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Hey there,
I have tried to gather the best freeware applications Android has to offer, with descriptions, links back to the developer's websites and QR codes that leads directly to the Market. It's about a 100 apps divided in various categories.
I'm curious what you guys think of the guide? Would your Top 100 list differ a lot from mine? I hope some of you will have use for it!
Here's the URL if you want to check it out:
The Ever-Growing List of Awesome Android Applications
If you can think of any more applications that should be on the list, please let me know
Thanks
-- Lars
As a new Hero-user (on my third week now), I must say one thing: Thank you so much!! =)
Thanks! Glad someone liked it, at least
A bunch of new apps have been added to the collection, and if anyone knows of a great app that's not included - please let me know.
Nice work!
There's a quite a few top lists, and some are better than others, both in content and layout, but I always discover some new apps worth checking out. I very much like that the entire list is visible on one page, with short descriptions.
Would like to point out that Think Android's AppManager (both free and pro versions) has been renamed to AppMonster.
phaelox said:
Nice work!
Would like to point out that Think Android's AppManager (both free and pro versions) has been renamed to AppMonster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure? Because I couldn't find a free version of AppMonster, but AppManager is still available?
Thanks, helped a lot.
MapleDouglas said:
Are you sure? Because I couldn't find a free version of AppMonster, but AppManager is still available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The creators of the app announced the name change on their website: http://think-android.com
"App Manager" has been renamed to "AppMonster" in market a while ago now (but it depends on what country you're in). If I search for App Manager it only shows apps with similar names, not the app by Think Android.
Androlib now only shows AppMonster in some -not all- non-English markets, namely Chinese, Czech, Italian, Japanese, Russian. And even then in some markets only the Pro and in some only the Free versions. I think Androlib is not that up to date.
http://www.androlib.com/r.aspx?r=appmonster
AppBrain correctly shows the app as "AppMonster": http://www.appbrain.com/search?q=appmonster
Far too much use of the word "awesome", but a nice list, thanks for your efforts.
phaelox said:
"App Manager" has been renamed to "AppMonster" in market a while ago now (but it depends on what country you're in). If I search for App Manager it only shows apps with similar names, not the app by Think Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right. I was tricked by AndroLib.com, initially, since it didn't show any results for AppMonster when I did a search.
@knightnz I try to use the word "awesome" with caution, but I like to alliterate
I've added a new section to the guide with the top free Android live wallpapers
Did I fail to include any good ones?
Apologies for my criticism, but a pure list is not so useful in my opinion; I mean, there's Google for that.
It would be much more useful if this was a ranking, where users can vote their best 10 apps, for example.
Super great lists. Few worthy ones:
1) ColorDict: Universal dictionary reader for Wordnet, data downloaded to local memory (SD Card) for offline view
2) RealCalc: Best replacement calculator
3) Uninstaller: to uninstall apps. Phone's manage application way too slow
4) KeePassDroid: android keepass for storing logins and passwords. If setup with Dropbox or sugarsync, then can sync between phone and computer.
5) Call History: detail call logs better than what 1.5 offer with ability to back up.
6) Moto Phone Portal : access phone by wifi in same network using browser. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=574677
7) xScope GL : Another web browser with much better functionality. Free version limited to number of favs.
8) Skyfire beta : surprisingly fast enough and only option available to view web based videos until Flash 10 lands.
Did I miss K9 or it's not on the list???
Hi again,
I've done some major updates to the Android apps guide, and it now includes all the top widgets and live wallpapers as well. I've also removed some outdated software, and added blue borders to the very best applications so they're easier to spot.
All apps, widgets and live wallpapers are free
Cheers
I have found some really amazing apps for android and thought i should share if anyone else might need or want them.
8pen: The keyboard has been reinvented for mobile devices. Was intended for phones but works great on my tablet. going to be using this as my main keyboard.
freenote: I was looking for a note taking program that can be used for classes. college level physics mostly. so i needed something i can write/type words on as well as put in a far bit of diagrams or equations. This one was the only one i found that did it all at a bang up job to. the controls may be a bit confusing but can have multiple groups of notes per class. save it and back it up (to restore a backup i only know of copying the back up folder into the main folder).
Win-Remote and URemoteDesktop: both of these are great computer control programs. win-remote only works with windows, URemoteDesktop works with both windows and linux. can make win-remote hidden in the taskbar and start with computer to have some fun with someone. (i have played joke on my bro and everyone was laughing was great). URemoteDesktop shows up in the terminal as a java process so its even more hidden. batch file and shell can run without constantly being on screen.
