Good Android Games/Apps

[radiator]

I just got a HTC smartphone - I know there was a thread a while back for recommended iOS games and apps, could we do the same for Android phones?

I've already downloaded a few - like the ubiquitous Angry Birds, but most of whats available looks a bit dodgy.

Ideally I'm after something with a bit of depth - a lot of the games seem very throwaway and wouldn't hold my interest for long.

[Tiplodocus]

You want Advanced Task Killer App as a starter for ten. Use it often to help save your battery life.

We did do a thread on this a while back - it was short but someone nice (or maybe Jim) pointed me at a couple of "Best Android App" websites where I managed to get free filemanagers, gdocs, tapatalk etc.  I'll try dig it out.

[Tiplodocus]

I've bumped it - it was in HELP.

And it was banners - thanks.

[Banners]

On my Desire HD I find Screebl Pro invaluable in keeping the screen lock from kicking in at inopportune times - y'know, like when I'm actually using the phone(!) This should be a default app imho.

I use Timeriffic to set up different profiles to change the phone's behaviour during the day, and it works well.

Reckless Racing is probably my favourite game and Game Dev Story is unbelievably addictive.

Have had an annoying bug for the last few months where every second text message doesn't display a notification. That's got me into trouble a couple of times, so I hope a fix is on the way(!)

[radiator]

Cheers chaps - yes, I've already got that Task Killer one - pretty much essential considering the first battery charge on my new phone lasted approximately 10hrs! I always tend to be careful with charging stuff, because I know that you can damage a battery by overcharging, or charging when the battery isn't 100% empty, but I've heard that the batteries in newer phones these things don't matter and you can just plug it in whenever you want to get a bit of juice. Is that correct? If so then that mitigates the battery-life problem a little.

Lots of interesting stuff in those links. I've heard good things about Zenonia 2, a sort of Zelda-like RPG.



I'm hoping some of the big game developers start to do more things on Android - things like Infinity Blade on iPhone look incredible.

[Banners]

I don't think those task killers are actually much use on Android based on how it works - it's not like Windows where all these things really are going on in the background.

The single biggest thing I found to increase battery life was to alter the Flash setting in the browser from "Always on" to "On demand". You can find this in Settings > Advanced Configuration > Enable plugins. Once I changed this, battery life went from 10 hrs to around two days between charges now!

[radiator]

Cool, I've just done that on mine, hope it works!

[Mardroid]

I always tend to be careful with charging stuff, because I know that you can damage a battery by overcharging, or charging when the battery isn't 100% empty, but I've heard that the batteries in newer phones these things don't matter and you can just plug it in whenever you want to get a bit of juice. Is that correct? If so then that mitigates the battery-life problem a little.

I've read on the internet that with the newer batteries it's actually better not for the battery to run all the way down. I found this out when researching why my Laptop battery stopped holding much charge.(A few minutes at the moment. I've bought a new one and that's good for over an hour.)

When at at home, I would often plug the laptop into the mains in even when the battery was charged, as I figured I could just use that when the mains wasn't available. I thought that when the battery was fully charged the mains charge would automatically bypass it, but apparently not. It goes through cycles that cut down on battery life.) Mind you I'd had the battery a few years by then so it probably was at the end of it's life anyway. (They're pretty finite, even when not in use.)

I think mobile phone batteries are of the same type. (Lithium Ion. I think.) There's obviously not the danger of the cycling of laptops since your hardly likely to keep it plugged in when your using it.

On the other hand I've often run mobile batteries down before recharging and they've lasted pretty long though!