Android Forum Directory |
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Looking for the right discussion forum for your Google Android phone or device? Below is a growing list of forums that are dedicated to Android phones, tablets, TVs and other devices that use Google’s open source operating system. In the near future, once the list is big enough, this directory will be broken down by device and geographic location so bookmark this page and check back periodically. You should also bookmark this page if you want to do repeated custom searches specifically for information related to Android devices (see below).
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Forum Directory - click on a forum name for more info and a direct link to the forum
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Use the special customized Google search box on the right to search only the Android forums listed on this page.
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Android Community
An extremely active community forum for Android device users. There are sub-forums for the Android operating system, apps, modding your Android device, accessories, and more. The hardware sub-forum has child forums for the EVO, Nexus One, Droid Incredible, Motorola handsets, Samsung handsets, HTC handsets, Dell devices, Supersonic, Legend, Desire, and more with daily activity in many of them. The Apps sub-forum contains reviews of popular by forum members with separate child forum dedicated to reviews done by the web site’s staff members. There’s a curiously named sub-forum for Open Handset Alliance discussions which seems to be a catch-all forum for general discussions about carriers and using Android in general. They also have a section for developers that shows healthy activity with a nice selection of stickied topics that includes a FAQ, Glossary, a features list, and more. You’ll find an entire sub-forum dedicated to something called Notion Ink, a tablet that may be intended to compete with the iPad. For those looking to buy, sell, or swap used phone gear and accessories you can try their aBay sub-forum. The host web site also has a searchable categorized Android apps directory that shows the rating for the listed applications, however many of the apps I saw listed did not have ratings. You can also get a list of recently released apps and a list of the most popular ones.
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(Phandroid) Forums
With 70,000 members and growing the forums managed by the folks at Phandroid are some of the most active on the web. They have a Classifieds sub-forum where members can buy, sell, and trade Android gear. The forums are primarily devoted to Android phones. Other sub-forums focus on operating system updates to the various Android incarnations, games, themes, developers, and more. Their apps section is now up and running and they have been known to hold daily contests where they give away a new Android phone to the best user submitted content of the day.
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Talk Android
This forum is not as active as Phandroid’s forum but does have a fair amount of activity in the primary sub-forums devoted to News, Chat, Hardware, and firmware updates. They also have sub-forums dedicated to some of the most popular Android phone brands, the most active covering HTC’s product line and the Motorola Droid along with a few others. In addition, there are sub-forums for discussions related to the main Android carriers including T-Mobile, Vodafone, Sprint, Verizon, and the Canadian carrier Rogers, however posting here seems to be a bit sporadic, which can also be said about the sub-forums allotted for Android software developers. Other features include a blog and an applications list but the list is a bit sparse considering the huge number of applications that are now available for Android. There’s also a healthy set of nice Wallpapers too.
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AndroLib Forum
Smaller than Phandroid’s forum it the News and Application & Games sub-forums are fairly active. The site’s main focus is to be a repository for news and information on applications for Android phones. They have a rolling list of newly released applications and their apps database is searchable online with a separate section dedicated to Games. One interesting highlight of the site is a Statistics page where graphs are shown depicting various interesting statistics about the number of new applications being released over time including breakdown by various geographic regions, application ratings distributions, and several others. They also offer a selection of Wallpapers.
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Android Developers (Google Groups)
This is a forum for those that write or want to learn how to write applications for Google Android. You will need a Google account to post to the forum since you have to join the group before posting, but that’s not a problem since Google account’s are free. You do not need an account to simply read messages. Note, please do not post end user or hardware/firmware questions in this forum since it is meant for software programmers that are creating applications, not those that use them. If you are a programmer that wants to report a bug in the development tools, then you should use their bug reporting system. Make sure you check to see if there is an existing report before filing a new one. This is a very active Usenet style threaded discussion forum and there are a lot of expert level programmers that hang out there who can help you out with your questions. If you’re simply looking for sample code, tutorials, and technical articles on developing for Android then you should check out their resources section instead.
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XDA Developers Forum (Non-programmers should visit this site too)
A hard core web site for Android and Windows Mobile people with a primary emphasis on providing a forum and content for developers. The activity on their forums is nothing short of furious. Here you will find a complete range of people from those just looking for help on upgrading their phone or looking for accessories to guru types that like to create custom ROM/firmware images that you can download and use on your phone. (At your own risk of course so if you brick your phone it’s on you). However, there is also a ton of information on the forum for end-users too. The forum contains sections for many of the most popular Android phone brands and models, especially for HTC (High Tech Corporation), one of the biggest Android phone manufacturers. Many of the specific phone models have their own child forum dedicated it. You’ll find child forums that discuss upgrading your software, various accessories, ROM images and development info, themes and applications, and more. This is a deep forum with over 300,000 active members and like Phandroid, should be on your must-see list of Android forums. There are also sub-forums dedicated to: general topics such as accessories that are useful to all phone makes and models, networking issues related to accessing common public networks with your phone, upgrading/modifying/unlocking your phone, and a market place for buying and selling used phones and accessories.
The main web site has an active blog with multiple posts per day. If you’re strictly an Android user you’ll have to skip over the Windows 7 content, but it’s worth it to do so, just to get to the Android content. The blog is a good source for information on Android updates notification and many really fun and useful applications and Wallpapers find their way onto the blog. Finally, they have a Wiki where registered users have added helpful content like guides on how to flash the ROM on your device, links to various software development tools/resources, comprehensive model lists for manufacturers like HTC and others, and more.
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AndDev.Org
Dedicated to Android software developers this forum has a wealth of information for programmers with several different forum Groups. The tutorials in the Tutorials Group are segregated into separate child forums each covering a different need including: tutorials containing Code Snippets, tutorials for Novices, Advanced developers, for creating Maps, and OpenGL tutorials that show you how to create 2D and 3d graphics on and Android device. In the Coding Problems Group you can find child forums that discuss the Android Emulator, User Interface issues concerning views, layouts, and resources, on problems/issues with creating Maps on an Android device, multimedia coding problems, networking and database issues, OpenGL development, and a catch-all child forum for discussing anything else. Other child forums cover topics such as the long list of different devices available from various manufacturers and coding/design issues pertaining to each, issues related to porting Android to a particular device, and even one for the recently announced Google TV platform. Miscellaneous forums that may interest you include one that discusses books on Android development, a Jobs forum, News and Rumors, and finally a place for developers to promote their Android applications.
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