Recently got the Captivate- What are the best apps to start downloading?

[jshoe22]

Recently got the Captivate- What are the best apps to start downloading? I need something for office documents. Some free games and things like that.


Thanks

 

[baji]

Quickoffice seems to be a good office app, and it was free in the past. I don't know if it is always free, but it was free through Samsung for captivate owners.

One of the first things I addressed with my phone when I got it was replacing some of the defaults apps. For media I settled on Mixzing, which I like quite a bit. For mail, I tried several options, and have stuck with Maildroid. It works better than anything else I have tried to date, though as it is still in beta mode it has a few kinks. For texts I use handicent, which I like a lot. Coming from an iPhone, I like its interface a lot.

As for a few games, I would suggest Angry Birds, WordUp, and Jewels. Between those three, I am never terribly bored!

One other app I have been using a lot lately is one called RemoteDroid. It allows you to use your phone like a touch pad to control your computer. I have a media center system I built plugged into my TV, and being able to use the phone to control the computer from the couch is very nice!

And hey, if you find anything cool, definitely tell us!

 

[Aerodrifting]

Quickoffice seems to be a good office app, and it was free in the past. I don't know if it is always free, but it was free through Samsung for captivate owners.

I believe Captivate comes with office app.
First thing to do is rooting your phone get the superuser permission, then uninstall some useless AT&T apps with "Titanium Backup"

Once that's done, get "Advanced Task Killer" to kill background Apps to save battery. After that everything goes ( A list of programs I have ):

Alarm clock plus
Angry birds (game)
Color Flashlight (exactly what it does)
Facebook
Text to speech
Weatherbug
Temperature / currency converter
Landscape on / off switch

 

[slophil3]

After doing some research on ATK and similar programs I'm fairly convinced that you shouldn't use apps like that anymore.

Thus, killing all but the essential apps (or telling Android to kill apps more aggressively with the "autokill" feature) is generally unnecessary. Furthermore, it's actually possible that this will worsen your phone's performance and battery life. Whether you're manually killing apps all the time or telling the task killer to aggressively remove apps from your memory, you're actually using CPU cycles when you otherwise wouldn't

 

[CamaroZ28c]

After doing some research on ATK and similar programs I'm fairly convinced that you shouldn't use apps like that anymore.



Link.

I recently read about this too and as I was totally new to Android, I didn't have any kind of bias for or against a task killer. The sales rep installed ATK before I even left the store and I have been using it regularly (manually though, nothing killed automatically). I didn't have complaints with lag or battery while using this. I then read the other day that we shouldn't be using task killers so I decided to try going without one for a couple days.

Turns out that my phone started getting laggy and I seriously did notice battery life suffering. One of the surest signs of lag that I NEVER experienced before this test was lag within Angry Birds!

After I noticed the battery seemed to be draining quicker than usual, I checked the battery usage available in the phone info and the Browser had used 65% of my battery! Incidentally, one of the times I would definitely use ATK was after browsing. When I used ATK regularly, the screen was always my largest battery use percentage.

So, lets get some discussion going here about task killers. I feel I understand the argument for why they shouldn't be used but my real world experience shows the exact opposite. What have you all found?

 

[slophil3]

I've never had the browser working like that, but I also use Operamini instead. Watchdog had it pop up once as a "trouble process"(ie taking up too much CPU) and I killed it but that was only one instance. I've never had any lag issues after I rooted my phone though. Freaking flies when it's in active use and runs just enough to turn the screen on for locked settings.

 

[CamaroZ28c]

I haven't rooted mine yet. I am still learning Android and was planning on rooting after the froyo update. That said, I am one of the few that likes the Touchwiz launcher would like to keep it.

 

[jshoe22]

I haven't rooted mine yet. I am still learning Android and was planning on rooting after the froyo update. That said, I am one of the few that likes the Touchwiz launcher would like to keep it.

What is Touchwiz launcher?

 

[Aerodrifting]

What is Touchwiz launcher?

Apple Iphone UI rip off but improved over the original

 

[s.m.knipe]

What is Touchwiz launcher?

"launcher" is any of the skins that overlay Home in Android (where your wallpaper, widgets, shortcuts, etc are), and this includes "home replacements" like Launcher Pro, ADW, or just manufacturer skins like Sense (HTC), Motoblur (Motorola), or Touchwiz (Samsung). If you have not downloaded a "replacement" DO NOT KILL/AUTOKILL the touchwiz launcher app; the screen will go black for a second and then reload (essentially a crash), but you would have just interrupted any and all processes and/or system calls to your Home, which is not good long-term.