Font Changer (Root): is a nice simple font changer program. there are others i personally found this to work the best and be easiest to use. can be used with any launcher, also changes fonts in web browser, many apps... basically everything unless the app says otherwise.
AccuWeather: i have found this to be the most amazing weather app. has nice clean non clutter widgets that link to the app as well as show information. the app it self is basically a whole weather channel in your hands. even shows radar and 15day forecast. also very nice eye candy. it also tells you more about the day then just sun or rain. there is a lifestyle forecast section that tells you risk of asthma, cold, flu, mosquito risks, migraine risk and much more, even a dog walking forecast. lol
that's what i found. if there's an app that makes you go WOW please share cause i would love to know of more.
FreeNote looks like exactly what I've been looking for for taking notes in my engineering classes. Tried a few last semester and they just didn't work out very well. I tried replicating a few things and looks like it works very well and is easy to switch between modes (typing, hand writing, drawing).
I searched for about an hour tonight and finally found my perfect math handwriting note taking app = handrite!
Sent from my Flashback HC-TAB using XDA Forum App
Hey guys I'm a newbie, and I'm trying to find how you guys DLed these apps (I need freenote or handrite myself for classes) the only links I've found, when i try to download them i get stopped with this message
"There are no Android phones associated with this account. Please sign in with a different account."
How are you downloading on the G tablet and get it to recognize the thing?
if any of you know which direction to point me in even that would be a huge help!
try the amazon appstore and 1mobile or put a rom on it that gives u the market
GoofOff said:
Hey guys I'm a newbie, and I'm trying to find how you guys DLed these apps (I need freenote or handrite myself for classes) the only links I've found, when i try to download them i get stopped with this message
"There are no Android phones associated with this account. Please sign in with a different account."
How are you downloading on the G tablet and get it to recognize the thing?
if any of you know which direction to point me in even that would be a huge help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you're facing a bug. On your gtablet you can download the apps from the market. If you're having trouble, remove your gmail account, reboot, and readd your gmail account to your tablet. This should fix things!
FreeNote FTW!
Wow... I just wish I had FreeNote when I was taking classes. Thanks for posting this OP!
Nice apps. FreeNote is very nice. The kool apps keeps coming and coming...Thanks.
Hey folks,
Bored of IE and annoyed by bad browsing-experiences of third party apps?
Use all features of the default webbrowser and enjoy some additional
tweaks implemented by me to improve your everyday web usage:
- Unlimited trial (no annoying ads in important areas)
- up to 10 tabs
- custom urlBar position
- multiple startpages
- integrated Back/Forward & search functions
- scalable brightness
- LiveTile support
- orientation-lock
- custom contextmenu
- individual style
- 100% fullscreen
- run under locked screen
- back-up-feature
- pin to start feature
UPDATE: submitted for certification
while 1.1 is going to arrive in marketplace soon, I'm already working on 1.2 which will include:
A more IE-like,stunning mainpage
A more responsive UI (input-feedback)
auto-full screen option
progressbar
Bugfixes
post feedback, bugs, complaints (...) HERE or email/PM me.
mail: [email protected], also found on the aboutpage.
Let me know what u think, everything positive and negative
So far, hope theres some use for it
roqstr
added in 1.1:
userAgent switcher (desktop,mobile)
scrollable urlbar
scalable imagequality
bugfixes
*********CHANGE-LOG*********
in-app now!
Can you give details on the app. Is it using the IE Engine or you have it from scratch etc.
wpxbox said:
Can you give details on the app. Is it using the IE Engine or you have it from scratch etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, i should have mentioned this. It's completely based on IE
Everybody who couldn't install yet, try this:
1. copy the zune-link i sent you.
2. write a mail to yourself.
3. open it on your phone.
for the 12 folks that are already in i sent a mail to their live-inbox.
hope that solves the installation issue.
Installing got no problem.Try google you tube it's quite fast and manage toplay video without any problem.The only thing I must get used to the tab.Well so far there's not any bug yet .
When I make a new tab it seems I can't search when I type xda developers it says ERROR Invalid url.I think every tab that we make if possible make to the home page.
Ttblondey said:
Installing got no problem.Try google you tube it's quite fast and manage toplay video without any problem.The only thing I must get used to the tab.Well so far there's not any bug yet .
