New to Android

[abean]

Hey all,

Former black berry user here and finally made the switch to Droid. Loving it thus far, minus the pains we're all experiencing. I have many questions/concerns, but for now ... Help me understand/recommend some of the apps out there.

More specifically, right now I'm working on the themes. One of my favorite parts of the black berry were the custom themes to completely redo how the icons worked and were layed out. While I have found several useful applications (ie, launcher pro, file organizer, etc.), I'm unclear to as what these apps are that are required to implement custom themes, and what those themes do.

I forget the names of the others, but like Panda, aHome, etc. What do these do for you, and are they worth it? Do any of these themes allow for better organization/manipulation of the "app drawer"? I'm a neat freak, and I absolutely hate that I can't use folders in this drawer. That and I want to hide all that junk motorola put on it that we can't uninstall.

Well, if any of that made sense, I'd appreciate any insight. Also, if there any "must have" apps that would help me to better use my phone, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm still working on trying to recreate the sound profile abilities I had from a BB and thus far the "Profile" app seems to be pretty decent.

Thanks all

 

[abean]

I have another question in regards to Exchange support. Is there anyway to combine folders to a single inbox (like BB) so that I get notified of all new emails, regardless to as the rules. As of now, I don't get notified when a new email comes in that is moved to a sub-folder. From what I read, I wasn't able to find any way to resolve this without using Touchdown ... Touchdown seems to be what I need, just don't want to spend $20 on it.

Will 2.2 (Froyo) resolve this, or should I just bite the bullet and spend the $20?

Thanks

 

[qoncept]

I toyed with a few of the home replacements you talked about and didn't really like any of them. I'm using Launcher Pro now which I really only care to have because it adds 4 icons to the bottom of the screen around the launcher icon. That way I have phone, messaging, browser and volume control on every home screen.

The app drawer isn't really customizable. I know some of the homescreen replacements have changed it some, but the point is that don't really need to use it very often. Organize the apps you use on your 3 home screens. If 3 screens isn't enough, Launcher Pro (and pretty much all the other replacements) allow you to have up to 7 or 9 screens. You can also put folders on your home screen by long pressing and choosing folder. The only problem with this is for some unknown reason, you can't rearrange icons in a folder, so you have to add them in the order you want them. I personally don't use folders at all.

I'd recommend googling "new to android" and reading a handful of the things that come up. I'd say Black Berry has more hidden features -- on Android most things are easier to find, but there's still a lot you can learn. Also google "top android apps" to get an idea of what you want to try.

I used a Blackberry Curve for about 4 months before I got my original Droid. Ever since, it blows my mind every time someone I know gets a BB. You should be very happy. The difference in apps available is mindblowing. I can't tell you anything about Exchange, I don't think a lot of people are using it. If you're using it for work, I'd look in to getting them to buy the app for you. What's $20 in a corporate budget?