11 must-have apps for your new Android phone

 Naturally, your Android phone came bundled with many of Google’s own applications, like Google Maps and Google Keep, but to really trick out your new smartphone, you should head to the Google Play store for some killer apps. These 11 are must-haves for any Android phone

 Dropbox

Cloud services are all the rage, but Dropbox is especially helpful in the way it pairs with your mobile device. A Dropbox account lets you sync files and folders between your mobile device and PC or Mac, seamlessly. You get 2GB free, and can buy extra space or earn it through referring friends. The best part of the app, however, is its automatic camera upload abilities, which backs up all of your photos and videos to the cloud so you’ll always have a copy stowed away somewhere safe.


AirDroid

You don’t have to use a cable to transfer media from your computer to your phone, or even dig your phone out of your bag to send text messages. Instead, you can use AirDroid to control your smartphone from your computer’s Web browser.


 Astro File Manager

Navigating the files on your Android devices can be a bit of a pain. Although AirDroid can help facilitate getting those files on and off of the device, sometimes finding files and media on your phone can be a chore.


 Google Voice

Google Voice assigns you a phone number, in addition to the one already associated with your phone through your carrier, so that you can send free texts, make cheap phone calls to your friends and family overseas, or even use it as the default voicemail system to take full advantage of its transcription abilities.

Google Keyboard

Google Keyboard is the default keyboard application that Google supplies in stock version of Android. It’s mostly bare-bones, though it features gesture typing, voice typing, and dictionaries for 26 languages. There’s even emoji support, though only in Android 4.4 KitKat.
Price: Free

 VSCO Cam

The free application features the usual arsenal of photo-editing tools, but you’ll mostly get a kick out of its faux-realist vintage filters. You can choose the strength of each individual filter and then tweak it further even after you’ve applied it. Want to make the photo look even more weathered? Add a fade or drop the color saturation just a little bit. Once you’re finished, you can share the photo across different social networks, like Google+, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even VSCO’s own VSCO Grid photo-sharing network.

Price: Free

 Podkicker

There is no need for a bloated, busy podcast app, which is why Podkicker is so highly recommended. You can download podcasts for offline listening and then delete them after you’re finished, or engage car mode so that you’re not distracted trying to navigate the menus to get to the episode you want to play. The paid version gets you even more features and removes all advertisements.

Price: Free or $3

 TuneIn Radio

Whether you like to listen to a broadcast of your favorite team up to bat, or you just miss some of the radio stations from back home, TuneIn offers free access to more than 10,000 radio stations from around the world. If you’re a fan of live radio shows, you can send yourself a reminder to “tune in” when it’s on. Or if you miss the days of clock radios, you can even set your phone to wake you up to the radio. The paid version lets you record live radio shows and play them back later.

Price: Free, or $7

 Yelp

Looking for a place to get a bite to eat? Or perhaps you’re in the mood for some roller disco? Whatever you’re hungering for, Yelp is the de facto service for checking out crowd-sourced reviews. Can’t decide what you want to do at all? Just hit the Nearby button to see what’s in the area. The best part of Yelp on your mobile phone is that it provides an easy-access button to get directions to where you’re going.

Price: Free

  ESPN SportsCenter

Hey, sports buff. You don’t have to lose track of your team just because they’re not in season. ESPN SportsCenter can keep you connected with personalized news for your favorite teams, live scores, video highlights, and personalized alerts. And if you couldn’t make it to the game, you can even follow along with the buzz on Twitter.

Price: Free

 Pocket

The Web is a treasure trove of awesome content (hey, you’re reading some right now!), but it’s impossible to read every interesting thing you find the moment you find it.
Price: Free
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Surpring Things Your Android Phone Can Do

Most Android aficionados already know that you can “root” (aka gain administrative access to) your device, change the look and feel of your phone with a custom launcher and sideload apps from anywhere you want. However, even if you’re an early adopter, you might not know about these 12 surprising things your Android phone can do.




