You've made the switch. You've said goodbye to that chomped fruit, be it of the berry or rounder fruit variety, and bought in to the craze that's sweeping the Third World: you got your hands on an Android phone. So you start checking out the menu, burning your data on random YouTube videos and spelling out dirty words on the calculator. But it all feels a bit... empty. The email client looks a bit weird and you have no idea how to set a reminder. That hollow feeling of buyers' remorse rears its ugly head, and you start fighting the urge to throw the phone in the drawer along with the GameBoy with a cracked screen and all the other pieces of technology that let you down over the years.
That's where this post comes in. As someone who loves messing with tech and who doesn't mind taking the risks you know you don't want to with a R6000 piece of equipment, I've had some extensive experience with every phase of installing and tweaking your user experience on a smartphone. What follows is a list of the basic apps I install every time I format and clean out my phone; in short, this is my list of universally recommended apps for Android. Take note: these are not random apps that I just happen to like; these are apps that I've compared to many in its category and found to be either better or just more pleasant to work with than anything else on Android. The other thing to keep in mind is that I'm not going to include the obvious apps like Whatsapp or Opera Mini in here; in these cases it comes down to you knowing what you want to do with your phone.
Install Opera Mini though. You REALLY save a lot of data.
1. SwiftKey Keyboard
This is the first thing you do.
Seriously. Don't think about it. Ignore the free version, and shell out the few dollars to get this app on your phone. There is no way to explain how much easier this keyboard makes your entire user experience; I have tried several keyboards on Android, and this is by far the best one on all levels. From the "Flow" feature that allows you to swipe your finger across the keyboard to form words instead of tapping on individual letters (which works remarkably well, I might say, and allows you to type one-handed with much more effectiveness than you'd think) to the scanning of your SMS, email and social media accounts to learn what kind of language you use, this keyboard is packed with features that you didn't realize you needed until you can't live without it. It even has Afrikaans as a downloadable language, and the spelling of the words is actually correct. I'm quite a stickler when it comes to spelling and grammar, and this keyboard really impressed me with the standard dictionaries.
In short, get this keyboard. This is not negotiable.
2. Timely Alarm Clock
Timely Alarm Clock is one of those overlooked apps that seems to do something that your phone does rather well ANYWAY, so why would you need to install another app that just takes up space and doesn't add anything useful?
Well, first off, Timely is GORGEOUS. I mean, this is probably the best-looking app I've seen on Android. Brilliant colours, amazing animations and such a great user interface making it a breeze to use. It has all the basics you'd expect from an alarm clock; repeat settings for all days of the week, custom alarm sounds, easy on/off toggles. It also has many of the gimmicks that seem to be included in every alarm clock, such as "Easy Wake", where the alarm fades in a few minutes before it actually goes off, waking you up in a gentler manner.
However, it doesn't stop there. The app includes a Timer, Stopwatch and a normal Clock display that just looks SO good. All of it is topped off with an incredibly intuitive interface; add in the fact that the full version of the app was made free a few months ago, and you have an irresistible offer.
3. EvolveSMS
One of the biggest complaints I have regarding default Android is the SMS application. It's simply not as good as the iOS Messaging app. EvolveSMS fills this void very nicely by providing their app free of charge, and offering you the option to support them financially by buying themes and skins for the app. Nothing fancy or tricky to use, even though it is packed to the brim with all the features you expect from a premium SMS app. My biggest reason for recommending this app is just its simplicity; it's good-looking, easy to use, fast, and free. What more reason do you need?
4. Any.DO
To-do list apps are a dime a dozen. Nah, even less, as most of them are free to use, as is Any.DO. So what makes this one a standout in the crowd?
Any.DO focuses on simplicity above all. No clunky "Add Reminder Here" window with dozens of options. Just a simple list with an input box where you add the task, and merely 3 categories: Today, Tomorrow and Someday. Just tap, type and press enter, and it's added, and drag and drop to move things around.
Sound too simple for you? Sure thing, Any.DO supports any other function you'd care to mention. Set reminders, set repeat tasks (like adding "Go to the gym" as a daily activity, maybe?), set alarms, create custom categories (or folders)... Any.DO has you covered. One unique feature is the "autodetect app" function that the app includes, whereby it reads your task and, if it finds a match, suggests an app to help you with said activity. Want to "go shopping"? It'll recommend a shopping app for your area. "Gym" brings up fitness and running trackers, while it also links to your address book if you want to make appointments with people. For instance, if you type "Go get coffee with John", you get the option to "Tag" the person, which will trigger the reminder with the contact's photo and even giving you the option of notifying the other person of your appointment.
The fact that you get cloud storage with your login to the app means that every time you change device or have to reload your phone, you get all your to-do tasks back in the right order, with the right reminders make it an invaluable asset.
