When my boyfriend got his Android for his birthday (which was March 17th, by the by), we spent hours just playing with it and slogging through apps for the fun of having a new phone and having stuff to play with it on. I, personally, have an undying love for touch screens now for no explicable reason other than the fact that they’re fun and make me feel like I’m from the future.
That being said, we found a few apps that were crap, a few that were just worth a laugh, and some that were good beyond recognition, and the list follows, including QR codes to scan right from your phone.
- Barcode Scanner – As simple as it may seem, it becomes ridiculously useful for downloading apps straight to your phone by QR code. As much as it may suck for other things (as far as we’ve seen, at least… the EVO seems incapable of stopping its auto-focus long enough to work on real bar codes, but QRs scan fine which is the whole point).
- StumbleUpon – If you’ve spent hours stumbling when you should be doing housework, homework, or any work period, then it’s something you kind of find yourself wanting regardless of what you use your phone for. Many countless hours and hours of battery life spent to see cats doing funny things on the internet right from your phone– who could want more?
- Angry Birds – There are a million games like this on the internet– you shoot something across the screen and try to destroy towers. Some have variations where it’s just you and some explosives, but what they don’t have is the comical pull of Angry Birds and the plethora of birds in your arsenal with their ‘special skills’. I didn’t get the appeal at first, until of course I played it. Whether playing the full game or just the Seasonal version, Angry Birds provides hours of fun for minimal effect on your wallet.
- Zedge – While it is possible to make your own ringtones and fiddle with things to personalise your Android, it’s not always something you feel like messing around with when you have a change of heart mid-ringtone, and that’s where Zedge comes in– boasting a large library of sounds and wallpapers, searchable and highly easy to install, this app provided a much needed break for my brain when Ezrik wanted Libera Me from Hell from Gurren Lagann as a ringtone, and it even inspired us to get the Firefly theme as his text message tone. At the high price of ‘free’, it seems like a good idea to have around in case of a want for something and too lazy to make it yourself.
- Dolphin Browser – While using the built in browser, or even going so far as to download something else might be within the cards, I found Dolphin to be quick and easy, and with its easy to navigate format and multiple tabs, it made me highly excited– also, it supports the HD formatting that some do not. It’s a nice way to round out a basic set-up of useable apps for a new Android, or even some people just looking for a new browsing experience on their Android phone.
While they might not all be the most highly lovable or even high profile apps that some people are looking for, they’ve come kind of a staple of Ezrik’s phone (which he keeps calling mine, because I play with it so much), and are worth having on your phone, regardless of fads and changes in mood. At a later date I might explore the depths of other apps such as Google Goggles and Google Skymap, but we’ll see.
