A few disclaimers: there are apps on the list that I installed this week, and haven’t really had time to get to know. There is also a lot of redundancy, which is important in any system :) My list of apps reflects the things I’m interested in: taking photographs (thus the overabundance of camera apps), social media and staying in touch generally, faith (so there are many devotionals), and then of course I like puzzles, and spend an inordinate amount of time trying to work out how to place the next blocks (ahem).

1Tap Quick Bar: To be honest, it’s there in case I suddenly find a use for it.

Action Snap (a nice camera)

Add Watermark (in case I actually do want to watermark my images, e.g. for my blog)

Adobe Reader (incredibly useful, and it looks beautiful too!)

AfterFocus: Adds really nice effects, and now I have a bigger screen, it’s even more cool.

AirDroid: I had a hard time setting it all up because I don’t use a wireless router, but I finally connected everything through my old Android phone (which I use as a wireless hotspot- clearly that’s pretty much the same, but who knew?), and I know I will find a use for it soon.

Al Jazeera: Haven’t used it a lot, but it’s nice to check in sometimes.

Alarm Clock Plus (free) (more redundancy)

Amazon Kindle: To be honest, because I have a gazillion books on my computer that I haven’t read yet, I haven’t used this app that much. I converted all my books to the epub format (using calibre), and am transferring them to my phone a few at a time to read in Moon+ Reader. My collection is mostly science fiction and fantasy; got almost all my books from a friend who has a huge library of e-books.

Andmade Share: Supposed to be so I can share to more than one app at a time. Installed this because I think it will be useful. Haven’t used it yet.

AntennaPod: Unfortunately I don’t have wifi, I use 3G, so this won’t get any use until I do.

Any.DO: It surprises me how much less I use this app now, because I loved it so much a few phones ago. It’s still an awesome app though.

Astrid Tasks: in spite of my earlier reticence, it’s a fantastic app. Also using it to bully my family into doing things.

Aviary

Banjo: Assuming this will be far more useful in places other than Bulawayo.

Barclays Zimbabwe: I just want to thank Barclays for introducing internet banking when we barely had internet here, and bringing this app so soon after we got smartphones :) And it works really, really well, too.

Barcode Scanner

BBC News: Still my favourite news app.

Bible (YouVersion)

Blogger: It’s ok.

Box: I signed up ages ago, with the intention of sharing stuff I created with the world. Still haven’t used it. Procrastination? Maybe.

Buffer: This app is getting used a whole lot, because I like to share things on Facebook and Twitter. Quite handy.

Bump: I’ve decided: meh. Maybe the technology needs to advance a bit more? Or my networks are congested? Doesn’t work that well for me. Takes a few tries to move things across.

Camera360: yeah a nice cam.

CamScanner: Will probably use this much more in the future, very handy thing.

Catch: Another app I wasn’t too sure about, but again, have found it useful for sharing stuff with family (- they are bullied into adopting technology). Evernote (free account) doesn’t let you do that easily. My sister also likes the simplicity of Catch, and I must say it looks pretty good.

Chrome: I am torn between it and Firefox. Both cool browsers.

ClockPlus (more redundancy)

Clockr

Cloud Magic: Very cool.

Colors: For when I want a plain home screen.

Countdown Widget

Currents: Lately I can’t get this to load properly, maybe because it uses up my monthly data in one minute. Huge, and when I have the data, really cool.

Cut The Rope

CutoutCam: I downloaded this thinking it did something else (Edit: I wanted something I could use to cut out my sister's head and attach to my mother's body, but the free version of this app doesn't allow you to use existing images, only to take photos and edit as you go). Was disappointed, nearly uninstalled it, then found a cool and not at all useful use for it. (Edit: I discovered you can create shapes of textures you take photos of, and create collages that way. Arty, and not useful in the sense of saving the world, but quite fun. Apologies to the dev, who contacted me, and after re-reading this, I saw how it sounded!)

Diaro: Because I want to start journaling properly. It’s really quite a looker, too.

Doit.im Pro: Bleh. That productivity thing again. I now have more tools than I need. But still, the tools are fun.

Drive (Google): Dropbox is still number 1, but why not have all the cloud storage you can get?

Dropbox: Number 1.

Dropspace: Got it this week, haven’t used it yet, because it will take a bit of thought to set up, but like the idea of backing up in the background.

DS Battery Saver: I installed this, uninstalled it because thought it was causing my phone to act up, then discovered it was more likely Contacts+, which I liked but had to uninstall. So this is back. Whether it does what it says, we shall see.

Easy Toys: A new install. Like that everything is laid out so clearly. And you know what, I like toys, so. Included is a flashlight, simple measure, compass, cross vertical measure (huh?), plumb, magnifier, bubble level, and a distance measure.

Elevation: Elevation Church, what more can I say?

Epistle: Supposed to be using this to save notes to Dropbox, and I guess I will occasionally, but this would be redundancy again.

ES File Explorer: This is actually super useful, when I want more than simple search (using the built in file explorer).

