We provide alternatives for the pre-installed Android apps: users of Android devices are often seen as hunters and collectors in the Google Play area. You are downloading app novelties with completely new features, for comparative purposes sometimes several of a certain kind. However, some remain often on the track, since one does not even think about replacing them – namely preinstalled software, to which one at the purchase Of the device, but which has long been overtaken by third parties as an application.
Calendar: aCalendar
The standard apps, on the other hand, often have only basic functions that do not excite the potential of the smartphone or tablet. Depending on your smartphone model and the Android version you are playing, you can use either a Google app or a manufacturer-supplied app. Although these are tailored to the modified operating system of HTC, Samsung and consortium, it leaves much to be desired in terms of usable designs. We have collected the most useful alternatives for these standard apps and present them in the six most important categories.
Browser: Opera & Dolphin
We all know the Google Calendar and many have arranged for it. He does his job competently enough, but for maximum productivity with efficient planning he is clearly too lazy. The free alternative is simply aCalendar. His week view is not available on Google, but for many people this is the best view format for the ideal overview. The second advantage of aCalendar is its useful widget. This allows you to check your most important events without having to open the app. In the Weekly view, the widget shows you seven days and a mini-view, on which you can select a small monthly calendar. For easy transition, you can easily synchronize Google Calendar data without losing important events.
Also interesting is
Although the basic browser for Android enjoys great popularity - even Google is now using its own devices Chrome for surfing. We have two other alternatives. For the best Internet experience we recommend the free Opera Mobile. On no other mobile browser, websites are displayed as flawlessly and carefully as with this app. Opera's great advantage is its outstanding integration of HTML5, which will dominate the Internet landscape over the next few years.
E-mail: K9-Mail
In terms of user friendliness, the browser shines with a tab sorting function, which also displays a mini-view of all open tabs. A full-screen feature, which you can easily switch on and off, is a welcome change to other browsers that change uninvited to this mode. Unfortunately, there are currently no add-ons planned for the mobile Opera. Also the Flash support is unfortunately no longer provided since the Android version 4.1. If you still want to see Flash content, read right and use Dolphin.
Dolphin, the all-rounder
If you do not want to do without Flash, get the popular Dolphin Browser, also free of charge. The two sidebars on the left (for the bookmarks and history) and on the right (for the add-ons) are very helpful. In addition, Dolphin Sonar, a speech recognition software, and a gesture control. You give Google a gesture, for example, a small G that you can paint on the screen instead of typing the URL. The control of the tabs through which you can simply scroll with a wipe is intuitive and saves time.
The impression is quickly felt that the pre-installed e-mail programs are treated particularly neglected. Just about every manufacturer has its own in the mobile UI, but the fewest can provide a clear design with satisfactory configuration. Instead, you prefer to access the free K9 mail. You can manage multiple e-mail accounts at the same time, and you can specify when and how often to retrieve mail for each user.
There is a summarized inbox for all, and for better differentiation, mark these with different colors. You can also sort the mails by name, date, reading status and so on, adjust font size and create folder lists. You can even manage your spam folder or browse all messages for a specific term.
Rarely can you see the limitation of basic apps as clearly as the included camera function. Because more than photos can snap the fewest of the preinstalled programs. After upgrading to Camera Zoom FX, you'll be more amazed. With 3.50 euros it is the only app presented here, for which there is no free version. But the price has earned itself the hardest with the largest range of functions under mobile camera apps. Unlike many other apps, you can choose almost all effects before you take the picture. Under the huge amount of options you'll find Lomography, subdivided photos, vignette and many, many more. In addition to grid and horizon function, there is a stabilizer that indicates when the unit is quietly in the hand.
If you do not want to spend money on your photo app, you can turn to Instagram. The program offers a not to be despicable selection of effects and brings in the latest version even a video function. Friends of social networks will be happy about the community's offerings and integration into Facebook, which have made the service so famous.
Native Google has only Google Voice Search with regard to speech recognition. A corresponding program like Siri under Apple, which responds to commands of the user, one gets only from third-party providers. AIVC (Artificial Intelligence Voice Control), formerly called Alice, wants to be this Siri replacement for Android. In addition to Internet search, you can call them contacts from the phone book and send SMS messages. It offers translations, can set the alarm clock, searches for specific questions on the Internet. It even detects if a locality is searched for and offers a route planning directly. If you are bored, AIVCaber also serves as an entertaining chatbot, which has some good jokes in stock.
On the subject of multimedia, the selection for an overlapping app is huge and accordingly hard to hit. Because of limited functionality, you can forget many pre-installed apps in the area. The free App DoubleTwist Player has proven to be a worthy alternative. The majority of the functions can be found in music. After an automatic scan of your music files, the player lists the MP3s by artist, title, album, play list or genre.
Picture gallery
In addition, you will also find a list of many webradios from all over the world, as well as an extrasection with a large selection of podcasts. In the video area you can see all the available movies. DoubleTwist supports the following formats: MP4, WMV, AVI and OGG. Codecs include H263, H264, Xvid, Divx, and WMV9. For a priceless price of 10 euros, you get DoubleTwist Pro with the support of AirSync and Airplay. You can also download podcast subscriptions automatically.
Camera: CameraZoom FX & Instagram
Instagram: scaled down, but free
Voice recognition: AIVC
Multimedia: DoubleTwist Player
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