Must-have Android smartphone apps ( Published on Rediff.com)

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Android is now a Mobile OS platform which cannot be neglected however skeptic you are about the whole openness of Android. It certainly has benefits over other OSs and it's business model is helping to gain and grab market share from it's competitors.

Android is the second biggest App store, second to Apple's. Though I would claim it has an app equivalent to most apps on other platforms, getting the right app can be a little cumbersome since Android does not have a very unified / organised App market. Also, it's openness has been criticized ( appreciated too by many) to attract independent developers which might lead to security loop holes. 

Okay, so let me cut the crap and get to some awesome apps you should have on your Android device. I am covering only smartphone apps for now ( the Android tablet app market is still very naive to comment on), and only the ones which are not on the build already, like Maps, Gmail, etc. Also, I am refraining from mentioning about games. The apps are not in the order of quality, rather in the order of frequency of use.

Launcher Pro

Android is open, fine! But most device manufacturers misuse this. We have the Touch Sense UIs, the Motoblurs, the Touch Wiz interfaces and so on sitting on top of the default Android UI and they suck big time. Launcher pro gives you  a ton of options for UI customization.

Facebook

Okay, the Facebook app for Android is far from perfect but is definitely the most used ( not useful, FB itself is such a waste of your precious productive time) app. The iOS counterpart is better in many ways but as there is not a very good alternative to this, Android users spend most of their smartphone time on this app. Certain features like sharing Facebook albums' photographs, etc are present on other platforms yet though. The Google + app is pretty cool too.

Advanced Task Killer Free

Android's true multi-tasking can be a little tricky sometimes. This gives rise to the need of manually managing the memory resources just like in our good old Windows. Of all the task managers out there, including the in-stock one, the Advanced Task Killer Free is the cheapest ( $0, can't get cheaper than that) and easiest to use.

Rock Player

This is probably the best video player out there for Android which supports most formats. The lite version has ads which do not interrupt the video substantially. The video is smooth and clear and satisfactory on a mobile phone.

Chrome to Phone

Register your phone and Chrome browser with this app and you are granted the power of sending any web link from your browser to phone instantly. It's more like Read-It-Later functionality, but on your phone.

Dropbox

This is the best productivity app out there. The option to view, download and share documents or any file for that matter makes it very appealing and a must-have. Documents are viewed using QuickOffice and the built-in pdf reader by default, which can be changed if alternate document viewers are installed.

Brightest Flashlight Free

Most Android phones have a camera and an LED flash too. The OS does not allow the flash to be continuously on and hence this app. I found this app easy to use and very simplistic. It makes a funny noise when launched though.

Google Music

Google Music Beta is an online music storing service where you can save your purchased ( or stolen for piracy sites) music in the cloud and play it from any device. There is an app for this on Android which plays your saved music both from your device and the cloud. The UI is impressive but a little laggy / buggy I must say.

Netflix

Netflix is finally out on most Android devices after having several hardware acceleration issues especially with NVIDIA processors. This is a must have for Netflix on-the-go users who watch Instant-Play videos on Netflix.

Browsers

The built-in browser is pretty slick and quick but lacks features like tabbed browsing, private browsing, etc. There are several browser replacements on the Android platform, viz. Skyfire, Firefox, Opera, Dolphin, etc, etc. Dolphin browser's interface is neat and includes tabbed browsing. InBrowser can be used for private browsing.

Pulse

Pulse is a content aggregator with a beautiful interface. Several websites, blogs, RSS feeds can be added to this app for a one-stop access. You can also log into this app using Facebook connect to see the links and videos posted in your network.

QR Droid / Red Laser

These two apps are content directors. Use your phone's camera to point to a barcode or QR code and the app will direct you to a web page, app, give you contact details, product page with pricing and reviews, etc

Team Viewer

After a long wait i got Team Viewer installed on my Atrix without having to root the device. Team Viewer is the best fre VNC client. You can control your computer, share your desktop, etc using this VNC client. Another option is LogMe In Ignition, which is not free.

HeyWire

Heywire is a text/tweet/chat client. As it's tagline says " Text, tweet and chat like crazy", it certainly allows you to do that. The latest updates made this app fast and responsive. Facebook chat and twitter are integrated right into this app. This can be used to send free SMSs. The app issues you with an alternate phone number with which you can send SMSs. Pretty useful in the US where incoming and outgoing messages are charged $0.20.

Tango

Tango allows users to make cross-platform ( Andoid to iOS and vice versaFaceTime. Other services like Fring and Skype can also be used.

Sound Hound

Sound Hound works on an algorithm which identifies a song based on a recording a part of the song and checking it across it's own database. The app is almost accurate when you play the song. Might not work as expected when you sing into the app. Shazam is an alternative.