When I make a new tab it seems I can't search when I type xda developers it says ERROR Invalid url.I think every tab that we make if possible make to the home page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search isn't implemented yet, will be in soon.
The home-page can be set in settings-> general-> new tab
thanks for fast feedback
BETA tester
My response from BETA-testing. (Note: Even if you have posted some bugs I'll still fill my list with what I experience)
Phone: LG Optimus 7
Status: Works perfectly!
My current status: Stopped BETA testing.
Positive:
100% fullscreen
Customization!
Live tile with information about current session!!
Slide up the URL tab on fullscreen to get to normal view without fullscreen.
Fast web browser
Share page function (lovely!!)
It's now my official MAIN browser!
-
-
Things to maybe improve & suggestions:
First startpage is google.de, could have been google.com (but nothing special actually)
Maybe you could make your own videoplayer to play eg. youtube videos on, instead of using the phone's player (not required since the videoplayer of the phone is also good)
Also have the abillity to press the favorites url instead of only the visit button at the bottom. But keep it.
Maybe slide with 2 or 3 fingers down on the screen for entering/exiting fullscreen mode?
-
-
Negative and or Currently found bugs:
When entering fullscreen mode, it's hard to get back to regular. I had to tap like 5 times on the black button at the bottom left. (hard to use the button)
If the application opens without internet connection it will say ERROR, no network available. But it does say it when I change to other menus such as settings (keep spamming ERROR everywhere)
Theres no suggestion of websites when entering a url for eg. if you enter www.fa it could show up some suggestions like facebook or failblog.
-
I'll edit this post with more when I find
thanks for that wonderful feedback, so much inspiration
some response to the bugs:
- i'm currently working on the suggestionlist, shouldn't be that difficult.
- for the fullscreen-button i got a new solution, what should make it much
easier.
- the Network-check must be fixxed, thanks for your discovery.
@Ttblondey: search function is now included
I have given my review here and video review here.
Overall I found the app to be very nice and smooth. A good alternative for sure but there are few things you can look into except the bugs which is already reported.
1) One is integration with skydrive for syncing bookmarks etc.
2) More Gestures
3 ) Open up option for both Google and Bing as search engine.
4 ) cookie turn on and off.
Rest is all good, keep us rolled in beta.
wpxbox said:
I have given my review here and video review here.
Overall I found the app to be very nice and smooth. A good alternative for sure but there are few things you can look into except the bugs which is already reported.
1) One is integration with skydrive for syncing bookmarks etc.
2) More Gestures
3 ) Open up option for both Google and Bing as search engine.
4 ) cookie turn on and off.
Rest is all good, keep us rolled in beta.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really pleased about your review.
1) 2) & 4) are noticed.
for 3) view my changelog
could you sent me this app? [email protected]
thanks
Please read the first post carefully
I would like a "Search for text" function in the functions menu Would be awesome to be able to search for words on a page
And else I can say that I'm really happy with the browser, works well, and hopefully soon releasing? Because then you could like update with small minor updates incase something is needed
Happy New Year roqstr!
there's a search for text function ;O it's just not my own at the moment, a provisional solution,if you will
Yea, but i always find features that shouldn't be missing in the release-version, to make it working right
next week i'll be busy with school, shouldn't fail my exams
afterwards, i'd be able to release an open beta, just for some extra feedback
next step is fixing last issues and then i'll release ;P
if somebody do have experience with apphub, pubcenter & co, he can pm me to help me understanding
thanks, hope you all enjoyed New Year's Eve, i did ;P
Still waiting to test this thing
it looks nice, can't wait for release :O
I wrote a browser, based on IE its in my signature.
I'll be happy to test your browser and get better result to my and your app.
Biggest issue at the moment is the picture-viewer, but I hope I can handle this soon.
@sma6871: I'll test it and message you when I have questions or suggestions.
Unfortunately I forget to set trial mode, but now I send a trial mode enable update, and it will be up to date soon.
open beta out now. read 1st post!
Here is my feedback :
1.Dropdown to switch between search engines
2 Where did Advance Main Colour Gone ?
3. When I try yo change Main Colour Accent Colour it gives me sorry message "You Should not Overwrite the accent style"
4. Find Text Crashes the app
5. You can think of ignoring pics which are of very small size in the Picture view.
6. Picture viewer also picks up YouTube thumbnail as picture but does not display anything.
Hi Guys!
