7 FREE Frequently Used Android Apps

There are so many types of mobile phone operating systems available to choose. How exactly do you know which one is for you? Chances are you won’t know until you try them all. I have used Symbian and Windows Mobile before but they never really offered the kind of customisations that I would like to have. Just weeks after using them, I became bored and soon found myself in the mobile market, looking for new phones.

Somehow, Android has managed to keep me entertained for quite a while. I am quite determined that my next phone will be an Android though I might still get side-tracked and opt for iPhone.

When I first bought HTC Desire, I never knew that the internal phone memory of 150MB would be a problem. It does because all apps will be installed on that small partition. However, there are ways to expand the internal partition as well as moving apps to SD card. Those are the things that I like about Android. There are a lot of ways to do things and you just have to find the correct one for you.

Pulse News

This little app has evolved dramatically since I installed it. It is still free and ad free too. Pulse News is like a centre of all feeds. Inside the app, you can create tabs or categories to categorize your feeds. For example, you can have a News tab that display all you news’ feeds in rows and another tab for Technology feeds. Everything is displayed neatly and it really makes it more interesting to follow up feeds. At the moment, it only has 5 tabs but it is more than enough for me. I am sure that in the future, Pulse News will allow users to add or remove pages.

Facebook fan? You can use Pulse News to check links that are posted by your Facebook friends. If you find some of the news interesting, you can easily share them using Facebook’s Like or tweet it using Twitter within Pulse News app. Personally, I think it is better than downloading different app for news or technology that will only clutter your Android app drawer. One app and you will be able to read Sky News, The Sun, Engadget, Gizmodo and lots more.

Advance English & Thesaurus

If you have an unlimited data plan, you probably wouldn’t mind to connect to your mobile network 24 hours a day. Advance English & Thesaurus is one of the few apps that offers offline dictionary. The database can be saved into your SD card and off you go. You can check any words anywhere without the need to use your mobile network data allowance.

Google Goggles

Word search is a thing in the past. Picture search is becoming more and more popular. Google Goggles utilises the mobile phone camera to capture the thing that you would like to search on. I was browsing my friend’s Facebook pictures the other day and I saw a picture which I would like to know the place in the background. I just powered up Google Goggles, took a picture of my monitor with my friend’s picture in it and cropped it inside Google Goggles. Within a few seconds, Google Goggles showed me a number of possible matches and I have to say, I am really impressed by it. I tried to take a picture of mine but there were no results!

Wireless Transfer Pro

I often copy files from my computer to my Android phone and vice versa. It can be a frustrating task when you have to connect the phone to the computer using a USB cable supplied. When connected, you would probably find that some of your apps go missing as you have moved them into your SD card. Well, this can be easily solved with the next app in the list. However, I like cable-less setup, hence, Wireless Transfer Pro.

Once you have switched on your phone’s WiFi, Wireless Transfer Pro will automatically detect the IP address assigned to your phone and add a port number 8888. By type the address shown in the app, you are connected to Wireless Transfer Pro file manager interface that shows the files on your phone. Using your computer, you can upload and download files as well as delete the files on your phone.

Multi Mount SD Card Lite

If you have lots of apps installed and you have moved them to your SD card, you might want to check out this app. Multi Mount SD Card Lite enables the phone to access the SD card while connected to a computer. Therefore, your games or apps will still be running while transferring files between your phone and your computer.

It works as a widget and you just have to touch the widget once before connecting the cable and it just works!

Memo Widget

I have been searching high and low for calendar apps where I hope it will act as a reminder about things that I need to do. On the other hand, I would not want to clutter my calendar with things that are not really important. All Memo Widget does it to enable me to put a line or several lines of words as a widget. It is simple and it does the job. Whenever I want to remind myself of something, I just have to create a Memo Widget on my Android homescreen or lockscreen. Each and every time I look at my phone, I will be able to see the message.

The reason that I choose Memo Widget over the next app in the list (Color Note) is because Memo Widget allows me to have any size as well as any color that I want for my memo.

Color Note

Color Note is my grocery companion. When I have a list of things to buy, I will create a list on my Color Note. Once created, it will act as a widget with the number of items in the list stated on the widget. Each time an item is ticked off from the list, the number will be reduced. You can create as many lists as you like and the color can be changed too.

Finally…

Anything that is free is always welcomed. We must always give credits to the developers who make the effort and time to create apps that are beneficial to all Android users. In truth, there are more than the seven in the list. As I mentioned earlier, things that work for me does not necessarily work for you. However, these are the apps that work really well for me. So, what are your apps?