AAQR: Nemus Launcher (home launcher)

Nemus Launcher, from the folks who brought you the VERY eye-candy-ish Regina 3D launcher, is sort of the opposite of Regina. It's light weight (just over 1 MB), yet quite nicely featured. However, its various limitations makes this a very niche choice.

Nemus Launcher gave a very good impression: it feels quite snappy with very smooth scrolling. It has a good looking "dock", which can be configured by simple drag and drop. Just drop an icon onto the dock and voila, that's it. The icons are also full sized, not shrunken version like in other launchers.

It also let you know the app drawer is getting refreshed with a the spinning circle behind it. The app drawer is also improved: it can be used to manage running apps and a shortcut to "Manage Apps" choice under settings / applications. The app drawer can be shown in two styles, the normal vertical list and the Samsung style horizontal "paged" style.

The "screens" (panels) on the desktop can number from 3 to 9. There's an edit screen that lets you easily adjust the order, add more panels, remove panels, and so on.

Its folder support is impressive... Basically stealing the iOS style folder management. Just drag one shortcut onto another to make a folder. It doesn't have sorting or "starred / favorite" tagging.

However, there's a few problems. First of all, this app is portrait layout ONLY. It will NOT go into landscape mode EVER. It does NOT react to orientation sensor. Second, it is somewhat crash happy, at least on my OG Droid. I've seen it FC numerous times, even as I go into and out of settings. Third, it is virtually undocumented. There is no mention of the app on the NemusTech home page (in fact the whole page is in Korean).

All in all, Nemus Launcher is a smooth launcher that is pretty good if you stay in portrait mode most of the time. It makes folders extremely easy. Indicator on the app drawer to let you know it's refreshing is also very neat. On the other hand, no landscape and occasional FC makes this launcher a bit niche for me.

7 out of 10


http://www.appbrain.com/app/nemus-launcher/com.nemustech.launcher

Related articles

• AAQR: QQ Desktop Pro (Home Launcher) (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)
• AAQR: ToonyHome (home launcher replacement, free) (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)
• AAQR: Honeycomb Launcher (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)
• AAQR: Gravity Home (home launcher / live wallpaper) (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)
• AAQR: MXHome Launcher (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)

AAQR: Convertr (Utility, $0.99)

Convertr is an almost universal converter of units, from almost anything to almost anything else. Area, volume, density, force, power, length, weight, angle, and more are all possible. You can even activate / deactivate the stuff you never use. That's pretty interesting.

I don't know about paying 99 cents for it though. You can get access to that on Google easily. There are also a ton of other apps that do the same thing, albeit not as pretty, but free. So do you need this app? Maybe not.

This was give away one day on Amazon Appstore.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/convertr/com.vervv.convertr $0.99

AAQR: LBE Privacy Guard (free)

LBE Privacy Guard,
screenshot via Appbrain

LBE Privacy Guard for Android takes the "SuperUser" whitelist approach to all sorts of "permissions" on your Android phone, if you take your privacy VERY seriously. It gets a bit annoying if you have a lot of apps, but it is pretty interesting app.

Basically, the app can tell which app is accessing what, and intercepts the call. For example, "Expenses Manager" intercepts stuff that costs money, such as sending SMS, calling phone numbers, and so on. When an app does that, you have to specifically allow the app to do so (similar to the way "SuperUser" whitelists an app) else the request is denied by default in 10 seconds.

The various "managers" let you control which apps have access to which permissions. The Security Log shows you which apps accessed what permission.

This app controls app permissions in real-time, in case you did not see all the permissions it needs when it installed. It gets a little annoying if you have a lot of apps to approve, but it does seem to work. Definitely give it a try.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/lbe-privacy-guard/com.lbe.security

Related articles

• LBE Privacy Guard Monitors and Controls What Permissions Your Android Apps Have [App Of The Day] (lifehacker.com)

What do I do when I see ads in my Android Notifications Area?

Apparently there's a new ad server that is encouraging app developers to incorporate this nasty feature, dubbed "AirPush", into their apps. The apps are not labelled as to their source so you don't know which app it came from.

Fortunately, someone wrote a detector for apps like that. BOYCOTT NOW!

Download AirPush Detector
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.brosmike.airpushdetector

AAQR: TextWarrior (text editor for Android, free)

Text Warrior seem to be very good text editor with multiple encoding support, syntax highlight, and more.

As it's free, try it, esp. if you do a lot of text editing on Android.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/textwarrior/com.myopicmobile.textwarrior.android

AAQR: TuxKeyboard (free, input method)

TuxKeyboard is the same keyboard as Gingerbread default, with one important addition: it adds swipe up / down / left / right as "arrow keys". As most soft keyboards do not have arrow keys are you reduced to tapping repeatedly trying to get at a particular location.

