Google G1 Phone Applications

I am a total app junkie. From the useful apps like a flashlight to the silly games. What I am not thrilled with is the “Market”. The sorting options suck, they need to allow for more targeted searching so I thought I would start my own list of decent apps I have found and what they do.

1. Spiral Defense - I LOVE this game. It is a tower defense game thatyou can easilly play for hours on end. I think it was a buck or 2 and totally worth it.

2. Bubble - Useful app, I use it all the time. It is a level that is very accurate and really nice when you can only find a HUGE level.I used it to level a LCD TV and shelves in my sons room.

3. Scrambled Net - another fun game that is free so there is a bonus. The game is based on the “pipes” type games. It is pretty mindless and fun when waiting in a DR office or something. Has the ability to shut off the sounds.

4. HideNSeek - This is a useful utility for hiding your files on your G1, when you open it from the menu it pops a flashlight up and then you hit menu 3 times and are prompted for a password. The only down side I have seen from the app is you need to remember to CLOSE the program when you leave or then anyone can access the program.

5. Statusinator - Good Face Book app. Allows you to upload pictures right to your wall as well as see friends updated status and update yours as well. If you tap to a feature not supported it takes you right to facebook to see that thing. I use this app every day.

Ok so there is my top 5 G1 apps I will add more as I go through them. I will try and let you know which ones blow too.

My American Idol 2009

As a loyal American Idol viewer I make my pick every year of who I want to win. I also do my top 5 .. this is the list of who I think will win (very rarely is the person I want to win the person I think will win –SIGH–) Ok so on to my fav Idol.

Matt Giraud-  there is something about this kid and I don’t know what it is. More then likely it is that gravely blues thing going on with his voice. I was shocked to see him in the bottom 3 a few weeks back, and have decided that was Idol playing with the numbers again because they wanted to keep Crazy Megan. Yes I have a very conspiracy theory view of Idol. I think they send the people home who are voted off, but I also think sometimes they play with the bottom 3 to try to get results they want.

I will say, that even though they are touting this group as the best ever (like every year) I am not seeing it. I think that seasons 4,5, and 6 were definitely the hay day. Last year was a snore! This year isn’t turning out much better. I watch every week and find myself more and more talking through the performances and ignoring what is going on. I think it is a multitude of reasons, but the main one for me in the new stage.. HATE IT! I liked the closeness of the other set. I liked being able to actually SEE the band.

Everquest 10 Years and Counting

With the 10 year anniversary of Everquest upon us I took time to look around the EQ website and read up on the event. This got me a thinking  about the old days,so I decided to log in, just for the fun of looking around for a few. Got online and did the customary /who all friends just in case any of my old buds were online. No such luck. Then I checked out the /claim and got my 10 year cake! Yeah! Did a /played for my own information, my first character isn’t quite at 10 years yet, not until February. Then I noticed I had a bunch of other claims available to me.

One was odd had like 1000 uses left to it. Gift of Lost Legacies.. so I claimed it. I received two 10 stack of potions 3 pieces of armor all better then what I had on .. it was the Defiant stuff.. a new weapon (which I did have better of) and a  book with 5 charges of port to PoK. I think this is awesome, part of the problem I have had in the past with trying to go back to Everquest, is that my gear just is not good enough for the newer zones. This allows me to gear back up and go hunt without having to go back to the older expansions that no one is in to get re geared. One of the potions is the Adventurer Potions which allows you to increase your exp for 30 minutes. I guess you can now buy these with real cash. So they have given returning players 5 hours of increased exp which is nice. I have not checked out the new mercenary system, but I think it has something to do with hiring PC’s to hunt with you. I find that kind of sad, means that the server populations have dropped so much people need to hire people to hunt with them. eqtheme

T-Mobile G1 Google Phone Tips and Tricks

OK so I traded up I now have a G1 which I love. There is a a bunch of really cool features IF you are a Google junkie like me. Before I ever purchased the G1 I was already using Google for my email, calendar, photos, and documents. I love iGoogle for all the great widgets and since I am an old school google user I found the transition to the phone seem less. If you are looking for this pone to be an iPhone you will be very disappointed, it is NOT an iPhone, but it does have many similar apps, a lot for free. So on to some of the tips I have found out that would have been nice to know from the minute I turned the phone on.

Ever wanted to get back to an app with out having to pull the menu back up? All you have to do is hold down the home button and it will pop up a screen with the programs running.

Worried about hiding things on the phone? There is 2 ways to do this one you can go to the “market” and download Linda File Manager for free this will allow you to change the name of folders and files on your memory stick. it will also allow you to copy, cut, and paste files. If you rename a folder by putting a period in front of the / it will hide the folder. There are a couple of pay programs on the market and the best one I have found is Hide  and Seek it is $.99 so a good deal, allows you to tap to hide and has password locking as well as a cool flashlight feature to hide the face you have a program hiding files.

The G1 is a heat touch screen which makes it awesome in MOST situations, like no pocket dialing. It sucks though if you have gloves on because you cant use the phone without taking them off defeating the purpose of the gloves.

Want to add app shortcuts to the home screens?  In the app menu just press and hold the app and it will drop the menu away so you add the app to the home screen.

The camera on the phone sucks, no way around that right now. I believe the camera in there is more then likely fine but the apps written for it so far have all sucked, including the one Google gives you with the phone. There is no video recording as of yet if anyone finds a decent app that is doing it let me know.

Uploading music to the phone is simple enough through the USB port, it took me a minute to figure out that you need to actually mount it thru the phone when it pops up saying it is connected to USB. I love the Amazon music download, it is all in MP3 format and allows me to just use my amazon login info to purchase

The “Market” this is a great way to get appp, I have never been really able to buy apps for my phones because the actual bill is a business phone so if I bought apps thru the phone it was charged to the bill. With the “Market” you just use google checkout which makes it so I can just charge my credit card. I wish that it had more ways to search and parse the files but I am sure that will come in time.

Worried about your phone getting scratched up? I have a Zagg invisible shield on mine. These things work! I am the type to dump my phone in my purse and be on my way. I dont have one scratch on it yet and it’s been about 3 months. The shield is a little pricey and a pain to put on, but totally worth it for protecting your investment. I dropped the phone about 2 weeks ado and even though the corner where it smashed into the ground looked bad when I lifted the shield it was fine. I just cleaned out around the little tab (sand) and pushed it back down and it if fine.

Looking to play flash? -sigh- Too bad for now, there has been rumors of an update but that was supposed to be in March so they must have been just that.. rumors.