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Android App Recommendations - Collexion |
The following list of applications is taken from a sequence of emails on the Collexion mailing list. Much of the text is copied directly from emails. Thanks to Paul, Tim, Mike, and Dave for your input. Please feel free to update it and add your favorites.
EntertainmentCategory
Name
Description
RecommendationsMusic
Google Music
Play MP3 files
"surprisingly solid"Meridian
Supports gestures and headset buttons for next/prev/etc, which reduces the need to look at the device
Good, free music playerSoundHound
Identify songs you are listening to or sing to the deviceGame Console Emulator
GBA Emulator Lite
Play Gameboy Games on your Android deviceSnes9x
Play Super Nintendo Games on your Android deviceBit64Games
Free Android Angry Birds
Shoot birds at pigs to get points
comes with all levels available, paying just gets rid of adsSerial Reader
Fast Dilbert Reader
gives a nice minimal frontend for the entire colorized Dilbert archive with good prefetch behavior and such.
"the most perfect serial reader I've ever encountered"DailyComix
for reading other comics
"isn't perfect but is better than doing it from the browser"UtilitiesCategory
Name
Description
RecommendationsSSH Client
ConnectBotKeyboard
Hacker's Keyboard
Adds an alternate on-screen keyboard with better punctuation support for coders
Handy with ConnectBotFile Browser
ES File Explorer
"you will need a file browser", "least hated free"File Expert
Like ES File Explorer, but supports sharing phone files via FTP/WWW/SMB over wifi
FeaturefulAdvertisement Removal
Ad-Free Android
Remove advertisements from appsBackup
Titanium Backup
Handy for removal of crapwareROM Manager
For dealing with bootloaders and ROMs
"Highly recommended"Application Store
Amazon App Store
An additional source of applications
"free app of the day brings interesting (if apparently developer unfriendly) stuff from time to time"Mail
K-9 Mail
OSS mail client based on the built-in one
"Much, much better." (than built-in clientQR/Barcode Reader
Barcode Scanner (by ZXing)
Handles QR and other Barcodes
preferred bar/QR app as well; Goggles does it too, but this ZXing is quicker and nicer.ixMAT Scanner
Can share stuff via QR codeQR Droid
Many acquisition & sharing options, including from imageDevice Tracking
Prey
Remote recovery and/or wipe in case of theft
OSSish; "Prey does your basic locate/lock/alarm, but doesn't have remote wipe or a companion app for live location from another phone (works through email or the website). I like Prey because it's open, the people seem privacy-minded, and it's also available for PCs. The PC version can operate independently of their service, activating when it detects a 404 not found for a file at a URL you control."Lookout
Remote recovery and/or wipe in case of theft
Free, as in beer; I think Lookout is the most popular. They also make "Plan B" that you can remotely install from the Market's web interface if you forgot to install a tracker before your device was misplaced/stolen, which is a clever trick.Where's My Droid
unobtrusive; Wheres my Droid can ring (optionally with a custom tone) or reply with GPS coordinates from text or email based on code phrases. There is a paid version with remote wiping capability, but I don't have it upgraded. It also has an option to send an alert if the SIM is swapped in your device.Web Browsing
Chrome to Phone
Send clipboard & links to your tablet from your browser (Firefox extension available)Location
GPS Status
Technical readout of GPS parameters
Started ad-free, now has semi-intrusive adsLlama
Awesome location- and time-of-day-based settings management using battery-hungry GPS. Can assign observed cell towers or wifi/bluetooth devices to locations, then change settings when entering/leaving. I have it disable GPS and enable wifi when I get home, start my podcast app (Google Listen) when I connect line out in the car. You can also create desktop shortcuts to gangs of actions.
AwesomeNetwork
Wifi Analyzer
Wifi site survey showing who's on what channel; Can do audible signal strength indicator
Started ad-free, now has semi-intrusive adsFing
minimally-invasive network analyzer; Mostly good for finding machines on a LAN and checking connectivity when troubleshooting
"pretty handy from time to time", "Nice nmap-lite in my pocket. I always forget about it because of its nonsensical name"Command Line
Superuser
dumps the su binary in the right place, and provides a nice GUI to manage permissions
required for technical users to find Android usable (rooted device required)BusyBox
command line shell
required for technical users to find Android usable (rooted device required)Other recommendations and helpful info for Android phones/tablets:
- Don't forget to add the built-in Power Control Widget to one of your desktops if it's not already there. Nice quick toggles for various hardware bits.* The two largest/most functional Android hacking communities I've come across are rootzwiki.com and xda-developers.com They both have some internet politics and drama, and n00bhorde problems that come with being for a dominant platform, but you can usually shake the information you need out of their forums and wikis.