Android versions of WinMo apps

[roopull]

So, I'm sitting around waiting for Sprint to get Touch Pro 2s in stock, but I'm sorely tempted by the Droid.

Unlike most "junkies," I actually can't stand changing phones. Keep that in mind.

Changing phones is bad enough, but changing operating systems?


So, here's what I'm pondering. If I were to go to Android, would I be able to find a viable Android version of all of my WinMo apps?


Here are the apps I use & a brief explanation of why I use them or what they are.


SPB Mobile Shell 3.5
WinMo 6.1's default interface sucks. Mobile Shell's endlessly customizable interface makes my phone MY PHONE. I love it.


CorePlayer.
Plays any media file Period.
ANY.


Windows Media Player. Plays nice with my Windows Media Player on my home PC.


Opera... simply the best web browser for mobile devices.

Skyfire... simply the 2nd best web browser for mobile devices.


GPS Weather Radar... just an app that uses your GPS to find your location & then shows a full screen radar - animated too!


G-Alarm... alarm clock that has multiple alarms & quizzes and/or accelerometer mazes to turn the alarms off.


H-Torch. one of a thousand apps that turns your camera flash into a flashlight.


Bing. Is there even a Bing app for Android?


Garmin XT.


1-Calc


Mobile office... biggie, there. Is there a comparable app for Android?


Worldcard Mobile... take a picture of a business card (or any name, address, & phone number,) and it's added as a contact.


I omitted a few apps that I KNOW there are Android apps for.

[puertoblack2003]

“ Originally Posted by roopull ”

So, I'm sitting around waiting for Sprint to get Touch Pro 2s in stock, but I'm sorely tempted by the Droid.

Unlike most "junkies," I actually can't stand changing phones. Keep that in mind.

Changing phones is bad enough, but changing operating systems?


So, here's what I'm pondering. If I were to go to Android, would I be able to find a viable Android version of all of my WinMo apps?


Here are the apps I use & a brief explanation of why I use them or what they are.


SPB Mobile Shell 3.5
WinMo 6.1's default interface sucks. Mobile Shell's endlessly customizable interface makes my phone MY PHONE. I love it.


CorePlayer.
Plays any media file Period.
ANY.


Windows Media Player. Plays nice with my Windows Media Player on my home PC.


Opera... simply the best web browser for mobile devices.

Skyfire... simply the 2nd best web browser for mobile devices.


GPS Weather Radar... just an app that uses your GPS to find your location & then shows a full screen radar - animated too!


G-Alarm... alarm clock that has multiple alarms & quizzes and/or accelerometer mazes to turn the alarms off.


H-Torch. one of a thousand apps that turns your camera flash into a flashlight.


Bing. Is there even a Bing app for Android?


Garmin XT.


1-Calc


Mobile office... biggie, there. Is there a comparable app for Android?


Worldcard Mobile... take a picture of a business card (or any name, address, & phone number,) and it's added as a contact.


I omitted a few apps that I KNOW there are Android apps for.

SPB Mobile Shell 3.5- there's none for android device that i know of,but the default android style is alot better and you can customized to how you want it.And you can save it as profile and create another with different wallpapers or whatever you like

CorePlayer-i haven't seen any such app but i never bother to find out i use default player

Windows Media Player.--not for android

Opera.- you can see details here

Code

http://labs.opera.com/news/2008/04/10/

Skyfire--haven't seen it for android yet

GPS Weather Radar- i have and use weather channel which i believe it has that feature in the settings.but i never got a chance to into yet

G-Alarm--it has a default alarm

H-Torch-- i seen in the app store...

Bing. ...lol not for android but google search will do the same it has the voice search which it's neat

Garmin XT- didnt see it for android but i'm sure if you go to the site and see if it will support android device. I use google maps its free and will do the same as garmin..That's why alot of these guys are not happy with google

1-Calc- it has a default app already

Mobile office- for android it has quick office not sure if its compatible with ms extensions

Worldcard Mobile- i use bizcard reader it'll do the same thing and its free at the app store.

hope this helps

[wentzeric]

With respect to the list that you published.

