Farewell to Android
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Does Flash matter on mobile?
What is Twitter?If you've taken the plunge and decided to splash out on an Android phone then you're probably wondering what apps you should install first. Load up the Android Market or visit the new Amazon Appstore and you’ll be confronted with a dazzling array of different apps – and choosing from these seems like a daunting prospect at first.
To help ease you in to the world of Android apps, we’ve put together a small guide below to the first five apps you should install on your new device. You should find them all useful, entertaining and above all, easy to use, showcasing exactly how cool your new Android phone can be!
This is a good one to install first because it will help you manage all of the content that you’re going to install on your new device. Astro File Manager lets you organize documents, files and folders; manage tasks and processes, and perform backups. It comes with a handy application manager, which gives you a clear view of all your installed apps and lets you save them to your SD card if you like.
Having an Android phone with a data plan is great for social networking – and if you haven’t got into Twitter yet it’s a good excuse to get yourself out there. The official Twitter client provides a clear and easy way to post tweets from your phone. Other features include simple controls for viewing tweets, mentions, retweets, lists and direct messages, options for managing your profile, and on-the-fly trending info.
Staying on top of Facebook is going to get much easier now you’ve got an Android device. The excellent Facebook app for Android offers an effortless way of checking the network on the go. Besides posting status updates, you can easily grab pictures with your phone and add them to Facebook, view upcoming events, and quickly exchange messages with your contacts.
Perhaps the perfect app for a long journey, TuneIn Radio lets you listen to radio stations and podcasts from around the World on your Android phone. You can pick from a choice of more than 40,000 stations, searching by keyword, category, or genre. Reception is near perfect when listening via 3G or WiFi, and battery usage isn’t too excessive.
Another great time-killer for the bus-stop or an airport waiting lounge, Angry Birds is a fun, addictive mobile game. The object of this mega popular game is to catapult birds into structures in order to smash the evil pigs that live inside them. With cute, colorful graphics and absorbing gameplay, this is one of those games that’s virtually impossible to put down.
Astro is an obsolete application. Better one is Estrongs. The best one is AndroXplorer.
Android is horrible. Malware, pre-installed junkware. OS updates in the hands of each phone maker.
I have a Cliq got it when it first came out. The thing got 1 update, 1. And the update it got was 2.1 which was already outdated. On top of that they disabled a lot of 2.1s features.
99% of all Android phones do not get 2 full years of updates. Usually after the first year, your done. A lot of phones die with the OS installed on their phone.
And as long as Google has this open developer policy, it will always be ridden with malware.
As long as Android is open sourced, phone makers will load their phones with crapware and people will be screwed when it comes to OS updates. Not to mention it's a known fact that most developers hate developing for open sourced products because there is this thinking that people who use open sourced products have no intent on buying anything. So they will give more of their attention to the OS's that are not open sourced even if 99% of the OS users are using the open sourced OS and only 1% is using the other.
What's sad is my iPod Touch 2G got it's final upgrade AFTER my Cliq got it's one and only upgrade. And the iPod Touch 2G is a full year older than my Cliq.
This why I say those buying Android since the iPhone was released for Verizon are just cheap people. They know they will never get a buy one get one free with an iPhone like Android. They know there won't be a lasting unlimited data plan for iPhone like Android. They know they can get a newer Android phone that is cheaper than the current iPhone as well. Plus they can stick with the cheaper wireless carriers like T-Mobile using Android.
But those supporting Android now fall into 3 categories.
1. The cheap who just want a cheap iPhone. 2. Those who buy a new phone every single year. 3. Have had their Android phone less than a year.
Because no one is gonna prefer by choice a more malware ridden phone, with less updates, less app support and is less stable and more buggy than other alternatives. That's just logic and common sense.
Now since I have used Android since 2009. I can tell you the must have free apps for Android.
