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| 'KitKat,' code name of Android 4.4 |
So, without further ado, my top apps:
1. Our Groceries Shopping List
This has got to be my favorite Android app, or one of them. I have a lot of apps that I like, but this is one that takes advantage of a few simple facts, like: I have a smartphone. My wife has a smartphone. We have the Internet on our computer. We do things together. How many apps take all that and combine them so well? Well, if you and your significant other or roommate(s) or family shop together, you should all have this app if you all have smartphones. The app is also on iOS, or anything that can pull up a web page for that matter. So what is it? It's a shopping list, but it's synchronized between as many devices as you like. If you add an item on one, it shows up on all the others. Same as if you delete an item. It can store separate lists for each store, and it can store 'recipes' (just a list of ingredients you can add to a shopping list all at once). It has a couple more tricks, but hey, it's free—take it for a spin. If you want a shopping list, there might be others with nice tricks, but nobody else has the sync feature, which puts it at the top. OurGroceries is free with ads on Android, plus an optional $4.99 to remove the ads. Same with iOS. Web access is free.
Google Play | iTunes | Web
2. SeriesGuide
If you watch TV shows—and don't we all?—then you know the value of an episode guide. Especially since shows have been taking a few months off, with this 'mid-season finale' BS they've been pulling lately. You don't know if a show is on, week to week. Used to be, I mean way back when, you'd consult the TV Guide, and it was infallible. And that smell. But now you have a smartphone, and you want to use it to stay on top of the shows you love, whether you use cable, satellite, or BitTorrent to keep up to date. But while you could just use SeriesGuide (and I did for a year or so), the best thing for you to do is to use Trakt.TV to keep track of everything. SeriesGuide does have a backup and restore function, but it hasn't always worked, and with Trakt.TV you spend a good couple hours recalling and entering all the shows you've watched—and you can rate them if you like, too—and then you simply import from Trakt.TV in SeriesGuide. It will show you all the shows and let you add them to your watch list (obviously, if you've finished a show, no need to add it). Now when you watch an episode, check-in to it by tapping the 'text message' icon on the episode's page, and when you're done, finish it by tapping the 'check mark' icon. If you don't use Trakt.TV, no sense in checking in, just check the episodes off as you watch. SeriesGuide is free, with some premium features being unlocked for $4.99 more. This is Android only, but if you go to Trakt.TV, they have alternatives for other platforms.
Google Play | Web
3. Unified Remote
If you use your computer from the couch with your TV as a monitor like I do, you know what a pain bringing a wireless mouse and keyboard to your lap ten feet away is. A mouse needs a pad, but while you could use a trackball (and we do because they're better, but not for this), you have a smartphone with a nice, multi-touch screen, so why not use it? If the universal remote ruled the end of the last century, the Unified Remote rules this century. Now, you don't need an IR blaster—this talks strictly with your PC, over WiFi or Bluetooth, though there are IR options. You install the companion app on your computer, and pair the two apps, and then you control your PC with the phone. There are several apps, from Basic Input (like a mouse or track pad) and Keyboard (type on phone to type on computer) to things like File Manager (open files, like media) and Task Manager (end running apps) to full-blown remotes to control specific apps, like Firefox, VLC, Spotify, etc. For example, I will use File Manager to load a TV show, then SeriesGuide (above) to check in with Trakt.TV, then back to Unified Remote to switch to the VLC remote, where I can pause the video, jump back (or forward), etc. Unified Remote is free for about half the remotes and basic usage, or $3.99 for the advanced features. It's also available for $3.49 for Windows Phone, and what appears to be a demo (timed?). The website says an iOS version is coming soon.
Google Play | Windows Phone | Web
4. Contacts+ (fomerly, Contapps)
When I see some stock or even custom screenshots of Android home screens, it just makes my inner OCD demon twitch, because I can tell the person doesn't use Contacts+, and I can tell because their five icons are dialer, contacts, drawer, text messaging, and web browser. Three of those go to one app on my phone, and it's Contacts+. The app's main page is your contacts. Swipe from the left for messaging, and from the right for your call log (when it works—half the time it can't call the call log from the system, so it appears blank—and that's really the app's only fault). The dialer is an icon in the app's lower right corner, if you want to actually dial digits as opposed to finding a contact and calling them directly. Contacts+ will even let you send messages for free, if you and the recipient both have Contacts+ set up. The app just got a visual refresh to fit in with Android KitKat: contacts' pictures are rounded now. Contacts+ is 100% free. Free to download and use, no ads, no in-app purchases. There is, as far as I know, no way to pay for Contacts+. But that doesn't mean that Contacts+ is some fly-by-night operation. It's been out for a while, and its developers are really passionate about the 'contacts' experience on a phone. It's not just names and addresses, email, and text messaging. It is all those things, but you can also connect to a person's Twitter or Facebook, right through this app, or even Google Maps their home address. This isn't your stock contacts app. This is your contacts communication center. Upgrade today. Won't cost you a thing. And it's on Android and iOS.
