DNC Worldwide

Dear G1 Android Phone Users,

I’m a user myself. I bought this phone with the idea that it would be the best phone ever! What I found out was that it doesn’t make itself better on its own. The default applications on the phone were so-so at best.  I understand your frustration so I did some research online.

What I found was two things.

1. The G1 Market offers a wide array of applications available for download to make your phone better.

2. Most of the aforementioned applications are functionally useless and/or poorly designed. And some even want you to charge for them!

With this knowledge in mind and a little effort, I scoured the web for any information that would help me make my beloved phone work the way I originally intended it to. Again, there was a dearth of information. But I persisted to search the market and try out all the promising new applications. And wow, the applications I find by looking daily, sometimes every hour, keep getting better and better!

So I want to share my knowledge with all you users, in the hopes that you can make your phone what you truly wanted as well!

• aHome Lite – Originally intended as a clone of Apple’s I-Phone interface, this application proves to be the most easy-to-use in navigation and interface. It also has several themes with more coming.Functionally, this desktop client provides a dock bar on the bottom of the screen for your most used programs, which for most are their communication tools. It also scrolls to provide 6 screens, all customizable for widgets and applications. And unlike the generic Home and Open Home applications, you do not need to download additional apps to change icon names. It comes ready-made to do so!

• StarContact–  The newest phonebook application, this provides everything you’d need to make a phone call. It has a predictive T-9 dialer, a direct link to voicemail and favorites, and also a full call log in addition to a search function.
• Phonebook –  This is a marked improvement from the generic Contact application. It provides a dialer, favorites, and your contacts complete with their user icon for caller-ID. One of the best uses of this app is under the more tab, where you can see your most and least frequently contacted numbers for easy dialing.
• Facebook Sync – Automatically imports your contacts’ Facebook photos to use for caller ID and does so effortlessly for you.
• SMS Backup – One of the most useful apps for the G1! Automatically backs up all SMS messages to a folder in your Gmail account during autosynch. Never lose a text message again!

• Backgrounds – Updated daily, this application is one of my most used applications. Backgrounds provides a plethora of categories for specific searches a well as the ability to mark wallpaper as favorites, for those who change their minds often. I’ve also found that the wallpaper therein is of high quality.

• 3banana – Allows the user to take standard text notes and also integrates the G1’s camera feature for picture notes as well.These notes can be commented or shared via Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter.
• OI Shopping List – This is a basic list-making utility with check boxes for completion and list cleanup. It allows for the creation of multiple lists, which are easy to navigate. Users may also be converted into CSV files for exporting.

• dgMoney – What I needed here was a place where I could easily manage and maintain multiple accounts. dgMoney allows me to enter transactions and mark each one as cleared, voided, uncleared, or reconciled. It shows me two balances per account, one for actual and one for what has cleared. dgMoney also allows me to export my transactions to a .csv file if I need to and best of all, it can be password protected so nobody can view my accounts but me. Just what I need in this area!

• QuickSearch – Gives the user a search tab with an option for voice search as well as a cache of all previous searches. The main difference between this and the standard Google app is that it allows you to search a plethora of different sources like: Yahoo, Ask, Live, Answers, eBay, Amazon, Wikipedia, ESPN, M-W Dictionary, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Digg, Twitter, plus more in the areas of Media and Shopping. Get the point?
• SearchMe – A graphical search tool that is awesome for searching screenshots of web pages or looking for images on the go.

• Streamfurious – Streaming audio site that has a few of my favorites, such as ESPN Radio & Fox News.
• Imeem Mobile – Streaming audio from imeem. Excellent for Top 100 or whatever category you wish to listen to.

• Digital Clock – It’s the best alarm clock on the market. Large letters with custom colors designated by te user. And the most annoying alarm beep in the world. Exactly what I need.
• Ultimate StopWatch – This is the best stopwatch on the market because it looks exactly like a stopwatch and is just as easy to operate. It also allows the user to log lap times as well.

• Greed – RSS Reader for Google Reader. Imports all your feeds for reading on the go. Also has sections for folders, starred items, feeds, and of course, new items.

• Handstand – Who needs separate apps for news, weather, movie times, etc? I don’t because I have this application, which is the most comprehensive of all these types of applications. It can even tell you about restaurants around your area, and has much more information than standalone restaurant-finder applications.
• Where – Where is similar to Handstand except it has slightly different information. I would also say that this application is a little more visually-oriented, whereas Handstand is solely content driven. A neat GPS feature for this app is that it can tell you nearby gas prices and Starbucks locations.

• MemoryForLemmings – Supposedly clears out unused system memory & java memory. I only write supposedly because there is no way for me to prove that this is actually occurring. But it seems to work, clearing out 88k-94k in memory if I use it once a day.
• aTrackDog – Scans your application data and lets you know if you have the latest versions of each application. Very useful for proactively updating your phone. Also useful for uninstalling unwanted applications quickly.
• Ringdroid – Why pay for ringtones? Create your own with this easy-to-use application. It opens up any music file in your library and allows you to splice off any portion you use for a purely custom ring tones.
• Flashlight – Sets your screen to its brighest for helping you navigate those dark rooms at night.

• Google Maps – Well…. duh. Google Maps is the KING of directions, especially when you can choose ‘my current location’ as a starting point and something like ‘Chili’s Bar & Grill” as the destination and it will map you to the closest one.
• Wikitude AR Travel Guide – This is one of the earliest applications for the G1 but it makes for excellent use as a travel companion. What it does is utilize the GPS function of Android to direct the user to local landmarks, It has several views as well – map, camera, and text. In camera view, you can be standing in front of the George Washington Memorial in Washington DC and point its direction. Your phone will then show you information on the landmark in wikipedia-type style. Very useful when on vacation!
• PingLocation – This allows you to update your contacts on where you are, should you not be by your phone. How does this make sense? Well, if you get 2 missed calls in a row, this program will automatically send an SMSmessage back to the caller with your location. This is customizable by street, radius, etc. A similar program,Pintail, allows anyone to text your phone for a location request. Yet another showcase of the G1’s GPS abilities.

• Screen Crack – Makes your phone look broken. No seriously, it looks like the phone screen is broken when you start this application. I’ve actually had people feel sorry for me over it.
• Fake-A-Call Free – Need out of an awkward situation? This application makes it look like somebody is calling you. The ring, any name and number you choose… all of it looks highly authentic. Useful on blind dates, getting out of parties, and avoiding sniveling friends.
• Metal Detector – Okay, I don’t know if this is actually a trick or not. This new application just came out and it works as a metal detector! That’s crazy!

Best Security – protect your important information

• ShopSaavy – This is the original bar code scanner program that everyone raved about. And it still works great. I just don’t use it that much. Nonetheless, ShopSaavy is very useful for comparison shopping, especially for items like books and software.
• Craigsphone –  A Craigslist client for the G1 smartphone. Easy-to-use and very straightforward. You can browse Craigslist easily with this tool when need be.
• Pkt Auctions eBay – Works just like eBay. The interface is really quite nice and the navigation quite easy. I’ve bought $100’s worth of useless crap on my G1 already, proving that this application works as intended.
  
• CraigsAlert-free – Now THIS is awesome for Craigslist users. It allows you to enter a search like say, “queen beds in Houston”, and what it does is ping Craigslist every 6 hours for items that much your search. Now you can keep an eye out for those great deals without actually having to look every time!