Android Useful Apps

Hamish McPanji

Hamish McPanji

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CranialBlaze said:
Basic VPN provider, not really useful to the masses anyway, the free package comes with 500mb I think it was.
Can move your internet location to UK or USA.

Used to be used for changing your Play store location so that SA users can get the books and movies, but no longer works.
Click to expand...

I used tunnel bear effectively on Google play, however once google have flagged you as a South African user....you are doomed as items will not be available to that user, no matter what your IP.

I use 1 Google account for international purchases and a different one for local
 
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CranialBlaze

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semaphore said:
Well what out of the box does your phone not support? Besides cranking up the clock rate and removing bloatware.
Click to expand...

I don't overclock.

Take a look at XPosed framework, its probably the more recent root essential feature I use.
Prior it was titanium backup, that way a new phone is setup like the old one within 5 minutes, including WhatsApp chats and whatever else.
CallMaster is also my other must have, yes phones can do call filtering natively these days, but still not on the daemon level like CM does, top that off I can have varying filters using tasker . For example, when at work, my phone mutes all incoming calls if the number is not in my phonebook, outside work it only filters my defined blacklist. It also filters both calls and messages, with messages it can filter on content as well as number. Even if phones could do this as easily, its more effort to set ip up each time than to just restore it via TitaniumBackup.
Greenify, excellent for additional battery saving, more o the CPU side than data side.

THere were more, but with the advent of XPosed, most of the separate features have all been moved over to XPosed modules.
Those include:
adblocker
Custom share setting (change what options are displayed when sharing from your hone)
XPrivacy - uber essential, absolute and extremely specific access and permission controls for every single app, this is a security GOD send. For example, you could give it location access, but block it from GPS data so that it can only a fuzzy location instead of an exact one. Or just block it completely, if the app demands GPS to work, no problems, it blocks it through providing fake data instead of severing the link so the app thinks its still getting GPS access, except its finding your location in any random location.
 
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CranialBlaze

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imranpanji said:
I used tunnel bear effectively on Google play, however once google have flagged you as a South African user....you are doomed as items will not be available to that user, no matter what your IP.

I use 1 Google account for international purchases and a different one for local
Click to expand...

The method I used and mentioned above is permanent and location independant. I can buy books or movies on a SA IP with a SA card without having to use multiple accounts.
 
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semaphore

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CranialBlaze said:
I don't overclock.

Take a look at XPosed framework, its probably the more recent root essential feature I use.
Prior it was titanium backup, that way a new phone is setup like the old one within 5 minutes, including WhatsApp chats and whatever else.
CallMaster is also my other must have, yes phones can do call filtering natively these days, but still not on the daemon level like CM does, top that off I can have varying filters using tasker . For example, when at work, my phone mutes all incoming calls if the number is not in my phonebook, outside work it only filters my defined blacklist. It also filters both calls and messages, with messages it can filter on content as well as number. Even if phones could do this as easily, its more effort to set ip up each time than to just restore it via TitaniumBackup.
Greenify, excellent for additional battery saving, more o the CPU side than data side.

THere were more, but with the advent of XPosed, most of the separate features have all been moved over to XPosed modules.
Those include:
adblocker
Custom share setting (change what options are displayed when sharing from your hone)
XPrivacy - uber essential, absolute and extremely specific access and permission controls for every single app, this is a security GOD send. For example, you could give it location access, but block it from GPS data so that it can only a fuzzy location instead of an exact one. Or just block it completely, if the app demands GPS to work, no problems, it blocks it through providing fake data instead of severing the link so the app thinks its still getting GPS access, except its finding your location in any random location.
Click to expand...

Ah okay.

All of which i do not need. I am not paranoid about my security, i know what apps i install. Took a look at xposed, looks like bloatware itself:p
 
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CranialBlaze

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OGroteKoning said:
Oh no it is not. Take a closer look
Click to expand...

It it were bloatware, it would be the best bloatware ever, it has actually brought the power of custom roms and more to stock roms.
Some of us love root and custom roms, others just root, and the rest prefer stock. That's the beauty of android, each to his own.

