[Cory Streater]

Most of us hate Bing. We don't need another thread about that subject. But I would like to hear about some of the first things you plan on doing with your Fascinate to customize it to your liking. Here are my thoughts, and since we have some time to kill until tomorrow, please share yours too.

I bought this phone for 3 reasons: screen, speed, and size. If it weren’t for those 3 things, this phone would have some major issues (IMHO) – all of which I plan on solving immediately. Luckily there are ways around each of these things:

1) The first thing I noticed is the iPhone like UI – this must go.

Solution: Download and install LauncherPro. This launcher is blazing fast, full of useful customizations, and allows me to hide apps in the app drawer that I don’t want to see and/or use. Before I do this, I will delete ALL widgets from the TW home screens to ensure none of them are running in the background. This will save battery, memory, CPU usage. If you want extra widgets or just to show your support to the developer, upgrade to Launcher Pro Plus.


2) Lack of Google Maps with Turn-by-Turn directions.

Solution: Download and install Google Maps an Navigation from the Market. When prompted by various programs (e.g., clicking on an address hyperlink in browser search results) the OS will prompt me to choose which program to launch to complete the navigation task, I will choose Google Maps & check the option to launch this by default.

3) It was bad enough that the TouchWiz UI was reminiscent of the iPhone, but Verizon also integrated Microsoft search as the default search engine. Press and hold the search button, and the OS will launch Bing. This has been discussed to death in this forum, and at this point possible solutions include

1) Installing the Google Search apk via SD card.
2) Rooting the phone and replacing the Bing apk with Google Search.
3) And hopefully it will not come to this – but a custom ROM.

To further customize the Fascinate to my liking, I will download and installed the following apps from the Market:

1) Touchdown – if you are an Exchange email user, this is an absolute must.
2) Dolphin HD – a browser with tabbed browsing capabilities & much more functionality beyond the stock browser.
3) Handcent SMS – a fully customizable SMS app.
4) AppBrain – A Market replacement program. Filter out market junkware, sync apps to an online account for quick recovery after a hard reset and/or phone replacement, browse the market from a desktop, and more.
5) Battery Droid – a battery widget that show percentage remaining.

[Ivisi]

Unless you absolutely love LauncherPro, you don't need it to revert to a stock Android UI. The Epic and the Fascinate both allow users to disable the TouchWiz home screen skin and go to the stock experience.

[Ivisi]

I should add, like you, I am getting this phone for the hardware and not for the software. None of the choices Verizon or Samsung has made for the bloatware and default settings for this phone will affect my use or enjoyment of the device. I'm really looking forward to getting mine, if only my office would get off of its **** and get our contracts updated.

[Sabban]

Definatly plan on getting google maps install, never used google nav but will check it out. I may check out launcherpro that every talks about but I will play with touchwiz first to see if I like it or now. Let's see, droid armory and the eq2 app I've seen on my buddies dinc. Not sure what else. This'll be my first android experience so ill just have to check out the app market and see what's out there

[sprke81]

I bought this phone for 3 reasons: screen, speed, and size. If it weren’t for those 3 things, this phone would have some major issues (IMHO) – all of which I plan on solving immediately. Luckily there are ways around each of these things:

That is exactly why I'm buying this phone and am coming from the Incredible so the screen and speed better wow me or its going back. I'm banking on these forums to help me get google search on to. The first thing I'm going to do is put on Launcher Pro and download google maps.

[namebrandon]

Can you get horizontal scrolling with Launcher Pro, or is that only in ADW/TouchWiz?

[Cory Streater]

Can you get horizontal scrolling with Launcher Pro, or is that only in ADW/TouchWiz?

I'm uploading a video now of LP, but no LP does not do side to side (yet).

[Cory Streater]

For all you new guys, of Launcher Pro.

[namebrandon]

Thanks Cory, Team Newbie appreciates it!

OK, ya sold me. I sent my $3 to Fede and got my Pro code.. Now I'm all set! Thanks for the video, some useful stuff in there!

[Cory Streater]

I'm glad it was helpful!

[pheatton]

Seems like most of us are getting it for the HW only. Waiting in anticipation for some good ROMs and ROOT.

I just got my upgrade bumped to this month! WOOT!

[namebrandon]

Absolutely.. ROMs, ROOT and .... what's another good word that starts with 'R'.. hrmm.. I'll get back to you. But yeah, hardware!

