Must-have Android apps?

Or killer accessories and such? Just got a Galaxy S II, and it's really a pretty impressive piece of machinery. I think I might finally be in the future! (Of course, this is coming from a guy who last used a 7 year old flip phone.)

alex wrote: Or killer accessories and such? Just got a Galaxy S II, and it's really a pretty impressive piece of machinery. I think I might finally be in the future! (Of course, this is coming from a guy who last used a 7 year old flip phone.)

Haha i just got my GS2 on Friday! It's awesome! Also came from a 5-7 year old flip phone.

What do you want to do with it? I'm on Sprint, just downloaded the "Small Business Sprint ID," and it seems pretty awesome... shipping/invoice apps, financial spreadsheets and all that.

I'm not entirely new to Android things, though.... have had a tablet for a few months now.

If you're doing email on the phone with non-Gmail account(s), get the K-9 email client.

The drag racing game and Square.

Oh, also: Dolphin HD browser. Screw the crap browser it comes with.

Ebay app.
Barcode Scanner app. (price check online just by scanning barcode!)
Equalizer app. ("stock" EQ settings sucked on my earbuds)
Pandora

I forgot about the Sprint ID dealie - good call. And I do use Gmail, which integrates very nicely.

alex wrote: I forgot about the Sprint ID dealie - good call. And I do use Gmail, which integrates very nicely.

I have the "Small Business," "Android Basics," and "Business Pro" ID packs installed on my phone. The rest i figured would be largely useless.

I use "Android Basics" most of the time. I think i'll probably just flip between that one and "Small Business" when i start running more parts this summer.

Good apps to have:

waze (real time traffic reports everywhere) AAA roadside Poynt (restaurants and theater info near you) SpeedView (GPS based speedometer) You may already have it, but Barcoad Scanner. I've saved money at stores already by scanning a product barcode and bringing up a list of online prices for them to match.

Also, find a good battery manager app.

Fun stuff: Retro Cam (as sounds, does imitations of old cameras, like Polaroids, etc) Bubble (a bubble level program) Timeriffic (sets the times that your phne automatically goes quiet, or changes the ringer level, etc) Tesla LED (turns your phone into a flashlight) iBeer free (just for fun)

I also have Moviefone and Fandango in order to buy movie tickets while out and about (for example, when traveling), and ScanLife to do those square barcodes you see everywhere now.

And I use EasyPhoneTunes Plus to synch up my android with iTunes to get all my songs and playlists on the phone. No need for an iPod!

Out of Milk is great for shopping lists and todo lists.

CoolReader is the best ereader program I've found for a phone.

Juice Defender keeps my battery alive longer.

GoSMSPro makes texting much better.

Swiss Army Knife is oddly usefull.

Super aTool Box is great for sending apps to the sd card and controlling memory.

PDAnet for free tethered internet.

Google Night Sky or whatever it's called it neat.

Cheese Tower is a kind of fun game (Angry Birds -ish type game)

weather bug netflix kindle

Edit - any Canadian Android users know of a good legal music download service? I have a few ebook apps, but i'd like some music too.

Appkiller.

My g/f has an OBDII app that works with a port transmitter via bluetooth.

Brightest flashlight

gReader for Google Reader/RSS

Aldiko for another ereader option

Realcalc - nice scientific calculator

Skype - video chat

Wifi Analyzer - Find wifi networks near you and how strong they are

Light Flow Gives you more control over your alert lights and such

ESPN Scorecenter - All the scores for your teams in one place

Speed - Racing news and results

Radar Now - Instant weather radar for wherever you are

CNN/Fox News/USA Today/etc - national news

Local newspaper and TV station apps - They all seem to have them these days

Angry Birds - All 27 variations

Field Runners - Nice tower defense game

Cardstar - Scan in all your store cards and you no longer have to carry them

IMDB - Movie info

CNET/Gizmodo/Engadget - Tech news

Gateguru - For use in airports, shows you what restaurants, etc are near a given gate

Trackmaster - Uses accelerorameters to do performance testing on your car

Torque - Needs an OBD2 sensor, but can scan codes, display gauges, all kinds of cool stuff

iHeartradio/Slacker/Pandora/last.fm/Yahoo Music - Streaming audio

Soundhound/Shazam - Identify a song by having the phone "listen" to it.