I've developed a scanner app, that transforms your Android into a mobile scanner, doing most of what you need for processing your paper documents. Besides that it comes with powerful features: PDF multipage support, Image processing for improving/transforming your scans, 3d carousel document, OCR combined with document-content search function.
The free trial version is available on Google play at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teksoftco.android.scanner , feel free to download your copy.
The first 10 of you to comment this release, provide feedback, new ideas, or just a few words, will get a free license key to use this software for life! Please give me a few days to contact you for delivering the keys manually.
Press release:
With the new Scanner PDF application, we are aiming at maximizing your document management efficiency, and have come with the perfect tool: a mobile scanner for your smartphone, to change paper into digital bits, while saving both time and storage space in the process.
The advanced search capabilities, combined with Scanner PDF's top edge OCR engine will make sure you find the document you need in just a few seconds. It's so easy to use, you will quickly get to wonder how you got along without it!
More on: http://www.teksoftco.com/index.php?section=product&pid=33
If you like this, please checkout the Teksoft Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Teksoft.Software
The interface must improve. should be cleaner and simple. and the navigation also.
Sent from my GT-N7000
Cluttered user interface on LG G2
after first run the user interface is rather cluttered with text behind the icons etc.
after doing the first capture it seems like the UI is improved, but all text is now missing.
Should be some attachments that gives you more into detail what happens.
Jørn
"Your device isn't compatible with this item."
!!!!!!!!!!
Sent from my Walton Primo [ICS 4.0.4] using xda app-developers app
I like the idea
I tried it in my Samsung Galaxy Mega and it had some difficulties. I was able to take a picture but when I tried to enhance the photo the app closed. Tried this several times. I'll keep playing around with it and see if there is a way to make it work.
Is it possible to connect the phone with pc and then it would work like a scanner if it can then it will be more awesome... :what: :what: but still its a awesome discovery and creation.... by you... :thumbup::thumbup:
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Great work.. !!.. scanned documents are more clear.. more user friendly :good:
App is good
Comes in handy some times.
seems to work as described. thanks! great app!
Really handy bc at the hospital, they seem to be stuck in the fax era, so this is a nice way to get documents to people without having to find a fax machine
great app. very handy and easy to use.
thanks
Looks like a useful app!
What I didn't like in a quick check:
- I don't like the 3D carousel view, an option to have a simpler view would be useful.
- after the edges were marked it asked me to press OK, sometimes it takes very long to accept 'OK' (or process), sometimes doesn't respond to OK at all.
likes:
- good filters to improve resulting scans
- raw image is kept for later edit
It would be easier if I could zoom in the image to determine the edges. Btw its very handy, good job.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Note: This version of the app has hit its token limit, for more info on my plans and its future, check out this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=56228193&postcount=553
Hello guys! From the creators of Sliding Messaging Pro, I would like to announce one of our new projects: Talon for Twitter!
This one, along with klinkdawg's EvolveSMS are the two brand new apps that we have been creating the past few months. They are full of polish, features, and beautiful design and KitKat style! Both of these apps are availible on the Google Play store today, but lets get to know Talon a little first
Talon for Twitter - Google Play Store
-----------------------------------------------------
Play Store Description:
Get fully immersed in your Twitter with this beautiful, feature PACKED Twitter client with a design that actually makes sense!
Created with Android 4.4 (KitKat) in mind. Includes full screen layouts, stunning animations and more! Of course that doesn't mean earlier versions of android get left out! The only thing that wasn't able to be recreated in Android 4.3 and below was the transparent navigation and status bars... Sorry! It just isn't possible
Beautiful, up-to-date layouts, designs, and neat animations isn't the only thing Talon has going for it though! The list of features is enormous as well, doing everything you could ever want from a Twitter app right off the bat. Even though it is new, I have added every single major and minor Twitter feature that I think is absolutely essential plus a ton that most people wouldn't even think of. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of its features:
Twitter features:
- Live streaming support
- Support for 2 accounts
- View your timelines (main, mentions, direct messages, links, and pictures)
- View retweets, favorites, Local and world trending, user profiles, Twitter lists, and more
- Favorite users
- Search Twitter
- Delete, favorite, retweet, quote, and reply to statuses
- view replies to statuses
- Update your profile picture, banner, location, and user description
- block, follow, and add users to lists
- search for your friends to tweet at
- Attach pictures to your tweets
- Attach locations to your tweets
- And the list goes on
Customization features:
- Extremely powerful developer theme engine (Read the second post )
- Choose between either "Talon" or "Hangouts" layouts
- Choose from 3 beautiful base themes (light, dark, and pitch black)
- Custom text sizes
- Night mode
- Auto-Refresh options
- Custom notification settings
- And many other goodies in there as well!
