Essential Android Apps

muon · 23 Jun 2013 at 18:11

kmetek said:
100% sure?

Try it out. It'll show at the checkout stage. Doesn't require you to register to get to that stage.

I know it worked for me.

kmetek · 23 Jun 2013 at 18:12

i will, it's bargain if all true.

in which stage do i insert code? i wasn't offered.

muon · 23 Jun 2013 at 18:17

kmetek said:
i will, it's bargain if all true.

in which stage do i insert code? i wasn't offered.

I've highlighted below.

kmetek · 23 Jun 2013 at 18:19

yay

WORKS

Sygic GPS Navigation Offline for Android (Europe)
34.99 € Remove

Discount
-8.75 €

Total
26.24 € (inc. VAT)

muon · 23 Jun 2013 at 18:23

It actually works out cheaper if you pay in euros because of the exchange rate. Good idea. Too late for me though.

dazz25 · 23 Jun 2013 at 20:27

mrk said:
Why does Google Music allow no control over it zooming into album art and scrolling around as the music plays? I don't want that. PowerAMP still remains king

I agree with this but the only problem is poweramp can't stream from your google play account. If it could then i'd go back to it in no time.

petridish · 23 Jun 2013 at 21:21

trentlad said:
Dad friendly apps...

Cheers Trentlad, sorry it took me so long to say thanks but the suggestions were all appreciated. Particularly for the stumble and ted suggestions as I didn't even think about them having an app and I'll install them for myself ha

Orcvader · 23 Jun 2013 at 22:22

mrk said:
Why does WindowsPhone waste so much screen space and offer so little in the music player?
http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/temp/WindowsPhone.jpg

Compared to Google Music, which can be considered Android's stock music player pretty much:
http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/temp/GoogleMusic.jpg

But! Why does Google Music allow no control over it zooming into album art and scrolling around as the music plays? I don't want that. PowerAMP still remains king for looks, features and sound control:
http://robbiekhan.co.uk/root/temp/poweramp.jpg

Sheesh that's a waste of space on the Windows phone.

Google Music still looks pants on 1080p, the icons aren't optimised for it yet. Most of the bugs I had with earlier versions of the new layout have been ironed out though.

However... I went back to PowerAMP

(no gap between tracks feels great). The new ICS/JB theme looks brilliant as well!

james.miller · 23 Jun 2013 at 23:11

The zoomed/panning album art in google music is.... annoying

mrk · 24 Jun 2013 at 11:55

I have yet to use Google Music, doubt I ever will until SD card slots no longer feature on phones so my music experience has been local playback hence the love for PowerAMP although I'm sure they will update to support cloud services soon anyway

On an app related note, Maps has consumed a lot of data this month!

kona786 · 24 Jun 2013 at 12:04

mrk - have you got a link to that power amp theme?

V_R · 24 Jun 2013 at 12:13

SMS backup. What the best app to use? Non root.

Thanks.

mrk · 24 Jun 2013 at 12:22

kona786 said:
mrk - have you got a link to that power amp theme?

Yes!

Theme: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5pa29yb2xrb3YucG93ZXJhbXAuc2tpbnMuaWNzIl0.
Widget theme: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ikorolkov.audioplayer.icsw&feature=search_result

V_R said:
SMS backup. What the best app to use? Non root.

Thanks.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...1bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS56ZWdvZ2dsZXMuc21zc3luYyJd

kona786 · 24 Jun 2013 at 13:20

mrk said:
Yes!

Theme: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5pa29yb2xrb3YucG93ZXJhbXAuc2tpbnMuaWNzIl0.
Widget theme: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ikorolkov.audioplayer.icsw&feature=search_result

cheers. Does PowerAMP have noticeably better SQ than the stock Samsung music player or is it the extra features make you use it?

mrk · 24 Jun 2013 at 13:37

Both.
I use Vsonic IEMs and found the stock music player to lack features and sound quality even after tweaking the EQ whereas PowerAmp seems to sound way richer just from tweaking the treble and bass dials alone.

I'd compare it to a software EQ versus the tone controls on a dedicated audio amp.

kevpuk · 24 Jun 2013 at 13:42

Another +1 for PowerAmp SQ - I use it whenever I don't have my J3 with me, and via a set of Shure SE315s - very decent sound quality as well as a good degree of tweakability.

Mekrel · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:20

V_R said:
SMS backup. What the best app to use? Non root.

Thanks.

GCloud - very good app! I'm not sure how well it handles MMS though if that's important to you. Failing that, try the free version of Helium Backup.

StevieP · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:26

V_R said:
SMS backup. What the best app to use? Non root.

Thanks.

I use Go SMS as my text client and there is an option in the settings to back up your texts to either your SD card, their "cloud" backup or even dropbox!

kona786 · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:26

mrk said:
Both.
I use Vsonic IEMs and found the stock music player to lack features and sound quality even after tweaking the EQ whereas PowerAmp seems to sound way richer just from tweaking the treble and bass dials alone.

I'd compare it to a software EQ versus the tone controls on a dedicated audio amp.

thanks.

Does PowerAMP grab album art automatically and store it on the phone?

mrk · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:31

kona786 said:
thanks.

Does PowerAMP grab album art automatically and store it on the phone?

Yup

I source all album art manually though and put into folders naming jpegs folder.jpg.