Perhaps by now you have had some fun playing with your free Android apps. Let's talk about what money can buy you now.
Before we get started talking about apps we should get out of the way that once you start buying stuff in the Play Store you will set have to set up account info. Basically the process is simple. You put a credit card on file. This card can then be associated with your Google or Gmail account (they are the same thing in case you didn't know). Once you have a credit card on file you are now utilizing the Google Wallet system. This comes in handy if you buy stuff from websites that allow you to checkout using Google Wallet. It's nice in that you don't have to have the website store your credit card info as Google let's them charge it without them keeping the card info.
I'll start with Google Play Music. Yeah, technically it's free. In fact it might be one of my favorite free apps. Here is how this one will work. First, since you have an Android phone already (I assume), you kind of already have this. If you ever try to buy any music in the Play Store you have this. But I want to make sure you utilize it correctly. You see Play Music is more than just an app for your phone. It's a music system. Start by going to play.google.com on your computer or laptop and clicking on "My Music". Once there you may have to set it up. This should be a few clicks at most. Once complete look for the "Upload Music" button on the right side of the screen. Follow the instructions to download and install the Google Music Manager. It'll be worth it.
The Google Music Manager is a very small program that uploads your music library to the cloud. What this means is that you will be able to access your music from anywhere there is an Internet connection. This is really good. It takes some time to upload a music library. It took me about 5 days actually. Times will vary depending on the size of your library. The good news is that you don't have to worry about losing your tunes again. They will be stored forever for free.
Now, back to the app. The reason this app is on my paid app list at the top is that buying music from the Play Store is a really great experience. A lot of the music I have purchased on sale at $4 or $6 for an album. Now the selection isn't perfect, for instance they still have basically no AC/DC, but it is growing. The part I love is that once you buy something it is instantly added to your library. If you want to download it later, no problem. The app makes offline a one click option from an album menu and for a computer the website allows you to download your entire library if you want in 1 click(ish).
A couple of games I recommend are the Cut The Rope series. I think there are a couple of games now. They are relatively low cost. I think I paid 99 cents for each of them. They are great little puzzle games you can play to kill a few minutes while waiting in the laundromat or for a movie to start.
Another game I found to be a real time waster is Plants vs Zombies. This game is great. Hours of playtime. What I found to be really interesting about it is that this game cost me $1.99. A long time ago I was interested in buying the PC version but was always turned off by the $19.99 price tag. It amazes me that the phone version costs a tenth of that and is the same game.
One last game to talk about. A friend recommended Where's My Water to me a while back. It's great. I think it's $1.99. I would say it's about as entertaining as Cut the Rope. Just be careful because this one is a battery drainer. Also it doesn't run great on older phones though it does run through the use of downgrading water effects.
A couple of honorable mentions. Though free I recommend the Amazon and Papa John's Pizza apps. Nothing like ordering a pizza from your car on the drive home from work. Amazon will come in handy when you want to do some price comparisons while you are out.
That's about it. I also own a Sudoku app that I paid money for. I used the free version for over a year. I paid money for it because I figured they people who made it did so good that they deserved my dollar. Otherwise I don't own very many paid apps. If you have any you would recommend leave it in the comments. I'm always looking for apps that cost money that are worth the price. I'm always looking for recommendations.
August 27, 2012
July 2, 2012
Android Apps - Free Edition
I got to thinking the other day about things I might write about. I realized that I've had an Android phone for more than 2 years and have yet to talk about those things that make smart phones great. So I am going to spend a bit of time reviewing and recommending a handful of apps that I find to be worth writing about, the free ones at least.
Whenever a conversation comes up with a friend thinking of getting a smart phone I mention that the number 1 app that I use and that I know others use is Google Maps. If you ever use a map program on your computer you know that it's a great way to get to new places and get around while you are in new places. Having this on your phone is awesome. I can't count the number of times when my wife and I have used it to find places to eat while we were already out somewhere. We love to read reviews of places nearby that we can see but are sometimes skeptical of. There have been times where Maps has helped my wife get home from trips around Los Angeles. And there have been many days where the traffic report in Maps has helped us avoid hours in gridlock. It's a no brainer really and it comes with almost any Android device. If you bought an Android phone and it wasn't already there you might consider returning it for something else.
