Great Android Apps

[Passacaglia]

Also, is there an app or shortcut or macro or something that can send a stock message to someone? I send the same "leaving now" text message out every day, and it'd be nice to just do that in one click

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Also, is there an app or shortcut or macro or something that can send a stock message to someone? I send the same "leaving now" text message out every day, and it'd be nice to just do that in one click

If you download "Tasker" you can set that up so that it does it at the same time everyday, or for example when you leave your work's wifi network, or I think even when you leave the address that you're at (based on GPS?) or any combination of the above. It's a massively powerful app that I'm just discovering the barest of possibilities of.

[Chubby]

big win football is fun

[Passacaglia]

Does anyone know of an app that lets me send large video messages? Using the regular messaging, even a 30-second video is too large to send.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Does anyone know of an app that lets me send large video messages? Using the regular messaging, even a 30-second video is too large to send.

Honestly your best bet is uploading to Youtube or Dropbox.

[johnnyshaka]

Or Google Drive.

[Chubby]

Beastie bay by kairosoft

[AnalBumCover]

I've been playing Order & Chaos Duels, a new TCG from Gameloft. Available for Android, and I believe iOS as well.

It's pretty easy to learn and to jump into gameplay immediately. A freemium game, but at this early stage in the game doesn't really push you towards IAP. I can imagine as you get further into the campaign, you might need to buy some uncommon or rare cards, but it is possible to grind your way through to earn enough credits (coin or rune) to get those cards.

There's a live multiplayer option with ranking battles and custom battles, as well as a pillage option - the AI will play a random opponent's cards. The opponent need not be online. He would have the option to exact revenge at a later time by playing against your cards. By the way, these battles will also earn you coins and/or runes.

I don't know how many of you have a Gameloft ID, but if you care to friend me, search for RobOrdona.

[AnalBumCover]

Carcassonne is Amazon's Free App of the Day

[Neuqua]

I have some Aviate invites if anyone wants to try it out, PM me your email address.

Aviate, The intelligent homescreen that simplifies your phone.

Aviate Makes Using Your Android Phone Way Less Irritating | Co.Design | business + design

[Neuqua]

And now I'm out of invites, enjoy everyone!

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

And now I'm out of invites, enjoy everyone!

Looks like I have 5 invites now. PM me your email address.

[DaddyTorgo]

I just downloaded the beta off their website from that link above. Do I still need an invite?

Not sure I'll use it yet, so don't go sending one my way, just checking.

[Logan]

Thanks for the invite ABC.

Before I go ahead and install everything, anyone know if this is easy to get rid of in case you don't like it? Does everything go back to how you had it before, or does it turn into a mess?

[Travis]

I haven't tried going away from it yet, but it's basically a launcher. Not sure how clean it'd uninstall, but you can reset to the base look by resetting the preference or going back to your previous launcher if you had one.

Now if you haven't used any other launchers, the above may not make much sense. Think of it like installing a second operating system on a computer. Easy enough to go back to the other if you want later.

[Logan]

Yeah I haven't used a launcher before. Thanks.

[Travis]

Launchers are fantastic. I'd highly recommend giving the Nova launcher a look too if you enjoy customizing/tweaking the look/layout of your phone. I believe they have a freeware version that has most of the options enabled as well. I've been using their pay (inexpensive) launcher for a while now and will go back to it if I'm not overwhelmed by this one.

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by Travis

Launchers are fantastic. I'd highly recommend giving the Nova launcher a look too if you enjoy customizing/tweaking the look/layout of your phone. I believe they have a freeware version that has most of the options enabled as well. I've been using their pay (inexpensive) launcher for a while now and will go back to it if I'm not overwhelmed by this one.

I use the Nova Launcher (freeware version) as well. It's always been my go-to launcher after testing out various new ones that come out.

[sterlingice]

Any thoughts on malware/antivirus for Android? I keep reading conflicting reports as to whether its even necessary (it looks like probably not but I'm considering Avast because of the remote wipe features and because it's free).

SI

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Any thoughts on malware/antivirus for Android? I keep reading conflicting reports as to whether its even necessary (it looks like probably not but I'm considering Avast because of the remote wipe features and because it's free).

SI

I use AVG (its free too) even though I'm not sure I need it. My son swears by it. He says it has caught programs that want to know more info than they need or just bad programs in general. That's enough for me to keep it on mine.