I recommend starting out with:
FREE:
AT&T MyWireless
AT&T Mark the Spot
ASTRO File Explorer
GPS Status and/or GPS Test
QuickOffice (while free from Samsung, search QuickOffice for Captivate)
APPBrain
APPBrain Fast Web Installer
Google Earth
My Tracks
Google Shopper
Google Voice
Google Goggles
Dropbox
Amazon Mp3
SMS Backup
Speed Test
Google Skymap
Qik
Flashlight
Ringdroid
Barcode Scanner
HandyCalc
XDA
Google Places Directory
Handcent SMS
Evernote
Google My Maps Editor
Tweetdeck
Wifi Analyzer
Tux Rider
Layar
Frozen Bubble

Paid:
Data Counter
Advanced Task Manager
Bonsai Blast
Data Viz Documents to Go (I prefer to QuickOffice)
Weatherbug (I use the Elite)
Doodle Jump
Abduction World Attack & Abduction 2
Hi-Hiker Pro (lots of good utilities for when/if you go off trail)
Flightstats
Parcels
Jewellust
Air Traffic Control
Rugby Nations 09
My Paper Airplane 2
Fishin' to go
Beautiful Widgets
Fruit Ninja
Deerhunter 3D

These are my favorites that find their way onto all of my phones, and I have not had any issues with any of them. Feel free to pick and choose what might interest you, or ask about why I have any of them...
In terms of Office software, I prefer Docs to Go simply because it has more Excel functionality (though not complete functionality yet) which I use mostly for sample data entry. The QuickOffice app is faster and easier for simply viewing documents though...

PS I have also found through personal experience that task killers are generally more beneficial than harmful, but I would recommend finding a "task manager" such as the one above, simply because you have greater control over what gets killed and when, and mine has an "exclude" option which keeps the necessary things going (my rules of thumb: your launcher, wallpaper- if live, all widgets, and anything you want notifications from).

 

[DT]

Here's my currently installed apps, though some come and go:

S2KRoadRacer's Apps on the phone

Stuff I use daily/frequently (some may be on the phone OOTB, but just dumping these quickly from memory):

Launcher Pro (home/dock replacement)
K9 Mail (vs. the stock email client)
DirecTV (remote DVR control)
Amazon
IMDB
Mixzing (vs. the stock music player)
EBay
Yahoo Fantasy Football '10
Smart Clipboard (super slick, keep common text on a global clipboard)
Titanium Backup (requires root)
Smart Shortcut (a few variations on this, create folders/icons, and groups)
Note Everything (simple, super handy note app)
.noMedia Manger (flag directories to NOT be scanned by the media scanner)
SwiFTP (simple file transfer system across WiFi)
Handcent SMS
Snowstorm weather widget
Launcher pro widgets (SMS, Twitter, Contacts)
Google Voice (awesome "visual voicemail", text transcription, etc.)

 

[bumwithshoes]

Music Downloader Pro (free)

 

[Cuerbo]

Tapster is another good one.

 

[BookLover]

Check out the Applications section of the forum. You can learn a lot from there.

The first 2 weeks with my phone, I just surfed the Market and literally scrolled through all the Applications listing. The ones with at least 4 stars and sounded interesting I read the description and the comments. The ones I thought I could use I downloaded. Others, I made a mental note of.

Read through almost all the "Free" ones - I still occasionally review the Just In ones, too.

 

[NJR]

Lots of good suggestions here. The only one I paid for was "My Reminders" It sets up a Widget on your home page, you can use voice to record them, it can scroll automatically, and it has alerts, and archives if you want them... great for those quick memory joggers etc.