Recently I read a good review for an app called Vlingo. Basically it is a voice search feature similar to Siri. Now Android comes stock with a voice search capability and has long before Siri ever showed up on an Apple device. Vlingo tries to expand on what is already there. One excellent feature is the safe driving mode. When turned on it will read your incoming text messages to you. It's not bad when going on long trips. Vlingo does a few things that Google's voice search doesn't. For instance it will open apps. I think this is the main shortcoming of the previous versions of Google's version. However, in coming months a new version of Voice Search is being packaged with the newest version of Android that will probably make Vlingo irrelevant. I'm not certain this feature will be ported to older versions of Android. So my recommendation is to go ahead and give Vlingo a try.
Another free app I recently downloaded that I can't get enough of is called Silent Time. This app is something that runs in the background once you set it up to provide you with, wait for it, silent time. I got used to CyanogenMod recently. CM has a similar feature built right in where you can set certain times of the day or night to not take phone calls. Silent time is a bit more powerful. It gives you options similar to alarm clocks. You can set up a lot of timers if you have a lot of needs. In my case I set up 3. I have 2 timers set up to make my phone shut up all night long during the weekdays and longer on weekends. I have a few friends in Africa that occasionally forget to parse the time difference when they call me. It's not fun having your phone ring in the middle of the night on a work day. Also since I use my phone as my alarm clock I find that I almost never turn it off at night. The last setting I have for church. Since I take my phone to church and always set it to vibrate I thought it would be convenient if the phone did the button pushing for me. The neat thing here is that it lets you distinguish between full silent and vibrate modes.
Some of my friends like to tell me they could never read a book on a phone. I currently have 4 apps designed mainly for reading. I have Nook, Kindle, Play Books and LDS Scriptures. At first I was skeptical of reading on such a small screen. I have been pleasantly surprised at how comfortable reading on a phone can be. I am currently reading The Reality Dysfunction on my Nook reader. There are a lot of eBook readers available now. Almost all of them have apps that can be used on a phone or a tablet. Why settle for 1 reader when I can have 4. I should add that they are not all equal. I personally prefer the Nook reader experience. The pages turn and it is easy to read type. I know other people prefer the Kindle app for other reasons. I have used them all and usually just read on whichever one sales me the book for the best price. If the prices are the same I default to the Nook. The apps are free though the books are not.
One last one I want to recommend trying is HeyTell. This is an app that reproduces the push to talk functionality of older phones like Nextel used to have. I remember my uncle had everyone on his construction crew carry those things around back in the day. Heytell doesn't use phone minutes. It sends short voice messages over the internet between users. It doesn't use your contacts like a phone either. You set up friend lists. Right now only a few people I know use it so I only message a few people. But for those few people it has replaced texting. It's simple and easy and the voice quality is excellent. The audio does come out of the speaker portion of your phone so if you have a bad speaker phone it will sound as good as your speaker can handle.
I have a lot more. I will follow this up later with some games and some things I actually spent money on.
Whenever a conversation comes up with a friend thinking of getting a smart phone I mention that the number 1 app that I use and that I know others use is Google Maps. If you ever use a map program on your computer you know that it's a great way to get to new places and get around while you are in new places. Having this on your phone is awesome. I can't count the number of times when my wife and I have used it to find places to eat while we were already out somewhere. We love to read reviews of places nearby that we can see but are sometimes skeptical of. There have been times where Maps has helped my wife get home from trips around Los Angeles. And there have been many days where the traffic report in Maps has helped us avoid hours in gridlock. It's a no brainer really and it comes with almost any Android device. If you bought an Android phone and it wasn't already there you might consider returning it for something else.
Recently I read a good review for an app called Vlingo. Basically it is a voice search feature similar to Siri. Now Android comes stock with a voice search capability and has long before Siri ever showed up on an Apple device. Vlingo tries to expand on what is already there. One excellent feature is the safe driving mode. When turned on it will read your incoming text messages to you. It's not bad when going on long trips. Vlingo does a few things that Google's voice search doesn't. For instance it will open apps. I think this is the main shortcoming of the previous versions of Google's version. However, in coming months a new version of Voice Search is being packaged with the newest version of Android that will probably make Vlingo irrelevant. I'm not certain this feature will be ported to older versions of Android. So my recommendation is to go ahead and give Vlingo a try.
