Best launcher, keyboard and other everyday apps for the s5?

[cleanplanets]

What are your guys's opinions on the best launcher, keyboard and other everyday apps for the s5?

Looking to simplify and speed up my s5 over touch wiz.

Thanks in advance.

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[tech_fan]

I use Nova. Seems to be the most flexible. Tried the other keyboards and went back to the Samsung stock. I tried Swiftkey but it was the same exact thing as the one I had. I also tried Go SMS and Hangouts but they did not seem to work as well as the stock messaging app.

 

[SteveO_148]

I really like swiftkey as a keyboard app, Textra is the best messaging app. Very fast and just the right options. I use stock launcher.

 

[sweetypie31]

I use Nova as the launcher, SwiftKey for keyboard, and go sms for texting. Textra is good for texting too.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[AZgl1500]

Nova launcher, easy to use, more than enough features, fast response, has a builtin backup feature to save your homescreens.

Textra after trying its' big brother GO SMS PRO, and many others.

SwiftKey for a long while, then went back to the stock keyboard and turned Swipe off

Bluemail because it mimics a desktop so closely, is fast, reliable, supports folders.

turned off all of the bloatware that is not standard Android features. S-Health, etc...

turned off all of the animations, motion gestures, wave sense. Adds more gimmicks and unneeded overhead slowing down the cpu.

Tried 4 other cameras, then after all the fanfare had been waded thru, went back to the stock camera. No camera can match its' overall feature set.

added a 64 gB extSDcard by Samsung class 10

Super Backup, allows you to save backups of all of your data anywhere you choose.

See the first line of my signature..... get MyPhoneExplorer now, not later, but now. if your screen breaks and you can't access the lockscreen, this app will save your data as of the very last minute you use the phone.

And another super neat "must have" app, AT&T Mobile Transfer. This app will let you transfer your data to/from any phone regardless of what it is, Android or iPhone. It has become a new solid recommended staple in my list of "must have apps".
* AT&T Mobile Transfer - Simply works well

 

[P_Devil]

You are going to get varying opinions on a lot of this but here are my thoughts:
Launcher - Google Now. It's simple, fast, efficient, and I don't need all of the customization options offered by other launchers (like Nova). It took me 20 seconds to setup and that's all I really cared about.

Keyboard - Google. It's fast, doesn't consume many resources, and it stores my personal dictionary (along with the words it automatically learns) with my Google account. I tried Swiftkey but wasn't impressed with it's swype-style input and I tried Swype but it seemed to bog my S5 down. I wasn't a fan of Samsung's keyboard as I think the keys are too small.

Other apps:
Microsoft OneDrive - I have 2TB of free storage from them and I use it. Photos are automatically backed up to my OneDrive account when my S5 is connected to wi-fi and it integrates itself with Office for Android.

Google Play Music - a pretty bare bones music player that doesn't consume many resources and has one of the best music subscription services. $10 a month and you have unlimited streaming and you can even download an unlimited number of songs (on up to 5 devices) for offline listening.

Google Hangouts - I use this to text. It's the only texting app that fully integrates itself with my Moto 360. Not only can I read texts but I can respond to them with my watch. I noticed that my Moto 360 kept opening up Hangouts to send texts, it was only reading texts from my previous texting app and not using it to send them. Plus Hangouts integrates with my Google Voice account so I can easily send texts using a number that isn't my primary one.

App Cache Cleaner - There are some ads but the app itself is free, easy to use, and gets the job done. I use to clean out app cache on a daily basis.

Amazon Appstore - It's free and they offer a free app every week. It's sometimes garbage but there have been good ones from time-to-time. They also run promotions and offer a series of free apps. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Angry Birds Space are examples of when they've done that.

reddit is fun - the best reddit app I have used. The only downside is that it likes to cache a lot of information but I always run App Cache Cleaner after reddit is fun to clean out cached content.

Google Rewards - This is a free Google app that asks for your opinions about things. It will learn what to ask you about over time and tailor opinions to stuff you actually know about (so it won't be asking you about diapers unless you actually have a kid in diapers). Most surveys have a small reward at the end that's added to your Google Wallet account. I've answered 10 surveys so far and have earned $4.56. It isn't much but it's enough that I can now rent a movie if I want, buy a few songs, purchase a couple of apps, etc. I think it's a nice way to get money for app purchasing.

Verizon Data Widget - I'm on Verizon so I use this all the time. The widget is the size of a normal app icon but it live updates with cellular data usage. I can see just how much total data (from two phones) is being used out of the data allotted by the plan. Selecting the widget brings up more detailed information like data usage for each phone separately, minutes used (though that doesn't matter), texts used (again, doesn't matter), how many days are left in the billing cycle, and I can even pay my bill. It's handy if you're on Verizon.

That's about it. I use the stock Samsung camera app for taking photos as it is the only camera app that can use every feature of the rear and front cameras. I also use Google Photos as my photo gallery viewer, I stopped using Samsung's Gallery app because it kept freezing on me. I also use Chrome as my phone's internet browser and Google Calendar as my calendar app.

 

[randomdude]

i was using hangouts for sms, but it kept automatically signing me into my gmail accounts, which i don't like. started using textra and it has worked perfectly.

nova has been my launcher for multiple phones. the amount of features you can customize is unbelievable. best one might be the ability to hide apps.

using swiftkey as my keyboard. let's you download other themes and languages if you want.

camera zoom fx instead of the stock camera.

snapseed is a cool app that let's you alter photos.

 

[Joela44]

What are your guys's opinions on the best launcher, keyboard and other everyday apps for the s5?

Looking to simplify and speed up my s5 over touch wiz.

Thanks in advance.

Posted via the Android Central App

I know I'm late here but maybe someone will benefit. I like the Swype keyboard with Dragon. Near perfect voice input and I've been using this keyboard for years now. I have used Swiftkey for a while and Google with gesture typing. The original still best IMO. Google Now launcher once I got used to the single home screen concept. Little lag same as touch wiz there, didn't bother me though. I still like my S5 mainly because removable battery and SD card. Texted over Samsung and Google message apps. Chrome, Gmail Maps for obvious reasons stock camera app. Aside from that, FB Twitter Tumblr.

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