[Android Apps and Games] gab1972:
I can respect this. I'm a developer in learning. After learning that it was expensive to hire someone to design an app [and that they get to keep a portion of the earnings] I decided I would learn JAVA and Android and do my own.

Boy is that a lot of work! Not to mention server space to accommodate information, usernames, passwords, etc., etc. Then throw in the many many hours it takes to write the code to do what you want it do. Then troubleshooting. Revising. Rewriting. Maintaining a good work ethic and attitude while people bash your work because your particular like doesn't match with theirs. Taking in all of the requests for changes and then incorporate them so that everyone is happy. It's more work than I can comprehend.

So if something works well and is visually pleasing to me, $2 for an entire year *IS* cheap.

Even when I did go to college, $2 was 4/3 of a can of Red Bull. 1/2 of a cup of premium signature coffee at Starbucks. A 20 oz. soda. $2/yr is roughly $0.17 per month...or ONE PENNY every other day!! I don't care how poor you are. If you can afford to go to college, you can afford a penny every two days!

I think a yearly thing is smart for both the seller and buyer. I hate when devs make a really nice app, charge for it, and then ditch it altogether. Want a good example? Check out UberMusic. That dev made and awesome WP7/Zune clone. VERY good music player that had a few bugs that needed fixed and could use some enhancement. But as soon as he baited everyone into spending a few dollars on his app - he disappeared. Nothing. No communication. No updates. No explanation. PLEASE do not do this. So a yearly fee makes you guys stay on your toes to listen to your buyers. You don't listen - we don't pay.

Regarding your WP7 apps:

I tried just about all of them.

Contacts: It had a nice feel to it. But I didn't like having to change the .apk to remove whomever's picture that is when you first start it. When selecting the % button to see the letter picker, make the background dark or blurry. I didn't like it as much so I have been using WP7Contact.

EMail: Doesn't show pictures. Doesn't give the option to show pictures. Should have the option to go right to GMail or whatever other email service without always going to the menu. It was a little annoying having to take a few extra steps to get to my mail. I have activesync for work email and this didn't support that. I found it easier to just use GMail and an app I already had (Touchdown). If you're going to include an email app, make me WANT to switch from the native app. At least by offering all of the same useful functions.

Home Launcher: The layout only offered 2x1 option and 1x1, but no 1x2 option. Overall, I just feel Launcher7 was more useful and customizeable. The tiles are bigger, the menu offers a lot more functions, the folders you can create offer both a list view and a tile view, and it seemed a bit smoother than your home launcher. However, I did like the drawing function to bring up email and SMS when you swipe up in the scrolling section.

WP7Phone: This is the one I keep and use daily. It is smooth. I like the menu options at the bottom. I personally like that it goes right to the call log. The only complaints are if you set it to group the call logs, it seems to group them by their first log. That is, say I called John on October 1. Then I call John again on November 1 and January 1. If I group my call logs, it groups them and then puts it way back at October 1 instead of January 1. Also, when you select the "(" under contacts, again, the background should be darkened or blurry.

Other than that, I was really hoping to check out the music player. UberMusic and ZPlayer were the only options if you want a WP7 experience. I switch between the two because they both have their pluses...but both have their minuses too.

As far as messaging, Metro Messaging is about the only option for a WP7 experience. But he's another that seems to be following the UberMusic business mantra...he's been quiet and hasn't offered any news or updates. The only other option is this one. But he hasn't released his to the market yet.

Hope all this helps.