Another free app I recently downloaded that I can't get enough of is called Silent Time. This app is something that runs in the background once you set it up to provide you with, wait for it, silent time. I got used to CyanogenMod recently. CM has a similar feature built right in where you can set certain times of the day or night to not take phone calls. Silent time is a bit more powerful. It gives you options similar to alarm clocks. You can set up a lot of timers if you have a lot of needs. In my case I set up 3. I have 2 timers set up to make my phone shut up all night long during the weekdays and longer on weekends. I have a few friends in Africa that occasionally forget to parse the time difference when they call me. It's not fun having your phone ring in the middle of the night on a work day. Also since I use my phone as my alarm clock I find that I almost never turn it off at night. The last setting I have for church. Since I take my phone to church and always set it to vibrate I thought it would be convenient if the phone did the button pushing for me. The neat thing here is that it lets you distinguish between full silent and vibrate modes.
Some of my friends like to tell me they could never read a book on a phone. I currently have 4 apps designed mainly for reading. I have Nook, Kindle, Play Books and LDS Scriptures. At first I was skeptical of reading on such a small screen. I have been pleasantly surprised at how comfortable reading on a phone can be. I am currently reading The Reality Dysfunction on my Nook reader. There are a lot of eBook readers available now. Almost all of them have apps that can be used on a phone or a tablet. Why settle for 1 reader when I can have 4. I should add that they are not all equal. I personally prefer the Nook reader experience. The pages turn and it is easy to read type. I know other people prefer the Kindle app for other reasons. I have used them all and usually just read on whichever one sales me the book for the best price. If the prices are the same I default to the Nook. The apps are free though the books are not.
One last one I want to recommend trying is HeyTell. This is an app that reproduces the push to talk functionality of older phones like Nextel used to have. I remember my uncle had everyone on his construction crew carry those things around back in the day. Heytell doesn't use phone minutes. It sends short voice messages over the internet between users. It doesn't use your contacts like a phone either. You set up friend lists. Right now only a few people I know use it so I only message a few people. But for those few people it has replaced texting. It's simple and easy and the voice quality is excellent. The audio does come out of the speaker portion of your phone so if you have a bad speaker phone it will sound as good as your speaker can handle.
I have a lot more. I will follow this up later with some games and some things I actually spent money on.
May 7, 2012
Generic
A couple of months ago my dad was in town for a quick visit. As it so happened this coincided with my supply of ibuprofen running out. So we made a quick trip to the pharmacy.
For years I've been buying my pain killers from Costco. They have at least 3 versions of ibuprofen that I am aware of. Kirkland Signature branded, Advil and Motrin IB. For a long time we were buying the house brand because it is less expensive and you get loads of it. In fact the last time we bought this hulk of a bottle we had to throw away a significant portion of it because it expired.
After that incident my wife and I decided that we should try the Advil branded version. Mostly because it was large while not being overly large. We were fairly confident at the very least that we wouldn't be paying for so much that it would end up in the trash.
The first thing that we noticed with the Advil brand is that it effected our headaches faster. It also lasted longer. It cost more for sure but we were able to finish our first bottle before it expired. So we had a positive experience all around despite the added cost.
It ran out about the time my dad was in town. In a rush we needed some more and so we went to the pharmacy. I reached out for the Advil and my dad stopped me. He pointed out that the pharmacy brand was less expensive and you got a heckuvalot more. At this point I was not yet totally convinced of the efficacy of Advil. I figured it could have been in my head. So I conceded. I bought this outrageously large bottle of generic ibuprofen.
Over the following weeks my wife was taking a lot of pain killers. Basically she hurt her tailbone pretty bad giving birth to our son. She was very sore for a long time. She first brought to my attention that she was taking more drugs. She said that she was concerned that she was getting used to ibuprofen because she found that she was taking more of it much more often. Essentially she was taking 4 pills every 2-3 hours instead of her previous 2 pills every 4-6. She was getting really concerned.
I occasionally get headaches. Mostly they are related to occasionally drinking caffeine. So I took some one night. It was right around bed time. I was starting to feel a pretty massive headache coming on. I took 4 pills and waited it out. Nothing happened. When I say nothing I mean that 2 hours later the headache was hitting me full power and I had to take 4 more pills when I went to bed. I woke up with a headache. It was around that time my wife told me to throw that stuff away and go get some Advil.
