Congratulations on getting your new Android device! Pretty awesome, isn’t it? Except something seems missing. It’s cool and all, but why isn’t it doing all that awesome stuff like in the commercials? You need to download some apps, but with over 380,000 apps to choose from, that can be a daunting task. Fortunately, Techcitement is here to help you out with a list of the top 10 Android apps you need to have.
A couple quick notes before we get started — not all of these apps may run on your device, some because they may not be compatible with the $80 tablet you bought at Big Lots and others because your manufacturer or carrier want to keep them from you. Sorry about that. Some of these apps may also not be the greatest thing to use on non-unlimited data plans, so be careful how you use them. Also, everything listed is free or at least has a free version. All the links (except for in number two) take you directly to the Android Market, which allows you to install the apps to your device with a click.
1. Google Apps
This may seem obvious, but if they aren’t pre-loaded on your phone, download everything available in the market developed by Google. At the bare minimum, you’re going to want Search, Maps, Voice Search, Gmail, Docs, Reader, Voice, Listen, Chrome to Phone, and YouTube, but there are others you may find useful as well. I want to double point out Voice, because it isn’t usually pre-installed on phones. With Google Voice, you never have to waste minutes logging in to voice mail again, and you get free visual voice mail and text messaging.
2. Amazon Appstore and Getjar
You won’t be able to find either of these apps in the Android Marketplace, because both of them are technically competition to it. Neither are as well integrated into most devices as the Market and quite often get app updates less frequently. So, why bother with them? First, because they often have sales on some great paid apps, but more importantly, they also offer great paid apps for absolutely free. I just happen to write a column devoted to the free app of the day on Amazon.
3. Music
I know this is technically a Google app, so I already should have told you to download this, but I wanted to make this extra clear, because getting the right music app may require downloading what seems to be a second Music app. Prior to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), the latest version of Android, the stock music player did just that — play music. There is a second version of Music, however, that allows you to stream 20,000 of your own songs from the cloud for absolutely free. Assuming you have any kind of music collection, this makes pretty much every other streaming music app obsolete.
Flash on phones may never have quite worked right, which might be part of why Adobe is abandoning further updates of the product. But it still allows for as much of a “true internet experience” as you’ll ever get on a mobile device. This is one of those apps that allows you to point at iPhone users and laugh, assuming you were some kind of really nerdy jerk.
QR codes are those weird square boxes you see in advertisements. You scan them and they take you to a website where you can get more information, a coupon, or an irritating video. You can also use QR readers to scan UPC codes and see if the store you are at actually has the best price. For the most part, QR code readers are all the same. What sets QR Code Private apart is all it does is read QR codes, meaning it doesn’t have a wacky set of permissions that allows it to potentially take over your phone.
Don’t forget Astrid for task management and Evernote for note taking. If you’re into podcasts, I’d recommend BeyondPod. And of course you can always add Pandora to the music category.
BeyondPod is paid, though. Have you tried Google Listen? I recently switched all my podcasts over from my ipod to Listen a few weeks ago and have been impressed so far. It’s not perfect (finding the RSS feeds that include full audio is a pain), and I fully expect it to be integrated into Google Music eventually, but it’s a good free solution for now.
Listen used to be my go-to. Great product that Google really needs to go back to developing.
If your Android device doesn’t have Ice Cream Sandwich with its offline web page function Read it Later is a great little addition even though you have to pay for it. You install on browser plug-in on your desktop computer and mark whatever you want to be able to read offline (i.e. anywhere you don’t get the internets). You can also choose the share option on any article on your Android device and choose read it later an it adds it there.
Up until the latest update to Pulse it was my favorite free Rss Reader on either Android or iOS
I would like to second EverNote, and also add two apps. CardStar, free, which will give you a scannable barcode for all those loyalty cards on your key chain or in your wallet. My wallet is much thinner. There are hundreds of merchants, and the ability to customize the language of the barcode, if you know how to manipulate them(why I know how to manipulate barcodes is not so interesting, or useful). Second is GeniusScan, which comes in a paid and a free version($3 gets you no ads). For mobile techs like me, signed paperwork is essential. This app uses your camera to take a picture of something, you can select and massage your photo, and turn it into a PDF. No more paperwork or scanning once I’m home at the end of a day. Plus, it allows you to upload and email to Dropbox, Evernote, google docs, twitter, and other online repositories.
My bad, GeniusScan by Grizzly Labs is iOS only. I should have said CamScanner. They make an iOS app i used to use before moving to GeniusScan, but their Android app is 9+ in my book. Used CamScanner twice only, but that’s twice more than any other android camera-PDF-making app for the platform.