work in progress!
In this must have list, I will be focusing on apps that do their work without net connectivity.
Utils
Swype apk: This is basically an alternative to the basic keyboard Input in Android. Swype greatly reduces ur typing speed by allowing u to drag ur finger over the letters of a keyboard instead of typing each letter one by one. It then guesses smartly the correct word or gives you options if more than 1 word is eligible! On some Android phones, this comes default installed, but on others you have to install it. Make sure you dont install this if you already have it installed. You wont get this on Market but you can install it from the apk link I've given.
Flashlight by Devesh Parekh apk: One touch app that turns your phone into a white full bright screen. Very useful especially if you usually keep your phone on lowest light and you one day find yourself needing some light in the dark...
Advanced Task Killerapk: EXCELLENT APP. Using this to kill unnecessary apps that run in the background, I was able to extend my Android battery by 6-8 hours (I can get max 48 hours with mild usage and no 3G).
App Monster apk: A good application manager - shows u all user apps that are installed, gives you an option to back up the apps onto your sd card (useful if you installed the app via Market and dont have apk file to install later once you uninstalled).
Cardiometer apk: Inspires you to start losing weight with all its cool features!!! Shows you your calories burnt, distance travelled, even running route on a map if GPS is enabled and so much more...
J2ME Runner Home: Run almost any Mobile Java application on your android with this.
Vignette apk: A great replacement for the default Android Camera
Chomp SMS apk: Alternative to the default Android SMS app. Has a slightly better threaded view and customizable colors.
Fun
Google Sky Map Home: THE BEST APP EVER! Detailed review at my other post here.
Games
Angry Birds apk: Amazing addictive game
Abduction apk: First bestseller on Android - a fun motion sensor game
Fish food apk: Interesting game with a new take on the old matching colours game.
For offline installation and best places to download apk files, check my previous post, Applications for Android - Online vs Offline Installation
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Offline installation of Anrdoid SDK (Platforms and addons)
I installed Android SDK the other day to explore the apps platform for 2.1 (now that I have an Android phone!)…
Things you need:
A. SDK Starter package which just needs to be unzipped into a location (no installation as such):
B. Platform package which is one or more of the various android versions for which you will be coding. Eg: 2.2, 2.1, 1.6, 1.5, etc.
This has to be selected and downloaded from within the Android SDK.
But Google was forcing me to download the platform package only through the SDK. Why can’t I have a set of zips I can reuse on my laptop, desltop1, desktop2 as needed instead of having to download the Android platform repeatedly from the net for each machine?
The answer was simple after a little investigation but apparently undocumented. See below steps for full offline installation:
1) First you need to download repository.xml file. To find out the download link for this file, launch Android AVD Manager (after unzipping the sdk, manually from %AndroidSDKDir%\tools\Android.bat or from the Eclipse plugin). Here, when you select available Packages, you will see the default target: http://dl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml (maybe slightly different for you). Download this respository.xml file from the net (and close the AVD manager).
2) Open the repository.xml file and search for <sdk:platform>. You will see around 5 entries for each Android platform/version.
Identify the version you want and look for the platform filename inside the <sdk:url> tag. In my case, I wanted the 2.1 platform:
3) In the url obtained from step 1 (http://dl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml), replace repository.xml with the identified filename to get the actual url of the platform file. So in this example, the url would be: http://dl.google.com/android/repository/android-2.1_r02-windows.zip
Download this file (by typing into your browser url for eg).
4) Once the file is downloaded, extract this file into the <Androidsdk>\platforms directory. So you would end up with a new directory here as %AndroidSDKDir%\platforms\android-2.1_r02-windows.
That’s it!
If you now open the AVD manager again and click on Installed Packages, the extracted platform will show up as “SDK Platform Android a.b-update c, API d, revision e”
Use similar steps to download any Addons like Google APIs, but extract the Add-ons into %AndroidSDKDir%\add-ons directory. Just make sure that before you install the Addons, you have the corresponding platform already unzipped into the platforms directory.
To summarise, now I don’t need a net connection when to install the full android SDK – I just have to keep the following files handy:
· android-sdk_r07-windows.zip (unzip into a location where you want to install Android SDK, %AndroidSDKDir%)
· android-2.1_r02-windows.zip (unzip into %AndroidSDKDir%\platforms)
· google_apis-7_r01.zip (unzip into %AndroidSDKDir%\add-ons)
· ADT-0.9.9.zip (optional but useful Eclipse plugin – see here how to install this offline into Eclipse)
Happy droiding!
Things you need:
A. SDK Starter package which just needs to be unzipped into a location (no installation as such):
| Platform | Package | Size | MD5 Checksum |
| Windows | android-sdk_r07-windows.zip | 23669664 bytes | 69c40c2d2e408b623156934f9ae574f0 |
| Mac OS X (intel) | android-sdk_r07-mac_x86.zip | 19229546 bytes | 0f330ed3ebb36786faf6dc72b8acf819 |
| Linux (i386) | android-sdk_r07-linux_x86.tgz | 17114517 bytes | e10c75da3d1aa147ddd4a5c58bfc3646 |
B. Platform package which is one or more of the various android versions for which you will be coding. Eg: 2.2, 2.1, 1.6, 1.5, etc.