Android has apps for most (80%) of them. for the other (20%) they will prolly soon. (2-3 months)

A couple things that you have not taken into account are the words OPEN SOURCE and INTUITIVE.

while I am in love with Android (Vogue android that is) I do not like the look of the Droid. So my suggestion is hang on to what you got till 01-01-2010 and then choose from what is around. Passion/HD2/TP2 etc...

just my suggestion....

[iamdasht19]

“ Originally Posted by roopull ”

So, I'm sitting around waiting for Sprint to get Touch Pro 2s in stock, but I'm sorely tempted by the Droid.

Unlike most "junkies," I actually can't stand changing phones. Keep that in mind.

Changing phones is bad enough, but changing operating systems?


So, here's what I'm pondering. If I were to go to Android, would I be able to find a viable Android version of all of my WinMo apps?


Here are the apps I use & a brief explanation of why I use them or what they are.


SPB Mobile Shell 3.5
WinMo 6.1's default interface sucks. Mobile Shell's endlessly customizable interface makes my phone MY PHONE. I love it.


CorePlayer.
Plays any media file Period.
ANY.


Windows Media Player. Plays nice with my Windows Media Player on my home PC.


Opera... simply the best web browser for mobile devices.

Skyfire... simply the 2nd best web browser for mobile devices.


GPS Weather Radar... just an app that uses your GPS to find your location & then shows a full screen radar - animated too!


G-Alarm... alarm clock that has multiple alarms & quizzes and/or accelerometer mazes to turn the alarms off.


H-Torch. one of a thousand apps that turns your camera flash into a flashlight.


Bing. Is there even a Bing app for Android?


Garmin XT.


1-Calc


Mobile office... biggie, there. Is there a comparable app for Android?


Worldcard Mobile... take a picture of a business card (or any name, address, & phone number,) and it's added as a contact.


I omitted a few apps that I KNOW there are Android apps for.

to start off, its a very east to learn interface that does everything wm does for the most part minus the soft resets and lags on top of other troubles. sure i love wm btu the droid eris has opened a new world to me once again. i had the g-1 and loved it but couldnt use it as a phone since i was sprint at that time. (now verizon) i would def, recommend it. android is very easy to learn and is widget based. everything is just a push of a button away from opening and the roller ball is noce so you dont always have to use the screen. trust me you will like it and my review should be coming up here later tonight on the device as well as a youtube video most likely

for mobile shell:
there isnt another ui per say on android but this is simpler gets the job done faster, and more efficiently. when the video and review come out tonight that im talking about im sure yu will understand more.

core player:
i use the default player without any troubles on mine with any file that i played on there thus far... i mainly use my zune hd for music and video though.

windows media player:
your not gonna find it for android.

Opera:
pb got that covered above.

Skyfire:
not for android yet but i feel that it will be coming

Weather:
you have many options for this inthe app store, you have the weather channel, weather bug, and 4 or 5 others in the app store, some free, some lite, and some pay.

G-alarm:
im not sure if there is one exactly like it but i do know that there are many different alarm clock in the app store (remember theres over 8000 apps hahah)

htorch:
yes there is a flashlight i nthe app store but remember you will need the droid otherwise it will be just on screen......

bing:
google search will do the same, anything windows will not be seen

garmin:
the new google maps on android does the same as all the other companies including the ones the providers have like verizon nav or sprint nav... as pb said not too many are happy with that since it is being offered for free.

1calc:
you have the default calc and if you need scientific you will find in the app store.

office:
i use documents to go and i love it!

card reader:
i also use biz card reader.

[iamdasht19]

sorry bump bump hit submit by accident before i was finished.

[angiekay]

Thanks Dashy, can't wait for the review and vid............

[roopull]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Really helpful.

I'm just feeling things out, for now, but am concerned about the apps.


As for Google Maps/Nav vs. Bing vs. Garmin vs. all the rest...

Yes, in theory, Google Maps does what the others do, but in reality, if you depend heavily on these maps the way I do, the more variety the better. As I mentioned elsewhere, I have tried just about every nav program available, and still carry a paper map when I'm out delivering (I work for UPS.) It may not be true everywhere, but in my area, Bing's maps are far superior to what Google offers. I'm not bashing Google at all, just stating facts.

