Tag Archive | android

New App Review & An App Update

Compass Apps

Recently we had an opportunity to watch the Antares Rocket launch from Wallops Island in Virginia. We needed to know the exact direction from our viewing position and Evil forgot his nautical compass. Well there’s an app for that! There are a lot of apps for that. Be careful though, some only display information in their home creators language. I found many for Chinese and Japanese that don’t have options to translate to English. Not all compass apps are accurate, so read the reviews others have left. I downloaded three apps and checked them out. Here’s what I found.

Compass by Catch.com – ☆☆☆☆☆
Works great on my Galaxy Nexus. We put this app up against my husbands nautical compass when we got home and it’s matched up in accuracy perfectly. It’s great whether you’re standing still in your backyard for star gazing, or on the move in the car driving down the road. I really like it. The free version has several themes that can be used, and there are more you can purchase. Frankly I’m a big fan of the wood/antique look one which is part of the free version. – The only thing I’d like to see added is for the latitude and longitude to be displayed under the address that’s displayed at the top of the screen. That’s very helpful when you’re star gazing.

Smart Compass by Smart Tools Co. – ☆☆☆
If you have Samsung Nexus anything, don’t bother. In its current state as of 04/2013 its erratic and not as accurate as Compass. It has some nice features, but it also has some that are rather annoying. Although you may turn the phone into portrait or landscape mode, the heading is fixed. I don’t want to read sideways. For me, it was kind of useless.

Tiny Compass by Nikolay Ananiev – ☆☆☆☆
No frills! Accurate within 10 feet. It lacks information that is provided by Compass by Catch. But if you’re looking for nothing but a compass where you can derive other information on your own, this would be the app for you. I like a little frill, so I wasn’t impressed with this one. But for what it is, it’s good.

Update: Screen Saver Apps

Photo Slides (Photo Frame) by Softick Ltd. – ☆☆☆☆☆☆ – Yes, that’s 6 stars..I like it that much!
In a recent update Softick has provided an option to display the status bar of your phone while the screen saver is running. I really like this, because some of my alerts for news or weather don’t take over the phone, they display as an icon in the status bar. So I really like this update…especially since it’s one I suggested!

You can see all my Long, Continually Running Android App Reviews on my Android App Review page.

Another Android App Review

Feb28

Skyvi Voice (Siri for Android)

If you have an android phone and want Siri to speak to you, there is an option. It’s called Skyvi from BlueTornado. She has a pleasant voice, similar to Siri. She does everything Siri does and she’s pretty funny sometimes too.

As with most voice apps, it works as well as you speak. If you can speak clearly, Skyvi can understand you. If you have a very heavy accent of some sort, she can get a little confused. And that seems to be the biggest issue with Skyvi. Some people have reported problems with the speech recognition.

I have a slight southern accent. I don’t hear it, but people say I have it. I know it comes out when I’m tired. But Skyvi doesn’t seem to have a problem understanding me. On the few occasions where she has had an issue, I can usually speak the command or conversation again with extra clarity and she gets it fine. I’ve noticed she also gets better with use. The more you talk to her or use her, the better she gets at understanding you.

Our version has to put up with me and the Prince. So she has some extra duty to deal with. It would be nice if we could program two or more users with speech recognition. When he uses my phone for homework, it would be nice if she called him by his name and not mine. But that might be a lot to ask from a free app.

She does have a few issues recognizing names. I have a friend named Maura; Skyvi hears “more a”; when she repeats the name she turns the A into a long A, like ace. When I say call Maura; she doesn’t understand who I’m talking about. Since she displays the names when she asks you to connect it to a contact in your address book, it would be nice if you could edit that name and perhaps fix the issue.

The biggest disappointment to the Prince so far (remember he’s 10) is that he can’t say “thank you Skyvi” because she doesn’t seem to recognize her own name. That is kind of disappointing.

My biggest issue is that she overrides all the other phone sounds I have set and have gotten used to. That simply will not do. That one issue caused me to uninstall the app.

You can read all my Android App Reviews, but remember I’m simply a busy mom and retired IT geek. What works for me, may not work for your schedule or life. Take time to read the reviews on the apps before you download. Someone else may have the same phone or device as you and they may have experienced problems that I didn’t on my Galaxy Nexus.

© 2012-2013 Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved. Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D.

Two New Android App Reviews

Feb14

Live WallPaper

Each time a new holiday or season comes around I go looking for a new wallpaper to celebrate the event. Today, it’s Valentines Day. After doing a little looking around, I also thought St. Patty’s Day is around the corner.

Being a Celtic Pagan Shaman, it’s a nice time of the year of me and my kind. We don’t celebrate St. Patrick, instead we honor our Celtic heritage, the magik of the little people and our friends the faery folk.

So I found the following two live wallpapers that are worth sharing.

You can check out my continually running Android App Review too.

Sweet Heart – by GO Launcher Dev Team ☆☆☆☆☆
A Lovely Live Wallpaper – I really like this wall paper. It’s great for Valentines Day with some very beautiful backgrounds. And for any time of the year, you can put your own picture on the background and let the hearts of love fly.

