Develop Bugs

[LIST] Must Have Android Applications - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Here is a list of my favorite Android apps that you might be missing. I have tested all of them to make sure they work properly.
Some of the apps are free, some are paid, and many have both versions. They should all be searchable by name in the Android Market.
Some of the apps require your phone to be rooted or will only work on certain phones/versions, so be sure to read the description before you purchase anything.
Android Market
http://market.android.com/
adbWireless (Widget version)
"adbWireless enable ADB wireless connection to connect to the phone as if connected by USB."
Adobe Reader
"Adobe Reader is a must-have app for high quality PDF viewing on Android. Key features are: • Open PDF files as email attachments, on the web or on device • Text Reflow • Send PDF files via email • Multi-touch gestures for Navigation & Zoom"
ADWLauncher EX
"Highly Customizable Home replacement application"
AirDroid
"AirDroid is a fast, free app that lets you wirelessly manage & control your Android device from a web browser Over-The-Air."
aLogcat
"View color-coded, scrolling (tailed) Android device (logcat) logs directly from your phone. No USB, adb, or emailing necessary. Set log format / level / buffer, filter logs by regex, clear log file, save to SD, email."
AndChat
"AndChat is a multi-server internet relay chat (irc) app for Android. "
AndFTP
"AndFTP is a FTP, FTPS, SCP, SFTP client. It can manage several FTP configurations. It comes with both device and FTP file browser. It provides download, upload and share features with resume support."
Android IRC - Internet Chat
"Android's most advanced IRC client.
The Premier Android Internet Relay Chat Client. Worlds better than the rest."
Antennas
"This app monitors the GSM/CDMA cellular network connection; displays a map of approximate cellular antenna locations and their RF signal strength; and can log the data to a text or KML file."
App 2 SD Pro (move apps to SD)
"App 2 SD helps you to move apps to either external or internal storage thru' the system Settings. This app is crucial to anyone who has memory management issues."
App Protector Pro
"Lock any app on your phone: SMS,Gmail,Photos,Gallery,Setting,Market..Any app u choose"
Astrid Tasks
"Astrid is the much todo list / task manager designed to help you get stuff done. It features reminders, tags, sync, a widget and more."
Astro File Manager
"Features: File Manager, Backup, Image and text viewers, Networking, SMB, Bluetooth, SFTP, Zip Tar, downloader, thumbnails, search files, application manager, task manager, attachments"
Audiogalaxy Music
"Audiogalaxy streams your music from your computer to your device for free.
Stream your music and playlists from your computer to your Android phone for free!"
Autostarts
"Keep control over your phone: See what applications do behind your back. Shows you what apps run on phone startup, and what other events trigger in the background. Root users can disable unwanted autostarts and speed up their phone boot."
avast! Mobile Security
"Full-featured Antivirus and Anti-Theft security for your Android phone.
Protect personal data with automatic virus scans and infected-URL alerts. Stop hackers by adding a firewall (rooted phones)."
Barcode Scanner
"Scan barcodes on products then look up prices and reviews. You can also scan Data Matrix and QR Codes containing URLs, contact info, etc.
Also share your contacts, apps, and bookmarks via QR Code. "
BeejiveIM
"Stay connected to all your instant messaging buddies anywhere you go! BeejiveIM (pronounced \bē-hīv\ IM) keeps you in touch with your friends on AIM®/MobileMe®, MSN®/Windows Live®, Yahoo!®, GoogleTalk®, Facebook, MySpace and Jabber"
Better Terminal Emulator Pro
"Harness the native Linux command-line potential of Android with this Terminal.
Unleash the command line potential of the Android console with this terminal. Best if rooted, but root not required. Run native Linux apps with Better Terminal Emulator Pro."
BusyBox
"BusyBox is a software application that provides many standard Unix tools, much like the larger (but more capable) GNU Core Utilities."
CacheMate for Root Users
"CacheMate for Root Users allows you to clear cache from your device in one click
★ ROOT ACCESS, BUSYBOX REQUIRED ★"
CamScanner -Phone to Scanner
"Turn phone to document scanner
CamScanner turns phone to a document scanner to scan and manage your documents, whiteboard discussions and receipts easily. Our smart image cropping and enhancement algorithm ensures the scanned images clear and recognizable."
Camera WiFi LiveStream
"Stream video and audio directly from your Android camera across a WiFi network!"
Car Locator
"Save your location when you park and Car Locator will help you find your car"
Chrome to Phone
"Google Chrome to Phone lets you easily share links, maps, and currently selected phone numbers and text between your computer running Chrome and your phone."
Class Buddy Pro
"Class Buddy
Schedule management helper for busy school life."
Clipper Plus
"Take control of your clipboard with Clipper, the #1 clipboard manager!
Clipper Plus is a simple but powerful clipboard manager & clipboard history tool for your phone or tablet."
ClockSync
"ClockSync synchronizes device system clock with atomic time from Internet via NTP (Network Time Protocol). Useful if provider doesn't support NITZ, sends incorrect time or if your device/ROM has heavy clock drift."
ClutchPad
"ClutchPad Makes Advanced Task Switching Incredibly Simple.
Now supports WidgetLocker! Purpose: The purpose of ClutchPad is to help users improve their navigation of Android activities and adapt to each individuals navigational flow."
DefaultApp Reset
"This application can reset the default applications easily. After resetting, it shows the dialog to select applications such as home launchers, browsers."
DiskUsage
"DiskUsage provides a way to find files and directories on storage card which consume a lot of space. Displays diagram with directories/subdirectories proportional to their size."
Documents To Go 3.0 Main App
"View Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint Files - All in 1 App!
FREE! View native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments with Documents To Go Main App. Supported file formats include .doc,. docx,. xls,. xlsx,. ppt,. pptx."
Dolphin Browser HD
"Browsing made wonderful. Dolphin Browser™ HD offers you:
*Powerful Add-ons support*Bookmarks Folder support*Multi-touch pinch zoom*Multi Tabs browsing*Powerful Gestures*Smart RSS Detection*Colorful Theme packs support*14 Languages support
*Unexpected Closed Tab Recovery"
doubleTwist Player
"Sync and Play your iTunes playlists, podcasts and videos; imports ratings too!"
doubleTwist AirSync
"Life Without Wires! Sync your iTunes music & videos over WiFi with AirSync."
Dropbox
"Sync your files between your computers and your mobile device. Now you can browse the files in your Dropbox folder from anywhere!"
Finance
