Android Project Tip: Get Rid of Your Task Killer!

When I first bought my Droid, I scoured the interwebs to find out which basic apps I should download first. One app that appeared on almost every blog I read was a Task Killer app (it doesn't matter which one).

Over time, many developers have realized the inconvenience and problems associated with killings apps that are running in your phone's memory. I have found two apps that resolve this issue and are much more convenient than using a task killer to play whack-a-mole with the apps that are using up your precious phone memory. One of these apps is called Auto Memory Manager. The one I use is called MinFreeManager, which can only be used on rooted phones. Auto Memory Manager can be used on non-rooted phones.

What you may not know is that Android comes with built-in code that will kill apps once your phone memory usage reaches a certain threshold. Unfortunately the pre-set threshold in Android is much too conservative, so apps can stay in your phone memory until your free memory is very low. MinFreeManager modifies Android's memory threshold settings to kill apps once your free phone memory reaches your defined settings. That way you can "set it and forget it" so you don't have to keep checking to see what apps are hogging your memory and causing lag.

Here is an example of what the stock settings are on my phone before setting MinFreeManager to my own settings:

As you can see, the Android OS in this case won't kill any apps until your phone memory reaches only 32mb. For what it's worth, I don't believe the OS can run smoothly on anything less than 40mb. I personally use the "Agressive" setting in MinFreeManager and have had no problems whatsoever:

These are MinFreeManager's "Aggressive" memory settings:

On these settings, your phone will start terminating apps according to priority at 96mb. My phone runs noticeably smoother with the aggressive memory settings. You can choose your own options depending on your risk tolerance.

MinFreeManager is free in the Android Market. I believe Auto Memory Manager has both free and paid versions. Remember to support the Android developers by purchasing your apps or consider donating.

*As always, remember that using these types of apps (including task killers) risks the possibility of damaging your phone. I'm not saying it will happen, but don't blame me if it does.

The Android Project Reviews: Knocking Live Beta (Cross-Platform Video Chat App)

Category: Video Chat
Price:  Free
Gotta-Have-It Factor: 1

I need to preface this review by noting that Knocking Live is currently in Beta (hence the "Beta" in the title). This review may change once the final version is released.  That being said, Knocking Live is not ready for mainstream use, in my opinion.

The one advantage to Knocking Live is that it is a closs-platform video chat application. So those of you Android users out there who have friends with an iPhone (i.e. every Android user out there), can supposedly use Knocking Live to videochat with your iPhone friends (to give you a better view of their sense of superiority).

Unfortunately, after testing Knocking Live with one friend who owns an iPhone 4, and one friend with a Nexus One, I was unable to get Knocking Live to work (I own a Motorola Droid, if you were wondering).

The biggest problem we had was the force closes, which came frequently. We didn't get more than 5 seconds of video feed without the app force closing. Another problem was that we couldn't get the audio to work. So it ended up being a laggy, silent video feed. And the last problem is that only one video stream seemed to work at a time. If I could see my friend on my phone, he couldn't see me on my phone, and vice versa.

Another frustration I had with Knocking Live is that your friends have to be "Online" for you to be able to "knock" on their door. For me, this meant I had to have the application open and in the foreground. So in order to videochat with your friends, you'd have to contact them via other means first, tell them to open up Knocking Live, and then "knock" on their door. Hopefully they'll come up with a way to notify your friends that you want to chat with them, without always having Knocking Live open and running.

Fortunately, Knocking Live is free in the Android Market because I wouldn't recommend paying anything for this app. So I'll wait and see if Knocking Live improves at all with future updates. But for now, I'd search elsewhere if you're looking for a cross-platform video chat application. I give it a 1 on the gotta-have-it scale.

The Android Project Reviews: The Best Video Player for Android - RockPlayer

One of the biggest issues I have with Android is the lack of an all-in-one media player. Unfortunately the native video player that is built into the OS is severely lacking and only plays a few different video formats. Until somebody comes out with a media player that can play both music and videos, we'll have to make due with what we've got.

I've used quite a few different video apps on the market, and I've been disappointed by every one of them... until now. I downloaded the free version of an application called RockPlayer and gave it a try. It plays almost everything I've thrown at it. According to the developer's website, RockPlayer is an embedded platform, high-performance all-format video player. And I don't disagree with that. The developer says that RockPlayer can handle the following formats: avi mkv rmvb mp4 mov wmv asf wma wav mpg ts mpa dvd au mp3 mid ivf aiff ogm ogg cda flic d2v aac roq flac drc dsm swf pls pmp. As you can see, there's not much it can't handle. There's no more need to transcode your video files before putting them on your phone.

