Startup Cleaner 2.0 - Some apps load on startup when you install them causing your phone to use memory and slow down. By removing these apps you will free up resources your phone needs. Startup Cleaner 2.0 by Bright Wallace helps you to select which apps you want to startup. When you launch the app it shows the programs that are loaded and allows you to check the ones you want to remove. 

I will say the interface is a little confusing. It shows all of the apps with "Prevent Startup Applied" in green or white.  White means it will need to be applied and green means it has been applied.  You can long press an app to get extra options. You can manage the app further or uninstall the program.  When your phone boots it will show you how many apps were stopped.  I was surprised how many it prevented (23) when I first used it.  I won't say that I have noticed a big difference on the Galaxy Nexus but my old Vibrant does seem to run better.  The memory on some of the ICS roms has been a problem so having more available is a big help.

The app is free on the market and a good utility to have.  I hope they simplify the interface and make it a on/off type switch.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bright.startup2&hl=en

MobiLearn Talking - My wife and I hope to go to Europe one day. Since we only speak English I am worried that we wouldn't be able to communicate for basic needs while traveling.  I downloaded MobiLearn Training Phrasebook to see if it would be helpful while traveling.  The concept of the app is to translate common phrases from English to Spanish, French, German or Italian.  The phrases are broken into categories such as conversational, transportation, lodging, numbers & times and emergencies.

Once you pick your category there are several to select from starting with hello and much more specific phrases.  You click the phrase and select your language from buttons below and it shows you the phrase.  Click the phrase and the app speaks the phrase for you.  It is simple to use. I feel that I could go to Italy and be able to survive if I get off the beaten path.  It does not translate Scottish to English so in Scotland I might still be lost! I think that for basic phrases and a trip where you would only need some common phrases MobiLearn Talking is more than enough.

The trial version is free and the full version runs $9.99. It was a free app of the day on Amazon a few weeks ago and I picked it up then knowing I hope to one day use it.  Try the free version to see if you think it would be helpful. I don't think it will allow you to travel and not know any of the language but it is a good way to get a refresher while you are traveling.

https://market.android.com/details?id=mobilearn.android.phrasebook&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm1vYmlsZWFybi5hbmRyb2lkLnBocmFzZWJvb2siXQ..

Dashboard Assist - In honor of finally getting my car back from the repair shop I wanted to review an app that is used in the car. There are so many of these but I had one I wanted to try that uses your GPS to show your speed and direction. Dashboard Assist by RobotiCode Ltd has a ton of features compared to other travel apps.  You can have it mounted up in your windows with the camera thru-view enabled so that you can see what is behind the phone. It tells you what level your fuel economy is at based on your speed. It charts your trip letting you see your speeds. It can log those events and email them to you. The app can show you G-forces, maximum and average speeds.  There are different dials and color schemes to customize the app.

Just when I thought I had found everything the app can do I realized that it can also speak the speeds. The pro version which is $3.99 adds live speed graphs, journey vlogs, call auto answer, spoken incoming messages, music controls and removes the ads. I downloaded this app to help save gas but I find it does so much more.  I downloaded the pro version when it was the free Amazon app of the day. I have not had much of a chance to use it until now.  It is a great way to keep your eyes on the road but be able to go back and review your trip. It also is a great app for people that drive and need to keep track of the traveling they do. It will automatically email you the details so that at the end of the month you could just go through the emails to see when and where you drove for your expense report.

https://market.android.com/details?id=uk.co.roboticode.dashboardassist&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsInVrLmNvLnJvYm90aWNvZGUuZGFzaGJvYXJkYXNzaXN0Il0.

As you can see after 18 days on this billing cycle I have used only 2 minutes of my plan.  Those were used before I had GrooveIP setup and working completely.  I could theoretically use no minutes next month. 

I was concerned going to this plan with 50 less minutes per month than I had before.  I have probably used over 250 minutes so far this month. That is normally what I would use in a typical month but my oldest son has gone back on campus this semester and my on my mother's birthday I called and spoke to her for almost 45 minutes one day.  I don't expect to use that many minutes normally but it is great having the freedom to know I could talk as much as I would like.

Since I am on wifi most of the time I have only used about 580MB of total data this month so far across the cell network.115MB is from GrooveIP phone calls since Jan 6th. I also thought that using my 4GB data plan was going to be a problem since I was routing all of my voice traffic over the data connection.  However, I feel that my data usage is low for the amount of time I have used it. I have used 147MB on wifi for voice calls so it has been almost an even split.

