Launch-X (Free and $1.28): Launch-X is a customizable widget for your device.  It allows the user to create their own widget with direct links to applications or contacts for direct calls and more.  You can change the design of the widget to accommodate up to 49 shortcuts in one widget on the pro version.  This app uses a widget that allows scrolling and smaller icons to save you space.  Are you too afraid to use a home replacement or root?  Launch-X can give you some of that sweet screen real estate you have been yearning to get back!

MultiTask Manager (Free):  This task manager takes on a slightly different approach to ATK.  Clicking on MTM enables a task bar to come up on top of your home screen.  This looks much like an iOS / Windows bar with applications on it.  You can click the icons to go to the application or long press to kill them.  Definitely good for those who converted from a WinMo phone to our beloved Droid!

PanoPlanet Live Wallpaper ($1.98):  PanoPlanet Live Wallpaper is a truly interesting experience.  It takes images on your phone and allows you to set them as an interactive wallpaper in a fully 3D view.  As you scroll, or move, or touch, the wallpaper moves in that direction showing you the completely panoramic image.  Thousands of images are available here. To fully explain just what I mean, I am including the video sent by the creator himself!  Enjoy!

PanoPlanet

FlightView (Free and $0.99):  FlightView is something I wish I had a week ago.  This app lets you track flights as they are in the air in real time on your phone.  No more sifting through crummy airline websites.  No more guessing when it is your Step Mother will show her ugly face in the terminal.  FlightView lets you see current weather conditions as well as real time flight times… even when you are sitting at Newark Airport for a half hour because your sister’s flight from Germany ran late coming out of Sweden and you have no A/C in your car and would have left a half hour later if only you had known it was going to be late.  Enjoy!

Edwin, Speech to Speech (Free):  Edwin offers a pretty simple concept.  Press the microphone and ask it to do something.  I asked Edwin to translate “My cat has a nasty looking face.” into French.  I asked it what the weather was.  I asked it to open Pandora.  All these things with just the push of a button.  I can see that this may be something very useful while driving as well as a fun novelty.  The vocabulary is expanding constantly and this app gets better and better the more you play with it!

Red Poker Club (Free):  Now, if you are like my friends, you have a serious gambling addiction.  Red Poker Club offers a real time, real person video poker experience on your Droid.  You can pick the size table you want to play at as well as what kind of blinds you want to start out with.  There is a chat function and the entire thing can be played on 3G!  You get more chips daily so you can always at least play a smaller ante game.  Skill levels are monitored as well so you know where you stand at a table.  So if you can’t manage to make it out to The Bethlehem Sands this evening, try out Red Poker Club!

To have your application featured in future Roundups, contact us here.

Found yourself a little frightened by the original rooting method posted last week for the Droid X?  As of today, you no longer have to live in fear!  A user over at Alldroid has created a one click root/unroot method for the DX and early reviews appear to be very favorable.

I’ll admit that I have yet to try this and it is a brand new concept, so approach with caution, but the dev has mentioned adding bloatware removal, app installation, backup, etc. in the near future and appears to be readily available for support.  This is a windows-only root tool.

Download:  DroidXRoot.zip

Full support at the source link below.

And let me know if you get this to work, plus fill us in on any issues you may have run into.

Source:  Alldroid

Cheers K!

One of our readers just sent in these pictures of a new promotional piece he received in the mail from Verizon which will allow 3 of the lines on his family plan to use a “special early upgrade” to “any smartphone” including the brand spankin’ new Droid X.  Cool right, but what’s the big deal?  Our tipster is a Droid 1 owner and is not even close to his 1 year upgrade let alone his 2 year, meaning his account has been flagged for “Next Best Activity” which you may recall from this promotion.  And while his line doesn’t necessarily meet the guidelines posted there, we’re assuming one of the lines on his account did which in turn is allowing all of the lines to upgrade.  Sweet right?

If we’ve got any Droid 1 owners out there looking for an early upgrade opportunity, this might be it.  Feel free to mention this post at your local VZW store and see what happens, well until August 31st anyway when the promo ends.

The rest of the promo mailer:

Cheers Steven!

All of the hard work that has been put into cracking the Motorola Milestone over the last 7 months or so is starting to pay off.  While I don’t completely understand “second boots” and the entire process the devs of this community are using at this time, they have definitely figured out a way to get the FRF91 Froyo build onto this locked down Moto device.  The port also seems to work flawlessly aside from a little camera malfunctioning.

This is great news for the Milestone community just a week or so after hearing from Moto that the decision to update to Android 2.2 had not been made yet.  Now you have an option!  Not bad right?

Video action…

And here’s me looking at you Birdman.  How’s that Droid X work coming?  (smiley!)

Source:  ModMyMobile

Cheers John!

The guys at AndroidSpin have received word from what they believe to be a reliable source within the Verizon camp that Android 2.2 could possibly hit the Droid 1, Droid X and Incredible all next week starting on August 6th.

If this actually happens, it might be the greatest day in the history of the Droid Family.

Reminder, this is a rumor and this date could change, so take it for what it’s worth.

Source:  AndroidSpin

Apparently we are seeing a commodity so hot it is literally selling itself into extinction.  Samsung’s AMOLED screens are quite beautiful and apparently quite rare.  Production has been slowed enough that they simply cannot meet the demand for these pixelated beauties.  We have seen over the past month and a half or so, the waiting line for Droid Incredible growing longer and longer as Verizon has had to wait on them to actually be manufactured.

The time table looked so grim that we were informed that HTC was going to use Sony’s Super TFT LCD as a replacement.  Now it seems that HTC is dropping Samsung in another way by announcing they will use Super LCD displays in their Desire, and Nexus One phones as well.

Being that I have had some time with a Galaxy S phone (the Captivate), I can attest to the beauty that is AMOLED technology in general.  The colors pop, the images are sharp and the screen is bright.  By the way, did I mention how sexy that name is?  AMOLED.  How about SUPER AMOLED.  It just kind of rolls off the tongue… like a buzz word.  People hear AMOLED and automatically assume it is better than anything else out there.  People hear it, they want it, and they will wait a month for it, but that doesn’t mean the LCD is inferior to it.

So what is so good about LCD as compared to AMOLED?  Longer battery life, more natural colors, and perhaps most importantly, availability.  LCD screens are available and ready to go with a huge backing to support their production.  I can say with confidence that the Droid X has one of the best screens I have seen in real world use and it is simply a regular TFT LCD like in the first Droid.  All in all, I think the customer is going to win in the end by this switch and the Droid Incredible (as well as the Nexus One and Desire) will still look fabulous.

What are your thoughts?

Via:  SlashGear

The Library of Congress put out some interesting new exemptions today which include giving users the right to root/hack/jailbreak their phones, run them on another carrier, and install whatever “lawfully obtained” apps or software they choose to.  Seriously…

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

Can I get a “Library of Congress FTW!”  (Professional, I know.)

You have to doubt that this will have any impact on Motorola’s decision to lock down their devices, but you may have some sort of action available to you should you choose to tamper with your Droid X and end up bricking it.  After all, you have the right to crack that bootloader!

Update: OK, that was a little over-dramatic: I just got caught up in the moment.  Please do not go crack on your DX.  As many of you have pointed out in the comments, Motorola still has the right to do as they please with their products.

Via:  Engadget, Apple Insider