Android Apps Suggestions
January 2, 2011 8:27 AM Subscribe
I recently received a Samsung Galaxy S for Christmas. What are some useful/cool apps for Android?
This is my first experience using Android and I'm loving it so far. I just need to get a nice set of apps to steer me in the right direction for ultimate enjoyment of the phone.
This is my first experience using Android and I'm loving it so far. I just need to get a nice set of apps to steer me in the right direction for ultimate enjoyment of the phone.
Lifehacker had a round-up of their top 10 Android posts that you might find useful.
posted by rtha at 8:42 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 8:42 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
I like Jorte as an organizer/calender, GoogleTranslate if you speak another language. Googlegoggles, Google Skymap.
posted by thylacine at 8:45 AM on January 2, 2011
posted by thylacine at 8:45 AM on January 2, 2011
Here's is Engadget's post on getting started with Android.
posted by puritycontrol at 9:02 AM on January 2, 2011
posted by puritycontrol at 9:02 AM on January 2, 2011
Your first stop should be AppBrain.com
Install their app manager, and use that for all your recommendations/installs/updates/etc.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:38 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Install their app manager, and use that for all your recommendations/installs/updates/etc.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:38 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
a few that I like:
google shopper
google sky map
barcode scanner
astrid tasks (or perhaps "got to do")
3g watchdog
color flashlight
facebook
flickroid
sweet dreams
google voice
wordfeud
posted by chrisamiller at 9:44 AM on January 2, 2011
google shopper
google sky map
barcode scanner
astrid tasks (or perhaps "got to do")
3g watchdog
color flashlight
flickroid
sweet dreams
google voice
wordfeud
posted by chrisamiller at 9:44 AM on January 2, 2011
I think the Mail app that came with my Vibrant kind of sucks. I'm using "K-9 Mail".
Keep "One Click Lag Fix Samsung" in mind as a search term and Google that if you feel the phone is a lot slower than you believe it should be. Samsung made a design decision that results in very poor file system performance. You will feel it with applications that does a lot of writes to the file system (actually, K-9 Mail falls into that category). For some apps, I have a 100-fold performance improvement. Yes, I mean "100x faster".
posted by chengjih at 9:44 AM on January 2, 2011
Keep "One Click Lag Fix Samsung" in mind as a search term and Google that if you feel the phone is a lot slower than you believe it should be. Samsung made a design decision that results in very poor file system performance. You will feel it with applications that does a lot of writes to the file system (actually, K-9 Mail falls into that category). For some apps, I have a 100-fold performance improvement. Yes, I mean "100x faster".
posted by chengjih at 9:44 AM on January 2, 2011
Ones I use:
k-9 Mail. I'm actually spending more time with this than my desktop mail clients. It's that good.
Dolphin Browser HD. Lots of interesting extenstion. Initially took a little getting used to, but I wouldn't go back to the vanilla browser or Opera now.
Astro File Browser. Handy, but not essential.
OfficeSuite: Good ad-free Office document reader, has handled anything I throw at it.
ConnectBot: If you need ssh, you need ConnectBox.
MixMate: Don't use this, but my wife, who paints, drools on it. Point your camera at a colour, and it'll tell you which Windsor & Newton oils you should mix to get that colour (as well as other paints).
Google Sky.
Le Conjuguer: I'm trying to learn French. This is handy.
Titanium Backup: Combined with rooting my phone this has let me peel a bunch of crapware (the Sony-Ericsson music player, Facebook, etc, etc) away.
Superuser: Useful for managing your rooted phone.
Andor's Trail: Fun little GPL Rogue-like RPG. Incomplete in places, but I've whiled away a good few hours.
WinAmp for Android: Rocks.
Kids: DoodleKids, Funny Race, MagickMarker, Talking George, xPiano, NZ Bird Gallery, and French: Sounds for Kids Vol 2 have provided my daughter with huge amounts of distraction.
posted by rodgerd at 10:32 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
k-9 Mail. I'm actually spending more time with this than my desktop mail clients. It's that good.
Dolphin Browser HD. Lots of interesting extenstion. Initially took a little getting used to, but I wouldn't go back to the vanilla browser or Opera now.
Astro File Browser. Handy, but not essential.
OfficeSuite: Good ad-free Office document reader, has handled anything I throw at it.
ConnectBot: If you need ssh, you need ConnectBox.
MixMate: Don't use this, but my wife, who paints, drools on it. Point your camera at a colour, and it'll tell you which Windsor & Newton oils you should mix to get that colour (as well as other paints).
Google Sky.
Le Conjuguer: I'm trying to learn French. This is handy.
Titanium Backup: Combined with rooting my phone this has let me peel a bunch of crapware (the Sony-Ericsson music player, Facebook, etc, etc) away.
Superuser: Useful for managing your rooted phone.
Andor's Trail: Fun little GPL Rogue-like RPG. Incomplete in places, but I've whiled away a good few hours.
WinAmp for Android: Rocks.
Kids: DoodleKids, Funny Race, MagickMarker, Talking George, xPiano, NZ Bird Gallery, and French: Sounds for Kids Vol 2 have provided my daughter with huge amounts of distraction.
posted by rodgerd at 10:32 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
In addition to the previous questions linked above, and the lifehacker list, all you have to do is google for "top android apps" or "best android apps" or whatever and you'll find many, many lists of the supposed best/must-haves. There are also forums like this one. And if you open the Marketplace on your phone and click "Apps" then "All Applications" (or "Communications" or whatever) you can choose to have them listed with the more or less most-popular at the top ("Top Paid" or "Top Free" versus "Just In").
posted by K.P. at 11:03 AM on January 2, 2011
posted by K.P. at 11:03 AM on January 2, 2011
It's just a game, but I'm loving Replica Island. (A platformer where you're an android collecting gems and uncovering secrets. Simple but fairly well done, cute and fun.)
posted by rivenwanderer at 11:17 AM on January 2, 2011
posted by rivenwanderer at 11:17 AM on January 2, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by banannafish at 8:41 AM on January 2, 2011