New essential Android apps thread

Orcvader · 27 Apr 2015 at 18:36

Hamster said:
Occasionally the photos don't upload until I've opened up the dropbox camera upload folder on the pc. Also it can take anything from 20 seconds to well over a minute for a picture to appear in that folder.

Have you checked on the Dropbox website to see if it appears on there straight away? As it backs it up to the cloud first before syncing it to your PC.

millsy888 · 27 Apr 2015 at 18:40

no one has mentioned Onedrive. Does what i need and it's 30gb free.

Hamster · 27 Apr 2015 at 18:42

AndyCr15 said:
That sounds odd. Why/how would your phone even know if you've opened a folder on your PC???

I just took a picture and timed it 25 seconds to my PC folder. I think you'll struggle to find something quicker. It has to go from your phone, to the cloud, then back to your PC.

If you find something that goes direct, you probably wont have the reliability and automation of Dropbox.

Taking longer that a minute would indicate your phone has upload speed issues I would think.

I don't have the Samsung 50gb any more and still have 28GB through free offers and such. Alternatively, use Copy which gives much more free space (I think I have about 170GB) and also has a photo backup service.

Thanks

I really don't know! Doesn't make sense but It's happened too many times for it to be coincidence but i can't 100% discount it. Phone doesn't seem to have upload issues as it's on wifi and i can upload via wifi by other means without issue.

Orcvader said:
Have you checked on the Dropbox website to see if it appears on there straight away? As it backs it up to the cloud first before syncing it to your PC.

Great suggestion, thanks

It does appear within a few seconds so it's just the cloud to pc which is a bit slow.

Orcvader · 27 Apr 2015 at 19:07

Perhaps check around the Dropbox PC client to see if you can change the sync rate or fiddle with the bandwidth settings.

Personally I'm using Google Photos to back up my pictures but not sure if there's a way for it to sync to your PC.

mrk · 27 Apr 2015 at 19:28

AndyCr15 said:
I just took a picture and timed it 25 seconds to my PC folder. I think you'll struggle to find something quicker. It has to go from your phone, to the cloud, then back to your PC.

I just did this but via ES File Explorer (have bookmarks saved for camera folder and the desktop folder on my PC in the app) and it took up to 20 seconds just doing it casually.

AndyCr15 · 27 Apr 2015 at 20:07

So it's not automated and pretty much the same amount of time? (I would suggest 20 and 25 seconds are pretty much the same. If you'd said 10 seconds... maybe...)

Hamster · 27 Apr 2015 at 20:44

AndyCr15 said:
So it's not automated and pretty much the same amount of time? (I would suggest 20 and 25 seconds are pretty much the same. If you'd said 10 seconds... maybe...)

For me 20 seconds without having to do anything beats 20 seconds of opening folders, clicking etc

AndyCr15 · 27 Apr 2015 at 21:39

Yes, so you're in favour of Dropbox? I'm confused now...

Hamster · 27 Apr 2015 at 21:45

I'm in favour of an automated system which works well for me. I've not had the chance to experiment with the numerous other suggestions but if one of those works well for me, or dropbox starts uploading faster to my pc, I'll be happier. I'm not being unappreciative of your suggestion though

RIZZEE · 28 Apr 2015 at 15:59

Any other good launchers other than Nova, or is that the one to go for?

Space Monkey · 28 Apr 2015 at 16:03

RIZZEE said:
Any other good launchers other than Nova, or is that the one to go for?

I really like Action Launcher 3 and a custom icon pack :cool:

Caseh · 28 Apr 2015 at 17:01

RIZZEE said:
Any other good launchers other than Nova, or is that the one to go for?

Space Monkey said:
I really like Action Launcher 3 and a custom icon pack

Action Launcher is where it's at. I used Action launcher before, and when I got my Nexus 6 I went with Nova for a couple of days and ended with Action launcher 3.

yer_averagejoe · 28 Apr 2015 at 19:25

Bloons TD5 is 50p on the play store right now

Lartyconshayo · 28 Apr 2015 at 19:36

RIZZEE said:
Any other good launchers other than Nova, or is that the one to go for?

I like Smart Launcher Pro. I use vintage icon pack with it

Richy888 · 29 Apr 2015 at 06:05

I tried Action Launcher for a while and have now gone back to Nova. Action launcher is good and quite a bit of its default setup can be replicated in Nova. Nova wont do the widget from a short cut thing. Both are good. Try them both is the only way to find out. A lot is disabled in the free version of Action though it's not too expensive.

boxman2000 · 29 Apr 2015 at 08:56

RIZZEE said:
Any other good launchers other than Nova, or is that the one to go for?

I know it's looked at as old these days but I use Go Launcher Ex – had it running on several android phones and thought after Lollipop update I wouldn’t need it but I just missed the customisation.

Some good addons out there as well (notification, calendar etc).

I’ve tried various launchers, including Nova and none of them (to me) do what Go does and the simplicity in which it does it.

joelk2 · 29 Apr 2015 at 09:10

why not nova?

RIZZEE · 29 Apr 2015 at 10:41

No real reason, just wanted to know if there was anything else around. Went back to Nova in the end, preferred it over Action Launcher.

Smeghead · 29 Apr 2015 at 15:09

Does anyone have any recommendations for decent Instagram editing apps (things like creating collages, adding custom music squaring videos etc.)? I've been using Photo Grid and it seems to be the most well rounded app, but the output quality is a bit lacking IMO.

StevieP · 29 Apr 2015 at 16:34

I'm using Apex Launcher and find it quick and reliable!