hoops to jump through and no apps needed, you just drag and drop your music to wherever you want it.
 

SuperManny

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SumnerH said:
Yeah, this is one of the areas where Android shines over the iphone. There are absolutely no hoops to jump through and no apps needed, you just drag and drop your music to wherever you want it.
 
It may be because I'm used to iTunes but I find it much more cumbersome to actually find and move each music file to the phone instead of using a single checkbox next to the artist or album.
 

johnmd20

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SumnerH said:
Yeah, this is one of the areas where Android shines over the iphone. There are absolutely no hoops to jump through and no apps needed, you just drag and drop your music to wherever you want it.
 
I agree with you but some might disagree on this point. The iPhone sync is pretty awesome for people who don't want to bother moving stuff over individually or for people who aren't that good with computers.
 

trekfan55

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Caspir said:
Of course you can push email to an Android phone (but not from an iExchange or whatever Apple mail is called IIRC). And Gmail downloads emails directly to your device for offline reading. No idea about other mail clients, but Gmail does it.
 
 
My question is how does it work?  Or rather how do I make it work?
 
On my BB for example, as soon as I clicked the "place order" button on the screen, the blackberry would get the email, on my S4 it takes a while, which makes me think that the email program is checking for email, rather than the email being pushed.
 
I use gmail mostly.
 

Seven Costanza

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It was in the news last week after its acquisition by Google, but I tried Waze for the first time this weekend.  Thought it was fantastic as a navigation app- was nice to be able to see cops and accidents and the like far ahead of time. 
 

jayhoz

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Seven Costanza said:
It was in the news last week after its acquisition by Google, but I tried Waze for the first time this weekend.  Thought it was fantastic as a navigation app- was nice to be able to see cops and accidents and the like far ahead of time. 
Presumably, Google Navigation will start accessing the Waze user data to improve traffic reports, etc.  No?
 

SoxScout

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Waze is awesome, but it has become way too social-networky over the last 3 or 4 updates.
 

Bunt4aTriple

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I've always used Quick Profiles in the past, but there appears to be an issue with these types of apps on the Galaxy S4 where, regardless of settings, SMS notifications will not sound, only vibrate.  Timeriffic appears to be another offender.  Does anyone have an app that works with the S4 (or maybe just Jellybean?) that allows a user to set up different notification profiles that can be quickly toggled?
 

trekfan55

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jayhoz said:
Are you using the generic eMail app or the Gmail specific app?
 
I am using both for now, neither looks to be doing push email.  I also downloaded "maildroid".  I am in the process of deciding which app to stay with, but push email would make the decision for me.
 

Seven Costanza

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jayhoz said:
Presumably, Google Navigation will start accessing the Waze user data to improve traffic reports, etc.  No?
 
One would think.  It'll be nice to see Waze merged in to Google Nav (minus the social networking stuff) as Google Nav is infinitely nicer to look at.  I just got a kick out of the crowd sourced traffic alerts- you simply press a button to describe what you see (accident, stopped car, speed trap, etc) and when you pass someone else's report, you're asked if the alert is still valid or not (i.e. is the cop still there, etc).  Was much more accurate than I thought it would be. 
 

SoxScout

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trekfan55 said:
I am using both for now, neither looks to be doing push email.  I also downloaded "maildroid".  I am in the process of deciding which app to stay with, but push email would make the decision for me.
 
You must have a setting wrong if you're not getting gmail pushed
 
on your phone go to gmail app - settings - click your email address - check notifications and check sync gmail
 

jayhoz

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trekfan55 said:
I am using both for now, neither looks to be doing push email.  I also downloaded "maildroid".  I am in the process of deciding which app to stay with, but push email would make the decision for me.
The Gmail App uses push.  I'm not sure you can even turn it off.
 

jayhoz

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Seven Costanza said:
One would think.  It'll be nice to see Waze merged in to Google Nav (minus the social networking stuff) as Google Nav is infinitely nicer to look at.  I just got a kick out of the crowd sourced traffic alerts- you simply press a button to describe what you see (accident, stopped car, speed trap, etc) and when you pass someone else's report, you're asked if the alert is still valid or not (i.e. is the cop still there, etc).  Was much more accurate than I thought it would be. 
I bet they leave the two separate for the foreseeable future.  I'm thinking you need all the social network components to get people to enter the data and I doubt Google wants to muck up Navigation's simplicity with all that.  Let the social networky people generate the data in Waze and then pull the info into Navigation.
 

