Essential Android Apps

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ivrytwr3 said:
Just took delivery of my first smart phone and am blown away and overwhelmed! Could anyone help me with these questions please?!

1. The pre-installed apps:

Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited, Track ID, Sony Select, Play Store, "Get Apps" these are on my home screens - do i pay for any of these? Are they any good? Or just immediate delete?!

2. Latitude app - on my phone i can see the phones location, is there anyway a user at home can track my phone? ie see my current location?

3. Sony Car, Wisepilot, Navigation - all pre-installed. Any good? Are they free to use?

4. "Let's start PSM" - wth is that?!

Thanks to all that help and sorry for been a noob.
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1, I had all these on my Xperia Arc. I think they are Pay apps (like Netflix etc..) So I always uninstalled them (mainly as the Arc only had 380Mb RAM).

2, You can either use 'Cerberus' (Paid App, but very good from what I'm told), or ''Lookout' (made by the '3G Watchdog' people) to let you find your phone if it's lost or stolen!, Cerberus has a bit more functionality (especially if Rooted) but i have Lookout as I don't like having to 'Pay' for apps :D

3, Sony Wiseplot is Crap! Uninstall it ASAP, Either use Google Maps/Nav (if you have a decent Data Plan) or get a copy of NavFree and as many Maps of the world as you want (do this over Wi-Fi as the UK maps are 400Mb)... All 'OFFLINE' so you don't use any data whilst out and about!!.

4, I think this is summut to do with 'Playstation Mobile' which wasn't on my Arc (too oldskool for that stuff) so I dunno!! :)

I now have a Nexus 4 which is stripped down without any Manufacturer crap onboard!! :D

Have Fun with your nice new (I assume) Sony Android Phone!! :)
 
Worth checking out sms flash, it overlays the text message over the screen even in an app. Particularly useful if you use waze (must have gps app!) so you can see the text message as you are going along. Email support is also planned.
 
Cerberus and Latitude aren't really comparable apps. Latitude is for seeing where friends and family are, so yes, log in and share you location to others (through their gmail addresses) and they can see where you are.

It's long, but my video might help you start off with Android -

 
I've just discovered the joy of Kairosoft games. Bought game dev Story and installed pretty much all the free versions of their other games to try out, but out of interest who here has played their games, and what would you recommend? :D
 
Grrrrr said:
This might work

Samba Filesharing
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funkyfresh.samba&hl=en

Description
Access your Android device over wifi as a Windows shared folder.

* Samba filesharing server for Android.
* Your Android device becomes visible to other Windows (& SMB compatible) computers on your network.
* The 'external' storage in your Android device is accessible as a network shared folder.
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Needs root :(

Is there anything that does this without needing root?
 
Skeeter said:
Needs root :(

Is there anything that does this without needing root?
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You already have it installed, ES File Explorer. Allows you to browse your phone files as if it was a shared folder.

Go to settings, scroll down to remote settings, then tick remote manage. Type the IP in Windows Explorer and you're done. I made a shortcut to it as well so it's easily accessed on my PC.
 
Gave bladeslinger a try as the graphics in the trailer look good and plenty of good comments.

Graphics are crap imo, nothing special, no dof or particle effects as seen in the trailer, low resolution textures and it seems to be running at half Res on my nexus 10. Not only that but the framerate seems a bit dodgy and terrain and buildings are clipping to high heaven.

Huge disappointment.
 
Hmmm the nexus 4 doesn't have "Car Mode" function and i want to set up an Event in Llama where by i set the phone to car mode that it turns the GPS on and sets the volume to maximum. So whats the best way? I could use BT to connect to the car but i NEVER turn BT on so thats a no go. NFC is always off to so thats a no go.

The easiest way would be to Activate GPS, Disable Wifi etc when i select the "Car Nav" profile (that i created in Llama) but in Events and "Conditions" it does not give you that option....
 
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AndyCr15 said:
But you use WiFi and GPS, which both use much more battery?

Has anyone done any testing on NFC? My impression is it doesn't affect my battery, it's very low range/power unlike WiFi and Bluetooth.
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Using Llama my wifi turns off when i leave the house and comes on when i return. GPS i only turn on when im using maps/navigation.

I might just buy a NFC tag for the car.
 
I have NFC on 24/7 and still get 20-30 hours per charge on my S3. It doesn't get mentioned anywhere in battery stats from BBS or GSam.

If you do, make sure you let us know if you do or don't notice a difference in battery life.
 
AndyCr15 said:
But you use WiFi and GPS, which both use much more battery?

Has anyone done any testing on NFC? My impression is it doesn't affect my battery, it's very low range/power unlike WiFi and Bluetooth.
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If you mean sending files, Ive found it takes about 4-5 attempts to send a video across. And its very quick, about 5 mins to send 1.5gb.

Someone on here mentioned using wifi-direct for sending large files. It still doesnt do it at the first try but not as many as nfc.

When it works its fast.


*edit* I think Ive commented on something totally different to what you were asking :) :o
 
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Cyclone said:
If you mean sending files, Ive found it takes about 4-5 attempts to send a video across. And its very quick, about 5 mins to send 1.5gb.

Someone on here mentioned using wifi-direct for sending large files. It still doesnt do it at the first try but not as many as nfc.

When it works its fast.


*edit* I think Ive commented on something totally different to what you were asking :) :o
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They don't actually send the files via NFC do they? They use NFC to set up a WiFi (wifi-direct) connection which the file is transferred over afaik?
 
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