App Features:
- "Talon Pull" to be always listening for interactions (mentions, retweets, favorites, new followers, and direct messages)
- Expandable, actionable, and dynamic notification system
- Full app popup
- Full emoji support
- View in-line Twitter and Instagram pictures
- View in-line YouTube thumbnails
- Native YouTube player
- In-app browser
- Complete landscape and tablet modes
- Advance to new pages in a "windowed" viewing mode
- Never leave your timeline with in-line replies, favorites, and retweets
- Actionable toast bar so you always know where you are and can jump to the top
- Hiding action bar
- "Do not disturb" mode
- Widget for main timeline
- DashClock Extension
- Draft system for unsent/failed tweets
- Google style pull to refresh for quick refreshing
- Save tweet pictures
- Share content with other apps, to and from Talon
You will never go back to your old Twitter client again!
Enjoy Talon and don't hesitate to contact me with questions, requests, or bugs!
Thanks!
Contact me (Luke Klinker):
Email: [email protected]
My Twitter: @lukeklinker
Talon's Twitter: @TalonAndroid
Google+ Beta Page
Emojis
Here are two different emoji plugins for you to choose from, choose whichever suits you best, install it and never worry about it again!
Sliding Emoji Keyboard - Android
Sliding Emoji Keyboard - iOS
Permissions Explained:
- Write to Storage: Saves pictures to your SD card and writes them into the cache.
- Read from Storage: Used when backing up settings.
- Location: Used for trends and attaching locations to tweets.
- Network Communication: Obviously have to be able to interact with Twitter
- Network State: Used so the user can toggle background sync to only over WiFi.
- Run at Startup: Re-schedules the background refreshes.
- Keep Awake: Used for background refreshes and waking the screen.
- Vibrate: Used for the notifications.
Credits:
- Jacob Klinker: to many things to list! Tons of ideas, support, and inspiration
- Aaron Klinker: Icon Design
- Other open-source libraries and resources used can be found under the 'Get Help' section in settings.
-----------------------------------------------------
Screenshots:
-----------------------------------------------------
Closing Comments:
I have worked really hard to bring you guys a great experience right from the start this time and it really shows, from the login screen to the timelines, you will be fully satisfied with the design, execution and finesse that Talon brings to your phone. It isn't going to take months to get up to speed like Sliding Messaging did. I have designed this to be efficient, fast, and just work, right from the start. I learned a ton from that app and Talon goes to show just how much.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do, sound off in the comments with question, concerns, suggestion, or whatever else you feel like saying about the app!
One more thing to say before I leave you here, please remember that this is XDA, and you are all expected to be a little bit different Android users, if you are having a force close or something, I would like you to be able to post a logcat of it. If you are wondering about why I did something the way I did, then I will probably explain it to you in a programming sense instead of how I would to a normal user on the Google+ beta page or something, because that makes much more sense to me, is easier on me, and you should be able to understand it a little bit better... Just keep that in mind and stay on topic please
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
1.) Push Notifications
I am just going to say this now, before anyone asks: Push notifications will not be coming to Talon unless something changes with the Twitter APIs. I have created "Talon Pull" with is simply an always on, listening/streaming service that will receive new tweets from Twitter whenever your Twitter handle is included. To read more about this option, look at the "Talon Pull" section below the "Reasons" section.
Reasons
This will be the more technical part of this post, if you don't want to read and understand it, then you will have to just accept my answer from above. If you don't accept that I know what I am talking about... Then by all means, read on, I will try to keep it as simple as possible.
To access Twitter, they have provided us with the REST APIs (currently version 1.1). These APIs allow developers to communicate with Twitter in real time by just submitting requests to get data from the network. They make it relatively simple - if you know what your doing - to obtain the data that they allow you to get and store, but there are plenty of limitations to these APIs, which make sense: Twitter is a completely free service and make their money off of advertisements. They want people to use their official Twitter products (such as the web or their own Android app) to access their services because they are able to place advertisements in them and that is the only way they make money. So they just aren't going to make some things available for 3rd party developers.
