I’ve been using the Motorola Droid X phone for a few months now. It’s powered by Google’s Android Operating System. Like the Apple iPhone, the Android app market is huge, providing every kind of app you would want, some free and some paid. But for now, here are just a few apps that are on my Droid X and I use them often.
1. Amazon Appstore for Android – I check the Amazon Appstore for Android daily because they are giving away one paid app a day free. Although I’m not one to download every single app and try it, I have downloaded some that I’ve found very useful, ezPDF Reader being one of them.
2. Android Security – Being a proper computing person, you have to think about security first. With some horror stories in tow about folks downloading mobile apps and getting hacked, one of the first settings to check on your Android device is to only download stuff from trusted or known sources. Go to Settings->Applications and make sure “Unkown sources” is unchecked, this should be unchecked by default.
If you run into an app you really want to download and it’s from an untrusted source, do some investigation first and find out as much as you can about it before installing. Running one of the apps in #3 (below) will also help scan the apps that you download.
However, it’s easy to get a false sense of security, just remember that a security scanning program might not pick of every new virus or threat to your mobile device.
3. Watch Out for Those Viruses – You might not think of your mobile device as a computer but it is, make sure you put a virus checker on their. A couple free ones are Lookout Mobile Security and Anti-Virus Free by AVG Mobilation. Both products also have paid versions that give you more features.
4. Let There Be Music – Everyone’s got to have their music and I use doubleTwist and doubleTwist AirSync on the Droid X. You can pull your music in from iTunes when you’re connected to your computer or do it wirelessly with AirSync. doubleTwist will also recognize music you download from the Amazon Cloud Player and other music sources. Pandora is also a must-have on your Droid.
5. Bookmarking Your Favorite Articles – I love Read it Later. Read it Later can be used to quickly bookmark articles while you skim the web. At a later time or right away, you can read your articles on your mobile device using Read it Later, which its sole purpose is to present incredibly easy to read and great looking text. There’s a free version and pro (paid) version.
6. Books, Books and more Books – I used to love going to the bookstore and getting a new book to read at the store or buy and take home, but, I haven’t done that for a while, you? So, I get most of what I need from Amazon and read it on my Droid X with Kindle software. Also, if you don’t want to read books, just listen to them, browse over to audible.com and make sure you install this app so you can download and listen to your favorite books.
7. Web Browsers – You can use the internal browser that comes with your Droid X and you can also install Firefox for Android as well as Opera for Android. I like to keep up with all of them to check out their features and what folks are doing with mobile web browsers. Oh yea, if you browse to a web site where the text is super small, just share it out to Read it Later and it will be available immediately for better viewing in your Read it Later app discussed in #5 above.
8. Just Plain Fun Apps – Okay, here’s a couple easy ones that I use that are incredibly functional. First up is the Droidlight, an app that turns your camera’s flash into a flashlight. Great for walking around the house in the middle of the night looking for stuff and not waking everyone up. Or during a storm and the electricity goes out. Another fun one is the Bubble Level. If you work with leveling shelves or anything else that needs leveling, this is the app.
9. File Sharing Between All Your Computers – If you haven’t heard of it yet, Dropbox is a great way to store files out in the Cloud. You can get free space at Dropbox to do this and much more space if you pay for it. It’s a great way to keep your PDFs and other files available all the time between multiple devices.
10. Your Social Life – Whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or both, you’ll have many apps to choose from, but for me, right now, I use the Facebook app that comes with a Droid X as well as twitter apps Seesmic, TweetDeck, and most recently Twidroyd Pro. They all have a bit different features that help you communicate with your friends and fans online.
That’s it for now but I’ll be listing more apps in future articles so make sure you subscribe for free and you won’t miss a beat.
Whether it’s an iPhone, an Android powered phone, or any other phone or mobile device, what’s on your device that you use constantly or can’t live without? Let everyone know in the comments.
I would love to have android phones. Unfortunately, I didn’t have budget for it at the moment so I was planning to buy wi-fi instead. But android applications really amazed me and I knew it was really useful. As for the viruses, this reminds me to be more careful to any gadget that I am using.
Nice list. I have the Google nexus one but no virus checker yet.. So thanks for the tip.
While Android is great and all I was stunned when using a friends new Windows Phone 7 phone. The GUI is incredibly slick and responsive compared to pretty much all the other os’s. Customizability is the clear shortfall compared to Android but it will likely be able to win users with its shear ease of use.
