Android Apps

Back to Android

Here is a list of potentially useful applications

Only for root

Those apps require to run on a rooted phone

• AdFree : blacklist ad providers via /etc/hosts
• Busybox Installer : for some decent shell tools
• Cachemate for Root Users Free for cleaning apps caches
• DroidWall : Firewall, iptables frontend
• Keystore Unlocker : Automatically unlock keystore on reboot
• MarketEnabler : Change provider ID towards Android Market, useful to download apps only available via some providers
  • Got better results with PaidAppsEnabler
• MyBackup Root : full backup
• OpenVPN Installer : requires also kernel module, not yet tried
• Overlook Fing : Network portscanner
• screenshot : Take screenshots by shaking the phone
• Superuser Elite : the application which got installed when you rooted your phone but you may want to benefit from Market updates
• Superuser Update Fixer : if you've problems updating your Superuser package. Trying it doesn't hurt and make sure your local Superuser signatures are ok.
• Transparent Proxy : transparent TCP redirector to a proxy, needs still a functional DNS
• Webkey for a remote access from any browser
• ROM Manager : For custom Recovery & ROMs, apparently not up to date for Nexus S yet

Fresh updates of the Market application itself...

With root support

Those apps benefit from running on a rooted phone

• Root Explorer, nice file explorer with file editor etc
• Ghost Commander
  • Nostalgic of Norton Commander? Using Midnight Commander? It's for you!
  • Root support: access system files, remount system as RW, etc
  • There is also an addon for SMB support
• SSHDroid, ssh server
  • First time: ssh-copy-id root@192.168.1.4 (default owd is admin) then go to options to start automatically, disable pwd auth and enable shared keys auth. Displaying authorized keys from GUI fails but auth works properly.

NFC-related

• Electronic Pickpocket RFID : demo how to read data from credit cards
• FareBot : Recognize a number of public transportation tags
• NFC TagInfo : toolkit to discover RFID tags
• NXP Taginfo : toolkit to discover RFID tags
• NXP TagWriter : Toolkit to read/write/format NFC-compliant tags
• SMS-fix for NFC : Fix a bug in reading SMS from NFC

Belgium-related

Brussels

• MetroBrussels : simple Brussels metro static map
• STIB mobile : STIB/MIVB Brussels public transports
• Comic Strips in Brussels : Find comics frescos in Brussels (free app only shows half of them)
• VilloHelper! : Brussels bikes stations

Belgian Transportations

• BE Live trein info : SNCB/NMBS Belgian railways
• BeTraffic : Railways webcams
• Glob - Go Mobile Belgium Plug-ins : info-traffic plugin for Glob
• BETrains : SNCB/NMBS Belgian railways
• IrailLiveboards : SNCB/NMBS Belgian railways
• Train Info : SNCB/NMBS Belgian railways
• Touring Mobilis : info-traffic

Belgian Media & Culture

• Belgium News : Several newspapers
• Ecolo : politics
• Keoli TV : television programs
• Kinepolis : Movies theatres
• Le Soir : French newspaper
• MyMovies : Belgacom TV on-demand catalogue
• Radio.be : Several radio stations
• RTBF
• TV Partout : BelgacomTV on mobile
• Weather Belgium : Official weather forecasts

Belgian telephony

• 12-12 : public phone directory
• 1307 : public phone directory
• goldenpages.be : yellow and white pages phone directory
• VikingTalk, low-price VoIP, cf http://vikingtalk.com
• Belgacom Fon: fails most of the time, I prefer to use the original Fon app (which is not available in Belgium) here

Belgian misc

• Belgacom Apps Guide : Provides a list of nice Belgian apps, that's how I discovered some of those on this list
• Brut-Net BE : Compute net wage from gross pay
• myShopi : Shopping list
• Parcels : Delivery tracking, supports many providers including Belgian ones
• PharmaMob : Localize closest all-night drugstore
• ping.ping : payment application
• Suivi par Droïd : Delivery tracking, supports many providers including Belgian ones
• Redbox : postal offices & boxes locations in Belgium & France

Network

• 2G-3G OnOff : widget to add a shortcut to the settings to enable/disable data
• 3G Watchdog : Monitor data consumption
• APNdroid : Control data connections over 3G
• Better Terminal Emulator Pro : SSH client
• ConnectBot : SSH client
• iPerf : iperf client to measure connection throughput
• Quickteth : for an easy shortcut to USB tethering (add widget to desktop)
• Speed Test : Measure connection throughput
• Wifi Analyzer : Display surrounding Wi-Fi networks per channel

IM / Chat / Email

• APG : GPG/PGP
• Jabiru : Jabber client
• Office Talk Free : Office Communicator client
• Skype
• Stop Skype : App to stop Skype properly
• TouchDown (Android 2.0) : Outlook client