For example, there's an old and well established neighborhood just South of a suburb here in Atlanta that is poorly marked on ANY map. The streets wind around with no logical pattern, the street numbering makes no sense, and there are countless little dead end streets that are about 50' long, have maybe 5 houses on them, have NO street signs, and are completely invisible to virtually everyone. They're NOT in my excellent ADC map book. They're NOT in Google Maps, Garmin, Amaze, Tom Tom, etc. But, every last tiny unmarked street shows up in Bing. Don't ask me why... I don't know... I just know they're there.


As for Core Player & Windows Media Player, I use them for videos for my son. I'm probably one of the four people who actually use the video out feature on my Touch Pro. The cables for our car's DVD displays actually fit the Touch Pro's video out jack. Go figure. So, having several movies in different formats that my son can watch as we drive down the road has been nice... no DVDs to keep track of. It's not a deal breaker & I don't even know if the TP2 has the same video out function the TP1 has.


Skyfire/Opera. There was a time when not having Skyfire would have been a deal breaker. However, Opera has gotten so good, I doubt I'd even miss it, actually.



Again, thanks for the tips, guys!

[puertoblack2003]

“ Originally Posted by roopull ”

Thanks for the replies, guys. Really helpful.

I'm just feeling things out, for now, but am concerned about the apps.


As for Google Maps/Nav vs. Bing vs. Garmin vs. all the rest...

Yes, in theory, Google Maps does what the others do, but in reality, if you depend heavily on these maps the way I do, the more variety the better. As I mentioned elsewhere, I have tried just about every nav program available, and still carry a paper map when I'm out delivering (I work for UPS.) It may not be true everywhere, but in my area, Bing's maps are far superior to what Google offers. I'm not bashing Google at all, just stating facts.

For example, there's an old and well established neighborhood just South of a suburb here in Atlanta that is poorly marked on ANY map. The streets wind around with no logical pattern, the street numbering makes no sense, and there are countless little dead end streets that are about 50' long, have maybe 5 houses on them, have NO street signs, and are completely invisible to virtually everyone. They're NOT in my excellent ADC map book. They're NOT in Google Maps, Garmin, Amaze, Tom Tom, etc. But, every last tiny unmarked street shows up in Bing. Don't ask me why... I don't know... I just know they're there.


As for Core Player & Windows Media Player, I use them for videos for my son. I'm probably one of the four people who actually use the video out feature on my Touch Pro. The cables for our car's DVD displays actually fit the Touch Pro's video out jack. Go figure. So, having several movies in different formats that my son can watch as we drive down the road has been nice... no DVDs to keep track of. It's not a deal breaker & I don't even know if the TP2 has the same video out function the TP1 has.


Skyfire/Opera. There was a time when not having Skyfire would have been a deal breaker. However, Opera has gotten so good, I doubt I'd even miss it, actually.



Again, thanks for the tips, guys!

yep, i understand big time on the gps part.I'm a transit supervisor.There will be times that if we are short handed..i have to go out on the road and here in philly the streets can be crazy to find.Two things can happen either get on the radio and ask for a location or pull out my tom tom ..lol which i happen to like over the others.Like you mentioned there's streets that are not on the map and tom tom knows exactly where it is.. i also bought garmin but it always gave me bad locations.Not sure because of the city but i have updated the maps and complained to garmin about it, garmin just sucks, that's my opinion.

well i hope you come to a good conclusion !! to be honest i dont miss wm...lol

[iamdasht19]

“ Originally Posted by puertoblack2003 ”

yep, i understand big time on the gps part.I'm a transit supervisor.There will be times that if we are short handed..i have to go out on the road and here in philly the streets can be crazy to find.Two things can happen either get on the radio and ask for a location or pull out my tom tom ..lol which i happen to like over the others.Like you mentioned there's streets that are not on the map and tom tom knows exactly where it is.. i also bought garmin but it always gave me bad locations.Not sure because of the city but i have updated the maps and complained to garmin about it, garmin just sucks, that's my opinion.

well i hope you come to a good conclusion !! to be honest i dont miss wm...lol

i had said it throughout the forums that the only thing that could tear me away from wm was android possibly in its future stages..... well that was a bout a year ago now that i said that and its pretty darned close... i still have the tp2 sitting next to me as a backup or as the just in case security blanket. ... but android just plain out works and i found replacements for all my apps that i used on wm now

[roopull]

PB, I agree with you 100% on Garmin. The interface might be pretty & the dashboard is nifty, but that's meaningless if you end up 10 miles away from where you want to be. In the end, though, I've found that having several options to choose from (yeah, even including crappy Garmin) is the best bet.

