New essential Android apps thread

Kainz · 11 Apr 2018 at 10:42

I find FOTO Gallery perfect for my needs but if your wife is looking for something easy to understand I believe Simple Gallery will be useful - my father uses and understands it easily enough.

FOTO has recently had a UI redesign which is quite nice, but very IOS in style. They've also removed the AMOLED dark theme which has peeved off a lot of folks. Functionality is still the same though.

Orcvader · 11 Apr 2018 at 10:49

+1 to Simple, I eventually settled on that after trying to find a good QuickPic replacement. Fully open source which is a plus.

They even have a version on F-Droid as well: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery/

unwashed potato! · 12 Apr 2018 at 00:41

Simple gallery user here too. Though I do use Google photos for historic search, it's rubbish for on board pictures. Simple gallery allows you to properly see what's on your phone in which folder etc.

AndyCr15 · 12 Apr 2018 at 07:33

Don't you just switch to 'Device Folders' on Google Photos for that?

unwashed potato! · 12 Apr 2018 at 08:31

True, but I like that I can hide folders behind passwords and have control over which folders appear

AndyCr15 · 12 Apr 2018 at 09:18

Fair enough, that could be handy.

Orcvader · 12 Apr 2018 at 09:25

Fairly sure the answer is no said:
True, but I like that I can hide folders behind passwords and have control over which folders appear

Which is a big one, I don't need pictures from messenger apps appearing in my gallery. Sure I could create a .nomedia file in the folders, but sometimes that can cause issues.

V_R · 12 Apr 2018 at 09:27

Fairly sure the answer is no said:
Simple gallery user here too. Though I do use Google photos for historic search, it's rubbish for on board pictures. Simple gallery allows you to properly see what's on your phone in which folder etc.

+1.

Kainz · 12 Apr 2018 at 10:03

Fairly sure the answer is no said:
True, but I like that I can hide folders behind passwords and have control over which folders appear

Exactly. I wish the Photo's on Device row was a toggle. The massive New Album icon is equally annoying - too much whitespace for something that can be tucked under the 3 dots menu.

Jony27 · 12 Apr 2018 at 10:30

Been using QuickPic but will give Simple gallery a go.

Quinnaay · 12 Apr 2018 at 10:54

Jony27 said:
Been using QuickPic but will give Simple gallery a go.

Just done the same.. always used an older version of quickpic but now given simply go.

Edward78 · 12 Apr 2018 at 17:52

http://web.xender.com/ send files to mobile (they need the app also) or PC/Mac (get through website)...

Orcvader · 13 Apr 2018 at 09:20

Edward78 said:
http://web.xender.com/ send files to mobile (they need the app also) or PC/Mac (get through website)...

Any advantages over Airdroid?

Edward78 · 13 Apr 2018 at 19:15

Orcvader said:
Any advantages over Airdroid?

Not sure, never used airdroid...

glenimp617 · 14 Apr 2018 at 10:50

Bluetooth auto connect

It's a MUST for Android users. Since installing I haven't had a single issue since which is quite incredible considering I've owned loads of different phones over the years.

Orcvader · 1 May 2018 at 15:46

Poweramp v3 beta is out:
https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/...s-off-complete-redesign-classic-music-player/
http://forum.powerampapp.com/topic/...e-complete-read-first-post-before-commenting/

Had a quick go at it but as warned in the Poweramp forums from the developer, the new UI is still very buggy and a lot of features do not work so it's not recommended for every day use. The alpha with the v2 UI is more stable. But it's nice to see Poweramp finally with a more fresh and modern UI, although there are some elements that could look more "material". There's a dark theme as well but it makes the buttons on my nav bar black too which makes it unusable.

Final stable version ETA seems to be end of May/beginning of June:

Regarding release schedule - May is set as month for a feature-complete Beta release (with the all missing parts finished), and the end of May/beginning of June'18 is the final v3 release planned period. It depends on bugs and specific device issues.

Many years overdue but glad it's finally coming out, I keep going back to Poweramp for some reason even after trying other music players.

Kainz · 1 May 2018 at 18:08

Good to see a PA UI refresh. As you said it is long overdue. I also keep going back to the app despite trying and having paid for other players. PA has always sounded better for some reason.

doodah · 2 May 2018 at 14:18

TheOracle said:
Bluetooth auto connect

It's a MUST for Android users. Since installing I haven't had a single issue since which is quite incredible considering I've owned loads of different phones over the years.

Oooo this might be what I am after. My headphones aren't very good at switching devices easily. Thanks.

Wow - Poweramp, that's a blast from the past!

Robzere31 · 2 May 2018 at 14:34

Has Poweramp finally added the ability to stream from Google music or is it still only whatever is physically on your phone?

Orcvader · 2 May 2018 at 17:40

Robzere31 said:
Has Poweramp finally added the ability to stream from Google music or is it still only whatever is physically on your phone?

It's still local files.

Even then, I don't think Google offers a public API to allow other developers to hook into it? Not to mention the dreaded rumours of Google replacing Google Music with YouTube Remix.