1. Bleep Offers Private and Secure Instant Messaging
It's no secret that WhatsApp is at the top of the
instant messaging heap, but despite its popularity, security and privacy
concerns remain. Bleep is a great alternative
from the makers of BitTorrent which offers fully encrypted messages
which, critically, are stored locally, not on the cloud. In the style of
Snapchat, Bleep's whisper option deletes messages as soon as it is read. Download it here.
2. Manage Your Cloud Storage With Unclouded
Between Dropbox, Google Docs, OneDrive, and a host of
others, online storage can get cloudier than your vision after a good
night of partying. Fortunately, there is a freemium app called Unclouded which
aims to grant access to all your far-flung online files through a
single app. It isn't possible to peruse more than one cloud account at a
time, but an intuitive menu system allows you to switch back and forth
without entering and exiting multiple apps for multiple cloud services.
Unclouded provides details on how may files are in each account and the
amount of available remaining space. Download it here.
Tales of the Unbelievable
3. Find Apps faster with App Dialer
Remember at the dawn of texting when we would
laboriously type words using the grid-style number pad on our flip
phones? Those days are back with App Dialer, which allows Android users to search for apps using a T9 keypad.
This time around, though, a simple touch of the key corresponding to
either of its three letters will show all the possibilities of apps
which can be formed with those characters. A sequence of 9-2-4
corresponds to W-H-A, for instance, bringing up WhatsApp as a potential
match. Download it here.
4. Use Snapseed to Tweak Your Digital Snaps
Originally launched as a desktop tool, Snapseed is a powerful must-have photo editing tool.
Combing simple, one tap effects with excellent editing power and an
intuitive UI have made this app a hit with smartphone wielding
photographers. Recently released Snapseed 2.0 allows users to retrace their editing steps by saving your adjustments as re-editable layers. Download it here.
5. Docs To Go offers Easy and Lightweight Editing
For lightweight word-processing and editing of text, Docs To Go remains
one of the easiest to use and slimmed down apps available. In addition
to text, Docs To Go supports editing of spreadsheets and integrates well
with cloud storage. As long as one never needs to give a long winded
slide-based presentation, this app may be all that’s required. Download it here.
6. Open Word Docs and More with Microsoft Office
Like it or not, documents created with Microsoft Office
abound. At some point, Android users will either be asked to open or
create a file in this format. Gasp! I know. The good news is Microsoft's suite of Office programs are available on Android for free
and the apps are rather well designed, too. Word, Excel, &
PowerPoint are included, so one can open and edit these documents no
matter the location. It's worth noting the MacBook Air on which this
article is being typed refused any and all attempts to auto-correct the
word Microsoft. Go figure. You can download it here.
7. Uber Offers Smooth Traveling
Traveling in an unfamiliar city and can't find a cab? Uber is essentially a on-demand network of private cars
run through a smartphone app. Using GPS, Uber will pinpoint your
location and send a driver to pick you up (if one is nearby, of course).
Leave your cash at home; Uber drivers only accept digital forms of
payment such as credit cards or PayPal. Users are encouraged to rate
their drivers after each trip. Download it here.
8. Drupe Lets You Manage All Your Messaging Apps
Between Facebook Messaging, WhatsApp, and regular old SMS, mobile users have a myriad of messaging apps to manage. Drupe is a Play Store app
which attempts to corral all of a user's messaging apps (and send
messages!) in one place. Once installed on your device, Drupe organizes
all your contacts and messaging apps, placing your contacts on the left
side of the UI and messaging apps on the right. Download it here.
9. Google Translate: Handwritten or Spoken Text Accepted
Star Trek promised us a lot of cool gadgets, not the
least of which was the Universal Translator, which allowed Captain
Picard to threaten hostile alien species with ease. Google Translate is our 21st-Century equivalent,
offering word-for-word translations of over 70 languages accepting
input via text, speech, or even text recognition using your device
camera. Google's translation will be displayed in text form or read
aloud through your phone's speaker. Shields up! Red alert! Download it here.
10. Talk With Up to 200 People With Popcorn Buzz
Group chat is great, up to a certain point when the
conversation gets so large it's almost impossible to tell who is saying
what via text. Popcorn Buzz allows users to call up and talk with to 200 people at the same time.
It would work well for business conference calls, or when you need to
talk with Uncle Joe and Aunt Maisie on Christmas Day to thank them for
the new socks. Download it here.
11. Spotify is a jukebox in Your Pocket
Spotify is a music streaming service,
turning your Android device into a virtual jukebox. Users can listen
for free, while downloading tunes for offline listening requires a
premium account. Recently, version 3.0 update
brought a redesigned UI with larger control buttons. With the
announcement that Apple's Music streaming service will be available on
Android, it will be interesting to see what further improvements
Spotify's team has up their sleeves in what is quickly becoming a
crowded market. Download it here.
12. Google Keep: A Virtual Android Corkboard
Google Keep is an attempt to capitalize on the
popularity of Pinterest, with its pinning of all your favorite things,
corkboard style. With Google Keep,
users can go a step further by record audio notes for their corkboard
along with to-do checklists and favorite pictures. It should already be
in your pre-loaded Android apps; if not, download it here.
13. Zoho Docs: The Iconic Document Platform
This Android app works great for freelancers who need to
work with a variety of documents in a myriad of formats. With a simple
and easy to navigate UI, Zoho can open virtually all of your documents
in cloud storage without users having to worry about compatibility.
Sharing documents with other Zoho users is exceptionally easy. The
ability to save documents locally is a huge bonus. Download it here.
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