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.

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.

Ok So it isn’t NEW but my Microsoft Wing ROCKS!

Alright so as I have talked about before I do technical phone support for a data recovery company. Any who the deal is I do that from home, more often then not. I have to have the ability to email people while on the go and still have the ability to sync up with Outlook on my desktop. I also was going to be buying this as my personal cell phone, so I wanted all the cool stuff you can get in something like an iPhone without having to own a Mac product. (I don’t want to hear it .. I am anti-mac and that is that) So here is the deal, I can have this Wing through T-Mobile and it allows me to be able to run ActiveSync, which honestly installed with out a problem. With other PDA’s I have had it was always a headache getting the darn thing working with the PC. It has a 2.0 mega pixel camera, MP3 player, Microsoft Office Mobile, as well as the ability to be logged into 3 different Instant Messaging client. I would have to say though the coolest thing about it is the ability to one switch from T-Mobile Internet service to and WiFi hotspot, and two the integration of the media on the phone with all the applications. I can take a picture, bring it in to my viewer, edit it, and then send it in a message. With all the iPhone hype I just thought I would give you all an alternative.

The Re-introduction of FAT32 and USB Storage

So my main source of income is working as software support for a local data recovery company. I have been doing this type of work on and off for 15 years. Anyway that aside I would that I had pretty much watched the death of FAT32, which I was more than happy to watch.  With that being said I have noticed in the past six to seven months huge increase in the volume of customers that have a FAT32 drive they need recovery on. Now this becomes an issue for multitude of reasons. First and foremost would be the sheer lack of software out there that supports this recovery type. Second would be that it is very old, unused technology for a reason. It is not as stable as NTFS, and it has no security at the file level. Read more