OT - Android Apps you can't live without
When I got my first smartphone a few years back, I felt an unbridled joy thinking of all of the capabilities I would have at my fingertips. Two years later, I don't understand how I ever really lived without it, but at the same time, I feel it's getting a bit stale and I need MOAR apps to make my life simulatneously easier and more complicated.
So, any good recommendations from the MgoCommunity? The full range of application types interest me - from games to news to financial/organizational software to totally random.
Some apps that I can't live without include:
- 8558CALLVM - App lets you call another cell phone directly to its voicemail - perfect when I want to call into work but don't want to talk to my boss.
- Hyundai Bluelink - Lets me remote start, check my vehicle economy stats, unlock my doors and other cool stuff related to my car.
- Brightest Flashlight Free - a must have when walking down dark hallways at night after the girlfriend has gone to bed.
- Chase - probably the best app I've ever seen, with the photo check deposits and ability to totally manage accounts.
- Greatclips - Allows you to check-in online so you can step right into the barber chair when you get there.
- Meme Generator - Has images of all of today's hottest memes, allowing the user to create the text to go along with it; or create your own memes using your own photos.
- My Fitness Pal - Great calorie counting app to ensure I keep my weight in my desired range, that has a database of all sorts of foods, raw, processed, restaurant made. Also tracks workouts for calories burned.
- ESPN Scorecenter - Still my go to app to check scores and read sports news - didn't update to the new version b/c of all the bad reviews.
- Walgreens - Filling prescriptions on the go is pretty badass.
- Map my Ride - Uses GPS to chart your ride course when you cycle, giving you milage, MPH, etc.
- and of course, MGoBlog - the most convenient way to read MGoBlog on the go.
Give me MOAR. I'm an addict!
Edit: Thanks to all for the suggestions - I can't wait to try some of them out!
January 16th, 2013 at 10:04 AM ^
Twitter. Youtube. White Castle. MGoBlue. ESPNGo.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
I like Yahoo Sportacular more than ESPN Scorecenter, but that's just me.
Also, Netflix, PocketCloudRDP/VNC, Dish Remote Access, TheWolverine, Sony Media Remote & SonyTVMedia (obv. only apply if you have a Sony TV), and all my Arnold soundboards.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^
Another vote for Sportacular here. It's been a few years since I tried the ESPN app, but I remember it being a pain to set up, needing to pick a bunch of favorite teams and sports and stuff. Sportacular made it easier to just check scores of a sport (although you can still pick favorite teams if you want them displayed at the top for their sport).
Others I haven't seen mentioned yet:
- OurGroceries - My phone, my wife's phone, any browser, keep a single common shopping list. Great for when you remember something you need just after the other person left for the store - just add it to the list on your phone and it'll show up on theirs.
- Evernote + Evernote Web Clipper - I think the web clipper helps make this a great recipe book. Come across a recipe you'd like to try while surfing the web on your computer? Just use the web clipper to put it in Evernote, and then it's right there on your phone/tablet when you want to make it.
January 16th, 2013 at 11:52 AM ^
OurGroceries sounds like a great idea, but the sync between Android and iOS would have to be good for it to be a viable option. Do you (or does anyone else) have experience with that?
January 16th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^
I haven't accessed it via iOS, but I don't think that would be a problem. All of the data is kept in the cloud, you just access it via the apps or the web site. It's like having both an iOS and Android MGoBlog app - they don't sync with each other, the just read what's on mgoblog.com.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^
Thanks, that sounds like something I'll have to try out tonight.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
Ziplist is another grocery list option - I can confirm that it syncs between Androids and iOS since my girlfriend is an apple loyalist. It's a handy app.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:47 PM ^
it's just astounding what's come around in just the past few years. I can almost guarantee we'll get this set up tonight and wonder how we lived without it in three months.
Thanks for the advice, I'm in the same boat you are.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:01 PM ^
You're not kidding - I'm 34, graduated from UofM in 2000. We had the fishbowl, media union, and hardwired ethernet in dorms. Wikipedia didn't exist, I "fingered" my college girlfriend on the backwards old email system (can't remember the name). I still did most of my research (History major) in the Grad library using (gasp) books made of paper. In High School, any internet usage was limited to my family's AOL/Prodigy accounts and was purely recreational. Pre-HS, internet? What?
Fast forward just 12 years and I'm a smartphone addict. It has simulatneously made life better and worse and at times I wish Al Gore never invented the internet lol. Feeling compelled to check and respond to work email while sitting on a beach in Aruba isn't healthy. Playing Words with Friends with your girlfriend who is sitting in the same room when there is a scrabble board in the closet is insane. But I can't stop. Intervention time!