This has to be selected and downloaded from within the Android SDK.
But Google was forcing me to download the platform package only through the SDK. Why can’t I have a set of zips I can reuse on my laptop, desltop1, desktop2 as needed instead of having to download the Android platform repeatedly from the net for each machine?
The answer was simple after a little investigation but apparently undocumented. See below steps for full offline installation:
1) First you need to download repository.xml file. To find out the download link for this file, launch Android AVD Manager (after unzipping the sdk, manually from %AndroidSDKDir%\tools\Android.bat or from the Eclipse plugin). Here, when you select available Packages, you will see the default target: http://dl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml (maybe slightly different for you). Download this respository.xml file from the net (and close the AVD manager).
2) Open the repository.xml file and search for <sdk:platform>. You will see around 5 entries for each Android platform/version.
Identify the version you want and look for the platform filename inside the <sdk:url> tag. In my case, I wanted the 2.1 platform:
…
<sdk:platform>
<sdk:version>2.1</sdk:version>
<sdk:api-level>7</sdk:api-level>
<sdk:codename/>
<sdk:revision>02</sdk:revision>
<sdk:min-tools-rev>6</sdk:min-tools-rev>
<sdk:description>Android SDK Platform 2.1_r2</sdk:description>
<sdk:desc-url>http://developer.android.com/sdk/</sdk:desc-url>
<sdk:archives>
<sdk:archive os="linux" arch="any">
<sdk:size>72356359</sdk:size>
<sdk:checksum type="sha1">a89d32ddf9d8629f15e682bdf220a88ca2392349</sdk:checksum>
<sdk:url>android-2.1_r02-linux.zip</sdk:url>
</sdk:archive>
<sdk:archive os="macosx" arch="any">
<sdk:size>71054909</sdk:size>
<sdk:checksum type="sha1">8492e2f0b61819c4ca2e16601fc3260b341a3f06</sdk:checksum>
<sdk:url>android-2.1_r02-macosx.zip</sdk:url>
</sdk:archive>
<sdk:archive os="windows" arch="any">
<sdk:size>72950641</sdk:size>
<sdk:checksum type="sha1">00cfb0bbbf24fc56c493990186deb0bfd44630e5</sdk:checksum>
<sdk:url>android-2.1_r02-windows.zip</sdk:url>
</sdk:archive>
</sdk:archives>
</sdk:platform>
…
3) In the url obtained from step 1 (http://dl.google.com/android/repository/repository.xml), replace repository.xml with the identified filename to get the actual url of the platform file. So in this example, the url would be: http://dl.google.com/android/repository/android-2.1_r02-windows.zip
Download this file (by typing into your browser url for eg).
4) Once the file is downloaded, extract this file into the <Androidsdk>\platforms directory. So you would end up with a new directory here as %AndroidSDKDir%\platforms\android-2.1_r02-windows.
That’s it!
If you now open the AVD manager again and click on Installed Packages, the extracted platform will show up as “SDK Platform Android a.b-update c, API d, revision e”
Use similar steps to download any Addons like Google APIs, but extract the Add-ons into %AndroidSDKDir%\add-ons directory. Just make sure that before you install the Addons, you have the corresponding platform already unzipped into the platforms directory.
To summarise, now I don’t need a net connection when to install the full android SDK – I just have to keep the following files handy:
· android-sdk_r07-windows.zip (unzip into a location where you want to install Android SDK, %AndroidSDKDir%)
· android-2.1_r02-windows.zip (unzip into %AndroidSDKDir%\platforms)
· google_apis-7_r01.zip (unzip into %AndroidSDKDir%\add-ons)
· ADT-0.9.9.zip (optional but useful Eclipse plugin – see here how to install this offline into Eclipse)
Happy droiding!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Applications for Android - Online vs Offline Installation
Here's a first hand report of everything you need to know about applications for your Android 2.1 - basically a newbies perspective!
I am going to skip a complete background of Android as it is already perfectly written over here at Wikipedia.
Applications like on any other platform can be Paid or free. But the great thing is Android has the highest paid to free ratio for any OS (mobile or PC) of 65%!!!
Ok. Whether free or paid, to get a new app on the phone, step no 1 is finding the apps.
Android Market is the official Google source with 150,000 apps and you typically find the majority listed here. Apps are also hosted on other places as listed here but I have not checked them out yet - I like to get my reviews for Android Apps from http://www.appbrain.com.
Once you've found your App, there are 2 ways to install them on your Android phone:
1) Online, i.e., directly from your Android phone by browsing Android Market. This is the best way especially if you have a cheap/affordable GPRS/3G plan on your Android phone. You can just open the MarketPlace app, browse through or search, and select to install (if its not free, you have to purchase the app first of course). Your selected app will be downloaded and installed in 1 step! You never actually have to run an exe or script or anything else to install the app.
