It has been almost an year I started "using" android on my Samsung Galaxy R - i9103. Pretty decent phone with 4.3 inch SLCD, 1 GHz Dual core Tegra 2 processor and 1 Gig RAM
I was on Stock Indian 2.3.5 Ginger Bread (GB) and switched to Cyanogenmod 10 (CM10) with 4.1.2 Jelly Bean (JB) recently. I have been trying out many apps for different puposes and this post to list the ones I use regularly.
Of course, a part of them are rooted apps I use to enjoy tweaking my phone for performance. Almost all are free and copy of paid apks can be found online easily.
Classified as
GO SMS Pro for texting.Has many features like theme support, sms backup local or cloud , scheduling , private SMS etc.
Does Whatsapp need a mention?
I have more than 1300 contacts Google contacts, my one stop contact management tool.
We all have so much of junk contacts. Cleaning up and syncing contacts to a single place from all sources like phone, gmail etc is a time consuming process but worth. Never loose contacts after in lifetime. I shall make a separate post on this soon.
MX player for video playback.It uses hardware acceleration based on the device. The User interface and touch gestures are pleasing.
Winamp for music. It was far better than default one on GB. Auto and manual Playlists, Lock screen widget and headset controlled Play/Pause/Next/Previous with a decent user interface.
CM 10 has DSP manager equalizer with Apollo Music player which gives great music experience with a high bass I love.
Instagram - Must have for smartphone photography buffs. So many filters and effects.
Ringdroid – Provides a easy and accurate interface cut songs and set/save as ringtones
My data manager helps tracking data usage on mobile network according to the internet plan I dictate.It shows the data used/left on use with days remaining on the plan. Gives statistics on data trafic through various apps and activities.Pretty useful.
Seesmic - The most used app on my phone and my favorite twitter client. Its light weight and comfy. Gives maximum screen space and does not baffle with bright colours.It lacks push notifications and draft or scheduling of tweets. I use the official twitter app occasionally.
Google chrome and Dolphin browser interchangeably for browsing .Opera mini if I am stuck on a slow network.
utorrent to download torrents directly on mobile.
Tubemate to download youtube videos directly on mobile in various resolutions or even as MP3.It is not on Play store.
Mobile banking apps. Almost all the banks give mobile app access but with restricted transaction limits. I prefer logging into their websites in desktop mode from both browsers mentioned above.
Location Services
Google Earth Not as good as PC. Root needed to enable US market in India.
FasterFix - Gets faster GPS fix by downloading prior auxillary data based on my location.
Google SkyMap - It you watch stars and constellations, then this the app for you
GPS logger to have a memorable GPS coordinate log of places I visit or to trace a new path I travelled to a place. The log can be later imposed on Google Maps for better visualisation.
Indian caller info displays the caller information on screen live on an incoming/outgoing call.The information includes which network operator and state in case of mobile numbers and city name for land line numbers. ISD numbers too.
Google maps doesn't need a mention, I use the most on travelling. Directions, distance, offline caching etc. It rocks.
Bus routes – BMTC in Bangalore or MTC in Chennai have many apps in market for knowing bus routes between stops or Path of route numbers.
Justdial provides all local yellow pages information like its website.
Google Now is my favorite feature available from Android version 4.1. It gives awsome features of voice search and assistance, local information, personalised information cards etc.
Skype Not many phones have front camera for video chat. Mine has a 1.3MP. Skype calls in phone are more comfortable than on a Desktop/Laptop.
Go launcher EX I loved this simple and clean launcher over hefty Touchwiz by Samsung on GB. Now the default trebuchet launcher on CM10 seems sufficient.
Battery Solo widget - Displays numerical value of battery remaining as a widget on Home screen
Kindle by Amazon is my PDF reader.UI and the feel is good.
Scan to PDF - Take a snap and convert anything to PDF.
Springpad is a nice app allows feature rich note taking with a synced web access
Google docs (Drive ) with 5GB online storage, offline storage and local edits helps accessing Google docs synced everywhere.
Kingsoft Office is so for the top free office viewer and editor in the play store
Undelete to recover deleted files in your android.Its a root app.
Airdroid is interesting. Lets access the phone features for Messaging, Files etc in a PC browser when the phone is connected over same wifi network.
Androzip to work with zip files
Dropbox and Google Drive for syncing files and documents on cloud and access anywhere.
ES File explorer and Root browser are my favs.
AndFTP Host a FTP server on your mobile for easy file access from phone on network.
Tamil unicode font - Needs Root. Needed to display Tamil font in phones which do not have default support.
Tamilvisai - I post a lot in Tamil on social networks.This app makes it easy with Phonetic english keyboard. Also supports direct tamil typing which I hardly use.
PNR status and train info gives almost all train information including live status of a current running train.
mBus allows mobile booking for RedBus, KSRTC and TNSTC.
Market Enabler is a root app which allows access of blocked apps in India by simulating required country's identity.
AdFree - Root app. Blocks all Ads in your mobile by changing the hosts file.
App for Couples
Of course I did not have a chance to use this app. But as per the review, this app seems good.
Pair has private wall feature only between couples and other usual sharing features. Give a try
Splitwise sharing costs with friends? This is the app with web sync. Billmonk does not have a mobile app.
Tools
Team viewer View and control your PC/Laptop from anywhere.
DroidVNC server allows viewing/controlling phone as such in a network connected PC browser on the same network.Root App.
llama is an amazing automation app which is location aware. It first learns your locations based on cell towers like home, office or anything you instruct. Then we dictate few tasks to perform when entering/leaving an area. It does automatically from there on. I use it to Toggle wifi on/off, change ringtone volumes based on my preference etc.
Tasker is a true paid automation app.It automates almost everything based on rules we set. Few simple scenarios are when I plug in my earphones, the volume is reduced if its high and winamp is opened. Toggle Auto-sync feature automatically when I am on Mobile data to conserve battery.It can send automatic SMS to partner when you leave office and what not.Its a beast app. Learning curve is there.
Backup
App backup and restore helps in backup of applications as .apk files in case if some mishap happens to phone and you don't loose any application.
Titanium backup (TB) pro is the best. But rooted. It has multiple functionalities of which app backup with data like game achievements and saved states etc.One more notable fuctionality is it helps moving apps to external SD card if ou are running out of space on phone.Pro version support batch restore. Restoring a TB app on a different android version or ROM may throw up issues.
Call log Backup - Backup all call logs on SD card
SMS Backup - Backup all SMS on SD card
Flashlight will lets using the flash only without getting into any camera app. Direct and Useful.CM10 has a "Torch" feature on the Notification drawer for easy access.
Android lost helps tracking lost phone.It works and I have heard real stories.
I shall try to update the list in a regular basis. Comment with other apps you enjoy.
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