But if you try zip list, you'll like it. It's a pretty easy interface to use and autofinishes popular name brand products if you type them in, or you can justy add generic terms like "soda". Just remember to refresh a couple times before shopping, because the sync doesn't always shop up right away and you may miss something that the wife/gf will be pissed about.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:50 PM ^
and it's still amazing to me. I remember the first year of internet access in elementary school, and had high school classes based out of computer labs, but even some public schools today are going towards laptop/tablet models for textbooks and schoolwork. I got my first cell phone in sixth grade to share with my little sister, it was black and white and had snake on it. Today, it seems like even middle class kids have phones and a tablet or some close substitute.
The pace that mobile technology is moving is just crazy; I don't take advantage as much as I should, but this thread and some other stuff I've been reading over the past month or so are definitely going to push me in that direction. Great advice all around.
January 16th, 2013 at 2:01 PM ^
a computer was a TI-35
January 16th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^
I remember when the term computer didn't really exist in everyday langauge.
January 16th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^
I remember having to push my computer 4 miles to school and back, uphill both ways. It got a lot easier when they put the steering wheel on it....
Can't seem to embed the picture without it warping....
January 16th, 2013 at 12:49 PM ^
I haven't tried it on iOS, but Cozi has an app with a calendar, to-do list, shopping list, etc, all in one. Works well for my wife and I.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:01 PM ^
and I (Droid) use it. It works great.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:01 PM ^
You should give it another shot. I too used Sportacular quite regularly until I discovered a couple months ago that ESPN came out with a complete redo of their ScoreCenter and it is light years better now. If you have an ESPN account and have set up all your teams already, all you have to do is login and you are set. Plus for the games themselves, you can directly launch the gamecenter to live stream it and it doesn't have to launch a browser, it does so completely within the app. Now, I barely ever use Sportacular.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:02 PM ^
Linking from your ESPN profile does sound pretty nice, however I don't have access to ESPN3/WatchESPN so I wouldn't be able to live stream.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:16 PM ^
Sorry, I meant to say you can open GameCast in the app (it used to open the mobile web browser) and follow the play by play that way. Definitely give it a try. I had totally switched over the Sportacular and gave the new ESPN app another chance and haven't looked back. Also has push updates for news that applies to your favorite teams (injuries, trades, etc).
January 16th, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
Right on, I'll give it a go.
EDIT: Just went to download it and it said my device is not compatible. Ummm, what? I have a Droid DNA with JB...
January 16th, 2013 at 1:45 PM ^
I have a Samsung GS3 with JB so I would think that if I can use it, the HTC DNA should. Totally different, I was thinking about upgrading to the DNA but was leary about the battery life (previously had HTC Tbolt and the battery SUCKED). How do you like it? The battery was the only downer I could find but that is a huge downer, especially considering my previous experience so I went with Samsung.
January 16th, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^
I did read the poor reviews about battery life which caused me pause with the DNA, but ultimately having that beautiful 5" 1080p screen was worth the risk to me.
Maybe it's just because I am so used to garbage battery life from the Tbolt, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the DNA's lifespan. I'm not a super heavy user, but I play around with enough stuff that I'm probably an "average" user. Anyway, normally I'm around 50% when I get home, whereas with the Tbolt I was charging up halfway through my work day.
The performance of the phone itself is fantastic, plus despite its large screen it is remarkably light (lighter than the GS3 IMO). If it's possible it's almost too light, but with a nice Poetic case it has enough "feel" that I don't worry about dropping it.
I'd highly recommend it.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
I have a super nintendo emulator on my phone. When I'm having a bad day I just play some super mario kart for a while.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
January 16th, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^
The emulator I use is snes9x-ex. More and more emulators are being pulled by google, but it looks like you can downloaded it directly below. You'll also need to find ROM's and put them on the phone. Overall, the process is pretty simple and anyone can do it.
January 16th, 2013 at 11:45 AM ^
I beat Final Fantasy 3 on my phone via the SNES emulator. A few years ago, I would've thought something like that would've been impossible. Thanks, science.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:54 PM ^
You should try the Mupen64 Plus, AE for Nintendo 64 games. Where do you get your roms from? coolrom.com works pretty well for me.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
CardioTrainer
Uses GPS to track any type of outdoor excercise: jogging, walking, cycling, rollerblading, cross-country skiing, etc... Plays music while you excercise, keeps a map, calls out times, speed, and distance, posts to Facebook and twitter plus lots of other fun stuff.
And, it's FREE!
