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Killer Android apps?


Flexstyle
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Hey all, I just purchased a brand-new Android smartphone (Galaxy S3), and I'm wondering what your favorite apps are for that OS. Free or paid, doesn't matter, but you'll have to make a good case either way. I'm completely new to the world of smartphones, oddly enough, but some things worked out to where I ended up finally purchasing one.

I figure this fits in Community since there are bound to be several game recommendations. :tomatoface:

UPDATE:

I decided to go ahead and create a list here of all the apps and games that have been recommended, as well as a link to the Google Play store for each one where possible. That way, this thread can be useful to more people than just me. :) Let me know if I've missed anything, and please do continue to post your suggestions as well!

MY PERSONAL FAVORITES:

Robotek HD by Hexage (Free) - Beautiful game combining strategy, robots, and slot gambling.

Words With Friends (Free) - If you're a word nerd, this is an essential.

Dolphin Browser (free) - Excellent browser which has won several awards.

Spotify (Free/Subscription) - If you like music, and you do, you need this.

Doubletwist (Free) - Great upgrade over the stock Android media player.

Caustic (Free demo, $7.99 to unlock) - Make music on your Android!

EVAC HD (Free) - Modernized PacMan with a gorgeous art scheme.

SwiftKey 4 ($1.99 on sale, $3.99 normally) - Excellent keyboard. Massive improvement over the stock Samsung keyboard, which wasn't that bad.

GAMES

Rayman Jungle Run ($3.99)

Canabalt HD ($2.99)

Swords and Soldiers ($2.99)

Final Fantasy I ($6.99)

Final Fantasy III ($15.99)

Spectral Souls ($14.99)

Smiles ($2.99)

Draw Something (Free)

Scramble With Friends (Free)

Productivity

Dolphin Browser (free)

....more to come later, when I have time to edit this post the rest of the way.

Edited by Flexstyle
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I suggest Rayman Jungle Run

It's a simplified version of Rayman Origins, but still looks really crisp and still fun to play.

Another great puzzle game is Smiles It's like bejewled but instead of swapping gems on the board you swap an extra piece onto the board. There are bejewled style game modes but the really good one is zen mode, where you have to have the whole board have matches.

Hopefully that helps you get started.

Edit: just saw you were talking about apps in general, not games specifically, derp. I suggest grabbing the Google drive app (or dropbox, which ever you're using) it's a good way to keep some files you need just about anywhere.

As for browser, I suggest google chrome, if you use chrome on you PC, everything is already synced, and it feels quick and responsive.

If you got steam, the android app made by steam works great, it lets you keep tabs and talk to your steam friends when you're not by a computer.

I really haven't used my phone much other than a phone/web browser, so that's all the real recommendations I can give ya.

Edited by Unstable Hamster
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I really like a lot of Hexage's games.

Radiant is a really good old school style overhead shump, the visuals, music, and game play are all top notch.

Radiant defense is a TD game set in the same galaxy and is pretty good, hard, as far as TD goes

and EVAC, is pac-man but good. and with a story, and good music, and well its what pac-man might of been if it were made in the 90s

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Utilities:

Get Flashlight if it doesn't come default.

I prefer Android Assistant to take care of my system cleaning.

Quick Office for viewing and creating documents that are compatible with MS Office.

AndroZip for file management.

Games:

Blood Brothers - A fun casual game to play when you're bored.

SNES9x EX

Gameboid - Both are great emulators. Just make sure you own the original games. ;)

All the Angry Birds games are completely free, so download them all.

Westeros Conquest - So you can rule on the Iron Throne. It's like Risk,

Other:

Pulse - A visual RSS feed app that lets you follow A LOT of sources.

Westeros Map - BECAUSE WHY NOT!?

Netflix - If you have an account you can watch shit on the go.

Pandora - Same as Netflix, but of course its Music.

Pizza Hut - So you can order breadsticks whenever you want.

My Fitness Pal - A great calorie counter, weight tracker. It's helped me budget calories and I lost almost 20 pounds last month.

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Get all of the Google Apps. Googles, Sky Map, etc.

AirDroid is awesome for transferring files on your WiFi without a cable.

Get a Barcode Scanner (Barcode Scanner is fine) for scanning QR codes.

Bubble is a leveler - great to have - you never know when you're going to need a bubble leveler - used mine yesterday to re-install a friend's baby gate.

If you use Chrome on your PC, there's a great little quick app that will send what you're looking at/reading on your PC to your phone - "Chrome to Phone." Install on both and you're golden.

I think I prefer "Dolphin Browser" to Chrome on my mobile, but that could just be because Sprint speeds are so slow. Dolphin does have some nice tab functionality and gestures. Maybe check it out.

If you do music, get a metronome and a tuner. So nice.

Lastly and possibly most importantly - do you have a Wii? If you do, you're in for the best:

Search for "WiimoteController." Then, on your PC, Google search "Nesoid" and "SNesoid." You can get those installed pretty easily - make sure you have "third party apps" or whatever "OK'd" to install on your S3.

Then make sure you follow number six on this guide in order to get all this to work: http://www.booyagadget.com/2011/04/how-to-connect-wii-controller-for-nesoid-android-xoom.html

Get you some ROMs and BAM! You're playing NES and SNES (if you have the Wii Classic Controller) on your Android phone. No rooting, no damage, no problem!

It's the best.

Happy Androiding!