This is a great idea in theory. In practice things are a little rougher, as if you don't swipe "just right" you end up touching one of the regular keys. There also don't seem to be any word completion help. Still, if you need a keyboard with arrow key cursor support, this may be something to try.

Rating: Try it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/tuxkeyboard/org.tuxkeyboard

Alternatively, you can try "Hacker's Keyboard" below

Related articles

• The Hacker's Keyboard Gives Android Devices Real Keyboard Functionality [Downloads] (lifehacker.com)

Ask AAQR: How do you tell if the app is hogging the CPU?

Someone asked how would I know if the app is hogging the CPU?

There are two ways:

1) Use SeePU, an app that displays a small bar graph showing how busy your CPU is (also your memory, but that's optional)

http://www.appbrain.com/app/seepu/com.latedroid.seepu

2) Use Watchdog Task Manager Lite, which watches your CPU and raises an alert if one app is hogging the CPU

http://www.appbrain.com/app/watchdog-task-manager-lite/com.zomut.watchdoglite

I use Watchdog right now. If an app repeated triggers the CPU alert (on default setting) I call it a CPU hog.

AAQR: Quadrant, the Android Benchmark (utility, free)

Quadrant runs a series of benchmarks that theoretically should tell you what is your phone's relative performance to other Android phones. The problem is just how relative is it. In my experience, the CPU clockspeed was given too much weight. Well, at least it's free. There's a paid version, but you don't really need it.

For example, a stock Moto Droid (550 Mhz CPU) rated like 500 or so. When overclocked to 1.2 GHz, the Quadrant rating went up to... 1150. Dualcore CPUs, on the other hand, got almost double. The graphics performance is not weighted that high.

It is okay for some relative performance measures, but don't take it too seriously.

Rating: Try it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/quadrant-standard-edition/com.aurorasoftworks.quadrant.ui.standard

AAQR: Sysinfo app and widget (free, utility)

Sysinfo is both an app and a widget. The app gives pretty detailed info about the Android device, and the widget, which is 1x1, gives up to 4 different stats like memory, SD card, cache, and battery.

The app could be designed with a bit more eye candy. As is, it's really plain Jane. The widget isn't much better, pure text, not even bar graphs.

Still, it is free, and that must account for something.

Rating: Try it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/sysinfo-widget-apps/simosoftprojects.sysinfowidget

AAQR: Autokiller Memory Optimizer (app, free, utility)

AutoKiller is a system tweaker that claims to "optimize" a few settings in your rooted Android device to improve performance, by managing system autokill settings.

You see, Android OS manage memory by only killing programs based on its "priority" (OOM if you want to speak Android-ese) when more memory is needed. However, no program is exempt from this killing.

Task Killers try to pre-empt this autokill process by kill apps and services ahead of auto-kill. The problem with this approach is... it often conflicts with autokill and the system internal caching. If the app or service is needed, then task killer only serve to waste CPU cycles as the app is unloaded, then immediately reloaded.

Theoretically it is better to adjust the auto-kill settings (which is what this app does), but it is hard to judge how successful this may be. I keep ATK around, but I don't run it all the time. Tweaking settings takes up no memory in background.

You will need to root the phone first to use this. Give it a try.

Rating: Try it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/autokiller-memory-optimizer/com.rs.autokiller

AAQR: SMS Backup+ (app, free)

SMS Backup+ is similar to CallTrack or SMS Backup, in that it backs up your SMS (and your call log) to the Google cloud, usually Gmail and Calendar. Youc an choose to backup only one or another.

SMS Backup will work with the new Google 2-step authenticator if you turn on plain-text authorization instead of the more complicated (but automatic) OAuth. You will need to create a per-app password.

The app runs in the background automatically, requires virtually no intervention.

If you want your stuff archived, this free solution is for you.

Rating: Get it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/sms-backup/com.zegoggles.smssync

AAQR: Instant Heart Rate Light

If you ever go to a hospital, they have this thing they clamp onto your finger (very gently) and they can get the pulse from that. It's called a doximeter. It works by measuring the flow of blood through your blood vessels in your finger by shining a bright light into it and detect the difference in blood flow.

Guess, what, your phone can do the same thing, with this ap... It can use the camera and the "flash" LED. Just hold your finger over  the camera, and wait. Really, it does work.

The pro version can keep a log of results, but the free version works fine.

Rating: Get it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/instant-heart-rate/si.modula.android.instantheartrate

AAQR: Track your 3G (data counter, free)

Track Your 3G is one of those data counter apps that tracks your data usage, both WiFi and 3G, so you don't get charged for overages.