"Finance for Android brings you streaming real-time quotes in this stock quote and portfolio application. It synchronizes with your Google Finance portfolios, allows quick access to charts and lets you view the latest market and company news."
Folder Organizer
"Group items according to labels and create customizable folders and widgets
Group items according to labels and create fully customizable folders and widgets. You can organize apps, bookmarks, contacts and shortcuts"
GasBuddy
"Find the cheapest gas on the go – for free! In one click, locate gas stations near you and see their current gas prices. Never overpay for gas again. "
GO Launcher EX
"GO Launcher EX is the extra version of GO Launcher, one of the most popular launcher app in android market, provides beautiful themes, fast flip speed and useful functions. "
Google+
"Real-life sharing rethought for the web, wherever you are.
Google+ for mobile makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler."
Google Authenticator
"Google Authenticator creates two-step verification codes on your phone.
Google Authenticator works with 2-step verification for your Google Account to provide an additional layer of security."
Google Books
"Build your ebooks library in the cloud with Google Books: jump right into a bestseller or select from nearly 3 million free ebooks."
Google Gesture Search
"Gesture Search lets you quickly find a contact, a bookmark, an application, or a music track on your device by drawing on the screen.
Google Goggles
"Search by taking a picture. Goggles uses image recognition technology to recognize objects and return relevant search results."
Google Reader
"Follow all your favorite sites, blogs, and more, all in one place. See what your friends are sharing, and easily share any interesting articles you read."
Google Shopper
"New from Google: Find products with your camera phone and get prices fast.
Shopper recognizes products by cover art, barcode scanning, voice and text search."
Google Sky Maps
"Google Sky Map turns your Android-powered mobile phone into a window on the night sky."
Google Translate
"Use Google Translate to instantly translate text between more than 50 languages.
* Dictionary results * Text-to-speech * Voice input * Romanization (e.g. Pinyin, Romaji, etc) * History/star favorite translations"
Google Voice
"Place calls and send text messages showing your Google number. Listen to voicemail and read transcripts. Currently only available in the US. "
GO SMS
"GO SMS is an amazing SMS app. Cool UI, Fast and convenient SMS/MMS experience."
GPS Status & Toolbox
"Display your GPS and sensor data: position and signal strength of satellites, accuracy, speed, acceleration, bearing."
GPS Test Plus
"GPS test app. Shows GPS signal, satellite, location and GPS time data. Useful for navigation or geocaching.
All the features of GPS Test, plus:-
Speedometer, Altimeter and Compass dials.
Seven segment display mode.
HUD display mode for windscreens.
Share location."
gUnit
"A unit conversion tool with support for more than 2000 units in 30+ categories including Length, Temperature, Speed, Volume, Weight, Area, Currency conversions. It also has support for user preferences."
HeLauncher
"HeLauncher is a home replacement for the mobile operating system known as Android. "
Hi-Q MP3 Recorder (Full)
"Record audio in high quality directly into MP3 files!"
History Eraser
"Best tool to Erase History on Android devices!
This is a phone cleaner History Eraser!This app can erase history data on your Android device."
HomeSmack
"HomeSmack allows you to easily switch between your Home/Launcher apps or your long-press-search apps and set a new default."
ICS Browser +
"Based on the ICS browser, this browser adds some handy extra functions. For now only five extra function are added"
InkPad NotePad (No Ads)
"InkPad Notepad is a simple, elegant, easy to use notes app."
LauncherPro
"- Super-smooth scrolling
- Animated screen previews (like Exposé or HTC Sense)
- Up to 7 home screens
- App drawer (2D and 3D!) with a fly-in effect and smooth scrolling
- Scrollable shortcut dock"
Launcher 7
"A Windows Phone 7 style launcher for Android.
Unlike other current WP7 launchers (Windows Phone Android, Metro UI), this one allows you to properly modify your start screen."
LCD Density Changer
"Need ROOT (+ BusyBox)
Change the density of the screen. Get more info on your screen, like with a high resolution setting on your PC."
Ledgerist
"A simple and intuitive checkbook register for all your financial accounts."
Light Flow - LED Control
"Take control of your notifications. LEDs, vibrations, repeating sounds and more."
Listen
"Listen from Google Labs for podcast search, subscribe, download and streaming.
Listen from Google Labs."
Maverick Pro
"Off-road GPS navigator with offline maps support, compass and track recording.
Use offline maps and GPS even without an internet connection. This app is great for hiking, boating, geocaching and other outdoor activities."
MultiTouch Visualizer 2
"Visualizer for multi-touch (pinch-zoom), shows 2-4+ multitouch points on capable devices"
mSecure - Password Manager
"mSecure, the leading iPhone Password Manager, is now available for Android OS. mSecure stores your important and sensitive information safely and securely."
MyBackup Pro
"Backup (with schedule option) to our online secure servers, or SD card, your Applications, Photos, Contacts, Call log, Browser Bookmarks, SMS (text messages), MMS, Calendar, System Settings, Home Screens (including shortcut positions), Alarms, Dictionary, Music Playlists, and more"
My-Cast Weather
"My-Cast. Your Weather. No waiting."
MyTracks
"My Tracks records your GPS tracks and shows live statistics such as time, speed, distance, and elevation – while hiking, cycling, running or participating in other outdoor activities."
Net Ping
"ICMP ping utility for your android phone with no ads.
Ping from your Android phone with this ping utility app. Works well with IPv4."
Network Info II
"All the network information you'll need. WiFi/Bluetooth/Cell/IPv6."
NetworkMapper
"A very fast scanner for network admins that can scan your network in the office and export as CSV via GMail to give you a map of what devices are on your LAN
Includes a portscanner for security audit scans and a MAC vendor database to identify NIC manufacturers"
NewsRob
"NewsRob is an RSS/Atom newsreader that auto syncs with Google Reader. "
NFC Task Launcher
"Use NFC Tags to automate tasks
NFC Task Launcher uses the NFC Hardware and RFID/NFC Tags to allow you to create tags several types of tags, including a custom "Task" tag that will automatically execute tasks when read."
Note Everything
"A notepad for taking different notes and types with many features.
A note (notepad) application where you can create text-, voice- and paint-notes. Your notes can be organized in folders. You can create shortcuts on home, send notes, use live folders & much more!"
NXP TagWriter
"Store contacts, URLs and text messages on your NFC tags!
