What do you use?

[CMDRSTP]

Hello, all.

I am new to this and the Droid Razr Maxx is my first smartphone. So, I am looking for some apps.

- Maps (with satellite images).
- Compass.
- Weather (with radar).
- Scanner (local fire and police). How do you know if a scanner app. covers YOUR area?
- Do they make one for XM Radio?

I know some of the above are already installed but, I figure you have seen and/or used them all and would know what the best ones were. Please feel free to add any ones you found useful or interesting. Tips or suggestions are very welcome.

Another stupid question. When you purchase an app, is it usually a per month fee?

Like I said, I am new to this and not really sure what I can do with this Razr Maxx.

Thank you.

Steve

 

[brad92]

I can't answer all your questions, but I can answer some.

When you buy an app from the market (Play Store), its a one time fee and that app is tied to your Gmail account.

As for maps and navigation, I've used Google Maps for 2 years and I like it better than my Garmin GPS.

I use Weatherbug for weather and radar. It also displays the temperature in your notification bar

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[CMDRSTP]

Thank you, Brad92.

Is it easy to delete an app. if you like another better?

 

[brad92]

Its very easy. You can do it a few different ways. You can go to the market, hit the menu button and select my apps. Then select the app you want to uninstall and hit uninstall.

Or you can go to your app drawer and longpress the app and select uninstall.

Or you can go to settings, apps and find the app you want to uninstall and select uninstall.

I hope this helps

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[CMDRSTP]

It does. Thank you. I guess part of it is experimenting.

 

[Inundated]

Let's give this a shot!

- Maps (with satellite images).

No need for anything but Google Maps, which should already be installed on your phone.

- Compass.

There are several good compass apps, and they're probably all free, in the Google Play store. Can't remember any names.

- Weather (with radar).

I now use our local NBC affiliate's radar app (WKYC Radar). I used to use Weatherbug and the Weather Channel app. There are a lot of good weather apps out there. I haven't gone looking recently.

- Scanner (local fire and police). How do you know if a scanner app. covers YOUR area?

Scanner Radio.

Go to RadioReference.com for coverage areas, it's the main audio source for Scanner Radio. Free, unless you're a member of RadioReference.com and want access to archived audio.

- Do they make one for XM Radio?

Check for Sirius XM's own app.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the wonderful world of Android!

 

[CMDRSTP]

Thank you, Inundated! Helps a lot!

 

[Inundated]

Thank you, Inundated! Helps a lot!

You're welcome!

If you stream broadcast radio at all, run, don't walk, to get TuneIn (free). It has nearly all streaming broadcast stations all over the world, plus some scanner and weatherradio audio. It doesn't do Clear Channel stations (iHeartRadio, free) or music stations from CBS (Radio.com, free) but has just about everything else.

TuneIn Pro (I got it as an Amazon free app, it's about $2.99 otherwise) lets you record.

 

[FoxKat]

It's folks like brad92 and inundated that make this forum the best on the Web! Way to go folks.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 with Google voice to text translation. Please excuse any minor spelling, punctuation, capitalization or grammatical errors.

 

[MysticalDreams]

I use Google maps when I am local but for long drives (we drive cross country one a year or more) I like to use a 3rd party app that doesn't require data. For some reason we ALWAYS find a stretch of road that doesn't have service. Years ago when we just had dumb phones we found a 4 hour gap of road with no cell service, FF to first trip with my droid x we found a 2 hour gap of no internet service. Another benefit is it doesn't chew your data for those that are on limited data, you download the maps to your phone/SD card (using WiFi). The map updates are normally a small amount of data but you can still opt to use a WiFi connection for that.

I have CoPilot and Syngic both offer different ways to customize them.

Sirius/XM

You may also want to get a battery meter. I use Battery Indicator, I have heard Battery Circle and BadAss Battery are good.

Welcome to the Maxx and the forums there is no dumb question here so feel free to ask anything, use the search options, and enjoy yourself dancedroid

 

[nikecar]

The one time I.used my.Google maps app for a long trip, I had a generic Car charger that put out under .5A while charging, rather than the oem 1A.

Needless to say, my phone, after 1.5 hrs was down to 40%. I won't use it without a better charger or ill use my standalone unit.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

 

[TisMyDroid]

I use Google maps when I am local but for long drives (we drive cross country one a year or more) I like to use a 3rd party app that doesn't require data. For some reason we ALWAYS find a stretch of road that doesn't have service. Years ago when we just had dumb phones we found a 4 hour gap of road with no cell service, FF to first trip with my droid x we found a 2 hour gap of no internet service. Another benefit is it doesn't chew your data for those that are on limited data, you download the maps to your phone/SD card (using WiFi). The map updates are normally a small amount of data but you can still opt to use a WiFi connection for that.

I have CoPilot and Syngic both offer different ways to customize them.

Sirius/XM

You may also want to get a battery meter. I use Battery Indicator, I have heard Battery Circle and BadAss Battery are good.

Welcome to the Maxx and the forums there is no dumb question here so feel free to ask anything, use the search options, and enjoy yourself dancedroid

Both, Copilot & Sygic look tons better than google maps. Do you find that you ever use google for anything or do you just stick with these? They look like excellent apps.

Sent from my DROID RAZR Maxx using Droid Forums

 

[Inundated]

Both, Copilot & Sygic look tons better than google maps. Do you find that you ever use google for anything or do you just stick with these? They look like excellent apps.

Google Maps is free, and the others are pretty pricey. I also have yet to be in an area without at least decent 3G service, and you can now precache maps in Google Maps.

 

[MysticalDreams]

I would say I use Google maps 1 out of 10 local trips that I am unsure where I am going. Main reason is I forgot to type in the address in to the app before leaving the house. With GMaps I can press the address from my email and it takes me to Gmaps... I haven't tried to see if I can set that up for the other apps as it doesn't happen often enough for me to think about it

EDIT for price. Yes they can be pricey but
1) Garmin - TomTom and other GPS stand alone units charge you a yearly update fee, these do not.
2) 3G/4G coverage area may or may not effect you (It has effected me and getting lost in the mountains at night was not fun!)
3) without unlimited data you will end up paying more over time for Google Maps than you will to buy a GPS app that doesn't use data.

 

[Inundated]

Some of the reviews on the new version of CoPilot Live (on Google Play) are BRUTAL.