Your "Must-Have" Apps for Android

[MagickMan]

ATK will actually make your Android device unstable now, especially since Froyo (2.2). Stay away from it.

 

[Apex]

Logging Checker by TrevE

 

[GoodEnough]

Swype is beta? It's not in Android marketplace. Where do you get it?

 

[gorcorps]

Would you mind not cross posting the same question across 3 different threads? It's against the rules and damned annoying. Pick one and stick with it.

Swype is a beta and only certain devices get access to it. I would personally recommend TouchPal keyboard over Swype, as it does the exact same thing but I find it more accurate and has more options you can customize. Plus it's free and can be had from the market.

 

[GoodEnough]

Anyone do anything to enhance the speakerphone ?

Is it worth getting one of those annoying bluetooth headsets to jam in your ear?
Have they gotten better in the last few years?

 

[s44]

Swype is a beta and only certain devices get access to it.

Anyone can go to the Swype website and get an installer for the beta though. (Have to register.)

Alternatives: TouchPal (free), FlexT9 ($5)

 

[NikolaeVarius]

It's a launcher replacement. Think of it as the phone's windowing system.

LP, though great, seems to be abandoned. I'd suggest Go Launcher EX for the novice.

I was on the LP forums about a week back and apparently the rewrite is like 70% done as of this month.

At this, rate we'll see in in 2013.

However, it may be abandonded for now, but it's still more or less the best launcher replacement.

 

[jhansman]

Power Amp (probably the best music player for Android)
Xiialive (great radio streamer)
Moon + Reader Pro (well worth the cost for its feature set)
DaTuner (if you play and tune stringed instruments)
Sygic Aura (for GPS, if you find you need more than Google Maps supplies)

 

[AstroManLuca]

TouchPal sucks in my experience. The dictionary is threadbare, I have to manually tap in words all the time, even ones that you would think would be part of any dictionary.

Swype is the best swiping keyboard. Signing up for the beta is easy.

If you like tapping keyboards instead of sliding keyboards, try SwiftKey X. There's a free one month trial.

Other good launchers are ADW Launcher EX (the free version is significantly worse, not just in features but in performance) and Go Launcher EX. I like LauncherPro but the developer seems to have abandoned it. He has a website and a forum with his own personal defense force who smack people down for asking if he's still working on it. He said he was working on a ground-up rewrite over a year ago but his last post was in July. I like LauncherPro for its stability but customizing it is difficult - you can't drag and drop items to and from the dock like you can with ADW and Go Launcher, and you can't rearrange homescreens either.

 

[AkumaX]

QuickPic
- much faster photo viewer
LauncherPro
- using this launcher made my phone from sluggish nightmare to speedy quicky
Awesome Drop
- drop files into your phone from any computer. you can have ANYONE give you files from anywhere, all done through the browser!
Wifi Explorer Pro
- kinda like awesome drop, but this lets you do file upload AND download to/from the phone. unfortunately it can only be done via wifi..
Battery Monitor Widget
- its an app that can also be a widget, but I use it for the app itself. it actually helps you identify usage patterns (like, wtf did i do during those 2 hrs that caused 70% battery drain, etc..) the thing i like the most about it is it shows how much draw/current that the phone pulls from your wall charger. If it says USB mode, you get no more than 200mA draw for charging. that means itll take like more than 6 hrs to charge your phone to 100%! if it says AC, your phone will draw max 1000mA/1A. so use this program to figure out if your wall charger is sufficient! my phone was only pulling 500mA from my old wall charger (when the charger itself says 1000mA). i switched to a different one and now i draw 900mA

 

[zerogear]

ATK is useless, if you really need something like that, get WatchDog. It polls the phone for programs that have extended high use of CPU -- which is basically all you need, killing a single program that might have crashed or is not doing what it's supposed to be doing.

 

[smartpatrol]

What Windows program do you guys use to sync music to your Android device? I know Winamp works. Any alternatives you would suggest?