[MikeVic]

Question for Android users. I've been on an iPhone for 3+ years and it's the only smartphone I've had. I don't have any Android devices.

I find that I'm use the Podcasts app quite a bit to listen to stuff to/from work. It's easy to find and subscribe to podcasts and then download ones if I want. Does Android have something similar, or is it a bigger hassle?

[Logan]

Probably depends on what you consider a hassle...I use Podkicker on my Android. I search for my podcasts, subscribe, and under the "new" tab is a list of everything that I have subscribed to. Then I can choose to either download or stream.

Easy and effective.

[sposfan]

I've used a program called isyncr (JRT Studio's iSyncr Syncs iTunes Libraries To Android Devices.) to sync music/podcasts/movies etc directly from itunes to my nexus. It's $4, but with 5 android devices and 3 apple ones in the house, it was way worth the price for me, especially since it can also be synced over wifi.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by Logan

Probably depends on what you consider a hassle...I use Podkicker on my Android. I search for my podcasts, subscribe, and under the "new" tab is a list of everything that I have subscribed to. Then I can choose to either download or stream.

Easy and effective.

I ikewise use podkicker.
Its free and does a fantastic job.

[sterlingice]

Activated my wew HTC One and quite happy with it. I'm rebuilding my apps from scratch with more of an eye to security and privacy than before.

The OS is 4.3 so I can use a nice clean App Ops mod to deny permissions. However, I'd rather just not have to use that if I can help it: ounce of prevention and all.

Are there competent aps of any of the following available "ad free":
Task Manager (kill tasks)
File Manager
Notepad (some sort of really basic text editor to jot notes)
Sudoku (hey, it's a reasonable time killer)

I don't see bare bones ones available natively and the "full network access" might as well say "ADS HERE!" so I'm trying to avoid those.

SI

[sterlingice]

I'm having a little success, eventually finding some of these things ad free:
* Text Editor: Fast Notepad from IGOR - no ads, decent little notepad text editor
* Flashlight: Flashlight from Lars Team - I had the hardest time finding a permissions free flashlight so I'm happy such a thing exists
* App Ops: App Ops Starter from Offshore - It makes sense that an App Ops program would have no extra permissions but there were quite a few that did. Fortunately, there were quite a few options that did not so I picked this one and probably won't upgrade to 4.4.2 unless Google unbreaks App Op (ha!)

I noticed with my past phone the ever increasing number of permissions required as an app got more "mature". Is there a way to save the apk so that if I want to revert, it's possible? It seems like all this happens in the background with it never actually going onto your phone except maybe as a temp file that is quickly deleted. Then again, I haven't find a good file manager app yet so maybe it's happening and I can't see it

SI

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Question for Android users. I've been on an iPhone for 3+ years and it's the only smartphone I've had. I don't have any Android devices.

I find that I'm use the Podcasts app quite a bit to listen to stuff to/from work. It's easy to find and subscribe to podcasts and then download ones if I want. Does Android have something similar, or is it a bigger hassle?

A few days late, but if you are willing to pay there are a couple good options. BeyondPod and PocketCasts are two popular choices. I personally perfer PocketCasts as I find it to be very functional and the UI is pleasing.

[sterlingice]

Is there a good ap or plugin to help sync iTunes with an Android phone? I'll listen to podcasts and then delete them on my iPod and I'd like to do the same with my HTC One but I'd rather not have them both downloading the same and then having to compare which ones I listened to on each device and then deleting in both places.

SI

[Scoobz0202]

I'm not sure. iSyncr or Double Twist maybe?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

I'm not sure. iSyncr or Double Twist maybe?

Looks like iSyncr should do what I need. Thanks!

SI

[MikeVic]

So I got a Note 3 as my entry into Android phones. Massive compared to my old iPhone 4... haha.

I'll be reading through this thread but if there are any updates to people's fav apps... consider this a bump for that info.

[stevew]

BeyondPod is worth paying for. I just have it synce once a day and always have stuff downloaded automatically. I think I paid like $3-7 for it, and that was very much worthwhile.

[MikeVic]

What do you guys use to customize your weather, clock, and calendar? I have found UCCW and Zooper but haven't found a skin I like just yet. I find it hard to search for them, and Zooper looks like it needs the pay version to download custom skins. I'm tempted to do that though.

