BenWoodall(dot)Com

All My Junk — In One Place

Edit: New Version 2.0 with vibraty things and live action voices!

I don’t even remember signing up for the beta, but I got my Google AppInventor invitation this morning and figured I’d play around with it.

It’s pretty basic: it’s just an app that opens this blog, my twitter feed, and my photo gallery. I think there could be a lot of fun with this. There are still a few bugs for Google to work out with it.

Here’s the barcode link to install it on your Android phone.

The official Gowalla app finally came out for the Android operating system yesterday and I’ve been waiting to write a Gowalla vs Foursquare post for a while now.  However, after using the Gowalla app for a day, I’ve decided I can’t REALLY write anything on it because it sucks so horribly bad.  I hate that too.  I’ve been rooting for the Gowalla app team for a while now and every now and then, I’ll even use the mobile site, m.gowalla.com.  Their design is a lot cleaner than Foursquare and I like the way it shows local venues.

But… The Gowalla app has COMPLETELY locked up my Droid 3 times now.  The whole thing just shuts down and I have to do a battery removal.  Also, Auto Wi-Fi use.  Why can’t it just use the GPS system like EVERY OTHER APP ON THE MARKET?  For some reason, it turns on my Wi-Fi connection in an attempt to better find my location.  This was probably my biggest irk for the Gowalla app.  I won’t write an official VS post until a newer app comes out…it’s just not a fair fight.

In the mean time…here are some Gowalla Mobile vs Foursquare pics.

So I’ve been playing around with Google’s new social app, “Buzz.”   I’ve had no qualms in the past talking about my Google fan-boy-ism, so when I say I’m a bit let down by it, you know I mean business.

The lack of quid-pro-quo twitter tie in is horrid.  I like that I can add my twitter posts to buzz, but why can’t I have it the other way around?  I know they’re trying to kill off Twitter with this, but it’s a step.

Also, my Twitter address is twitter.com/benwoodall... my Buzz address is google.com/profiles/benwoody.  I don’t see why google.com/benwoody wouldn’t link to my profile.  It’s a mouthful.

And the main point of this rant? The mobile web client.  I hear it’s different for Android and iPhone users.  The android version of the mobile site is HORRID!  I can’t update.  I can’t follow/unfollow friends from it.  And the timeline is so screwed up, I can’t tell what comes first.

BUT I HAVE A WORK AROUND!

Screw pointing your browers to buzz.google.com.  On the Droid, I find that it’s easier to see what locals and your friends are saying by using the Foursquare app. Once you’ve loaded the app, find your location and click on the “Map” tab.  Then click the geolocation button in the upper right of the map.  It brings you right to the address you want on Android Maps if you have the Buzz layer added.  You can see who’s around and then add what you want to the place you’re at.

Hope we get a Buzz app soon,

~Ben

Edit 1:
I see that it’s a bit confusing as to why you wouldn’t just use the android maps app to use Buzz. I like to use Foursquare because it finds the business or exact address you’re at before you update buzz. It seems to me that when you use buzz to find your where-abouts…it’s not as exact. Because Foursquare uses user info to find places, I think it’s more accurate.

My girlfriend, Holly, bought a Droid last month after I told her how much I liked mine.  I really like that even though she’s not too into tech and geek type stuff, she really puts her phone to good use.  But the one thing I can’t stand is all the wasted real estate she has on her Android desktop.  One desktop.  That’s it.

I ran into some old friends of mine this weekend, who happened to have both bought Android phones the week before.  We had fun going over new apps to get and new services they should try.  But just like Holly… they both only used one desktop.  The waste!  I was actually offended and told them they weren’t using their phones right.  Sure it might be a personal preference, but why wouldn’t you use it?

I’ve been a Gnome (Linux Xwin Interface) user for about 12 years now and one of the nicest things about most Linux desktop environments is the multiple desktops.  I’m pretty crazy when it comes to how I organize my desktop.  I usually like one desktop to have absolutely nothing on it.  No reason really.  Just aesthetics.  The others are usually organized in some way or fashion for usability.  One page for games, another for publishing, maybe even a whole desktop devoted to website bookmarks.

It’s no different on my Droid.  I have everything mapped out in a certain way that helps me navigate.  The home (middle) screen is devoted to mostly phone related activies.  Contacts, messaging, etc… as well as a few other things that a smart phone should be used for, like my browser, Gmail, and Google maps.  Left screen is mostly widgets, with a few select user control apps while the right is all the social and work related apps.

I know that the app slider is easy to use, but really…why wouldn’t you use all of that space?  I hear that Android 2.1 bumps it up to 5 desktops!  I don’t even know if I can fill that!  I”m really excited to see what else 2.1 brings.  I know it has the interactive (battery draining) wallpapers.  I can’t wait to see what people do with that.  There are also some 3rd party desktop theme apps that look pretty good.