Etsy

EverForm: Haven’t created the forms I would need to make this properly useful. *adds note to Astrid*

Evernote & Evernote Widget

Expensify

Eye in Sky: So beautiful!

Facebook

Faith’s  Checkbook: Another devotional.

Falcon Pro (Beta) I think it’s out of beta, and maybe it’s a paid app now? Anyway, it’s such a nice twitter app.

Fancy: Always fancying things, I am.

Fast Burst Camera

Feedly: I love feedly, even when it doesn’t work (like, no network connection, but I KNOW I have a connection, what are you telling me??). It makes Reader so so beautiful, and I like the new update.

Firefox: I am torn between it and Chrome. Both cool browsers.

Flashlight On, and off. Perfect.

Flipboard: More gorgeousness. Nothing else to say. (Oh, except, poor data plan).

Food (Evernote): Since I love food, it amazes me that it took me so long to get this. Have captured some great memories in the last month.

Foursquare

Fruit Ninja Much fruit killed.

FxCamera I like the things it can do.

Gleeo Time Tracker The idea is that I will track my time, but I haven’t.

Gmote What cool nerdiness is this.

Goggles Hasn’t worked for me yet- but maybe buildings?

Google+ (came with phone)

GSam Battery Monitor Having had all the legendary S3 problems, I have used this app to death to try and identify any rogue apps that might be adding to my battery woes. Thus the exit of Contacts+. I now know about wakelocks, something I probably didn’t need to know in the general scheme of things.

GTasks

Hacker’s Keyboard  One of the bestest keyboards I have ever used. Can’t rave about it enough. Only wish it had swiping, is all.

handyCalc

HDR Camera +

Hive Settings (haven’t used it, probably have no need for it, but that happens sometimes)

Holo Launcher (but I use the default TouchWiz)

HootSuite: Not getting a lot of play anymore, except when I want to share articles to Facebook Pages.

IHOPKC

In Touch

Instagram: Initially told myself it’s kinda useless, but coming to appreciate the simplicity of the idea, and now using it to share pictures to all my social networks. Also, much to be said for snapping a pic and sharing immediately.

Jewels Star: Puzzle games :)

Kii Keyboard The keyboard I am using at present, which has replaced Swype, which was creating all sorts of problems. (I should probably have tried to use the latest beta version, but Kii is all kinds of awesome). It’s in beta, and gets updated very frequently, but I like it so much I would even pay for it.

Labelbox & LabelPlus Both add labels to your pictures. I prefer the labels in Labelbox, but there’s not a lot of difference between them.

Life in Seconds Part of my desire to journal more. Maybe it’s because I’m getting on in years. And this is a cool idea.

LinkedIn: A new foray for me into the world of professional networking. No, you won’t find shonatiger on there :)

Little Photo

LivingbyFaith Devotional

Lookout: Does this work better than Avast, or a combination of Prey and Avast? I hope I never have to find out. Using the free version.

Media Monkey: This has become my default app for playing music on my phone. Apart from the weird thing where when I unlock my phone, whatever’s playing goes back to the beginning (a setting I missed?), it’s super awesome. I think it’s in beta still.

Memoires I don’t like the way this app looks, and will probably uninstall it soon, unless I find that it does something better than other apps do. Haven't used it except to see what an entry looks like. I'm big on looks.

Messenger (Google+; came with phone)

Messenger (Facebook) Hey, how cool is it to be able to leave audio messages and stuff?

Mind Map Memo Only gripe, too few options to customise. So nice to drag to create a new node.

Minimalistic Text

Minus Still haven’t used this. Might be redundancy again.

Mobo Player

MoneyWise

Moon+ Reader

Musical Lite

MySword for Android: Wonderful free resource, and best of all, you can download the apk, Bibles and commentaries from their website.

NoteLynx Hmm. I should use this. Maybe when I study something.

Opera Mini

Ovo (timer)

PaintJoy Doodling. What’s with the frequent updates that don’t seem to add anything new, though?

Palmary Weather

Path: I’m not sure what to make of this app. I can’t say I feel comfortable journaling when everything is stored in the cloud (with no local storage I mean), and I don’t know too many other people with Path installed. For now, it’s somewhere in the background.

Pattrn: Some nice patterns for my home and lock screens.

Pentas & Pentas Stratum: Puzzle games!

Photaf: When I finally got round to trying it, discovered it makes a really cool 360° panorama.

Photo Editor: Use this all the time to resize my pictures for sharing. Also to add text.

Photo Grid: My favourite grid (or collage)-maker.

Photo Shake: Has nice extra functions when making a collage of photos.

Picasso & Picasso Mirror Draw!

PicFrame: Also makes nice collages. Simplest app for that.

PicsArt: Hate that sometimes have to re-download stickers and so on, but has nice things to add to pictures.

PicSay: Best app for doing funny things to your pictures. Recommend the Pro version.

Pinball Deluxe & Pinball Pro: The exceptions to my puzzle games passion that prove the rule.

Pinterest: Naturally, a bit of a data hog, but because I love images.