The NXP TagWriter application allows you to store contacts, URLs, SMS as well as text messages and generic URIs to any NFC-enabled tags as well as to items like poster, business cards, watches and so on containing NFC-enabled electronics."
Pandora Radio
"Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio now available to stream music on your phone."
Partitions Info Pro
"Partitions Info Pro. File systems and partitions, total, used, and free memory space. You have option to check if you have Root permissions or access. Check if Busybox is installed. Root and Busybox checker!!! Process list, with data about PID, user, package name and process memory usage."
Photoshop Express
"Edit and share photos virtually anywhere. Touch to crop, rotate, adjust color, and add artistic effects."
PhoneUsage
"Monitor your phone call, text and network data usage.
Set limits on daily, weekly and monthly usage."
PhotoVault
"PhotoVault hides pictures behind a password protected wall, hiding them from people and other apps on your phone. It has lots of other great features as well. Check out our website for details. "
PowerAMP Music Player
"Powerful Music Player for Android
PowerAMP is a powerful music player for Android."
PrinterShare™ Mobile Print
"Print documents, gmail, photos, contacts, sms/mms and more directly from phone!"
Quick Boot (Reboot)
"Reboot your phone quickly. Boot into Recovery and Bootloader with one tap."
Quick Settings
"This app lets you quickly switch most important Android settings with just few taps and control battery consumption.
Launch the app by long-pressing a search button or through a shortcut in status bar."
QuickPic
"Smaller! Faster! Clearer! The best picture viewer/browser you are looking for!
Smaller! Faster! Clearer! More powerful!"
QuickSSHD
"QuickSSHd, based on dropbear sshd, allows you to easily configure and run a Secure Shell/SSH Server. Connect to your phone from your PC and execute commands or transfer files. Similar to "Terminal" or "adb shell" but over the network.
File transfer to sdcard by scp or SFTP (Secure FTP, WinSCP, Cyberduck)."
Read It Later Pro
"Read It Later lets you save webpages to read later, even without an internet connection."
Reddit News
"Browse Reddit with ease and style. Customize app colors to your liking.
(Ad Free version) A native android client to browse the social news site Reddit."
Rescan Media ROOT
"Scan Media Files on demand.
Disable or Kill media scanner at boot or all the time.
Save Boot Time by upto 20-30 secs."
Ringdroid
"The original open-source ringtone editor for Android, first published in 2008 and downloaded by millions of users worldwide.
Create your own ringtone, alarm, or notification sound from an existing audio file, or record a new one directly on the device."
ROM Manager (Premium)
"Manage your ROMs via a handy UI. organize and perform backups and restores from within Android! Install your favorite ROMs over the air!"
Root Checker
"Small and simple app to ONLY verify root access and busybox install!
**** THIS APPLICATION WILL NOT ROOT THE PHONE ****"
Root Explorer
"Root Explorer is the ultimate file manager for root users. Access the whole of android's file system (including the elusive data folder!)."
Scanner Radio Pro
"Listen to police and fire departments from around the world on your phone.
Listen to live audio from over 2,500 police and fire scanners, weather radios, and amateur radio repeaters from around the world (with more being added daily)."
Screenshot It
"Take a screenshot of your phone's screen
May require a rooted phone (depends on phone)
Take a screenshot of your phone's screen, save as a jpg or png file, and share anywhere!"
SetCPU for Root Users
"SetCPU is a tool for changing the CPU settings (capable of overclock and underclock) on a rooted Motorola Droid, Nexus One, G1, G2, Samsung Galaxy S, myTouch 4G, or one of many other devices to improve performance or save battery."
Shark for Root
"Traffic sniffer, works on 3G and WiFi (works on FroYo tethered mode too).
To open dump use WireShark or similar software, for preview dump on phone use Shark Reader."
Shazam Encore
"Lovin' that tune?
Create music moments. Discover, buy and share music.
Enjoy the ultimate music journey with our premium App – Shazam Encore - and identify music anywhere."
SIM Checker Pro
"Protect your phone in case of theft, get alerts if someone changes your SIM card"
SiMi Folder Pro (Donate)
"SiMi Folder Pro is a customizable Folder Widget with a horizontal/vertical scrollable Launcher."
Skype
"• Free* Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G or WiFi • Call landlines or mobile phones at great Skype rates • Instant message one or many friends at the same time"
Sketchbook Mobile
"Autodesk SketchBook® Mobile is a professional-grade paint and drawing application offering a full set of sketching tools and a streamlined and intuitive user interface."
Slacker Radio
"Slacker Radio is free, totally customizable radio with over 100 genre stations.
Listen to free personalized radio on your mobile phone. With millions of songs from 1000s of artists, Slacker Radio is the best way to discover new artists and hear your favorites."
SlideScreen 2.0 Beta 9
"A complete home replacement focused on your information."
http://getsatisfaction.com/larvalabs/topics/slidescreen_2_0_beta_9
SoundCloud
"Record, listen and share your sounds on the go with SoundCloud Android."
SoundHound ∞
"What's that song? Identify it FAST with SoundHound.
SoundHound is instant music search and discovery"
Spare Parts
"Spare Parts allows you to enable some settings
that are not found in the default setting menu."
Speedtest
"Use the Speedtest application to evaluate the speed of your 3G, EDGE and Wi-Fi Networks. The test takes a while on EDGE networks."
SpeedView Pro
"Advanced speedometer application. Features address, compass, HUD mode, speed graph, odometer, maximum and average speed, time traveled, speed warning, 0-60 mph and 1/4 mile times, GPX track export and more. Suitable for running, driving, biking or hiking."
Sundroid Pro Sunrise Sunset
"Everything you need to know about the movements of the sun and moon!
Calculates sunrise, sunset, twilights, golden hours, length of day, the path of the sun, and moonrise & moonset times for any date, anywhere in the world."
Superuser Elite
"Superuser grants and manages root permissions on your rooted phone. This package gives you access to additional features not available to basic users."
Swarm
"Swarm is a lightweight bittorrent client that supports multiple simultaneous downloads and integrates with file managers and web browser. Download torrents over Edge/3G/4G or wifi.
Swarm runs as a background service or standard app."
SwiFTP
"SwiFTP is an open-source FTP server that allows you to connect to your phone over wifi or cellular/3g to upload and download files. Any FTP client can be used."
SwipePad Beta
"SwipePad is a launcher panel responding to a swipe on the edge of your phone screen, no matter what application you are in.
1. Touch down the bottom edge of the screen;
