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Android software

My list of softwares I like (and dislike!).

There are also tips in usage.

bold : I have tried/used it

$ means not free

RED - junk (or worse)

GREEN - great / necessary

• 1vpn - $ -  allows you to pre-fill the vpn password when using vpn, saves keystrokes. If you use VPN all the time, paying a buck is worth it, basically puts the password into your paste buffer. 
• 91 pandahome2 - theme switcher - not impessed
  
• accounts & sync - built in android app
• adobe flash player 11.0, by Adobe -tons of web sites use flash, and so does youtube, so you can go to the youtube site via a browser, not a special youtube app - eat your heart out Apple!
  
• adobe reader, by Adobe - essential to read pdf files
• advanced task killer, by rechild - overuse is not necessary, but can clean things up, can be configured to only try to kill certain tasks, also good way to see all the crap that autostarts on it's own
• adw launcher, by anderweb  - great launcher that rotates the icons in landscape mode, you might have to get another dialer app if you have the HTC sense dialer, I used Dialer1 see below, included in the CM7 port on the HP Touchpad link for support: http://code.google.com/p/adw-launcher-android/wiki/CompleteGuideToADW
• amazon kindle - built in android app
• android live wallpapers - built in android app
• android system - built in android app
•  app sharing - built in android app
• apps - from verizon, their own app market, on verizon thunderbolt
• archive viewer - built in android app
• astro file manager, by Metago - very nice file manager
• auto-rotate widget - built in android app from htc
• backgrounds, by Stylem Media - nice screen backgrounds
• backup assistant - built in android app
• barcode scanner, by ZXing Team - works very well, uses camera to read barcodes
• battery monitor widget, by 3c - 
  
• battery alarm - another nice one
• battery widget - geekygroup - shows the battery capacity in place on your screen, tap and it shows what is using the battery, has toggles for wifi and BT
• beautiful widgets - need to list them but nice set of widgets, I like the curvefish ones better
• bitbop - preinstalled on thunderbolt - tv on demand - costs to subscribe
• blockbuster - preinstalled on thunderbolt - movies - costs to subscribe
• bluetooth on/off, by Curvefish - my favorite widgets for this type of control, shows on, off, and if you are in transition, simple and easy
• bluetooth share - built in android app
• bookmark widget - built in app from HTC
• bookmarks to sd, by Dolphin - an add in to the Dolphin browser, allows export and import of bookmarks... tip: they go into a directory called "tunnybrowser" on the sdcard directory.
• books (google books) - have not used yet, seemed to appear with google plus
• brcmBluetoothServices - built in android app
  
• brightness level, by curvefish - another excellent widget, and one of the few oes that allows the AUTO settng
• calculator - built in app from HTC
• calculator widget - built in app from HTC
•  calender - built in app from HTC
• calendar storage - built in app
• calendar widget - built in app from HTC
• camcard, by Intsig - business card scanner, works ok
• camcorder - ??
• camera - built in app from HTC 
• car panel - built in app from HTC for use with their car mount
• certificate installer - built in app
• city ID - preinstalled on thunderbolt - trial, it expires - costs to subscribe - was pretty nice, not worth the money though
  
•  clock - built in app from HTC - has night dimmer button, alarm, city times, stopwatch, timer - sometimes it has the wrong location, uncheck the auto location in the menu
• clock widget - built in app from HTC
• compass & leveler, by Maxcom - simple and 2 functions in one app
• connect to pc - built in app from HTC - USB connection
• connected media - built in app from HTC
• contacts storage - built in app
• converter - v1.2.2 by asif chowdhury - converts many units - nice - has ads
• convertpad - v2.0.0 by sunny moon - very nice - has ads
• CPU Master free, by anTuTu - sets cpu speed on rooted devices, stock max speed on HP touchpad was 1188
• dialer - built in app from HTC - the basic phone dialer
  
• Dialer1, by Yermek Zhumagulov - very nice dialer that follows screen orientation
• dialer storage - built in app from HTC
• dock mode - built in app from HTC, fires off when put in desk docking station
• Dolphin Browser HD - best browser so far, better than Firefox for now, faq/blog here: http://blog.dolphin-browser.com/faq/dolphin-browser-hd/ Syncing bookmarks: There is Xmarks, but I had one heck of a time getting just the bookmarks I wanted. I use Bookmarks to SD to import and export. It also has a way to sync with your google account.. have not tried yet.
• dolphin liscense - separate app that registers your browser
• engine driver - works with JMRI - model trains remote control app
• engineerscalc - thompsonlinear.com - trig, materials density, etc.
• facebook for HTC Sense - obvious
• fast reboot pro, by great bytes software -  lets you reboot without rebooting - (restarts all apps) - has a widget, just does a force close on apps
• fcc test, by ookla - does speed tests - works on wifi and on broadband cellular
• file browser - built in app
  
• firefox - internet browser - I get the beta version, best html5 rendition, the android version is pretty much the same level as the pc one now. Still not as good as dolphin, and no flash plugin apparently.
  