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Blood Brothers - A fun casual game to play when you're bored.

The only problem I have with this game is that the push notifications kept making my fucking alarm go off, so I had to uninstall it. The game is fun, but that issue is annoying as shit :/. Ninja Royale has that problem, too.

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Droidsound.

Droidsound is a free multi-format music player for Android devices, made by Swimsuit Boys. It is available for free and can play several old and new formats, including MOD, SID, XM, MP3, SNDH, S3M, IT, NSF and VGM/VGZ. Relive those classic tunes from the old days, or discover the new music still being made.

Also plays .spc and .gb files. Listen to your SOR2 and SMRPG soundtracks, or beek's "Margarita" on the go! Also supports some of the external nsf chips like VRC6 (Akumajou Densetsu 3; Alter Ego enhanced OST; etc.) and Battletoads' title screen's drums.

A must for any self-respecting vgm nerd.

Free!

Be sure to enable 3rd party apps.

P.S. I browse using Dolphin-browser also. Mustin's right; 'tsa must have (no pun intended, I promise!)

Edited by Antonio Pizza
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I love my smartphone. I didn't think they were so awesome until I had one. Now the thought of not having one pretty much amounts to barbarism in my mind.

Utilities:

Agreed with all the Google utilities; Google's road view (part of their Maps) is crazy awesome for directions.

Dictionary app - helps if you are into precision with language.

Flashlight app is pretty damned useful for obvious reasons.

Yellowpages - you could just Google everything, but this is pretty handy.

ColorNotes - very useful for scribbling down rando stuff, as you might expect.

Zedge - the mad hookup for ringtones and such. I usually do a whole theme for whatever game I'm playing at the time. At the moment I have an Assassin's Creed thing going on with background, notification sound, ringtones, etc.

Weather channel app. 'Nuff said.

Shazam - it's surprisingly sweet to be able to press a button and see the pertinent song information.

Pandora - pretty nice having all kinds of music on your phone without even using space on an SD card.

As for games, I haven't played too many, really, but the Angry Birds series is a must have. These games are seriously incredible. Fantastic for casual gamers but surprisingly in-depth for hardcore peeps. Seriously. Dragon, Fly is also fun, though not of course of the same caliber.

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I really like a lot of Hexage's games.

Radiant is a really good old school style overhead shump, the visuals, music, and game play are all top notch.

Radiant defense is a TD game set in the same galaxy and is pretty good, hard, as far as TD goes

and EVAC, is pac-man but good. and with a story, and good music, and well its what pac-man might of been if it were made in the 90s

Robotek is pretty simple but super-addicting.

Canabalt is a must, especially since Danny B did the music.

Swords & Soldiers is a bunch of fun too.

Spectral Souls and Final Fantasy III are full console-quality games, but have prices to match.

There's also the remake of the first Final Fantasy.

There are a few apps that are for the most part impractical to play on your phone, but I have to mention them solely due to how awesome it is that they even exist:

GemRB lets you play Bioware's Infinity Engine games (i.e. Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment). ON YOUR PHONE.

You can play Star Control 2. ON YOUR PHONE.

If you own and love any of those old-school point-and-click adventure games like Monkey Island, King's Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, you can play them with ScummVM. ON YOUR PHONE.

The sad thing is I don't have time for all these awesome apps because I waste all my time playing crappy Zynga games with my friends like Scramble, Words With Friends, and Draw Something.

And of course you can't show off your fancy Android phone without pointless live wallpapers like Pixel Zombies, Katamari, and Cave Story.

And if you're not Swyping, START SWYPING.

Thanks for posting this thread by the way, Flexstyle. Just installed two apps I'd never heard of. :D

Edited by Dhsu
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There's Final Fantasy Dimensions, which from what I hear is a great throwback to the SNES-era FF games, and there's a good amount of length in 'em.

Maan, you got my hopes up. It's not out for Android in English yet.

They did just release Chaos Rings on Android, which I heard people liked on iOS, so maybe you can get your fix from there.

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Oh my bad. I could've sworn that it had been. Oops.

Heh, it's no problem. I have something to keep an eye out for, now! :)

Also, try SwiftKey instead of Swype. Swyping never felt very accurate, and I'm strongly suspicious of the dictionary it used. I suspect it's been built on words people have been using, whether the spelling is correct or not, leading to lots of bizarre substitutions that subsequently need replacing. SwiftKey, however, has a much better data set to parse from (taps instead of curves), and accounts for even highly inaccurate typing with ease. I rarely have to go back and replace a word, even when I'm furiously pecking on a portrait-layout keyboard. Highly recommended.

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Apparently it doesn't work on rooted devices. ;_;

If you're running Cyanogenmod or a fork of it there should be a toggle in settings > developer options > root access that allows you to hide root access from apps. It's worth a shot depending on how they check for root.

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Droidsound.

Also plays .spc and .gb files. Listen to your SOR2 and SMRPG soundtracks, or beek's "Margarita" on the go! Also supports some of the external nsf chips like VRC6 (Akumajou Densetsu 3; Alter Ego enhanced OST; etc.) and Battletoads' title screen's drums.

A must for any self-respecting vgm nerd.

Free!

Be sure to enable 3rd party apps.

P.S. I browse using Dolphin-browser also. Mustin's right; 'tsa must have (no pun intended, I promise!)

Droidsound now has support for .gba & .psf (no .psf2 yet :/)

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