5. Lux Auto Brightness
Lux just complements what most phones already have: an auto-brightness feature. However, the stock feature in Android seems to take long to respond, and doesn't have a great range or much customization. Lux runs in the background, but tapping on its icon in the notification bar brings up a display where you can set the brightness to a custom value. The great part about this app is that it gives you the option to set custom values to your profile; in other words, if you want the screen to be THIS bright when the area around you is THIS bright, then you can set it so. It makes for a great bit of customization that allows you to tune your brightness to the value you want, and save it there. The paid version of the app includes profiles, so you have separate settings for Cinema, Day, Night, Reading, and so on, but if you feel like you just want the basics, there is a Free version of the app that works very well.
6. Twilight
It's a bit of an odd one, this. Apparently one of the big reasons for insomnia among modern humans is the blue tint on computer screens, phones included. The blue hue apparently stimulates the part of our brain that controls whether we feel sleepy or not. Twilight combats this by taking the current time of day, and adjusting your screen hue accordingly. So, for instance, between 8 and 10 at night, your screen will gradually take on a reddish tint. It sounds annoying, but surprisingly, it isn't. In fact, it calms you down a little. More than just a little, to be honest. I think that zzzzzzzzz...
7. Muzei Live Wallpaper
Muzei won't dramatically change the way you work with your phone, but it will make it look 10 times better. Muzei is a wallpaper changer that runs in the background and cycles your wallpaper every x hours, depending on what you set it to. By default it will cycle famous works of art as your wallpaper, but it can easily be changed to switch between custom pictures on your phone. However, it has 2 big advantages over anything else out there. Firstly, the way it presents the wallpapers is as a hazed-out version of the photo, kind of like looking at the pic through a frosted window; this is done so that you are always able to read icon labels no matter of how busy your wallpaper pic might be. Want to look at the picture in its full glory? Simple. Just double-tap anywhere on the screen, and Muzei will "un-fuzz" the photo, creating a great way to enjoy your wallpaper on the go without it interfering.
The second great thing about Muzei is its plugin support. There are quite a few great plugins for
the app, among which my favourites are the Instagram plugin, which pulls all the photos you've posted on the pic-sharing network to use as your wallpapers, and the Music plugin, where the album art to the music you're listening to becomes your phone wallpaper. Many other great plugins are out there, and all of the ones I've noticed are as free as the app itself.
8. QuickPic
QuickPic doesn't need a lot of details to explain what it's about; to put it simply, it organizes your photos. The stock Android gallery has a lot of great features, but among the ones missing are things like creating custom folders and batch editing; QuickPic solves all this and adds in a few filters, search functionality and some basic editing tools. All in all, a hassle-free way to organize your picture collection on the device.
9. Snapseed
Google decided to jump in to the already saturated photo editing market with Snapseed a few years ago, and I have to say that this is my editing app of choice. Sure, VSCOCam has some great filters, and there are dozens of small editors that allow you to adjust things on the fly, but no app comes close to the level of detail you get to manipulate with Snapseed. I will suggest that you stick to Instagram if you're not serious about photo editing though; Snapseed has the basic "Fix All" and filters settings, but it's more geared toward people who know what to do when the bottom lower third of the image is supersaturated or you need to fix the contrast balance in the shadows in the background. But, for a free app, you get most of the functionality you'd get from Photoshop, and it's all in the palm of your hand.
10. Falcon Pro
There are almost more Twitter clients out there than there are Tweets, and I've given most of them a try... Funnily enough, this is an app category that doesn't have too many bad choices. Carbon, Plume, HootSuite, Twitter for Android and many others really do the job, and do it well. Falcon Pro gets my nod, however, simply because it's faster and more customizable than anything else I've used.
There is a bit of a trick, however. Twitter seemed to dislike the fact that Falcon Pro got so popular and ended up blocking the app on Google Play, so installing and activating this client takes a bit of know-how. If that sentence hasn't scared you off, send me a mail if you want detailed instructions on how to install this amazing Twitter client. If you think you're better off in the shallow end, however, try Talon. It's my favourite Twitter client that's not Falcon Pro.
11. PowerAMP
The best music player on Android. Period. No other player comes close to the amount of formats supported, variety of options on interface or customizability that PowerAMP provides. Everything from a graphical EQ to pan and boost settings, through tweaking how the controls are laid out on your screen, which folders to scan for music, a custom lock screen with music controls, album art fetching, lyric searching, on-the-fly deleting and editing of music files and much, much more... I've been using PowerAMP for almost 2 years, and every time I try a new player I just realize how much better it is at doing its job than any other audio player on Android.
The app is a little pricey, but this is a free trial version you can try out so you can judge for yourself, after which you can buy the "Full Version Unlocker". However, this and SwiftKey Full are the best uses for your money when it comes to your Android device.