One of those things is their push notification system. As I said before, they allow us to access their services with these REST APIs, but they also have a Streaming API available so that a 3rd party service, such as this one, could be "always connected". Sounds great right? Maybe, maybe not. More testing probably needs to go into it, because it is very new in Talon. For the past few weeks though, I can say that it doesn't seem to take up much more battery than sycning on an intervol does. So try it and let me know. I have done the best I can to optimize this service, but if you want to know more about it, read below in the "Talon Pull" section
What these streaming APIs should be used for is a server side interaction that would then connect to GCM (Google Cloud Messaging) and send push notifications from there. I would love to say I am working on something like this, but it isn't possible for a developer like me. I don't have the time, resources, or knowledge to set up a complex server like this. The knowledge I could get, but I am a 20 year old kid, working off of this 1 MB/sec internet connection while being a full time college student at the University of Iowa. I wouldn't be able to handle the upkeep of the system like this or the traffic. I just don't have the backend necessary for this type of thing, and there aren't many developers who do. So push notifications from the server side? Way out of the question.
That leaves only one thing to do: wait. Maybe Twitter will open up some kind of push notification service to it's developers, but I wouldn't count on that. The ideal thing for them to do would be to set up their own GCM server for us to communicate with, but I don't see that as being likely at all because of the advertising. That would take away one of the main draws for their app, leaving it with almost nothing that 3rd party developers can't do. For now though, "Talon Pull" seems to be working well and I would encourage you all to try it out. Battery seems to be fine, the one drawback is that you must be connected to a datasource right when the interaction happens or it won't be saved or shown.
Talon Pull - My solution/workaround
As I said before, this is NOT push notifications. Push notifications are sent to your device to notify you from some kind of server. They aren't always on, and only turn on when your device receives the info from the web service.
Talon Pull on the other hand, uses Twitter's Streaming API to just create an "always on" service to be constantly listening for and streaming tweets that contain your Twitter Handle. The way this works is that you are signed in with your API keys after you turn on the option to enable Talon Pull. I then just create this "listener" that Twitter's servers will send new tweets to. Luckily, they will take care of most of the filtering of those tweets on their end, to reduce the load as much as possible on your device (because before the filtering, it literally will receive every single public tweet that is happening. It was amazing when I first flipped and saw the tweets flowing over my log haha). So we filter it down to as few of tweets actually reaching your device as possible, then I start broadcasting the notifications when you receive the new ones.
Overall, it is a relatively simple process, the problem with it though, you have probably already realized, you have to be constantly connected with a data service or the app won't know when to receive the new tweets. Obviously that is the part that is going to end up taking the battery (if it does), not "bloated" or "un-optimized" code as some of you I sure believed. So far though, through my testing, it doesn't seem to have a very big impact on battery overall, but I suppose that it potentially could if you are using Twitter that much more than I do.
If there was a better way, I wish I could find it. I think that this is the method that most 3rd party services use to send you those fake "push notifications". So there ya have it, hope you learned something. It works well and it is the only way to get a lot of information like who favorited or retweeted your statuses
Conclusion
Thanks for the read, if you made it all the way, hope that gives you an idea as to why push notifications just aren't even an option at this point and what my solution to that problem has been, even if it is not ideal. It works, and it seems to be working quite well for me.
So just know: "Talon Pull" isn't quite the same as push notifications, but it is as close as you are going to get and is working better for me than I would have ever imagined. Enjoy!
2.) Translucency
Why aren’t my status bar and navigation bar translucent like in all of the screenshots?!?
This is an Android 4.4 KitKat feature only. Get a new phone/ROM if you want it.
3.) Theming Support and Limitations
We have created a pretty powerful theme engine for Talon and EvolveSMS this time around, but it isn't without its limitations.
The main app color will always be orange. Don't ask to change it. That isn't something I can theme dynamically or read from an add on package, themers can change the orange glow on the in-line buttons (favorite, retweet, and send), but that is as much as your are going to get with that one.
4.) Viewing users who "retweet" and "favorite" your statuses
This is another thing that isn't going to happen at this point. It isn't possible to get the user ID's or their names with the current version of the API's.
Maybe Twitter will open this up in the future, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.For now, the best you will get is the numbers on them
The only way to get this information is through the use of "Talon Pull" and the Streaming API's. When you get a retweet or favorite, it will be put in the interactions drawer on the right side of any activities with drawers.The only way to get this information is through the use of "Talon Pull" and the Streaming API's. When you get a retweet or favorite, it will be put in the interactions drawer on the right side of any activities with drawers.