One of the disadvantages to RockPlayer is the price, and the fact that you can't purchase it straight from the Android Market. Although the free version works fine, it is ad supported and there is a red "R" in the top left-hand side of the screen, which may bother some people. So to purchase the app, you have to go to the developer's website and pay $9.99, which is pretty steep compared to most of the apps in the market. But if you find yourself watching a lot of videos that aren't supported by the native Android video player, I highly recommend you purchase this app.

For me, I give the RockPlayer app an 8 on the gotta-have-it scale. I can't stand having to transcode .avi files before transferring them to my Droid. So this app is well worth it. Go ahead and give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments!

New App Notification: Android2cloud does Phone2Chrome

Now that many of us are running Android 2.2 (Froyo) on our phones, one of the greatest new features is the ability to run an application called Chrome to Phone, which allows the user to send a link from a desktop browser to an Android phone with a simple click of the button in Google's Chrome or Firefox (through the use of an extension).

After using Chrome to Phone for a month or so, I found myself wishing that is had the opposite functionality as well, to send a link from my phone to my desktop browser so I don't have to go through the hassle of cutting and pasting and e-mailing the link to myself.

Well I no longer have to wait to be able to do that.  Lifehacker just posted an article on a new app called Android2cloud, which does the opposite of what Chrome to Phone does. From the Lifehacker article:

"After installing the Android app (available at the stie and in the Market), installing the Chrome extension, and authenticating both apps through your Google account, you'll get one-button transmission powers between your two Google browsers. You can copy/paste a URL through android2cloud itself, but it's easier to hit the "Share page" option on a web page and choose android2cloud as the vessel.

Android2cloud is a free download for Android and Chrome, and requires a Google account to connect the two."

Here's the link to the google code site for the Chrome extension and the application: android2cloud

 Now stop reading this and download it! Let me know what you think about it in the comments.

(Thanks for the tip, Keltose!)

The Android Project Reviews: QuickDesk BETA

Category: OS Functionality

Price: Free

Gotta-have-it factor: 2
Developer: Faruq Rasid

I just read about a new Android application that was supposed to solve one of my big problems with Android: difficulty with changing commons settings while an application is open. QuickDesk is an application that claims to solve that problem.

A quick note, QuickDesk is created by the same person who developed the HelixLauncher home replacement apps, which I love. I always found the HelixLauncher home replacement to be fast and lightweight. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about QuickDesk. Here is a quote from QuickDesk’s market page, which describes what it is supposed to accomplish:

“Ever went into Browser and realized you haven’t turned on your WiFi? Ever wanted to skip tracks while playing Jewels?

Now you can. Here comes the new app that help[s] you better multi-task: QuickDesk.”

QuickDesk allows the user to bring up an alternate homescreen with widgets or shortcuts selected by the user by simply double-pressing the homescreen menu button, or long-pressing the search button. The functionality that QuickDesk provides is already the reason I have the Bar Control application installed on my phone. The only problem I found with QuickDesk is that is severely slowed down my transition from an application to my normal homescreen. Once I uninstalled QuickDesk, the snap returned to my Droid (if you know what I mean).

Keep in mind that I am using an overclocked MotoDroid running BuglessBeast, so my experience may be different from somebody running a stock Droid, Nexus One, or any other Android device for that matter.

However, for my purposes, I can’t have an application on my device that slows me down.  Remember that QuickDesk is currently in BETA, so hopefully future versions of QuickDesk resolve this issue, because otherwise, I think this application has huge potential. But for now, I’m giving it a “2” on the gotta-have-it scale.

Let me know in the comments if you have a different experience with the QuickDesk application.

The Android Project Reviews: Advanced Map Live Wallpaper

Category: Wallpapers

Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 5

I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog. Work has been pretty crazy lately, so my extracurricular activities have to take a back seat. Things have calmed down a bit and I’ve regained some motivation to start working on the blog again so you may see a few more posts in the near future.
Today, I wanted to write about a recent discovery that I made while perusing the interwebs for cool stuff to put on my Droid. I found a cool new Live Wallpaper called Advanced Map. Advanced Map is fairly self-explanatory. This Wallpaper brings many different types of maps to the background of your homescreen. It’s not just limited to Google Maps.

Now I’ve hesitated to use Live Wallpapers in the past because they use up processing power and don’t add much besides aesthetic value. However, the developer of Advanced Map Live Wallpaper came up with a way to cut down on processor and battery use. The map tiles are cached locally on your phone once they are loaded, which should cut down on the data downloaded to your device and the app shuts down whenever the homescreen is not visible.