Run a Web Server



Android is a form of Linux, so it should be no surprise that any modern Android device can run a full-fledged Web server complete with a mySQL database, PHP support and FTP for file transfers. You can even make the server available on the Internet and use it with a domain of your choice.

Developers can use an Android Web server to test out their code and then show it to clients or stakeholders in the office. Users who want to run a small blog or share files with co-workers via FTP can have a server sitting in their living rooms or even in their pockets. If you use a $45 Android Mini PC like the MK808B instead of a phone, you can run a server the size of a flash drive that gets all of its power over USB.






If you want to write an iPhone app, you’ll be doing all your coding on a Mac. If you want to code for Windows Phone or BlackBerry, you’ll be writing those applications on your desktop or laptop also. However, with Android, you can actually write, compile and test an app directly on your device.

Granted, most programmers will want to do their work on a PC, but if you want to tap out some code on the phone itself, a free app called AIDE provides a complete end-to-end solution. You can also write HTML, PHP, Javascript and other Web code using DroidEdit.

Allow Remote Access from Your PC





Want to see and access the content and apps on your phone from your PC? With a remote access app installed, you can control your phone from a Web browser on your desktop. You can also use such as remote desktop apps such as 2X or Splashtop 2 Remote Desktop to control your PC from your phone.


Serve As a Pedometer





Earlier this year, I was impressed when I saw that Samsung’s Galaxy S4 came with an app that measures how many steps you’ve walked each day. However, there’s no special hardware inside the GS4 and, as it turns out, you can use any Android phone as a pedometer.

Pedometer apps such as Accupedo use your phone’s accelerometer to determine when you’ve taken a step and then store that data, along with information you’ve entered about your weight and height, to determine how many calories you’ve burned.



Every Android phone has a microUSB port that you can use for charging or copying files to and from your PC. However, most users don’t know that, using a simple USB OTG (“on the go”) adapter cable, a free app and root-level access to the operating system, you can attach can transfer files directly from a USB flash drive or hard drive. You can even attach an SD Card reader and use that to grab photos from your camera and automatically upload them to the cloud. No PC required.

Use a Mouse and Keyboard





With a $3 USB OTG cable, your phone can not only interface with storage ports, but also interface with an external mouse and keyboard. On its own, your phone emits enough power to connect a typical wired or wireless 2.4-GHz mouse. However, if you want to connect a keyboard as well, you’ll need to route your connection through a powered USB hub.

BlackBerry Messenger beta for Android and iOS now available

The hotly anticipated BlackBerry Messenger for Android and iOS that was officially announced by BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, back at the company’s annual Live 2013 conference is a step closer to its official release as the app is now in its beta testing stages.

The cross-platform version of the upcoming instant messenger is available to a number of developers and beta users to test the app on their Android and iOS devices.

The BBM beta is available only with an invitation from the BlackBerry team. The beta version of the app currently requires Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above operating system, while the iOS version runs on iOS 6 and higher.

Now, that the application is in its beta phase, it seems likely that BlackBerry Messenger for Android and iOS will meet its “this summer” release goal as set earlier.

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SMS Backup +

I feel itchy when I know that I have data that’s not being backed up. SMS Backup+ keeps me calm by automatically saving all my texts to my Gmail account. Bonus: I can look for specific texts using Gmail’s powerful search box.

Requires: Android 1.5 or above
Google Play link: SMS Backup +
Developer: Jan Berkel

Songbird®

This is a great media player that works with all modern web services, and ties in with the popular open source desktop app of the same name. Find out more in our full review of Songbird.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: Songbird®
Developer: POTI, Inc.

500px

Our writer Ruairi called 500px a true Flickr competitor. The Android app is beautiful and easy to use – and most importantly, it’s attracted some seriously good photographers, so the galleries are full of great pictures.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: 500px
Developer: 500px

DiskUsage

This app came in very handy back when I had an HTC Desire with low internal storage: it breaks down the apps and files taking up space on your phone or SD card, giving you an easy way to see what’s taking up the most space.

Requires: Android 1.0 or above
Google Play link: DiskUsage
Developer: Ivan Volosyuk.