Zedge

Zedge is a one-stop shop for ringtones and wallpapers, all for free. The app is easy to use and has ton of options to personalize your phone.

Queue Tube

This app lets you play Youtube video's audio. Let me rephrase. You can queue youtube videos into this app so that only the audio from the video is played. This facilitates multi-tasking when trying to listen to a song on Youtube. 

Ustream

Ustream is for the amateur journalist out there who would like to stream live videos from their phone over 3G. The video quality is mediocre, yet will suffice.

Miscellaneous

Following is the list of apps I found useful and whose name is self-explanatory, hence no description is required.

Battery Status ( On Notification bar)

Auto Rotate Switch

CNN

Engadget

Cnet TV

Google Goggles

The list can go on and on. The more you use your device, the more interesting apps you ought to discover. 

FaceTime on iPhone 3GS

Okay, I know this has been already done, blah, blah, blah, but trust me the idea came to me before I actually did a Google search for 'Facetime on iPhone 3GS'. Basically, the concept here is to utilize the rear camera of an iPhone 3GS to perform video calls. Apple has excluded the iPhone 3GS from having FaceTime functionality simply because it has no front-facing camera. Although, this is very sensible, the option to have it wouldn't hurt.

Now, how would you use a phone without a front-facing camera to make video calls. The answer is you would be just able to view the person on the other end, or show he what your rear camera is capturing and here comes the best one; use a mirror. Yes, you heard me! Use a mirror. You could very well stand in front of a mirror for the rear camera to stream what the mirror has, i.e. YOU. This way the iPhone 3GS can be used to make video calls without multiple cameras. I know the idea is a bit lame, but trust me it's still useful.

FaceTime can be installed only on Jailbroken iPhone 3GSs. An app called FaceIt-3GS is available on the Cydia store which can be installed by adding the source http://apps.iphoneislam.com. 

There is another interesting iPhone accessory called iSeeU that helps you make video calls on an obsolete iOS device.

P.S. : Please bear with the image, had to use own picture to avoid copyright issues. ;)

Google adds +

From its name, Google + might seem like an advanced search service. However, Google has probably come up with this name of it's new Social Networking service based on the fact of ADDing (+ing) contacts on a social media website. The way they thought is cool, not sure of the catchiness of the name though.

First lets discuss the greatest, though not very unique features of Google + (cough.. Facebook.. cough).

Profile: This is very similar to any other profile on the internet. Google + profile has the potential of being both an informal and a professional profile.

Stream: Stream is the news feed we see on Facebook. It is the aggregator of all the posts on your network.

Circles: Now, this is Google's take on groups. Circles is a cool way of organizing your contacts into groups or circles as they call it. It has certain dissimilarities from the conventional groups on Facebook. For example, when you update your status or post a link, you can choose to which circles or groups you want it to be visible to. The UI for adding contacts into circles is elegant. You have to drag your contacts into one of the circle shaped groups.

Hangout: This is one of the coolest features of +. A hangout is a service that let's you literally ( yet only virtually) hang out with your friends. Yes, you heard me. You can see and talk to them. This is achieved with voice and video conference Google services. It is brilliantly integrated into +.

Photos: Picasa web albums is integrated right into your Google + account. Unlike Facebook, I am not sure if Google + users get unlimited storage for their photos. But Picasa integration is definitely useful. Also, you can choose which albums to be public, private and available to specific circles.

Huddle: This is a group testing service available to only the Android app users, which does not seem to work on my Atrix as I type this. Sounds cool, will update this paragraph when it works. ;) On the other hand, the app is pretty slick and intuitive. The notifications are quick.         

Sparks: Various interests categories can be pinned under sparks for quick access. It is like a mini-news feed in that specific category.   

+1: This is a very interesting concept. People might compare it with Facebook's 'Like' , but it is different and stupid in it's own ways. Google has integrated +1 into it's search service too. Once you perform a search on Google, there is a +1 button beside every search result if you are logged in. You can like (or +1 as Google wants to put it) any search result. This way the whole web can be categorized based on people's interests. Now that's what Google has always been striving for. The only issue I had with this is that how can a search result be +1'd before actually viewing the page?. Also, all the links you +1'd on the web will appear on the +1s on your Google + page. And like FB, any post or comment can be +1'd. (Man! It's so difficult to type +1'd! I am actually copy-pasting it throughout this post. Like is at least better that way :P)

Google + is the first non-beta Google product. It does seem like a complete and polished product release, has a few bugs though. To name a few, the suggestions seem to re-appear even after inviting or adding them to one of your circles. Also, I have received feedback from my friends complaining about the privacy settings. User info seems to be available by default. Google does need to work a lot on privacy issues for +. The pioneer, Facebook itself keeps struggling in this domain.