[sterlingice]

I'm heading towards bed for the evening but i just went through this process with my new HTC One. I'll toss out what I went with for widgets for weather, clock, and calendar tomorrow at lunch when I get a free moment to type

SI

[AnalBumCover]

From the very beginning, I've always gone with Beautiful Widgets Pro (paid version) with minimalist skins for my clock and weather. For my calendar/agenda, I've used Agenda Widget (free version).

[sterlingice]

I went through trying out quite a few different apps, trying to find what I wanted but I had specific needs so mine may be different than yours. I also was looking for free only, too, so keep that in mind. I'm also paranoid about permissions, or at least try to be, but that's really hard, especially when looking for free apps.

For clock, I use the generic built in Android 4.3 Weather clock 1x4. I'm not looking for anything too flashy and time and current conditions work just fine for me. Also, built in, I like the power control and data dashboard 1x4 widgets so I can turn wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and mobile data on and off at will to save some battery.

Android Weather & Clock - I wanted an app that gave me a 1x4 weather widget with more than a 3 day forecast. This one wants too many permissions (ick) but it was the only one that met those criteria. Beautiful Widgets looked like the pay one might have met the needs, but, again, was looking for free. Unfortunately, the underlying weather app isn't all that strong- Accuweather, Weather Channel, Weather Underground, etc, all had better weather apps but I was just looking for something at a glance since I look at weather on my computer anyway, if I want more detail. I swear I went through at least 20 weather apps and I'm only moderately happy with what I found. Near as I can tell, no one makes a free 1x4 widget with 7 day forecast with a robust back end that doesn't ask for way too many permissions.

DigiCal Calendar & Widgets - Unlike the previous one, I went through a lot of calendar widgets and I'm quite happy with this one. In fact, I may just pay the $5 to get the full version instead of the free add supported version (the ads are unobtrusive, tho- this would be for supporting the devs). I wanted a 2x4 widget where I could see a monthly calendar with events coming up, click on them, and then see the full entry for the event. This does that with a nice, transparent look and pleasant color scheme that's highly customizable and even moreso in the paid version. It also has good hooks into Google calendar so that they sync up. The one other reason I'm considering buying is that it doesn't offer a monthly view except in the paid version. However, I have it currently set up in a 5 week grid so that's practically a monthly view. It's a calendar so it's definitely permissions heavy but I'm quite pleased.

A few other apps I like:

Audio FX - The HTC One has good speakers but I wanted to see if I Could get a little more out of them. I have an older car without an audio input so if I want to listen to a podcast in the car, I need to bring additional speakers or headphones. This is a 1x4 equalizer that allows me to bump the volume up a decent amount. It may not have been as powerful as one or two others I saw but it was free and really light on the permissions ("hardware controls" or whatever sound is). Now I just plug in my phone, stick it in the middle console, and I can listen to podcasts almost as loud I would on the radio. I will say it's a little low on loud highways and if you have loud weather like rain, forget it. But it's nice for getting a little more out of your speakers and combines well with the HTC One's already good speakers.

App Ops - There's a hidden pane called App Ops in Android 4.2 and 4.3 (but early returns were that it was crippled in some flavors of 4.4). It allows you to tweak some of the permissions for individual aps. Don't like that Chrome is using your location? Turn that part off. Don't think Twitter should be reading your call log? Turn it off. Don't like that Facebook wants to send and receive SMS messages? Well, you get the idea. Keep in mind, it only lets you toggle certain permissions and now a lot of apps are starting to ask for Google Account permissions to bypass needing other permissions (since Google requires you to turn on a pile of permissions for its apps). But it gives you some control over the excess permissions your apps want. I use one called Permission Manager (from OpenView Mobile, as opposed to others with the same name) that requires no permissions and even claims to support 4.4. But I had a couple others before that worked great until an OTA update broke them. There are quite a few out there- just search on "App Ops" and pick one that requires no permissions since it's just a shortcut to a hidden pane that's part of the OS.

Flashlight (Lars Team) - Finding a free flashlight that isn't permissions heavy is surprisingly hard. This guy just requires camera permissions to use the LED and costs nothing. Hit the screen once, it turns the back LED on. Hit the screen again, it turns the LED off. Pretty simple. My only gripe is that there isn't a second option for turning the screen all white as a second, brighter flashlight.