2. Move your finger towards the center of the screen so the pad will emerge;
3. Release your finger on a specific slot to action.
Hold your finger on a specific slot for 2 seconds before releasing (until it turns orange), then you could change the assignment."
Sysctl Config *Root*
"sysctl is used to modify kernel parameters at runtime.
This tool will allow you to set values to increase performance and help save battery life. You can enable sysctl, set min free kbytes, dirty ratio, dirty background ratio, vfs cache pressure and oom allocating task."
SystemPanel
"SystemPanel integrates a task manager, app manager (installer/uninstaller with multi-version APK archival), and system monitor.
Solve your battery life problem by enabling the background monitoring service to record long-term CPU usage by individual apps."
TapeMachine Recorder
"Record, edit, share.. You have a mini voice & music studio in your pocket!
TapeMachine is a high-quality sound recorder and editor, featuring a powerful waveform display."
Tasker
"Total Automation, from settings to SMS. ADC2 finalist!
* Triggers: App, Time, Day, Location, Hard/Soft State, Event, Shortcut, Widget, Timer
* Actions: 175+ built-in, any Locale-compatible setting plugin
* Tasks: loops, variables, conditions"
Terminal Emulator
"This application lets you access your Android's built-in Linux command line shell. It emulates a Digital Equipment Corporation VT-100 terminal. You can use this application to run utility programs on your device."
TeslaLED
"Turn your phone into a flashlight!
This is a LED (Camera Flash) based flashlight (or Torch). TeslaLED is the brightest app for the Droid."
Titanium Backup ★ root
"The ONLY tool that can backup, restore, freeze (with Pro) your apps + data + Market links! Even protected apps! 0-click Batch/scheduled backups! PRO version has 0-click batch restores, Dropbox sync, Dalvik cleaner & MORE!"
Titanium Media Sync
"The reliable & battery-friendly way of syncing your files to/from Dropbox & FTP!
This unique app allows you to sync a set of folders from your Android device to the cloud and back. It currently supports the Dropbox storage service, as well as your own FTP, SFTP, FTPS servers."
Torrent-fu
"A uTorrent and Transmission remote. Manage your torrents and
search for torrents by keyword, bar code scan, or from your browser and download to your remote computer."
Trillian
"Trillian for Android helps you organize and stay in touch with your IM and social friends while on-the-go. Receive C2DM push notifications, send pictures and messages, and optionally synchronize with Trillian for Mac, Windows, and Web. You can even use Trillian to Trillian messaging to save on SMS costs!"
Voxer Walkie-Talkie PTT
"Push to Talk, text, photos, location, groups, cross platform and no ads Turn your phone into a Walkie Talkie. Don't waste time on phone calls and voicemails. "
TV Listing
"TV Listings - fast and easy! This TV guide app covers over-the-air, cable and satellite TV in the USA (over 13 000 channels in total and hundreds of providers). It will show an overview of what's on right now including all the shows, movies and sports events."
VideoVault
"VideoVault hides private videos behind a password protected wall, hiding them from people and applications on your phone."
vLauncher - best app organizer
"vLauncher organize your app icons into multiple pages on home screen,iPhone style. Support folders, works with android 2.0+"
Voltage Control
"This application allows you to control advanced features of overclocking kernels, you can change the voltage applied and select frequencies you want to use."
VNC Viewer
"Control a computer anywhere in the world from your Android device!
VNC® Viewer connects your device to a computer anywhere in the world, displays its desktop, and lets you take control. You can run applications, change settings, and access data exactly as you would be permitted to do were you sitting in front of it, and using the keyboard and mouse."
VPlayer
"VPlayer is the best video player for Android.
video formats: divx/xvid, wmv, m4v, flv, rmvb, avi, mkv, mov, mp4, 3gp, ts, tp...
streaming: http, rtsp, mms and m3u(apple http stream, m3u8)"
Wapedia: 4 Wikipedia & more!
"Wapedia is the fastest way to access Wikipedia and many more wikis
Taptu Wapedia is the fastest way to access Wikipedia and many other wikis."
wardrive
"Wardriving app, stores scans in sqlite db on the sdcard and displays found networks around in the map."
Wave Launcher
"Wave Launcher is a unique, gesture-enabled, quick action-bar for Android. It resembles a well-known and loved feature on WebOS phones like the Palm-Pre and works system-wide.
Regardless of any application currently running, you can swipe you finger from the virtual gesture-area at the bottom of the screen towards the middle to show the wave - A fully configurable quick-launch action-bar."
WeatherBug Elite
"Get the latest current conditions, forecasts, radar animation, alerts and more!
Check current conditions and forecasts, view animated Doppler radar images and get the latest local weather information and severe weather alerts for your city and thousands of locations around the world."
WebSharing File/Media Sync
"Transfer and view files, music, photos, and videos from your phone over Wi-Fi.
Transfer files over Wi-Fi between your phone and computer."
Where's My Droid
"Now when you lose it you can text your phone with the custom set attention word and it will turn silent mode off, the ringer vol up, and start ringing. You can also text a different attention word and get the GPS location of your phone. Features * Find phone by making it ring/vibrate * Find phone using GPS location"
WidgetLocker Lockscreen
"Customize your lock screen!
WidgetLocker is a lock screen replacement that puts you in control of the look, feel and layout of your lock screen."
Wifi Analyzer
"Turns your android phone into a Wi-Fi analyzer!!
Shows the Wi-Fi channels around you. Helps you to find a less crowded channel for your wireless router."
WiFi File Explorer
"Featured on Life Hacker! Best and cheapest!
Browse, sync, download, upload, delete, copy, stream and manage files that are on your phone, using a web browser via a WiFi connection."
WiFi Manager
"Find, connect, manage WiFi networks. Improve connection quality with a graphical channel radar.
Includes two home screen widgets: one displays detailed connection info, the other lets you switch among your favorite networks with a single tap."
Winamp
"Winamp for Android (beta) offers a complete music management solution (2.1 OS & above) featuring wireless desktop sync (Winamp 5.6 required), iTunes library import, & access to thousands of internet radio stations with SHOUTcast."
YouTube Remote
"Turn your Android device into a YouTube remote control! Use the full-featured interface on YouTube Remote to find and queue up videos to watch on the big screen. It’s like having a wireless video cable to your big screen!"
Zeam Launcher
"Zeam is a minimalistic launcher alternative for Android 2.x devices."

