ProShot (US$6.99) doesn’t add any features to my Huawei P30 Pro that the standard phone app doesn’t already have, but you can download an “evaluator” app you can use to see if it unlocks features the standard app hides. Samsung offers a professional app for its smartphones from the S21 onward called Expert Raw, but you must download it from the Samsung App Store (sign-up required). It’s often possible to download Google’s stock Android camera capture app onto premium brand smartphones, but I haven’t found any benefit to doing that. Third party options for alternative capture app controls on Android are severely limited. The reason most people will pay more for a premium smartphone is to make use of its high-quality camera system. Moon Reader matches the Kindle app experience (easy setup, disappears in use) and like Player Pro, has an ad-free pro version that costs US$9, though that price has been known to vary during the year. It costs US$5 to get the ad-free Pro (Pro) version.Īn e-pub digital book reader is an essential addition for the books you can never find the time to read. Player Pro has an edge with an internet radio feature that self-populated with TT radio stations, though it couldn’t play some of the streams. Both have functional free versions that support audiophile digital formats like FLAC. ![]() As an early adopter, I own a paid key for the app that circumvents the new subscription fee, but the app isn’t as smooth and bug-free as it was and is piling up bad reviews on the Play Store.Ĭonsider AIMP and Player Pro, the stars of a much wider field of today’s audio players for Android. If you need to access files downloaded to the device (many services have their own dedicated app), VLC is the go-to app for video files and as on the computer desktop, it will read any file encoding you can download.įor music and audio files, I can’t recommend my previous favorite, Rocket Player anymore. I have a deeply disturbing number of email addresses to keep track of and prefer to view emails with one catch-all app.įor Android, that’s BlueMail (if you don’t have access to Outlook), a well-designed and full-featured mail client for Android (and every other platform) that connects to many mail servers, including some that the stock Android mail client chokes on.Ĭorporate users can get additional business tools for a fee of US$12 per user monthly, but individuals get a great mail client.Įntertainment media on a smartphone should be seamless. ![]() It’s also useful for planning your working day, though I still use scraps of paper for that duty (the resonance of writing and viewing tasks just works better for me). I haven’t the words to say how much frustration this has saved me in groceries, hardware stores, and pharmacies. ![]() It’s possible to build a simple to-do list using Evernote, but why not take advantage of all the great sorting and organising features of Microsoft’s free To Do app.Ĭreate a list with this app and it instantly appears on every other device you’ve installed it on. I’m on the first tier Personal plan, and given my annoyance with subscription licensing for software, that means Evernote had to tick a lot of value boxes before I paid up. If that’s enough for you, then you’re set. The free Evernote plan synchronises two devices. If your smartphone is online, every time you save, your data is copied to the cloud and then to every instance of the app you’ve installed. If you use Office365, there’s a version for Android you can install.īouncing between operating systems, I prefer apps that work on multiple platforms and Evernote has a capable, if uninspired word processor that delivers clean and usable text wherever you open the app. You’ll find quite a few apps, but the files they produce don’t open properly in a desktop word processor. It’s hard to find a proper word processor on the Play Store. I’d get confused if it wasn’t running on the phone and that’s a clear indicator of an interface improvement. If you can’t think of nine apps to place in the list, Niagara can keep track of the apps you access most frequently and add them to the list for you. There’s a convenient alphabetical key on the right that you can use to jump to software that’s not in your primary list. ![]() If you include a media player and the date and time, you can fit nine to ten apps in the list. Instead of screen after screen of app icons, Niagara replaces that virtual metaphor with a list you can configure with your most regularly accessed apps. Niagara Launcher is the exception, and it’s worth paying for. Most, like Nova Launcher, are cute, but don’t really change the way you work with the interface. Generally, I avoid home screen and UI hacks.
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