My Desire is running Great!! but I have a few newbie questions

[Dicky]

My Desire is running Great!! I'm more than happy with it and I've only had it for less than a week actually .

Been tinkering with it a bit and I've come to a point i'm a bit stuck with some stuff. So I have a few questions and would appreciate it if someone could give me some answers or direct me to a place I could get the answers.

1. Is there any free GPS software that does not require Data or WIFI? One that just uses the Internal GPS? and if possible where can I get it?
2.I'm using LauncherPro now as I wanted to customize my Desire even more, what i want to know is how do I change an Icon for an app? I also have Anycut and Astro installed.
3. I've been using the back button repeatedly to move back a screen or to exit, I fear I am wearing it out. Is there an alternative to this? Like maybe using the touch screen or something?
4. I've seen some customization of the Lock Screen that some people have in the Show me your homescreen thread and like it a lot. Is there an alternative to WidgetLocker? as I can't buy paid apps and am looking for a free one that I can use?

Thanks a bunch to anyone and everyone that drops by. Hope it's not too lengthy

 

[Mucky]

Can only really answer your fourth question: Try Lockbot

 

[chris 290]

GPS only nav, would be a paid app only so no to that one.

folder organiser for custom changing of apis icons

Back button won't break, not heard of an onscreen button.

 

[Dicky]

Mucky : Thanks, I'll download it tonite when I get home.

Chris 290 : Thanks, will check out folder organizer.

Anybody else? Maybe someone else has an answer for me, hehe

 

[chris 290]

Check out SlideIT keyboard as well, you might like it.

 

[chris 290]

Or swift key beta for next word predictive text

 

[chris 290]

forgot about jet vd youtube aid, this allows you to dl youtube videos to your sd card

 

[Dicky]

Thanks for the tip guys, going to check it out after work . Can't online on my phone at work.

I'm wondering what other apps I need, specially for travelling and what not. Still wishing for a GPS that I can use without data

 

[mikey_mike]

The only phone with a dedicated SirfStar3 chipset is the Garminfone. It purely uses satelite for its NAV and is a standalone system. The Desire and most other smartphones use whats called AGPS (assisted GPS) where the celltowers triangulate the NAV we use... thus the data usage and cost to us.

I was looking at the Garminfone before I chose the Desire. It is also Android but its kinda ugly.
The nice thing about the Garmin is that you can navigate and talk at the same time.
And theres no cost to use the GPS ....totally free.
But then again, its not the nicest looking phone.
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=30018

 

[Phenomenological]

MapDroyd.

Free, can download maps for anywhere in the world, uses no data once set up. However the maps for some places may be out of date, and there are no points of interest or search/navigation features. If you want them, you have to pay for better software, it's that simple.

 

[jbmalta]

3. I've been using the back button repeatedly to move back a screen or to exit, I fear I am wearing it out. Is there an alternative to this? Like maybe using the touch screen or something?

Not sure if this answers your question but pressing the home button from within any application will return you to the home screen.

 

[chris 290]

Pressing home button leaves the application open though.

 

[nacatomi]

The only phone with a dedicated SirfStar3 chipset is the Garminfone. It purely uses satelite for its NAV and is a standalone system. The Desire and most other smartphones use whats called AGPS (assisted GPS) where the celltowers triangulate the NAV we use... thus the data usage and cost to us.
]

I beg to differ there, the Desire(and other phones) do have a GPS chipset. aGPS is basically a helper to the GPS chipset for getting an initial lock(the clue is in the name Assisted GPS). This afaik does not cost you any data or if it does then the amount is very negligable.

The assisted part gets an approximate(coarse) fix allowing the GPS to know where it should start looking for satellites for a fine fix. Basically it allows a warm start to the GPS ( < 30 second fix) rather than cold ( up to 10 minutes to get a fix).

