Android Gotta Haves

[Ron Weasley]

My cell contract finishes up in a couple of months and I'm looking forward to getting a Droid from Verizon. What applications do I just gotta have?

The ones that interest me so far are:
Barcode Scanner
Pandora
Google Sky Map

Are there better ones than Barcode Scanner? Are there things other than apps I should be paying attention to?

Also, there are rumors that Nexus One will be coming to Verizon later this month. Should I consider that instead?

What do you say?

[E]

Evernote - capture notes, voice recordings, retrieve info, and more
Remember the Milk - can't live without this task manager
Yelp - location-aware app that finds restaurants
Pure calendar widget - puts a calendar widget on your home screen
Weather Channel - always shows weather for your home city or can be made location-aware
Handcent - more powerful SMS app than the stock app
Battery widget - puts battery meter on your home screen
Ring toggle widget - quickly switch to vibrate, sound off, etc.
Seesmic - great Twitter app. Twidroid is also good though.
NewsRob - MUST have if you use Google Reader
Pandora - can't live without it
A Online Radio - gazillions of free radio stations
SportsTap - aggregates tons of sports info in one app. Live scoring too.
Movies - AKA Flixster. Location-aware movie info.
Astro - great file browser since there isn't one built in
GPS Status - see status of GPS satellite signals

Here's a new one from Google labs I just found today:

Gestures - let's you write letters on the screen in natural language and matches with contacts, apps, and other things. So far, works great.

[E]

Originally Posted by Ron Weasley

Also, there are rumors that Nexus One will be coming to Verizon later this month. Should I consider that instead?

What do you say?

My feeling with Android is that if you wait for the next thing, you'll always be waiting. However, the Droid has been out for a while at this point. It is very likely that we'll see a Nexus One or some new rendition of the Droid appear in the coming months.

The Droid is very powerful, though, and I think it will be able to handle all your needs for a while. It should have no problem with Android 2.1, which should roll out any time now.

My biggest complaint with the Droid's form factor is the slide out keyboard. I never use it, so it's dead weight for me. I'd love to see them make a touch-screen only Droid. I'm sure they will eventually.

[Mojo]

or wait for Nexus one Verizon version

[Ron Weasley]

Thx for the info. It's just a matter of time now for my contract to run out so I can start having fun with this.

[Mojo]

The website says Spring 2010. And I can't imagine google/verizon want to drag this on considering how heated smartphone market has became. Apple's suit against HTC (oem of many android phones including nexus one) foretells things to come.

ps. Palm is a sitting duck in all these and blackberry better do something quick.

[scotth]

Originally Posted by E

I'd love to see them make a touch-screen only Droid

It's called the Nexus One... coming to Verizon soon.

Oh, and it has a faster processor too.

As for the OP, I've used hundreds of apps with my phone... Things I use almost every day:

Widgets: Beautiful Widgets is the best, and I use Pure Grid Calendar instead of Pure Calendar that E suggests--depends on what you are looking for.

Task Manager: Try Astrid if you are looking for a RTM sync because it's free (doesn't require a RTM pro account). You can try native RTM for two weeks to see if it's worth the money.

News Reader: I need one that syncs with Google Reader... I've used a coupe different ones, and I think I like NewsRob the best.

Calculator: HandyCalc is the best all around app for this purpose.. and it's free.

I'll add more later...

[E]

Originally Posted by scotth

It's called the Nexus One... coming to Verizon soon.

Oh, and it has a faster processor too.

It looks like the Nexus One has 2x the RAM too.

Fortunately, being the primary line on our Verizon account, I'm able to upgrade every year. It'll be interesting to see what the choices are at the end of 2010 when I can upgrade again.

I was hoping that by the end of 2010, there would be one Verizon iPhone or iPhone-like choice with at least one new Droid to choose from. I'm starting to wonder if Verizon has just decided to look past the iPhone though. We'll see.