The Back Alley Archives

I got this phone yesterday, after not having a smartphone for a while (my old job gave me a 3G iPhone).

All I can say is: HOLY SHIT! THIS THING ROCKS! It's got all the bells and whistles, and compared to my old iPhone it's quick and responsive as hell. The camera and screen are amazingly brilliant.

I have no idea what I'm doing - but I managed to connect it to my Google account so I have my e-mail, Google+ and Calendar set up automagically.

There are just so many pre-installed widgets and apps that I'm a little overwhelmed.

What do you people have on your Android phones?

That's a long list.
Alarm Clock plus - It is my alarm clock of choice. Can set it to come on to any song or any app or alarm tone, plus you can set it to be on every weekday and never on weekends etc. I never even have to think to turn it on.
The Angry Birds series - Because, why else would you buy a smart phone? Sarcasm there, but it is a good time waster in a waiting room etc.
Beautiful Widgets - It's a weather and home screen clock app, as well as an active background that reflects the actual weather outside. (This is one of my few paid apps)
Compass - Never know when you'll need one.
Convert Pad - Converts all manner of units known to man. From measurements to currency.
Evernote - Good note program that syncs to your computer if you want.
Gesture Search - This may have come on your phone because I think Google bought them out. It allows you to draw letters on the screen to locate contacts or music or whatever.
Light Flow Light - Allows me to control the color of the LED notification light so that I can see if I have a corporate email, gmail, text message, voice mail etc.
Pandora - Decent substitute for satellite radio on car trips.
Shazam - Never wonder who sings that song again.
Shush - When you put your phone on vibrate or silent it activates and allows you to set a timer for the volumes to come back on. I love it since I used to always forget to turn my ringer back on after a meeting.
Sound Manager - Allows you to set the day and time for all of your volume levels. I have mine set to silent after 11 PM at night (Note the alarm plus above runs on an independent volume control, so no conflict) and then go to normal levels at about 7:30 on weekdays. Different schedule for weekends.
Stop watch and countdown timer - because you need one.
SlideIT Keyboard - allows you to type by just sliding your finger over the letters without lifting. It does a pretty good job at determining the word you want. I'll never go back to typing one letter at a time again. Takes a little while to get used to but I'd never go back now.
ESPN score center - Allows you to select the teams you follow so you can put a widget on one of your screens and it updates the scores.
News and Weather - This is a news feed app that you can put on a screen as a widget that scrolls headlines. You can set it up to find feeds for other keywords as well (such as Florida Gators, this mostly gets Gator sports, but you do get the occasional alligator attack story).
Gas Buddy - find out if there is cheap gas just around the corner.

All I can think of for now.

Good list. I have a couple of those installed already.

Is that Gary Shandling in your avatar?

I have it too. I don't like the new OS as much as the one I got two years ago. The worst thing is that I cannot connect to computers via the cable -- with Kies, with anything. Or Bluetooth. Nothing recognizes the phone -- and I've tried three computers, including a Mac. Going back to bitch about it this week.

I have the same problem with connecting to my computer but I found I can connect in "camera" mode and my computer will recognize the phone as a hard drive.

iPhone is better.