• fish-o-meter, by convisual AD, aslo aquarium free, by Kittehface software - aquarium theme, fun
• flashlights, by hsa - turns on leds at camera on thunderbolt - nice - 3 levels of brightness, flashing, and sends SOS
• flickr - built in app from HTC
• FM radio - built in app from HTC - works ok, you need to have headphones connected, it uses the headphone cable as an antenna
• FM radio widget, as above
• footprints built in app from HTC - uses geo-tagging to tag your photos with gps coordinates and data so that it can show you the location, date etc of your photos on a map, useful as mentioned above, if you are on holiday, or if you want to document a trip somewhere. 
• freedom pro keyboard driver - needed for the bluetooth keyboard I bought
• friend stream - built in app from HTC - collects social info from facebook, flickr and twitter on one screen
• friend stream widget - as above
• gallery - built in app from htc - photo and video organizer - works ok - To create news gallerys, on your SD card create a folder called media/pictures/and copy the pictures into there.
• gmail - preinstalled on thunderbolt, nice way to use gmail on android
• google calendar sync 
• google contacts sync
• google search - preinstalled - easy search built into android
• google+ - works on 2.3 and above, has visual chat
• GPS on/off, by curvefish - another great widget
• GPS status, by eclipsim - nice way to see more details on your gps
• Handcent sms - nicer sms alternative
• htc sync - used on thunderbolt and other HTC phones, works pretty well, lightweight and fast sync except for music sync, slow.
• internet - preinstalled - this is the built in browser, don't know what the real name is, ok, not great 
• jawbone companion - used with jawbone BT headsets, can't see any real advantage
• keyboard with Ctl key, by pline.co.jp  - nice keyboard
• lets golf 2 - preinstalled game - I don't play games
• live wallpaper picker
• livestream - can't get to work, too bad
• location picker - built in app from HTC
• lookout - has antivirus scanning, backup, and lost device recovery, excellent
• LTE OnOff - used on thunderbolt to take you to screen where you can force to 3G, I use because Verizon network does not allow VPN on 4G network, can be used to save battery life
• magic smoek wallpapers - built in app from HTC
• mail - built in app from HTC - nice app, has shortcuts to set up aol, gmail, microsoft exchance, pop3, imap, verizon.net, hotmail, yahoo
• mail widget - as above
• (google) maps - preinstalled on thunderbolt - google maps with satellite
• street view on google maps - integrates with google maps
• (android) market - preinstalled - link to android market (android apps)
• messages - built in app from HTC
• messages widget, as above
• mobile hotspot - preinstalled app from Verizon
• mobile im - built in app from HTC
• music - built in app from HTC - basic music player
• my sensors, by kevin fodor - very cool app that shows you raw data output of sensors, 3 axix accelerometer, 3 axis magnetic, angle distance, light sensor, fun
• my verizon mogile - crap preinstalled on verizon phones
• network info II, by alt236
• network mapper, by coc - fast
• news - built in app -
• open signal maps - shows direction and strength of cell towers
• Pandora - great free radio station, customize your own station
• pdf utility lite - will let you split, merge, extract and insert images
  
• peep - HTC sense for twitter?
• people - HTC sense contact list
• phone - HTC sense phone app
• ping by ilmobileapps.com - can ping list of addresses - has ads -  
• ping by firedale - another ping - can have lists - continuous
• pingrange by srcguardian - will ping range of ip's - fast, returns mac addresses
• power dashboard widget - from HTC sense
• Quickoffice - preinstalled from HTC
• rhapsody - preinstalled on thunderbolt - music application - does streaming - to subscribe to - one of the Verizon Vcast apps
• ringtone trimmer - HTC sense
  
• rock band - preinstalled on thunderbolt - apparently shows song list for each rock band game... starts a big download when you run it...
• settings - preinstalled - android operating system settings
• setup - preinstalled - first time setup for phone, like language, etc
• slacker - preinstalled on thunderbolt - streaming radio
• slingplayer - streaming video player for a slingbox at your home
• sound recorder - preinstalled
• spare parts by droidgram - does various system settings - I need to evaluate further - has ads, spare parts pro is free, and it lets you get blade buddy for rooted phones
• speedtest.net, by ookla - one of the best speed tests, keeps a history, works wifi or wireless
• status bar - preinstalled
• stocks - HTC sense - from yahoo finance
• street view - works with google maps
• Talk - I think this is from google
• Tango - video chat works on iPhone and Android, great, easy to set up
• Tape-a-Talk, by Marcus Drosser - nice voice recorder that lets you email the voice recording
• Telnet, by clockworkmod - telnet program, if you don't know what it is, you don't need it
• (Android) Terminal emulator, by Jack Palevich - terminal emulator, if you don't know what it is, you don't need it 
• TehteringGuard - interesting built in app
• The weather channel - one of the better weather proggies, - has ads
• Thumb Keyboard 4 - excellent keyboard for a tablet
• Tips for Home - HTC sense
• Tricorder - cute program that actually is pretty useful in reading all your sensors
• Tunewiki - preinstalled on thunderbolt - does gather demographic information - apparently another music manager
  
• Twitter widget - for twitter
  
• Ultrachron lite - stopwatch
• Unzip by android-wallpapers.com - does file unzip, if you don't know or use zip files, you don't need this
  
• vcast media media manager - preinstalled on Verizon thunderbolt - crap
• vcast music, see above
• vcast tones, see above
  
• vConvertit, by verdebreuk
• voice dialer - built in, not very good
• voice recorder - HTC sense
• voice search
• Vtok  - supposed to be Google video chat, have not gotten to work yet
  
• VZ Navigator - preinstalled on thunderbolt - free version, be careful, premium version costs $10 a month, basically any feature worth a darn costs money.
• Weather - HTC sense
   
• Weatherbug - nice app
• What's my ip?, by mgd - simple app to show your ip address
• WiFi Analyzer by farproc - excellent graphical representation of all freqs in use with signal strength - has ads
• WiFi OnOff - by curvefish - another great widget
• XlinkVPN - ??
• Xmarks for Dolphin browser - really kind of a pain, you get another folder in your pc browser, not easy to manage
• Youtube - preinstalled app on thunderbolt - if you don't know what this is, you have been living under a rock
• Youtube Search - ok, not great, but saves time, sits as a widget on your scree, if you youtube a lot, may be worthwhile, but you have ads all the time on the widget
• Zebra Utilities - free app from Zebra to test zebra brand barcode printers