Just thought I would post this above incase anyone is new to Android and needs app shopping ideas. Here is a link to the original thread where there is still an ongoing discussion.
A Nerd's Must Have Android Apps

You should remove app2sd from the list, GN does not need that.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

jkoljo said:
You should remove app2sd from the list, GN does not need that.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I removed a few already. I will check over it again later... have to go right now. Thanks.

Thanks for your recommendation, installed adbWireless and worked well.

you should add wolfram alpha it's like wiki but much cooler
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

I like subsonic over audio galaxy....but they are both good
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Wave Launcher forces close for me (GSM)

1:voice
2:Twitter
3:groove shark
4. Xda
5.H&M
5. Facebook
6. CyanogenMod settings (or equivalent)
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App. Developer of brickROM, and OP of XDA Thread of The Year 2011.

dannymumbles said:
I like subsonic over audio galaxy....but they are both good
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I love Subsonic. It allows me to listen to my music anywhere (and watch my movies). I'm torn, because I want to use Google music, but until I can also move my movies to the cloud, I'm not leaving Subsonic.

fritish said:
Yeah, I love Subsonic. It allows me to listen to my music anywhere (and watch my movies). I'm torn, because I want to use Google music, but until I can also move my movies to the cloud, I'm not leaving Subsonic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im so sad, I cannot get Subsonic to work althought the demo server works. 4.0.4 ICS. Any ideas?

I'd you can't get it to work over cellular network. Add a proxy to your apn. I found this on some forum. It worked for me. Ask around or ask your provider for a proxy.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Related

I thought we could compile a list of apps that integrate themselves in various hubs so they're not needed to be pinned to the homescreen. I really love the idea of the hubs, they're much better than than boring old folders!
MUSIC + VIDEO (ZUNE) HUB
PODCASTS! - A great app to stream podcasts without having to sync them via the desktop Zune
Radio Plays - A companion app to the built in FM tuner that shows you lists of Radio stations in your area and the last songs played on the station as well as most popular songs charting.
Last.fm - Radio streaming app that remains free for us WP7 users!
Slacker Radio - Radio streaming app that actually support landscape view (neat with the HD7 kickstand)
Lyrics - shows the lyrics of the song currently playing
Bitbop - app like HULU is currently offereing 3 months free trial to watch tv shows
Daily Motion - Youtube nearest competitior. The app is what Youtube should have been on wp7
Youtube - this is Microsft sucky plugin
SongTweeter - Probably my most used. Twet the song you're listening to!
PICTURES HUB
Share menu
Pic - o - Twit - tap a picture, select share and then upload to pic o twit.
Extras menu
Photo Enhancer (HTC phones only) simple photo effects app
Phone Collage - Make a collage against various backgrounds of your pictures
TwitPic - share photos via twitter
Pictures Lab - nicely full featured photo manipulation app that also have sharing features built in
Flickr Manager - Serioulsy why isn't the official Flickr app here? Plus this app remains faster and smoother though less "pretty". You can also directly save photos to the phone unlike the official app.
GAMES HUB
All Games automatically go here
I'm sure I might have missed some since the market place now has 8000 apps! Feel free to share some of the unique integrations you've come across

I'm curious what the general consensus seems to be on WP7 users being forced to use the Zune software (as opposed to whatever they currently use on their computer, such as itunes). Do you think this creates an obstacle that may prevent some potential WP users from buying a WP7 device?
Zune software, for me, has been pretty buggy, sluggish, and problematic. The microsoft zune website only installs the 32 bit version - there's no option for the 64 bit version. I'm not sure if that's the reason for the app running so lamely on my computer and sucking up 20% of my i5 cpu.
Also, using the Zune software requires you not only to reorganize your music library, but to re-rate everything differently due to it having a completely different and limited 'ratings' system.
If Microsoft is interested in making things easy to use, adapting to their software should be as easy as possible. Zune is too big a change from the big music players currently being used by almost everyone.

Zune has been the best transition I've made in a long time. Windows media player is buggy and kinda does what it want, iOS is ram-hungry and too... Apple... i don't know how else to put it. Zune as a whole has been a clean transition and the first music player that almost seems like it knows me.

The transition hasn't been hard for me neither. But my music library is only around 7 gigs big.
My problems with the zune software are the following:
- Autoplaylists not as robust as in itunes. Cannot organize to your liking (only by some of their options).
- Autoplaylists refresh visually (they flicker every 5-6 seconds) and if you scroll down too far in a playlist, items appear as "not found" until the playlist refreshes itself and finds the files. This may sound confusing, but I'm basically saying this: Autoplaylists are very buggy.
-Uncustomizable UI (big fonts, lots of unused space, tons of marketplace links hogging up space).
-App takes up around 170mb, compared to 80mb for itunes. It also hogs your cpu (my i5 is at 15-20%, no matter what 'display' setting I have enabled)
-Cannot sync with anything but a zune or WP. Now that zune is discontinued, this software is officially only good for windows phones.
-Cannot tweak playback volume of individual songs, like you can in itunes.
-Cannot set start/end points, like you can in itunes.
-Cannot edit MANY id3 tag fields, such as comments.
-UI is sluggish compared to the basic text-based itunes UI.
-No global hotkeys - aside from next, previous, and play/pause, there are no shortcuts you can hit when the app is not in focus (such as change media player volume, fastforward, etc).
-When minimized, app toolbar flickers between song name, artist, and album. This is distracting. It should simply display the song title in the toolbar, and thats it. No blinking please.
-No minimize to notification area feature.
-Scrolling up and down too fast or too far is slow and stuttery. I've tried this on different computers that are more powerful and this is just how it is.
-The rating system.
-Disliked songs shouldn't play in a mix unless you manually click them (similarly to unchecked songs in itunes).
-Liked and 'unrated' songs are considered the two positive ratings, while dislike is the negative rating. this is weird but fine. However, if you sort songs by 'rating', it sorts Liked->Disliked->Unrated. What sense does this make?
-The 'check for updates' button doesnt work. Sends me an error. I've reinstalled the app twice now.
-Cannot show date of song, date added, etc columns in ANY of the apps views, other than the 'songs' view. Really irritating. You cant change the order of columns in anything other than 'song' view as well.
This probably isn't the place for this, but thought I'd flesh out why Zune isn't ready to be a proprietary app for a leading smartphone. Zune fans may put up with this, the same way itunes fans put up with itunes on Windows. But the masses won't.
Itunes works great on macs. Zune should work great on Windows. Instead, it feels like I'm using a flash app on a website.

i was using zune before i bought my phone, enough said

I don't even need half of the things op has men..tioned
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

And I don't need any cable sync.. I am happy with cloud. Period.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1106841
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

I am using this ****ty app so can't really post long but I will try to answer some of your questions...
I am guessing you are not a Zune pass user... Cosif u use zunepass you will never feel the need to edit id3 tags.
And the concept behind loving or disliking a track is to make ur personalized picks more accurate... The more tracks u like, more accurate picks section become...
UI is visually based and not font based... Gone is ur need to edit fonts... UI is designed so that u browse collection by album ar
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