Caspir

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jayhoz said:
Presumably, Google Navigation will start accessing the Waze user data to improve traffic reports, etc.  No?
That's exactly the plan. From what I've read, the plan s to enhance both apps, but keep them independent. Waze gets Google search integration, Google gets the real time data to make their nav app better in real time.

http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2013/06/google-maps-and-waze-outsmarting.html

Some of the comments are, erm, enlightening.
 

TallerThanPedroia

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I had to upgrade from my old version of Twicca when they killed API 1.0. The lack of absolute timestamps is already stressing me out, but if they kill Twicca completely that might be a bigger blow to me than the death of Google Reader.
 
I might have to read books! Or talk to people! Ugh!
 

VBSoxFan

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Does anyone have a recommendation for an app that syncs iTunes with my new Galaxy S4? Considering iSyncr for iTunes (the $ version) but have read good things about some of the free apps such Easy Phone Tunes.
 
The syncing from GS4 back to iTunes with iSyncr is important but the 20-song playlist cap with the free version is a no go, hence the $ version of iSyncr. Highly rated on the Play app store...
 

SoxScout

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The Falcon Pro guy is a devious bastard... I'm pretty sure you can now get Falcon Pro for free if you do this... he set it up so you basically make it your own app.
 
I had a token, but I uninstalled and tried this to see if it worked and it did. Took like 5 minutes.
 
Download the new Falcon pro update here: http://getfalcon.pro/
 
Then follow these steps:
 
https://plus.google.com/105797602462433643967/posts/Z7csVPrw1it
 
Here is additional reading: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57592163-285/falcon-pro-updated-with-workaround-for-twitter-tokens/
 

Corsi

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SoxScout said:
The Falcon Pro guy is a devious bastard... I'm pretty sure you can now get Falcon Pro for free if you do this... he set it up so you basically make it your own app.
 
I had a token, but I uninstalled and tried this to see if it worked and it did. Took like 5 minutes.
 
Download the new Falcon pro update here: http://getfalcon.pro/
 
Then follow these steps:
 
https://plus.google.com/105797602462433643967/posts/Z7csVPrw1it
 
Here is additional reading: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57592163-285/falcon-pro-updated-with-workaround-for-twitter-tokens/
 
Thanks for this.  Worked like a charm.
 

SumnerH

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InsideTheParker said:
I would like occasionally to load an epub library book onto my new Android cell-phone. There seem to be many apps to facilitate this: http://www.epubor.com/best-android-ereader-apps-review.html Is there a best one? Sorry if this has been discussed ad infinitum, but I can't find it here.
I use Calibre on the desktop to convert and sync ebooks to various devices, and Aldiko on the Android phone as a reader. I'm happy with both, I think calibre is pretty clearly best of breed at what it does while Aldiko is one of several credible options on the phone.
 

jaba

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SoxScout said:
The Falcon Pro guy is a devious bastard... I'm pretty sure you can now get Falcon Pro for free if you do this... he set it up so you basically make it your own app.
 
I had a token, but I uninstalled and tried this to see if it worked and it did. Took like 5 minutes.
 
Download the new Falcon pro update here: http://getfalcon.pro/
 
Then follow these steps:
 
https://plus.google.com/105797602462433643967/posts/Z7csVPrw1it
 
Here is additional reading: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57592163-285/falcon-pro-updated-with-workaround-for-twitter-tokens/
 
 
Corsi said:
Thanks for this.  Worked like a charm.
How long did you have to shake your phone before you got the "Custom Login"?  I've been shaking my Razr Maxx for a while and nothing's happening.  Did everything else to the letter as described.
 

SoxScout

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How long did you have to shake your phone before you got the "Custom Login"?  I've been shaking my Razr Maxx for a while and nothing's happening.  Did everything else to the letter as described.
 
I pressed the logo, turned on every corner square, then turned off the orange square, and one shake and it worked. I'm a Razr too.
 

Marceline

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InsideTheParker said:
I would like occasionally to load an epub library book onto my new Android cell-phone. There seem to be many apps to facilitate this: http://www.epubor.com/best-android-ereader-apps-review.html Is there a best one? Sorry if this has been discussed ad infinitum, but I can't find it here.
 
I've tried a few different apps and I really like Cool Reader the best.  I was previously converting epubs to Kindle format, but the Kindle app really sucks in comparison - Cool Reader is much better and reads epubs natively so no conversion needed.  
 

Blacken

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Foulkey Reese said:
That really, really sucks as the official Twitter app is garbage.
I'm curious as to what's garbage about it. I've used Falcon Pro and didn't really feel it was better--if anything it was worse because no alerts for favorites/retweets is pretty shitty.
 
(I'd like HootSuite, because I use it for work stuff, but not enough to use it in a browser.)