Top 10 Best Android Apps: June 2014 Edition
Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock
If you haven’t checked out Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock yet then you should. It boasts the ability to help you wake up feeling more refreshed by monitoring your sleep patterns and movement while you sleep, and will wake you up(presumably)at the best time within the range that you set for the alarm. Yes the app is $1.99, but having been using it for over a week now I can happily say that the $1.99 I spent was not for nothing. The app actually does wake you up feeling more refreshed, and is an investment everyone should look into.
Ready
Ready for those of you who may have missed our coverage of it when it released, is a dialer and contact list application that brings life and beautification back to an app that is about the smartphone’s most basic function, calling. While the stock dialers used in Android and many other OEM UIs are fine, Ready boosts things to the next level. Images are big and beautiful, you get shortcuts for contacts after you’re finished with a phone call, and the call history is even displayed while the phone is ringing. Contacts are displayed in a sort of Rolodex like design, with large pictures so you can easily navigate to and find the contact you want. Ready Contact list is free and definitely worth a look or join theircommunity to become a beta tester.
Lumosity
You’re never too old to learn new tricks. Basically, it’s never too late to train your brain. Lumosity aims to help as many people as they can to train their brain and help users train their memory and attention by using fun and helpful little mini games to do so. Sometimes it’s hard to remember stuff and it can be even harder to keep our attention focused, this is where Lumosity can help. The app itself isfree but will have a sub fee associated with it via IAP. There are other games included in Lumosity as well that can help you to train your problem solving skills, and more games that target other important parts of your brain tailored to what it is you’re looking to strengthen. There are over 40 games that can be spread out across daily workouts(including 5 games each)to help you better targeted functions of the brain.
Google Slides
Google Slides makes it easy to create, edit and collaborate on presentations with others, now free to install onto your Android phone or tablet device. Google had stated earlier in the year that they would be bringing slides to the Play Store after they announced the separation of Docs and Sheets from Drive to make them standalone apps. You can open and edit powerpoint files anytime anywhere even without an internet connection thanks to the offline mode. Just like with Docs and Sheets everything in Slides is saved as you type, so losing any important information or data should be a non-issue. Google Slides is free too of course, another awesome detail about the app.
Nike+ FuelBand
After a long wait the Nike+ FuelBand app is finally available in the Play Store with full Android support for the tiny fitness oriented wearable. Prior to this month Nike+FuelBands were only compatible with iOS, which turned a lot of potential customers off due to the fact that they use Android devices instead. Now that the app is available you can feel free to pick up your FuelBand knowing that you can track and pull up your stats for your latest run or bike ride, or count your calories and steps and measure them all through the app interface, and even compare them against others for a little friendly competition. The app supports devices running Android 4.3 and above, and of course you’ll need the FuelBand for it to work or do you any good, but the app itself is free.
Oyster-Read unlimited Books
This is definitely an app for the bookworms. If you enjoy reading than Oyster is an app that can provide you with plenty of new books to read anytime you wish. It’s basically like the Netflix for books, requiring a small monthly subscription fee for access to hundreds of thousands of books to read on your smartphone or tablet anywhere you wish. There are over 500,000 books in total in the Oyster library so chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for, whether that be a classic from the Lord of the Rings series or the hottest new novel from your favorite author. Summer is here and that can leave plenty of open time with nothing to do, so why not read a good book?
Z Launcher
Home launchers are a constant in the world of customization on Android devices, but in this day and age there are so many to choose from it can be hard to pin the best choice down. Nokia recently unveiled and released a beta(trial)version of their upcoming launcher for Android devices called Z Launcher, which looks like it aims to take on the sort of crowd that we would have found using the recently Yahoo purchased launcher called Aviate. It’s main goal is to give you quick access to the things that you need the most, and even changes its style slightly from day to night to better suit your needs with apps and shortcuts that fit you for that specific time. Watch the video below for a quick demo on how it works, and make sure to follow Z Launcher at their twitter account for details on when they have more open beta spots. Unfortunately their beta has already reached capacity but they will be allowing more users soon hopefully.
Echo Notification Lockscreen
Echo notification Lockscreen is just one of many options to help you manage your notifications, but much in the fashion of Dashclock takes your notifications and places them in the spot you’ll see them first, your lockscreen. With Echo though you see any of your notifications and not just the ones that there are available plugins for. Everything gets added and categorized in a nice clean style for easy access. Everything is automatically sorted although you can tailor it to your liking if you prefer, and with Echo you won’t have to be bothered with checking notifications unless you know it’s important, as Echo will wake the screen for priority notifications. To maximize that particular feature, you’ll want to set which notifications you consider priority and which ones you don’t. Echo is free.
Copy Bubble
If you are constantly having the need for a copy and paste function while using your Android smartphone or tablet, Copy Bubble is invaluable to you. It allows you to place the tiny little bubble icon on your homescreen and it persists above all other apps much like Facebook chat heads, so that when you copy something to you clipboard, it will throw the copied text into the bubble for easy access. As you copy and paste more pieces of text from various webpages, the number of copied items on the bubble increases. Copy Bubble will take the last copied item and keep that in the clipboard, but you can easily select an older piece of text to use by simply opening up the bubble and tapping on the box that it resides in. It’s a simple little app that has a huge beneficial use and Copy Bubble works for copying images too. Copy bubble is free.
Android L Keyboard
This one is pretty self explanatory, as it’s third party keyboard app that places the new Google Keyboard from the Android L developer preview on your phone. Android L keyboard is the same keyboard from the preview with the new material design styling, free with no ads or bloat. This is a standalone app so unlike with the L preview it isn’t built in as a system application, you also don’t need root for this keyboard to work. Just install.
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