With the rise of smartphones has come the rise of useful applications — as in, applications that are directly useful in every day situations. One type of app that has gained prominence is the kind that splits up your restaurant bill. Divvying up the check is a time-worn ritual that no one wants to experience. It can get contentious, and no one wants that after a satisfying meal. There are plenty of these apps in the Market, but 1) we haven’t yet covered one here, and 2) even if we did I’d still feature Bill Splitter. It’s a great app, found on the xda blog, that takes care of literally everything you need when splitting a bill among friends or business associates.
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How many times have you gone to adjust the media volume on your Android, only to accidentally adjust the ringer volume instead? This has happened to me hundreds of times, so I’m sure it’s far from an isolated problem. The issue is that when you open up a media app, such as Pandora, you have to wait until the app is fully loaded before you can adjust the media volume. Adjust it a little too soon and you’ll end up adjusting the ringer volume, which can cause you problems later. I’ve also had problems on the lock screen, where I accidentally mute the ringer. This can lead to unnecessarily missed calls. Thankfully, there is an app that can help you keep that under control.
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Getting paid to view ads on your mobile phone is no new concept. A few years ago it was a short-lived craze, with Virgin Mobile’s Sugarmama service leading the way. Users generally raved about it, loving that they could pay for airtime just by viewing ads on their phones. Other services realized some success, too — I remember about a half dozen similar companies that had booths at CTIA 2008. But soon enough Sugarmama stopped paying out, and the other services fell off everyone’s radar. It left in question the ability for such a service to provide long-term value to users, but that won’t stop newcomers from giving it a whirl. A new app in the Android Market gives you the opportunity to subsidize your cell bill by viewing select advertisements.
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I won’t beat around the bush on this one, because there is no bush that need beating. In browsing xda the other day, I came across an app called Extensive Notes. Yeah yeah, I thought. There are tons of note-taking apps on the Market — I’m kind of disappointed Google doesn’t include one with the OS — and they’re all essentially the same. Some have a greater level of tasking and notating, but that’s about it. So yeah, I kind of did a double-take when I saw the feature list for Extensive Notes. Honestly, I installed it yesterday and I haven’t gotten to even a quarter of all the features. If you’re looking for a writing app of any kind, really, you should head to the Market and download Extensive Notes. Just look at the feature list and I’m betting you’ll want it. It gets AndGeeks’ highest recommendation.
Prepaid isn’t what it used to be. Back in the mid-2000s it was mainly a means for the credit-deprived to get cell phone service. Since then it has evolved into a low-cost alternative to postpaid cellular service. Many carriers are even starting to add smartphones, including Android handsets. There are many limitations on prepaid that you don’t have on postpaid. One of them involves voice minutes. If you go over your minutes on postpaid you might have to pay overages, but on prepaid you’re cut off. That’s why an app such as Limit Your Calls is so essential for any prepaid Android user.
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Do you work out with your Android? I do. It’s my music player, my stopwatch, and even my data tracker. It comes with me to station to station, and so I’m always open to new fitness apps that I can use with it. Lately I came across some apps from the developer Rittr Labs, and I came away very impressed. They focus on pure strength maneuvers: push-ups, pull-ups, and squats. Those can be the most important exercises (though I prefer dips to push-ups), because they work multiple body parts. Moreover, they translate to the real world. There are instances were pushing or pulling yourself up can come in handy. Few situations, I think, require me to lift a 225-pound weight off my chest.
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There might be some superficial Android/iPhone rivalry going on, but end users really benefit when developers release social apps that work on both platforms. Anything that involves sharing or messaging is better when more people use it. An app such as Viber, a VoIP and messaging app that launched on iOS late last year, only works well if many people use it. And so it’s good new for both Android and iPhone users that it is now available in the Android Market. My only question is of how much practical value the average smartphone user will get from it.
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While it seems that mom and pop comic shops are shuttering their doors all across the country, there also seems to be a growing interest in comics. Yet without the small shops that offer new issues of everyone’s favorite titles, how will interest continue to grow? It seems that smartphones and tablets provide the most sensible medium. Of course, if you ask any long-time comic fan what they think about this development, they’ll say that viewing a comic on a digital device just isn’t the same. Yet when I ask them the big question — what would you rather have, comics on tablets or no more comics at all? — they hem and haw, unable to find an adequate answer. Clearly, comics on tablets is the better option, and with apps such as the DC Comics app, released by comiXology, we could see interest continue to grow for years to come.
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This is not a picture of my desktop, but mine down does contain this nifty circle you see in the bottom left corner. What is it, you might be wondering? It’s a simple widget that keeps accurate tabs on your battery life. See, the battery gauge in the notification bar is nice and all, but it’s not terribly accurate. It changes colors at certain intervals, but by the time you reach the 30 percent mark, it might be too late. This widget gives you the percentage of your battery remaining, so there is no mistake. Now that I’ve installed it, I know exactly when I need to charge my phone.
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A few months ago I made the switch back to Twitter for Android. It wasn’t the best client, but Tweetdeck was giving me constant problems, and none of the other Twitter apps seemed that much better. (Also, I couldn’t get Twitter off my phone for a while, which was just stupidity/laziness on my part.) The only thing missing, it seemed, was support for multiple accounts. Today I saw an update on the Market, and there it is. I can now log into multiple accounts with Twitter for Android. Switching accounts is pretty easy, too. But wait, there’s more!
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