Essential Android Apps

Myshra · 13 May 2013 at 20:01

Think you might need poweramp for that, but I think poweramp resumes on any A2DP.

benjo · 13 May 2013 at 20:52

Tom_ed1987 said:
Does anyone know of an app that can open and auto play the standard music player on a galaxy s3, when the phone has connected to a specific bluetooth device?

Tasker

It's the answer to most things.

ShortWarning · 14 May 2013 at 13:30

Is there a better video chat app than skype? Coming from iOS and FaceTime the quality is pants.

ins0mn1ac · 14 May 2013 at 15:58

Any opinions on what to use for AVI playback with a tablet? gotta catch up with Suits at work

tom_e · 14 May 2013 at 16:04

ShortWarning said:
Is there a better video chat app than skype? Coming from iOS and FaceTime the quality is pants.

A few people I know use Tango, might be worth a shot or I think viber can do video as well.

ins0mn1ac said:
Any opinions on what to use for AVI playback with a tablet? gotta catch up with Suits at work

BSPlayer

kona786 · 14 May 2013 at 16:04

ins0mn1ac said:
Any opinions on what to use for AVI playback with a tablet? gotta catch up with Suits at work

stock media player should play avi's

If not try mobo video player

benjo · 14 May 2013 at 17:16

I always preferred MX Player, nicer interface imo

wellibob · 14 May 2013 at 17:32

benjo said:
I always preferred MX Player, nicer interface imo

Agreed MX lovely player but I also use BS Player loads and it's lan feature.

wiiija · 14 May 2013 at 18:25

I'm back to android after a spell with wp8, got the n4, missed the fiddling and tweaking.

Which sms apps are the current best? I believe I used gosms on the s3.

tom_e · 14 May 2013 at 19:06

I'm using handcent on my S3, I was using go but it just seemed to be getting more and more packed with uneeded features.

benjo · 14 May 2013 at 19:17

wiiija said:
Which sms apps are the current best? I believe I used gosms on the s3.

Nothing wrong with the stock SMS app tbh. Sliding Messenging uses the cards layout, haven't tried it myself.

GoSMS is pants unless you use the 'lite' mode.

Gman · 14 May 2013 at 19:21

benjo said:
I always preferred MX Player, nicer interface imo

Best one I've used so far is DicePlayer, plays everything i've thrown at it so far

unwashed potato! · 14 May 2013 at 20:38

benjo said:
GoSMS is pants unless you use the 'lite' mode.

i agree, too much bloat in all the other modes, however gosms light is imo the best. i like the pop ups, and i like the customisation for notifications per contact, and the blocking facility of it saves me from the texts i would be getting every single day about ppi and loans and car crash claims etc.

tals · 14 May 2013 at 20:38

benjo said:
Nothing wrong with the stock SMS app tbh. Sliding Messenging uses the cards layout, haven't tried it myself.

GoSMS is pants unless you use the 'lite' mode.

It depends what you are looking for,I needed a notify over apps running like a GPS app. The stock app doesn't do it, someone recommended a notify app but that was unreliable.handcent covers what I need

CF93 · 14 May 2013 at 22:45

B&W said:
what's the best alternative to Samsung's smart stay.

I use SmartStay Ex free version on my One X, works great. Never felt the need to get the pay version.

photoshop · 14 May 2013 at 22:59

Stock SMS is the best!
MX Player is awesome for videos!
Google Play app handles all my music and i like using it.

There really isnt much wrong with Stock Android 4.2 in terms of default apps as they all do the job nicely.

They will no doubt be better after Google announces Android 4.3 this week

trentlad · 15 May 2013 at 02:02

Stock SMS can't handle group messages though, you can't reply into a group thread across Android and iOS platforms (instead it messages each person individually outside of the group thread).

GoSMS can group message with no issues at all.

trentlad · 15 May 2013 at 02:09

wellibob said:
Agreed MX lovely player but I also use BS Player loads and it's lan feature.

+1 for BSPlayer

I wasn't able to play videos with 5.1 audio in MX Player and it's pop up (the tiny video window) option magically vanishes sometimes.

tals · 15 May 2013 at 06:03

It's no good saying stock sms is the best with no reasoning when people have replied indicating what they find is lacking.sure it may work for you but it could be better. The great thing is we have the choice

Steve_bullockuk · 15 May 2013 at 07:59

benjo said:
Nothing wrong with the stock SMS app tbh. Sliding Messenging uses the cards layout, haven't tried it myself.

GoSMS is pants unless you use the 'lite' mode.

Thanks for the Sliding Messaging recommendation. Really like the minimalist interface!