 

[bonkers325]

What Windows program do you guys use to sync music to your Android device? I know Winamp works. Any alternatives you would suggest?

Google Music is good if you want cloud music storage

 

[Red Storm]

What Windows program do you guys use to sync music to your Android device? I know Winamp works. Any alternatives you would suggest?

I use Google Music. I believe it's a 20,000 song limit, not a specific storage limit, and you can make songs available offline so you can still listen to tunes while on the subway, or in a bad service area, etc.

 

[zerogear]

What Windows program do you guys use to sync music to your Android device? I know Winamp works. Any alternatives you would suggest?

Things like Songbird/MediaMonkey/WMP/Winamp all works since Android 2.x works as a mass storage (usb drive).

4.0 will bring MTP, but that is also widely supported by almost all jukebox/music management software. (Again, except iTunes)

 

[QueBert]

Swiftkey X
Contapps
Juice Defender Ultimate

and while not an app, I wouldn't ever buy an android phone that couldn't run the Miui rom.

 

[Piano Man]

Google Maps
Google Nav
Google Talk
Google Voice
Rhapsody
Facebook

 

[WelshBloke]

Things like Songbird/MediaMonkey/WMP/Winamp all works since Android 2.x works as a mass storage (usb drive).

4.0 will bring MTP, but that is also widely supported by almost all jukebox/music management software. (Again, except iTunes)

Media Monkey just had an update and works really well with Android now.



Also the first post needs to be updated with the best apps. We can harange and insult him to add or remove the ones we think should go there.

 

[QueBert]

What Windows program do you guys use to sync music to your Android device? I know Winamp works. Any alternatives you would suggest?

Since I only use iTunes, I looooove iSyncr/iSyncr Wifi, intergrates perfect with iTunes, supports smart playlists even. And I use PlayerPro (it works with other players I believe) it syncs back raitings and update iTunes play count. If you don't use iTunes iSyncr would be pointless. But it's so good that imho it's worth starting to use iTunes for. I have a smart playlist set up to automatically sync 10 new songs I've never listened to every morning.

 

[WelshBloke]

Since I only use iTunes, I looooove iSyncr/iSyncr Wifi, intergrates perfect with iTunes, supports smart playlists even. And I use PlayerPro (it works with other players I believe) it syncs back raitings and update iTunes play count. If you don't use iTunes iSyncr would be pointless. But it's so good that imho it's worth starting to use iTunes for. I have a smart playlist set up to automatically sync 10 new songs I've never listened to every morning.

Nothing is that good.

 

[mammador]

Music - Mixzing
VoIP/Softphone - 3CXphone
Cloud storage - Dropbox/Download all files
Online radio - TubeIn Radio
Web-based mail - GMail/Yahoo or the propietary Android app

 

[AkumaX]

anyone know of an app that'll read back stuff (like text messages, web pages, etc..)

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Twitter
Facebook
FourSquare
SoundCloud
YouTube
StumbleUpon
Email
Browser
Calender
Weather
Camera/Camcorder
WallSwitch
Map / Navigation
Yelp
RealCalc
GeoBeagle / C:Geo
Alarm
Various language learning & translation apps

Games vary.

 

[shortylickens]

Forgot to mention this a year ago, but I also like Color Notes.
And with the latest patches I dont need much more than a good note program and the Quick Settings. Everything else is already there. Gmaps finally has offline navigation. Email is fine, browsing is OK. Well, maybe Dolphin Browser HD is an improvement.
And I love my games from Amazon. Most of them were free or dirt cheap. Only problem is on my Droid theres little room to install apps and the average game fills it up. Havent kept any of my better Android devices longer than a week. Nothing is good enough. Had a Xoom, couple cheap Archos, Kindle Fire, didnt keep any of them.

So basically a note program, improved browser, easier settings (especially widget buttons, like the Power Bar) and my games. And the games really arent Must-have.

 

[zerogear]

Nothing is that good.

Nothing is worth using iTunes for.