Continuing on a theme I’ve been on for some of the last few posts, the last time I talked about Android applications I’m using that I liked was December 2011; man, I’m slow in getting back to stuff, but at least this time I’m not as far from the last time.
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I know for sure that 4 of these I downloaded independently; the last one I’m not so sure about. I know I’ve written about #4 here, but it earns a second mention:
1. Dropbox I have to admit that I was really hesitant to add Dropbox. Sure I had added Evernote, but I wasn’t moving any large files or personal files to it, just some notes and such. But an organization I belong to wanted all of its directors to set it up, and I did and it’s been a godsend.
How? Most of you know I’m working out of town. Over the winter I’ve been staying out of town almost an entire month, then going home for a long weekend. I’ve always needed stuff, and finally I decided to move all my written files, all my web files, and a host of other files over. Then the other day my wife called me while I was leaving work for lunch and was frantic because she didn’t have a couple of files she needed. I had them in Dropbox so I pulled them up, and you can email files from Dropbox. She had them in a minute; catastrophe solved.
Here’s the thing. It’s free, and the more things you add to it so you can access it, such as your computer, laptop, smartphone and, for me, my Nook, the more free space you get. You can also pay for 100 GB at a nominal rate. And if you get other people to download the software via your link, you earn 500MB per person, up to 16GB of space. I don’t know if that’s forever but hey, here’s my link if you want to download it or check it out; help a brotha out! 🙂
2. WatchESPN Y’all know I’m a Syracuse Orange sports fan. I’m also in the south right now. Because they’re a top flight team I’ve been able to watch many of their games on ESPN, but not all of them.
The WatchESPN app lets you watch any game for any sports that ESPN happens to cover for free online via their app. So the night Syracuse beat North Carolina State with a final steal and scoring with 9 seconds left, I was sitting at a desk in my hotel room watching it in high definition on the Nook; life doesn’t get better than that.
3. Flixster I hadn’t paid any attention to having a Flixster account previously. I knew I had an Ultraviolet account, but at some point they must have merged. Anyway, turns out that I have 2 digital movies that I can watch either on my smartphone or on the Nook, and I can add more via streaming from their site or purchasing the digital rights via Barnes & Noble. Here’s one more thing; if you purchase any movie anywhere and it offers you a digital copy, you can hook it up so you can watch it on your platforms without having to find someone to crack the software… not that I know anyone who knows how to do that anymore (cough).
4. Instagram I wrote about this in June 2012 once it was finally available for Android and I still love it. Not only can I share my pictures with others but if I don’t have it downloaded to my computer I can link my own pictures to my blog via a link. Also, it’s a great way to store pictures if you want to download them to your computer or other platforms later on. And now you can upload 6 second videos, although for the life of me I can’t seem to figure it out; oh well…
5. DU Speed Booster I was having problems getting a couple of apps to work on my phone one day and I happened to come across an article in PC World Magazine about this one. It runs optimization processes on your smartphone (they don’t have it for the Nook so I don’t know if it’ll work on the iPad) that not only helps to resolve conflicts, but clears out all those extra files for whenever you upload, download, or update programs and other apps. It’s fast and speeds up your smartphone at the same time.
There you go, a recommendations post and, funny enough, post #1,499 on this blog. I wonder what’s coming up next…
Hi Mitch,
I just went to the Playstore and installed the DU Speed Booster app. My phone is only about 8 months old (which might be considered ancient the way technology keeps improving) and I’ve been noticing how slow it’s been running lately. When I first got it the keyboard would show up instantly. Now when I want to write a text or do a search it’s almost 4 seconds before the keyboard sluggishly makes it’s appearance.
I’m hoping this does the trick. I had considered uninstalling every app and resetting the phone but this sounds friendlier.
As always, thanks for sharing.
No problem Aaron, and I hope it works out for you. I don’t have tons of apps but I do like to check out one here or there every once in a while.
Hi Mitch, I love using Instagram, the video’s are simple to do, just be sure to hit the video button vs the photo button. I love sharing photos via Instagram and onto the other networks. Depending on what I’m sharing I choose different networks. The video button is to the right of the photo button. (center symbol).
Funny I signed up for Dropbox but haven’t really used it. I had Flixter but since I changed my main Google setting I can’t get back in. I’d have to re-sign up. I must try that because I love checking out movies with that app. Great for when you are deciding to go to a movie as it shows nearest theatres and times.I also love underground weather, with the winter we’ve had I can keep track of the impending storms.
Let me know if you get the Instagram video now Mitch, hope it helps! Have a great weekend.
Lisa, I don’t seem to have the option on my Instagram app to add a video. I’ve read about it but it never comes up for me & I don’t know if I’m supposed to do something else for it to show.
Interesting recomendations, Mitch. I rarely use my phone for entertainment and the Internet speed probably wont allow to stream videos smoothly. Actually never thought to install Dropbox on the phone, but it does make sense.
Glad I had one you could use Carl. 🙂 I really have found it to be beneficial a couple of times.
Hi Mitch,
Great compilation of very useful apps! Although I don’t use Instagram (I’m more addicted Facebook guy xD), these others are so helpful, especially Dropbox for me, which makes my iPad’s and Samsung Galaxy’s files connected.
I still didn’t heard about “DU Speed Booster” so definitely gonna try it! I’m glad I always find something useful on your blog. Thank you for keeping posting stuff like these 🙂
Best regards,
Adam
No problem Adam. I don’t write tons of things like this but every once in a while I’m useful. lol
Dropbox,watch espn they are good and surely deserves to be in my smartphone.Instagram I’m not a big fan of it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
No problem James; good luck with them.
Nice and informative post.
Now a days there are many apps for all types of purpose. Well I have used Instagram and am not too much fascinated by it. But I am surely going to try dropbox and DU speed booster. I guess with DU speed booster I can manage properly all my files.Anyway it is great collection of apps. I hope your article would also help many others.
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Sagar. I think people have to like taking and sharing pictures to really enjoy Instagram, and I’m always intrigued by what other people put up.
Hi Mitch, Glad to see Dropbox was on your list. I spend quite a bit of time out of the office and always needed a file I didn’t have. Dropbox has helped me on many occasions and is an app I always install.
Ed, Dropbox has helped greatly once I started using it properly. Having 6.5 GBs to play with right now is quite helpful.
Hello Mitchell 🙂
It is the first time i have landed on your blog.And it is great being here reading your post 🙂 . I love to explore more about andriod apps each day.I love to know and use new apps 🙂 . I am going to install this Drop Box app though i have read about it earlier i didn’t use it properly.This time i a gonna give it a try 🙂 . This time give me some good dictionary apps mitchell 🙂
Greetings Surya, and thanks for your comments. I don’t use any dictionary apps, and I have few apps overall. But Dropbox is the real deal; I hope you find great use with it.