1 Swiftkey 3
This Swype-alike improves on its predecessors in the alt-virtual
keyboard category by adding contextual intelligence. That means that it
‘learns’ your typing patterns and your lexical tics to predict what
you’ll input next. It also autocorrects errors and lets you sync it with
your written correspondence via SMS, Facebook, Gmail and more to get
the best idea possible of how and what you type.
2 Google Chrome
Chrome is fast as mobile browsers go and offers unlimited tabs,
which you can flick through like a deck of cards in a UI touch that’s
more than a little reminiscent of the much lamented webOS. The real boon
for us, though, is that signing in to Chrome means you can sync open
tabs and bookmarks across from your desktop, laptop and/or tablet.
3 Google Now
Billed as a challenger to Siri, Google Now features the same voice
commands functionality of Apple’s iOS personal assistant. But it ups the
ante by intelligently learning from users’ behavioural patterns and
serving up reminders according to their location, the time of day and
previous search habits. Our advice is: don’t fret about the potential
privacy infringements. Just enjoy an app that’s the closest thing so far
to a robot concierge.
4 Weather
Weather apps are pretty unlovely things most of the time. This great
title from OneLouder (we love the Spinal Tap reference) is the
exception. It’s exceptionally pretty, with a clean, modern look and some
unobtrusive and attractive animations.
It’s great on the function front too, serving up real-time
information, as well as oodles of handy gen for forecasts, alerts for
extreme weather sent to the notifications bar, as well as sunrise and
sundown times. The Radar map that shows weather in your locality and
updates as you use it is also a bit of a boon.
5 Flipboard
Seemingly aeons after it landed on iOS devices, Flipboard hit Android. Better late than never.
As reading apps go, it doesn’t get too much better, thanks mostly to a
smartly laid-out user interface that makes this supremely simple to
use. Naturally, you can also tailor the news and articles it serves up
to your preference and check out pieces your friends are recommending
too.
6 TED Talks
This is a brilliant repository of talks from the fields of
technology, entertainment and design. New speakers are added weekly and
there are already thousands to get through. If you’re in the market for
something a bit more edifying than a turn on an endless running games,
this is just the ticket.
7 Pinterest
Like Flipboard, this also took its time coming to Android. But it’s a
neat app that was worth the wait. And also like Flipboard, it’s easy to
get to grips with. And because it’s nigh-on identical in terms of form
and function to the website, you probably know how to use it already.
8 Google Drive
Somewhere between Google Docs and Dropbox, this teams word processing
smarts, so you can create new docs on the go, and spreadsheets to work
on numbers and whathaveyou, with 5GB of free cloud storage and the
option to add more for a smallish charge. Automatic synching across all
devices helps offset some of the frustration that movement of files
within the app is severely constrained.
9 SkyDrive
Another impressive cloud storage solution, this time courtesy of
Microsoft which has implemented a lovely UI that takes more than a few
cues from the live tiles of Windows Phone. Hotmail account holders get
7GB of free storage.
10 Instagram
Photo filters with similar functionality are ten-a-penny on Android.
But none have the same hugely engaged user community as Instagram, with
whom you’re able to share your snaps instantly.
0 comments:
Post a Comment