I never said I'm against the rating system. I'm saying its got only 3 levels whereas a normal rating system has 6 (the 5-star rating system).
Also, I edit IDv3 tags for songs I already have because the Zune software is only able to sort auto playlists by idv3 tag data.
This will be the case for other people who are importing their entire library from itunes/winamp/whatever to Zune.
That is the whole purpose of the topic. People moving OVER to zune.
Also, the pass is not an option for everyone depending on where you live. Again, this is not itunse - Zune has no right demanding proprietary status imo. It's not up to the task, especially for users outside of the US

Browse albums by their art covers...
You can arrange songs/albums/artists alphabetical or by date added added... There com the date you were asking for... I don't know if it shows exact date or not.. But if you select arrange by date added.. Than your most recently downloaded album is on top...
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

To you above 4 replies, about the 'sorting'.
This is basic sorting that has been around for forever. Sorting by date in album view is not new, nor not at all what I was talking about. Perhaps reread the post so you're more informed with what I was saying. That would be a good way to go about responding to a topic
Does anyone with some experience with other music management apps have anything to say?

I personally find it brilliant, looks really cool as well with a nice easy UI e.g. big chunky text and its really smooth.
I like the way on the now playing screen you have a giant wallpaper of your albums etc.
Half of those things in that big list someone mentioned sound utterly pointless to me, I mean no global hot keys? Who really needs that. I thought thats what a mouse is for.

I also use itunes on my pc as I have an iPad but I hate the interface
Sent from my TITAN X310e using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

I once had over 70g of nicely organized music UNTIL I got a 20g Zune mp3 player and was forced to use the Zune software...now I've got 120g of mixed up crap.
Zune's a piece of junk, I prefer to use MediaMonkey.

Why you need the 70g of music stored on your PC when you have it all nicely organized on zunepass cloud system for you and you can get it anytime you want and delete it back again...
I don't think Zune desktop is a music collectors device... Its an application to play music, not store and organize your music collection..
I threw away my 60GB of old tiesto collection once I found zunepass... It already has a better better music collection than why I had collected from torrents...
Subscribe to zunepass... And you will see that you are spending more time in listening to music than organizing and collecting it.
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

???
Not sure I don't mind zune but my issue is not being able to sync with Outlook. I hate the cloud and would perfer to keep my contacts and calender info on my computer not out in the air for any hacker to find on microsoft. I use it because I wanted to upgrade to WP7. If there was a way to sync with Outlook(not Outlook Connector) I would.

Purple11 said:
Why you need the 70g of music stored on your PC when you have it all nicely organized on zunepass cloud system for you and you can get it anytime you want and delete it back again...
I don't think Zune desktop is a music collectors device... Its an application to play music, not store and organize your music collection..
I threw away my 60GB of old tiesto collection once I found zunepass... It already has a better better music collection than why I had collected from torrents...
Subscribe to zunepass... And you will see that you are spending more time in listening to music than organizing and collecting it.
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. zunepass isnt worldwide.
2. if it is proprietary, then it MUST be up to the task of managing your music library, since it will be replacing itunes, wmp, winamp, and so forth.
3. Cloud requires constant data connection. Again, you're missing the point and living in a bubble.
This proprietary software doesn't have any business being proprietary. It's a great piece of software but it is not up to the task of being run worldwide on people's computers with full support and features.

guyver76 said:
Not sure I don't mind zune but my issue is not being able to sync with Outlook. I hate the cloud and would perfer to keep my contacts and calender info on my computer not out in the air for any hacker to find on microsoft. I use it because I wanted to upgrade to WP7. If there was a way to sync with Outlook(not Outlook Connector) I would.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even so, email by defintion is cloud. when you email someone their contact and email info is whittled away to the cloud. The cloud is just a fancy term for how modern computers work anyways. So if you're worried about hackers on MS servers, you'd best not use the internet to communicate as any sort of data set over the internet can be intercepted.

well... you DONT have to use it.
i got a windows phone and sometimes i use it but usually i use jetaudio, the only reason for using Zune software for Windows Phone its for updating windows phone AND drag and drop music i want in my windows phone. after that i only use it because i want to.
i use it because its nice, it got a nice interface, and of course its not like you have to use everything from it, like, i use mp3tag to fix some music tag i got. but still you could find tag info from internet with Zune.
but only because you have Windows Phone, automatically you cant use some other player. its only for synching and updating not for playing music or fix tags if you don't like it.

If you want your mp3 player to be synched to your computer, with the same playlists and everything, you have to use the same program. WP doesn't allow you to sync with your winamp playlists or itunes playlists or so forth.
Yes, you could just plop files into your WP in an unorganized fashion if you like. Clearly that isn't the point of view of this thread. Come on now

Smart Playlists in Zune kind of suck compared to iTunes

Many of us remove all bloatware **** from our SGS3s but people like me are not sure what to keep so these new Samsung features found only on SGS3 could work fine.
Please, let us know which services or apps we need to avoid removing as bloatware (frozing or deleting) in let's say Titanium Backup so these features will work! And I will update this thread with the names
Here are the list of these features:
---------------------------------------------------
Smart Stay (automatically recognises when you are looking at the phone)
S-Beam (Just put the backs of two Galaxy S III phones together, connect, share and enjoy)
Pop up Play (Picture-in-picture technology lets you watch an HD video in another window while sending an email or text simultaneously.)
Best Photo (It automatically takes a burst of 8 shots guaranteeing the best one every time)
Social Tag (Social Tag lets you link the faces in your photo album with their social media streams)
Direct Call (simply lift the phone to your ear and Direct Call will dial a number for you)
S-Voice (Talk to your phone)
Smart Alert (Get a brief vibrating nudge to inform you about missed calls and new messages)
AllShare Play (Remote access to documents and multimedia files when we work on a different screen)
Buddy Photo-share (The phone recognises faces and links those for you)
---------------------------------------------------

