Droid/HTC Incedrible Users - Apps? Questions?

[lpaul626]

Hey Guys-

I just received my HTC Incredible. So far, it seems to be a great phone. Curious what are everyone's favorite apps?

Also, someone suggested "App Killer" while others recommneded against it. Is everyone using this? Any thoughts/suggestions for a newbie would be greatly appreciated!

[Scott Peterson]

I love my Incredible. I mean LOVE it.

App Killer is a mainstay for me; supposedly there's something in the upcoming (next 2-3 weeks) in Android 2.2 OTA update that makes it unneeded.

I use a ton of apps, I couldn't name them all unless I had 10 minutes to type them all up. What sort of apps are you looking for?

[lpaul626]

Thanks Scott. I've barely tapped into its potential since I just picked it up. But I agree. So far it's been awesome.

As far as apps, for starters, anything to help manage busy schedules, appts, etc. I'm not really a gamer. Plus, anything else folks are using regularly (favorites - e.g., music related, entertainment, etc.).

[Guitar Heel]

Does anyone else have the problem of the interwebz shutting down on it's own (crashing) after a minute or two? It's driving me insane.

[winonatele]

Dumb question, I'm sure... but can you use these Droid phones with Macs? My iPhone contract is up and I would like to try something else. I'm a Mac guy, but after 2 years with the iPhone, I find that it does a lot of things marginally well and the phone reception is really poor where I'm at. Thanks!

[frankencat]

Cyanogen. Google it.

[Lance]

Nice quote, upon Googling...

"DISCLAIMER
While this build is heavily optimized, it is also capable of pushing your G1 much harder. I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards, thermonuclear war, or the current economic crisis. Please do some research if you have any concerns about features included in this ROM before flashing it! YOU are choosing to make these modificiations, and if you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you."

[Scott Peterson]

Thanks Scott. I've barely tapped into its potential since I just picked it up. But I agree. So far it's been awesome.

As far as apps, for starters, anything to help manage busy schedules, appts, etc. I'm not really a gamer. Plus, anything else folks are using regularly (favorites - e.g., music related, entertainment, etc.).

- Remember the Milk (I use Astrid Tasks (free) on top of RTM)
- The Weather Channel (Free)
- Google Shopper (Free)
- Springpad (Free)
- Wifinder (Free)
- System Panel (Lite) (Free)
- Scanner Radio (Free) (*I'm a police scanner nerd)
- Places Directory (Free)
- Tip Calculator (Free)
- Yelp! (Free)
- NHL Feeds (Free)
- VersusHockey (Free)
- Live Scores (Free)
- Facebook (Free)
- Bible (Free)
- Calorie Counter (Free)
- 10001 Cocktails (Free)
- Grocery IQ (Free)
- First Aid (Free)
- Kindle (Free)
- USA Today (Free)
- NYTimes (Free)
- Movies (Free)
- Mint (Free)

Those are some. I also have some games (Teeter, Chess, Checkers, Freecell, Solitaire, Blackjack etc) that I like. All free. Free is good. :D

For music, I don't yet really use my phone that way, I never have. There are a lot - Pandora, etc.. But that's something I've not gotten into yet.

The "Remember the Milk/Astrid Tasks", Grocery IQ and Calendar/Gmail/Internet Browser get most of my use daily. I use Advanced Task Killer all day long too after I've opened up a bunch of stuff.

[lpaul626]

- Remember the Milk (I use Astrid Tasks (free) on top of RTM)
- The Weather Channel (Free)
- Google Shopper (Free)
- Springpad (Free)
- Wifinder (Free)
- System Panel (Lite) (Free)
- Scanner Radio (Free) (*I'm a police scanner nerd)
- Places Directory (Free)
- Tip Calculator (Free)
- Yelp! (Free)
- NHL Feeds (Free)
- VersusHockey (Free)
- Live Scores (Free)
- Facebook (Free)
- Bible (Free)
- Calorie Counter (Free)
- 10001 Cocktails (Free)
- Grocery IQ (Free)
- First Aid (Free)
- Kindle (Free)
- USA Today (Free)
- NYTimes (Free)
- Movies (Free)
- Mint (Free)

Those are some. I also have some games (Teeter, Chess, Checkers, Freecell, Solitaire, Blackjack etc) that I like. All free. Free is good. :D

For music, I don't yet really use my phone that way, I never have. There are a lot - Pandora, etc.. But that's something I've not gotten into yet.

The "Remember the Milk/Astrid Tasks", Grocery IQ and Calendar/Gmail/Internet Browser get most of my use daily. I use Advanced Task Killer all day long too after I've opened up a bunch of stuff.

Free is definitely "good." :) Great stuff! I'll have to check these out.

[Scott Peterson]

Note - Remember the Milk isn't free. I've used that for some time though; it runs on your phone free if you've already subscribed to it on the Net. I don't remember the cost, but it's pretty negligible and worth it. IMHO.

Astrid Tasks runs on top of it and works great. That's free.

[ethandt]

A lot of people recommend NOT using an App Killer program. The Android system itself is optimized to handle it's apps, whether it's running them, keeping them in cache, or killing them. I have heard many opinions that App Killer will drain your battery faster. Take that for what it's worth.

I downloaded App Killer but have never even used it so I don't know, my incredible manages to do well on it's own.

[Scott Peterson]

A lot of people recommend NOT using an App Killer program. The Android system itself is optimized to handle it's apps, whether it's running them, keeping them in cache, or killing them. I have heard many opinions that App Killer will drain your battery faster. Take that for what it's worth.

I downloaded App Killer but have never even used it so I don't know, my incredible manages to do well on it's own.

That's not how it has to work. (No slam on you).

