Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Seven Great Android Apps To Enhance Your Phone


I thought it would be nice to follow-up my '6 Months In' review of the HTC Legend by talking about some of the Android apps I use. Below is a list of some of the more interesting apps I use on a daily basis; some are for social networking, others are utilities. Enjoy!
Twicca
This was the first Android Twitter app I used during my brief period of owning an HTC Hero, and it never ceases to impress me. I started using other Twitter apps for a while, but always end up coming back to Twicca. It has a lovely UI that's easy on the eyes and intuitive. The app is also lightening-fast, even when on slow Internet connections.
Shazam
Hearing a great song on the radio and not knowing what it was called, or which artist sung it, was the bane of my life for a long time. Then along came Shazam for Android, which 'listens' to a song and identifies the track name and artist. It even lets you share your tags through Facebook or Twitter.

My Tracks
My Tracks is an app for keeping track of your exercise. I use it primarily for bike rides, where I simply turn my phone's GPS on, start recording a new track, and the My Tracks app tracks my entire journey. It also gives some other really useful information, such as average speed and elevation.
YouTube
The latest official YouTube Android app is the best, and has a really slick UI. There's still a few bug fixes to be made, but overall I prefer this app to YouTube's new mobile web app. The darker accents also look gorgeous on my AMOLED display.
Zedge
I get bored very easily, so I usually change my wallpaper a couple of times a week. Zedge has (literally) thousands of free wallpapers and ringtones available for download, and they're all of brilliant quality.
Bing
While the Google search integration into Android 2.2 is by far the best, it's nice to have an alternative search engine. The Bing app searches the web, images, movies, and more all from one app, and there's also a nice search bar widget with voice search support. It also lets you see the photo of the day.
Dropbox
When people say they can't live without an app, it's often used as hyperbole. In my case though, my life would turn into a living nightmare without Dropbox. I can't be bothered to take a USB drive everywhere, and for some smaller files I prefer to upload to Dropbox than use USB. This also helps with transferring things between my devices, as all of your Dropbox files are synced across all platforms. The Android app has a clean UI, and both uploads and downloads are stupidly fast on both 3G and wifi. 

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