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Friday, April 22, 2011Must-Have Android Apps
Late 2010 I got my first "smart phone". An Android of course. I had an existing contract with Verizon when I lived in the Portland metro area, and so having every desire to not break said contract and pay the exorbitant fee, I stuck with the carrier despite its poor service in the area I now live in. It's good enough. I get by just fine. I did not at the time know that Apple's incredibly popular iPhone would be available on the Verizon network and knowing that now...I still think I would have stuck with my Android phone. And here's why: for as much as I love my iPod, I hate how I'm stuck with iTunes. I dislike the necessity to utilize Apple products for the hundreds of songs I downloaded in their proprietary format, and I dislike in general how Apple tends to do the same with ALL their products. They are, inconceivably, not the least bit flexible or customizable. Good luck installing a new launcher/home replacement/UI on ANY Apple product. If I don't like the way my Samsung Fascinate's message boxes look in txt message UI, I can quite simply get a replacement, or if I don't like the built-in Car Dock...GONE! And MANY of the replacements available for even the core functions of the Android phones are chocked FULL of customizations. Colors, shapes, themes, sizes, fonts, everything I want to tweak and mess with I can. I'm surrounded by people that own and love their iPhones - and the poor souls can't even replace their own batteries. OK, enough about that.
As I mentioned before, I own a Samsung Fascinate, that I'm happy to announced I FINALLY got the FROYO (2.2) update for just yesterday. Sweetness. Love the simple functionality upgrades that came with that and am looking forward to longer battery life (or so I'm told). I can't help myself, I simply HAVE to share the top 10 essential, MUST-HAVE applications for an Android phone. #10 - Mobile Queue from Netflix If you're a Netflix member, there's nothing better. You're out on the go and you see a preview or a friend tells you there's some movie you just HAVE to see. So you whip out your phone and add it to your queue. Maybe put it at the top, or fix your queue so that some movie that's been in a waiting state and is now at the bottom of your queue, goes to the top. Netflix goodies for your Android. #9 - Remember the Milk RTM is a task/to-do list manager. It's great. There's a web interface, an iGoogle plugin, and of course an Android app. Custom reminders, color coding, prioritization, mass editing, and a fun widget to go right next to your calendar. #8 - GO SMS Pro If I'm not mistaken I paid for the pro version, and there's a free version out there that's practically the same. HUGE customizations of the SMS/text message interface. Super great. Downloadable themes, a decent widget for the home screen, customize everything and get an additional free notification pack which allows you to further customize how you're notified about text messages, phone calls, emails and more. So much better than the stock TouchWhiz messaging app which looks and feels cartoonish. #7 - Active Apps What was awesome about the TouchWhiz UI is it came with this very intelligent Task Manager application. Which I still have, even now, after replacing the launcher/UI with an aftermarket, but the WIDGET is gone. I looked and looked and looked and FINALLY somebody came out with a simple widget, displaying the number of active background applications, easily readable and, again, FULLY customizable in a plethora of mechanisms. If you're utilizing a home replacement, and miss the task manager widget, this dandy little app is what you're looking for in the market. #6 - NoLED There are two things I don't like about the Samsung Fascinate, and really only two. First is its integration with Bing. Second, there's no LED letting me know I've missed a call, text, email, etc. When my phone's in my pocket, I want the screen off. When I take it out, I'd like a visual, not necessarily audible way of knowing I've missed something. (FYI, for those that want an audible or vibrating notification, NoLED in combination with "Missed Reminder" is the way to go). This leaves your phone's screen mostly off (black) and using a very minimal amount of batter and processor/memory, displays a small floating little icon notifying you that you've missed any number of events including calendar appointments, emails, texts, calls, and more - again fully customizable in many different ways. #5 - Facebook This is a no-brainer. If you use Facebook and want an app on your phone, this is a must-have. Since getting this, I've turned off all notifications within Facebook to my SMS device. #4 - Maps (by Google) This too is a no-brainer. The Samsung Fascinate comes with a Bing/Verizon combination of maps and navigation via GPS, but it's horrible. If you're like the rest of the world, the first thing you'll do is hide (because you can't remove) every last reference to Bing on your phone and replace it with Google stuff. This suite of applications came with not just Maps, but Navigation, an additional app called "Latitude" which lets you share places with your contacts, and "Places" which is a decent interface for searching for popular types of locales such as restaurants, coffee shops, and others (again, with some customization). Side note: It does look like Samsung/Verizon incorporated a Google search app and widget for the Fascinate with the Froyo update, so at least you get the choice now; however the hard-coded search button on the