+1 on Google + : +1 is very neatly integrated into the Google + service, however there is a little confusion. Say for example, I put up a status message saying The Jets teams Rocks!!. Say 100 people +1'd this status message. Now I change the status message to The Jets teams Sucks!! ( No offense intended, I actually have no clue of American Football). The 100 people would have still +1'd it! The work around to this can be notifying the people who +1'd any status message or comment if it is altered. Let's see how Google addresses this.

Google did a very good job with + so far. Can be better though as social media has tremendous scope. They can very well integrate their Ad services too. It did flick some features from Facebook including the UI ( sorry for my rudeness, I meant adapted from Facebook), but does have a lot of potential to compete with the monopoly.

To sum it up, this is a great attempt at social media by Google and so far the integration of + into all it's services has been brilliant. Let's hope that Google get's it right this time.

P.S. Please +1 this post. :P

The next iPhone Unicorn

The next-gen iPhone has always been this mysterious / mythical creature that everybody craves for. The only difference is that it does become a reality within a definite period of time unlike unicorns or mermaids, though annoyingly delayed often.

The iPhone 4 has been a tremendous success for Apple Inc. and is officially it's best selling device till date. They now ship it to several other countries and thank Steve Jobs ( read as God ) it is on multiple carriers. Though it was plagued by antenna-gate and other reception issues, the iPhone 4 has come out strong as the most wanted gadget. Apple has to be complimented for it's customer service and gesture of giving free bumpers to many customers to resolve the above issues.

Now, what about the next iPhone? What's it going to be called? Bloggers have come up with suggestions like iPhone 5, 4S or 4GS. Honestly, iPhone 5 seems more relevant because it is going to run the awesome (partially adapted from Android though) iOS 5 and is also most probably be incorporating Apple's proprietary A5 processor Now if Apple decides with the name iPhone 4S or 4GS, like it did with 3GS, I am sure they will have their reasons.

The following is a wish-list for the next iPhone unicorn:-

• Better camera, preferably 8MP, as most high-end smart-phones do have them already
• 4G / LTE compatibility
• Better quality front-facing camera too
• Bigger display, may be around 4 inches
• A5 processor for sure
• Facetime over 3G/4G
• Better Google maps, must contain turn-by-turn directions as in Android
• Better battery life, replaceable battery would be great
• 64 GB iPhone
• Expandable memory
• HDMI out to external displays ( at least 720p would do)

I have excluded the dedicated hardware camera button because they elegantly solved that issue with the volume rocker key.

Now for the people whose contracts are up and are planning to upgrade to an iPhone, it's quite a challenge to decide whether to wait or not. June 6th keynote's 'One last thing' was certainly disappointing but let's hope for the unveiling to take place in September. My advice would be to wait till September because it is very much likely that for the same price the next-gen iPhone can be purchased. If you get the iPhone 4 now, the launch of iPhone 5 would make your device ancient and that's not what you would want! There's money for the status symbol quotient in there too.

Rumors have been floating around about the next iPhone, but no pictures or nothing very substantial yet like what Gizmodo did with iPhone 4. 

Apple recently started selling unlocked iPhone 4s in the US. Looks like Apple is trying to empty its inventory of iPhone 4s before the launch of the iPhone 5, which is kinda suspicious. Actually not suspicious, I am pretty sure of it. Fingers crossed!!

Wonder in Alice Land

I know, the title of this post and the figure above are very misleading. Any school going kid or in fact anyone would think: "What's wrong with this guy? How the hell can someone forget the title of Alice in Wonderland?" Well, I am here not to discuss the famous novel by Lewis Carroll nor it's multi-million dollar grossing film adaptation. Following the tradition of GeekyVerses this is still a tech post. 

Okay, let me give you some background to this post. I happened to see a video recently, The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch. Oh boy, this was the best last lecture or I must say the best lecture ever! Randy Pausch, a Computer Science professor who was suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer discusses his philosophies in life and also some amazing projects he worked on.

Alice is one of them. "It is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience." That is the introduction given on the Alice's website. To sum it up, it is a pretty cool tool for a beginner interested in programming and animation. It is basically for school kids but I would recommend it to any beginner. 

The interface is very intuitive and easy to use. It has drag and drop tools to make programming both a fun and educative experience. It is a little buggy which is acceptable, considering it's open source nature. It is a Java based tool following an Object-Oriented approach. 

Alice has already made it's way into many schools. It can be used to make simple computer animations simultaneously learning various programming methodologies. Let's spread the word and encourage such OSS.