The Perfect 10: Android Apps
In a new series in which the Shot Of Jaq team highlight the top ten of a given category, Jono Bacon and Stuart ‘Aq’ Langridge give Android the Perfect 10 treatment, highlighting their fave apps, many of which you may have never used.
Of course, we are the very start of the conversation, and this is a great opportunity for the Shot Of Jaq community to come together to share what your fave apps are. Do share your recommendations in the shot comments!
51 Comments to “The Perfect 10: Android Apps”
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ConnectBot is by far the most useful android app ever!
Oh and I suppose given Jono mentioned the excellent last.fm app the spotify app should also get a mention as it’s the other half of the streaming music pie.
And, anybody with a myth box.. The myth remote app is also kinda handy.
Tesla (http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/android-tesla/) is a great media player control for Linux which operates over SSH and controls a bunch of players.
Also, Robo Defense and Paper Toss are great ways to waste hours (days?) of your life!
My most used app is PMIX, http://code.google.com/p/pmix/ With that I can use my Android phone as a remote control for my music which is being played by my Ubuntu server that runs MPD (Music Player Daemon) http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Music_Player_Daemon_Wiki. Very handy: no need to turn on a laptop to choose tunes.
Another favourite is MyTracks, http://mytracks.appspot.com/ which tracks my outdoor activities with GPS, like my latest Mountainbike ride, or running track round my area. Connects to Google Maps and Google Docs, so you a speadsheet with information, like speed, times and elevation, and a map with the track when you upload all this to Google.
Leaving aside games, here are a few apps worth mentioning: Astrid – to-do manager that supports remember the milk without having a pro account (as I understand it – I don’t have RTM…) Astro File Manager – File manager and app manager – a real utility belt app Force Close – adds a force close button into the notification bar to close the currently running app 3G Watchdog – keep an eye on your 3G usage to make sure you haven’t exceeded your quota for the month.
I don’t have an android phone, but I do have an iPhone and for me one of the most useful apps has got to be my XBMC remote. No need for lines of sight, it’s all wireless. Bliss.
I would guess that a similar app exists for Android, much like the MythTV remote.
Can’t help but think of
When I heard that
Link was meant to be http://www.xkcd.com/333/
what he said
)
gStrings – fantastic guitar tuner. At least as good as the $20-30 chromatic tuners, minus instrument input.
MotoTorch LED – turn your Droid/Milestone flash LEDs into a fairly impressive flashlight. Lots better than using a white screen.
Dropbox – obviously
Evernote – the Android client isn’t great, but the service is
Tricoder – cute display of all available sensor data
Listen – I’m slightly cheating because it’s an official Google app, albeit not a builtin one. There are still a lot of rough edges, but now that it sync with Google Reader, it’s the bestest podcast client evar.
The following is a list of FLOSS apps for android:
https://wiki.koumbit.net/AndroidFreeSoftware
Mustard, Shuffle, and MyTracks are great apps.
+1 for Google Listen
Oh yes +1 for gstrings. It’s amazing. I particularly like the way it comes with a profile to make it easier to tune my double bass.
oy … I’m not sad … I like comics so what ?
man I really have to get an android phone …. you bastards enough with the peer pressure already !!!
Astrid is a fantastic TODO list manager which syncs with Remember the Milk and has a great widget.
K-9 Mail is the best email client available. It even supports IMAP PUSH for always-connected push notifications.
Prey is a lost device locator/locker-downer.
Wireless Tether for Root Users does exactly what it says, and it apparently works better and is more reliable than FroYo’s wireless tethering.
All of these suggestions are open source, too
I love the following apps:
Google Listen (podcast client that integrates with Google Reader)
My Tracks (track your runs, etc.) — made by google as well, and recently open sourced!
i really like my tracks and listen as have been mentioned, just great apps
GPS essentials is also great for a mini dashboard while driving
scanner is great for police/fire dept
Alarm clock xtreme is awesome. it uses the gps/accelerometer to tell when you are moving at a certain speed (walking/driving) and only will turn off then. This is great for people who can’t wake up.
appbrain market sync uses your google account and syncs the apps you have, and lets you browse on the web apps you like and queue them up to install on the phone.
fxcamera and vignette are great camera apps
My +1 for apps already mentioned by others: Google Listen (really is the best podcast client I’ve ever used), ConnectBot (amazing how often being able to ssh on the loo has come in handy), DropBox (pretty basic but oh-so-cool).