Fascinate phone itself appears to still be mapped to Bing without the ability to change it (which is why I never use it). #3 - Car Home Ultra Now we're really getting into the creme de la creme. So the Verizong/Bing integration that came with the phone included a stock Car Dock app that is, again, chocked full of Verizon and Bing apps with zero customization within the app. However, with Android being the master of customization that it is, I replaced my car dock quite easily. And Car Home Ultra is the proverbial bomb. Big fat buttons that are easy to press at an arm's reach away, fully customizable of course, a night mode, a speedometer, a constant compass, it can verbally give you notifications of the areas and towns you enter and exit, brightness adjustment, and much more. This is the way to go for any Android phone that gets used in the car, and especially if you utilize the Car Dock (which I highly recommend for Fascinate users). #2 - GO Launcher EX I almost didn't include this because I'm not sure I'd really call this an app. But I suppose without splitting too many hairs, that it is. It's a Home replacement. Otherwise known as a new "UI" or "Launcher". If you're new to Android lingo those all mean the same thing and they have nothing to do with "rooting" your phone. It's all very legal and very cool. I've tried out 3 or 4 of the most popular launchers and this one by far gets my vote. Fully customizable & assignable 5-button dock complete with icon customization. Add as many home screens as you want and make them rotate around like sides of a cube or a few other transition options. Your apps and icons are totally customizable too in terms of resizing widgets, etc. Context menus for long-presses on nearly all objects in the UI. Gestures for all kinds of assignable tasks including make your notification bar disappear/reappear (which I use). And the app drawer blows away the TouchWhiz UI's app drawer. All-in-all, a totally worthwhile $1.99. #1 - Tasker Wow, I just can't say enough how much I love this app. I've tried trials and even bought some of the competitors software such as Easy Profiles, Setting Profiles Pro, "Profile" and Locale...and I'm here to tell you that Tasker is THE way to go. I use it to make my phone do a multitude of modifications based on triggers. Want your phone to go to silent mode & 10% screen brightness from midnight to 6am, Monday through Friday, when your GPS says you're HOME? How about vibrate only mode, or calendar appointments play the Star Trek theme when you're at work (based on GPS location) past 6pm? Or automatically reboot once a week? Maybe pre-launch your large Bible app for you when you arrive at CHURCH? Or only answer the phone in speaker mode when you're in the car on the dock? I NEVER EVER have to put my ringer on or off. This app handles it all for me. Yes it took me a few weeks to get in all the customizations I wanted, but once I was done - it's been a life saver. This app is totally worth the six and a half bucks. HOME SCREENS Just for fun, here's what's on my home screens: Screen 1 (far left) is my Games Screen: Android Lightsaber, Angry Birds, Tetris, Scanner Radio (police/EMT/fire scanner), Tricorder, Ninja Rush, Glow Hockey, Tiger NES Emulator, Tiger SNES Emulator, Fruit Ninja, Mahjong Screen 2 (2nd screen from left) is my general common apps screen: Gallery, Market, Calculator, Tasker, Flashlight, KeePassDroid, Maps, Bible, uNote, Daily Brief. Widgets: Remember the Milk and the new Calendar widget from Froyo update. Screen 3 (3rd screen from left) is my social screen: "The City" bookmark link to my church's social networking app, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, & Calendar app shortcuts. Widgets: Facebook (2x4), Google Search (1x4), & GO SMS Pro (2x4) messaging widget. Screen 4 (4th from left) is my home screen: Sense Analog Glass Clock & Active Apps 1x1 widget. Screen 5 (from left) is my phone screen: Missed Reminders, Reverse Lookup, and Voicemail. Widgets: NoLED (1x1), new "Contacts" (4x1) widget from Froyo update, and picture frame of my wife. Screen 6 is my sports screen: Yankees.com bookmark shortcut, MLB.com bookmark shortcut, At Bat Lite, ScoreCenter from ESPN, Sports Illustrated, FootballFan, and NFL Mobile. Widgets: MLB At Bat Lite (1x5) & ScoreCenter (1x5). Screen 7 is my movies/entertainment screen: Mobile Queue Netflix, IMDB, Fandango, Video Player, Youtube, Blockbuster, Kindle, Media Hub (new from Froyo update). Widgets: Youtube (1x5) Screen 8 is my music screen: gStrings Free (guitar tuner), Jam11 (beta for iTunes streaming from my computer to my phone over the Internet), JamBox, stock Music Player, Winamp. Widgets: Pandora (1x5) and Winamp (2x5). Screen 9 (last from left, first from right) is my shopping screen: Grocery Gadget (syncs my phone with my wife's for shopping lists), Amazin MP3, my banking app, CraigslistMobile, PayPal, eBay, and Barcode Scanner. Widgets: Gracery Gadget (1x5). Dock buttons (dock 1): Phone, camera, app drawer, messaging, browser. Dock 2: contacts, navigation, car home, email, calendar. CARHOME ULTRA SCREENS: Screen 1 (center position, home screen): Voice search, navigation, GO SMS Pro (to read, never to write while driving), Maps, GasBuddy, and a shortcut to call my wife's phone. Screen 0 (left of center): banking app, Remember the Milk, Grocery Gadget, and Calendar. Screen 2 (right of center): Phone, Voicemail, Daily Briefing, Scanner Radio, Email HONORABLE Mentions (apps not on a home screen, but still good)
Bazooka-Joe made it so at 11:41 AM
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