The last update was actually quite impressive, lots of code improvements, nice UI improvements.
 
BigAl-sa

BigAl-sa

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semaphore said:
Well what out of the box does your phone not support? Besides cranking up the clock rate and removing bloatware.
Click to expand...
#1 would be being able to use TiBackup to backup *anything*, not skipping what some devs hide in the manifest to prevent you from backing up *your* data.
Of course, with a Nexus device, a whole world opens up for you (eg being able to use an external storage device)!
 
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semaphore

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CranialBlaze said:
It it were bloatware, it would be the best bloatware ever, it has actually brought the power of custom roms and more to stock roms.
Some of us love root and custom roms, others just root, and the rest prefer stock. That's the beauty of android, each to his own.

The last update was actually quite impressive, lots of code improvements, nice UI improvements.
Click to expand...

I took a peak at the code on github, the word abomination does not describe it enough. The app might do what it advertises, but it is not written efficiently at all.
 
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CranialBlaze

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semaphore said:
I took a peak at the code on github, the word abomination does not describe it enough. The app might do what it advertises, but it is not written efficiently at all.
Click to expand...

So? Your point being, you think every milestone achievement is done perfectly first time round, its actively developed and its trying to achieve something previously only found in custom rooms.

If you can do so much better then go for it, open source after all. No point lambasting another developer for not achieving greatness and perfection at the same. Fix it up if you do so much better, personally I cannot and as inefficient as you claim it is, it's never given a single error, no impact on processing or battery so I really could care less if he could of done his source code prettier.
 
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semaphore

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CranialBlaze said:
So? Your point being, you think every milestone achievement is done perfectly first time round, its actively developed and its trying to achieve something previously only found in custom rooms.

If you can do so much better then go for it, open source after all. No point lambasting another developer for not achieving greatness and perfection at the same. Fix it up if you do so much better, personally I cannot and as inefficient as you claim it is, it's never given a single error, no impact on processing or battery so I really could care less if he could of done his source code prettier.
Click to expand...

Not trying to derail this thread. But your idea of software development is very much different to mine, i plan my development, i document it. Then i start writing it. It not giving errors does not mean its efficient.

And i am busy writing an app for the droid now, but it has nothing to do with modifying lower level system settings, and its very a very niche market lol.
 
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CranialBlaze

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semaphore said:
Not trying to derail this thread. But your idea of software development is very much different to mine, i plan my development, i document it. Then i start writing it. It not giving errors does not mean its efficient.

And i am busy writing an app for the droid now, but it has nothing to do with modifying lower level system settings, and its very a very niche market lol.
Click to expand...

I like to plan mine too, but you can so much when your trying to do something that's never been done while at the same time trying to make it work on as many of the over 7000 devices available, not to mention the various variations of operating systems.

Planning only goes so far when the possibilities, problems and potential are basically endless and mostly unknown.
 
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semaphore

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CranialBlaze said:
I like to plan mine too, but you can so much when your trying to do something that's never been done while at the same time trying to make it work on as many of the over 7000 devices available, not to mention the various variations of operating systems.

Planning only goes so far when the possibilities, problems and potential are basically endless and mostly unknown.
Click to expand...

Um Ye? Bearing in mind xpose framework is not targeted at "7000" devices. ;)
 
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CranialBlaze

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semaphore said:
Um Ye? Bearing in mind xpose framework is not targeted at "7000" devices. ;)
Click to expand...

Probably isn't, but that's like the last count I heard of how many there are and from its mod I can see specific modules for Samsung, Motorola, HTC and Sony already. Petty much covers the bulk of the major brands out there.
 
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semaphore

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CranialBlaze said:
Probably isn't, but that's like the last count I heard of how many there are and from its mod I can see specific modules for Samsung, Motorola, HTC and Sony already. Petty much covers the bulk of the major brands out there.
Click to expand...

If you find a link on that please share, that number seems very far fetched.
 
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