Advanced Map Live Wallpaper is still in beta, but it’s as polished as most of the other apps I’ve seen out there, and it’s free. So jump to the Market right now if this is something that interests you. I gave it a gotta-have-it factor of 5 because many people still don't have access to Live Wallpapers.* Let me know what you think about it in the comments.

* Remember that Live Wallpapers are only supported on Android 2.1 and up. I’ve also noticed that only certain home replacement apps support live wallpapers, so your mileage may vary depending on your setup.

The Android Project Reviews: TMZ app for Android

This one’s more for the wifey than for me, but I can’t deny that I like to check up on the “Thirty-Mile Zone” every so often. For me, this app is a good example of how news should be delivered to a phone in application format. TMZ’s android application is clean and simple. And I give it extra points for asking you if you want to close the application when you exit. So many apps stay open when you exit, taking up precious phone memory in the background. If every application had such a close out option, we wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on task killing apps (see my review of Advanced Task Killer).
The only other celebrity gossip application I know of is from E!, but the interface of the two are so similar that I wouldn't be surprised if they were made by the same developer. So if you’re looking for a quick way to check up on the Pitts or the Octomom, I would recommend the TMZ android app.

The Android Project Reviews: Inserty app for Android

Category: Text Entry
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 7

While I am torn about this application’s name (“Inserty” could be a cute name for a data entry application, or the name of a porno superhero), I am certain that I will keep Inserty on my phone.

The Inserty application for Android allows you to insert pre-defined text entries into any text box, like e-mails, text messages, etc. There is one additional step above the standard installation process to set-up Inserty. Once it is installed on the phone, the user must access the phone’s Language & Keyboard setting and select Inserty as a text input method. After that, you can open up Inserty from the application menu to add whatever words or phrases you use the most. Inserty provides you with about 10 selections that are based on your GPS location or time, such as “The time is 8:55 AM and I’m standing at 408 Hope Pl.” I don’t think I’ll ever use any of Inserty’s selections, but I have entered some of my own. To bring up the Inserty menu, all you have to do is long-press any data entry box on screen and select “Input Method,” followed by “Inserty.” You can then select the text you want Inserty to enter for you and then switch back to “Android Keyboard” once you are done.


What I like most about Inserty is that it allows me to avoid using the horrible on-screen keyboard of my Droid. I don’t always want to slide out the keyboard to enter in text, especially when it’s just to enter in my e-mail address to log into a website. I know that this probably isn’t the most secure thing to do, but I’ve saved my userid and passwords for most websites into Inserty, so I can quickly insert the text without having to peck away at the on-screen keyboard.

I realize that Inserty is only useful in limited situations, and some of you may not have a problem with your onscreen keyboard. But Inserty has saved me a lot of frustration, and for that, I give it a “7” on the gotta-have-it scale.

The Android Project Reviews: Astrid the To-Do list App for Android

Category: Productivity
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 9

I would put Astrid in my Top Ten Apps for Android (if I had such a list (although what Android website would be complete without a Top Ten Apps list?). This is one of those apps that do so much more than I would have ever expected that I can’t believe it’s free.

I would call Astrid a simple “To-Do” list, but that would do it injustice. It’s like the A-rod of To-Do lists (i.e. it’s on steroids). Once you set up Astrid, there is a text entry box at the bottom of the screen sitting next to a ‘+’ button. You enter in the name of a task you want to complete (like “shave my back”) and press the plus button. That adds the task to your list. Once you have added a task to your list, you can select the task, which expands to reveal two buttons: “Start Timer” and “Edit.” The start Timer button obviously allows you to keep track of your time spent on that task, which can be nice if you want to know how long it takes you to shave your back.

The Edit button opens up a whole new menu that allows you to set goal deadlines and priority, manage notifications, add the task deadline to your Google Calendar, and more. The only part of Astrid that I have not tried yet is syncronization with rememberthemilk.com. I don't really need access to my tasks list online, so I'm not sure if I will ever need to syncronize with an online website. However, if I do, I will update this post with my experience.

The only negative I can think of with Astrid is that the notifications might bother some people with their “cuteness.” It doesn't bother me, and I think I pay more attention to them because they are different than the normal phone notifications.

If you are in the market for a “To-Do” list, I would definitely give Astrid a spin. For me, the Astrid App for Android gets a “9” on the gotta-have-it scale.