The app looks interesting. It provides both 3G and WiFi tracking, and per-app accounting (i.e. know exactly how much data did each app use).

However, after a few days trying it, it has a LOT of problems.

First, it loads TWO services, not just one. Add that to the app itself, and it uses up to 22MB of RAM (most of the time is stablizes at about 16-17 MB). That is just ridiculous for an app that sit in the background most of the time.

Second, the user interface isn't obvious. It's not obvious what is "clickable" and what is not. Nor is there any sort of graph on WHEN the bandwidth was consumed. There is not even a way to show ONLY 3G data (ignore the WiFi stuff).

Sorry, but I have to stick with 3G Watchdog for now.

Rating: skip it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/track-your-3g/com.aloudroid.suividata

Related articles

• AAQR: Stats Free (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)
• AAQR: Smart Monitor Lite (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)

AAQR: SD Sync (Utility, free)

SD Sync's job is very simple: it triggers the built-in "media scanner" to scan the SD card so the gallery or music player see any songs or pictures you placed onto the SD card.

If you have stuff that doesn't appear in the gallery or such, run this and it should fix it.

Very simple, and works.

Rating: Try it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/sdsync-(sd-card-update)/com.SdSync

AAQR: SwipePad and Dock4Droid, two close cousins

SwipePad and Dock4Droid are practically cousins. They do very similar things, and in very similar ways.

SwipePad (beta) is a "anywhere launcher", that allows you to open any app from within any OTHER app. Usually the "activation zone" is right edge, upper-half. Hold finger there then slide left, and SwipePad will pop up, and you'll see 12 zones where you can configure apps you want to launch, or if the zone's already configured, launch the app. It is very similar to Smart Taskbar, but much more intuitive.

Rating: Get it!

http://www.appbrain.com/app/swipepad-beta/mobi.conduction.swipepad.android


Dock4Droid is an app SWITCHER. It does not launch apps, but rather pops up which app you currently have loaded. It stays at the bottom edge. Hold finger there, and it will pop-up a dockbar similar to Apple's iOS launchdock. Slide left or right o highlight the app you want to bring forward, and release, and voila, there you go. Very intuitive.

Rating: Get it!

http://www.appbrain.com/app/dock4droid/com.urbandroid.dock

I previously use TaskTray but i think I may switch as I want my camera button back (I had it set to bring up Task Tray)

AAQR: Pudding Camera (yes, that's the real name)

Pudding Camera is actually in Korean, and is meant for use with the Korean online service "Pudding". Other than the integration it doesn't seem to have anything special about it. In that sense, it's a lot like that other app, CyCamera, except this one is ****ing HUGE in size and doesn't offer anything special.

Rating: Skip it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/pudding-camera/com.kth.PuddingCamera

Related articles

• AAQR: CyCamera (the camera app) (androidappquickreview.blogspot.com)

Roundup of Various Photo Editing Apps

Here's a roundup of various (clearly not all) photo editing apps... I didn't have full review on these yet, so here's some early impressions:

Pho.to Lab   http://www.appbrain.com/app/pho-to-lab/vsin.t16_funny_photo

Beautiful Pictures   http://www.appbrain.com/app/%E7%BE%8E%E5%9B%BE%E7%A7%80%E7%A7%80/com.mt.mtxx.mtxx  (this title is in Chinese)

PicsIn Photo  http://www.appbrain.com/app/picsin-photo/com.photo.picsinphoto

Photo Wonder  http://www.appbrain.com/app/photowonder/cn.jingling.motu.photowonder

Little Photo  http://www.appbrain.com/app/little-photo/com.littlephoto

There are a few more, like PicPlz, Photoshop Express, and more. I'll add them as I find them.

AAQR: Lock Menu, a replacement lock screen

Lock Menu is a lock replacement that gives up quite a few extra "sliders" that directly launches certain apps. In a normal Android lock screen, you only get 2 buttons. This gives you up to 6 more for a total of 8. In this version you get an ad on the lock screen and less than 8 total.

If you can't stand ads, don't get this. You can configure an app for each of the sliders, but it's not very compatible with the security features like pattern / PIN / etc.

It's worth a try, but if you already have Cyanogen (which gives you call / SMS sliders) this is superfluous.

Rating: Try it

http://www.appbrain.com/app/lockmenu/com.husmithinc.android.lockmenu

AAQR: Quota (beta) the quota tracker app

Quota is designed by Australian for Australians, though if someone else wants to figure out how to add other quotas to the app via the published API it shouldn't be hard.

As is, it is only of use by Aussies, and they seem to love it there. I'd wait for a bit more love for the rest of the world.

Rating: Skip it if you're NOT in Australia, else, try it.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/quota-beta/com.southfreo