[Archerdude]

ok it's not apparent to me on how to purchase and download launcher pro. I am sure I am missing the obvious. Could Some give me a little direction here. I went to launcher pro web site and seen where i could purchase a code. Do they send me the file to put on my phone. Also is it compatible for all droid phones.

[Sabban]

while i will probably try launcher pro out, what does the paid version of Launcher pro plus come with that isn't in the free version?

[Cory Streater]

ok it's not apparent to me on how to purchase and download launcher pro. I am sure I am missing the obvious. Could Some give me a little direction here. I went to launcher pro web site and seen where i could purchase a code. Do they send me the file to put on my phone. Also is it compatible for all droid phones.

1) Search for LauncherPro - all one word - in the market.
2) Install.
3) From the LaucherPro preferences list, scroll to the bottom and click the upgrade to LauncherPro plus.

while i will probably try launcher pro out, what does the paid version of Launcher pro plus come with that isn't in the free version?

LauncherPro widgets and a show of support to the developer for his efforts.

[namebrandon]

ok it's not apparent to me on how to purchase and download launcher pro. I am sure I am missing the obvious. Could Some give me a little direction here. I went to launcher pro web site and seen where i could purchase a code. Do they send me the file to put on my phone. Also is it compatible for all droid phones.

Hey man, took me a bit too. If you go in the forum there's a sticky post on the site / address to send your $2.99. Then they send you an activation code via email. When you're on the phone itself, go to the market and download LauncherPro, and when you run LauncherPro you're supposed to be able to enter the code, which then turns it into the full version.

Apparently you can download the app from the website directly, but you won't get update notifications from the market if you do it that way.

Of course that's what I read. I don't have a phone yet, so I haven't done it. I did get my code though.

[Archerdude]

Hey man, took me a bit too. If you go in the forum there's a sticky post on the site / address to send your $2.99. Then they send you an activation code via email. When you're on the phone itself, go to the market and download LauncherPro, and when you run LauncherPro you're supposed to be able to enter the code, which then turns it into the full version.

Apparently you can download the app from the website directly, but you won't get update notifications from the market if you do it that way.

Of course that's what I read. I don't have a phone yet, so I haven't done it. I did get my code though.

Thats funny untill i read your response i could not find it on the market i was searching for Launcher Pro when i should have searched Launcherpro with no spaces. You would think it would have came up either way. Thanks

[Ivisi]

Thats funny untill i read your response i could not find it on the market i was searching for Launcher Pro when i should have searched Launcherpro with no spaces. You would think it would have came up either way. Thanks

The Android Market is by Google, not Bing. Why would you expect the search to work properly?

[Cory Streater]

If you are new to Android, the next thing you will want to download & install is AppBrain. I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is. It filters out all the crapware from the search results, has a , & allows you to sync your installed apps with your online account - so can quickly reinstall after a hard reset/phone swap.

Also, check out AC's Help & How To's.

[wtherrell]

The Android Market is by Google, not Bing. Why would you expect the search to work properly?

Ouch! The Sarcasm stings!

[jaekim717]

Most of us hate Bing. We don't need another thread about that subject. But I would like to hear about some of the first things you plan on doing with your Fascinate to customize it to your liking. Here are my thoughts, and since we have some time to kill until tomorrow, please share yours too.

I bought this phone for 3 reasons: screen, speed, and size. If it weren’t for those 3 things, this phone would have some major issues (IMHO) – all of which I plan on solving immediately. Luckily there are ways around each of these things:

1) The first thing I noticed is the iPhone like UI – this must go.

Solution: Download and install LauncherPro. This launcher is blazing fast, full of useful customizations, and allows me to hide apps in the app drawer that I don’t want to see and/or use. Before I do this, I will delete ALL widgets from the TW home screens to ensure none of them are running in the background. This will save battery, memory, CPU usage. If you want extra widgets or just to show your support to the developer, upgrade to Launcher Pro Plus.


2) Lack of Google Maps with Turn-by-Turn directions.

Solution: Download and install Google Maps an Navigation from the Market. When prompted by various programs (e.g., clicking on an address hyperlink in browser search results) the OS will prompt me to choose which program to launch to complete the navigation task, I will choose Google Maps & check the option to launch this by default.

3) It was bad enough that the TouchWiz UI was reminiscent of the iPhone, but Verizon also integrated Microsoft search as the default search engine. Press and hold the search button, and the OS will launch Bing. This has been discussed to death in this forum, and at this point possible solutions include

1) Installing the Google Search apk via SD card.
2) Rooting the phone and replacing the Bing apk with Google Search.
3) And hopefully it will not come to this – but a custom ROM.