Google Play | iTunes | Web
5. F-Droid
Google may be the open alternative to Apple when it comes to phones and tablets, but for all the fandroids' criticism of a 'walled garden' in iOS, Google is also quick to take down apps that don't fit their business plans, either. First it was the emulators: any app that allowed you to play games that were not officially for sale on Android (i.e. Google can't get a cut), would be banned. Anything that would let you play Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Genesis, or Game Boy games, for example. This was not unexpected as there really is no legal use for emulators that anybody is seriously interested in. Nintendo has no intention of selling their classic games on modern platforms (although Sega has and does) so there's no legal way to acquire a lot of these games. So while I'm not arguing for emulator legality, it was at least a little rotten of Google to close that door (although they are now allowing some emulators back, some of the best have not returned). The other big omission was this year with ad blockers. While Google still allows apps to bundle ads, they have removed the ability to get an ad blocker, at least via Google Play. Enter F-Droid. F-Droid is like the Google Play Store, except you can't add a payment method. Everything in its 'store' is free and open source. It's not so much a store as it is a software repository, something every Linux user is familiar with, but sadly not so much for Windows users. F-Droid is completely free as well. It does not require root, either, but an ad blocker would, of course. F-Droid is not on the Google Play store! Also, being that it is what it is, it is also not available for iOS or Windows Phone. Note that after you install it, you will have to update its repository, and you will have to do that manually every time you want to check for updates or new apps (the catalog is downloaded locally, not browsed on their server). Again, standard fare for Linux users.
Web
6. AdAway
The issue of whether to block ads online or not is a complex one with many sides, but on a smartphone or tablet I think it's pretty simple. The screen is small and ads demand a large portion of the screen. You have the power to block them, thus reclaiming all of your screen. No ad company is going to pay you, one of millions of marks, to look at their ads. Rather, they're going to pay a few hundred content delivery partners to show ads to you, their marks. It's no secret, I do not like the ad industry. They've never given me a dime but they want to make money off hardware I buy and pay to maintain and keep online? I say Eff 'em. I don't owe 'em squat. Now, I do believe in supporting Android developers. If somebody makes an app and you like it, and you use it, I think you should buy their paid version, if it offers something you need. If all it does is remove the ads, if you use an ad blocker, you should pay for the ad removal. You're not paying the scumbag advertisers, you're paying someone to make and support an app you love. You're making a statement that smartphone development can pay dividends. And it really should. If the paid version just adds features you don't care for... that's another thing. I haven't paid for SeriesGuide. The free version is fine. OurGroceries, however? Bought that, got rid of the empty space where the ads were. I get more space, and I don't feel bad about cheating the developer. Plus, it's five bucks. That's half a pizza or Chinese dinner. It's a beer or two at the pub. Oh—AdAway itself. Simple. Download from F-Droid. Be rooted, otherwise it does nothing. Tell AdAway to check for updates. Update. Restart. Bam, no more ads. Yes, it's that easy. The app does nothing else. But what it does do is awesome.
F-Droid
7. Cover
What does 'lock screen' mean to you? A pretty picture, the time, and access to your camera, perhaps? iOS has always had the same one (and don't get me wrong, it's nice, so why fix what ain't broke?) and Android recently changed its, from sliders that came out from either side to the center, to a ring with targets around it, both under a clock. Custom ROMs let you change the ring targets, but it's still not very good. Cover is different. First, Cover wants to know straight up where you live and work. If you're moving, you're driving. Anywhere else you are, you're out. Those four conditions, Cover's dev argues, represent four unique usage scenarios for your phone. Don't agree or disagree, roll with it and see if it works for you. For each condition/location, you can select an image (it has 3-5 for each, or you can import from Gallery). After a few days, it will determine the 18 apps you use the most, and present them to you across three vertical pages. So you can unlock straight to Facebook, or Contacts+ (or your dialer, or messenger, you damn dirty unitasker user), or your music player, and it's different depending on where you are at. Oh—and if you rotate your screen (i.e., hold it like a camera), a dedicated camera icon appears, and you can press it to—what else?—open your camera app). Cover just came out of beta, and has improved greatly in the last few weeks. It's a newcomer, but damn it's nice. I cannot believe it is free. I predict it will move to a paid/free model, and I'll be one of the first to pay for it. Cover, specifically, was not a feature I looked for in my phone. Rather, Cover showed me a new way to use my phone, and that's really the best thing I can say for an app.
Google Play | Web
...and that's my list. Of course there are other apps that I use and really like, but for the most part, they have good competition. For example, I like (and paid for) Poweramp, but you could just as easily use Apollo, PlayerPro (which I also bought), or even Google Music in a pinch. I like Nova Launcher and bought the Prime add-on (premium), but there's also Holo Launcher (also bought) and Apex Launcher. I like to have the best of the best on my phone. After all, I paid $160 for my phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) and I pay about $85 for truly national (American) coverage. I ditched the crappy 'TouchWiz' firmware it came with and I am proudly running CyanogenMod 11 (i.e. Android KitKat). It's my personal pocket computer; it's going to be personal to me, and part of that is the premium experience I demand. But more about my hardware choice and the more 'everyday' apps I use, later.
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