I've said in a few other posts the cost for using a nav app is not in the actual location part of but rather in the mapping data to make your location meaningful. Maps are not stored on your device with Google Maps and have to be downloaded either by wifi or mobile. You can cache a route over wifi to minimise data costs but you have to be careful not to zoom of go off route at any point as it will be forced to download updated map data.

There are apps such as copilot or navigon that have the maps stored locally on the sd card so there are no ongoing data costs other than for "live" services such as traffic reports & weather etc. These apps are not free as you have to pay for the privilege of having the map so if you are looking at using your phone as a primary satnav it would be worthwhile purchasing one of these apps.

 

[Dicky]

Mikey_mike : Thanks for the info, i am quite sure the Desire has an internal GPS and not does use AGPS. Will look further into this, thanks.

Phenomenological : Thanks, I'll check it out and if it doesn't work I'll look into buying one although at the moment I can't see paid apps on the market.

jbmalta : That exits the application like what chris said, i just want to move back.

nacatomi : Thanks for confirming this, i was quite sure there was a built in GPS thingie I'll look into purchasing one if what Phenomenological suggested doesn't work out.

Gosh!! Thanks guys for getting back to me so quickly in a day

Oh...I have another question, I've been doing some customizing on my phone and have gotten somewhere i feel. I'm currently using LauncherPro and would like to save my settings like what I could do with HTC Sense and give it a name and save it for future usage and make another. The only option I can find is backup, which won't let me save more than one anyways

 

[chris 290]

Menu scenes save name does it

 

[Dicky]

Menu scenes save name does it

I don't have that using LauncherPro, am using the free version if that makes a difference.

All I get after menu is Add, Wallpaper, Search, Notifications, Preferences and Settings

 

[chris 290]

Yeah sorry, posted and realised your not using sense and I don't know your answer with launcher pro as I don't use it.

 

[Dicky]

Yeah sorry, posted and realised your not using sense and I don't know your answer with launcher pro as I don't use it.

No problem, i actually like Sense with the exception for the Dock. If I could change that using Sense I would be so happy.

Thanks for trying

 

[Eris Ed]

I use FolderOrganiser to change icons, it's tricky to use at first but when you realise how it works it's a breeze.

Basically, FolderOrganiser lets you browse all the Apps, Contacts and Shortcuts on your phone. You can change any icon, edit the name, etc as much as you wish. Then, instead of adding an App to a homescreen, you add the FolderOrganiser Item to your homescreen, complete with the new custom settings.

Your original apps/icons are still there on your phone unchanged, so you can go back to them at any time. FolderOrganiser doesn't actually change anything, it simply creates a shortcut to the original item and displays it with the custom settings.

 

[Eris Ed]

Back button - try a long press to exit an app. Some apps (like the browser) will exit with a long press rather than having to press repeatedly until you reach the homescreen.

 

[Dicky]

Thanks for the tip Eris Ed, thats really handy information. I was wondering if you could revert back to the original icons as I thought folderorganizer would be changing it directly.

I'll be looking into some icon changing soon enough .

First I have to find a wallpaper that I am hooked on

 

[Dicky]

Anybody on my LauncherPro question?

 

[Nodders]

Have you tried BetterCut? Looks like you've already tried FolderOrganizer although it's not clear what your problem with it is.

 

[Dicky]

Have you tried BetterCut? Looks like you've already tried FolderOrganizer although it's not clear what your problem with it is.

Hello, I got the changing of icons down using anycut. I can't use bettercut as I can't get paid apps on the market.

My current question is I've been doing some customizing on my phone and have gotten somewhere i feel. I'm currently using LauncherPro and would like to save my settings like what I could do with HTC Sense and give it a name and save it for future usage and make another. The only option I can find is backup, which won't let me save more than one anyways

 

[Dicky]

Oh!! Another thing is I'll rather not have my gmail account synced any more. My phone won't let me remove it though, asks for a factory reset instead.

Is there another way to do this as I'll rather not have to download everything all over again.

*edit*

or someway to not immediately go to my inbox immediately when I click on Gmail is good. A password prompt would be nice.