Android Apps

[quote=Canoas]What apps do you guys use on your androids? More importantly, which apps do you use to replace the stock apps like the camera or video player? Here's the apps I use: Stock App Replacements ========================= Alarm: Alarmdroid Browser: Dolphin Browser HD Calendar: Jorte Interface: GO Launcher EX Weather: GO Weather EX Video Camera: Camcorder (shortcut) Photo Camera: Pudding Camera Movie Player: DICE Music Player: Winamp Picture Gallery: QuickPic GPS: tmn drive Contacts and Dialer: Touchpal Messaging: Handcent SMS Keyboard: Touchpal File Explorer: ES File Explorer E-mail: Gmail and Hotmail Useful Apps ========================= JuiceDefender - Extends battery life 1.5x-2x with free version Avast! - The best antivirus for android Documents To Go - Opens word, excell and powerpoint files Barcode Scanner - Scans barcodes and QR codes Battle.net Authenticator - free blizzard authenticator CamScanner - Pretty decent pdf scanner Flashlight - Basic flashlight with fun extras like morse code Evernote - Basic notebook with camera and voice recording functionalities Skype TeamSpeak3 Google Earth Adobe Flash Player Fun Useless Apps ========================= -Guns- - Has several dozens of gun sounds, from shotguns to miniguns. PocketWhip - Whip sounds as you "whip" with your phone[/quote]

[quote=Canoas]Added the apps I used to the first post. Suggestions/critics appretiated[/quote]

[quote=Searz]My guidelines for apps are: It's important that apps are lightweight because they drain less battery when on and they occupy less space on your phone. I DO NOT accept apps that run in the background or start by themselves. I've uninstalled several games and apps just because they started by themselves. [quote=Canoas] Browser: Dolphin Browser HD[/quote] It's pretty good. It's kind of retrogressive in terms of interface though. In Android 4.1 the default browser is better than Dolphin in almost all areas. But I do realize that not all people have Android 4.1. [quote]Alarm: Alarmdroid Calendar: Jorte Weather: GO Weather EX Video Camera: Camcorder (shortcut) Photo Camera: Pudding Camera Movie Player: DICE Picture Gallery: QuickPic GPS: tmn drive Contacts and Dialer: Touchpal Messaging: Handcent SMS Keyboard: Touchpal[/quote] Care to elaborate? [quote]Interface: GO Launcher EX[/quote] Tried it once, for a short time. It was rubbish. And I'm pretty sure it will drain your battery, even if just a little. Do give an explanation of why you think it's good though(if you do). [quote]Music Player: Winamp[/quote] I wasn't a fan of the music player in Android 2.3 and 4.0, but the one in 4.1 is great, so I feel little need for a new one. [quote]JuiceDefender - Extends battery life 1.5x-2x with free version[/quote] Oh really now? I'm 90% sure all those apps are complete and utter bullshit. I never trust any third-party program that runs in the background (ON ANY MACHINE) to "optimize" things. [quote]Avast! - The best antivirus for android[/quote] I'm pretty sure it's unnecessary unless you're reckless (do prove me wrong though). Also drains extra battery like anything else running in the background. [quote]Documents To Go - Opens word, excell and powerpoint files[/quote] I don't know much about office apps, but Kingsoft office was pretty good when I tried it. How does that compare? If you just wanna open and read them you could just roll with ES File Explorer though. [quote]Barcode Scanner - Scans barcodes and QR codes[/quote] Yup, good lightweight stuff. [quote]CamScanner - Pretty decent pdf scanner[/quote] Just use ES File Explorer. A decent PDF app is included along with a document reader, an image viewer and loads more stuff all under 2MB of program space. [quote]Flashlight - Basic flashlight with fun extras like morse code[/quote] TeslaLED pretty much beats the snot out of any other flashlight app. It has pretty much any kind of flashlight mode you'd want (morse too ofc) and has CUSTOMIZABLE WIDGETS (that's big) while still being very lightweight (0.7MB). [quote]Evernote - Basic notebook with camera and voice recording functionalities[/quote] I'd personally never use video or sound for my notes, so I don't think that's the app for me. I use SeNotes+ because they're simple, effective and lightweight (0.25MB). All your notes will be in widgets, easy to see and modify. You can change the size of the widgets and the color of the background and size of the text. [quote]PocketWhip - Whip sounds as you "whip" with your phone[/quote] That sounds kinda funny ^_^[/quote]

