On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 11:47 AM, Eric Gerlach <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eric%2Bkwlug@gerlach.ca">eric+kwlug@gerlach.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
I too have been loving my Android phone (Nexus One) since I got it.<br>
The base Android is great, but it gets even better when you can add<br>
apps.<br>
<br>
I'm a huge fan of Remember The Milk, Seesmic (for Twitter), Evernote,<br>
VLC Remote (awesome now that my fiancée and I are watching lots of<br>
video on a computer), the Dolphin HD browser (way better than the<br>
stock one), and K-9 Mail (way better than the stock IMAP email<br>
client).<br>
<br>
Oh, and how could I forget ShapeWriter, which is an awesome keyboard<br>
replacement (not officially available anymore, but you can find it).<br></blockquote><div><br>Some of the apps that I find useful:<br><br>- Quick Settings: loads of useful stuff, such as turning on and off Mobile Data and WiFi at will. Also has a flashlight app and a useful battery indicator.<br>
<br>- Facebook. Comes installed on the phone. Extremely fast photo sharing with the fewest clicks possible. Desktops cannot compete here, since you still need one more step of copying the photos from the digital camera to the computer (using a USB cable or SD card).<br>
<br>- ConnectBot: an SSH client. On such small screens, it is kind of frustrating, but can be useful in a bind.<br><br>- Opera Mini: Can be faster than the built-in browser, and potentially use less data traffic since it uses a proxy at Opera. Smooth user interface.<br>
<br>- Compass: Useful and nice for demos too. Tried the GPS today. Works when I run only (needs motion). Magnetic compass works well after you calibrate it.<br><br>- EmWeather: useful for weather in Canadian cities.<br><br>
- WeatherEye: the official The Weather Network weather. Sort of looks browserish, not appish, hence visiting <a href="http://mw.theweathernetwork.com">mw.theweathernetwork.com</a> has the same net effect.<br><br>- Bubble: nice for demos.<br>
<br>- Barcode Scanner: Scans QR codes (2D barcodes that look like squares with black and white markings in them) so you can visit a URL without typing. For regular barcodes, it is useful if Google supported Canada (only USA and UK currently supported). Still fun to use and demo.<br>
<br>- Gmail Notifier: nicer Gmail notifications, and you can even select a different LED color than other notifications.<br><br>- Astro file manager: allows you to backup your apps to the SD card, among other useful stuff.<br>
<br>Calendar Snooze: nicer calendar notifications. Only snag is the ads on it, which will eat data. Interface does not look the cleanest, but still functional. May consider the paid version later.<br><br>So, instead of me writing a review, it is all in this email now ...<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
It also works quite well as a phone, though not as well as my old Nokia 2125i.<br></blockquote><div><br>Compared to my older HTC Hermes/TyTN, the user interface is light years ahead of Windows Mobile. Can't complain here.<br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
I think Android is going to be the eventual winner, though I'd love to<br>
see WebOS and MeeGo get into the game in a meaningful way, too.<br></blockquote></div><br clear="all">I hope Android wins, and the others go away, even if they are Linux based.<br>Because if Linux fragments, then Nokia's Symbian and Apple's iOS will be the winners.<br>
<br>Choice is good and all that when we are talking developers as the audience.<br>So having different distros is good for developers. When we are talking end<br>users (consumers) as an audience, choice is bad, since it causes fragmentation<br>
for the market and slows adoption overall due to "wait and see" or confusion on<br>the part of app developers.<br><br>Emacs vs. vim = good.<br>KDE vs. Gnome = bad.<br>-- <br>Khalid M. Baheyeldin<br><a href="http://2bits.com">2bits.com</a>, Inc.<br>
<a href="http://2bits.com">http://2bits.com</a><br>Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.<br>Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. -- Edsger W.Dijkstra<br>Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. -- Leonardo da Vinci<br>