My favorite Android apps
Originally published at breyten. You can comment here or there.
It's now been a month or two since I bought my HTC desire (Love the device!), so here's me going away on all the apps I use. One of the nice things about Android is that everything is customizable, so I guess your milage may vary.
Social networks
One of my main uses on the Desire is social networks. Here are a few apps I use:
- Twitter: For twitter I use Twitdroyd. It's a barebones and simple app. (I must say I haven't used the official client at all, but I heared it's not so good). The best feature is that it allows you to set a list as the startup screen (When I'm mobile I'm not necessarily interested in my complete timeline, but only of a few favorite tweeps).
- Facebook: I was never really happy with the official Facebook app, but there seemed not to be a better one. The new update (1.3) is awesome though!
- Foursquare: Everybody's favorite location based app. I don't use it that much anymore, but the app is basic and good. There's also PhiSq (automatich checkin on foursquare after scanning a QR code -- but not many places have that yet). If you're adventurous you could try out autosquare, but beware as the precision is not that high, and you might end up checking in in place you were not actually.
Everybody wants to take pictures, right?
- Moby I most commonly use Mobypicture to upload pics. Quite basic app, which is great!
- FxCamera: This is a great app if you want to take a picture with some basic effects added (There's a warholizer effect, polaroid etc.)
- PixSay: Is for basic editing of pictures just before you upload.
- upStream: Is a Flickr client which allows for uploading of multiple pictures to flickr at the same time. I do not use it regularly (due to Moby), but it's more convenient than sending pictures to my computer via bluetooth and then uploading.
I use a couple of apps to improve my productivity (Or so I think):
- Astrid : My to-do list of choice, and connects to Remember The Milk. New version gets add-ons, but I'm not sure how enthousiastic I'm about that (I like simpler apps better usually)
- Springpad : I use this as my app to make notes, but it can do much more than that. Still figuring this one out.
- android2cloud : This is an app which sends links from your Android phone to your computer, which can be quite convenient. Interface is quite clunky, but I'm sure they'll improve on that.
- Chrome to Phone: The reverse of android2cloud. Can also copy text and such, and there are plugins for Chrome and Firefox.
I haven't used my Desire much for music play yet.
- Spotify: If you have a premium Spotify account (which I have), then this is a must have app. Not only can it play music from the Sptoify servers (so basically you can play all music), but it plays MP3s on your SD card as well.
- Shazam: Doh!
As I've said, Android allows pretty much anything to be customised.
- Hancent SMS: The default SMS app that comes with the Android is quite basic. If fact, a little too basic for my taste. The Handcent app does a better job of presenting mostly, and is also much more customisable.
- LauncherPro: I've replace the HTC Sense launcher with this one, as it allows you to customise the number of screens (I do not nearly use all 7 screens on the Sense) and it has the bar at the bottom which contains apps you'd like to see always (Can you tell that I was an iPhone use before I had the desire?)
- Retro clock: The sense widgets don't work on LauncherPro so I needed a widget which shows date and time. One of the nice things is that you can lcick on the time which will launch the Clock app, and clicking on the date will launch the calendar app
- Power Strip: PowerStrip is somewhat of a launcher that does not take up the entire screen, and thus allows a bit faster acces to your apps.
- Advanced Task Killer: You basically need this app to kill your used android apps every once in a while to free up memory and preserve your battery. Put the widget on your home screen, then you can kill with one click!
- JuiceDefender: Makes your battery last longer by enabling internet access your only a short period of time, then disabling it again. You can do this also using Tasker (described below)
- Tasker: I've only had this app for a short while, but totally is worth the money, as it's so versatile. Fun thing you can do with this is enabling GPS when you startup a certain app (eg. Maps), or displaying a menu of music apps to start when inserting your headphone jack. And it can do much more than that.
- Lookout: Basic virus scanning for your Android. Not entirely sure if it's really necessary, but it makes you feel safe about apps you install.
- TrueCaller: Can shw you a bit more info about who's calling you. Not that great when you're called using a mobile phone, but for landlines work well. You can also block phone numbers from calling you using this app.
Now for some apps which are really only of use if you're living in The Netherlands
- Appie: The app for the biggest supermarket is also available on Android. Comes in quite handy!
- Treintijden lite: Shows you train schedules and more. Is able to find the station closest to your current location so you can plan your travelling easy. There's also the 9292ov pro app (But I don't travel much by public transport)
- ATM-NL: If you want to know where the nearest ATM is :)
- TNT Post: Where the nearest post office is, and also tracking of packages
These are the highlights, really. What do you use on your Android phone?