This is an overview of the way I use my Android phone and some of the useful apps I’ve added to it.
Phone and Operating System
Firstly the phone itself is a HTC Desire running Android 2.1. This is important to know because some apps and features are not available on earlier versions of Android. Where this is the case I’ll try and highlight it. The HTC device also comes with a custom interface or skin called Sense which has some peculiarities compared to the stock Android interface.
Google Apps Integration
When I first configured the phone it asked me to choose a Google account. This would be used to synchronise my contacts, email and appointments. I chose to use my Google Apps account rather than a generic Google or Gmail account because that’s where most of my data is held. Once the first configuration is complete though it is possible to add more Google accounts.
For email I primarily use the built-in Google Mail app. This is for two reasons:
1. It allows me to use the labels I have already set up.
2. I can switch between different Google Apps accounts within the same app.
The only downside to using the Google Mail app is that it doesn’t fully integrate with some of the features built into the HTC Sense interface. For example it won’t show you how many emails there are with a specific contact when you’re viewing their details.
It is possible to use the native email application with Google Apps by selecting your Google Apps domain as a Microsoft Exchange server.
Contacts
Contacts are automatically synchronised with my Google Apps contacts, this includes those from multiple accounts. So I can keep personal contacts under my personal Google Apps domain and work contacts under a different work domain then they all come together in my phone.
Contact groups are also synchronised from Google Apps. You can choose which groups you want synchronised with your phone so if you want to leave some out you can do so. I don’t bother with this because I want my phone to have all the same information I have on the web.
Calendar
As with the web version of Google Calendar I can choose which calendars I wish to see on my phone. If I have an appointment at a specific address I always make sure I’ve entered the details into the Location field of an appointment. When a recognised location is present the appointment details show an icon which will load Google Maps with the location selected. For a route between two places I write the location in the form “start location to finish location” which populates Google Maps with both locations, then it’s a simple matter of following the directions.
I also use the calendar to store details of flight or train times and numbers. By making an appointment at the departure time with the flight number details I always have easy access to this information when needed. I do the same with hotel bookings; placing the reservation and contact details for the hotel in an appointment slot that corresponds to my arrival.
Other Apps
Google Goggles – this app uses the camera to recognise objects and search for information about them. So for example you might photograph a company logo and it will search for details about the company. One key feature though is its ability to recognise details on a business card. So if someone hands me a business card I can quickly photograph it and Google Goggles will enter the details as a new contact in my phone, which of course then gets synchronised back to Google Apps.
Google Translate – this isn’t quite as useful as the web version which is so well integrated into things like chat and gmail but it’s still very useful to always have a translation tool available.
Navigation – since Android 2.1 Google has included turn-by-turn navigation integrated with Google Maps. This effectively replaces the need for a separate Sat Nav device and because you can enable Street View you can easily recognise your destination when you get there.
WiFi Analyzer – this is incredibly useful if you’re having trouble with WiFi as it can show you a graph of WiFi channels so you can see which has the strongest signal or if there’s a gap in the spectrum you could use.
Calendar Quick Add – this allows you to add events to the calendar using the same natural language input that you can use in the web version. What’s more it also support speech recognition so you can dictate your appointment.
National Rail – lets you check train schedules quickly. It can remember your favourite and recent journeys plus it has a widget for departure information.
Just For Fun
Shazam – this amazing app can recognise music tracks it hears through the microphone and shows you information about the track. A handy cheat for spot the intro music quizzes!
Widgets
The Android home screens can be populated with widgets which offer additional functionality or sometimes are cut-down versions of apps. For example there’s a Facebook widget which shows the latest post from your firends and allows you to post status updates but doesn’t do much else; you’d need to open the Facebook app to do more.
HTC Sense has some advantages here because it provides widgets that can be scrolled, something native Andoid can’t do.
People Widget
– the HTC People widget can be displayed in different formats from whole screen to just one icon size. I use two copies of a long thin view on one of my home screens. One contains my co-workers and the other contains my favourite personal contacts. This allows me to quickly contact the people I need to call or text most often. Each contact can be set with a default action; call, text, email etc. I usually set my contacts to display the details then I can choose what I want to do.