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Free and Essential Android Apps - Five Of The Very Best
The Platform
2005 was the year Android, as we know it today, truly started but it was in 2010 when it really took off. As of today it now boasts over half of the market share in most global markets and has one million Android applications published, and over 50 billion applications downloaded. A great platform however, is nothing without great apps, and this list will show you why this platform is so great.
The Must-have Apps of Android
This app has garnered over 100 million downloads, an extremely impressive feat. There is a reason why it's so popular too. Clean Master is basically your Android housemaid. Or phonemaid, whatever. The app cleans your phone and rectifies any problems that may interfere with the proper functioning of your phone. Clean Master is broadly divided into the four functions of phone boost, junk files, antivirus and app manager.
This is a simple run-through of the apps capabilities.
- Junk files cleans the phone of all the useless files that slow down the phone.
- Phone Boost clear and optimizes your phones memory for an instant increase of phone running speed
- Antivirus protects your phone against malicious programs
- App Manager allows you to easily manage the apps you have installed; be it to uninstall, backup or move apps across internal and external memory
This app is one word: robust. It has many functions you probably never even thought you would need and possibly never use as well. It seems to offer servicing for every single thing feature in your phone that can make an old phone seem new again. Well, almost. The best part is most of the servicing is done automatically by the app and will only inform you about any problems existing in your phone. This app is absolutely fantastic.
Evernote has over 50 million downloads. It was featured as one of Google Play's "Editor's Choice" apps, which is basically a really good app recommended by Google. What the app's capabilities boil down to at the core is note keeping. Sure, yes, that may sound pretty lame but hear me out. Evernote lets you save text you write, camera pictures, attachments of documents, reminders, and even handwriting. The last one is a bit less than useful on a mobile device. You can save all of those things as different notes or have any two or more types of information in the same note that can be organized in different sections that Evernote calls notebooks. Pretty convenient. The app now has a work chat function where you can communicate with colleagues and share notes. What really sets the app apart however is the fact that all of your notes are saved on a cloud(online backup). Evernote allows you to easily access these notes on a computer, where you may edit them and the edited version would then be also the new version on your smartphone.Ever-note, no lost notes. Get it?
This app has over 100 million downloads. To be very frank this app is a pimped-out file manager. And when I say pimped I really mean pimped. Your typical file manager will allow you to move, copy/cut and paste, delete and rename files on your memory; organize your files. This app, in addition to those functions, lets you search for, hide, encrypt, decrypt, compress and share as well as other file-related functions. The app has it's own music, video and image viewers/player, which might I add are quite powerful. It allow you to access networks of the LAN, cloud, FTP, Android TV, Bluetooth and has Net and Remote Managers. One of the best features of this app is the SD Card Analyst that has scans your memory can and display your files by name, type and size so you can see the files that take up the most space. These are just some of the many features of ES File Manager. Oh, and did I mention it has a Recycle Bin?
Really, you've been living in a bubble if you haven't at least heard of this one. With over 1 billion downloads it is by far the most used app for communication. If you don't already know Whatsapp Messenger, or simply Whatsapp, is an instant messaging app that functions by WiFi or mobile data( 3G). Instead of a registering an account identified by a username and and that requires password, Whatsapp simply uses the phone's SIM card number as a method of identification. This eliminates the somewhat complicated sign up and sign in process and allows the user to simply open the app and start sending or viewing messages. Because of the basis on which the system works, once the user has the contact number of anyone who might also be using Whatsapp, their number is automatically added to the user's Whatsapp contact list. No more "adding friends". Whatsapp contacts can be sent text, messages, videos, pictures,recordings or "voice notes" or another person's contact information. Recently, Whatsapp has introduced the ability to call contacts while functions just like a telephone call, just it's free!
With over 100 million downloads, DU Battery saver does just what is says in the name. It saves battery power of your phone. Only it does a whole lot more. DU Batter Saver allows you to at any time optimize the battery usage of your phone, cuts down on the battery power it is using and saves battery. It would give estimates of the extra time you've gained by optimizing your battery, the time left before your phone battery charges fully or will die and always displays the temperature, voltage and type statuses of your phone battery. The app offers statistical data of the apps that use the most of the phone's battery power. Possibly the best feature about the app however, is the ability to place the phone in different power modes to save battery power. The modes can be set to the most battery saving or a compromise between power saving and usability of the features of the phone(like screen brightness or WiFi) can be found.