For 250+ minutes of voice and only around 260MB of total data I think GrooveIP is really paying off. I know I have posted a few times about this app but I wanted to let everyone see how this app works in real world situations.

I have put the extended battery (2100mAh) and the OtterBox Commuter case on the Nexus. It has added some weight but after I dropped the phone this morning from about 2 feet I decided it was worth the little extra bulk! I haven't dropped a phone in about 2 years. Good thing it happened after I put the case on.

Well I have joined the staff of Android Activist as a part time writer. I am very excited to join their team and look forward to being able to better serve the Android community.  I will still post app reviews here and I hope to be able to still be a guest on the Android Vibe podcast.

Steve

http://androidactivist.org/staff/steve-birchfield/

FriendCaster - I hate Facebook. From the interface to the mobile app I cannot stand to be on it. If it wasn't for my wife and kids living on it I would probably just delete my account. However, since my family, friends from school, church and co-workers from jobs past are all on there and not looking to make the move to Google+ anytime soon I have a need to check it.  The mobile app is terrible these days and just slow. It tries to get my GPS location every time I open the app then it has to load the data. I like G+ and Twitter because they load fast. I had all but given up on the mobile app until I found FriendCaster. FriendCaster is a Facebook alternative client for Android. It loads quickly and comes up with several buttons.  There is a news feed button to see what your family and friends are up to. You have a profile button that is a fast way to see your profile information. There are other tabs in that screen relating to your profile. You can find your friends, photos messages notifications and groups.  You can check in through the app.

Though the app is fast and a great way to just get in and out of Facebook, I am annoyed with the ads. They are located at the bottom and a few of them look like notifications.  I have clicked the ad a few times thinking it was my notification. The pro version is $4.99.  If I really used Facebook I would likely just use the mobile web version instead of paying $5 for this app. But the few times a day I check Facebook the lite version works just fine.

https://market.android.com/details?id=uk.co.senab.blueNotifyFree&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInVrLmNvLnNlbmFiLmJsdWVOb3RpZnlGcmVlIl0.

Where's My Droid - Yesterday I reviewed SeekDroid for finding your device. Before I tried SeekDroid I used Where's My Droid (WMD). This app will assist you in finding your lost phone similarly to SeekDroid and both have many of the same features.  Like SeekDroid Where's My Droid has a paid version and a free version.  And like SeekDroid, Where's My Droid recently updated the app and has changed the features that were once free.  I have always run the free version of WMD but the new version has changed what I am able to do in the free version greatly. I used to be able to track the phone via GPS and remote lock/wipe with the free version. It seems now that this is no longer the case.  It also seems to prompt me often to upgrade to the Pro version. 

I have always found that WMD is a better tool for finding your phone if you lose it in the couch cushions versus losing it in a taxi. I have used it several times to find my kid's phones.  I have used it to wake my son up when I knew he had his phone on vibrate and I was trying to reach him. We have also used it to startle each other by randomly texting the keyword to each other's phone.  The app has a straight forward setup where you can specify a keyword to trigger the alarms.  It is a good idea to change this if you don't want to easily let someone set this thing off as a joke. I would also suggest using a word that no one would normally text you.  Once the word is set you have options such as if you want it to ring, vibrate or use a white noise siren to alert you.There is also a GPS setup to help you locate the phone. It has a separate keyword to activate that feature. You can also set the ring durations which I normally set to 5 minutes. That way you don't need to keep texting yourself if you can't immediately find your device.  There is a whitelist/blacklist of who can text you the keyword. But I wouldn't suggest locking it down too tight. You never know when you might need that person to help you find the phone!

Once the app is setup and you find that you have lost your phone, have someone text you the keyword. It will trigger the alarms you have set. Then go looking and listening for it.  The premium version allows you to use a landline (what's that??) to activate the app.  Unlike SeekDroid the GPS tracking features in WMD is not nearly as strong. Remote lock and wipe are premium features and something that should be included in the free version in my opinion.  This was at one time the best app out there but there are several more full featured apps on the market today.  I still use this to find phones that are lost in the house or car.  I would use SeekDroid to find a stolen or lost phone.  Still, the free version is good for those occasions where you just need to find your phone and you are not sure where in the house you left it.

 https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alienmanfc6.wheresmyandroid&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5hbGllbm1hbmZjNi53aGVyZXNteWFuZHJvaWQiXQ..