Ever since I've been thinking about why those and other generic drugs don't seem to work as well as name brand products. I think it has to do with reputation. Think of it like the Tylenol company. They are a company named after a single product. If the quality of that product became bad they would lose a lot of reputation and a lot of money along side it. Because of this I am willing to bet these manufacturers go to great lengths to ensure their product is of the highest quality standards.
Conversely generic manufacturers have no reputation to uphold. The label that will ultimately end up on the outside of the bottle doesn't have their name on it. It has the name of the store they are making the product for. So there really isn't any reason to go to any great length to ensure quality of product. Cutting corners increases revenue.
I don't want to throw a blanket over all drugs and say the generics are never as good. I would say that for the most part they are not as good though. I don't use a lot of drugs but those that I do I prefer the name brand.
This past weekend I had a cold. I found in our drug cabinet 2 Sudofed generics. They were both said to be 12 hour pills. Neither of them lasted more than 6 and their level of effectiveness was definitely in question. Late in the evening I asked the wife to get me some real Sudofed. She bought a pack of the 24 hours stuff. I took it 13 hours ago and am still feeling fine.
The lesson here is somewhat anecdotal I'll admit. However I'll be sticking to the name brand stuff for drugs.
For years I've been buying my pain killers from Costco. They have at least 3 versions of ibuprofen that I am aware of. Kirkland Signature branded, Advil and Motrin IB. For a long time we were buying the house brand because it is less expensive and you get loads of it. In fact the last time we bought this hulk of a bottle we had to throw away a significant portion of it because it expired.
After that incident my wife and I decided that we should try the Advil branded version. Mostly because it was large while not being overly large. We were fairly confident at the very least that we wouldn't be paying for so much that it would end up in the trash.
The first thing that we noticed with the Advil brand is that it effected our headaches faster. It also lasted longer. It cost more for sure but we were able to finish our first bottle before it expired. So we had a positive experience all around despite the added cost.
It ran out about the time my dad was in town. In a rush we needed some more and so we went to the pharmacy. I reached out for the Advil and my dad stopped me. He pointed out that the pharmacy brand was less expensive and you got a heckuvalot more. At this point I was not yet totally convinced of the efficacy of Advil. I figured it could have been in my head. So I conceded. I bought this outrageously large bottle of generic ibuprofen.
Over the following weeks my wife was taking a lot of pain killers. Basically she hurt her tailbone pretty bad giving birth to our son. She was very sore for a long time. She first brought to my attention that she was taking more drugs. She said that she was concerned that she was getting used to ibuprofen because she found that she was taking more of it much more often. Essentially she was taking 4 pills every 2-3 hours instead of her previous 2 pills every 4-6. She was getting really concerned.
I occasionally get headaches. Mostly they are related to occasionally drinking caffeine. So I took some one night. It was right around bed time. I was starting to feel a pretty massive headache coming on. I took 4 pills and waited it out. Nothing happened. When I say nothing I mean that 2 hours later the headache was hitting me full power and I had to take 4 more pills when I went to bed. I woke up with a headache. It was around that time my wife told me to throw that stuff away and go get some Advil.
Ever since I've been thinking about why those and other generic drugs don't seem to work as well as name brand products. I think it has to do with reputation. Think of it like the Tylenol company. They are a company named after a single product. If the quality of that product became bad they would lose a lot of reputation and a lot of money along side it. Because of this I am willing to bet these manufacturers go to great lengths to ensure their product is of the highest quality standards.
Conversely generic manufacturers have no reputation to uphold. The label that will ultimately end up on the outside of the bottle doesn't have their name on it. It has the name of the store they are making the product for. So there really isn't any reason to go to any great length to ensure quality of product. Cutting corners increases revenue.
I don't want to throw a blanket over all drugs and say the generics are never as good. I would say that for the most part they are not as good though. I don't use a lot of drugs but those that I do I prefer the name brand.
This past weekend I had a cold. I found in our drug cabinet 2 Sudofed generics. They were both said to be 12 hour pills. Neither of them lasted more than 6 and their level of effectiveness was definitely in question. Late in the evening I asked the wife to get me some real Sudofed. She bought a pack of the 24 hours stuff. I took it 13 hours ago and am still feeling fine.
The lesson here is somewhat anecdotal I'll admit. However I'll be sticking to the name brand stuff for drugs.
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