2) Offline: If your mobile's data plan is expensive (like mine), then the only real option is to download the apps onto your PC using your affordable net connections.
For the Android OS, installation files ends with an .apk extension. Once you've downloaded the apk file your selected app, copy the apk file to your Android Phone (via wifi/usb/memorycard). Then simply use the File Browser app (present on all Android OS by default), select the apk file you copied and open it - you would then be prompted to install. Its not that complicated right?
Unfortunately, you'll find that there are very few applications being distributed officially via apk. I don't know why - especially because its not that complicated to extract an apk once you have installed it directly from Android Market.
There are some sites where popular apks are posted but you have to be cautious as it is not official (meaning it might be a tampered app or a completely different app you find after u install it - but this hasn't happened to me yet with the 25 and counting apps I installed):
http://getandroidstuff.com
http://www.freewarelovers.com/android
http://www.getjar.com
One major thorny issue I want to mention about Apps on your Android before you go downloading all those free apps. Android OS has a severe flaw that forces all apps to be installed only in the phones Memory and not in the Memory Card!!! Unbelievable but true!!!!! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THIS BEFORE I GOT AN ANDROID DUMB PHONE? What a major setback for a someone rooting for Android from the word go?
What this means is that although my Motorola Quench HT3 supports upto 32GB Memory card, I am stuck with installing only upto 100MB of apps supported on the Internal memory storage limit on my particular phone THANKS TO GOOGLE ##@@^%$%@@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This issue is finally being touched upon in the latest Android 2.2 where app developers can give the option to the user to choose where to install the apps. Unfortunately, the default is still the phone memory. And unless older apps are updated and reinstalled, it will continue to be in the phone memory. I guess I just have to finally accept that Google is becoming another money-hungry monopoly like Yahoo and Microsoft...
For me with my Android 2.1 Eclair, I have no choice but to limit my applications installations but I have not yet hit the limit mind you. But that's because I was being extra careful by keeping only apps that I use regularly. Currently, there are 20 apps I have installed on my Android.
For top must have apps for Android, check my other post, Favourite must-have Android Apps.
I am going to skip a complete background of Android as it is already perfectly written over here at Wikipedia.
Applications like on any other platform can be Paid or free. But the great thing is Android has the highest paid to free ratio for any OS (mobile or PC) of 65%!!!
Ok. Whether free or paid, to get a new app on the phone, step no 1 is finding the apps.
Android Market is the official Google source with 150,000 apps and you typically find the majority listed here. Apps are also hosted on other places as listed here but I have not checked them out yet - I like to get my reviews for Android Apps from http://www.appbrain.com.
Once you've found your App, there are 2 ways to install them on your Android phone:
1) Online, i.e., directly from your Android phone by browsing Android Market. This is the best way especially if you have a cheap/affordable GPRS/3G plan on your Android phone. You can just open the MarketPlace app, browse through or search, and select to install (if its not free, you have to purchase the app first of course). Your selected app will be downloaded and installed in 1 step! You never actually have to run an exe or script or anything else to install the app.
2) Offline: If your mobile's data plan is expensive (like mine), then the only real option is to download the apps onto your PC using your affordable net connections.
For the Android OS, installation files ends with an .apk extension. Once you've downloaded the apk file your selected app, copy the apk file to your Android Phone (via wifi/usb/memorycard). Then simply use the File Browser app (present on all Android OS by default), select the apk file you copied and open it - you would then be prompted to install. Its not that complicated right?
Unfortunately, you'll find that there are very few applications being distributed officially via apk. I don't know why - especially because its not that complicated to extract an apk once you have installed it directly from Android Market.
There are some sites where popular apks are posted but you have to be cautious as it is not official (meaning it might be a tampered app or a completely different app you find after u install it - but this hasn't happened to me yet with the 25 and counting apps I installed):
http://getandroidstuff.com
http://www.freewarelovers.com/android
http://www.getjar.com
One major thorny issue I want to mention about Apps on your Android before you go downloading all those free apps. Android OS has a severe flaw that forces all apps to be installed only in the phones Memory and not in the Memory Card!!! Unbelievable but true!!!!! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THIS BEFORE I GOT AN ANDROID DUMB PHONE? What a major setback for a someone rooting for Android from the word go?
What this means is that although my Motorola Quench HT3 supports upto 32GB Memory card, I am stuck with installing only upto 100MB of apps supported on the Internal memory storage limit on my particular phone THANKS TO GOOGLE ##@@^%$%@@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This issue is finally being touched upon in the latest Android 2.2 where app developers can give the option to the user to choose where to install the apps. Unfortunately, the default is still the phone memory. And unless older apps are updated and reinstalled, it will continue to be in the phone memory. I guess I just have to finally accept that Google is becoming another money-hungry monopoly like Yahoo and Microsoft...
For me with my Android 2.1 Eclair, I have no choice but to limit my applications installations but I have not yet hit the limit mind you. But that's because I was being extra careful by keeping only apps that I use regularly. Currently, there are 20 apps I have installed on my Android.
For top must have apps for Android, check my other post, Favourite must-have Android Apps.
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