After my Lumia phone getting smashed im making the move back to android, the last time i had an android phone was when the galaxy note 2 come out which was quite a while back So what are the must have apps these days? the main thing i am worried about is replacing Nokia Drive+ which is the satnav app on the lumias, its such a great satnav and im worried about replacing it as i used it regulary
Google Maps does sat-nav, though not sure how it compares to HERE or whatever it's called on WP, tend to use male parent's WP for satnav duties... Office, Onedrive, OneNote, Skype etc. are all available on android so if you used any of 'em on your Lumia you can still use them on your new phone... Don't really have that many apps on my phone, mainly because it's junk and is unwilling and/or incapable of running most droid apps now...
I have a Sony Xperia Z. I have heard the nokia satnav app is better than google maps because it does not require an interrnet connection. Having said that I know you can cache the whatever map you have on screen when you are on wifi by typing 'ok maps', but i do not know if it will work if you need turn by turn directions. I have a tomtom for the car so i do not use, you can buy a tomtom app for android but it is expensive. Android is heavily integrated with your google account, to get the most out of it you must use these services. gmail for email, calendar, google+ now backs up photos from the handset too and synced bookmarks if you use chrome, these are usually installed as standard. The extra app I use a lot is google keep for making and syncing notes, I find it invaluable. A file system explorer is very useful if you want control of your files and also access network file shares. Usually one is installed as standard, I also use ES File Explorer to access my network shares. To play various video files and stream them from net shares I recommend adding BS file player, mx player and VLC in addition to any preinstalled, different file formats play better on each one. On my main home screen I have the nexus torch widget, one tap will turn on the camera led, useful when you need a torch. I also have tunein radio, great app for streaming internet radio on the move. Also, in london, I have the bus checker app, I have favourited my local stops and it accurately etas my buses, no need to wait at the stand in the cold with the wierdos and winos anymore. Messaging and social media apps are likely the ones I use the most, Whatapp, pretty much obligatory. Iplayer and the rest are available. Other apps that are useful to me, kindle, dropbox, bbc news and weather
So I've had my Android phone for 2 days now and already miss a few apps from my Windows Phone. Podcasts - From what i can tell there is now native podcasts app on android, I have been looking at PocketCasts for £2.49, anyone used this? ive tried a few free apps but cant stand the ads they come with Satnav - HERE Drive+ was just perfect for me on WP8.1 and was free. Ive looked at the satnav apps from the big players Copilot,tomtom, Garmin etc but they all cost quite a bit, anyone have any experience with any of them? Copilot looks pretty good. File explorer - Cant see a file explorer app on my phone (Moto G 2014) Ill check out ES File Explorer Reddit - I used Baconit on my WP8.1 which was just awesome, simple interface and fast. A lot of the reddit apps on android seem cluttered to me but i might just need to get used to them, currently using BaconReader.
I use Podkicker Pro for podcasts. Works really well and it doesn't cost much to get the paid version which has no adverts.
I use podcast addict for podcasts Sat Nav wise Copilot does the job with out data, always on offer and has taken me all over europe, downside, you have to fiddle to get it on SD card or suffer the hit of 3Gb on internal mem (if you want europe in its entirety, you can just install UK maps at about 250mb) Never needed the other stuff so can't help there.
Just recently seen this after also getting a Moto G, NavFree. Don't know how good it is as I've not tried it yet, but would imagine it should suffice for general sat nav duties. I did use CoPilot on my old phone when we went to France. Seemed really good, would probably buy it if I needed a satnav more often. *EDIT* Just got an email from CoPilot, they've got a deal on for Black Friday, CoPilot Premium UK&EIRE £14.99, or for EU - £25.99.
NavFree! I was trying to remember that name! It's good - I haven't used it for ages, but used to. For a freebie, it's decent!
Drippler Plugplayer AntennaPod Juice SSH Twilight Insider Fing Ccleaner Pocket Simply slashdot All good! I love my droid
I use Mapfactor navigator free as offline navigator. Works with OpenStreetMap maps, so mapupdates worldwide are free. I use Ghost Commander as a file manager. If you have a small internal card and a large sd-card, making sure your media data goes onto the sd-card is really usefull. Haven't yet found a decent podcast-app yet. Antennapod is often recommended but didn't do it for me.