Hey there,
I have noticed the Files app from native Android is quite limited in functionality. And top of the line (ES File Explorer) kinda sucks, at least for me. As, they are more Integrative to system and is consume too much system resources and you have to buy paid versions to enable most of the functionality of those explorers.
But, here's the story changes. There is an Explorer call MiXplorer and it blew my mind. Being just about 6 Megabytes, it pack the functionality i.e. never seen all in one in a single application, that too for free.
Features:
The best way indeed is to explore yourself. But here's a brief list of essential features:
Easily themable with customization option which lets you select any color you like.
Sort, disable and enable all menu options and action buttons.
Unlimited Tabbed browsing and Dual panel in landscape mode and Drag and Drop between panels also supported.
Easily create Tasks to multitask Copy, Move, ... operations.
Different various View Modes and Sorting Options for each folder separately!
Customizable bookmarks drawer with essential file types already categorized.
Advanced search functions.
Custom USB OTG driver. FAT32 (R/W), exFat(R/W), NTFS (R).
Html viewer which supports MHT, Markdown, AXml and ....
eBook reader which supports PDF, Epub, Xps, Cbz and multipage Tiff images.
Export/Import all preferences and bookmarks and customized skins.
Extract and create 7z and Zip/Zip64 (splitted-encrypted), TAR, TAR.GZ, TAR.BZ2, GZIP, BZIP2
Extract RAR/RAR5 (splitted-encrypted), XZ, APM, CAB, ISO, ARJ, AR, LZH, LHA, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB, NSIS, LZMA, NTFS, FAT, VHD, MBR, SWM, MSLZ, CramFS, Dmg, ELF, MachO, Mub, PE, Split, Xar, Z, Udf, HFS, SquashFS, PPMD.
All your cloud storage needs accessible from one single app. Choose from 20 providers:
Amazon CloudDrive, Mega.co.nz, Mail.ru, Dropbox, Box, Yandex, HiDrive, Baidu, Mediafire, Kuaipan, Kanbox, IDrive, Hubic, 4Sync, Google Drive, Meo, OneDrive, pCloud, SugarSync, VDisk.
+ clouds which support webdav like (Yandex.ru, OwnCloud, MyDrive.ch, DriveHQ, CloudMe, CloudSafe, ...).
Modifying zip files.
Root access for all advanced operations.
User and System app management with data backup ability for rooted devices.
EncFS volumes supported for all storages.
File encryption and decryption using Aescrypt file format.
FTP/HTTP Server built in + TCP server to receive files from other devices using MiX (Send-to option).
MP3 Tag Editor.
Built-in Image Viewer (it supports GIF animation and large images).
Built-in Media Player + VLC codecs add-on.
Powerful Text Editor.
SAMBA, FTP, SFTP, WEBDAV, BLUETOOTH supported as well.
And many more awesome features for you to explore!
You can download it on XDA Labs or from attached link: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/pishrodevs/mixplorer-hootanparsa/
If encounter any bugs, report: [email protected]
Developers: PishroDevs
Thank you for reading my thread!
If you like this Explorer, kindly increase my thank meter!

Long story short - I'm looking for suggestions/lists of what apps do you find essential on your tablet or phone. Please be very basic! Assume I don't know about it if I don't mention it in my list.
Looking for apps that solve these problems:
Basic tablet info app - cpu and information
Cleaning app (maybe SD maid?)
Good mp3 music player app I can't seem to find one that I like - I love Winamp for/on my pc - I need one that also has a skip back 10-30 seconds - one that acts like smart audiobook player
Good podcast app - one that acts like smart audiobook player I just love the features of that app (easy to use, auto rewind, lets me look at my library, simple interface, "just works")
Good browser - not chrome (evil), one that does not crash with lots of tabs open, like Firefox for desktops
Adblocker - I'm trying Adaway
Firewall - the one I used to use doesn't work now
App to let me play videos on a screen - I've heard about casting apps and use but I don't know if it really works well or not, and if you need TV that works with it. Maybe there is some plug in dongle you can get to make this work?
Essential magisk modules - I'm very new to this, I just have @ianmacd 's recommended fixes so far
Busybox? - is there a good version to get?
Xprivacy - I need to see if this is still a good app to use, it was nice on my tablet - if not I need to find a replacement
YouTube? - I just use YT in dolphin browser because the app never made sense to me, is using the app a good idea or
Notes - app to write notes that automatically saves (Samsung notes does not do this)
Grocery list app - that will also work with my wife's iPhone
dark mode for Oreo - (supposedly in pie) or a theme for the tab S4 that just works?
Video player - for my own files like saved YouTube videos
Email app for my AOL account - I used to use k-9 but that stopped working for me - I haven't found a replacement I am looking at bluemail but haven't tried it yet
Apps I've heard about but never tried:
Any suggestions for getting them or not?
Tasker - not sure what people use this for
Substraum
MS 365 for Android due to unknown problems I don't have this automatically installed
Dropbox - is the app worth it or should I just use it in a browser?
Something cool, a cool app, lol, but seriously what do you think is just cool
My list of apps I utilize frequently
Dolphin browser - best I've used for Android but it crashes frequently with a lot of tabs open. My wife's iPad can open limitless tabs without crashing. Sigh, I really don't like Apple.
SwiftKey
Tweetings for Twitter - I like it, but you can't save videos from it.
Quickpic - I haven't seen a better android picture viewer
ComicRack - paid version - love this for comics
LMT - the BEST launcher/one hand phone tool. Kills me I can't get it on my phone (note 9 unrooted)
Smart audiobook player - paid version - absolutely the best
FBReader - paid version, absolute best
Titanium backup
TWRP
Magisk - I'm new to this but it's cool
Pocket tanks
Zarchiver - I can't live without it
NextRadio
Diskuasge
Greenify
My phone explorer client
Standard apps I use - are there better apps for these?
All Samsung
Phone
Messages
Calendar - I need a video on how to use calendar for my family and then make everyone do that
Email - for work email
Long story/explanation
I'm just getting back to rooted android and tablet use after almost 4 years of not using a rooted phone and my old tablet unusable because I need to preserve it for imaging so I can get my son's baby pictures.
I started phones, only land lines, then relic flip phone, with a Samsung galaxy S4. I rooted it and loved it until it died. Got unrootable Verizon Note 9 last year and have felt like I've been castrated and jailed. I got a Note Pro 12.2 tablet in 2014 which was great but it crashed and I had to reset it (I was lazy and didn't backup in TWRP) and lost my son's birth and first Christmas pics, so I had to abandon it because I haven't had time to image it and then forensically carve for the pictures.
I feel like I don't recognize much anymore and would be grateful for suggestions.
Also if there is another forum which would be better for me to ask for help in, I would love to get suggestions on where that would be.
Thank you for reading, and your kind suggestions.
Sincerely - I really appreciate it.

