Must have Apps for the Nexus-S

[Zorachus]

ok...another day with the Nexus-S, and it is growing on me finally Was having major EVO withdrawal, mainly missing a lot of the "Sense UI" stuff, but now with these new apps installed, am really starting to dig this sexy Nexy.

Here are several apps I needed to install to get rid of the lame stock ones.

- #1 was "Better Keyboard 8", a much improved keypad for texting, e-mails, etc...larger buttons, smarter layout of keys, and all black themed.

- #2 was "Go SMS", hands down the best text app, and with a cool black theme, blows away the boring stock Messaging, very customizable.

- #3 was "YouMail" Makes it just like the stock Sprint Visual Voicemail on my EVO.

- #4 was "Opera Mini" web browser, night and day faster than the stock internet, very smooth and no lagging.

- #5 was "On Call End" when done with a phone call, bring you back to home screen, instead of dialer.

- #6 was "TouchPal Dialer " shows the recent calls on top with keypad below, shows how long ago the call was made or missed, more like the "Sense UI" dialer.

- #7 was "Beautiful Widgets" a must have for the coolest clock/weather screen.

And several other apps, but these seven above were must haves, and make my Nexus-S much improved, and closer to the "Sense UI" stuff I missed from my EVO, and a lot of these apps have option for black theme which I really like on this phone.

But still the one MISSING app I can not find anywhere is a good default e-mail client for the non @gmail accounts. The default Sense UI e-mail on the EVO was ****ing spot on perfect, wish there was something in the Market to match that ?

 

[skinneejay]

Thanks for your list. Going to try " On Call End" and " youMail" for sure.
So far I'm enjoying Dolphin HD but you can never have enough web browsers! haha

 

[gabbott]

- #7 was "Beautiful Widgets" a must have for the coolest clock/weather screen.

Fancy widget is another alternative with a "sense-like" weather clock for the home screen.

 

[bellesorrisa]

I had issues with Go SMS Pro - my keyboard kept on locking up and I kept on getting an error message. After I removed the app - no more issues. I may try Handcent.

A must have app - Vignette - its like hipsmatic for iPhone. It takes really awesome pictures and you can use the digital zoom feature on it and set it up so you can press the volume keys to take a picture. I have the demo (free) and it has many different special effects you can use. I plan to play with it for a while and maybe consider upgrading to a paid version.

 

[Richard1864]

AppBrain is another great app. After you sync with Appbrain, it keeps track of your apps for you. Great help when making sure you have them all updated, as not all the apps are easy to find in App Market.

1-Tap Clean Cache will clean all the caches for your apps without rooting. Makes it easier for memory management.

Webroot Security (paid version) is better than Lookout in that it only uses 1/3 of the RAM that Lookout does, yet catches all the malware AND viruses that Lookout does. It also puts less of a strain on the phone, and the battery drain is negligible. The one thing it does that Lookout does NOT do is protect your from phishing sites and apps. Been using it for 2 days now and no problems whatsoever. And my Quadrant score was 400 points higher with this than with Lookout.

Don't forget to get Adobe Flash, Reader, and Air from the Market. They are NOT preinstalled on the phone. However, you can completely uninstall them from the Nexus S 4G too, which you can NOT do on any other Android phone.

 

[QuasarZ]

TouchPal Dialer is another option for dialer. It isn't so heavily themed black and you have a choice between blackish/gray and white. Also it lists call log, contacts, favorites and more along the top

 

[Zorachus]

I have been using Go SMS on both my EVO and now Nexus-S, it has been rock solid stable, never once crashing. And super fast / smooth.

Used to have Handcent, but was a memory hog, and crashed daily.

 

[IIJBII]

Take a look at K9 or Touchdown for email. Many users have given Touchdown great reviews. Its not free but there is a 30 day trial.

 

[Zorachus]

TouchPal Dialer
AWESOME

 

[piaa_nissan]

Anyone found a working 4G toggle widget? I don't use the 4G radio much but when I do it's a PITA to fire it up.

 

[shibby]

stupid zombies
ADW launcher
handcent
astro file manager
no led
rom manager
set cpu
screen shot it

 

[AndroidOne]

Anyone found a working 4G toggle widget? I don't use the 4G radio much but when I do it's a PITA to fire it up.

I use Quick Settings, is a utility that stays on the notification area and allows you to control multiple functions on your android phone like radio toggles, screen brightness, volume and ringer status. Once installed, it stays on the notification area and to use, just swipe down and open it... works and is free.

EDIT: Don't work on Gingerbread as it did on Froyo... :-!

 

[AndroidOne]

Useful utilities:
Quick Settings
Android system info
Bookmarks Manager
Phone Silencer
On Call End
Android Cleaner

Useful widgets:
Smooth Calendar
Beautiful Widgets

Productivity apps:
Documents to Go
Jorte
Amazon Kindle
GoodNews
Express News
World Newspapers
KeePassDroid
Real Calc scientific calculator
Swiftkey (Swiftkey X Beta) - by far my favorite add-on keyboard

Entertainment:
Poynt
Movies (Flixter)
Redbox
Netflix
TV Llistings
TuneIn Radio
Pandora

And...
Amazon Appstore
AppBrain

 

[HuskerD]

What Podcast player/manager does everyone use? I'll be coming from Palm where I have been very happy with DrPodder.

 

[QuasarZ]

Beautiful widgets has a 4g toggle.
Jorte Calendar
Facebook
Foursquare
Astro
Barcode Scanner
Pandora
Soundhound
IMDB
TV listings
UTC time
Flight Track
AirWx
Aviation Weather
Rainy Days
Convert Pad
AK notepad
Brightness Control
No Lock
(Id like NoLed but it won't work with a lock screen modifier. No lock is more important to me)

Those are my must have apps

 

[AndroidOne]

What Podcast player/manager does everyone use? I'll be coming from Palm where I have been very happy with DrPodder.

I am not a heavy podcast user so my needs are simple. I use the podcasting functions on GoodNews, an RSS reader that works with Google Reader service. Is able to access, download and play podacsts very nicely in my opinion.

There are many podcast app on Android, DoggCatcher seems to be popular with many in these forums.

 

[bloo0153]

What Podcast player/manager does everyone use? I'll be coming from Palm where I have been very happy with DrPodder.

I started out using Google Listen when I got my first Android Phone. I was easy to link my current podcast subscriptions from Google Reader. However, I soon found there to be problems with Listen. If I paused a podcast for more that an hour it would lose my current place and it lacks lock screen controls. Its annoying to have to unlock the screen whenever you want to fast forward through a commercial or skip ahead. You have to update each feed one by one. Also, the media buttons on my headset would give focus to Listen over the built in music app . (IE Pause Listen...Hit play...both Listen and music app would start.

I ended up buying BeyondPod. It was free to try, unlike DoggCatcher, so at least I could get a feel of the app before purchasing. BeyondPod was a little confusing at first (many options) but I eventually got the hang of it. It also can link to Google Reader. It has lock screen controls. My headphone media buttons work correctly, and it never loses its place. I can also just hit update and it will download all of the new podcasts in my feeds.

My two cents.

 

[BlackHawkA4]

Since its titled must have I'm just gonna go with the only thing I have that the phone is missing.

Androzip

 

[alpinejag]

What Podcast player/manager does everyone use? I'll be coming from Palm where I have been very happy with DrPodder.

I'm really missing drPodder.

 

[Trun]

"the Opera mini browser uses Opera's servers to compress web pages"

That's the reason I'm not using it. I don't need my personal data cached on a third party server.