HeyTell

A modern walkie-talkie. HeyTell lets you use your data connection to chat back and forth with friends.

Requires: Android 1.5 or above
Google Play link: HeyTell
Developer: Voxilate, Inc.

PicsArt – Photo Studio

There are lots of free photo editing apps in the Play Store, but this one has more features and effects than any other. Check out our full review of PicsArt for more information.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: PicsArt – Photo Studio
Developer: PicsArt

Onavo Count | Monitor Data

Onavo Count makes it easy to keep an eye on your data usage, particularly if you don’t have Ice Cream Sandwich’s built-in tools for doing so. It does for data what DiskUsage does for storage.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Onavo Count | Monitor Data
Developer: Onavo

Onavo Extend

The sister app to Onavo Count, this reduces how much data you actually receive by crunching it all down server-side. Find out how in our guide to doubling your data plan.

Requires: Android 4.0 or above
Google Play link: Onavo Extend
Developer: Onavo

File Expert

At first glance this appears to be a neat little file explorer, but it can do so much more – like send files to your computer over Wi-Fi, or access your computer’s files on your phone. I’ll let Sam tell you more about it in his File Expert review.

Requires: Android 2.0 or above
Google Play link: File Expert
Developer: Geek Software Technology Inc.

Solid Explorer Beta

So Sam is a fan of File Expert, but Ashish prefers Solid Explorer, even in its beta state. It’s full-featured and very polished.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Solid Explorer 
Developer: Krzysztof Głodowski

QuickPic

This seems to be the de facto Android gallery replacement; I don’t know anyone that uses any other third-party app for that. And for good reason, too: it’s zippy, it can find all the images in your storage, and it’s got a great interface. Check out our full review of QuickPic to learn more.

Requires: Android 2.0 or above
Google Play link: QuickPic
Developer: alensw.com

Tiny Flashlight + LED

I went through a number of flashlight apps before settling on this one. It just does everything right: it’s got all the features that you’d need (and some you probably wouldn’t), with a home screen widget to access it quickly. My favourite feature is how you can turn it on from the lock screen by shaking your phone.

Requires: Varies with device
Google Play link: Tiny Flashlight + LED
Developer: Nikolay Ananiev

ViBe

ViBe is a ringtone app… sort of. It lets you assign specific vibration patterns to your various notifications, rather than setting certain sounds to play. For instance, you could use the “Knock Knock” pattern for new text messages, the “Bee” pattern for phone calls, and the “Heartbeat” pattern for Twitter mentions.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: ViBe
Developer: Base2Apps

Orbot: Tor on Android

The Tor Project is a collection of computers that you can pass all your web requests through to gain anonymity online; Orbot is the project’s associated Android app. Read this full review of Orbot to find out how it can enable online and encrypted web browsing on your device.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: Orbot: Tor on Android
Developer: The Tor Project

Andmade Share

Andmade does one thing, and it does it well: it lets you share via multiple apps at once. When you hit Share from within an app, Andmade presents you with your normal list of services – but with a checkbox next to each one. Tick all the ones you want to use, hit Share, and it’ll post to each of them, one after the other.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: Andmade Share
Developer: Andmade Software

Pocket

You might have heard of this app under its former name, Read It Later. As the (old) name suggests, it lets you save any article, video, or web page to check out later, syncing between your mobile, tablet, and your computer. We were really impressed with Pocket, giving it a perfect score in our full review.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Pocket
Developer: Read It Later

Google Chrome to Phone

If you’re not already using this, you’re missing out! When you’re surfing the web, just hit a button and the page will automatically open in your Android’s browser. If you’re on Google Maps, it’ll open in the Maps app; if you highlight a phone number in the web page, it’ll auto-fill it in your dialer, and so on. We wrote a full guide to this, explaining how you can use it with Firefox and how to push web pages back from your mobile to your desktop browser.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Google Chrome to Phone
Developer: Google Inc.

