The Android Apps I'm Using (pt.2)

There's been a couple of comments to my original post about the Android apps I'd loaded onto my HTC Magic and in reading them it occurred to me that I'd not updated it since - and god knows the apps I use have changed. So, here's a few more apps I use now, which I think are worth checking out:

Barcode Scanner
Alejandro Cuervo mentioned on the original post that I'd not included Barcode Scanner. With hindsight, I've no idea how that came to pass as in truth it is an app so essential I'd argue the entire OS is lacking without it. Providing pan-OS integration, Barcode Scanner lets you scan both regular and QR-style barcodes, from which you can then use other apps to act on the data retrieved. So, using Shopsavvy you can look up products online and find out where you can get them cheaper. Hell even Google Products now integrates with it, using the scanner to find prices for you. In addition though, you can also use Barcode Scanner to both read and generate QR codes, meaning you can share and ingest URLs, contact info, phone numbers and more. I love this so much that my own business cards now have all the info summarised on a QR code for easy scanning.

CM Updater
Being the geek I am it wasn't long before I rooted my Magic with the excellent Cyanogen ROM, which basically brews in bleeding-edge release features from Donut into the standard build. So far, so lovely. However what really makes it for me is the CM Updater app, which allows simple, one-click upgrading of your ROM each time Cyanogen release an update. With the latest ROM sporting, amongst other things, the new Android Marketplace and the system-wide search functionality, I'd say now is a great time to roll up your sleeves, root your handset and enjoy the very latest new things going on in the world of the Android OS.

Glympse
I was always of the opinion that Google Latitude was revealing just a little too much about where I was all the time. Glympse addresses that. In short, this app lets you send someone (by email or SMS) your location, allowing them to view where you are on a Google Maps overlay. The killer USP though is that you can set how long you want the recipient to be able to see where you are. So, for example, if you are meeting someone and want to share your location with them, you can set it to only do so for the next hour, after which that person will no longer be able to see where you are. Very simple, but very effective - and something I've found myself using a fair bit when meeting people.

Qik
Qik is one of the rare apps where Android users get to one-up their iPhone-toting brethren. With seamless live streaming over 3G, Qik allows you to broadcast to the world with a very simple click. Ironically though, one area where I've found it to be really useful is a new feature: offline editing. You can now shoot video and top-and-tail it, allowing you to cut straight to the bit of the video you want people to see. Simple video editing with no computer required? C'mon - that's just awesome... Recently UStream have also launched an app which I'm yet to delve into, and while I gather they claim the latency is better, I don't know if it can do the same editing. Comments anyone?

RTM Tasks
As a keen RememberTheMilk.com user, I was expecting to find myself using the Astrid app that seems to be the more popular RTM-compliant Android app. However in reality, this app suits my needs more as it is just so beautifully simple. All it does is open your RTM tasks and let you add, postpone or mark as complete your tasks. That's it. Simple, but very, very handy for those moments on the commute to work where you suddenly remember something you have to do...

Picsay Pro
Like Qik, Picsay Pro becomes a must-have app for one simple reason: it allows you to edit images without having to drop the pic onto your computer. Hence, you can take a photo with the phone's camera, adjust the brightness, add effects, annotate with text and much more using just this app, after which you can email it, tweet it, share it to Facebook etc etc. Insanely useful.

Twidroid Pro/Photo Sleuth Pro
I listed the original Twidroid app on my first post, but some time has now passed and Twidroid has improved greatly, also offering a paid-for Pro version allowing multiple account use amongst other things. As a keen Twitter user, this one was always a must-have, and the Pro version is absolutely worth paying for as I manage a few accounts day-to-day. One feature Twidroid Pro doesn't cover natively though is photo viewing, which is where Photo Sleuth Pro comes in. Quite simply, this loads images from the myriad of Twitter photo-hosting services without needing the web browser, just showing them inline in Twidroid, scaling the image to fit your screen. Very simple, very, very effective.

URL Shortener
This is another "Swiss Army Knife" app, which allows you to create shortened URLs via the service of your choice and then paste them into, well, whatever you need. In practice, that means you can take any webpage you are viewing, create a Bit.ly URL and then email it, tweet it, post to Facebook etc. Please note: whilst Twidroid Pro does claim to shorten URLs via the "Share" function of the OS, the reality is that it often fails, leaving you with a tweet that makes no sense thanks to the URL getting chopped in half.

TasKiller
As most Android users know, it is almost essential to have some kind of task killer app to avoid the phone's OS slowing down by keeping too many things running at once. Originally I was using Close Everything 2, but eventually found TasKiller to be a preferable one as it was able to find and kill more superfluous processes. One thing both have now, which I love, is a simple widget for your Home screen so all you need to do is tap that to kill all apps in one hit. Of course you can set exceptions so things like Locale don't get killed, meaning only the apps you want to kill get terminated.

NetCounter
Having had one horror story phone bill (where Vodafone tried to charge me £120 for data use having failed to put me on a data bundle plan, despite using the HTC Magic), I felt it would be worth monitoring exactly what data was being used over 3G and GPRS. Enter DataCounter, which runs silently in the background as a service, monitoring all data bandwidth on your phone. It gives daily, weekly and monthly totals, all of which can be reset at specified times. Hence, my monthly counter just resets on the first of each month, ensuring I know exactly how much data has been used against my Vodafone bill which, despite claiming to be "unlimited" is actually more like 1Gb of usage, max...

WIDGETS:

The following are some of the widgets I have running on my Home screen. To be honest I don't like running many as they just eat up memory and battery life, and hence things like Twidroid and Facebook's respective widgets go unused (on the basis I can call up the same info via the app anyway). Those listed below, however, I do love...

Beautiful Widgets
This collection of widgets comprises a Hero-style flipclock with weather forecasting and a series of on/off switches for things like WiFi, Bluetooth, Vibrate mode etc. The clock/weather widget is a jewel in the crown though, giving the time in the style of the HTC Hero's custom interface along with up to date weather info based on your current location. Stunning looks and very functional = SOLD.

Audiomanager Widget
As someone listening to music via my phone I found myself getting confused about the various volume options (Ringer, Notification, Media etc etc), and hence found this one a really useful widget to have running. All it does is display your current volume levels for each option, but pressing the widget brings up sliders for each setting, allowing you to easily change the volume accordingly.

Brightness Level
Another functional widget, this places a 1x1 icon on the Home screen which, when pressed, brings up 5 options for brightness: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Super useful if like me you're permanently adjusting the display brightness up (because its too bright out and you can't see the screen) then back down again (because you want to conserve battery life).

Launcher Dock
The issue of how to arrange or deal with the plethora of apps one invariably has on their Home screen has become big business, with the likes of aHome, dxTop and others seeking to provide Home replacement apps which provide more screen space for shortcuts, or customisable icons and themes to generally make everything look a bit more uniform in style. Having tried a few Home replacement apps, my conclusion was they they all slowed down my phone more than was acceptable, and so for a long while I was using Live Folders to round up my apps into sections (Web, Media, Utils etc). It was bugging me though that you couldn't set any kind of custom icon to the folders, something I think is a real let-down of the standard OS. Hence, I now use Bratag's Launcher Dock. This lets you set up shortcuts of any kind into themes, and when you press the icon (as you would with a Live Folder to open it) you get a fetching circular launcher dock appear with your apps and shortcuts on there. Crucially, you can also set the icons for each themed launcher, ensuring your Home screen doesn't look like some kind of horrid mess.

Special Mention: Locale
I did mention Locale on the original post of apps I am using, but I think it warrants an update as there have been a few plug-ins for it launched which really augments the app and its functionality. On the more frivolous side, you can now have Locale post a Tweet based on anything from time to location (e.g. you arrive at the pub and your Twitter feed updates with "Right - I'm at the bar, what's everyone drinking?!"), but on a more functional tip there is now means to enable/disable WiFi based on time, location, battery life etc., as well as automate syncing by the same values - handy as this saves critical battery time. There are even Wake-On-Lan and HTTP Post plugins now, so you can have Locale boot up your machine when you get home or to the office, or can even have it update a website's content based on your location (or time, or battery life etc etc as per usual). Incredibly handy, and if Google had any sense they'd work to integrate this framework app into the OS as it is just so incredibly handy...

So - that's it for now. Are there any critical apps you think I've missed? If so, let me know in the comments below!