Maybe we need an Android tweaking thread

[whisper]

http://phandroid.com/2010/09/15/spri...app-challenge/

For now Sprint holds the keys to the nation’s only two 4G phones, and on top of that Android is the only OS running on either of them. So why not flaunt the fact a bit more by means of the Sprint 4G App Challenge, right? And this isn’t some measly contest either, winners in each of five categories will walk away with $50,000, a year of Sprint service (because you fifty grand couldn’t cover it), and a year’s membership to the Sprint Professional Developers Program. Oh and they will get to chill with 4G App Challenge partner Wired at their 2011 CES VIP party in Vegas.

[ADoubleDot]

Two 4G phones??? Whats the other one?

ETA: Oh http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/...pic-4g-review/ who knew

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by E

I will say that Flash on my Droid works much better than I expected. I've had it for a while but only tried it once after I got it just to see how it would work. I just so rarely have a need to view Flash videos on my Droid.

Flash game or highly interactive flash program still needs work, partly because some of the controls are very small on a smart screen and it is hard to press precisely. If they can fix or work around that, flash (and probably air) is completely ready for mobile platform. (thanks to no small part of S Jobs). A more likely solution is flash programs written specifically for smaller screen devices.

[no driver]

Originally Posted by Meshuga

didn't gt much time to play last night. stood in the post office this morning pressing on accept to answer a call not realizing i need to swipe it.

seems some of the numbers are missing from my sim card. for example, i had my brother's home and cell number and now only see his cell.

i do miss my pink floyd ring tone.

minor things, otherwise, sweet!!


love the fact that i can clearly read everything even wearing my shades.

There are a couple of places that contact information you see on the phone lives: the phone itself, the SIM card, your Gmail/Google Contacts account, your Facebook account, etc. Fortunately, you can link them together so that you don't have multiple entries for the same contact in your listing.

The SIM card only holds one phone number per contact, so you'll need your old phone or some other source of data to get the other numbers. Also, no matter which number it brings across it will be listed as a mobile number, so you might want to be sure that the number it picked for each contact is really the mobile number. A lot of mine were really the home or office number even when there was a mobile number for that contact on my old phone.

After I got my contacts sorted I exported them (via Contacts -> Menu -> More -> Import/Export) and imported the file it created into Google Contacts. That way you can keep all of your information for each contact and it will be there available even if you have to exchange your phone or flash a new ROM.

Google Contacts will also bring over information about all the people you've ever emailed or received email from on your gmail account, so you probably want to take advantage of the option to only show contacts with phone numbers. You can also set it so it doesn't show your SIM card contacts once you get them set up properly either on your phone or on Google.

One disadvantage to keeping your contacts only on Google is that apparently you can't assign individual ringtones to contacts that aren't on your phone. However, there are some programs (I think one of them is RingDroid) that get rid of this limitation. I've never bothered setting this up so I don't know for sure.

There's also a program called Samsung Kies that is supposed to be able to backup your contacts but it's not officially available in the US so there are some extra steps involved before you can download it. FWIW, I've never gotten it to work, but apparently other folks can use it and like it.

[ldancer911]

Anyone have problems with the droid music player? It seems to freeze every once in a while when I am playing music.

Screen usually turns off when I am listening. I press the button on top and I get the screen where I need to swipe to unlock but it is frozen. If I press the button on top again it goes black and I cannot get anything to happen. I have to take the battery out and restart it.

I guess Ill try the other music player someone suggested (mort player I think) to see if this happens. I tried it for a little while but liked the default once since I can skip sounds without having to swipe back into everything.

[ReserveRage]

Originally Posted by no driver

There are a couple of places that contact information you see on the phone lives: the phone itself, the SIM card, your Gmail/Google Contacts account, your Facebook account, etc. Fortunately, you can link them together so that you don't have multiple entries for the same contact in your listing.

The SIM card only holds one phone number per contact, so you'll need your old phone or some other source of data to get the other numbers. Also, no matter which number it brings across it will be listed as a mobile number, so you might want to be sure that the number it picked for each contact is really the mobile number. A lot of mine were really the home or office number even when there was a mobile number for that contact on my old phone.

After I got my contacts sorted I exported them (via Contacts -> Menu -> More -> Import/Export) and imported the file it created into Google Contacts. That way you can keep all of your information for each contact and it will be there available even if you have to exchange your phone or flash a new ROM.
.

Did you have to manually create new contacts for the secondary #'s? Most of my contacts have 2 or 3 numbers and I just learned now thanks to your post that the stupid SIM card only contains one per contact. I assume you have to manually go into the old phone and put the numbers in by hand? I dont want to make 3 contacts for the same name with Person - Cell, Person -Work, Person -home,etc. do I avoid this by saving the contacts to Phone ?