AirDroid

AirDroid is incredible. If it’s running on your Android, then by going to a specific address on your computer’s browser you can access everything on your phone, through a very polished desktop-style interface. There are other apps that do similar things, but this is the best – read our full review of AirDroid to see why.
Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: AirDroid
Developer: SAND STUDIO

ShoeBox

ShoeBox is designed for anyone with a stack of printed photos they don’t know what to do it. It makes it easy to digitize them: snap a picture of each photo with your phone’s camera, and it’ll process them as required (including correcting the perspective and cropping out the table that your photos are sitting on). It also lets you categorize the final images and add tags, and integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: ShoeBox
Developer: 1000memories

Vlingo Virtual Assistant

Voice commands are very popular on mobiles – I can’t imagine why – and Vlingo is one of the best third-party apps for this. It can text or call your contacts, send email, search the web, and navigate to destinations. It also has a decent in-car mode, where it’ll read incoming texts to you and can be activated without pressing any buttons (just say your custom activation phrase).

If you’ve got a newer Samsung device, you probably already have this installed as “Voice talk”; if not, take a look at our full review to see if you’d find it helpful.

Requires: Android 2.0.1 or above
Google Play link: Vlingo Virtual Assistant
Developer: Vlingo

ZDbox (All-In-One toolbox)

In his full review of ZDbox, Ashish decribed it as a jack of all trades: not the best at anything it tries to do, but still worth installing. It’s an all-in-one toolbox of Android utilities, featuring a battery monitor, an app lock, a global do not disturb mode, a history eraser, and so on.

Requires: Android 1.5 or above
Google Play link: ZDbox (All-In-One toolbox)
Developer: ZDworks Co.,Ltd.

CycleDroid – bike computer

Whenever you set off on your bike, let CycleDroid know. It’ll track your speed, distance, time, and altitude and display them all to you in a graph. You can add separate treks to a single journey (like “Weekend in France”) if you want to know how much cycling you’ve done over a period. Great for any cycling data geeks.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: CycleDroid – bike computer
Developer: Michał Marschall

Ringdroid

In my guide to setting a custom Android ringtone, I recommended Ringdroid for letting you take songs on your phone, trim it down to the part you want to use as a ringtone, and assign them to whichever notification you please. The interface is starting to feel a little clunky now, but it’s still a great app that’s I’m happy to recommend.

Requires: Android 1.6 – 2.3.7
Google Play link: Ringdroid
Developer: Ringdroid Team

imo instant messenger

I have you readers to thank for this! About a year ago we published a roundup of great IM apps, and left imo.im off the list – and were then inundated with comments asking how we could miss it. Rightly so, too: it’s a great cross-platform instant messaging app, and earned its perfect score in our full review.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: imo instant messenger
Developer: imo.im

MX Player

The stock Android video player is okay, but it’s unable to handle most codecs. MX Player is a much better option; it has separate codec downloads which allow it to handle pretty much any video you can throw at it. Plus, its playback quality is great, and its interface is clutter-free. It even features pinch-to-zoom.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: MX Player
Developer: MX Technologies

MoboPlayer

MoboPlayer is a decent alternative to MX Player, and also features wide codec support. It offers gesture control, a slightly customisable interface, and playlist support. The devil’s in the details, so read our full review to find out more.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: MoboPlayer
Developer: Mobo Team

Phone Note – Bubble

Bubble lets you enter things you need to remember about your contacts (like the fact that they have a party coming up, or that they owe you some money), and keeps track of this information. The next time one of these contacts call you, a little reminder pops up so you don’t forget to talk to them about whatever it was. As Connor said in his full review, it’s a practical and useful app, but far from pretty.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: Phone Note – Bubble
Developer: GoodFriend

Springpad

This is a fantastic app for managing your collections: books, movies, music, and even wine. It lets you create notes and tasks, add media, and add products (via scanning barcodes or looking up the product directly), and then categorise and personalise all your items. All this info is synced to the cloud so you can search through it from your phone or computer later. It has some drawbacks, as we noted in our Springpad review, but there’s a lot to love about it – particularly if you’re a fan of categorization.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: Springpad
Developer: Springpad

Google Goggles

Take a picture of a landmark or logo, and Goggles will tell you what it is. Point it at a French menu and it’ll translate the text to English. The app can tie in with your camera, automatically scanning every photo you take to find deeper information, and relaying it back to you. Some find this creepy, but I think it’s awesome. (Side note: I can’t wait for Google Glass.)

