Favorite Android Apps (2 Viewers)

[ManW_TheUncool]

Thanks for the recs, Ron. Do you find the Double Twist alarm to loud enough? I'm currently trying out Alarm Clock Xtreme, which I apparently picked up as a free app long ago from Amazon. I like its features and functionalities (though it won't win any beauty contests), but find the alarm sound to be too low, eg. music alarm is definitely lower than playback by the music player and not nearly loud enough. Also, I may give that Aqua Mail app a try at some point. Quite annoying that the stock mail client doesn't do GMail. Fortunately, I currently only use GMail to receive notices and such, not really for regular use, so checking thru notifications works alright for that. That plus using multiple client apps is probably unavoidable at least for now since my current company requires us to use Touchdown for work email/PIM. _Man_

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Man, I wish I could give you solid answer on that. The problem is, I don't use DoubleTwist as an alarm unless I am traveling. My overpriced Bose radio still serves as my home wakeup alarm. From memory, yes, the alarm is certainly loud enough to wake me in a quiet hotel room. However, one person's expectations of loudness may not meet another's. I think you will like Aqua Mail. The only imperfect part of it is that it doesn't correctly format messages the way Samsung and Gmail do. The author admits this is a vexing problem that she has been unable to fix as of yet. Otherwise, the app is constantly updated per many of the requests that flow into the software website's discussion forum.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Thanks for the quick follow-up, Ron. Boy, battery life on the GS3 sure is wanting! Had thought maybe I could get by w/ just the stock battery and recharge nightly, but maybe not at this rate... Also, I noticed the GS3 runs pretty warm (in the rear lower 1/2), which I didn't notice on my wife's GN2. I wonder if the duo-core chip in the GS3 consumes more power than the quad-core in the GN2 -- that plus it probably needs to work harder to run everything... _Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Thanks for the list of apps, Ron. I can second your recommendations for Swiftkey, Dolphin browser, Beautifull Widgets, Dropbox and the Weather Channel. I will have to give Crackle a try. For email, I use a free app called K-9 Mail, which allows me to consolidate both my Gmail and Yahoo email accounts into a single app, yet keep the mail boxes separate. It's much better than the stock email apps that came with my Motorola Razr.

 

[Hanson]

Interestingly, I actually use multiple email programs to keep everything segregated. Gmail for my main Gmail account, Enhanced Mail for my secondary Gmail, default mail app for my work email, and the Comcast app for comcast.net emails. This way I also get a separate notification for each program. I can tell by the distinct sound if I have any of those emails, a text, or a Facebook update. I'll have to recommend Youmail to my non-Sprint friends. Sprint gives you visual voicemail by default. I had no idea that was a Sprint only feature - I always assumed it was a part of Android.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... something also seems to be causing my GS3 UI to be a bit "jumpy"... _Man_

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Interestingly, I actually use multiple email programs to keep everything segregated. Gmail for my main Gmail account, Enhanced Mail for my secondary Gmail, default mail app for my work email, and the Comcast app for comcast.net emails. This way I also get a separate notification for each program. I can tell by the distinct sound if I have any of those emails, a text, or a Facebook update. I'll have to recommend Youmail to my non-Sprint friends. Sprint gives you visual voicemail by default. I had no idea that was a Sprint only feature - I always assumed it was a part of Android.

FYI, with K9 Mail, I still get separate notifications for both my Gmail and Yahoo mail.

 

[Sam Posten]

Hmmm... something also seems to be causing my GS3 UI to be a bit "jumpy"... _Man_

I find that to be true on the web pages of my Nexus 7 but have been told this is not normal. Haven't patched since I first got it, havent used it much lately. Wonder if it's still the same. The main UI pages for apps were never jumpy tho.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

The jumpiness I experienced seem to disappear after I rebooted the GS3 for the first time since installing a bunch of stuff, including Amazon's App Store app. Guess it could be one of the apps causing it or maybe the phone could simply use the reboot after installing a bunch of stuff. Will keep a lookout for it... _Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Aaah! Finally managed to reformat my old corrupted 16GB microSD to use it for music storage once again. So nice to be able to fit all my essential, on-the-go music on the phone again. Any recs for a better music player than the bundled ones on the GS3? The Samsung one is ok, but figured I'd ask anyway. Thanks! _Man_