minionhunter said:
Long story short - I'm looking for suggestions/lists of what apps do you find essential on your tablet or phone. Please be very basic! Assume I don't know about it if I don't mention it in my list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking for apps that solve these problems:
Basic tablet info app - cpu and information - - CPUZ
Cleaning app - - SD Maid, Google Files
Good mp3 music player app - - Pulsar HD, but I don't know if it skips
Good podcast app - - Podcast Addict
Good browser - - Firefox Beta (you can sync to your desktop), Puffin, Chrome Beta. Sometimes Chrome just works best.
Adblocker - I use specific adblocker plug-ins or apps for browser was appropriate
App to let me play videos on a screen - - VLC Player
Video player - - VLC Player, MX Player Pro
YouTube? - - YouTube App
Notes - app to write notes that automatically saves (Samsung notes does not do this)
Email app for my AOL account - Outlook, Nine, Gmail, Samsung Mail - all can be set up for multiple email accounts
Dropbox - is the app worth it or should I just use it in a browser? - - Use Solid Explorer or other file browser and link to your cloud storage
E-reader - - I think Moon+ Reader is better than FBReader, but I use both; Color Dict + downloaded stardict dictionaries
Microsoft Office but needs 360 account, Google's versions will work for free
White Noise Pro
Walmart (pharmacy), Amazon for Tablets,
Pandora
Need Cable Account, but Fox Sports Go (regional sports channels), ESPN Go, other networks
Online Banking - depends on you bank
TVGUIDE app
Local Cinema App
MLB At Bat, NFL App
CamScanner
Flud
Printhand or Printershare
Malwarebytes, Bitdefender Antivirus Free
SwiftKey keyboard
Office Calculator Pro
Microsoft Remote Desktop
Etc etc etc
Adding a couple more...
AccuWeather
Nova Loader
HereWeGo offline maps (can locally store the whole USA)
Google Maps (can only store specific maps locally)
Uber
Skype
F-Stop gallery gives a browseable file tree
Your preferred airline(s) for boarding pssses
With a Tab S4 you can have many hundreds of apps, the key is to use a good loader and organize. I have 5 pages of apps. Homepage has the apps I use most, readers, dictionary, cloud storage, app stores, music players, pod cast, gallery apps, etc. Then I have a page with personal accounts, online & brick & mortar shopping, travel. Page three has sports, streaming video and audio, local video. Page 4 has all games. Page 5 has utilities, cameras, optimizers, etc. Within the pages you organize the icons into groups. I find 5 pages to be manageable. Like having multiple desktop monitors on a PC....

drjoe1 said:
Looking for apps that solve these problems:
Basic tablet info app - cpu and information - - CPUZ
Cleaning app - - SD Maid, Google Files
Good mp3 music player app - - Pulsar HD, but I don't know if it skips
Good podcast app - - Podcast Addict
Good browser - - Firefox Beta (you can sync to your desktop), Puffin, Chrome Beta. Sometimes Chrome just works best.
Adblocker - I use specific adblocker plug-ins or apps for browser was appropriate
App to let me play videos on a screen - - VLC Player
Video player - - VLC Player, MX Player Pro
YouTube? - - YouTube App
Notes - app to write notes that automatically saves (Samsung notes does not do this)
Email app for my AOL account - Outlook, Nine, Gmail, Samsung Mail - all can be set up for multiple email accounts
Dropbox - is the app worth it or should I just use it in a browser? - - Use Solid Explorer or other file browser and link to your cloud storage
E-reader - - I think Moon+ Reader is better than FBReader, but I use both; Color Dict + downloaded stardict dictionaries
Microsoft Office but needs 360 account, Google's versions will work for free
White Noise Pro
Walmart (pharmacy), Amazon for Tablets,
Pandora
Need Cable Account, but Fox Sports Go (regional sports channels), ESPN Go, other networks
Online Banking - depends on you bank
TVGUIDE app
Local Cinema App
MLB At Bat, NFL App
CamScanner
Flud
Printhand or Printershare
Malwarebytes, Bitdefender Antivirus Free
SwiftKey keyboard
Office Calculator Pro
Microsoft Remote Desktop
Etc etc etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you that's extremely helpful!
I'll try moon again. The last time I used it, I didn't like it, but it's been forever.
I really appreciate you posting your go to list.

I use good lock and one hand operations. Makes using the tablet much nicer imo.

Basic tablet info app - cpu and information - Settings->About
Cleaning app (maybe SD maid?) - Settings->Device Care->Storage
Good mp3 music player app I can't seem to find one that I like - AIMP
Good podcast app - I don't do podcasts
Good browser - Samsung Browser from Play store so far is the best for me even under LineageOS, has Adblock, contrast theme (black background to save AMOLED and battery)
Adblocker - see browser
Firewall - root needed, u can configure your router for anything, inlcuding adblocking
App to let me play videos on a screen - MX Player, any app which allows Casting
Essential magisk modules - root needed, I don't see much benefit given no custom ROMs
Busybox? - latest, free
Xprivacy - N/A
YouTube? - Youtube Vanced on xda
Notes - should be tonns of those in Playstore
Grocery list app - again
dark mode for Oreo - get Pie upgrade and use night mode
Video player - MX Player
Email app for my AOL account - comes with Email app in OS
Apps I've heard about but never tried:
Any suggestions for getting them or not?
Tasker - say, regular nightly reboots
Substraum - themes, but the choice of thems, and permissions they ask is ridiculous
MS 365 for Android use SmartOffice for doc,xls, ppt
Dropbox - app should be worth it if u use Dropbox, I don't share my files with some random cloud provider.
Something cool Waze for navigation
My list of apps I utilize frequently
Dolphin browser - worst browser, use Samsung
SwiftKey - nothing wrong with stock keyboard
Tweetings for Twitter - I use browser for all my social media, apps do unusual bad things.
Quickpic - Gallery and Google Photos are fine
ComicRack - paid version - N/A
LMT - I like Nova Launcher
Smart audiobook player - paid version - if u say so
FBReader - paid version, Coolreader is free
Titanium backup - agree
TWRP - it is not an app
Magisk - I'm new to this but it's cool, I'm opposed to rooting without ROMs
Zarchiver - I can't live without it - it is OK
NextRadio - OS comes with Radio client
Diskuasge - Setting->DeviceCare
Greenify - I'm opposed to rooting without ROMs, free Greenify has limited functionality, Samsung OS now does the same things in battery saving mode
My phone explorer client - Amaze File Explorer for me
Phone and Messages - try using Signal if u care about ur privacy
Calendar - I use Smooth Calendar for its widget
Email - for work email

So MX Player vs VLC player:
I like MX Player's ability to zoom video using screen gestures. But I've had limited success casting to a Chromecast. It only got the feature a shirt time ago, and virtually everything I try to cast doesn't work with chromecast. I've never had issues casting local files with VLC Player.