1. eStrongs File Manager (like the guy above me said) 2. Dolphin Mini Browser (fastest browser and has speed dial) 3. Dropbox 4. Skype 5. RealCalc 6. Phonebook 2.0 7. Handcent SMS 8. Lookout 9. AK Notepad (more stable than other notepad apps) 10. DoubleTwist Player HM. DroidCam (turns your phone into a webcam for your pc)
I would've added Meebo to the list had it still been updated as it is still the best IM client for Android. But since it hasn't been updated since 2009 (iOS version still is being updated), I can't recommend it. That said the best IM clients out currently are. 1. AIM (allows you to change names, block people, retrieves old messages), 2. IMO (closest Meebo clone), 3. Fring.
But I would recommend switching to iPhone if you are a heavy app junky as Android will never have the same quality apps iOS has. They may end up having the same apps, but the iOS version is almost always better. Angry Birds is far more buggy on Android than on iOS but hey at least it's free on Android.
@Matt Perkins
TBH your comparing a cheap android phone compared to £500 iphone, anyone can tell you what the result of that will be.
If you compare to a Galaxy S, Desire HD, EVO 4G both cheaper than an iphone and came our slightly earlier you will see how much better they are. If you wanna compare, you could also buy the new 4G phones or dual core phones and see how laggy they are. When comparing to an iphone 4 it isnt necessary to compare phones that came out the same day apple release the iphone 4, if someone is buying the phone today you compare to phones that are available today. Android has alot more going for it, openfeint just put in 100million dollars to help devlopers port games to android, other companies have also put in millions to develop games for android. The thing with android is, a month or 2 down the line people will enjoy the same features as android but apple will never get flash support no matter how fast their phones get.
Angry Birds works brilliantly on my Galaxy S and always has.
and also tbh even the latest android phones with dual core processors are available at a similar price to the iphone
u will please give me your software for use
@Matt Perkins
Well, I don't agree with your point, that most developers hate to develop apps or games for open-source platform. Let me tell you this thing. Most developers always go for open-source first hand because this way they have better reviews from the people who would use their apps. I agree a lot of people who are on Open source platforms don't intent to buy apps easily. But would u considering pouring $2 on an app, you really don't know will work for sure or not??. With open-source development people get a chance to try an app and developers get reviews and then they can always have paid apps up for the market!
do you think all those big communities like "XDA" and "source forge" were having developers who used to hate developing for open sources??????????????
Matt Perkins:
(1) Android isn't "ridden" with malware.
(2) Open source ≠ 'free'.
(3) As pointed out above, you can't compare the crappy handset you bought with an iPhone.
(4) Lots of fun and innovative apps start out on Android and some never make it to iPhone.
I love android. when my child needs something to play, there are hundreds to download. Not everything we should get smart software, a simple and easy like drawing, maths, english are enough for my child. Free is not everything free, because you have to have some coffee. You are free to talk, but not a free beer. Android is a clever ideas by Google, where developers publishers of ads. Bad things, malware are always available. In the earth,you have both good and bad, so in android to.
yes, i just bought android HTC incredible S and i love it :)
I brought a really cheap Android phone and it can still do more then the $1650 iPhone plus it comes unlocked as most Android Phones do here in New Zealand!
@Matt Perkins Wait did you say something bad about Open Source??? Why don't you go crying home to daddy Steve Jobs and do something stupid on your crappy iPad! And then buy expensive software that there are better free and Open Source Alternatives to (I hope you get my point here) And Android being Open Source keeps OUT the malware, being a programmer myself I had a choice Android or iOS and I chose Android as it was Open and I knew there would be a community there not just a bunch of Apple Fanboys.
With so many stuff you come talk about Twitter and Facebook? Come on, get a life.
Here's an example of one of my pet irritations. The topic was 5 essential apps for your new Android phone, but somehow digressed into an apple vs android slanging match! Come on guys, you're all intelligent folks out there. let's stick to the agenda.
Now, any bright suggestions re absolutely "must have" apps? I'm a newbie to the world of android, with a very open mind. Cheers!
@Scatneel - I love TuneIn radio - it's brilliant. Also, Google+ and its new suite of apps (Huddle, messenger etc) are really good. Pulse is a nice 'Flipboard'-style news aggregator. PicPlz is a cool photo sharing app and WhatsApp is essential for free texting to other smartphone owners (not just Android).
I'll add some links in a second.