[E]

I've found that the Android contacts app actually does a really good job of rolling duplicates up into single entries. Sometimes it works too well, however.

For example, I have a Charles X and a Charlie X in my contacts. Two different people. But Google decided they should be the same person. It took about 30 min one day for me to figure out why one was missing--even though I kept re-entering it. I finally solved the problem by putting a middle name in for one of them.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by E

I've found that the Android contacts app actually does a really good job of rolling duplicates up into single entries. Sometimes it works too well, however.

For example, I have a Charles X and a Charlie X in my contacts. Two different people. But Google decided they should be the same person. It took about 30 min one day for me to figure out why one was missing--even though I kept re-entering it. I finally solved the problem by putting a middle name in for one of them.

When I first moved to Android, I use contact managers in online gmail to find duplicates and clean up. After that, I am good.

[E]

A recurring theme in my ramblings here on the AO is that change happens all the time, and it usually happens fast. And paradoxically, after change happens, we rarely acknowledge it. Instead, we reset and resume thinking the status quo will continue forever.

The following WSJ article would have been very difficult to imagine even one year ago (before Android really existed in the minds of the mainstream):

For the past few years, Research in Motion Inc. has been fighting a rear-guard defense of its BlackBerry smartphones against Apple Inc.'s iPhones. Now there's another competitor on the horizon in the business market: phones powered by Google Inc.'s Android software.

Android-powered phones like the Motorola Droid X, above, are becoming more popular with business users.

Requests to connect Android phones to corporate email are popping up in the inboxes of tech departments, and they are getting more attention thanks to a budding shift in corporate spending that could affect RIM, which reports earnings Thursday.

Up until a year ago, Union Bank in San Francisco restricted its employees to BlackBerrys. But then employees began demanding support for iPhones and Android smartphones. In August, 52 of the 140 workers who bought their own phones chose an Android device, while only 13 bought BlackBerrys, said Robert Walters, the senior vice president in charge of technology.

"Two or three or four years from now we will see Android as the predominant player," Mr. Walters said.

To keep a lid on the rising costs of corporate cellphones, a growing number of companies and governments are starting to give employees more freedom to purchase their own devices. And many are choosing popular consumer devices that make it easier to surf the Web and offer a broader range of applications like games than do BlackBerrys.

Companies including Adobe Systems Inc., Verizon Wireless, Patagonia, Paetec Holding Corp. and Mattson Technology Inc. have begun to support Android phones. John Herrema, senior vice president of Good Technology, which provides security for mobile devices, said that of its 4,000 business customers, 1,100 have rolled out Android. "The decision to pick a platform is not being made by the company anymore," Mr. Herrema said.

In a major shift, the U.S. military, which had approved only BlackBerrys and phones that use Microsoft Corp. mobile software, has started the process of clearing Android and iPhone systems.

The Department of Defense is writing security guidelines for Android phones, which are on track to be approved for use in the military early next year. Draft security guidelines for the iPhone and iPad tablet computer are scheduled for release in early 2011.

"The younger war-fighters have grown up in this mobility generation," said Henry Sienkiewicz, chief information officer of the Defense Information Systems Agency, a Department of Defense group that certifies technology for the military. "We've got to support the way they consume information."

To be sure, BlackBerry still dominates the business market. Gary Cantrell, chief information officer at Textron Inc., a Providence, R.I., conglomerate that has about 4,500 BlackBerrys, said he values RIM's security features, which include strong encryption and the ability to remotely remove, or "wipe," data if a device is lost or stolen.

Over the last year, however, Apple and Google have matched many of those features.

In a recent survey by investment firm Sanford Bernstein of 200 U.S. and U.K. companies, nearly three-quarters said they have adopted non-Blackberry systems.

Mattson Technology last year migrated from Microsoft's software and email to Google's Web-based applications. The Fremont, Calif., supplier to chip manufacturers stopped using BlackBerrys in favor of Android phones for 300 of its employees.

Android phones cost 20% to 30% less than BlackBerrys, said Matt Hough, Mattson's senior director of global IT. Combined with lower server costs, the switch to Android saves the company $300,000 a year, he said.

We should start a thread to brainstorm actuarial apps. If you have ideas you want to share, let me know.

[whisper]

Originally Posted by E

We should start a thread to brainstorm actuarial apps. If you have ideas you want to share, let me know.

How about an ASOP app? Although, we'd probably want this to be cross platform between Apple and Android....