TimSchmoyer.me

TimSchmoyer.me

Tim Schmoyer  //  Husband to Dana, father to Hannah, youth pastor, blogger at http://www.studentministry.org

Nov 28 / 6:12pm

An update about my Droid experience and favorite apps

I've only had my Motorola Droid for about 10 days since my initial review about the device. The experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Some thoughts:

  • I'm traveling around the US a lot from this December through March, so I'll be testing it's 3G coverage area more in the upcoming months, but so far I haven't roamed outside of a 3G connection.
  • Going from the iPod Touch's keyboard to the Droid keyboard wasn't as smooth a transition as I expected, but I'm becoming more and more proficient with it all the time. I feel almost as comfortable with the Droid's on-screen keyboard as I do with my iPod Touch's keyboard now. (I'm not a fan of the Droid's physical keyboard. I rarely use it.)
  • The glare issue I experienced at first was because I had the screen on it's lowest setting. I set it to automatically adjust the brightness and the glare issue went away. No problems there.
  • The battery life was surprisingly poor at first. In fact, the first two days the phone died by evening even with relatively low usage. Fortunately, the Droid can show you what's using the battery. It turns out that Skype and Remember The Milk were both the culprits of sucking the life out of my phone. I uninstalled Remember The Milk because I wasn't using it too much and keep Skype closed unless I need it and the battery life is great now.
  • The voice command feature is surprisingly accurate and works pretty intuitively with whatever you tell the phone to do. Pretty handy.

I've been playing with a lot of apps and have landed on a couple that are my favorites.

  • PixelPipe Pro (free version available, Pro costs $0.99) - Allows me to upload videos, pictures, compose blog posts, do status updates, and more all from one app, even over the 3G network (by default, the phone makes you wait until you're connected to wifi to upload large video files). Best media sharing app I've seen. I have it setup with Facebook, Posterous, Twitpic, Twitvid, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube. I'm just waiting for support for Facebook Pages to come soon.
  • TaskPanel (free) - Definitely a must-have for Droid users. I love that the Droid allows background processes to run, like uploading a large video in one app while composing an email in another. The problem, however, is that when you have too many apps open at once the system can become bogged down, just like a normal computer. TaskPanel lets you see everything that's running and easily kill processes to free up your phone's resources.
  • Robo Defense (free version available, full version costs $2.99) - I love this game! I upgraded from the free version for more maps and such. Basically you gotta setup an army while tanks, soldiers and aircraft are constantly storming your base.
  • Twidroid Pro (free version available, Pro costs $5.06) - This is a pretty solid Twitter app. The free version may be sufficient for most people, but I upgraded to the Pro version because I wanted to have integration with my bit.ly account, my video sharing and picture sharing services.
  • Skype (free) - I think I use Skype on my computer to talk with people more than I do my home phone line, so having it on my phone is awesome! As I already mentioned, just can't keep it running 24/7.
  • Barcode Scanner (free) - It's great to be in a store comparing products when I can quickly scan the barcode with my phone and instantly have Google pop up tons of reviews and current prices for the product.
  • Bible (free) - Great app from YouVersion.com, except I can't add my own notes and contributions to passages while listening to a sermon or something. Hopefully that comes soon.
  • Google Voice (free) - Love using it as my voicemail replacement. It creates a transcript of my messages that pops up on my phone almost instantly after someone leaves a message. Plus, I can just hit "play" and listen to it without having to call in to voicemail.
  • PicSay Pro (free version available, Pro costs $2.97) - It's basically a photoshop that lets you add props to your pictures, add balloon bubble comments, tweaks, edits, and tons of fun stuff. Another app where the free version might be sufficient. I upgraded to be able to save my pics in full resolution.
  • Qik/Ustream (both free) - Last weekend I live streamed the video of a dodgeball tournament for about 20 minutes using Qik. Qik worked great and the beta version takes advantage of the DVD resolution video camera. I also have the Ustream app, which is definitely more robust, but doesn't stream in the quality that Qik does (yet). This will be great for streaming interviews and conversations during the Simply Youth Ministry Conference this February.
  • Voice Recorder (free) - Simple little app that lets me quickly record a note or memo and email it to myself. I'll also use it to post little audio clips on my Posterous blog.
  • Where (free) - It uses GPS to grab your location and then show you all the local restaurants, gas stations (including prices), hotels, news, reviews, movies, traffic, and more. Very handy when traveling or if I just wanna quickly see who has the cheapest gas around me.
  • Where's My Droid (free) - If I ever loose my Droid, this handy app lets me send my phone a text message (from Google Voice online or any cell phone) with a special code I set up. If my phone is on silent, it will take it off of silent and start ringing at the loudest volume possible for 30 or 60 seconds. It can also text me back with my Droid's GPS coordinates so I can pin-point it's location exactly.

My only other thought is that the Droid is definitely playing catch-up to the iPhone in some ways, but the iPhone has also been under development for years. I remember what the iPhone was like when it first released and the Droid is WAY beyond that. Given some time, I'm very optimistic that there's a bright future for the Android OS, it's apps and the hardware that powers it.

5 comments

Nov 28, 2009
Luke said...
Tim, you should checkout Olive Trees Bible Reader beta for android. BR is an amazing app, though their resources are over priced, everything is solid and tranferable to other devices.
Nov 28, 2009
Tim Schmoyer said...
What's the advantage of the Olive Trees Bible Reader over Bible by YouVersion.com?
Nov 28, 2009
Luke said...
Notes w/ evernote sync, offline bibles with notes, study bibles, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew parses with lexicons. Morphology search, reading plans, devotionals, dual resource view, amazing developers and customer service. The app is constantly being updated.
Nov 28, 2009
Joe said...
Tim, can you go through and tell us which apps are free and which ones you purchased with prices next to them?
Nov 28, 2009
Tim Schmoyer said...
Sure, Joe. Just updated the post with prices.

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