Best Android apps

Having used my Android phone for about a year now, the Android Market is getting less exciting to me. While there are new apps everyday, I already have a stable of apps which I count on which I consider useful among the 400,000+ available apps.

I did not include in my list the dialer, SMS, calendar, FriendStream (Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn), news reader, calculator and flashlight apps as I use the default apps installed on my phone. These are proprietary HTC apps, which are not downloadable from the market. These are my most used Android Market apps: 

1. Swiftkey (Paid). For five years before going to a touchscreen phone I used phones with full physical QWERTY keyboards. I do not think that I will ever type us fast on a touchscreen as I did with a physical QWERTY keyboard. Swiftkey, with its excellent word prediction helps a lot. It learns your habits and can even predicts whole words for you before you type the first letter of the next word. Give it a try.  

2. Gmail (Pre-installed/Free). For Gmail users, the best email app is Google Gmail app. It basically gives you the same degree of functionality as if you were on your desktop.

3. Dropbox (Free). Drop box keeps my files in synced between my desktop replacement and ultraportable laptop and allows my phone to access the files synced. You get 2 GB of web storage free, but can work your way up to 10 GB via referrals and tasks. Sign up through this link, and you start out with 2.25 GB.

4. Google Maps (Pre-installed/Free). We all need maps. This is the best around and it is free. Google Maps includes, Navigation, Places and Latitude. Places is particularly useful telling you what Restaurants, Bars and Cafes nearby and helps you find them. 

5. ColorNote (Free). ColorNote is great for taking notes and keeping check lists. You can create multiple notes and lists. For task lists, you can create a widget which tells you how many tasks you have undone. Only thing missing is that Task Lists not sync with Google Tasks or any other online back-up.

6. ReadItLater Pro (Paid).  I use this is conjunction with my Twitter app. I save interesting link to articles here and read them using ReadItLater. While ReadItLater can sync to your other devices I use ReadItLater to read them because it present articles in a nice format for handheld reading as opposed to the web page view.

There is also I free version at this link. I liked it so much, I got the pro version.

7. ezPDF Reader (Paid). The key feature of this PDF reader is text reflow. It can wrap the text on PDF documents so they fit the boundaries of the screen.

8. Wopnersoft Unit Converter (Free). There are plenty of good unit converter in the Android Market. This one works well and is add free.

9. Picsay Pro. There are plenty of great photo editing apps on the Android Market. Picsay Pro is  the best in my opinion. Try the free version. The Pro Version is much better and worth the money. 

10. Screen Lock (Free/Donate). I use this to lock my phone using the capacitative search button. This saves some wear on tear on my power button. Free app is fully functional, but I got the donate version. Wanted to support the developer.