12. MXPlayer
Like to use your phone for a bit more than just texting and Facebook? MXPlayer turns your handheld device into a full home theater. By FAR the best video player on Android, it outstrips players like VLC just by being much easier to use. MXPlayer supports almost any format you care to throw at it, and has great features like interface lock (so you don't accidentally turn the volume to 11 or close the player when it's lying in an awkward position), swipe to control brightness and volume settings, playlist configuration and much more. I honestly can't recommend any other app when it comes to video playback; there are also free and paid versions (the one in the link), but this is another case where I really don't mind shelling out the kudos and dollars.
13. CloudMagic
The other big advantage that iOS has over Android is the email application. Apple's Mail app just WORKS, while Android's stock app leaves you very underwhelmed.
Enter CloudMagic, an app that not only integrates with every single email account I've thrown at it (MS Exchange, Gmail and other major accounts' setup is a BREEZE), but does so with a soft, great-looking interface and one that's really easy to use. Set up custom signatures, do batch editing, integrate with your contacts list... you name it, CloudMagic can do it.
The biggest reason I'm recommending this app, though, is due to the amazing developer feedback. When I started using CloudMagic I rather liked the app, but had a small problem when replying from one or two of my accounts. I rather reluctantly used the "Give us Feedback!" option telling them about my problem, probably because I was bored, as we all know the developers never read these things.
And a day later, I had a personal email from the developers in my inbox, asking for more information and screenshots. Surprised, I talked to them for a day or two and sent all the information they asked for, and then didn't hear anything from them for a week or two. Thinking that they probably just brushed off my request as another annoyance, I moved on with my life.
Sure enough, two weeks later, CloudMagic has an update, and I have a message in my inbox saying that the newest update should fix the problem I was having. Since, I've reported problems and suggested features 3 times, and every time I've had a response within a week, sometimes even saying that the next update would include the fix I requested.
I've NEVER seen this level of commitment to interaction from developers. And just because of this (okay, and because the app is actually great to use), I'm recommending CloudMagic as the email app of choice.
14. Ambio - Sleep Sounds
This one is quite easy to explain: Ambio is a white noise app. If you don't feel like you need something like this, skip to number 15. If you find yourself kept awake by small noises at night, or needing some buffer when studying, this app is for you. As a free app, it automatically gains a lot of ground over most of the other apps in its category, most of which are paid apps.
Ambio is just... easy to use. It comes with a nice pre-installed library, and there are many sound packs available for purchase or free download on its in-app store. Use one of the pre-installed mixes, or create your own from the sounds in your library; set how long each sound should take before it "loops" or repeats, set a random variable so that it doesn't repeat the same way every time, set a sleep timer so that the app shuts down after a certain amount of time... It's just jam-packed with every feature you'd want an app in this category to have.
15. Google Camera
Adding "Google" to the front of any other word seems to mean things just got a whole lot more interesting. In the case of Google Camera, this is definitely the case, although not in the way you might think. This app doesn't have 300 different settings or filters dropping down from on high. In fact, the only settings available are for the flash, and the noughts-and-crosses overlay you get on some camera apps. Initially you might think that this is far too basic for your taste, until you realize that all the other "Presets" or filters are things that are applied to your image after taking, so you might just as well take the picture with Google Camera and then use something like Snapseed, VSCOCam or Instagram to apply the effects you so desperately need.
What differentiates Google Camera from the hundreds of other camera apps out there are the shooting modes. Aside from the obvious "Camera" and "Video" modes, it adds a "Lens Blur", "Panorama" and "Photo Sphere" option to the mix. These might sound very standard, especially as the Panorama and Photo Sphere options have been integrated into many other camera apps, but just bear with me.
Panorama is exactly what you'd expect, creating a 360 degree view around yourself, while Photo Sphere just takes it the extra dimension with a full sphere around the camera. The app makes it a LOT easier to create a proper panorama and sphere by mapping virtual "points" on screen where you need to hold the camera still, creating a much more detailed panorama than constantly moving the camera. Lens Blur prompts you to move the camera around while focusing on the object you wish to highlight, allowing you to blur out the scenery except for the object you are photographing. It works fantastically well, and is a pleasant change from the basic filters you use to get a similar effect in Instagram.
The coolest feature, however, is the built-in viewer for Panorama and Photo Sphere. In short, after the panorama has been created, you can use the phone's accelerometer (the thing in your phone that detects when the phone is being moved and which way up it is) to "look around" the panorama without swiping around the screen. So, if you take a Photo Sphere and send it to another person using Google Camera, they can use their phone as a virtual window into the place where you were standing when you took it. It just works so smoothly and fluidly that I can't help but recommend it.
These are just some of the apps that I use on a daily basis; if you'd like some more recommendations or questions, send me a mail and I'll try to get back to you. But trust me on these apps; they really change Android from that funky-looking kid in science class to a proper rival to anything Apple cares to throw at the consumer market.
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