Android phones have suddenly captured the market like anything. Nokia is almost thrown out of the market and Samsung is in the boom for embracing Android. I badly wanted one for myself without having good enough balance in my bank account (during my Masters). All I could do was to check out the popular models online and read their reviews. After days of research and out of frustration of wasting so much time, i wanted to end it for good, i decided to get one of the cheaper ones for myself. I got the “”LG Optimus One” for slightly less than 10k.
Its a nice phone with almost all the features required to make it a smart “smartphone”. All it misses is the flash support which is useful in playing flash media through the browser and reduced processing power compared to higher ends. I didn’t find it sensible to invest huge money on smart phones. I rather use a lower end phone to its 80% capacity than getting a high end phone and hardly using any of its features. Now I use my Android for official mails all the time.
Android Market in itself is a very good idea. Here people can sell their small innovative software online. Large number of people across the world are contributing their apps at a single place. Some Apps like “Talking Tom” makes you laugh and some make your life easier. There are many apps which works a lot better than the ones available on the phone. This has created a new market space where developers can make profits sitting at home.
According to me, one of the worst developers in the field of Android Apps is Google themselves. Most of their apps are buggy and crash all the time. They even consume a lot of phone’s internal memory. According to a theory given in one of the articles in TOI, Google/Facebook is lagging in apps related to the mobile phones is because their employees hardly get a chance to use their phone. And that is because of the hitech facilities they have in their campus :). They probably don't get a good hands-on with the phones.
Trying out new Android apps has become a nice pass time for me. Recently I successfully rooted the phone. Which means that I now have some admin privileges to install/modify even the system apps. I could move many apps to the SD card and save space on the internal memory which is anyway very limited in my mobile. I could also install the cisco anyconnect VPN which can connect to my office intranet. Some of the Apps I use the most are listed here. I guess the apps I am trying out are applicable for most of the higher end android phones as well.
Its a nice phone with almost all the features required to make it a smart “smartphone”. All it misses is the flash support which is useful in playing flash media through the browser and reduced processing power compared to higher ends. I didn’t find it sensible to invest huge money on smart phones. I rather use a lower end phone to its 80% capacity than getting a high end phone and hardly using any of its features. Now I use my Android for official mails all the time.
Android Market in itself is a very good idea. Here people can sell their small innovative software online. Large number of people across the world are contributing their apps at a single place. Some Apps like “Talking Tom” makes you laugh and some make your life easier. There are many apps which works a lot better than the ones available on the phone. This has created a new market space where developers can make profits sitting at home.
According to me, one of the worst developers in the field of Android Apps is Google themselves. Most of their apps are buggy and crash all the time. They even consume a lot of phone’s internal memory. According to a theory given in one of the articles in TOI, Google/Facebook is lagging in apps related to the mobile phones is because their employees hardly get a chance to use their phone. And that is because of the hitech facilities they have in their campus :). They probably don't get a good hands-on with the phones.
Trying out new Android apps has become a nice pass time for me. Recently I successfully rooted the phone. Which means that I now have some admin privileges to install/modify even the system apps. I could move many apps to the SD card and save space on the internal memory which is anyway very limited in my mobile. I could also install the cisco anyconnect VPN which can connect to my office intranet. Some of the Apps I use the most are listed here. I guess the apps I am trying out are applicable for most of the higher end android phones as well.
1. Opera Mobile Browser: Its a wonderful browser. Easy to use and has a neat interface. I have used other popular browsers with more features, but not as simple as this one. It has a turbo mode to save the amount of data downloaded when used on mobile networks rather than WiFi.
2. MX Video Player: Plays almost all popular video formats. My phone didn't have support for some of the file type. This player plays them using the software decoder.
3. Poweramp Music Player: This is the first app which I bought :). It has got a graphic equalizer which enhances the sound lot better than the music player already available on Android.
4. NDrive: Got this app free with LG Optimus one. Its a navigation tool which has audio suggestions as well. While riding i handover the phone to my wife and she shows me the direction :).
5. WhatsApp: Many of my friends are already on this messenger. Using this app you can send messages to the contacts stored on your phone. There is no need to sign-in to the messenger.
6. CamScanner: Converts any documents to pdf by scanning it using the inbuilt camera. I could see many image processing techniques practically and effectively used. It can remove the background color from the documents we scan and identify the text contents.
7. Touchdown: Mailing client for Exchange server 2010 used in my office. Nice app but free version is for limited period usage.
8. AirDroid: When connected through wifi or GPRS, It gives a web based interface to your android phone through which you can browse through files or send messages through any web browser.
9. Go Launcher Ex: This can change the user interface of the phone. This installs custom themes and icons. I have been using it from quite some time. Drains battery but worth it :).
10. Link2SD: This app can move many apps to SD card, even those which doesnot support SD card movement by default. Phone should be rooted to use this.
Other Interesting Apps:
1. Sonic Mosquito Repellent: Produces ultrasound to chase away the mosquitoes. Your phone should support it though. Mine does :)
2. Compass: Application as the name suggests. Uses the magnetic sensor in the phone.
3. Max Magnetic Detector (Metal Detector): Beeps when in proximity of any magnetic or metallic material.
4. Tanpura Droid: Tanpura or Shruti box for music learners.
Used many apps which claimed that they save battery. Turned out that such apps drain battery more quickly than usual. One thing or the other I am getting glued to my phone most of the time these days. I keep it aside only after I have made my wife really angry after i have missed enough of her dialogues :). Hope new interesting Apps keep coming. Happy Apping!