Fast Notepad - I wanted a good, light notepad that required very few permissions and Fast Notepad from IGOR fit the bill perfectly. You can quickly jot down a note or add another one. I used ColorNote on my previous phone and it was slightly more robust and prettier. But on my new phone, I've really tried to lock down the apps more and I've been quite happy with this as a substitute.

Yahoo Sports - I hate mobile sports scores sites. They never have what I want and the interface is way too heavy for what it should be. Yahoo does the best for scores of the major sports apps that I've tried- it has a good, clean interface and is lightweight. You pick favorite teams, can set alerts (3 hours before game, game time, halftime, final, etc) and look at them on the Favorites tab. Or you can just pick by sport like NCAAB shows the Top 25, MLB shows all the games that day, etc. Click on a team on the scores and you can go to that team's page, see the schedule, roster, etc. I don't use the widget but it's supposed to be pretty good, too. But, it's Yahoo, so it's a permissions nightmare. I put up with that for a good, clean app that does what its supposed to.

ES File Explorer - The last one I'll mention is another permissions heavy app: the extremely useful ES File Explorer. Near as I could tell, the HTC One didn't come with a default file explorer but I'll sacrifice some permissions security because this is quite robust. I use the file manager all the time along with the app killer and sometimes I'll even use the music player to listen to podcasts (tho that feature is a bit lacking).

SI

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

ES File Explorer - The last one I'll mention is another permissions heavy app: the extremely useful ES File Explorer. Near as I could tell, the HTC One didn't come with a default file explorer but I'll sacrifice some permissions security because this is quite robust. I use the file manager all the time along with the app killer and sometimes I'll even use the music player to listen to podcasts (tho that feature is a bit lacking).

+1

Definitely a must-have app.

[sterlingice]

ABC, how are the weather widgets on Beautiful Widgets Pro? I remember the free version was one of the ones I tried but it was definitely nerfed compared to the paid version. Also, where are the weather feeds from? I wish I could find a good NOAA or WUnderground fed 1x4 weekly widget but such a thing does not exist that I could find.

SI

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I went through trying out quite a few different apps, trying to find what I wanted but I had specific needs so mine may be different than yours. I also was looking for free only, too, so keep that in mind. I'm also paranoid about permissions, or at least try to be, but that's really hard, especially when looking for free apps.

For clock, I use the generic built in Android 4.3 Weather clock 1x4. I'm not looking for anything too flashy and time and current conditions work just fine for me. Also, built in, I like the power control and data dashboard 1x4 widgets so I can turn wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, and mobile data on and off at will to save some battery.

Android Weather & Clock - I wanted an app that gave me a 1x4 weather widget with more than a 3 day forecast. This one wants too many permissions (ick) but it was the only one that met those criteria. Beautiful Widgets looked like the pay one might have met the needs, but, again, was looking for free. Unfortunately, the underlying weather app isn't all that strong- Accuweather, Weather Channel, Weather Underground, etc, all had better weather apps but I was just looking for something at a glance since I look at weather on my computer anyway, if I want more detail. I swear I went through at least 20 weather apps and I'm only moderately happy with what I found. Near as I can tell, no one makes a free 1x4 widget with 7 day forecast with a robust back end that doesn't ask for way too many permissions.

DigiCal Calendar & Widgets - Unlike the previous one, I went through a lot of calendar widgets and I'm quite happy with this one. In fact, I may just pay the $5 to get the full version instead of the free add supported version (the ads are unobtrusive, tho- this would be for supporting the devs). I wanted a 2x4 widget where I could see a monthly calendar with events coming up, click on them, and then see the full entry for the event. This does that with a nice, transparent look and pleasant color scheme that's highly customizable and even moreso in the paid version. It also has good hooks into Google calendar so that they sync up. The one other reason I'm considering buying is that it doesn't offer a monthly view except in the paid version. However, I have it currently set up in a 5 week grid so that's practically a monthly view. It's a calendar so it's definitely permissions heavy but I'm quite pleased.