The Android Project Reviews: Fish Food Game for Android

Category: Game
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 6

As far as gaming goes, the Android OS has been best suited to puzzle-type games for a while now, with very few exceptions. I’m not sure if this is caused by hardware limitations in the phones themselves, or if the OS itself is to blame, but hopefully we’ll see some more complicated games in the future with updates coming to the OS, and more powerful handsets coming out every few months. I am not personally a huge gamer, so it doesn’t bother me that much, but I believe that if Android OS is going to appeal to a broader demographic, there will have to be some improvements in the number and type of games available.

That being said, one of my favorite games available in the Android Market right now is called Fish Food. It is a puzzle-type game with some similarities to Bejeweled. The play area is set up like a Bejeweled board, but instead of different colored jewels, you get different colored fish. The fish are also different sizes. The twist on the Bejeweled formula is that you don’t try to line up three same-colored fish in a row to get rid of them. The strategy in Fish Food is to get the larger fish to eat the fish one size smaller. The green, being the smallest, cannot eat any other fish, but can be eaten by a blue fish. When a blue fish eats three green fish, it becomes a purple fish. The purple fish can only eat the blue fish. Once a purple fish eats three blue fish, it becomes a red fish, which is the largest of the fish. The red fish will explode by being long-pressed, or by eating three purple fish. The red fish also blow-up any other red fish in the immediate vicinity. The more you blow up, the better your score.



The game is actually much more simple and easy to pick up than that previous paragraph indicates. My wife and I have become addicted to it and compete against each other for the high score. The graphics are also a major plus, as this game looks much more polished than other puzzle games I have seen in the market. Another plus to the game is that it is free, although ad-supported.

The game had a few bugs in the beginning, but the developer seems to have ironed out most of them so far. If you love Bejeweled, Tetris, or similar puzzle games, you should give Fish Food a shot. It’s one of the better ones out there.

The Android Project Reviews: Craigsnotifica

Category: Shopping
Price: Free ($4.99 Donation App available)
Gotta-have-it factor: 7

I just found the Craigsnotifica Android app today, and I’m pleasantly surprised. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out what the app does by its title, but if you are wondering, it notifies you when new items pop up on Craigslist in your predefined searches.

I love Craigslist (although I’ve never purchased anything from it, I still love looking at stuff I want to buy), but I’ve always thought of things that I would like to look for on Craigslist when I’m away from my computer. The next day, when I get on Craigslist to look for stuff, I can’t remember what it is I wanted. Now, that may be a sign that I don’t really need whatever crap I thought of the night before, but that’s for me to decide (or my wife, who will probably say no).


Anyway, Craigsnotifica takes care of that problem by bringing Craigslist to you! Craigsnotifica first asks you to set up a region where you want it to perform searches. I found it handy that you can set up more than one region to search at a time, which Craigslist itself doesn’t do. Then you can set up a search for an item you want, like “Elvis Wig.” You can add filters to your search if you choose. Once you have saved your search, Voila!, 23 people in the Las Vegas area are selling their Elvis wigs… You get the point.

Although I’ve only spent 20 minutes with the Craigsnotifica app so far, I can’t find any negatives to it. So if you love Craigslist, you’ll love this app even more.

The Android Project Reviews: Sportstap

Category: Sports
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 5

I’m quite torn on whether to recommend Sportstap or not. I already have the NBA Gametime, and MLB apps installed on my phone, and those are the apps that I check when I need my respective NBA or MLB scores because they are much more aesthetically pleasing than Sportstap, which has a more spartan feel to it. Sportstap does offer scores and info for all of your major sports, however, so it's good if you need to check NFL, NCAA, NHL, Nascar, Golf, Soccer or Tennis results as well.

The one reason I would recommend the Sportstap Android application is for its “Favorite Team” notifications. Sportstap is the only sports score application (that I am currently aware of), that allows you to select your favorite teams in each sport, and it will send you notifications when a game starts, scores during the game, and other useful user-selected notifications.

On the downside, Sportstap’s notifications aren’t as reliable as I would like them to be (which may be more a function of the Android OS than the Sportstap application because I have other applications such as WootWatcher that only seem notify me when I have opened the application recently). Another negative is that Sportstap is a bit slow and laggy. That may improve in future updates, but I haven’t seen an update of this app in a few months so I can’t say.

So I will leave it up to you, if you really like having an application that sends you notifications of sports scores from you favorite teams, then this may be the app for you. If you’re just looking for a quick and easy way to check the latest scores, then there are probably better apps out there.

The Android Project Reviews: SMS Backup

Category: Texting
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 6

The whole landscape of golf would be completely different right now if Tiger Woods knew his technology a bit better. If he had just backed up his text messages and deleted them from his phone, his Cadillac wouldn’t look like this. The SMS Backup application for Android is one that I just discovered, and I’m amazed at how simple it is and how well it functions.

