The Best Free Android Apps - Part 1

I recently started using the Android OS (Yes, I was living in the Symbian Stone Age a month back). 

I'm constantly on a quest to find out the most useful Android Apps. My endeavours have resulted in the list below that consists of all free and useful apps that you should have on your Android smartphone to get the best out of it. 



I've divided this post into 2 parts. In this part, I'll focus on media-related and social & communication apps. The next part will consist of utilities and tools.

Media - Audio, Video & Imaging

1. Pixlr Express

I know that we all love Instagram, but honestly, it doesn't have that many editing options...the social aspect is what has the app at the forefront. Now if you're looking for a pure photo editor with a plethora of effects, borders and overlays, then Pixlr Express is the way to go. Made by the good people at Autodesk Inc. who'd given us Pixlr-o-matic last year, this app is even better.

Download Pixlr Express from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.2 and up

2. Instagram

Yes, I dissed Instagram above, but it's still a good app mainly because of the strong social network behind it. Instagram essentially offers photo editing options by layering filters over your photos and provides you a way to share them instantly on the main Instagram social network as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare etc. 

You can view and like/comment on photos posted by friends and also others and interact with the huge Instagram community. Also check out InstaPicFrame an an add-on for Instagram

Download Instagram from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.2 and up

3. MX Player

This player can play just about any damn format you throw at it. Be it an avi, mkv, mp4, flv, wmv, mpeg, vob or any format. If you want to watch that 1080p movie you got, on your phone, without the headache of converting it then use this player. Also since you'll be watching the original resolution on your phone, picture quality is guaranteed to be crystal clear. The player has complete subtitle support (including different text styles and colours in the subtitles) and several personalisation settings.

Download MX Player from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.1 and up

4. Soundhound & Track ID

There are several apps which will identify the song that's playing in the background. But Soundhound wins because it can identify a song even if you sing it. I tested this myself and if Soundhound could identify my musically impaired singing, it could definitely identify yours as well (I'm not saying that you sound as horrible as me though). Plus the Soundhound Full Version recently became a free app so go get it now.

Also check out TrackID. No, you can't sing to this app but I've found it to be more accurate than Soundhound at times (in case of regional songs). So check out which one works for you better. 

Download Soundhound from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: (Android version varies with device)

Download TrackID from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.2 and up

5. IntoNow

Ok so we've covered songs but what if you want to know what's that movie or TV show going on right now? If you're at home, you'd probably check the TV guide. But what if you're at some public place? IntoNow is the answer. This app can identify the movie or TV show playing by simply analysing the audio feed of the show. It will then give you complete information about the show with an option to share your activities on social networking websites.

Download IntoNow from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.1 and up

Social & Communication

1. Dolphin Browser

A lot of people swear by this browser for the mobile and with good reason. It's the most feature packed one yet. Why? Because of the add-ons available for it like a Password Manager, Language Translator, QR Code Scanner, YouTube Search and many others which no other browser supports currently. The handy sidebar will give you quick access to your bookmarks and add-ons. Also, Dolphin Sonar enables complete voice control over the browser. For example, you can just say 'Share' to share a page or 'New Tab' to open a new tab.

Though, if you're someone who has a lot of bookmarks and data synced up with your desktop Chrome/Firefox browsers then I'd suggest you stick with those. They are pretty sweet too though they may not have as many bells and whistles attached.

Download Dolphin Browser from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.0.1 and up

2. Free SMS India (only for messaging numbers in India)

Who doesn't want to send messages for free? Unless you have an unlimited messaging plan on your phone, text messaging will be contributing to a large part of your bill. So use this app to get rid of this unwanted expenditure. 

If you already have an account on a provider like 160by2 or way2sms, you're good to go. Otherwise it'll hardly take a minute to setup an  account with one of these sites. The app supports many other gateways as well. Yes sending free messages requires you to be connected to the Internet but the data consumption is minimal.

Download Free SMS India from the Play Store (Free)

Requires: Android 2.2 and up

3. Pulse & Google Currents

I've gotten used to reading news and articles on my phone rather than an actual black and white newspaper or even the PC. So a news aggregator is of utmost importance. A lot of people are Flipboard fans, but besides the user interface (I'll admit it's the most beautiful looking reader), I don't find Flipboard all that great. Yes, it does integrate Twitter and Facebook but I'd rather use other apps for social networking feeds. Pulse and Currents are my picks in this category.

Pulse is my favourite because it shows me a lot of data on the screen at the same time so I can pick and choose what I wanna read.  Pulse is meant for pure seamless reading. You can scroll vertically to see articles from all your selected feeds and you can scroll horizontally to see a stream of articles a particular feed. The app is pretty capable of handling media within itself. Also, sharing and saving media is quick and easy.

Currents is another app that's as good as Pulse the difference being in the subscriptions that each reader has and the interface. In Currents, you first select your source and then it'll display all news articles from that source on the page. You can't view articles from all sources on the same page like Pulse can. 

Still, a big plus point with Currents is that you can view articles offline which is a boon in some situations. I download articles while I'm at home on my WiFi connection so I can read them offline while travelling and I don't incur a huge data overhead. 

So my suggestion is to use both Currents and Pulse.

[Edit: Pulse has now been updated to download articles for offline reading]

Download Pulse from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.2 and up

Download Google Currents from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.2 and up

4. Pocket

Pocket is one of the most used apps on my phone. Very often, I come across some article or video or web page that I want to save for reading later on...preferably when I'm lazing at home or when I have a WiFi connection. This app is a boon at such times. When you add  any link to Pocket, it saves and formats the web pages. Pocket is integrated with more than 300 apps on your Android device so saving stuff to Pocket is a snap.

You can set it to download all the links automatically when on WiFi and then read them later on offline. The best part is that this app syncs across all devices, so you can view your saved pages on  your phone or tablet or computer. 

Caution: This app may cause your 'read it later' list to grow into a humongous size!

Download Pocket from the Play Store (Free)
Requires: Android 2.2 and up

5. Stumble Upon

Yes because we need one more thing to waste (spend) our time on! People who have used StumbleUpon on the PC don't need an introduction to this app. But for those of you who haven't, go check it out right now. This app will basically show you articles depending on your interests. When you first sign up, you can choose topics that interest you. It'll then show you interesting from across the web. I've discovered so many nice sites through Stumble Upon. Just the thing to do when you're bored!

Download StumbleUpon from the Play Store (Free)

Requires: Android 2.0 and up

Well, concludes Part 1. There are obviously a lot more useful apps for Android so expect more posts. Comments and suggestions welcome! :)

Photo credit: JD Hancock / Foter / CC BY