[quote=Canoas]I guess I should have said that I'm still on 2.3.6. I'll only get 4.1 in about 1 month. Anyway, you should really try juice defender or at least read up on it. It's really effective and if you get ultimate (and configure it properly) it'll easily double your battery life. Honestly, if you're going to try any of the apps I mentioned try this one. It's definitely the most useful app I've found so far. Regarding all the apps I put under "stock app replacements", there's really not that much to say. They're simply better than the stock apps or offer more functionalities. Usually it's either the app with best rating that I choose or I just google "best android apps" followed by the respective category. I use Go Launcher EX just to customize the homescreen. That's pretty much it. Why do you think it's rubbish? Is there any problem with it or is jelly bean just better? I just installed avast today. I'm not reckless, I don't even need anti-virus/firewall on my pc, but on the phone it's a bit different since I'll be connecting to several wireless networks. I installed avast for the firewall, but it seems my device needs to be rooted for it to work properly. Still, according to them it barely consumes any battery. The anti-theft feature also looks pretty nice, but I doubt I'll ever get my phone stolen so.. I didn't really look too much into the office apps. Docs to go was free and worked, so I kept it. I'll probably change to kingsoft though, docs to go has some features that require purchasing while kingsoft is completely free. Camscanner uses the camera to scan a document and convert it to pdf. It's useful if you're not at home with a proper scanner. The flashlight I use is actually called "Tiny Flashlight + LED" in the appstore, but it only shows up as flashlight on my phone for some reason. Still, I've just checked TeslaLED and it doesn't have anything that flashlight doesn't. Flashlight is easier to navigate as you just open a menu and choose what you want to use instead of having to scroll through all the options, but it uses 2 MB instead of 730 KB. I store all the non-important apps on my 32gb SD card though, so I couldn't care less about such small difference. On the other hand, teslaLED does look prettier, which is usually the deciding factor for me. I'll probably change apps. Evernote can take snapshots and attach them to the note. That's what I meant by camera, it doesn't really have any video function. It looked like a solid app to me and the interface is easy to use. I haven't really used the snapshot function so far, but I can see how it might be useful in the future.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]I read up a little on Juice defender. I can see how it can be useful for normal people, BUT not for me. I'm a true power-user. I manage EVERYTHING on my phone. 1. I don't have a data plan so I very rarely use mobile data. 2. I have my phone set to only use 2G networks, so no need to switch between 2/3/4G. 3. I have set Wi-Fi to turn off automatically when the phone is sleeping (should be possible in 2.3 too) and I have an easily accessable widget for when I wanna turn it on/off. (there's also Bluetooth, brightness and GPS control on the same widget) 4. I don't have ANY programs that run in the background. Those are major taboo for me. The first 3 things are all easily accessible on my home screen in a folder (folders are introduced in 4.0 and so are shortcuts to specific setting screens) So yea, I'm pretty sure I'm maxing out my battery as it is. Most replacements for stock apps are wasteful most of the time, imo. Only in the case that I really need some new functionality I see the need for a new program. The only stock replacement I have is Camera360. GREAT camera app. It has loads of effects you can put on pictures and I like snapping some photos with it every now and then. I mainly use Tesla LED for the widget. You can assign several different modes to the widget and you can change the icon and the text too. The light also stays on when you put the phone to sleep, which is a big plus (tho it didn't work on 2.3, only in 4.0+). My reason for disliking GO launcher is that it looked too.. I dunno, not stylish? (it's like they're not sure which colors to use, like Samsung's TouchWiz) and ofc that it ran as an extra program. Big taboo. The default look in Android 4.0+ is GORGEOUS anyways, so why would I want to downgrade? ^_^ So to summarize my favorite apps (as a power user): ES File Explorer Camera360 SeNotes+ TeslaLED MX Player Pro (advanced video player, I have the pay version) Add Dolphin Browser to those if you're at below version 4.0.[/quote]

[quote=Arkharan]Game: Rage of Bahamut, for the rest I keep pretty much all the same pre-installed android apps.[/quote]

[quote=Canoas]The thing with GO Launcher EX is that you have tons of themes as well as icons. You're not really supposed to be using the default. Why do you use Camera 360 instead of Pudding Camera? Any specific reason or you just picked one? EDIT: Regarding Juice Defender, it also manages your CPU so it only runs at full speed when needed and it also lets you use whatever screen brightness you want, even if it's lower than what's allowed. You need root access and ultimate JD (5€) for both of these features though. Also, there have been several viruses in the play store so far, so I'll keep avast. It barely consumes any battery so there's really no harm in it.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]Well I'm not scared of viruses, so I won't use Avast :P Android already manages your CPU clock dynamically. Clocking it up when you need the power and clocking it down when you don't. Mine goes from 100MHz to 1000MHz depending on load. If I enter aeroplane mode and lock my screen then the phone would literally last for months. It draws very close to 0 power without the mobile networks. Brightness is also a non-issue for me. The automatic brightness is great in 4.0+. It adjusts almost perfectly to the environmental light levels. (it was pretty good in 2.3, but got better in 4.0) If you think Pudding Camera is good then you'll love [url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vStudio.Android.Camera360]Camera 360[/url]. I use it mainly for the HDR effect (the soft HDR effect), but there's like 20 different effects, then there's ~5 sub-effects for most of those effects. It's really good. My biggest problem with it would probably be that it takes a few seconds to start (while default camera loads almost instantly). I see. But I still wouldn't use GO launcher because the default interface is very pretty already in 4.0+ and I doubt that would be any prettier. Also; I really hate programs running in the background. My free RAM is only at ~180MB (512 total) and I like being able to make the most of it. It also saves some battery (because of how Android manages RAM).[/quote]

[quote=Canoas]It does manage the CPU, but at least in 2.3 it really sucks. If there's anything running in the background then the CPU is at 100%. The same thing happens when you turn on your screen. In 2.3 the automatic brightness isn't that good, it has limits. With JD it goes under the minimum limit when that's all you need. Still, since you have nothing running in the background then it's not that useful for you. I'll try camera 360 then, just to see if it's better.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]I may be having a different experience because I got a Nexus phone. My CPU doesn't clock up like that, it didn't do it in 2.3 either. It does clock up whenever I touch the screen though, but that's a good thing. It's part of project butter and makes animations smoother. Well, the auto brightness in 2.3 was decent at the very least, but it got good in 4.0.[/quote]