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My favourite Android apps

These are what I use on my Samsung Galaxy A32

Some of these need no notes as it is obvious what they do. There are also several TV streaming apps like BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4, My5 and Freesat. I can't really see the point of these. The programmes are rubbish anyway and who wants to watch on a tiny screen with strangled sound?

I am very pleased with my A32. An excellent price at about £150. Good screen. Long battery life. 64 Gb internal and I put in a 256 Gb card. I use giffgaff.

Adobe acrobat Reads adobe files. Free

Aljazeera News service based in Doha. Important to get other views of the world. Free

All Language Translator Does an excellent job of translating words and phrases to and from a wide range of languages including latin. It remembers the language pair that you last selected so you don't have to search for it again. It has a voice operated function as well so you can speak words or phrases. Free

Anagram solver Free

AVG Antivirus AVG's normal excellent product. Free

BBC News Excellent news service. Free

BBC Sounds All radio programmes including catchup, which are worth listening to on headphones. Also use it as a programme guide. Free

Bike calculator You enter wheel size, chainring, sprocket, cadence, body weight, and gradient. It works out speed and power. Free

Car finder Store your parking position and find your car later. Free

Chrome Alternative to Firefox. Free

Cisana TV+ UK TV programme guide. Free

Clock Clock, alarm, stopwatch and timer. Free

Color Grab Aim it at a colour and it gives you the Red/Green/Blue data. Handy for getting paint mixed to match something. Free

Compass Just that. Uses GPS. Free

Convert anything Converts most physical quantities like grams to ounces. Free

Crossword Solver King Suggests anagrams and meanings from a set of letters, if you ever really have to cheat. Free

Currency Exchange The best of the currency converters and it is kept up to date. Free

DevCalc For people who need to convert number bases for example decimal to binary. Free

Dictionary from dictionary.com. Fairly good with British spelling but some mistakes like loth meaning unwilling being 'corrected' to loath which is not a British word. Free

Dish aligner Use to set up a satellite dish Free

Droid Sky View View of stars and planets based on direction from GPS signal Free

Duckduckgo Excellent search engine that does not store your searches Free

Earth from google. Free

Easter date Free

eBay Free

English Thesaurus Free

Euronews European news service Free

Exchange rates If you regularly buy foreigh currencies, this helps you choose the moment. Free

Firefox See the details on the Windows software page. I now prefer Google Chrome. Free

Flashlight Ultimate A torch of course. It is very bright and you can have a strobe or a police siren if you want. Free

Gmail Free

Google Chrome Though I prefer Firefox for computers, I think that Chrome is sometimes the best for phones. Free

Google Sky Map Learn where to find the stars. Free

GPS test Displays the position of viewable GPS satellites and compass bearing. Free

Guitar Tuner Graphical tuner that does 4, 5, 6 and 7 string instruments. Free

Heart rate Uses your finger tip and phone light to measure pulse. Free

HP ePrint Finds printers on your home network and prints to them through a cloud application. Free

JustUK codes Look up physical location of a dial code. Free

Latitude This provides a GPS fix and map of where you are. See maps. Free

Magnify If you can't read a label or want to see something close up use this app. Free

Maps This is the google service and downloads Navigation, Places and Latitude for you. Free

Met office Generally accurate forecasts for your area. Free

Navigation Google's GPS guidance system. See maps. Almost as good as Tom Tom. Free

Network signal info Measures signal from your wifi network and the mobile phone mast. Free

No to 0870 If like me you are annoyed by companies and government bodies that use 0800, 0845, 0870 etc so you have to pay for the call on mobiles, use this app to find alternative geographic numbers that are probably free if you have the right contract. See also 0800 Wizard. Free

Parked Car Locator Uses GPS to get you back to your car. You store its location when you leave it. Free

Phases of the moon Free

Photoshop Express Versatile photo editor. Free

Photo Studio Versatile photo editor. Free

Physics Toolbox Loads of scientifically orientated functions. Free

Polaris Office Excellent office app suite. Free

QR Droid This reads the internet addresses, and other data, in QR codes. Free

RealCalc Excellent calculator. Free

Satellite director Used to align satellite dishes. Free

Signal Just like WhatsApp. Free

Simple Scanner Scans, and converts into text, documents you aim the phone at. Free

Sky Drive Access to Microsoft's free cloud storage. Free

Skype Like WhatsApp. Free

Smart Tools A whole set of tools such as ruler, sound meter, mirror, metal detector, colour measurer, cardiograph, night vision and so on. Free

SoundHound Recognises songs that you play to it. Free

Sound meter Self-evident. Free

Speed Test This is the speedtest.net one. You can see just how low the mobile internet speeds are. Free

Spell checker Speaks for itself. Free

Spirit Level Plus Yes it's a practical spirit level, using the phone's internal position sensors. Free

St John Ambulance How to cope with medical emergencies. Free

Talkto Type Stunningly clever dictation software. Needs no training and you can copy and paste. Free

The Complete National Cycle Network Shows you where the Sustrans numbered routes are. Free

Trainline Book trains. Free

UK Tides Plan your visit to the seaside or beach walk. Free

Voice Recorder Does what it says on the tin. Free

WhatsApp Free wordlwide text message, voice conversation, video meetings. Free

what3words A stunningly brilliant invention that divides the entire world into 3m squares and gives each square three English words. Give the words for your house to people who need to visit and if they also have the app on their phones they cannot fail to find you - deliveries, power companies, relatives and friends. Free

Wifi analyser Displays the strengths of all detectable local wifi networks. Free

Wikipedia Speaks for itself. Free but please send them a donation.

Zoom What needs saying? Worldwide free video calls up to 45 minutes or more if you have a paid-for one from work. Free

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Last edit 20 November 2022