SeekDroid - I read today that one of my new followers on Google+ had his Tab 10.1" stolen twice in two months! As shocking as that is what may be more disturbing is that he may not have had any tracking software on the devices. I have never had a device stolen nor have I ever lost one.  But it only needs to happen once to ruin your day.  Why not protect yourself the best you can? SeekDroid by GT Media allows you to track and/or wipe your device remotely.  There is a free version of the app and a $4.99 paid version as well.  I eventually got the paid version from Amazon as a free app of the day and installed it. Since that time they have changed their model and still sell a $4.99 version and a free version, but also have paid monthly subscriptions that gives you more features and more devices that can be tracked.  Why then pay $4.99, good question. I am still confused to why I should pay now for the app when I am essentially getting the free version features. I am not alone in the confusion it seems but let's just say go get the free version and if you need more devices go pay for that.

Pricing aside, I think this is a great tracking app.  Say you lose your phone and you want to find it. You login to their website (www.seekdroid.com) and start a trace. I tracked mine down to just a few feet.  It was impressive. Now I know it was in my possession and that worked fine for testing. But if it was really lost I could see who was called from the phone, set off an alarm, see how much battery was left, lock the screen or wipe the device completely. 

The website is easy to navigate and finding your device is really what you are trying to accomplish.  Using this app and site works to efficiently do just that. If you lose your device you are going to want something quick and easy. The ability to wipe the device is an important feature that corporate network admins look for but many normal users could care less about. But when you start to realize how much of your personal information is stored on a phone or tablet these days you quickly see why remote wipe is critical if a device is lost or stolen. You can replace the device and sync most of your data back up with little hassle but restoring your credit and protecting your identity is not a fast or easy process.  

Being able to see who called your phone or who has been called from your phone may help in recovering your lost device. It will at least tell you if the phone is being used. Seeing the battery level remotely is nice so you know if the phone is going to die before you get chance to locate it. You will also be able to tell if someone has charged it back up to use it. My kids have lost phones and I called the phones to see if anyone picked up. They just rang and rang making me think they were lost and not stolen. With this app I would be able to see where the phone was and know if the battery level was dropping or if phone calls were happening.  Knowing you could lock the device or hide the app will give you the ability to prevent someone from removing the app as easily.

I will review Where's My Droid tomorrow which is another free phone location app.  (BTW- I hate the use of the term "Droid" referring to an Android device of any kind other than Motorola's product, but I will try and let that go!)  Either way, why wait until after you have lost a phone or tablet to get one of these types of products?  Do it now, do it! 

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.gtmedia.seekdroid.lite&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwib3JnLmd0bWVkaWEuc2Vla2Ryb2lkLmxpdGUiXQ..

Glympse - Since I now have a working GPS antenna in my Nexus I wanted to start reviewing some apps that take advantage of your location.  The first app I started using is one that I tried a few months ago called Glympse.  This app lets you take a trip and send your real time location to others.  Say you are going to see a friend that lives far away. You could turn on the Glympse app and send  the trip to your friend, specify the time that you will allow them to see your progress and start on your way.  The app will send the friend an email, text, Tweet or Facebook message where they can see your progress.  It shows your speed and path.  That way they will know how close you are and how fast you are moving. 

This app is great for letting friends and loved ones know where you are.  There is no sign up and works with any Android 1.5 and higher device. It is private since you specify who can see your trip.  Once it is started you don't need to look at your phone to do anything with the app.  Since you specify the time it shows your trip you don't need to turn it off either.  There are widgets for it and you can create favorites with desktop shortcuts.  Since I drive 45 minutes each way to and from work it is nice being able to let my wife or kids see how far away I am in real time.  

I usually only post good apps that I find useful but I also downloaded and tried the Car Driving App: Smooth Drive by Driveway.  It promises to be a social driving app. It allows you to have your driving rated based on certain criteria. I installed this app and it seemed to just run constantly in the background and use my GPS killing my battery.  It did rate a few of my trips for me and told me that I drove too fast the first trip and did the speed limit the other. I am not sure how it judged my breaking and accelerations just using GPS.  The idea is to see if you can drive safely and score higher than your friends.  I will also try out Waze: Community GPS Navigation which actually helps you with traffic updates and more of a gaming element than Smooth Drive. I do not recommend Smooth Drive.  Glympse is a useful app and I do recommend trying it.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.glympse.android.glympse&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5nbHltcHNlLmFuZHJvaWQuZ2x5bXBzZSJd

I can't say enough good things about GrooveIP. I now have it working on my Wifi Galaxy Tab 7" allowing me to make calls through my tablet. No sim card in this device and I still can make calls. This will be helpful when my phone is out of battery. The Tab gets great battery life and there are times when I am on wifi when using this would be convenient. What a great app! I think it was the best $4.99 I have spent on an Android app.

