You’ll see a lot of Android blogs touting the wonders of rooting your phone, and as a programmer and open-source proponent, I know that reducing bloatware can make a big impact on the speed of your device and your ability to customize it. However, I’m not going to root my Droid. Let me explain why. First, what is rooting? Rooting (as far as I understand it without having done it) is basically reducing the Android operating system to its “base”, removing all of the...

You probably didn’t buy your Android for playing games, but you’ve probably downloaded a couple since you’ve gotten your device. Who doesn’t like a fun game when you’re waiting at the doctor’s office or while lying in bed? Here is a round-up of some of our favorite Android games, along with the AppBrain.com links, for easy download. Wordfeud FREE is a new game for Android that is similar to Words With Friends on the iOS platform. Unfortunately, you...

College kids are moving back to school and starting classes here in Virginia, and I thought it would be fun to look up what Android apps are available that could help make the college transition a little simpler and more organized. I am super-jealous of kids that have smartphones to help with school. I got a Palm IIIc my senior year of college, and it did help me keep track of assignments (and give me Bejeweled to play between classes), but it’s nothing compared to the power and...

I am often asked in real life and on twitter what Android apps everyone should have. So, we did a little experiment here at Women With Droids to see which apps were found most often on our contributors’ phones, and we wanted to share the results with you! Participating contributors were: Ellie, CraftLass, Liz, Deb, Taylor, and myself. You can read more about us on our About page (I will update it with our recently-added contributors soon!) and see recommendations from each of us...

This is Part 3 of the “Renee’s Homescreen Makeover” Series. Click here for Part 2, “Wallpaper Sync”, if you missed it. The next app that I used to improve my phone’s home interface is Apps Organizer. Apps Organizer allows you to add tags to your apps, then add icons to your homescreen that open a “folder” of apps with a tag. I really disliked the built-in folder system on Android — how you had to drag apps into the folders, and how you couldn’t easily...

Guest-contributor Taylor from Autostraddle got her hands on Froyo early and offered to give us a sneak peek of what’s in store! Enjoy. With Android 2.2 rolling out to more devices any day now, let’s take a look at what to expect. Thanks to HTC’s Froyo leak (whoops!), I managed to manually install the update before it officially hit, so here are a handful of my favorite changes. 1. Speed: Froyo is zippier across the board. This is probably the centerpiece of 2.2, but...

I recently decided to overhaul my Droid’s main desktop interface, and briefly tried out various homescreen-replacement apps, such as Home++. Out of the apps I tried, the one that felt most natural for me to switch to was Launcher Pro Beta, which allows me to add additional homescreens, has a homescreen preview feature, and provides a convenient (and expandable) app launcher strip at the bottom of the screen. More about these features below. In addition to replacing my homescreen, I added...

I’m a news junkie. I love staying informed about what’s going on in the world and discussing current events with my friends and family. Android has a lot of options for keeping up to date – including USA Today, The New York Times and NPR News – the three of the biggest news outlets in the US. With its clean interface and easy to navigate controls, USA Today is a good option for getting up to date with local, national and international news. You can also view sports...

Summer is a big time for vacations. Make getting ready for your weekend on the beach or week away with Travel Organizer. This free app helps you make lists of what to do and what to pack to make prepping for a trip easy! The app is very straight forward – choose from “To do” or “To pack” and “Summer” or “Winter” and let the list be pre-populated; you can delete items from the list by long pressing on it and choosing delete, but you can also...

Big news here at Women With Droids! We have partnered with some Etsy sellers to bring you the DROIDETTE SHOP! Check out the link at the top of the site anytime to buy your Droidette Sleeve or Droidette Bubble – and we’ll be adding more items over time! Our portion of the proceeds from the Droidette Shop & Affiliate Store goes towards paying for our hosting fees, domain name, and hopefully eventually buying accessories to review and paying our writers! Thanks for supporting...