Android must have apps

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Frankster

What are the benefits of using a 3rd party navigation app vs the basic navigation that comes with Android OS?

Only advantage is it's data free. That helps if you don't have data or are in the states

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Frankster

What are the benefits of using a 3rd party navigation app vs the basic navigation that comes with Android OS?

Basically, there are none, except that the stock apps cannot calculate routes without some connection to the internet. That is where these 3rd party ones have an advantage.

For the most part Google Nav does everything I need, provided I do it within my Bell/Virgin network area.

[GrrlGoalie33]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Basically, there are none, except that the stock apps cannot calculate routes without some connection to the internet. That is where these 3rd party ones have an advantage.

For the most part Google Nav does everything I need, provided I do it within my Bell/Virgin network area.

Good to know! I have unlocked phones, so as long as I have a sim card and data plan, I should be good to go!

[rubecube]

Why is signing out of Hangouts completely impossible?

[Azure]

You mean why is Hangouts such a completely ######ed app?

I hate it.

[totti_07]

Why do you guys hate it so much? I actually use it to chat with some friends. What I love most is that I can chat from my desktop as well

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Anduril]

I chat with only one other person with it. Would be awesome if more people moved over as I actually like the app/desktop integration, but it's too much of a ghost town fro me personally.

[Galakanokis]

I don't mind hangouts, pretty much just use it with my dad as he refuses to get texting on his phone. We'll text or do video chats so he can see the grandkids. Works fine, no issues. The UI could be better but it is not like I spend hours on the damn thing.

[rubecube]

It's right up there with FB Messenger in annoyance factor. It just amazes me that both Google and Facebook seem to think that I should be online 24/7.

[Azure]

The UI is ridiculous. Lack of settings? Ability to organize your contacts list? Like what the hell? Plus, why can't I be invisible? Tons of people still use the normal Google Talk, and I always show up as away all the time. Its annoying.

[Igster]

Yeah, Hangouts sucks overall. I use Kik. So much better. Much more configurable. Lots of cool built-in features and the ability to see if a message has been delivered and read or not. Really not sure why more people don't use Kik. It's awesome.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Azure

The UI is ridiculous. Lack of settings? Ability to organize your contacts list? Like what the hell? Plus, why can't I be invisible? Tons of people still use the normal Google Talk, and I always show up as away all the time. Its annoying.

I'd get used to it, it seems like most Google apps and products are moving that way with more and more customization and options being stripped out. I've found their lack of view and sorting options in things like their music or photos app to be particularly annoying. And now their entire UI for the Play Music app is based on artist photos that the user has absolutely no control over.

Not that their apps were ever anything to write home about. I've ended up relying on 3rd party replacements for pretty much every core app (music, photos, messaging, etc.) because I find the stock ones to be lacking. Though now they're taking apps that were useful (Maps, Google Talk, etc.) and making them worse.

[totti_07]

What do you use for music and photos?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[opendoor]

There are a few good music apps. I use PlayerPro because I like how it looks and it has most of the options I find useful (different sorting and view options, ability to add/change artist photos, etc.) but there are others that are pretty good like Poweramp and n7player.

For photos I just use QuickPic. There's nothing really special about it, but it has some options that the stock gallery is missing. There are probably better ones out there, but I use it strictly for viewing and do any editing or adding of filters in other apps.

[Anduril]

Oh, speaking of replacing the stock apps...
Found both Sliding Messaging and ExDialer/Contacts to be great replacements for SMS and Dialing/Contacts respectively.

Sliding Messaging because of the ability to slide between conversations, easily see the list of conversations or create a new message with a swipe. Because of the functionality it does stutter more than one would like.

The other app because of the customization, ability to enable swiping to call/message and beautiful UI.

[Wormius]

Ugh.. Should not have allowed Google to automatically update Maps. WTF kind of "update" is that. At least I have a Titanium backup of 6.9

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Igster

Yeah, Hangouts sucks overall. I use Kik. So much better. Much more configurable. Lots of cool built-in features and the ability to see if a message has been delivered and read or not. Really not sure why more people don't use Kik. It's awesome.

If I'm not using standard text messages kik is pretty darn good. I wish it would integrate some sort of video calling feature though.

I recently opened Skype on my phone, first time in a while, forget when it was updated but it's 10x smoother and better.

[TSXCman]

Regarding keyboards:

I am tired.of.sending.messages.like.this.

I think that the double spacebar = period was a great system. The spacebar was very wide and made it easy to type. Android seems to insist on having a period key that I find is placed on where my thumb goes for space most of the time.

Is there an alternative keyboard that is 95% like the newer android ones for spell fix and format, but only has the period key replaced by more spacebar and has double space periods?

[Rathji]

Tapatalk 4 is on sale for 99 cents now. Not sure I love it, but will see

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

[Azure]

I use Kii Keyboard because you can change the size of the keys and its easy to add your own words.