5.) Clearing the Cache
If you know much about caching in Android, then you may wonder why in the world I would want to clear it every time you switch themes.
The answer is pretty simple: to vastly improve the performance and the smooth scrolling in the app, I save the profile pictures according to the current theme's style, whether that is circle (like the "Talon" layout) or square (like the "Hangouts" layout). This preference is also available to themers in the add-on themes.
By caching them directly as circles, it alleviates the need to do it on the fly which could consume quite a bit of processing power on older phones and would just be a complete waste to render them like that every time.
You may think it is a hassle, but you would be thanking me if you knew the difference it makes.
You can also view the current cache size and clear it manually from "Advanced Settings".
6.) Battery Consumption
If you use Talon a lot throughout the day, it is going to take up battery, simple as that. I find that on a 30 min refresh intervol for the different timelines and manually going in and browsing/updating throughout the day, it takes about 4-5% of my battery. I would say this is pretty normal because there are days that Google+ takes up to 10% with just casual browsing.
If that isn't acceptable for you though, then there are a few things you can do to reduce battery consumption:
1.) Turn down the refresh interval on the timelines. This is the big one. It is those background services that are going to drain your battery.
2.) Turn off "Refresh on Startup".
3.) Turn off "Talon Pull" and "Live Streaming"
4.) Don't have it sync the second account's mentions
And if all else fails... Get off Twitter and do something productive for awhile =D haha any app that accesses the internet and refreshes as much as a Twitter client is inherently going to use more battery in the background. There are ways to reduce it, but not always ways around it!
7.) Custom ROMs Immersive Mode
My custom ROM has "Immersive Mode" and Talon doesn't seem to play nice with it! What's up with that?!
The way that immersive mode works in your ROMs currently isn't so hot unfortunately. There is a reason Google didn't put it into the whole system because app developers would have problems implementing the "translucency" with conflicting system stuff.
Not to fret to much though, I was able to get things working smoothly with it in Talon. The problem was that my ListView's are expanded through the different system bars. This can be a big problem if you try to switch to "Immersive" in the middle of doing something in the app. You will notice the margins get all wanky on the top and the bottom of your lists.
It can be easily solve though by just restarting the app by swiping it out of your recent apps screen. Sorry, but that is the best I am going to be able to do here, Translucent bars an "Immersive Mode" just weren't meant to work together.
Theming in Talon
Theming in Talon for Twitter
Real quick, before you get to far into the content, I want to let all you developers know about one of, if not the standout feature of Talon and EvolveSMS: one incredibly powerful theme engine.
Along with these apps, me and Jacob have completely redesigned and rethought our old "Theme Engine" from Sliding Messaging! Although the Sliding Messaging one was cool and great for the average user to customize, it was slow, cluttered, limited, and just bad design from a developer perspective. This won't be an issue with these apps though. We remade everything about it to bring you the ultimate themeing and customization experience, without the bloat and slowdowns. You won't be disappointed when you see what it can do!
All this theme engine takes is a little bit of knowledge about layouts and resources in Android, along with the Android SDK to compile and distribute your package as an APK, then you can make both of these apps into literally ANYTHING you want. We are able to read the layouts, drawables, and some of the colors directly from your compiled package and place them in our apps! Sweet huh, you thought this kind of design your own thing was only for homescreens
And the best part: it is completely free and you can easily share these themes with anyone when you are done by just sending the APK or putting it on the Google Play Store!
For more info on these and to start making Talon really your own, check out these links:
1.) Talon Theming Example/Walkthrough on GitHub
2.) Google+ Community Theming Section - A great place to share so anyone can see and use your themes, not just XDA users
3.) Google+ Theming Post
gonna try it out soon
Amazing Twitter app, absolutely loving it so far. It is just stunning, and kudos to going with transparent navbar instead of immersive, it looks fantastic and doesn't require a gesutre to get to.
Yeah, I completely agree that transparent is the way to go over immersive on something like this, it takes more work, but definitely with it!
Why do you only support for 2 accounts? It's just a question!
Pac-Man said:
Why do you only support for 2 accounts? It's just a question!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, a little embarrassing, but because the logic behind coding more than that gets way complex... haha
klinkdawg24 said:
Well, a little embarrassing, but because the logic behind coding more than that gets way complex... haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't worry! But I hope you'll add multiaccount. There're a lot of people that love it
Anyway it's a good app with a perfect design. My sincerelly congratulations!
Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 mediante Tapatalk
Will love to try it, I paid for falcon and then it got free
Hoping for xda version
Maybe I'm just stupid.. How do you pull up replies to others tweets? Beautiful app btw... Love it...
wow this app looks beautiful, would love to try it, unfortunately, i dont have a credit card and can't purchase from google play. Will there be a free or xda version coming soon? if not is there any way for me to try this out? signed up for the beta as well
I got the app a couple of hours ago and it's amazing.
Just a few things..
Where did the Talon Pull notifications go when they are received? I have to manually to update the timeline anyway.
You have to pull down for too long in order to update. You should adjust it
You should definitely implement threaded DMs, that would be pretty cool
Great app btw,
donwhall70 said:
Maybe I'm just stupid.. How do you pull up replies to others tweets? Beautiful app btw... Love it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right now, you can only look backwards at tweets, looking forward will come when i figure it out haha
alkspo said:
wow this app looks beautiful, would love to try it, unfortunately, i dont have a credit card and can't purchase from google play. Will there be a free or xda version coming soon? if not is there any way for me to try this out? signed up for the beta as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, because of the token limit, this app is going to be paid, I thought about an XDA version with different tokens, but that would just go against Twitters rules still
Kage0x said:
I got the app a couple of hours ago and it's amazing.
Just a few things..
Where did the Talon Pull notifications go when they are received? I have to manually to update the timeline anyway.
You have to pull down for too long in order to update. You should adjust it
You should definitely implement threaded DMs, that would be pretty cool
Great app btw,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) They go to the interactions drawer on the right, make sure you are on the newest version and it will work better (1.01)
2.) i changed it for the version im releasing now
3.) yeah the dm's have a lot of work i know!
Version 1.05
(up in ~2 hours)
Well, day one is coming to a close and i have added some nice stuff for all of you
There was an update earlier that solved some issues with the Talon Pull service not working and tweets being saved twice in some places. That was version 1.01.
Changelog for 1.05:
Correctly mute retweets
- Higher quality images on timeline
- Dismiss all on interactions drawer
- In-app browser is now optional
- Lowered swipe length for Pull to Refresh
- Option to display both screenname and name on timeline tweets
- Open app from clicking icon on widget
- Finished German translation
- Fixed contact images on layout change
- Attempted fixes for Play Store crash reports
I hopefully got the force closes that were reported today taken care of. Although there weren't many, which makes me happy
Let me know how this version works for all of you!
hi mate
the last update is wonderful
it fix almost every complain ppl have.... BUT.....
PLEASE and i repeat PLEASE don't use the same way of plume to manage DM
the DM must be in threaded conversations, with the ability to delete entire threads, just like a normal "sms" application does, and just like tweetbot does.
please fix the dm section and this could be the real deal for android users.
faremoney said:
hi mate
the last update is wonderful
it fix almost every complain ppl have.... BUT.....
PLEASE and i repeat PLEASE don't use the same way of plume to manage DM
the DM must be in threaded conversations, with the ability to delete entire threads, just like a normal "sms" application does, and just like tweetbot does.
please fix the dm section and this could be the real deal for android users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DMs will get a big rewrite, but I have a few other things I need to do first
klinkdawg24 said:
DMs will get a big rewrite, but I have a few other things I need to do first
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very nice app. I only have two "issues" Local Trends is displaying trendings from another country. The same happened to me with Falcon Pro so, I guess you both use same location service. It would be nice to have an option to select trends manually for people who is living in another country and wanna know what is happenning in their "home"
The other issue I found is that I think data loading is faster in other Twitter clients especially with timeline refresh
OK, this gets better and better.
The pull to refresh is better than before, but it still needs some improvement. Take a look at how the one from the gmail app behaves. That one is perfect. But this is just a minor issue, so it's not a big deal
Regarding the DM issue, could you at least change the order in which they are displayed, or at least give us the opportunity to do so? It's kinda weird to have the old ones first. But it really depends on long will it take to rewrite the whole thing, if you're going to do it
Also, I really think mentions notifications from the Talon Pull should go directly into the mentions tab instead of the additional drawer, but maybe that's just me
awesome. perhaps the only competitor falсon. you can do that display images if given a direct link to it? (everywhere)
view who retweet/favorite. display real-time, I mean like 20:14, but not 14 minutes ago. thx, man.