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Google Goggles
Developer: Google Inc.

Wallbase HD Wallpapers

As we’ve said time and time again, the ability to go crazy with customization is one of the great selling points of Android. This app makes one of the simpler yet more striking customization options very easy, by offering access to over a million HD wallpapers from wallbase.cc.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Wallbase HD Wallpapers
Developer: Tim Clark

SMS Flash

By default, new text messages appear in the notifications bar, and then scroll by very slowly. Pop-up alerts for texts can let you see the whole message at once, but have the downside of taking the focus – very annoying if you’re playing a game or watching a video. SMS Flash offers a third option: it shows the entire message in a translucent panel on top of everything else, without interrupting you. You can switch to your SMS app by simply waving your hand in front of your phone twice.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: SMS Flash
Developer: xenonex

my6sense: Smart Social & News

You can get your news from a single curated site like BBC News, or from a social news site like Reddit, or from social networks like Twitter and Facebook. my6sense offers another option: a “magic formula” called Digital Intuition. As Rahsheen explains in his full review, the app digs up content from your social network contacts, your RSS subscriptions, and from the general web, and then sorts it based on how relevant it believes you’ll find it.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: my6sense: Smart Social & News
Developer: my6sense

Andoku Sudoku 2 Free

Our regular writer Ashish Bogawat enjoys his coffee break puzzles, and he claims that this is the best free Sudoku app around – maybe even the best Sudoku app full stop. With eight variations of the game, multiple difficulty levels, over 10,000 unique puzzles and an interface optimised for both phone and tablet, how could I argue?

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: Andoku Sudoku 2 Free
Developer: Markus Wiederkehr

Harass Me

I tend to keep my phone in silent mode by default; the occasional jingle letting me know of a new tweet or text distracts me, and I hate feeling like I should drop what I’m doing just to answer the phone. But sometimes people genuinely need to get in touch with me, as a matter of urgency, and I don’t like being completely unavailable. Harass Me solves that problem: if someone calls me three times within three minutes (both numbers are customizable), it’ll deactivate silent mode so I can hear the ringtone.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: Harass Me
Developer: Samuel Tardieu

Missed Call Reminder

This app has exactly one purpose: to remind you that you missed a call. Yes, stock Android already puts a little icon in your notification bar for that, but this app goes much further, periodically bugging you about it until you either call the person back or actively dismiss the reminder.

Price: Free
Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: Missed Call Reminder
Developer: Andromax Development

Any.DO To Do List | Task List

An absolutely beautiful to-do list manager with a very clean interface. Some say it’s too minimal, others love it becauseit’s minimal. Check out our full review of Any.DO (with gorgeous pictures) for more information.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Any.DO To Do List | Task List
Developer: Any.DO

Wunderlist Task Manager

Wunderlist is another popular task manager. It has a different approach to design, though: while Any.DO is all clean lines and sleek minimalism, Wunderlist presents its tasks on a wooden surface. They both have a similar set of features, so which you should choose comes down to personal preference – give them both a go!

Requires: Varies with device
Google Play link: Wunderlist Task Manager
Developer: 6 Wunderkinder GmbH

ColorNote Notepad Notes

As featured in our roundup of Android Apps to Boost Your Productivity, ColorNote has been around for a long time, implementing a lot of great features: color coding, checklists, calendar integration, password lock and more. However, it is starting to look a little dated now, particularly when compared with the Holo design from Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean.