I heard about the possibility that there was spyware but had no idea there were possible viruses for the droid. Be interesting to compare the different phones and see which has the most / least malware. Seeing as the iphone came before either the Droid or the new Windows phone, you would think that there might be more, but Apple’s virus security has always been quite strong.
Completely agree with number two. With an exponential increase in the number of mobile phone users, it is not a surprise that it will become a target of security attacks in the future, particularly if purchasing through your phone becomes the norm.
Hey Thats True Android Apps Are Really worth Downloading.Considering security thats the major concern nothing is safe nowadays these hackers are making it difficult for a person to use a net especially the spyware thing is very common nowadays.
Had my android phone boot up in ‘safe mode’ the other day.. which really brought home the fact they’re just computers nowadays! Good tip about the anti-virus 😉
Very good tip on the antivirus. They are not common by any means this far, but I wouldn’t take the chance of getting hacked. With the Android popularity growing by the month, chances are that more and more viruses will start showing up (although It’s safe to say viruses have less room to breathe on Android than on your typical Windows PC/Laptop).
I also emphasize on antivirus apps. Since Android is an OS, many people can abuse it by writing trojans, spyware. It will become a significant industry and well-known antivirus software vendors will compete there too.
Murat@iPad 2 Keyboard » Thanks Murat for stoppin’ by. I want an iPad 2. I also want a new MacBook Air. 🙂
Android users could further access apps like Wine PhD, Wine Cellar, My Wine Tales or Wine Cellar Lite. It is also possible to go to RedLaser or Google Goggles and search by scanning the wine label. Of course, the results will not be that good, but you would still be steered towards a better wine.
This is good list. I´m using my first phone with android for a month, too. I installed only a few apps on my device yet. I do not have a app for mobile security yet, but i will try one out. Thnank you for the advice.
James » Thanks James, have fun.
The Android market is expanding vastly with all the new apps released each day. Im always finding useful work and non work ones, angry birds, still waiting for a nice google analytics app
I also knew of a spyware that can help my phone to be secured from viruses but I also knew it will cost me a hundred of dollars to own one. Is this app cheap and affordable?
I have purchase one yesterday. Android phone is very useful and I think this is the great phone. I purchase Samsung galaxy tab
Good post. There are definetelly some good apps for an android device. I use the amazon app as well as the facebook app. It is very convinient to have these apps on the phone. So you can stay in contact with your friends even if you not at home. The opera browser is my favourite, too. It is fast and easy to use. I think there are so many undiscovered apps in the market, that this list can be updated all the time witch good apps. What´s not in the list is the Googl+ app. It looks clear and has a great usability.
Wow this is a great list. Everyday, more and more android apps are emerging and they’re becoming better. The competition between android and iOS are so great, we are all reaping the benefits. What an exciting time this is for mobile phones indeed.
Tim
Hot Topic of the Android apps. I still had an Android phone. But I’m going to the next time testing times and gets me form an opinion on this.
I’m one of the people who didn’t watch out for the viruses and I wish I had read your post earlier. Would of saved me a big headache. Funny how you don’t think of your mobile phone as a computer.
t is fast and easy to use. I think there are so many undiscovered apps in the market, that this list can be updated all the time witch good apps. What´s not in the list is the Googl+ app. It looks clear and has a great usability.
I have an iphone and I really like using the Cleartune – Chromatic Tuner app to tune my guitar. It works really well and I always have it with me. I see that they have the exact same app for android. I would recommend trying it out if you want to tune an instrument. It even works on your voice, if you’re curious about hitting the right notes!
Guitar Learning » Great suggestion.
More and more people are into using Android phones. I guess it has something to do with the apps because they become better and better each time.
A comprehensive blog post to make the Android enabled devices to be used to the fullest with the best experience! My favorite is the Amazon app and the paid-app free deal is just the right strike with me!
+1 from me for Droidlight, that app is really useful for using your Android phone as a torch.
Comes in handy many times of the day; and night 😉
great stuff! definitely gonna try all of these on my galaxy nexus.
So you don’t veer off the road, we suggest at minimum installing a good antivirus app on your Android smartphone, such as Norton Antivirus. They have a free version which is nice. Better to be safe than sorry.