Top 10 Android Apps
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Android's
been around for more than a year, and in that time developers have
whipped up some great apps. Whether you're a new Android owner or a pro
looking for new tools, these 10 great and free apps belong in your
arsenal.
Photo by lwallenstein.
We're going
to skip right over the apps that are just so common, universal, and
well replicated on the iPhone or other mobile platforms that a user with
a need will probably hunt them down—Facebook, Yelp, Evernote, Remember
the Milk, and endless Twitter clients, widgets, and apps. We've also
skipped over Google's own neat apps, like Google Voice, Navigation, and
Goggles, that are (or will be) included standard on new Android phones.
Instead, we're aiming to shine a little light on apps that quietly offer
excellent functionality for those who download them.
Update:
I moved TasKiller Free up to a lower ranking, and modified its entry
description a bit, after some further research, spurred by some
Andro-savvy comments and emails.
10. Layar
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In some ways, this is a vote for the potential of Layar
as much as the practical application. Walking around with your phone
and seeing Wikipedia subjects, apartments for sale, and what Twitter
users have raved about through your phone is a pretty neat thing, and
potentially helpful when you're looking for things to do in a new city.
But as Layar continues to add new layers, and as camera and mobile
processing power continue to improve, Layar could become a lot more
interesting than it already is. One thing worth mentioning is that if
you don't like the 3-D camera view, or like the looks of yourself while
using it, Layar can just show you points of interest on a Google-type
map. Either way you use it, it's an intriguing look at what's happening
just around the corner. (Original post)
9. Listen
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Until
the latest upgrade, we couldn't have really called Listen a king among
podcast apps—it had a few irksome bugs, one of them being the loss of
episodes and, sometimes, subscriptions. Now, however, Google's own app
does a great job not only of finding audio content, but it exports your
subscriptions to be managed in Google Reader, ensuring a full feed
backup and easier retrieval of past episodes you want to head back and
hear. If you need more fine-grained podcast control, try ACast, but Listen will work for most. (Original post)
8. AnyCut
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You can drop a lot of neat things on your Android home screen, but you can't quite get one-click access to everything in your phone's settings and extras. AnyCut
doesn't have a great interface, and it might take some trial and error
before you get to exactly what you're looking for. Soon enough, though,
you'll have access to the deepest guts of your settings, so switching 3G
on and off, enabling location services, and other tricks are easy to
pull off. (Original post)
7. Secrets
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There's no browser syncing on the Android—yet (c'mon, Mozilla, get on that Firefox Mobile!). In the meantime, there's Secrets, a secure, KeePass-compatible,
master-password-locked vault for all your passwords. It's not that hard
to export your passwords from your desktop or laptop onto your SD card,
and with full-text search finally implemented, Secrets is a lot more
convenient for those oh-shoot-what's-that-username-again moments. (Original post)
6. TasKiller Free
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The
downside to Android's multi-tasking is that sometimes, some apps can
become unexpectedly become memory or bandwidth hogs, or bring your phone
down with them when they crash. Few apps provide a direct, easy "Quit"
option, though, and sometimes you can't get to the app to close it.
Enter TasKiller,
a free app-killing utility that works from its standard icon, or as one
of a number of widgets you can add to your home screen for one-click
system rescuing. The free version serves up ads and lacks a few advanced
features, but generally serves the needs of anyone who's sick of
needing to actually reset their phone just to clear up space for, you
know, phone calls and such. Note: This app
should be used as more of a last resort than regular maintenance
tool—killing processes and apps willy-nilly can turn off alarms, kill
background syncing, and have other unintended consequences.
5. SlideScreen
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You
use your Android smartphone differently than your desktop computer. You
don't work with files and shortcuts, so much as you check in on the
streams of data you care about—email, text messages, Facebook and
Twitter, chat, and the like. SlideScreen
replaces, or just augments, if you'd like, your phone's home screen,
creating row after row of messages and feeds. Slide the center info bar
up and down to look at more or less of your items, swipe to the right to
dismiss items as read, and revel in having all your data on hand at
once. SlideScreen also replaces the standard application tray, giving
you 8 slots to put your most frequently accessed apps, and tucking all
the others into a rolling deck below. It's a total makeover for your
phone, in other words—one that might just make you fall in love all over
again with the concept of mobile data. (Original post)
4. Shopper
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Okay, at first we were pretty skeptical of Google's Shopper app, since it seemed like just a mashup of Google's own Goggles and barcode-smart apps likes ShopSavvy.
Then we actually used Shopper, and were amazed at both how accurately
it picked up both barcodes and simple cover shots, and at how very fast it worked. Turns out, according to one developer who appeared on This Week in Google,
Shopper is actually uploading image data to Google's servers as it
captures it, and decodes barcodes right on the phone. Speed for speed's
sake is nice, sure, but it's pretty nice not to have to stand in front
of a book display for a whole two minutes, waving your phone around a
bunch of books you're trying to competitively price. Shopper answers the
"Can I buy this cheaper" question, and answers it quickly.
3. PDANet
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PDANet
is the easiest way to use your phone's cellular net connection as a
makeshift internet access point, for those hard-up situations when you
just need to get online somehow, anyhow. The free version always offers
basic internet access, but restricts secure site connections after a
trial period. The paid version isn't cheap ($30), but it is the easiest
of the three ways we know how to tether an Android phone.
For the cost of nothing, we'll take some basic web site
browsing—because, hey, can't you get to Gmail on your phone if you
really need it? (Original post)
2. WaveSecure
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This
one's only free until March 31, so be sure to jump on it if you think
there's even a remote chance you'll want some killer security tools
available to you. WaveSecure
not only backs up your contacts, SMS messages, photos and videos, and
other files to the developer's cloud for later restoring if your phone
gets lost, but can lock down a phone when you're stashing it for a
while, locate a phone with GPS or text message triangulation
(seriously), and, as a final option, pull off a total and complete
remote wipe if you fear all is lost. Powerful peace of mind, especially
for the price. (Original post)
1. ASTRO File Manager
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This
is one of those apps you hope gets some attention, if only to be bought
by Google or otherwise integrated into the basic phone software. ASTRO File Manager
does a great job of letting you navigate files on your SD card and
accessible internal memory, sure, but it also has its own built-in task
killer, backs up applications, can send files as email attachments (not
all that easy or intuitive from the mail client, for some reason), and
much more. It's the Leatherman of Android utilities, and a must-have on any serious geek's phone.for more apps visit
HERE