As a kid, my sister and I would play Monopoly and I loved the game.  We even played it through the mail when she moved away for college (not email, but the postal service) for about a year!  I am not recommending that way but looking back it was a fun way to play.  Well times have changed and Monopoly is still around. Now you can play it on your Android phone with EA's version of this classic.  

While you can play multiplayer, there is no online version for playing against friends and family.  We can hope that EA will add this into future versions. But if you want to play and hand your phone or tablet back and forth you can certainly play with human opponents.  I have been playing this game almost daily since I downloaded it.  It was recently the Amazon free app of the day so I snagged it then.  If you go to the market now it is $4.99. I will say even at that price it is a steal.  The game play is fluid and entertaining. They have plenty of options so that you can turn sounds on and off, make the dice roll without having to shake the phone and several game play options such as having all of the properties given out at the beginning of the game.  There are three levels of difficulty to keep you challenged.  I do find the AI players to be a little too predictable in the manner which they skip your hotels it seems on many rolls.  But that makes the game last longer, right? The game allows you to make trades and the AI players are eager to get properties so that they can put you out of business.  You see how the trading works and you can get the properties you want most of the time by offering good deals to those players.

I like that you can start and stop the games which makes playing against the AI fun allowing you to sneak a few turns in when you are stuck waiting somewhere.  If you love Monopoly and you don't want to play through the US Postal Service, then this might be the app for you. Download it today.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.eamobile.monopoly_na_wf&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5lYW1vYmlsZS5tb25vcG9seV9uYV93ZiJd

ESPN ScoreCenter - With the playoffs already going in the NFL along with hockey and basketball seasons started you might want to keep up with the games while on the go.  ESPN's ScoreCenter app is an easy way to stay up with the action.  I use this app to see game scores while I am out and cannot listen to a game. The app is easy to setup and gets you right to the thing you want, scores.  When you start the app you can add your favorite teams and not just pro teams but college too.  You can add baseball, football,basketball, hockey, rugby, soccer and cricket!  There are other sports that you can get information on as well, but just not stored in the My Teams page.  Once those are loaded there is a window with the latest scores from those teams. Quick and direct access to your favorites just by opening the app.  If you scroll to the side you can see "the Lead" window with upcoming sporting events for the next day or two. Another flick of the screen and you have the NFL followed by MLB and more apps and links to ESPN.

When a game is playing it updates the scores and time left in a game.  By clicking the scores of a game it takes you to a stats page showing scoring drives. There are also tabs on some of the screens to give you even more information such as news and standings.  This is great if you are a fantasy sports fanatic.  This is a free app and one that you will want to have so that you can keep up.  Go download it now in the Android Market.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.espn.score_center&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5lc3BuLnNjb3JlX2NlbnRlciJd

I didn't tell the story of buying the phone today. I bought it through RadioShack.com (highly recommend) since they offered the phone for $219 when everyone else had it listed at $299. I decided to head into a store to see if I could get it for that price somehow locally and not have to wait for shipping.

When I got to the store they had a non-working display model on the shelf. I patiently waited for the Radio Shack Employee, Rick to finish up with another customer. He soon came over and asked what I was looking for and got excited when I asked about the Galaxy Nexus. He told me how it was a great phone and listed the hardware specs (pfft!, Like I didn't already know) so I let him do his script. I told him I was really excited to get an official Ice Cream Sandwich loaded phone. That's when he proceeded to tell me about the "best feature" of ICS......Face Unlock! 

Really? Face Unlock? I know it is new and all but am I really that far out of touch with normal users that Face Unlock is the big feature? Heck, I still have not used the FFC on my phone. It may not even work for all I know! There are so many great features of ICS and the phone but this is what he got from the training they received?

I then talked price. I mentioned that on the website it was $80 cheaper. Could they match the price? They could not. Rick told me my options were to get a credit card and save $30 or to trade my old phone in for credit. He asked what I had and I said a Vibrant. He talked about what a nice phone it was. That's when I blew him away and told him mine was running ICS. He was amazed. He asked if he could see it and I think I could have sold him my phone! After showing him ICS I told him that I was giving the phone to my son and not trading it in. At that point I was out of options other than buying it online or paying an extra $80 to get it right then. I waited and ordered online. The ordering process with the website was easy and they kept me informed of the status at all times. I was happy that I ordered it that way. 

Still happy with the phone and glad I bought it.