January 16th, 2013 at 10:19 AM ^
Kinda OT for this post but related: on my old phone I used to be able to delete emails from my gmail account as they came in by clicking on a button in the notifications window. I now have a Razr Maxx, and can't seem to figure out how to do that. Does anyone know a way, other than opening the gmail app itself?
January 16th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^
... if you use public transport in a major city, it is a life changer. It saves me 15-25 minutes a day. That's (head math) 3-4 full days a year if you are bussing it 4-5 times a week.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^
Scorecenter.
MyFitnessPal to track food.
RunKeeper to track runs and it integrates with Fitocracy.
Fitocracy to track lifts (and all other exercise).
Tapatalk for other forums.
Aviary to edit pictures after I take them. It's great for camera phones where the flash is too dark, too bright, or just washes everything out. Now, I generally take pictures without the flash and just edit them with Aviary.
MGoBlog. Generally, I just read on the computer, but good when I'm in a car or something.
Google Play Music.
Tasker. Let's you program things to happen on your phone when other things happen. For example, whenever something that requires GPS is opened, it turns the GPS on and then turns it off again when that app is closed, saving me time and battery. I also have it so that it sets my phone to vibrate when my work schedule shows that I'm in a meeting.
A couple that I've only used once so they are cool but I couldn't necessarily recommend them:
Five Guys. It bugged out on me when I used it the first time, but the idea of being able to order my food from my phone and then have it ready when I'm there is fantastic.
Zombies, Run! I've heard good things about this and I tried it out for the first time on Saturday. It was kind of cool that it gives you a storyline to listen to. I was a little confused about the zombie chases, but I'll figure that out by the next time I run. I bought it because it was on sale for $4 instead of $8. It might still be on sale.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
Tasker. Let's you program things to happen on your phone when other things happen. For example, whenever something that requires GPS is opened, it turns the GPS on and then turns it off again when that app is closed, saving me time and battery. I also have it so that it sets my phone to vibrate when my work schedule shows that I'm in a meeting.
On a similar note for those of you with NFC on your phones, Tasker + AnyTag NFC Launcher + NFC tags = Awesome.
January 16th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
So, you put NFC tags at home, in the car, or at work and then scan to have a Tasker task run? That's pretty sweet. I tried setting something up based on whether wifi was available and it didn't work well enough to keep it around. I can definitely see where that would be very useful.
January 16th, 2013 at 11:23 AM ^
Indeed. One example I have set up:
- Glympse is an app that allows you to temporarily share your location with people
- It also has an API that can be called by a Tasker task. I used this to set up a task that has Glympse share my location with my wife for an hour.
- I put an NFC tag in my car, and used AnyTag to make my phone launch the Glympse task when I tap the tag.
- When an accident backs up the freeway and I'm going to be way late getting home from work, all I need to do is tap the tag and my wife can see me slowly crawling along in traffic.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ^
January 16th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
January 16th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
Mgoblog
ESPN scorecenter
College Hockey News Go!
Angry Birds Star Wars
Plague, Inc
Song Pop Free
Zombies Run (great for long runs)
Camera Zoom FX
Google Music
Runkeeper
Astro File Manager
Postman
Car Home Ultra
Typical Google Suite - Chrome, Drive, Music, Navigation, Gmail, Calender, Voice, Now (much better than Siri, although you need jelly bean to get it)
DropBox
Spotify
Pandora
HBO Go
XBox SmartGlass
January 16th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
that app sounds awesome, I totally have to check it out. my wife and I started running last year, and we are training for a 10k for later this summer (the Big Ten K in chicago assuming they do it again) and that sounds like a way to make the training a hell of a lot more fun. thanks for the suggestion on that one!
January 16th, 2013 at 12:56 PM ^
Plague Inc has been a HUGE timesuck for me.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
Sonos is seriously great. It took no time to teach it to my wife.
January 16th, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^
HulloMail - Visual VM. Free version is fantastic. It's easy to use, and no more going through the dial-tone menu options!
Google Now - Still in its infancy, but holy crap is it awesome. A quick swipe in the morning gives me access to the weather and estimated travel time to work. Also, when I fly, it pops a card the morning of my flight with the flight number, status, and the gate to board from. Just awesome, and I can't wait to see how they improve on this.
MGoBlog - Because duh.
ESPN Scorecenter - The new update was a huge improvement on an already solid app.
ESPN fantasy sports apps - They aren't great, but they make it easy to manage my roster on the go. I still prefer the internet interface when making trades or researching players to add/drop, but everything else is made pretty easy. FWIW, Yahoo! also has a very solid fantasy football app.
Edit: A few others that are easy to forget about:
SmartWifiToggler - Remembers WiFi networks that I've connected to and automatically connects when I'm range. If no networks are in range, it shuts off WiFi altogether. It's easy to forget about, since once you do the initial setup, it pretty much just runs in the background.