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Man,
One of the best rated music players paid-wise is PowerAmp.
I bough it. Love it.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

And thanks, Scott, for the K9 mail rec. I noticed there are lots of recs for that in Google's store. I may give that a try when I'm ready, especially if it will be useable for work email after my company switch in the coming months. At the moment, I still don't use GMail for anything other than notifications and Google services, which are largely remedied by the notification bar and other apps for now. And I still need to use the company sanctioned Touchdown PIM client app for work stuff anyway (for now)... Thanks again. _Man_

 

[iseethink720]

Mine is VIber, Instagram, Whats App, Instarepost app, Foursquare, Google Maps

 

[RobertR]

Enjoying Go SMS Pro. Much better, more customizable texting app than the standard version.

 

[RobertR]

I also want to mention Business Calendar. What makes it better than the standard Samsung calendar is the widget. It shows your appointments at a glance for the current day and the next several days, depending on how large you make it (of course, Nova Launcher makes it easy to customize the widget size). The widget scrolls, so that you can see appointments months ahead. Touching the widget opens the full calendar, and you can see your appointments for the entire month.

 

[Emanuel1]

I use Maps more than anything. I also like One Bus Away (I think it's only a Seattle thing), and I've been using Poweramp music player for a couple years now, I love it.

 

[Hanson]

There are some very useful apps listed in this article:

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/10/30/40-must-android-apps-power-user/

The one I am absolutely chuffed about is Speakerphone EX:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidm8.speakerphoneex&hl=en

Basically, it lets you answer the phone by simply putting it up to your ear. Brilliant! Then, if you're still on a call and take the phone away from your ear, it switched to speakerphone. Back to your ear, it's back to the normal speaker. It's magic!

You can still screen your calls before placing the phone to your ear. How is this NOT a standard smartphone feature?

 

[Hanson]

I just started using Face Unlock and it has significantly improved my user experience. I had tried it out on my tablet when it received ICS, but I found it too slow and way too hit and miss. I had been using Widgetlocker and its myriad lockscreen shortcuts. But in order to avoid having to swipe to unlock Widgetlocker and then enter the security code, I eventually disabled the security code altogether. I acknowledge that Face Unlock is the least secure of the security methods, but it's waaay better than nothing (which is what I had). But if I lose the phone, it's the best way to secure my sensitive information. What makes Face Unlock work for me is the ability to take multiple pictures of my face under various lighting conditions and expressions to build a library of faces. If I find that I'm somewhere and the facial recognition fails, I'll stop to take another picture for the library. After 5 days of taking pictures, I'm getting very high rates of recognition - well over 90% at this point. It doesn't hurt that it's pretty fast on my S4. What really pushes this function into "must have" territory is the ability to set a lock screen delay. I have mine set to 30 minutes, which means it won't lock until 30 after the last time the screen is turned off. Which means that if I pick up the phone within the 30 minute window all day long, I will never have to unlock the phone. I now realize own much time I was waiting swiping to unlock Widgetlocker. Now when I hit the power button, I'm right back where I left off. Face Unlock is a basic Android feature available on all devices running 4.0 and I above.

 

[Hanson]

Any Android tablet owner should check out SwiftKey beta, available at the SwiftKey home page. It's free during the beta period. The greatest feature aside from being SwiftKey is the undocked split keyboard mode that's perfect for thumb typing. This is similar to the split keyboard option on the iPad except you can also resize the split keyboards and reposition them. What really makes this the best keyboard for remote desktop is that the middle of the screen is now clear and no longer obscured by the keyboard. It's pretty much my dream keyboard now.

 

[Paul D G]

Speakerphone EX is fantastic.

I've had Greenify for a few weeks now and it's improved my battery life. I found some apps were frequently waking up my phone unnecessarily (like AMC Theaters' app). Greenify throws these apps into hibernation when they're not actively used.