A few other apps I like:

Audio FX - The HTC One has good speakers but I wanted to see if I Could get a little more out of them. I have an older car without an audio input so if I want to listen to a podcast in the car, I need to bring additional speakers or headphones. This is a 1x4 equalizer that allows me to bump the volume up a decent amount. It may not have been as powerful as one or two others I saw but it was free and really light on the permissions ("hardware controls" or whatever sound is). Now I just plug in my phone, stick it in the middle console, and I can listen to podcasts almost as loud I would on the radio. I will say it's a little low on loud highways and if you have loud weather like rain, forget it. But it's nice for getting a little more out of your speakers and combines well with the HTC One's already good speakers.

App Ops - There's a hidden pane called App Ops in Android 4.2 and 4.3 (but early returns were that it was crippled in some flavors of 4.4). It allows you to tweak some of the permissions for individual aps. Don't like that Chrome is using your location? Turn that part off. Don't think Twitter should be reading your call log? Turn it off. Don't like that Facebook wants to send and receive SMS messages? Well, you get the idea. Keep in mind, it only lets you toggle certain permissions and now a lot of apps are starting to ask for Google Account permissions to bypass needing other permissions (since Google requires you to turn on a pile of permissions for its apps). But it gives you some control over the excess permissions your apps want. I use one called Permission Manager (from OpenView Mobile, as opposed to others with the same name) that requires no permissions and even claims to support 4.4. But I had a couple others before that worked great until an OTA update broke them. There are quite a few out there- just search on "App Ops" and pick one that requires no permissions since it's just a shortcut to a hidden pane that's part of the OS.

Flashlight (Lars Team) - Finding a free flashlight that isn't permissions heavy is surprisingly hard. This guy just requires camera permissions to use the LED and costs nothing. Hit the screen once, it turns the back LED on. Hit the screen again, it turns the LED off. Pretty simple. My only gripe is that there isn't a second option for turning the screen all white as a second, brighter flashlight.

Fast Notepad - I wanted a good, light notepad that required very few permissions and Fast Notepad from IGOR fit the bill perfectly. You can quickly jot down a note or add another one. I used ColorNote on my previous phone and it was slightly more robust and prettier. But on my new phone, I've really tried to lock down the apps more and I've been quite happy with this as a substitute.

Yahoo Sports - I hate mobile sports scores sites. They never have what I want and the interface is way too heavy for what it should be. Yahoo does the best for scores of the major sports apps that I've tried- it has a good, clean interface and is lightweight. You pick favorite teams, can set alerts (3 hours before game, game time, halftime, final, etc) and look at them on the Favorites tab. Or you can just pick by sport like NCAAB shows the Top 25, MLB shows all the games that day, etc. Click on a team on the scores and you can go to that team's page, see the schedule, roster, etc. I don't use the widget but it's supposed to be pretty good, too. But, it's Yahoo, so it's a permissions nightmare. I put up with that for a good, clean app that does what its supposed to.

ES File Explorer - The last one I'll mention is another permissions heavy app: the extremely useful ES File Explorer. Near as I could tell, the HTC One didn't come with a default file explorer but I'll sacrifice some permissions security because this is quite robust. I use the file manager all the time along with the app killer and sometimes I'll even use the music player to listen to podcasts (tho that feature is a bit lacking).

SI

I know exactly what you're talking about with weather apps/widgets. I've tried five so far and none of them really give me what I want in the widget. I care about wind chill factor (i.e. "feels like") as much as the actual temperature, and none of them provided that in a small space.

Thanks for the rest, I'll check them out!

[AnalBumCover]

Android's answer to iOS Three's,

Fives - Match Twos and Threes!

[MikeVic]

I'm really enjoying this rogue-like gamed called Pixel Dungeon... does anyone know anything else like it, or maybe one that isn't played as a one-death-per-character? Something like the old PC game Castle of the Winds? haha.

[MikeVic]

So this thread hasn't been used much, but I'm not sure where would be a better place to put it. I've been playing this game called Crashlands on my Android phone. It's around $7 so it's not super cheap, but I've put 12 hours into it so far. Resource gathering and crafting game with a pretty fun battle system, and the ability to build your own personal space.

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

So this thread hasn't been used much, but I'm not sure where would be a better place to put it. I've been playing this game called Crashlands on my Android phone. It's around $7 so it's not super cheap, but I've put 12 hours into it so far. Resource gathering and crafting game with a pretty fun battle system, and the ability to build your own personal space.

$4.99 on Google Play right now. I've got about that much in my Google Opinion Rewards account, so I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip.