Essential Android Apps

mrk · 3 May 2013 at 23:00

Mike45450 said:
Poweramp. I think the smallest widget they do is a 4x1, which I use and it's really good. They just had an update to really customise how the widget looks too.

I really like the PowerAmp widgets, here's how I have mine:

MeMeMeMe · 4 May 2013 at 00:10

mattbill said:
Are any of your guys using Google's Play Music for downloading music? How do you find it? I'm not sure whether to go for Amazon MP3 or this. Ta guys!

For buying music, it's probably fine. I'm not impressed with it playing music. I find it frequently gets stuck halfway through playing a track, and needs to be manually stopped and restarted. Sometimes it stops responding altogether, saying "Google Music failed to connect to server"

This is on a Nexus 7, not rooted, on WiFi.

scoopex · 4 May 2013 at 03:27

Why do most of the major Android applications seem less polished unlike the iPhone versions ?

Twitter for Android is nothing when you see it against the iPhone release which is so slick and has more options to tweak.

warren_1979 · 4 May 2013 at 16:04

Vice City is on offer for £1.49. Just picked it up.

tals · 4 May 2013 at 16:19

warren_1979 said:
Vice City is on offer for £1.49. Just picked it up.

, very impressive what they have done

reflux · 4 May 2013 at 16:37

scoopex said:
Why do most of the major Android applications seem less polished unlike the iPhone versions ?

Twitter for Android is nothing when you see it against the iPhone release which is so slick and has more options to tweak.

Because Apple's design guidelines are much more stringent, and developers tend to put more effort in. Which sucks. Android is getting much better though.

G18241 · 4 May 2013 at 16:56

Just installed novo launcher after a format...cant believe you have to pay to be able to sort your app draw into folders...uninstalled straight away, refuse to pay for a feature that i can get without using a third party launcher :/ Shame as it did seem rather quick but that just annoyed me haha

AndyCr15 · 4 May 2013 at 18:08

Stock Android allows folders in the app drawer now? It's been a while since I've used proper stock...

G18241 · 4 May 2013 at 18:45

AndyCr15 said:
Stock Android allows folders in the app drawer now? It's been a while since I've used proper stock...

Yeah im on 4.1.2 at the minute and i have way too much stuff to not have it in folders in the app drawer

tals · 5 May 2013 at 07:04

reflux said:
Because Apple's design guidelines are much more stringent, and developers tend to put more effort in. Which sucks. Android is getting much better though.

It is down to the developers, but take the iPlayer radio the Android version is better. I use an app called uk bus times
nothing comes close to it on the iPhone as far as I could tell.Twitter I use Falcon pro which I am very happy with.

I got my n4 because the wife and daughter had an iPhone and wanted to see how an Android device compared. Unless iPhone sort out there screen size the wife wants an Android device next - most likely a note 2.

UnworthyBean · 5 May 2013 at 17:18

Can anyone recommend (if there are any available) an alternative google play widget?

I need one more suited to a tablet screen rather than the smallish default one.

millsy888 · 5 May 2013 at 17:33

scoopex said:
Why do most of the major Android applications seem less polished unlike the iPhone versions ?

Twitter for Android is nothing when you see it against the iPhone release which is so slick and has more options to tweak.

Why would anyone use the official Twitter app when Falcon Pro is available?

B&W · 5 May 2013 at 20:52

I want to stream a video from my Xperia z to my note 10.1 tablet what's the best program to use. the built in stuff isn't working.

Rob N · 5 May 2013 at 21:31

Is there an App that will print an email formatted exactly as it looks when you view it?

MG42Maniac · 5 May 2013 at 21:52

What do people reckon is the best swiping style keyboard? I'm using the default one with my S4 but not sure if it's the best available?

mrk · 5 May 2013 at 21:54

Swype is the best. SwiftKey is 2nd best.

The S4 uses the latter by default anyway.

Kreeeee · 5 May 2013 at 21:58

mrk said:
Swype is the best. SwiftKey is 2nd best.

The S4 uses the latter by default anyway.

Agreed.

No idea what Swype does differently, but it just knows what I meant, even if I completely mess up the word.

benjo · 5 May 2013 at 22:14

G18241 said:
Yeah im on 4.1.2 at the minute and i have way too much stuff to not have it in folders in the app drawer

What launcher are you using? I'm sure the AOSP launcher doesn't have folders..

Nova is definitely worth the couple of quid though.

AndyCr15 · 6 May 2013 at 07:38

That's what I thought. Here's where he says he has a HTC or Samsung device

tals · 6 May 2013 at 08:07

Kreeeee said:
Agreed.

No idea what Swype does differently, but it just knows what I meant, even if I completely mess up the word.

Swype is more accurate so you make less mistakes. It also has more options at the top which you can scroll through even more options. If you make a mistake and have to amend a word you can put the cursor anywhere on the word and reselect the option.If you do it with swiftkey unless you are at the end of the word it creates two words.

The only thing that swift key does better than Swype is allowing you to do sentences with flow but imho that is gimmick.