Southern Patriot Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 This will be our first Android device (previously had Windows Mobile 6.1 and an iPhone 3G), so any recomendations for must-have apps for this phone? She will be on Cellular South, if that makes any difference. She already knows that she wants Angry Birds (since a friend of hers at work plays it all the time). Any other good casual games for it? I'm also picking up a new iPod touch for myself (since I really don't need a full smartphone), and I was wondering if it is possible to use the Desire as a mobile hotspot for the iPod to connect with (fortunately, Cellular South is one of the few remaining carriers in the US that has unlimited data). Any other advice is welcome!! We should have the phone either tomorrow or Monday. I've already found the HTC Desire forums, but figured I'd ask around here first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mps69 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I'd recommend changing the sms handler to handcent. Also if she's going to be using the media player, try doubleTwist As for games, I'm hooked on air traffic controller at the moment. if she likes docks instead of the normal built in launcher give launcherPro a blast, it's got some good features built in. Good luck, and have fun playing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thanks, I'll be sure to check those out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detection Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 A GPS tracking app :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbandonedTrolley Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Wordfeud is a must too if she enjoys playing Scrabble. You should be able to do a wireless hotspot with the Desire with no problems, I think it was in 2.2 and upwards :) A GPS tracking app :p Just enable Latitude and you're done :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 You should be able to do a wireless hotspot with the Desire with no problems, I think it was in 2.2 and upwards :) The Desire here still ships with 2.1, I don't think they have officially shipped 2.2 for it yet. I'll look around the Desire forums to see if they have released an update for it there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruciz Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 es file manager will mount LAN/FTP servers on the phone, good for transferring stuff to/from the phone handcent as mentioned is the best hands down. will speak texts as well as go from voice to text. I like winamp music player with shoutcast streams. if in the US pandora is great, but grooveshark works outside the US as well as last.fm angry birds a great time waster if your not sick of the iOS version barcode scanner is good, works a treat alarm clock xtreme is good to wake u up in the morning and silent time lite will quiet the phone when you want it, but permit messages from 'accepted' numbers in case of emergency swype beta is BOSS. sign up for it! of course standard firefox/facebook/twitter/gmail linphone if you have a SIP/VoIP account you want to use on wifi wififofum is good to find wifi points that could be open OpenVPN to make a VPN tunnel if needed Possibilities are endless! its a great phone. Im sure she will be pleased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikedOut Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Change the default browser the Dolphin HD too, it is far superior to the one built in. Others I use; Timeriffic - Automaticaly manmages the power when you not using it. Zedge - Free Wallpapers and ring tones SD move - Lets you know if you can move an app to the memory card Lookout - AV but more importantly allows you to tract the phone on their website Astro - File manager There are a number of Google apps too that are pretty cool, Google sky map is one of my favourites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thanks everyone. Looks like I'm going to be busy testing out stuff for her soon. I've been digging around the Desire and XDA forums, and there are updated ROMs for the Desire (2.2 and even 2.3), but since I've never had an Android phone, are these carrier-specific or are they pretty much universal? The Desire here is CDMA, not GSM, and I don't see anything on either site (after a quick look) that specifies which system the ROMs are for. I remember when flashing ROMs on my previous HTC WinMo phones that this kind of thing could be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Found the answer to my previous question. Yes, there are CDMA specific ROMs. I found a forum where quite a few Cellular South customers post about the ROM they are using. Should work out nicely to update her phone as soon as it comes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davo Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Don't try and flash any CDMA radios that aren't for them by the way. They work for Sprint and Verizon interchangeably but it'll brick with CellOne for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'd recommend Angry Birds seasons (to go along with the normal Angry Birds), and personally i'd recommend Winamp for media playback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Root it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=696189 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Knight Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 ^ OP has already said that he will use a ROM from XDA to update the phone, which means, he will most definitely be rooting it! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispinto Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Be advised that rooting your device will invalidate your warranty And unlike an iPhone where you can factory restore and noone is really any wiser, "we" can tell. I've lost count how many devices are charged for warranty repairs because of remnants of rooting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Usually, doing a full wipe and flashing a stock RUU should remove all remnants of rooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singh400 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I've returned a few handsets that were rooted, and no one noticed ;) Best thing to do, after you root it, is to do a nandroid backup straight away. So if your carrier has a custom bootscreen then even that is retained. Works a treat for me ;) And for the record you can completely unroot as well (couple of guides on XDA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebor Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Spaghetti Marshmallows and Tank Hero are great games on android Also Arcade by Kongregate, but the game selection is currently not very good, might be better in the future. Wifi analyser is also handy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiquidSolstice Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Be advised that rooting your device will invalidate your warranty And unlike an iPhone where you can factory restore and noone is really any wiser, "we" can tell. I've lost count how many devices are charged for warranty repairs because of remnants of rooting As long as you don't S-OFF your device, all you need to do is flash back using the original stock carrier RUU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 As long as you don't S-OFF your device, all you need to do is flash back using the original stock carrier RUU. If you flash a stock RUU, the bootloader is usually flashed as well, so even if you do flash an S-OFF bootloader, it should be overwritten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiquidSolstice Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 If you flash a stock RUU, the bootloader is usually flashed as well, so even if you do flash an S-OFF bootloader, it should be overwritten From my understanding, that's not true; This is completely permanent. It is below the radio level, so even if you RUU, it will still be s-off. Basically you will never have to "root" your phone again. You just flash something from the bootloader and it will work (for example, you RUU, then go into the bootloader and flash a recovery right away) CDMA Hero - Xda Dev Forum - S-OFF Thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singh400 Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Oh, I forget. The best browser has to be Miren, hands down. Yes better than Dolphin. Miren is a great mobile browser, check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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