Pixlr Express: My new best friend, after Pixlr-o-matic, and both of them are crazy awesome apps.

Pocket: Have I ever opened Pocket to read the articles I’ve saved? Never. But I still like to know I can.

Postagram: Dying to use this!

PowerCam: Does interesting things.

Private Diary Free: Have always liked how it looks. Have to choose one diary sometime though. At the moment am using mostly Evernote, sometimes Catch, and now have these dedicated apps installed as well. Will probably end up uninstalling this one.

Pudding Camera: Great cam!

Pulse: I’m not 100% happy with the way it looks when you open it, nor with how easy it is to exit without meaning to. Otherwise, I enjoy it for the news.

Quadris: Stratum & Quazzle: Puzzle games.

QuickPic

Random Mah-jong: Who doesn’t like mah-jong?

Ransom Notes: heh heh.

Redeemer: Tim Keller!

Relax and Sleep: If I ever had trouble sleeping, which I don’t, but I do sleep with the fan on anyway, so maybe? Update: It's awesome, used it one night recently when the sports club nearby had some artist performing.

Remember the Milk

Retro Camera+: So SLOW, but I still like it once in a while.

Sense Analog Clock Dark: Not using it, so it must be nostalgia.

Shush! Disabled it because it seemed to make TouchWiz hang, but it was great otherwise. Still working out what apps give my phone nasty side effects, and maybe Shush! didn't cause the problem. Liked it otherwise.

Silence & Silent Time: Actually use Silent Time, so not sure why I have both?

Simple Calendar Widget

Simple Mind Free: Really gorgeous-looking.

SketchbookX Fun times. Even if I’m not much of a sketcher, I can pretend I am.

Skitch: For removing things from pics that no one should see. Oh, and annotating.

SkyDrive: New entry. Dropbox is still number 1, but why not have all the cloud storage you can get?

Skype: Who Skypes? Ok, everyone does, but I almost never. I’m sure I will soon though.

Slices: My favourite Twitter app now, because it also allows me to share to Facebook at the same time, and it looks nice.

Smart Volume Control & Smart WiFi Toggler I think I downloaded these two in the mistaken belief that I was a nerd, and then I couldn’t find the energy to bring to bear to get the settings right. But I haven’t uninstalled them yet. In fact, I updated one of them just this morning.

Snapseed: I want everyone to know how FANTASTIC this app is for editing images. It does stuff that you didn’t know you needed done. I may even write a separate post about it. Update: I have.

Snaptastic Lite

(Guitar) Solo Lite

Spirograph A waste of time, in a good way.

Springpad: I’m not sure why I have this app. This is redundancy taken too far. Update: Ok have committed myself to learning how to use this app.

SugarSync: Dropbox is still number 1, but why not have all the cloud storage you can get?

Super Swiss Army Knife Free & Swiss Army Knife: Why not, though?

Tango

Tapestry: Pity no one else around me is using it :(

Tetris Classic, Tetris, Tetris+Snake & TetroCrate: I spend a lot of time on Tetro-Crate.

Thinking Space:This app changed names to dunno what, so don't think you'll find it anywhere.

Tool Box: So now I have maybe four apps that do the same thing. Update: uninstalled this app for battery drain, even though it did cool stuff.

Touchnote: Another app I’m dying to try.

Translate (Google)

Tumblr

TuneIn Radio

Turning Point

Tweet Lanes: Lovely app for Twitter.

TweetDeck: Why did I install this? It just sits there.

Twicca: Because I have so many Twitter clients, this must be love.

Twitter: See above.

Unit Converter

Upper Room (devotional)








Files Anywhere: To check out the fax function, which I haven't done yet.
Foodspotting: Looks like I'll have to do all the work, because there is no info for my part of the world.
FreeNote: Wanted to check out handwriting apps..
Goal Tracker & Habit Streak: Tracking my exercise program. Goal tracker is the easier to use of the two, and I'm still deciding between them.
Handrite free: Another handwriting app.
HomeFlip: Installed today, want to see if it really makes it faster to switch between apps. Update: it's fighting with TouchWiz Home.
Kingsoft Office: I think this may be awesome- a free office app.
Last Message: Supposed to tell whoever that my battery's running low. Think that's cool.
News Republic: I like all kinds of news apps.
OneNote: Installed this because I installed SkyDrive, and because I used to use OneNote on my laptop, so have stuff I wouldn't mind linking up.
Quill: Handwriting again.
Textgram: I'm a tween like that.
Voxer: Always looking for new ways to communicate.
What's for Dinner? Lite: Again, for those amazing times when I cook.

Update (2013-01-31)
Added:
Phonto: The app I always wanted for adding text to my images.
Photo Punch: Doesn't do a perfect job as far as cutting out your images, but may be the only reliable app available...
Real bokeh free: Simple, seems to do its job well.
Sanity: Just testing this out, haven't done much with it.
Shape'd: I LOVE this app! I'm still in a geometric phase, and it does really cool things. Simply, too.
Spacie: A bit iffy about this one. Don't like it when apps insist you sign up or sign in...