S

I was once again a guest on The Android Vibe.  Check it out!

http://www.theandroidvibe.com/category/podcast/

https://plus.google.com/b/106287423561376256412/102611688899947347374/posts/McJD29G8QWX

ClockworkMod Tether (no root) - We all have (or most of us) these smartphones with data plans these days. We all likely have a laptop with no data plan. So wouldn't it make sense to be able to put these two things together and use your data plan for not only checking in at the local Starbucks on your phone but also responding back to emails on your laptop? As you may know the carriers frown on this. They would rather sell you a more expensive plan for tethering on your phone. Go figure.

If you would like to put it to "the man" and tether your computer to your phone but not have to pay an additional tethering fee ClockworkMod Tether is the app for you.  This app tethers your PC, Mac or Linux computer to your Android phone without needing root access or sending red flags out to your carrier that you are actually using the data on a computer.  Even better, it should work with any carrier and is not blockable. There is a piece of software that will need to be installed on your computer and the app on your phone. A data cable and some drivers are required too.  But before you say this is too complicated go to the market page or the developers page for the complete walk through.  It is very easy and painless.  

Once you have the drivers installed and the app installed on your phone and computer, you are ready to start tethering.  I started the PC app first then I turned the phone app on.  You will know it is working from the phone when you see the sent and received data readings show up.  I was surprised it let me run the app with my wifi still connected on the phone.  Other tethering apps normally force you off of it.  Be aware that even though the carriers cannot detect a laptop or device other than your phone is downloading data, that your usage may be an indicator to them that something is up.  I would say this is best used in short bursts or in emergency situations more than a daily thing.  But it is up to you how you use it and as always carriers may throttle your usage after you hit your cap, limit on that unlimited data plan. That being said I am happy that I didn't have to root my phone and I can connect my laptop on those rare occasions where I need something and have no wifi available.  

The app is written by Koushik Dutta who also publishes the ClockworkMod rom app. If you have rooted and put a rom on a phone you likely installed this at some point.  He is an important part of the Android development community. I say that because the app is free to download and try but the full version is $4.99. If you travel and have a need for this type of app I would say it is a good investment.  I know there are other apps that allow you to tether and may have more bells and whistles.  But buying this app you are getting an app that will also help support future development endeavors for more than just tethering.  You can follow him on Google+ too.  

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.koushikdutta.tether&rdid=com.koushikdutta.tether&rdot=1

VIPRE Anti-virus

I use VIPRE antivirus from GFI at work and I like the desktop product. The desktop version is quick and effective. So when I saw there was an Android version I tried it. First off,  let me say I don't really think that I need an antivirus client on my phone. But VIPRE is free and I wanted to see if I had any viruses or malware on my phone.

When you install the app it lets you create an online account. This is important so that you can manage the settings from a computer.  The app does what you would expect from a virus scanning app. I ran a scan and it was very fast. As you install apps it scans them as well.  In addition, the website will let you wipe the phone remotely or track the phone via GPS.  Since I just got the Galaxy Nexus and na now working GPS I can accurately tell you where my phone is.  With the Vibrant it would have shown my phone in Tampa Bay no matter where I was!  You may not need an antivuris app for your phone but VIPRE does seem like a good choice if you feel you need one.

Evernote - With phones and tablets it surprises me that they don't come stock with some sort of note taking app. Manufacturers sometimes add apps but they never seem to be very good.  Evernote is a great app for note taking on the go.  The one thing I love about Evernote is that there are apps for almost all platforms. Evernote allows you to create notes on different platforms and sync them in the cloud between all of the devices. I create notes on my Windows PC and can update it on a Mac and read it and update it on my phone or tablet.  What a concept! I even write these reviews in Evernote. The files sync automatically between the devices when you load it.  I love apps that work without having to think about it. 

With Evernote you can take pictures on your phone and send them to the app.  This is helpful when you want to snap a picture and be able to keep it in your notes. In addition, Evernote has partnered with many vendors that offer apps that can be purchased to enhance your experience.   There are expense report add ins, CRM enhancements and so many more. 

Evernote has a free version and a upgraded paid version. I doubt most people will need the paid version since it is based on amount of data synchronized.  I have almost 500 notes including some picture notes. I still am nowhere near my limit each month.  The free version will probably work for most people. At least getting started it should let you try Evernote and be sure it will work for you needs.   

There are so many more features but I really think you need  to try it out to see how it will work for you.  It won't take you long to see why it is one of the most popular for note taking.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.evernote&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5ldmVybm90ZSJd