Android apps are essential to the end-users experience.
There are several categories of apps, but I am going to ignore some as they are
limited in their scope (ie, apps that are games, or are only focused on those
who root their phones).
I believe the average smartphone user is going to want
to focus on improving the user interface (apps that are better than the stock
apps that come on the phone), social apps (ie Twitter, texting, conferencing),
and media apps (ie music, photos, news).
Below are those categories and the apps that I feel can
improve the Android experience.
Disclaimer: There are hundreds of thousands of Android
apps. This is in no way all inclusive and can change daily.
BETTER THAN THE STOCK ANDROID APPLICATIONS:
Text Messanging:
1 – Go SMS Pro / Handcent SMS / Chomp SMS / Google
Voice.
They are all better than the stock messenger, in their
own regard. The average user can be complacent with the stock messaging app, it
does send texts and MMS (ie pictures) just fine after all, but for the user who
wants more, and these are the apps to try.
To be fair, Google Voice should not be lumped in here
as it does so much. This app should be on every Android device, period.
Browser:
2 – Dolphin Browser HD / Skyfire / Miren
Wait, three more suggestions? Yeap. Why? Because their
all awesome in their own regard. The stock browser I find fantastic, it does
what you need and does it well. Again though, Android allows the user to do a
lot more.
Dolphin is great because of tabbed browsing, gestures
(finger swipes to open bookmarks for example) and multi-touch.
Skyfire emphasizes playing video – even those that are
not compatible with Android.
Miren is extremely fast, minimalistic UI, and a lot of
neat features (scrolling with the volume button, swipes to go forward/backward,
etc).
Gallery:
3 – QuickPic
I hate the stock android gallery. It is a CPU hog, slow
to load and limited in features. It is frankly my least favorite part of
Android. QuickPic by Alensw (there are several apps with that name) is amazing.
It is extremely fast to load, you can exclude certain albums from displaying,
very high resolution/image quality, and built in editing tools (ie cropping,
rotating, etc).
The Launcher (your homescreen):
4 – ADW EX / LauncherPro / Go Launcher EX
There I go again, three suggestions. Most of these have
similar features, but each have unique features. I prefer ADW EX because it
allows me to use swipe gestures to open my notifications or to open a second
hidden dock bar (a place to stash commonly opened apps). This allows my
homescreen to be less cluttered. You can customize the layout a lot more as
well (ie, instead of the standard 4×4 layout, you can make it as much as
10×10), overlap widgets, infinite scrolling, change animations, etc. The list
of options go on and on. I strongly suggest trying a new launcher.
Camera:
5 – CameraZoom FX / Camera360 / Retro Camera / Little
Photo
All of these apps have features above and beyond the
stock camera. I prefer Retro Camera because it is free and it also has a very
unique UI. I can take some pretty spectacular photos with it, with very little
effort. I’m a sucker for black and white photos that have a vintage look
though.
A reader also suggested Little Photo – which seems
wildly popular but was not known by me – NICE!
Music:
6 – PowerAMP / UberMusic / TuneIn Radio / Google Music
/ Amazon MP3
Again, each have unique qualities. PowerAMP is great in
that it plays most anything and has an equalizer. UberMusic is just sexy.
TuneIn Radio allows you to stream music from all over the world. Google Music
is great for its cloud capabilities – I love having my music sync and not be
stored on precious memory space. Amazon MP3 also has cloud capabilities and
offers free music.
Dialer / Contacts:
7 –Go Contacts EX
Not every Android has a smart dialer (when you start
typing a phone number or contact name, it filters out your results). I find that
hard to believe. Go Contacts EX not only has a great smart dialer, but the UI
is great too. You can swipe left to right to change from the dialer to contacts
for instance. The app can also be themed by simply downloading themes from the
Market (most of which are also free)
Photos:
8 – TouchRetouch / PicSay Pro / Little Photo
We talked about the Camera and the Gallery, but what
about editing photos? Ever have something in your shot that you wish wasn’t
there. TouchRetouch is essentially a magic eraser for your photos. It’s pretty
brilliant for an app on your phone and can easily remove objects.
PicSay Pro is more of an effects tool. It allows a
tremendous amount of customization to your photos.