Requires: Varies with device
Google Play link: ColorNote Notepad Notes
Developer: Notes

Mobisle Notes – Notepad

Mobisle Notes works really well as a general purpose list app for quick memos, random pieces of info, and simple checklists. It actively tries not to compete with the bigger, full-featured note apps like Springpad and Wunderlist.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: Mobisle Notes – Notepad
Developer: MobisleApps

Opera Mobile web browser

If Chrome for Android isn’t available on your device, you’ll probably enjoy the web more with a different browser. Give Opera a try: you might prefer its interface, and you’ll definitely benefit from its sync services if you use Opera on your desktop. Also check out Opera Mini, which crunches web pages server-side before sending them to you, to save your data allowance.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: Opera Mobile web browser
Developer: Opera Software ASA

Firefox

Like Opera, Firefox for Android offers a different interface as well as synchronisation with its desktop equivalent. It also has support for add-ons – check out the full directory.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: Firefox
Developer: Mozilla

Dolphin Browser® HD

Dolphin Browser also features add-ons, as well as gesture control and voice integration. As with the other mobile browsers, it’s hard to sum up what makes it different briefly, so I recommend trying them all out.

Requires: Android 2.0.1 or above
Google Play link: Dolphin Browser® HD
Developer: Dolphin Browser

MiLocker

MiLocker comes from the developers behind MIUI, but will run on any Android device with Froyo or above. It lets you customise your lock screen – both the unlock gesture and the image – in a number of ways.

Requires: Android 2.2 or above
Google Play link: MiLocker
Developer: MIUI

GO Locker

GO Locker is a great (and more widely used) alternative to MiLocker, albeit with a couple of flaws. We rounded up a dozen great lock screens for GO Locker earlier this month.

Requires: Android 2.0 or above
Google Play link: GO Locker
Developer: GO Launcher EX

GO Launcher EX

Although GO Locker has its flaws, GO Launcher is fantastic, managing to gain popularity even against the stiff competition of ADW Launcher and LauncherPro. In hisrecent review, Ashish proclaimed it to be “the best Android launcher on the planet”, thanks to its non-stop active development, great selection of themes and widgets, and excellent speed and features.

Requires: Android 2.0 or above
Google Play link: GO Launcher EX
Developer: GO Launcher Dev Team

GO SMS Pro

This is worth using above the stock SMS app purely for the pop-up text alerts and “Todo” buttons on every new text (which get them out of your face without marking them as read). There’s a lot more to love about it, as outlined in ourfull review of GO SMS Pro – like the accompanying widget, the customization, the ability to set vibration patterns, and the downloadable plugins – but the pop-ups alone are a killer feature for me.

Requires: Android 1.6 or above
Google Play link: GO SMS Pro
Developer: GO Dev Team

GO Contacts EX

Sorry to go, er, GO mad, but they do make some fantastic free apps. GO Contacts EX features T9 dialing (“563″ will find “JOE”), fast contact search, and a clean design. It’s not as customisable as GO SMS Pro, but it does have a couple of alternative themes.

Requires: Android 2.0 or above
Google Play link: GO Contacts EX
Developer: GO Dev Team

LifeDropper

Here’s an app from one of the hackers at XDA Developers; it’s like a digital eye dropper for the real world. Take a photo of anything, and LifeDropper will give you back the colour code in any format you desire. You can also tag the codes with names for later use, and share it to the website.

Requires: Android 2.1 or above
Google Play link: LifeDropper
Developer: Bitjutsu Software

QR Clipboard

Another XDA app. This makes it relatively easy to copy text from your desktop to your phone, by means of a neat Chrome extension. Copy some text on your computer, open Chrome, and hit the QR Clipboard icon to make a QR code appear. Scan this code with the QR Clipboard app on your phone, and it’ll put the text in your phone clipboard. Neat!

Requires: Unknown
Website link: QR Clipboard
Developer: stevebob.net

Swype

Swype is, in my experience, the most obviously cool software keyboard available. I’ve had complete Luddites ask me how they can enable it on their phone after seeing me type a note with it. Rather than tapping each letter in turn to type a word, you just swipe your finger through each of them in one continuous motion. You might already have this on your phone, or you may need to download the free beta; either way, you can find out more on the official site.

Requires: Unknown
Website link: Swype
Developer: Nuance