Shamrock Live Wallpaper – by 1473labs ☆☆☆☆☆
Fun wallpaper for March, Celts and anyone who likes the Luck of the Shamrock on their phone. Some nice background images to choose from. Set the number of clovers and fireflies to float across your screen. Along with a special gold 4 leaf clover! I like it!

© 2012-2013 Evilwordsmith.com. All Rights Reserved. Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D.

New Android App Review – Digital Frame

Jan16

Set Up A Digital Picture Slideshow

I’m a Mom and like all Moms I love looking at and displaying the pictures of my family. Today you can spend hundreds of dollars on digital picture frames and set them around your house. You can set up screen savers on your PC and show off your pictures when you’re not working. Or if you’re on Windows 7 or greater, you can set up a desk top widget and display your albums proudly.

Now when I’m working on my PC, I have multiple windows open and I’m constantly doing something. It’s not often during the day that the screen saver has time to kick in. So having a digital picture frame would be awesome on my desk. I received a digital frame for Christmas one year and it worked for about 10 months before it crashed and we could never get it working again. Thankfully the husband didn’t spend that much on it, but it was enough to steer us away from other frames and especially more expensive ones.

When I picked up my new Galaxy Nexus one of the first things I did was move a few current family pictures to it. Mostly because I was going to meet family for lunch and I knew they’d want to see the latest photos of the Prince. On the way home I wondered if there was a digital frame app? It wasn’t until today that I had to really sit down and look for one. Continue reading →

New App Reviews For Android

Dec10

Updates To My Galaxy Nexus App Reviews

I’ve added two new apps to my phone. HBOGO and CNN. And I’ve updated the review for the Nascar app through the Sprint network.

My laptop crashed right after Thanksgiving. Very irritating! But it meant I paid more attention to what we were watching on TV. I noticed a commercial on HBO about their new phone app, to take HBO with you. Thought that was interesting! It didn’t occur to me to watch HBO on my phone. And why not? We watch other videos, why not HBO?! So I ran off to the Google play store and there it was: HBOGO. I LOVE this app!

Not long after we were out shopping and someone at one of our local stores mentioned some breaking news. They were looking for information on the radio. Well I have a smart phone now (honestly I’m still not used to this). So I got on the browser and looked for info. In my search I saw a link to download CNNs app. Hey..there’s an idea. News at your finger tips.

That prompted me to check on our local news, for us that’s the local NBC station. Sure enough they have an android app. I didn’t add a review for them, since they’re local, but check out what we think of HBOGo and CNN’s app.

You’ll find all my app reviews @ Android App Review. Yeah..real unique I know.

A New App Review

Oct25

Accupedo Pedometer
by Corusen

Pedometers

It dawned on me today as I walking, I wonder if there’s an app for that? Well of course there is!

Pedometers rely on GPS tracking, so if you don’t like the satellites knowing where you are, these aren’t going to do much for you.

They come in a variety of options, but most will count your steps, track how far you’ve walked, estimate how many calories you burned and how long you walked. Some more advanced versions will track your speed as well. They are good for walking or running. And there are some that cross over from pedometers to cycling meters, but those seemed expensive. If you do more cycling than walking, look specifically for the stand alone cycling meters.

I tried out three different apps as I was walking and looked at two more when I got home. Since I didn’t try the two I checked out from home, I’ll have to hold off on their review for now.

Check out the three I did try out in my Android App Review.

Android App Review

Sep10

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

A Long, Continually Running Android App Review

It’s only been a few weeks since I upgraded my phone to a Galaxy Nexus, but I’m already an app addict. I’ve tried out a number of different apps that offer the same service and made comparisons between this and that. I try to do some research on the apps before I download them. Read the reviews and consider how many people are using the app and the over comments. But even then, you can end up with an app that simply doesn’t do what you want it to do and you have to start over.

I’m a retired IT geek, but I’m by no means a professional software critic or reviewer. I simply know what I like and as a Mom with a busy schedule. I get to stay at home and write articles and books. So what I need may not be the same thing as what a professional workaholic requires.

So these are simply what I like and what I’ve learned about the apps that do what I need them to do. I should mention these are not in any particular order. Continue reading →

Using Your Galaxy Nexus

Aug27

The Home Screen

Some Tid-Bits For Apps & Features

Updated: 01/18/2013

Here are some things I’ve learned as a newbie with my new phone. I love this thing! I’ll probably be adding quite often here. So check back for new things I’ve discovered. You might also want to check out Things To Know About Galaxy Nexus

Remember you can always access the online manual and search for help: Galaxy Nexus Help

– How to access apps and widgets:

From the home screen, click the app icon button. It’s the (:::) button at the bottom, in the center.
Apps that are already installed on your phone will be listed in alphabetical order and you can scroll through pages of apps by swiping your finger across the screen.
At the top of the apps page, you’ll see the word “Widgets” in the menu. Click that to see the widgets currently installed on your phone. Continue reading →

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30