 

[bumwithshoes]

thanks NJR i'll try to remember that one

 

[fldude99]

I believe Captivate comes with office app.
First thing to do is rooting your phone get the superuser permission, then uninstall some useless AT&T apps with "Titanium Backup"

Once that's done, get "Advanced Task Killer" to kill background Apps to save battery. After that everything goes ( A list of programs I have ):

Alarm clock plus
Angry birds (game)
Color Flashlight (exactly what it does)
Facebook
Text to speech
Weatherbug
Temperature / currency converter
Landscape on / off switch

Totally disagree with both of those bolded statements. Simple answer to both is: DON'T. Especially for a new user

 

[Aerodrifting]

Totally disagree with both of those bolded statements. Simple answer to both is: DON'T. Especially for a new user

I am a new user and I rooted my phone within 24 hours I unboxed it, and there is absolutely no going back to the way it was.
Although I am a quick learner and I have a pretty good understanding of computers, bottomline is --- uninstalling the useless junkwares on your phone makes your phone runs much more smoother and battery lasts longer.

I don't see a reason not to do it. Root > Titanium backup > uninstall = win.

 

[titan2005]

ROM manager is a must IMO.

 

[Simba501]

I recently read about this too and as I was totally new to Android, I didn't have any kind of bias for or against a task killer. The sales rep installed ATK before I even left the store and I have been using it regularly (manually though, nothing killed automatically). I didn't have complaints with lag or battery while using this. I then read the other day that we shouldn't be using task killers so I decided to try going without one for a couple days.

Turns out that my phone started getting laggy and I seriously did notice battery life suffering. One of the surest signs of lag that I NEVER experienced before this test was lag within Angry Birds!

After I noticed the battery seemed to be draining quicker than usual, I checked the battery usage available in the phone info and the Browser had used 65% of my battery! Incidentally, one of the times I would definitely use ATK was after browsing. When I used ATK regularly, the screen was always my largest battery use percentage.

So, lets get some discussion going here about task killers. I feel I understand the argument for why they shouldn't be used but my real world experience shows the exact opposite. What have you all found?

Ditto! The exact thing happened to me. I used a task killer and saw that a good number of people felt it was unnecessary. I stopped using it and omg, it was lag crazy and yes, my battery life did suffer. I see absolutely no harm in using a task killer in the way that I use it. I've established an ignore list of everything that needs to stay open and I don't use the autokill feature. I also never kill any processes (security set to high), and it only shows apps.

 

[viny2cool]

Task killers are not bad if u know how to use it. There are some apps like Android system apps which are required to run the system. Some people press kill all, and kill those apps too. They restart themselves so to keep the system going, hence killing it forcefully and auto restart affects the performance and battery life.

I am not using any task killer per say, but i am usinng paid version of System Panel. Its a good app to see which app is actively using my CPU and which is inactive. The apps are like gmail and Gtalk, will never get killed by any task killer. But they are harmless apps, they dont eat ur battery or Data (i said eat mean using it for no reason not use). I used system panel one tap kill when i use lots of apps at a time or when i switch on my phone. I have all the apps which should be running and will restart excluded for this one click kill.

If you dont know how to use it read : Task killers - CapFAQ
awesome 2 aricles too.

 

[JayFReaZy]

I recently got my captivate about 2 weeks ago and I've been loving it. However, I have a question regarding a recent app I installed. I installed Opera Mini and Opera Mobile. Whenever I open my stock android browser and click a link, a window ALWAYS pops up asking which app I'd like to use to open the link. Either Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, or stock browser. It's quite annoying, and I didn't want to have to un-install opera mini as it does a great job in compressing websites. Has anyone else ran into this problem?

 

[sremick]

Most of the questions and topics in this thread are covered in the Captivate FAQ:

FAQ - CapFAQ

For example:
Recommended apps - CapFAQ
Task killers - CapFAQ
Root - CapFAQ

And no, ROM Manager is not required software.

 

[viny2cool]

I recently got my captivate about 2 weeks ago and I've been loving it. However, I have a question regarding a recent app I installed. I installed Opera Mini and Opera Mobile. Whenever I open my stock android browser and click a link, a window ALWAYS pops up asking which app I'd like to use to open the link. Either Opera Mini, Opera Mobile, or stock browser. It's quite annoying, and I didn't want to have to un-install opera mini as it does a great job in compressing websites. Has anyone else ran into this problem?

Next time it pop ups, check mark set as default and tap on the app u want to use as default. So now for all app directing u to webpage will use ur default browser set by u.

 

[onedog31]

Vlingo

This app will read texts to you while you are driving, and can use voice recognition to send texts. love it.

Sports Tap

Will auto update favorite teams scores for you as a widget.

Snesoid
Nesoid

Video game emulators that allow you to play any game you have a rom for. Super Tecmo Bowl baby!