BatteryMonitor - I use it because it puts a numerical percentage for how much battery I have left in the notification bar - an option not available by default on my Galaxy Nexus. It's another you just forget about because it integrates perfectly.
Minimalistic Text - Allows you build a custom widget. For me, I wanted to keep my main homescreen very simple, so I just have the day of the week, month/date, and the weather (current temp and high for the day). Here's what it looks like:
January 16th, 2013 at 11:54 AM ^
Tell me more about the Scorecenter update - literally 9 out of 10 reviews post the update have been 1 star so I have hesitated to mess with an app that has worked to give me the information I need.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^
They did a pretty major overhaul of it. The only thing I find odd about it is they refer to games as "events" (there's a tab for "Top Events"). I can see why people wouldn't like it if they were used to the old format.
Here are the major changes I can think of: instead of swiping between screens with your favorite sports, you now have 4 tabs across the top: My Teams, Top Events, Videos, and Headlines. You can swipe between those tabs to view the content on each one. There is also a menu icon in the top left that you can tap, and that lists your favorite sports first, then an option for all sports after that.
Aside from that, they changed the overall look and feel (which I think is improved) and they show more info for games, both in progress and completed games. Take a football game as an example. In the previous version, while the game was going on, I think they displayed the top passer, rusher, and receiver for each team, right? If they showed more info than that, it wasn't much. Now, they display full stats, similar to what you would see in a boxscore online. A lot more info, and it's displayed well, IMO.
Just looking at the first two negative comments in the Play Store, it looks like the complaints are lack of sports (I haven't noticed that, though I don't follow MMA... I do follow the Barclays PL and nothing is missing from that, that I can tell) and problems with the widget (I don't use the SC widget, so I can't speak to that). I use it mostly to track scores for NFL, NCAA football/basketball, and haven't had any issues with those.
January 16th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^
Much appreciated. Based on your review I'm going to update the app tonight and if I hate it, at least I have a mGoUser to release fury upon!
January 16th, 2013 at 12:52 PM ^
No problem, I think you'll enjoy it.
By the way, what Hyundai do you have? My wife and I bought a 2013 Sonata back in November and we love it.
January 16th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^
I bought a 2013 Genesis Coupe 2.0 Turbo Premium in April. It was my first new car (always had hand-me-downs or used cars previously), and my first true sports car. Needless to say, I love everything about it. The exterior styling is amazing - I was in love with the old Infiniti G35 coupes for years and this car is every bit as sporty in my opinion. The interior is great....in the front - but when you buy a sport coupe, you aren't buying it to carry people comfortably in the back seat. Trunk fits two sets of golf clubs and that's all I really needed.
As to performance, it blows me away. It's a little 4 banger but puts out almost 300 HP, handles like an indycar, and can stop on a dime. I honestly have zero negative things to say about the car, it's my baby!
Disclaimer: I live in Phoenix, AZ - so the weather is pretty much dry and sunny every day. I have no idea how the RWD would perform in Michigan winters but I'm guessing not so darn good.
Congrats on your purchase!
January 16th, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^
Go SMS Pro...nice boost to regular txt platform
Chess Free...no explaination necessary
Chow Spots...a la Triple D fame.
Windfinder...for Boaters
Equalizer...serious punch to your Tunes
Noom walk...good pedometer with little battery weardown
NPR News...fair and balanced.
TimmyMe...essentials for finding the closest coffee.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
January 16th, 2013 at 10:45 AM ^
MySpace
January 16th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
Astrid Tasks is pretty useful for my task list and it syncs to a web site if you need it.
Evernote is a good note and list keeping app that also syncs to the cloud
Doggcatcher for podcasts, including Michigan Insider
Slice is a great app for tracking and updating any online purchases
Conference Caller is great since I have lots of work conference calls and am often working remotely. It lets to store and automatically dial different conference code numbers. Very useful.
Instafetch automatically downloads your Instapaper links for reading offline
Untappd is Foursquare for beer drinkers
Out of Milk is a good grocery shopping list app. Can you tell I like lists?
Mint.com is a great app once you get the browser app getting all your finances in one view
CBS Sports is what I have to use since my phone doesn't support ESPN Scorecenter
Shazam listens to songs and tells you the name, artist and album of the song. Also links to allow you to purchase the song from Amazon
Splash ID is a great app for keeping passwords and ids and other key numbers
GasBuddy shows nearby gas stations and gas prices along with a map
Kitchen timer is just a kitchen timer, but it comes in handy when cooking and/or grilling
January 16th, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^