Scanner Radio - Listen to police and fire radios

And finally, especially for the GRM crowd: Craigsnotification - Set up searches in Craigslist and get a popup every time something comes up that matches.

In reply to Ian F:

Which one? Does she/do you like it?

And which bluetooth adapter?

While I have your attention, I'll hijack my own thread.

Is there a way to get my contacts from my old phone's SD card onto my GS2? (One that doesn't involve going to a Sprint store, I should add.) Phone died from liquid intrusion, but the SD may be salvageable. Micro USB Mini SD card reader?

In reply to ransom:

I think it's Torque mentioned above. The BT transmitter was just something she found on ebay.

I just got a Droid Bionic this week.

If you have a Logitec Squeezebox, they have a remote app and it's awesome. If you don't have a Squeezebox, that's a bummer for you.

I got this: http://www.appbrain.com/app/car-performance-free/com.unnull.apps.carperformancefree

Don't know if it's at all accurate, but I used it last night and did a 9.8 sec 0-60 in the Celica. Soooo. It has a GPS speedometer too.

This is way fun:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zz.thumbracing Great stuff here! Thanks!

Oh! Google Sky Map too! Really neat.

Ian F wrote: Appkiller. My g/f has an OBDII app that works with a port transmitter via bluetooth.

Ditch the app killer and use Juice Defender. It's a much more effective app at prolonging battery life. After Android 2.2 there really isn't much need for an app killer and in many cases they just drain the battery faster. Many people use Widgetsoid with great success.

I would also recommend Amazon App Store - a free paid app every day. Most are junk but I've gotten some really good $5 apps for free.

I also use Waze and while it's fun the directions they try to take you sometimes are NOT the most direct or quick...

Astrid task list is pretty awesome.

ES File explorer is also pretty awesome.

I use Handcent for my messaging app.

Netflix for when I'm bored and have a decent signal or am on wifi.

ROM Toolbox, but you need to be rooted (which I highly recommend doing...). If you are rooting you'll probably want to look into Titanium Backup also.

Quickpic for accessing the photo gallery.

Space Physics if you want to get addicted to an extremely, intensely awesome game. Check it out!

Widget Locker if you want to change your lockscreen.

Lastly I use xScope Pro for my web browser.

I also really like the Brightness widget by Curvefish. On my LG Connect the brightness only goes down to about 8% although Settings lists it as zero. Curvefish will make it noticeably darker.

In case people didn't see it in the larger post, download the Amazon app-store to get a free paid app a day. Some of them suck, but every once in a week or so you will get a good offer.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Torque - Needs an OBD2 sensor, but can scan codes, display gauges, all kinds of cool stuff

This. It helped me pass emissions the other day. They weren't to happy about the missing left front mirror, though...

fast_eddie_72 wrote: If you have a Logitec Squeezebox, they have a remote app and it's awesome. If you don't have a Squeezebox, that's a bummer for you.

Mild threadjack...

What do you think of your Squeezebox? Considering one for our kitchen to upgrade from my Logitech iPod dock.

On-topic...

Another vote for Sound Hound. There's some sort of Keebler Elf Magic going on there.

I use aCar for tracking MPG and business mileage.

jde wrote: Mild threadjack... What do you think of your Squeezebox? Considering one for our kitchen to upgrade from my Logitech iPod dock.

I love it! I have a Squeezebox Touch on my main stereo and an FM transmitter. So I listen to it everywhere. Shoot, I almost never play a CD anymore. I'll throw a record on if I'm sitting down to listen to music, but otherwise, it's the Squeezebox.