Droid X2 Tip - Changing Email Notification Sound

After having trouble with the charging port on my Droid X, Verizon replaced it with a Droid X2. Pretty much the same phone, but with dual core processors. (Yay!) But then came the task of customizing all my notification sounds and remembering where all those settings were. One setting I couldn't immediately find was the notification sound for my Gmail. Whether this was changed in a software update or I just forgot where it was, I'm not sure, but I'm posting it here for others (and so I won't forget again!)

• Open the Gmail app
• Click the Menu button at the Inbox view
• Select More / Settings
• You should see your Gmail account listed under Account Settings
• Select this account and scroll all the way to the bottom 
• Under Notification Settings, select Labels to Notify
• Labels you have set up to sync will be listed here. 
• Choose a notification sound for each label or disable notifications all together!

Voila!

App of the Day: Unlock with WiFi FREE

Let's be honest. You'd like to secure your phone with a password or security pattern, but it gets annoying to unlock it EVERY time you want to use your phone. With this app, anytime you are connected to a TRUSTED wifi network, you bypass those security measures. Be careful not to leave your phone unattended at work tho!

Check out this great Android
app 'Unlock With WiFi FREE' on AppBrain: http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.benhirashima.unlockwithwififree

PocketCast for Android: App Review

Pocket Casts logo

Pocket Casts is a podcast player. If you've never listened a podcast before, this would be a great way to start. There are podcasts on every subject imaginable and Pocket Casts has some great discovery features.

The search features for Pocket Casts are awesome. You can search by podcast name as well as browse by Popular Podcasts, Podcast Networks, Categories or add the podcast URL directly.

Pocket Casts has a great grid layout showcasing the podcast artwork, making it easy to distinguish one from another. The images are colorful as well as sporting a red number in the corner indicating how many new episodes are waiting for you.  There are also push notifications to indicate new episodes.  Episodes can be streamed over 3G or downloaded with no file size limits. This is a podcast player made by podcast lovers.

That being said, I did experience some issues with playback. Sometimes when trying to stream, I received a "Playback Failed" error. This occurred over WiFi and 3G both. It was an odd error that seemed sort of "hit or miss", sometimes working, sometimes not. I have emailed the developers notify them of the problem. I'm running a Droid X on Gingerbread and have had some buggy issues with various apps since upgrading, so the problems could be related to hardware. I'd be interested if anyone else experiences the same problem on different hardware.

Although I snagged this from Amazon as a Free App of the Day, I would gladly pay the $2.70 for it. I highly  recommend this app to anyone who enjoys podcasts or is embarking on their first podcast discovery.

Download from Amazon or the Android Marketplace.

Don't Waste Another Dollar to Netflix!

Feedfliks.com is a great website to maximize your Netflix account.  Login using your Netflix credentials and it automatically pulls all of your information.  It gives you lots of details on your DVD queue: how long you keep a movie, average cost of the movies based on how many you rent per year, and how long others keep movies before returning them. Feedfliks also has a search feature to find movies that you can then add to your queue, DVD or streaming, based on availability.

I think the most awesome feature of Feedfliks is it's ability to show you

• Movies coming to Netflix
• Movies new to Netflix
• Movies EXPIRING from Netflix

If you're like me and have dozens of movies queued up to watch instantly, don't let some expire before you get around to watching them. Feedfliks will sort your queue by when the titles expire so that you maximize your viewing and never miss that great movie you wanted to see.

This site provides a ton of information about Netflix such as:

• Most Streamed Titles
• Most Rented Titles
• Most Queued on DVD
• Most Queued on Instant
• Most Recommended

So check out Feedfliks.com and make every dollar sent to Netflix count!

Droid X Tips - Changing Dock Apps

Changing the dock apps on the Droid X running the new Android 2.3.3 can be a little confusing.

A quick tip to change the default apps on the dock:

• Go to your App Drawer, find the app that you'd like to add to the dock and long press it. 
• On the pop-up screen, Click Add to Home and when your Home Screen shows up, you'll have plus signs over your Dock at the bottom of the screen. 
• Drag the app over the plus sign and you've replaced it!

You can also hold down the app on the Dock that you would like to change and when the pop-up list appears, scroll down until you find the app you'd like to replace it with. I find that this takes a little longer than the previously mentioned method tho. 

Watch Netflix on Android!

Netflix recently announced an Android app that will allow members to watch their streaming movies on their Android phone. I was SO excited.. until I found out that the app was only for certain phones. *cue sad trombone*

But then I found a way around this. The wonderful developer ften at XDA Developers Forum has disabled the device check in the app and released it for download. You'll need to go to Menu | Settings| Applications| Unknown Sources and click the check box. This allows you to install applications from sources other than the Google Marketplace. (BTW.. you'll have to click this box to install the Amazon Appstore too. I highly recommend you do so, mainly because they offer a FREE paid version of cool apps everyday.)

Once you've got this accomplished, on over to this XDA forums link and download the netflix-devicecheck-disabled.apk file. You can do this on your phone or from your computer. The EASIEST way is to download the file to your computer, then drag it to your Dropbox. (You DO have the Dropbox app right? If not.. get on it!) Next easiest would be to visit the above link with your phone, or you can download it to your computer & transfer it to your memory card via USB. Once it's on your phone, click to install and wow.. Netflix!

I'm running this on a Droid X with Android 2.2.1 and have had only a few issues. The only errors I have gotten have been cryptic "backend server" messages. I'm wondering if Netflix hadn't planned on the amount of traffic they are getting since it was only officially released to 4 Android phones.  But, those error messages have been very few and it works like a dream. 

So if you're like me and stay on the go.. enjoy Netflix for the occasional movie or catching up on the many tv series they add everyday. It's awesome!

Android finds Cheap Gas!

GasBuddy for Android is a great free app to find cheap gas.  Available in the android marketplace, GasBuddy receives its information from www.gasbuddy.com.  Members of the website submit gas prices and earn 150 points per price submitted. Those points can then be used to buy tickets for a drawing for FREE gas!

Non-members can also use the website and the app to search for the cheapest gas prices. They can search for nearby gas stations, city/zipcode or set up a list of their favorite stations. I set up favorite stations locally and out of town. Check the prices out of town before traveling, I know whether to fill up before I leave or wait until I get there!

You can't add new stations via the app yet, but I'm sure this feature will be added later. In the meantime, if you have a local station that doesn't show up in the app, join the website and fill out a short form to add it. Once it shows up in the app, you'll be able to add prices from there (and earn points to win FREE gas cards!)

So download this app from the marketplace and happy gas hunting!