Everyone at the Adobe MAX conference got free Motorola Droid2 phones. So I figure there’s a few people out there new to the Android scene that might could use some suggestions for the must have apps. Here’s my list:
The first app you want to get is a barcode/QR-code reader. Once you have that you can find the apps below by just scanning the QR-code on the monitor. The one I use is aptly named Barcode Scanner.
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Google Gesture Search – You absolutely must have this app. It helps you quickly find any app, contact, setting on your phone by just drawing with your finger. Put this app on your home screen. You’ll use it a lot. |
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Google Sky – Turns your phone into a window on the night sky. And it even works when the sun is up. Lots of fun and great when someones says, “Which planet is that.” You can yank this out and find out right away. |
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Google Earth – Fly around the planet with the swipe of a finger. Search by voice for cities, places and businesses. |
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Godaddy app – it’s much easier to buy a domain through the app than the website. But making it so easy to purchase domains might lead to more drunken domain buying like ICantBelieveIBoughtThisDomain.com |
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App Referrer – Simplify referring apps to your friends. Lists installed apps and lets you share links via QRCode, SMS, Email, Twitter, etc. Much better than trying to tell your friends to search the marketplace for the app name. |
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91 Panda Home – I love this app. It adds some really useful features to the UX on the phone. Such as giving your sidebars/gutters to place apps that you might want to get to from different screens. Lets you increase the number of screens up to 11 and pick which screen is the home screen. And it gives you the ability to add themes built for Panda Home.
It works great on my Nexus One. But not everything works the same on my Droid2. One of the features I like the best is that it allows you to see apps in the app browser as a stacked list instead of as a tiled list. It also remembers where you were in the list and doesn’t always start over at the very top each time. |
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Note Taker – a note ( notepad ) application where you can create text, voice and paint notes. Your notes can be organized in folders. You can create shortcuts on home, send notes, use live folders and much more. |
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Alarm Clock – I tried a handful of alarm clocks and this is the best I found. Features: Snooze alarm by flipping your phone without opening your eyes. Supports musical alarms. Gradually increase the volume. Snooze 1-60 minutes. |
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Area Code ID – Caller ID that displays the location of incoming and outgoing US and Canada calls. Does NOT require a subscription, unlike other services. Also has a call log feature and allows for manual area code lookups. |
| Google Goggles – just plane fun and sometimes it even useful. | |
| Google Voice – if you have a Google Voice account you’ll obviously want this app. |
AIR apps
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Adobe AIR – just in case you don’t already have it. |
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Adobe Flash Player – That’s why you switched from iPhone to Android, right? To get some mobile Flash goodness. |
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RunPee – ( My App ) Lets you know the best time to run and pee during a movie without missing anything. Because, as we all know, a bladder is a terrible thing to hold. :) |
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RunningMap Trackometer by Randy Troppmann – A simple yet powerful app that uses GPS to track time, distance, elevation and route traveled. |
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Tour de Mobile Flex – a great way for developers to explore the mobile capabilities of Adobe AIR and Flex. |
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AIRonAndroid Browser – ( by Rich Tretola of InsideRIA.com ) Application demonstrating the API’s that are available to Adobe AIR on Android for developers. Demonstrations include Accelerometer, Camera, Geolocation, Multitouch, StageOrientation, and KeyboardEvents. |
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AIRBench -( by Christian Cantrell ) Performs a series of tests to determine how well AIR runs on your device, and reports the results ( anonymously ) back to Adobe. |
Note: If you have the Droid2 from MAX make sure that you uninstall and then reinstall the AIR runtime. To uninstall an app just go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications.
Do you know of any cool apps that I missed? Let me know in the comments.
Very cool must have apps. Try it out
Have you tried Sound Ideas yet? Its an AIR app that lets you record and save audio files.
Love it ;)
Cheers,
Sidney
@Sidney Checking it out now. Thanks.
I found "a Wallet" to be a must have application too. It is great for keeping handy your personal notes and info like passport no., cards, bank accounts, etc.
Great app.