To further customize the Fascinate to my liking, I will download and installed the following apps from the Market:

1) Touchdown – if you are an Exchange email user, this is an absolute must.
2) Dolphin HD – a browser with tabbed browsing capabilities & much more functionality beyond the stock browser.
3) Handcent SMS – a fully customizable SMS app.
4) AppBrain – A Market replacement program. Filter out market junkware, sync apps to an online account for quick recovery after a hard reset and/or phone replacement, browse the market from a desktop, and more.
5) Battery Droid – a battery widget that show percentage remaining.

Hey Cory,

not sure how i missed this thread but this is exactly what i've been looking for. Thanks so much for posting this and a ton of other helpful posts!

[jaekim717]

If you are new to Android, the next thing you will want to download & install is AppBrain. I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is. It filters out all the crapware from the search results, has a , & allows you to sync your installed apps with your online account - so can quickly reinstall after a hard reset/phone swap.

Also, check out AC's Help & How To's.

hey cory,

when you see synch your installed apps, do you mean it makes a physical backup of your apps? so you can grab them and reinstall them later? or it just makes of list of the apps you had so you can find them later (via market place or appbrain)?

thanks

jae

[wtherrell]

Pretty much all the above Plus

CheckMark To Do List Pro
Jorte
gtasks
NoLed
Widget Locker
K-9 Mail
GPS Test
Google SkyMap
WiFi Manager
Astro File Manager
Weatherbug Elite
Home Switcher
Office Suite Pro

[SeatownGST]

I'm coming from a blackberry storm 1, after a full two year term, and LOTS of updating and custom file swapping. I realize this phone is brand new, yet my expectations are pretty high from the dev/tweaker community. If it can be done for the Storm 1, it should be even better for the newest. But I'll reserve a lot of complaints until this phone is on 2.2 and there's an even playing field across these phones for the devs to have some fun with.

Here's what I need this phone to do:

1) bluetooth commands. when the phone is locked off, bluetooth commands from the earpiece should NOT turn the screen back on. I use the phone in my pocket while driving and voice dial. this is currently not doable on this phone since you can toggle the call OFF accidentally. further, on the storm 1, ending a call could be done with the earpiece button. on these phones, it just toggles off the bluetooth transmissions, and now your call is on the phone earpiece or speakerphone. DOH. bluetooth commands need work.

2) easier sound manipulation. there was a button on the main screen of the storm 1 to toggle silent/vibrate/normal/loud. 2 clicks to engage. simple. I suppose I'll have to get something from the marketplace though that will be trialware or something. yeeesh. toggling the rocker on the left just isn't going to cut it.

3) something like shrink-a-OS, the killer app for the storm folks. you can purge unnecessary languages, apps, files, all sorts of stuff with ease. I'm new to the whole "you need root" concept, but on the Storm 1... you could NOT brick the phone. it was not possible. you could always push a new base install to the phone. it sounds like these phones are still fragile as folks figure out what's a required part of the OS and what's not.

4) multi-messenger client. I'm sure there's one out there. I already miss blackberry messenger though. something on the storm 1 couldn't possibly be better than android right?

5) email. holy crap I had to use a gmail account, to get to the marketplace, to then download an app that could get POP/IMAP mail. this phone ONLY comes with activesync and gmail support? hahaha. so how is a general mailbox going to work? is there an app for that as well? back on the storm 1, you could organize each mail icon to open those mails separately, or use the general collector icon that holds ALL incoming email. simple.

That's a quick list as I learn, I have appbrain and that's neat for installing news reader widgets and stuff, but some basic functionality has a long way to go.

But hey, it's all good, we aren't even on 2.2 yet and some bugs just got fixed today. So far so good I guess!

[Cory Streater]

hey cory,

when you see synch your installed apps, do you mean it makes a physical backup of your apps? so you can grab them and reinstall them later? or it just makes of list of the apps you had so you can find them later (via market place or appbrain)?

thanks

jae

It doesn't make a physical backup of your apps. AppBrain scans all apps installed on your phone. It creates a list of those apps and uploads them to the AppBrain server. If you hard reset your phone, you download an install AppBrain from the Market, sign in, then open up Appbrain & click Manage & Sync. From there you can pull the list to your phone and you manually install each one, or you can use their web installer app to push them down all at once.

If you replace your device with a new one, you can login to their website, and then pick and choose which ones you want to install on the new device. It makes it really easy. I love AppBrain so much, maybe that will be my next video demo It's kind of hard to describe its abilities in full detail.