You can have it 'kill' itself when you have it kill open apps. I don't leave it open.

[jb70]

so how much are your monthly bills with ~450 monthly minutes + internet charges?

[Scott Peterson]

so how much are your monthly bills with ~450 monthly minutes + internet charges?

I'm on a family plan with my wife, son and other relatives. The data/net plan for this phone is +$30 over your normal bill. It's worth it for me and my needs/uses.

[jb70]

I'm on a family plan with my wife, son and other relatives. The data/net plan for this phone is +$30 over your normal bill. It's worth it for me and my needs/uses.

gotcha. thanks. verizon just told me that i can upgrade my "new every two" early so i'm going to check the incredible out. it looks like they're $200

[Scott Peterson]

Does anyone else have the problem of the interwebz shutting down on it's own (crashing) after a minute or two? It's driving me insane.

No.

[Cobra]

I got my Incredible on release day, wotta thrill!
I could go on, & on & on & on...
Can't type that much.
For everything you could ever want to know & more about the HTC Incredible, go here:

http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/

In a lot of ways, it's very much like TGP, & I hang out there a lot.
Since I was a complete noob to smartphones, I find it an invaluable resource, & learn more each day.
The official Incredible Pre-Release Thread had well over a million views, & over 300,000 posts!

[TubeeTuberton]

I got my Incredible on release day, wotta thrill!
I could go on, & on & on & on...
Can't type that much.
For everything you could ever want to know & more about the HTC Incredible, go here:

http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/

In a lot of ways, it's very much like TGP, & I hang out there a lot.
Since I was a complete noob to smartphones, I find it an invaluable resource, & learn more each day.
The official Incredible Pre-Release Thread had well over a million views, & over 300,000 posts!

Sounds a lot like the "cult" that most iPhone users are accused of being involved in. ;)

Either way, can't name them all but, there are some great free apps for the phone and the phone is actually, quite "Incredible" itself.

[lpaul626]

Curious if anyone has gone with an extended life battery? I seem to be recharging my phone at least once a day, and I even run the App Killer.

[Platypus]

Curious if anyone has gone with an extended life battery? I seem to be recharging my phone at least once a day, and I even run the App Killer.

I would ditch the app killer for a number of reasons, if you'd like I can extrapolate but in a nutshell: let linux do its job. :) Verizon is recommending them but they have no idea what they're talking about.

Install the power widget on one of your home screens and turn off GPS and bluetooth and wifi right off the bat. GPS is pointless inside and just wastes battery. When you need to use GPS, turn it on via the toggle.

Screen brightness is the number one killer of battery. Slide the brightness down as far close to the left as you can stand. Even at extremely low settings it is quite bright and the only times you'll have issues is in direct sunlight. The brightness can be toggle up via that same power widget I mentioned earlier.

Furthermore, 'back out' of applications via the back button as opposed to hitting the Home button. This will in essence 'end' the process instead of putting it into a partial wake state. The less RAM you take up running apps, the faster your phone will be and the less power it will need to keep things in RAM.

If you are still not making it through a day, PM me and I will help you narrow down what is causing the drain.

[Cobra]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said...
Also, don't bother with task killers.
Get a free app from the market called "System Panel"
Awesome app that isn't a battery hog that gives copious amounts of info on your processes & an efficient way to monitor & manage them.

I bought an OEM HTC 1500mh battery off bidallies on ebay for $15 that gives a noticeable bump in battery life.

Smartphones require alot of juice, & the battery tech is behind the curve.
I just shut off things I'm not using them, & turn them on when I need them, & charge at night. I get thru the day no problem.

Did you check out the forum I suggested a few posts up?

[quadrophenia]

App recommendations:

Google Voice for transcribed visual voicemail
Google Talk for IM
Google Listen for podcasts
ESPN Scorecenter
Dropbox
Movies
Shazam
Astro File Manager
and the very first thing you should download....Pandora.

[lpaul626]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said...
Also, don't bother with task killers.
Get a free app from the market called "System Panel"
Awesome app that isn't a battery hog that gives copious amounts of info on your processes & an efficient way to monitor & manage them.

I bought an OEM HTC 1500mh battery off bidallies on ebay for $15 that gives a noticeable bump in battery life.

Smartphones require alot of juice, & the battery tech is behind the curve.
I just shut off things I'm not using them, & turn them on when I need them, & charge at night. I get thru the day no problem.

Did you check out the forum I suggested a few posts up?

Interesting . . . even when I have it set up such that TM "kills itself"?

I did check out the forum. Great forum. I registered and posted after having had connectivity issues. Thanks again for that!

[pmcqueen]

App recommendations:
Shazam


+1 for Shazam, I've used it a lot now and it has surprisingly almost always worked.. couple'a really out there songs that it couldn't figure out, but it's a great tool for music nuts.

Aldiko book reader is a MUST (for me at least). decent sized library that is expanding and just a solid program.. and free! (some of the books cost money, I think, but you'll find a ton of titles for free as well). you can change text size/brightness easily to make reading a breeze.. I use this all the time when I need to kill a few minutes, have already read a few books with it and I couldn't be happier.

craigsnotific has come in handy as well if you browse craigslist for specific items at all... you can set it up to send you an alert when the item you're looking for pops up, nifty stuff.

the other thing that has been a godsend on multiple occasions is called, simply, flashlight. basically it turns your screen blinding white with full brightness, and it really does work (even moreso than just lighting the screen up normally) as a flashlight in the dark. has come in handy quite a few times, especially for a clumsy dude like me who drops stuff all the time (sometimes in dark places)

etc. lots of apps out there now, and we get boobies unlike those silly iphones. :)