Essential Android Applications

I have a new post on this. Go here: https://blog.f12.no/wp/2010/08/06/redommended-android-applications/

I have had my HTC Magic for a little over a month eight months now. I’m still satisfied, though I’m contemplating getting a Google Nexus One next year. I’ve updated my apps list below. Not all of them are necessary for handsets like Hero, but I’m still on Magic so I need some extra extensions. 🙂

System

• PandaHome – Home screen replacement. Gives me as many home screens as I want and a nice dock.
• Locale – Profiles for your android. Adjusts sound etc. based on location or other parameters.
• AutoLock – Delays the need to draw your unlock pattern.
• Useful Switchers – Easy access to switch on and off the things that consume battery.
• TasKiller – Kill off tasks.

SMS and contacts

• Handcent SMS – iPhone like SMS handling with bubbles and all.
• SMS Popup – Popup covering the screen on SMS instead of just the top bar notifications.
• SMS Templates – Templates for sending SMS.
• SyncMyPix – Get profile pictures from Facebook as contact photos.

Connectivity

• Toggle Data – If you don’t have a free data plan, you really don’t want your Android to go checking the net all the time. This lets you turn off and on data usage.
• Wisync – Automatically turn off data sync when not on WiFi.
• Wifi Analyzer – Nice to have when messing around with my APs to find the free channels.
• WeFi Connect – Scan, connect and test open connections in the area until one succeeds.
• NetSentry – Keep track of downloaded data.
• Bluetooth File Transfer – Send and receive files over Bluetooth (sadly not standard).

Productivity

• Share Your Board – Takes a snapshot of your whiteboard, corrects the angles, crops and increases contrast. I mail mine to Evernote for search and storage.
• Evernote – Capture anything, for ever. It even does OCR on any images so you can search for what you have written.
• GDocs Notepad – Notepad that Syncs to a folder on Google Docs.
• Remember The Milk – My essential GTD app. Nice widget for displaying list of current tasks. Only works if you are a paying member of RTM.
• Thinking Space – Easy mind maps for Android. Syncs to “the cloud”, but no alternative client for editing (yet?).

Media

• Spotify – Music like I like it.
• Google Listen – Podcasts
• Qik – Stream your video live, and store them when you’re done broadcasting.
• Shazam – Figure out which song is playing on the radio.
• SnapTell – Snap pictures of videos, books etc. and get online quotes and links to IMDB etc. Also supports bar codes.
• Backgrounds – Easy way of finding new ones when you get tired of the one you got.

Travel and location

• Flightstats Lite – Not really a good app (just sends you to the web all the time), but nice shortcuts for getting your flight status.
• TripIt – Keep track of trips and contacts trips. Nice sync option to have everything on your phone before you leave.
• Trafikanten – Bus, train, tram and subway info for Oslo.
• Here I Am – Send your current location via SMS or Mail.
• My Tracks – Get the tracks and stats from your trip and export GPX file for Geotagging.
• MyCityBikes – Status for bikes in Oslo and other cities. Lets me find nearest bike, and nearest free slot.
• Wikitude – Augumented reality and the ultimate show off app. Can also help you find restaurants etc. near by. 😉

Misc

• Barcode Scanner – Scan barcodes and open in browser or do a search. Eases installation of applications on the links below.
• Seesmic – Twitter client with twitter lists.
• Transdroid – Add and manage torrents in a variety of torrent clients on your computer.
• Brightkite – Location based social microblogging. The best so far. 🙂
• Bubble – Level anything. 🙂
• Meebo IM – Connect to just about any IM service, and use the same account as meebo.com.

Anything else I should be using? Let me know. 🙂