Brand new I’m-the-first-to-mention-them candidates: - Big Oven: web interface to a nice online recipe site, but has a brilliant “what can I make with these ingredients” feature. - Aldiko: the first ebook reader I’ve ever actually used. I read the whole of Cory Doctorow’s “Makers” through this app, and was actually quite a pleasant reading experience. - Bonzai Blast: ridiculously fun (and addictive) game. - TV-Guide: Good browser for (UK-based) TV listings. - TrainTimesUK: If you commute, or like to pretend that you do, this is useful and has a relatively small footprint.
Finally, a couple of points of order. Seesmic for Android does, in fact, support identi.ca. See http://blog.seesmic.com/2010/03/using-seesmic-for-android-to-add-other-web-applications-like-tumblr-identica-wordpress.html . Also, since we’re talking about Android apps here, it’d be nice to have the QR code for each app in the episode notes. Or am I the only person who uses those? Quite possibly.
Man.. I love that picture. Is there a high res version to be used as desktop background available somewhere?
I agree
Higher res versions are available from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecpica/4527169403
This discussion has a distinct lack of Layar! Sure, it probably kills your battery and makes you look like a lunatic, but it’s awesome
I am entirely unconvinced by augmented reality on a 3.5″ screen, myself. When it’s chipped into my optic nerve, or a HUD on my ordinary glasses (not some massive thick sunglasses that make me look like a tool) then I’ll be interested.:)
Just so you know, Seesmic does have Identica support now. You’ve got to know what you are looking for though, so its not suprising you missed it.
http://blog.seesmic.com/2010/03/using-seesmic-for-android-to-add-other-web-applications-like-tumblr-identica-wordpress.html
Identica support is the only reason I’m not using the official Twitter app now.
I find Astrid to be much better than Remember The Milk, you can use a free account with it and it’s a really nice interface. Plus it’s Open Source
*Astrid (kicks the shit out of RTM’s client IMHO and has an awesome widget) *Aldiko (this app sold me on ebooks) *Dropbox (sorry U1, it’s just not working out between us) *Twidroid (Twitter & identi.ca client with developers who respond to their users… I haven’t tried Seesmic, though) *ColorNote (for shopping lists & such)
So Aq mentioned something about an offline wikipedia called zedpedia? Anyone heard of this or know where something similar is?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:TomeRaider_database although it’s bigger than I remember it being, and I’m not sure that Tomeraider is the one I remember.
I’ll start with a little bit of OT: why do you say “go to shotofjaq.org where you’ve heard this shot” – well, I listen to it on my Nexus One, using DoggCatcher app, so it doesn’t make sense
Speaking of DoggCatcher, that is one of my most used apps. It’s a podcatcher that allows you to search, subscribe, download, and listen to podcasts all without ever connecting your phone to a computer.
One other neat app is AppBrain. It allows you to sync your apps with http://www.appbrain.com, get recommendations, as well as share your app list.
Here’s mine http://www.appbrain.com/user/Karolis/nexus-one
Apps I’m enjoying, that haven’t had a mention yet:
Obligatory Google Apps: * Google Earth. * Google Sky Map.
I forgot about Shazam, which is witchcraft.
Thanks for all the great suggestions! I’ve been craving a topic like this.
+1 for AppBrain. It even helps us poor pre-2.2 users do bulk updates. Although we still have to select each update individually, it at least queues them up.
I added an AppBrain list for the 13 apps mentioned on the Shot (although I had to take a guess at the flashlight): http://www.appbrain.com/user/pikafoop/shot-of-jaq-perfect-10
I also made a list of my top 13: http://www.appbrain.com/user/pikafoop/my-top-13
Of particular note: - Shortyz is an EXCELLENT crossword puzzle program. It downloads puzzles for you, and if you have a physical keyboard on your phone, the entry is great. - Wifi Analyzer is a great tool for anyone like me who has to shepherd a bunch of wireless access points at work, or lives in a crowded wi-fi zone. - Locale makes all the iPhone users think twice, especially with some of the available plugins. My phone silences itself according to where and when I am, and it even updates my Google Talk status when I’m driving so nobody tries to message me then. - Droid48 is necessary for an HP48GX addict. I have a couple of the actual calculators, but carrying around an emulator on the phone is much more convenient.
Is Locale the one where the app costs X and each of the plugins costs another X and it’s useless without the plugins? I quite fancied the idea of “turn on On Air when my phone is on power and in my house” but then it turned out it’d cost me about £20 to get that, so I figured I’d just press the button instead.