Keyboards:
9 – Swype Beta / Swiftkey X
Swype is hands down the most revolutionary keyboard
out. I was afraid of moving to a phone with no physical keyboard, till I tried
Swype. The beta is open and free, and it’s the best keyboard out, in my
opinion. Do yourself a favor and register now. Most know that Swype allows you
to move from letter to letter (not peck each letter), but it also has a
tremendous amount of features. I’ve got a huge guide on this, please contact me
if interested. Swiftkey X is another revolutionary keyboard in a different sense.
It actively seeks the NEXT word you would type, and it learns as you type. So,
the more you use it, the more accurately it can predict your next word. I’ve
written entire sentences by simply selecting the word it thought I would use.
These are both amazing and something I am certain an iPhone would love to have
(avoiding some of the famous auto-correct iPhone typo blunders).
SOCIAL APPS:
10 – Plume
I’ve tried every twitter app out there, and none can
touch the power of Plume. Feature rich it won’t let you down. Get this if you
use Twitter, or start using twitter if you do not already! I’ve found it to be
the best way to get brief bits of news information catered to me. So much so
that it’s now my favorite feature of a Smartphone.
11 – GroupMe
A completely free way to keep in contact with a group.
Send text messages (with your data plan – not a traditional text message),
share photos, conference calling, etc. This is a powerful app that could serve
teenagers to the executive on business trips.
12 – Google+
Say what it really is, a FaceBook killer. Google hit a
homerun with their social network in my opinion, and the app is feature rich.
Want to have private conversations, or share with the world? Want to instantly
sync photos taken from your phone? Want to use an alternate messenger or video
chat with up to 9 people? Get it.
TRAVEL APPS:
13 – Google Maps
The features of Maps is pretty robust, but it is the
Navigation that is its strong point in my opinion. I had two Garmin GPS units
that became junk when I got my first Android phone. Not only did the Navigation
work better (accuracy of turn by turn directions) from my phone, but the GPS
signal was more accurate. You can also use Places to find and rate places and
Lattitude to locate friends near you.
14 – Worldmate
Short and sweet, a must if you travel a lot. Forward
your confirmation emails and it groups all of your itinerary into an incredibly
simple package. Organize your plans, change your itinerary, share your
itinerary with people, get flight alerts or check on a flight, get reminders,
it locates hotels near you and even brings in the weather. Seriously, if you
travel, try this!
MISCELLANEOUS APPS:
15 – Beautiful Widgets / Fancy Widgets
Another benefit of Android is the widgets – an easy to
find and attractive thing to have on your homescreen with relevant information.
I enjoy knowing the time and weather near me, and these apps give it accurately
and in an attractive way that can be easily themed to my liking.
16 – Alarm Clock Plus
If you use your smartphone as your alarm, for lunch or
sleep – this is the one to try. Feature rich and known as one of the best. This
will be better than the stock Alarm on the phone and incorporates weather.
17 – Amazon’s Appstore
There are many nice features about Amazon’s Appstore,
including their review process (added security perhaps over the Android
Market), but lets be honest… its best feature is that they offer a paid app for
free every day. Sometimes these apps are pretty amazing too. On more than one
occasion I have went and bought the app in the official Android Market when I
wanted to show my support to a developer.
18 – Chrome to Phone
If you use Android, there is a strong chance Chrome is
your browser on your PC. This dandy of an app allows you to press the button on
your PC’s browser (using the Chrome to Phone extension), and instantly that
page/document/download link will show on your phone. Amazingly simply and
powerful.
19 – Wheres My Droid
Are you one that easily misplaces their phone? Once
installed, this app lets you send a text to your phone if it’s misplaced to
help locate it. What if you left your phone on silent… what if you are not near
it? Well, not only does it turn the volume to max (just in case), but it also
lets you get the GPS coordinates if you REALLY misplaced it. A must have on any
Android in my opinion.
20 – Astro File Manager
With Android you have the ability to view and move
files around. This is the best way to manage your files, make backups of
important files, open zip/tar files, allow downloads from the browser, etc.
Frankly, every Android phone should come with a file manager, but they do not.
Even if your phone did come with a file manager, there is a strong chance that
it is not as good as Astro File Manager.
This list is no way inclusive. There are MANY apps that
I use daily that did not get a mention. Perhaps I will make an extended list
with more categories next time. I would appreciate your feedback. If you know
someone new to Android, shoot them a link to this… I’d love to hear what
someone new to Android thought of this list.
Thanks!!
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