What does your Android desktop look like?  Feel free to post pictures or comments.  To learn how to take screenshots, visit the Know Your Cell “Droid Screenshot” page.

~Ben

To be honest, I’ve only just recently been playing with geolocation apps.  Applications like Foursquare and mobile sites like Gowalla (who will soon have an Android app) are two of the big ones that I have been using.  Personally, I prefer the UI and graphics of the mobile Gowalla site to the app that Foursquare has put out, but I have been using Foursquare much more simply because it’s easier to run an app than it is to visit a site and log in.  When Gowalla releases their Android app, I’m almost sure I’ll make the switch.

However, I don’t see the holding power of these services.  Other sites credit them as geosocial games, but really…who cares if I’m the mayor of some place or if I’ve finished completing a user created “trip”.  Their not very game-y.

What I’d like to see?  Tron.  Hell yeah.  I’d like to check in at a series of locations and pit myself against a friend.  You would check in and and an imaginary line would extend from your last check in spot.  The object, of course, would be to make your friend hit the wall you’ve created.

Tell me that wouldn’t be bad ass.

So I recently bought a Motorola Droid, replacing the old Moto W315 I’ve been toting around for 3 years.  It’s been great upgrade and life changer for sure.  Just being able to finally take pictures is nice, but the apps from the Android market help out my a ton.  It’s like having my own personal little assistant everywhere I go…so might say it’s like having my own personal droid…..?

Anyways, after using it for the past 2 weeks, I’ve compiled a list of apps that I can’t live without.  Here they are, in no particular order:

ASTRO

A LOT of apps tend to continue running after you’ve exited out of them, and Astro has a great “Kill Application” feature that makes it easy to clean up running services and apps.  It’s main feature is to be used as a file manager, which I haven’t used to much yet.  I do most of my file managing through a program on my computer called doubltTwist.  It’s great to be able to kill off the background apps whenever your battery starts running low.

Twidroid Pro

I went ahead and purchased the Pro version of Twidroid (~$4.90) just so I can use multiple accounts.  I’m a huge twitter user and this was recommended to me by a lot of other Android users.  It has URL shortening services from Short.to, TinyURL, is.gd, and Bit.ly.  If you purchase the Pro version of Twidroid, it supports Bit.ly natively. I prefer Bit.ly just because of the native support.

Photo services supported are Phodroid, Twitpic, Twitgoo, and YFrog.  I’ve been using Twitpic since I started tweeting, but I’ve changed to YFrog now.  Whenever I would upload a pic to Twitpic, it wouldn’t add the captions from my tweets, and YFrog seems to do that.  YFrog also supports video upload, as well.

Twidroid also has support for Twitter lists, Geolocation, Skins, and services like Identi.ca, and Wozai.

Facebook

The Droid already comes with Facebook pre-installed, but there is an updated version on the market that I would recommend getting.  It fully integrates with your contact list, so it adds all of your Facebook friends.

What sucks about this is right before I new to install this new app, I had meticulously edited all of my Gmail contacts and added my numbers from my old phone onto it.  After installing the newer Facebook app, it did know that some of my contacts were my Facebook friends, so it just added the extra info on top of there.  Some of my contacts, however, are now on my contact list twice.  You can click on a contact that has 2 entries and select to merge them, which is nice.  Also sucks that now I have over 500 contacts on my Droid and I only talk to maybe 20 of them.  Good thing they have a favorite button on there.

GDocs

I use the Google cloud a lot, and seeing how the Droid is an Android phone, you would think that it would have native Google Documents support on it.  GDocs works pretty well though, if not better.  You can’t edit spreadsheets and excel files on there, but other documents work fine.  The recent update it received gave it support for PDF files, which is awesome.

Pandora

Don’t know how I EVER lived without Pandora mobile.  It’s a must have because the media player on the Droid is amazingly horrible.  It is the worst thing about the phone so far.

Pandora is great on here though, and even better is that, of course, the Droid lets it run in the background so I can do other things while listening to music.  It auto shuts off when a call comes in and starts right back up as soon as it’s ended.   Supports ratings, playlists, and purchases.

Theses are only the ones I use on a day-to-day basis.  I’ve installed plenty more that are just as great.

• Google Goggles – great on labels and things and the augmented reality thing is awesome.  Bar code scanner…not so much.
• DroidLight – just in case I need a little light.
• Google Sky Map – so I can locate constellations if I need to.  Just cool to have really.
• Mobile Banking – supported by my bank and works well.
• PhoneFlicks – for Netflix.  Lets me see my queue and add stuff to it.
• Space Physics – Bought this one.  Best game on the Droid if you ask me.
• ShopSavvy – Used it a few times.  Great to help compare prices locally.