My Recommended Android Apps

My girlfriend recently got an Android phone and I’m in the process of telling her which apps I think are best.  I figured while I’m at it I would make my list a little more formal and share it with the world.  These are only my personal recommendations and I’m only experienced with the Samsung Infuse 4G.  If you have anything you feel belongs on this list, let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to add it to the list.

Applications

	App Name	Description
1	Gmail	When it comes to email I prefer Gmail above all others.  Google doesn’t install it by default.	Free
2	GO SMS Pro	The best text messaging app I’ve come across.  Even though there are others which are more popular I find this one a lot more user friendly and included more features.	Free
3	GO SMS Pro Emoji Plugin	A simple plugin for the GO SMS which allows you to use emoticons like this: These emoticons work natively with iPhone users and with most android users which use any SMS app which supports Emoji.	Free
4	Facebook		Free
5	Google+	Even if you don’t use the social network, this app will automatically backup all the pictures you take with your phone to a private folder in Picasa web albums.	Free
6	Google voice	Google will give you a phone number which will forward all calls made to it to your phone.  Allowing you to keep your real number private, or change physical phone numbers as often as you want.  The thing that makes Google Voice so great though is its ability to transcribe your voice mail messages and then e-mail them too you.	Free
7	Netflix		Monthly
8	TV.com	Not a very large selection of TV shows to watch, but it is free to download and use.  Most of the shows are through CBS, and can’t be found on Hulu either.	Free
9	Hulu Plus	INCOMPATIBLE with the Infuse!!  Also only works providing you have a Hulu plus subscription.  Hulu may be free to use on your computer, but on the phone its about $10 a month.	Free
10	Starbucks	Register with Starbucks and not only get a free drink on your birthday, but you can use your phone to display a bar code which the cashier can scan so you don’t have to fumble with pulling it out of your wallet.	Free
11	Spotify	Spotify is a free music service that allows you so much of airplay a month on the computer before you’re required to pay a monthly fee of about $10.  If you subscribe to the paid version you can stream music on your phone anytime anywhere.  If you just want to use the free version you can copy over songs you have already downloaded on your computer over wi-fi which is a nice way to keep playlists organized.	Free
12	Shazam Encore	There is a free version of this app as well	$4.99
13	Evernote	Simple note taking app	Free
14	Dropbox	File storage, allows me access to files in a special folder which are on my computer.  Files get synced to website so I don’t need to have my computer on to access them either.	Free
15	Wunderlist Task Manager	Simple To-Do list	Free
16	Beautiful Widgets	I love the weather widget this app offers.  It even includes a notification icon which displays the weather and automatically discovers where I am so its always updated as I travel.	$2.69
17	Adobe Flash Player	The ultimate battery killer, but its needed for several sites.	Free
18	Barcode Scanner	Scan QR codes or any bar code you find, then look them up online to find the cheapest price around.	Free
19	Chase Bank	If you don’t have a bank account with Chase this app won’t help you one bit.  I recently changed banks to Chase though just so I could use this app since it rated as being one of the highest in the Android market.  Bonus for being an Army veteran with Chase is they give you the premium account (normally $25 a month) just because you served in the military.	Free
20	Where Am I?	A simple app, that can be useful if you travel a lot and/or get lost easily.	Free
21	Wifi Analyzer	A 2GB data plan is usually pretty intensive for almost anyone, but still wifi’s are faster and sometimes you’re required to be on one in order to do something specific.  (Like uploading a video to YouTube)	Free
22	LogMeIn Ignition	Install some free software onto your computer and then use this app anywhere in the world to control the computer as if you were sitting in front of it.	$29.99

Games

Paid Apps

When it comes to buying apps it sounds like a waste of money to some people.  However if you consider the amount of functionality those apps offer a single dollar doesn’t feel like a lot.  A game that cost $3 is still much cheaper than what you would spend on that prize you’re never going to win at the carnival.  Google does give you 15 minutes to review the app and decide if you want to keep it before you have the option of deleting it and getting your money back.  Not really much time, but its better than nothing.  Personally I will find a way to pirate the app then if I use it often enough I will eventually buy it.  Not necessarily for moral reasons, but because its usually only a couple dollars at most and the updates I will get automatically are well worth the hassle of having to repeatedly check and see if there is a bug fix or new and added features.

Pirating Android Apps

As a programmer myself it may seem a little odd that I am telling you how to essentially steal apps.  As I said above most apps don’t cost that much, and by buying them you are saving yourself a lot of hassle later on.  That said I will also never buy a car without test driving it.  I don’t care if its a Lamborghini, if it uncomfortable to use I won’t use it.  Most of the time when you pirate apps it can damage your phone and sometimes you can be coexed into installing a virus.  So unless you’re ready to face those consequences I really don’t recommend venturing outside the official Android Market. Getting all your apps from the app store is the best method everytime.

There are times where I am required to pirate something.  If its a $50 or even $20 app with no demo or trial period, you can believe I am going to test it out first.  User reviews are great, but I’m not one that likes to rely on internet testimonies.  I prefer using the site 4shared.com and search for the app name followed by APK.  APK’s are Android package files which install apps, plugins, and other software onto your phone.  They also have an app in the market place which makes finding and downloading these files to your phone almost effortless.

So a search for “Angry Birds APK” would look like this.  Note the version numbers, you want the latest version.  This only works for the most popular apps as well.

Once you’ve downloaded your APK, you have to allow the phone to bypass the security which will allow you to install the app.  To do that follow these easy steps.

• Open your device Settings and click “Applications”.
• If unchecked, click “Unknown sources”. If “Unknown sources” is already checked your phone is already able to download apps downloaded outside the Android Market.
• Click “OK” on the “Attention” dialog. “Unknown sources” will now have a green check.

Now, you’re all set.  Angry Birds is also a free app in the Android Market, and some of these files you will find, usually have been hacked in some way.  In most cases that I have seen someone has removed the ads, which if you’ve played Angry Birds with ads, they can get quite annoying.

Save it in the Cloud

One of the things I am so crucial over with managing my personal data is the use of cloud storage.  Everything is stored on a server somewhere else which not only makes it a nice way to backup crucial information but it gives you easy access to it regardless where you are.  I don’t rely on a single service to host all of my information but instead on several and most of them free.  Below is a list of the cloud services which I use.