Would one of you Android phone owners out there like to try out Bing's online service to see if the maps load & how well it seems to work? It may sound silly to some, but the lack of mapping variety kinda' spooks me.


D/\SH, I remember you saying just those words, because it seemed like you were speaking on my behalf. On top of how good Android has apparently gotten, the SPEED at which they're making improvements to the OS is just amazing. None of the other mobile OSs seem to be making the leaps & bounds Android seems to be. Plus, too, and also... resolution neutrality! Woot!



C'mon, Sprint... get the TP2 or Droid, already!

[iamdasht19]

“ Originally Posted by roopull ”

PB, I agree with you 100% on Garmin. The interface might be pretty & the dashboard is nifty, but that's meaningless if you end up 10 miles away from where you want to be. In the end, though, I've found that having several options to choose from (yeah, even including crappy Garmin) is the best bet.

Would one of you Android phone owners out there like to try out Bing's online service to see if the maps load & how well it seems to work? It may sound silly to some, but the lack of mapping variety kinda' spooks me.


D/\SH, I remember you saying just those words, because it seemed like you were speaking on my behalf. On top of how good Android has apparently gotten, the SPEED at which they're making improvements to the OS is just amazing. None of the other mobile OSs seem to be making the leaps & bounds Android seems to be. Plus, too, and also... resolution neutrality! Woot!



C'mon, Sprint... get the TP2 or Droid, already!

word i can go to the browser and than maps through bing. and trust me the mapping will not be a problem with all the apps and such out there that you can still use.

[schroder08]

I'm trying to find a good Android GPS that has maps stored on my phone however. There have been times I've gone to places that have no cell coverage (visiting my parents in rural Wisconsin, for example), since I couldn't connect to the Sprint network I couldn't use the Sprint Nav etc. I do have the Hero now, and am loving it after moving on from the Touch. I am also trying to find the section that has Android apps here, I swore I found it at one point but am being blonde now. Time to keep searching. :-) Thanks for the great site everyone!

[forty01]

SPB Mobile Shell 3.5
This has been mentioned, but the default is great, but there are other home screen programs that can do many things. I love my HTC Sense however.


CorePlayer… Meridian is my favorite player hands down on Android. At the moment AVI would be more of an issue for android, but that is being worked on. MP4, which is what you DL here mostly and can be easily converted to.


Opera... This has been covered(FireFox should be getting into this game as well)

Skyfire... I can see them jumping over to see what it’s all about. Adobe Flash has been improving and upgrading more and more on the default Browser, which can play Flash. It will not in some of the newer more updated Flash sites. The default browser is a great browser in itself.


GPS Weather Radar... Weather Bug Elite is the best weather app on any platform that I have found. I love it and can’t see going any other direction. Oh, it does have Radar 


G-Alarm... Gentle Alarm is the one I use on Android. I feel it’s the closest to G-Alarm, which is what I used on WM. Read about it and you’ll see what I mean.


H-Torch. This is not an issue, but it is with Hero, since I have no Flash  lol , I do have Flashlight installed and it gives me a bright white screen, which is the closest thing I have


Bing. Bing I MS, but as they mentioned Google Search will work great. A program called Where is actually pretty neat and does exactly what Bing does and better in my opinion, but I haven’t played with the latest version of Bing as detailed. Look into Where, but it will easily satisfy that craving.


Garmin XT. (I usually use TelNav, because it’s nice clean and easy, but I have heard Co-Pilot is the best Nav app that stores maps on storage card.


1-Calc (A million of these, just DL and play with them until you find the one you like.)


Mobile office... I use as many of us do here Documents 2 Go, because it is the best in this category. Documents to Go even does this better than WM Smartphone (Q9C) which you are only able to view and not edit with MS programs, buts Docs2Go lets you edit, create, view, etc.


Worldcard Mobile... Already mentioned Business Card Scanner works great.