Yesterday, my friend Bob posted about the iPhone apps that he used the most this year, so I thought I’d follow with the Android apps that found the most use on my smartphone in 2014. Some are for fun, some are for work, and most likely fit somewhere in between. Who needs work-life balance when you have work-life integration, right?
I should preface this list by saying I will not include the apps that come pre-installed on my Android smartphone that will naturally get a lot of use. It goes without saying that Gmail gets used a lot, for example, and I wouldn’t really count the default messaging app either. With that out of way, here’s a top ten in no particular order.
- Facebook: It’s true. I probably spend too much time on this social network, but when you work alone out of a home office, the false sense of water cooler banter that Facebook provides can be a good thing.
- Instagram: Many of us made fun of this silly app and its cheesy filters. And here I am with over 2,300 posts to my name and the desire to follow my friend’s pictures too.
- HootSuite: Given that I live, breathe and work on the Internet, it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the first three apps in this list have to do with social media. HootSuite has been my go-to Twitter client for years.
- Google Keep: Some people like Evernote. Me, I’ve come to use Keep primarily for keeping lists and I check it on a fairly regular basis for a myriad of reasons.
- Feedly: Mobile apps that synchronize with browser-based apps on my computer are fantastic. When Google Reader was killed off, the need emerged for a great RSS reader to replace it. For me, that was Feedly.
- Pocket: I’m in the business of web content and this includes consuming other people’s writing, as well as producing my own. Pocket makes it easy to save stuff to read later, online or offline.
- Words with Friends: One of my guilty pleasures, Words with Friends is little more than a digital version of Scrabble, yet somehow I’m still playing this “board game” after all these years. The asynchronous play with friends is great.
- GTasks: While I suppose I could migrate most of my Google Tasks lists over to Keep instead, I still prefer to maintain my list of potential blog posts ideas through Tasks for some inexplicable reason.
- Sonos: I’ve said before that I need my music and being able to control my Sonos wireless speaker through the app is invaluable.
- WordPress: Many of the blogs where I contribute, Beyond the Rhetoric among them, are powered by WordPress. With the mobile app, I can make minor edits, moderate comments and so forth. I’ve even written entire posts this way.
As an aside, I’ll be eligible for a contract renewal and hardware upgrade next month. The new Nexus 6 is too big and the Z3 Compact is a Bell exclusive in Canada. What phone do you think I should get?
OnePlus One.
Too big.
I’ve been using the Samsung s4 Mini (SGH-i257m) for the last 2 weeks and I absolutely love it for it’s tiny size and expandable options.
That said, the Moto G LTE edition is a fantastic bet. Slightly larger than the s4 Mini, but 1/3rd of the price.
Both phones have similar CPUs (Mini is slightly faster), and both have terrible cameras.
Or buy someone’s used Nexus 5 – because there’s going to be a flood of those on the market soon enough
I’m seriously considering the Nexus 5, but I’ve heard both battery life and camera are meh.
Of those apps, the only one I use on a regular basis is Keep. I think I also have Pocket installed, but I can’t say I ever really use it.
I do have Facebook Messenger, but not the main Facebook app.
If I were to buy a new phone today, it would almost certainly be a Nexus 5. The Moto X is another really good contender. That said, I’m not looking to buy a new phone, so I haven’t looked around very much. It’d certainly be worth looking at what LG, Motorolla and HTC have on offer.