new to iphone...need android app equivalents

[apecrazy]

hi,
i am new to iphone myself, coming over from android. i have been waiting a long time and i know that there are things i cant do with an iphone that i am used to doing on my droid 2, but there are some things missing that i cant live without and didnt know that iphone didnt have. for the most part, im happy and i didnt make this decision lightly waiting until verizon got it (i have verizon service and a sweet discount through school) then waiting for the white one to be released and waiting even more just to make sure.
so.....that being said i have a list of things i want and things i NEED. any help in locating apps that do these things are greatly appreciated as the names dont always transfer from one platform to another.
here are the NEEDS:
1.) alarm clock that wakes me to pandora (pref an app but i will buy a clock/dock if i need to). i tried the app called "wake2music" but it didnt go off this morning so im worried that its unreliable. waking up to an alarm (instead of music) doesnt work well for me plus i have gotten in the habit of leaving pandora instead of television on while i get ready for school/work and it saves me time because i dont get distracted by the tv.
2.) custom text tones (not necessarily for each person-which would be great- but ill settle for the ability to choose more than the stock text tones that come on the phone and have one for everyone. other people at work have iphones and we all cant run to our phones when the same tone is heard plus i have gotten used to a certain sound being my text tone and it grabs my attention regardless of what im doing so that i dont miss messages.
3) custom ringtones (same as above)
4) text to speech- lets me text hands free while im driving or doing something that requires both hands. this is native with android, but im hoping that it can be done with an app from the iphone.
5) good navigation app. i need traffic and turn by turn directions. i just moved and will be in new areas over the next school year (yay for off campus rotations, lol) so i need a reliable and easy way to know how to get where i need to go.

my want list:
-text messaging app similar to handcent (on android) where i can set themes and change the look of my app when i get bored.
-swype capability. i know that this isnt native, but im hoping there is an app out there that does this (perhaps in conjunction with the above texting app??)
-live wallpapers. i heard that this is only available by jalbreaking, but that frightens me as i dont want to mess my phone up and i dont have hours to devote to setting it up.

hmmm, im sure there are others, but this is a good start. overall i am happy with my decision, i just need to know how to tweak it a bit to do what i have come to depend upon my phone to do. ill learn to adjust to what i cant make it do

any other suggestions are appreciated!! im willing to learn, especially if it helps improve functionality of my beautiful new iphone!

thanks in advance.

 

[AdrianK]

1.) alarm clock that wakes me to pandora (pref an app but i will buy a clock/dock if i need to). i tried the app called "wake2music" but it didnt go off this morning so im worried that its unreliable. waking up to an alarm (instead of music) doesnt work well for me plus i have gotten in the habit of leaving pandora instead of television on while i get ready for school/work and it saves me time because i dont get distracted by the tv.
2.) custom text tones (not necessarily for each person-which would be great- but ill settle for the ability to choose more than the stock text tones that come on the phone and have one for everyone. other people at work have iphones and we all cant run to our phones when the same tone is heard plus i have gotten used to a certain sound being my text tone and it grabs my attention regardless of what im doing so that i dont miss messages.
3) custom ringtones (same as above)
4) text to speech- lets me text hands free while im driving or doing something that requires both hands. this is native with android, but im hoping that it can be done with an app from the iphone.
5) good navigation app. i need traffic and turn by turn directions. i just moved and will be in new areas over the next school year (yay for off campus rotations, lol) so i need a reliable and easy way to know how to get where i need to go.

1) Don't think pandora has an API so other apps can use Pandora from witihin itself. iOS apps also can't triger another app to launch.

2) There aren't any custom text tones, just the ones that come in settings. Jailbreak if you want that.

3) Ringtones need to be AAC files with a .m4r extension, they're synced to the phone via iTunes. Google for detailed instructions.

4) As I said, apps can't launch other apps, so although their are apps which can do this, their functionality is somewhat limited. Have a look at the Google iPhone app.

5) I'm pretty sure there's a dedicated 'Navigation' category in iTunes, have a look around.

my want list:
-text messaging app similar to handcent (on android) where i can set themes and change the look of my app when i get bored.

This will never happen because Apple doesn't want to give other apps access to your SMS/MMS and they also don't accept apps which mimic the built in ones.

 

[apecrazy]

hmmm, well the no alarm thing may be a dealbreaker for me then. and i love the phone in every other way. its really too bad that something so simple can scuttle a great thing. i can even stomach using standalone navigation but not being able to set an alarm and wake up to something other than a rooster crowing or a bell ringing just wont work for me.
i know that there are navigation apps, i was just hoping to get some feedback before i spent 50 bucks on tomtom or something to see what people that are using it have said about it and its ease of use and functionality.
ill look into jailbreaking but again i was hoping for a little direction from people that have done it (and maybe even people that are not usually "techie-like") to get an idea of if its something the average person (such as myself) can do. of course i can google it, but what im looking for are more opinions about how its done and if it has improved the iphone experience for the people that have done it.
i was alos looking for an app review-what people like and dont like- to narrow my search.

thanks!!

 

[Nyalotha]

1) While none will do Pandora, you can certainly choose more than just a rooster. Alarm Clock Rio, beautiful app, easy to use, hasn't failed in me in the last few months. Wake up to a playlist/artist/etc. Anything on the phone that is music.

2) Coming in September with iOS 5

3) Right click song in iTunes, convert to AAC, 'get info/properties' shorten song down to 30 seconds~. Save to desktop, change extension to .m4r, upload into itunes as a ringtone (as soon as you drag it it will) If you need more help message me.

4) Might be a hidden feature coming in iOs 5.

5) No clue sorry.

And the wants are jailbreaking items.

 

[apecrazy]

okie dokie, then, jailbreaking it is.....
i really didnt want to do that but i have gotten used to certain things and to be honest it kinda boggles my little mind that i have to jailbreak to do what i consider are very basic things.
but ill have to wait a bit i guess because i updated to 4.2.9 before i knew that i shouldnt have updated. i guess its my luck that i get the phone and plug it into itunes for the very first time the day that the update is released which prevents easy jailbreaking.
thanks for your input.

 

[AdrianK]

okie dokie, then, jailbreaking it is.....
i really didnt want to do that but i have gotten used to certain things and to be honest it kinda boggles my little mind that i have to jailbreak to do what i consider are very basic things.

From your list, jailbreaking would give the advantage of:

• Skinning the Messages app
• Setting custom text alerts

I'll give you the text alerts thing, but skinning an internal app?! Even Android doesn't let you do that unless you root! What it does allow you to do is hand over your data to another app which can do whatever it wants with it.

 

[apecrazy]

i never said anything about "skinning" an internal app, i was simply talking about the text tones (alerts) not the look of the text messaging itself. i take it you mean changing the background or changing the font and such? yes that would be fun and yes, i have done that in the past on my droid2 (without rooting it cause im not a techie, just a simple vet student tryin to get by), but i would be happy with the text tones customization alone.
i had a third party app that i used for my text messages for 3 years and it worked just fine for me. never had a problem with it at all. but then again if i am really concerned about privacy, i wont text the information anyway. putting things in writing just means extra clues lying around so to speak.

and i have been testing the wake2music app and it seems to work better than i thought. the downside is that you have to leave it running in the foreground and plug the phone in. otherwise it auto locks and the alarm doesnt go off until you unlock the phone. i will just have to remember to set it every night before i go to sleep. the nice thin about the android app was that i could set different alarms for different days and not have to think about it every night. its a compromise, so ill see how i feel about it in a few weeks.

ill see how ios5 treats me. at least im not locked into a contract so i could always go back if i wanted......but i dont see that happening.