Over the last few days, I implemented several new features:
A new preference option allows you to hide the connectivity indicator in the notification area.
Another preference option allows you to not skip regular peer discovery if you use a trusted peer. Its implementation is a bit hacky, as this mode of operation is not supported by bitcoinj very well. But it should do nevertheless.
If "bitcoin charts" is down, exchange rates will be fetched from "Blockchain" instead. The source is indicated.
These things will go live with the next version.