I found out about 4 days ago that the memory on my Droid for text messages is not infinite. For some reason I was under the belief that the phone was storing my texts on the SD card. Then I got a message from my phone telling me that it rejected a text message because my memory was full. I still don’t know what that message was. I hope it wasn’t important. Come to think about it, my wife has been missing for about 4 days now…

But seriously, the SMS Backup app allows you to automatically back-up the texts stored on your phone to your Gmail account, where we have much more storage space than the internal memory of my Droid. I’ve always been a hoarder of text messages because I know there are times when my friends have texted me things that they should have kept to themselves. Someday when by buddy Andrew runs for public office, my text keeping habits will come in handy.

The SMS Backup gives you the option to name the folder in your Gmail account in which to store the texts that it backs up. You can also mark the texts as “read” in your Gmail if you prefer.

I haven’t found any problems with this app. It does what it is supposed to do, and does it well. The only reason I gave it a mere “6” on the gotta-have-it scale is because not everyone needs a text message back-up application. However, I would give it a 9 or a 10 if I were rating how well it works. So if this is the type of app you are looking for, don’t hesitate to download the SMS Backup app for Android.

The Android Project Review: Bar Control Android App

Category: OS functionality
Price: Free
Gotta-have-it factor: 7

I am so happy that I found the Bar Control Android application. I have always been frustrated by the difficulty of switching between my most often used applications in Android, especially when you already have one app up on the screen. Bar Control attempts to solve this problem, and does a decent job.

One of the disadvantages of Bar Control is that it clutters up the Notifications bar at the top of the screen with the icons of the app shortcuts. I’ve never liked virtual clutter, so it frustrates me when there are so many icons in my Notification bar that I can’t tell if I have unread e-mails or text messages.

Another usability issue that I have with Bar Control is that it is not as easy as it should be to change the links that one selects for the Notification drop-down. If you decide that you want a different link to show up in the drop-down, you have to clear all of the Bar Control links and reselect each one that you want to show up, even if you only want to change a single link. Hopefully this will be something that the application developer remedies in the future.

And my final nag about the program is that the program is unable to display the application’s icon as the link in the Notification drop-down. So the user is required to choose one of a few preselected icons from Bar Control’s menu for each application you want placed in the Notification drop down. I understand that this is an Android limitation and not the Bar Control developer’s fault, but I thought I should put that information in this review anyway.
All those complaints aside, I still think Bar Control is a great solution for making it easier to switch between my most used apps. It is especially nice to be able to access my Profile application (review of Profile coming soon) to change my sound or Wifi settings on the fly. So, for solving approximately 15.6% of my complaints with the Android OS, I highly recommend the Bar Control Android application.

The Android Project Reviews: Mint.com Android App

Category: Finance
Price: Free
Gotta-have it factor: 3

I have been anticipating the release of the Mint.com application for as long as I’ve owned an Android phone. I think Mint.com is one of the best online tools for managing one’s finances (I prefer Quicken Online, although it will be phased out eventually now that Intuit owns Mint.com). After seeing what Mint.com could do in a full browser, I was excited to see how they would stretch the boundaries of mobile finance tracking.

Well, the Mint.com Android application is finally here, and I’m quite disappointed. I thought it would give me more than just simple access to my account information. I’ve already installed Pageonce’s Personal Assistant, which gives me more information than the Mint.com app. I was hoping it would give me access to the functions that make Mint.com so great as an online finance tracker, such as reports and graphs. I understand that Mint is limited by the phone’s processing power and internet speeds, but the application overall just seems underwhelming.

If you don’t use Pageonce’s Personal Assistant, Mint.com’s Android App may be what you are looking for. It is pretty, and there is something to be said about its simplicity. As far as information it provides, you have access to your Mint.com Account balances and transactions, along with your Budget, Cash Flow, and Alerts. You can set a passcode to protect your Mint data from the snooping of your current or future mother-in-law.

The Mint.com Android app also comes with a widget that provides your current Cash and Debt balances, but it takes up 2 rows, so you better really need that information quickly if you’re willing to give up that much screen real estate.
I will probably keep the application installed on my phone until I need the space, but I don’t think I will be using it that often. The only way I can recommend the Mint.com app is if you are a Mint.com user, you don’t use Pageonce’s Personal Assistant, and you need a simple, yet attractive application for tracking your finances. For the rest of you, go download Personal Assistant and try it out.