I really like these apps on android:
Advanced task killer Boxee Wifi Remote Bonsai blast Contact2sim Jewels Google Listen Notes (by Yuli) Wapedia Flashlight aCurrency Units Convert and calculator WordPress
I really like these apps on android:
Advanced task killer, Boxee Wifi Remote, Bonsai blast, Contact2sim, Jewels, Google Listen, Notes (by Yuli), Wapedia, Flashlight, aCurrency, Units Convert and calculator and WordPress.
I am constantly disappointed that people feel that they need a task killer.
I’d recommend: Android LightSaber (awesome!), Compass, Handcent SMS (much better than the built-in client), LiveBible, and Wireless Tether for Root Users (although it’s not working for me right now).
And CyanogenMod to run it all on. My G1/ADP has Android 2.1 – yay!
And of course Google Sky Map.
Ah, the lightsabre I have is called The Schwartz. Amusing moment this past weekend where a mate of mine, trying to demo how cool his iPhone is to my daughter, fires up the iPhone lightsabre, only to be confronted by me doing the same on the N1 and then engaging in a five minute imaginary lightsabre fight. Comedy.
I have a bunch of apps that I use on a daily basis. The most regularly used one has to be Mustard, an open source micro-blogging client that beats the crap out of Twidroid. I also really like Dolphin a lot better than the default browser, it’s like Firefox for android. Appmonster is great for removing apps quickly without the questions and Txt Reader is a great ebook viewer. I have a bunch of other apps, but these are the ones that I use on the most regular basis.
Have you tried Aldiko? How does Txt Reader compare?
Firstly, love the top ten idea.
Mobisle Notes, Radiant, Retro Defense, ROM Manage, Movies, Beautiful Widgets and Listen are my top used apps… and a shameless plug for my work in progress speech-to-speech app, Edwin which I also use daily.
I’ve just been playing with Edwin. It is cool.
Have not seen mapdroyd mentioned. It’s kinda like Maps, only based on openStreetMap and available offline: perfect when you are roaming.
I also use Quick Settings (for the integrated flashlight and Airplane mode button) , Wifi Analyser, 3G Watchdog, Shuffle,Dropbox and Google Listen (how I listened to this shot).
+1 for MyTracks; great for monitoring my running workouts. Google app but it doesn’t come preinstalled; easy to get from the marketplace.
I will definitely check out many of the other apps mentioned in this thread. Though my horribly ancient (1 year old) phone only supports OS 1.5 still.
Well I got it for free at last year’s Google I/O so I guess I shouldn’t complain. 
1 for listen, it is a bit rough around the edges as mentioned above, but has update on WiFi and charging as options, so great as it update while you sleep and the phone is charging. A online radio is a good app for internet radio, and I regularly use dailystrip to read xkcd and others.
+1 for Google Places Directory. I use this at least once or twice on every trip I take.
In addition..
-connectbot – (for obvious reasons) -autokiller – fantastic memory management I don’t have to bother with - +1 Abduction – crazy addicting
And much like Aq’s recommended keyboard, I use swype. Love the keyboard theming as well as the actual performance. The only part I miss is the voice to text I had on my previous keyboard.
(CDMA Hero running FreshROM 2.1.2)
I can’t get Swype. It’s in closed beta, and doesn’t appear to be available for the Nexus One anyway. Bah.
I’ve been using ACast for ages as a podcast catcher. I’m a GeoCacher, and I use C:Geo to find caches nearby when I’ve got a few minutes to go looking for a cache.
Instead of Locale, I use “Settings Profile”, although I’m not sure it supports launching programs on your behalf, it does let me say “Between 9PM and 6AM, when plugged in, turn on my wifi and make the phone silent”.
Brilliant selection, installed On Air straight away and loving it.
loads & many (some better alternatives than listed in podcast, IMO): Barcode Scanner, Advanced Task Manager Free, Quick Manager, OS Monitor, ConnectBot & ServerAssist, Executive Assistant (sounds pompous, but is great), SIP clients (aSip, sipdroid, 3CX, linphone), HandyCalc, Tricorder (to get ur geek on), TuneWiki (for last.fm; better than native client), NewsRob for RSS & Listen for S.o.J
oh, forgot! gTasks for notes on “desktop” (syncs with google notes); WAY better than RtM, & iMov as a multi-protocol IM client
I think what Aq was talking about might have been Zipedia http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-free-tools-for-taking-wikipedia-offline/
If you like to listen to podcasts or audio books, checkout: MortPlayer Audio Books in the Market. It has a few smart functions you like when you listen to podcasts and you can turn off stuff you don’t like.