Browsers & web clients

• DilbertDroid : Dilbert comics
• Doodle
• eBay
• Firefox
• IMDb
• Layar : Augmented reality
• LinkedIn
• NASA
• Shazam : Recognize acoustically songs
• Opera Mini : works with Opera servers delivering compressed pages
• Wiki Encyclopedia : Wikipedia
• xkcdViewer : comics

Google

• Google Search
• Gmail
• Goggles : Search Google by taking a picture
• Google+
• Google Books : Currently only for US
• Google Docs
• Google Earth
• Google Maps
• Google Sky Map
• Google Translate
• My Tracks
• Street View in Google Maps
• Youtube
  • On Nexus S I had a problem Market told me it was installed even if not showing up. With a file explorer go to /system/app and click on Youtube.apk to re-install it. Source: here

References

• ConvertPad - Unit Converter
• ElectroDroid : Misc refs for electronicians
• NXP : NXP products catalogue
• NXP RF Calc : RF calculator for electronicians
• Periodic Droid : Periodic table

Sensors

• Bubble : Water level using the phone sensors
• Metal detector
• Sensors Monitor
• Tricorder
• Z-DeviceTest

Tools

• Aldiko : epub ebooks reader
• Amazon Kindle : Amazon ebooks reader
• Barcode Scanner
• CamScanner : Remove distorsions & clean contrast of sheets or boards pictures
• ColorNote : à la Post-It, useful also as "send-to" alternative
• Droid48 : HP48 emulator
• Flashlight zaphrox
• Free32 : HP42S emulator
• gStrings Free : Guitar tuner
• Instant Heart Rate : heart rate monitor via flash light & cam
• PPT ODP Remote Premium : Remote control of Powerpoint with a java client on PC-side, doesn't work very well on linux/openoffice
• QR Droid : Read and create 2D barcodes
• RealCalc : Scientific pocket calculator
• Scrabble Resolveur : Scrabble helper, French version

System tools

• Adobe Flash Player
• Adobe Reader
• aLogcat : Local access to intern log, similar to "adb logcat" from SDK
• Android System Info
• Beautiful Widgets : e.g. to get a clock similar to the HTC one
• Beautiful Widgets Animations Addon
• FoxyRing : Tune ringer volume according to ambient noise
• Gallery Excluder : Exclude some sdcard directories from Gallery
• GO Launcher EX : Alternative dashboard
• GO Launcher EX Notification : Gmail notifications for Go Launcher
• Hacker's Keyboard : Full keyboard, especially useful for SSH sessions
• MusicFX : Unlock DSP features
• PKeye : Dump list of intern root CAs
• ShareMyApps : Build list of apps, to be shared
• ThinkFree Office(LITE) : Office suite
• Yaffs Explorer : Explorer for yaffs archives

GPS

• Glob - Traffic and Radars
• GPS Status
• GPS Test
• GpsFix
• Locus - addon AR : Augmented reality addon for Locus
• Locus - addon Contacts
• Locus Pro
• OruxMaps

Dictionaries

• Dictionnaire Littré
• Offline dictionaries
• Van Dale French-Dutch
• Van Dale English-Dutch
• Van Dale Dutch Pocket
• Van Dale German-Dutch
• QuickDic German Dictionary

GPS with offline maps

Commercial

• Copilot Live (59€ for Europe)
• Tomtom planned for next HTC phones, with free map of the country of purchase

Free

From this post:
Create your own maps with Mobile Atlas Creator (Java-based) & use them e.g. with RMaps, AndNav, Maverick, TrekBuddy,... (bitmaps so ok only for small areas such as cities)

• Get e.g. RMaps from Android Market
• Get latest release of Mobile Atlas Creator & unzip it
• Get latest SqliteJDBC library and copy it inside th eMobile Atlas Creator directory
• Run it (start.sh)
• Choose your source, e.g. OpenStreetMaps, Google Maps,...
• Select area: Right click to Drag, Scroll to zoom In/Out, Left click to select downloadable area
• Select one or more zoom levels, e.g. from 12 to 18 for all levels of details of a city
• Do “add selection” with a name of your choice
• Select “BigPlanet SQLite” from “Atlas Settings” (for RMaps, otherwise Maverick Atlas Format for Maverick etc)
• "Create Atlas"
• Download the .sqlitedb map into the phone SDcard/rmaps/maps
• Disconnect the phone
• Open RMaps and Menu > More > Settings > User defined maps > BigPlanet_maps.sqlitedb > Enabled Maps
• Return to main maps screen and then Menu > Maps > BigPlanet_maps.sqlitedb.

Free Navit - OSM

• Install Navit from here
• Install preprocessed OSM map from here and put it as /sdcard/navitmap.bin

Alternative repositories

Nothing tried yet...

• Aptoide
• http://wiki.gromez.fr/android/aptoide