Non-game Android Apps Recommendations Catch-All

There are several app sale apps. I personally just follow the AppSales twitter account instead of using the app (linked).

Plume, Tweetdeck, Carbon
I use Hangouts for IM'ing. Tried Path for multi-IM client but redoing all your passwords every month or so twice is a drag.
Media Monkey or Play Music
Comixology or Marvel Unlimited
VLC for video

Additional recs:

Cover - slide lock app. Easier access to the apps you use a lot.
iTriage - first aid medical app
Timely - free Google-owned clock app with a nice look and ascending volume alarm.
Muzei - live wallpaper app; changes your wallpaper at user-set intervals; takes from Flickr or 500px or Tumblr, etc.
Play Newsstand - Google's default curated news app
Pocket - for saving articles for offline reading
Anydo and Cal - linked checklist and calendar apps with nice widgets
Google Keep - my default note app
Lift - for habit creation
Snapseed - light photo editor for on-the-go light photo editing
Merriam-Webster - handier than you might think
Perfect 365 - for checking out makeup
SwiftKey - because typing with your thumbs is so last-decade

Gaald wrote:

I was hoping you can all save me some time and let me know what the best apps are for stuff like Twitter, multi protocol IM client, podcasts/music player

I'm also interested in a better Twitter app than Twitter's. When I open the app, if there are several updates it (a) updates them and then, frustratingly, moves me to the most-recent tweets. It is often that I open Twitter and find something interesting, and am halfway through reading it or tapping on a URL and then it's lost and I have to hunt it down. I haven't found any settings to change this.

Ugh.

As for podcasts, I love Pocket Casts.

I've been using Plume for Twitter for years and find it wonderful.

Veloxi wrote:

I've been using Plume for Twitter for years and find it wonderful.

Me too, although lately, it's been wonky on the tweetmarker stuff getting screwed up.

I think Twicca and Carbon are also good from what I've seen.

Kurrelgyre suggested turning off "Sync Data" in the Twitter settings. That's an ambiguous setting if it is in fact what works. Seems to do the trick so far.

In keyboard news, Swiftkey is now free.

I've been liking this live wallpaper of late.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

I've been liking this live wallpaper of late.

How's that hit your battery?

Since Google picked up Word Lens (presumably for use with Google Glass), they've made the app free "for a limited time".

muraii wrote:
Kurrelgyre wrote:

I've been liking this live wallpaper of late.

How's that hit your battery?

I haven't noticed a big difference on anything, but I don't stare at it for too long.

Genius Scan + $1

Does anyone know of a way to purchase apps from the play store with an incompatible device (without rooting)? I use this app all the time on my iPhone and it is awesome. When I upgrade my gen 1 Nexus 7 or switch to android it would be nice to already own this app. It's kind of weird that they don't just give you a warning then let you give them money.

Do any of the podcasts apps folks were talking about up thread have a way to sync with a Windows PC?

One of the only things I liked about iTunes was the ability to sync my podcasts between my iTouch and my PC, picking up where I left off.

EriktheRed wrote:

Do any of the podcasts apps folks were talking about up thread have a way to sync with a Windows PC?

One of the only things I liked about iTunes was the ability to sync my podcasts between my iTouch and my PC, picking up where I left off.

Not that I know of. Maybe Winamp?

I just rooted my s4 4.4.2 with towelroot. Two questions:

1) What should I do next?

And more importantly,

2) Can you recommend a tethering program that actually works?

Thanks!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I just rooted my s4 4.4.2 with towelroot. Two questions:

1) What should I do next?

And more importantly,

2) Can you recommend a tethering program that actually works?

Thanks!

If you're rooting, look around XDA, and there's probably already a way to flash a zip and use the native tethering. You'll just flash it from your recovery, and it should work.

I'm looking for a good calendar app with a weekly view which shows event durations on the view itself so she can see a week at a glance. My wife has this in S Calendar from Samsung, but there are some compelling reasons for going to vanilla Android. This one thing is what keeps her on Touchwiz. Her calendar keeps our hectic family life in order.

Acalendar was very close, but the weekly view sucks in comparison. It shows events, but no durations/overlaps. Tomorrow I'm going to try some more. Any suggestions to get me started?

Honestly I believe that Google's own Calendar app and widget are fantastic, but if you want to have even more flexibility (while retaining syncing with Google Calendar), then perhaps Business Calendar is the way to go.

Try Sunrise.

I just bought Tasker as possible substitute to Locale (since it isn't updating it's conditions for some reason...could be my GPS). Anyway, man is that UI dense. I really don't want to have to read a manual but I suppose that I will need to. But does anyone know of how to set "default" settings in Tasker?

Touch Calendar is awesome and shows event start and end dates on the widget.

What's the best e-mail client for android? I have an Asus Memo 7"HD

The built in client doesn't seem to retain old e-mails. Everytime I update the client the old e-mails disappear and the new ones take it's place. Also you can't update all of your accounts at once, just one at a time. It's really crappy program.

I like Mailbox. I used it on iOS and now on Android. The flipping of mail into various states, e.g., archive, trash, save for later, or postpone, is smooth and logical. It works well. I can't recall off-hand if it supports anything but Gmail, but I seem to recall they were at least working on Yahoo! support. Maybe even POP3/IMAP beyond Gmail.

I use AquaMail. It's decent, and logical. It doesn't keep all emails locally, so if that's an issue skip it. It does do both Gmail and Hotmail and allows me to pretend conversation view doesn't exist, which as an old man yelling at clouds makes me happy.

I like Kaiten, but it seems to have problems syncing with Yahoo mailbox periodically.

MailDroid doesn't have these problems, but the full, ad-free version costs a whopping $18.

30 free apps and games over in Amazonland. Check 'em out.

Anybody try the Yahoo produced launcher Aviate? I actually kind of like it, but it's got a few issues where it doesn't work exactly like it's supposed to for me that keeps me switching back to Nova. Definitely keeping my eye on it, though.

Sounds like Cover app made into a desktop. Eh. Cover's got me, er, covered. I just put the apps into widgets and folders; and I prefer to mind them that way. I'm open to trying it, though.

I have a car with Bluetooth since last week, and I love the ability to play podcasts (Pocketcast) and music (Play Music) directly from the phone to the car audio system. Thing is, the connection is kind of flaky. It sometimes takes a few tries before it connects, or before the audio works as well. It seems like this is a known issue with Android, if the results of my google queries are worth anything.

Can anyone make any recommendation on a Bluetooth app that might make it easier to operate the Bluetooth, so I don't have to hastily finnick in the settings while stopped at a red light? Something that automatically turns off Bluetooth when not in the vicinity of my car could be sweet too.

What brand of car? Might be useful for troubleshooting. We have a new Toyota since very recently and its bluetooth (both wife and I have android phones) works like a charm, so unfortunately no help from me. That said, it always asks whether we want to pair for calls only or for audio as well. Maybe you have that option as well?