What: The best  ‘Getting Things Done’ productivity app that is out there.  A paid version is available, but a free version would be good enough for a majority of us.

How:

• Full sync with ToodleDo online task website
  • Contexts
  • Folders
  • Tasks
  • Task reminders (notifications to Android task bar)
  • Repeating Tasks, with support for repeating by due date or by completion date
  • Task notes (this is not general Toodledo Notes, which are not supported)
  • Start Date / Time
  • Due Date / Time
  • Tags
  • Task Priority
  • Task Status (11 to choose from)
  • Starred Tasks
• Subtasks will be displayed, but cannot be created or have their parents changed
• Each list can have its own sort order configured, chosen from:
  • Priority then Due Date
  • Due Date then priority
  • Importance (as defined by Toodledo)
  • Task Title – alphabetic
  • Task Creation Date
  • By Context Name
  • By Folder Name
  • By Starred
• A global filter can be applied, so that all lists show only tasks that match the chosen folder or chose context (inbox remains unfiltered)
• Global filtering of task due further than a configurable period in the future
• Task search, based on title or notes
• Toodledo Hotlist summary item
• Folder/context/tag grouping
• Task templates – allowing you to configure new task addition to be as efficient as possible, fully configurable to your own workflow.
• Show/Hide summary items to configure the screen to meet your needs
• Configurable Widget
• French, Spanish, German, Russian Translations

How I use it: I create folders for all the things that I have to keep track of.

I add contexts, so I can filter by context for each Folder. For example in things to buy, I have JC Penney and Meijer. So, when filter the Inbox, by Things to Buy, I can also change the context to JCPenney, Meijer or Best Buy if I want to.

My favorite part is that it syncs with Toodledo. My family has an account and use the internet to add things it automatically gets updated on the phone.

The Inbox shows the folders and the contexts in a different color as shown below.

Usefulness: It is the best GTD app that is out there for Android.

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What : If you have a data plan that is not unlimited, then this app helps you monitor your data usage. When you reach a limit, you can choose to cut off your data connection through 3G.

How : In the settings, you enter your plan and the start date. There is a way to assign an initial value for the quota usage as well. Alerts can be set if it reaches over a specific user set percentage.

There is a warning message about disabling the data connection when it reaches the limit – it relies on external apps. So use that feature at your own risk.

A home screen widget is available too.

Usefulness : If you need to monitor your data usage,  this is a decent app.

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What : Backs up your SMS messages to a gmail account.

How : It lets you specify a gmail account and the password.You can choose to do an auto backup when you get new messages.

In the advanced settings, you can name the label that you want these messages to be backed up with. That is it. As simple as that. Then click on back up now. All your texts have been backed up to your Gmail with the specified label.

Remember if you are doing this the first time, the maximum number of messages it can back up at a single time is 200. So, you will have to do it a few times depending on the number of messages that you have.

Usefulness : If you are heavy texter, you might have the need to back up your messages and get all those message threads out of your phone. This is a good app to do exactly that.

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What : Simply put, this is a private video stream between two phones running Knocking live. Currently, it is supported both on Android platform and iPhone.

How : Install Knocking Live on your phone and search for your friends. You can search using their username or email address. You could also invite them to use this app.

You could add your friends if they are already using this app.

If you want to stream video to a friend, select them and it automatically sends a knock to their phone and tells them that you have a video to share and if they are interested they can accept the request. Once the initial handshake is done, it starts the video streaming.

Though it has proved really useful in times of need, this app is still climbing the curve of maturity. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.

1. This is just video and is not accompanied by audio.

2. Cannot stream to more than one person.

Usefulness : If you need a basic video streaming software between phones and is okay with the limitations mentioned above, then you can give this a shot.

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If I had to name a single app that I spent a lot of time on everyday, it would be the Google News and Weather widget. When a friend of mine who is quite tech-savvy and has had an Android device for the past year didn’t know about this, I knew I had to write this.

What : The name says it all. It is News and Weather. It comes with its own topics like Sports, Health, World news and  so on. The best part  is how you can add your own news topic to watch.

How :  If you are reading this, you already know how to add a widget to your home screen.  Add a widget and choose News and Weather. Open the widget and go to Menu -> Settings.

Here are the different topics.

Add your own news topics that you like to keep a watch on. Since I am from Michigan, I have Michigan as a news topic and then Lansing as another news topic and of course, Droid and Android.

Here is what the actual news listing looks like. All the topics that were selected appear in tabs and it is very easy to navigate through them.

Usefulness : Go get it.

This should already be bundled with your Android device. Choose to install a widget and choose News and Weather. Let us know how you like it.

What :

If your idea of having fun is browsing the market for new apps, downloading them, trying them out and then uninstalling the less tasteful ones, then this is a very useful app. If you share my agony of going to Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications and then searching for the application you wish to uninstall, you will like this app. I know I do.

How :

If you are about to have a session of uninstalling apps, open this application to get this screen.

Enable the service and then open up the app that you want to uninstall and shake your phone.

I like to  disable the service after I am done uninstalling the apps, as I don’t want to accidentally uninstall any apps.

Usefulness:

If you browse the android market heavily for apps,  use this to easily  uninstall the ones you don’t like.

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What :

Walkie Talkie lets you have walkie-talkie style voice communication. We have found this app to be very useful.

Messages can be sent to a group of people. Received messages are automatically played. If program is running, incoming messages arrive as soon as 15 seconds. If program is not visible, it polls in the background every 1 minute (to save battery).

History log allows replay of messages and reply via a simple “Record & Reply” button. Replies are sent to all recipients.

How :

All that you have to do is select a person or a group of people that you want to send your message to and press the hold button and talk. That is it. When you release the button, it automatically sends your message to the recipient(s). Does the person you want to communicate to not have an Android phone? No problem.  Set them up as your contact on this app and send a voice message to their mail accounts. As simple as that.

The best part is yet to come – it does not use your SMS or your talk time.

Features

• No monthly fees
• No SMS fees
• No use of talk time minutes
• Broadcast voice messages to a group
• Response sent to all recipients
• History allows replay and out of order response.

The Beta version has advertisements and the paid version does not.

Here is a screenshot of the contacts page.

You can also check the old messages by going into the history tab.

Usefulness : Excellent way to communicate with a family/friend who has an Android phone. If you have the need to send voice messages  to someone’s Inbox, then this makes it very easy.

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Price : Free

What :

Ever miss those times when you would get up early in the morning and sift through the newspaper, looking for something that suits your taste and catches your eye?  With the advent of the bits and bytes age, that has changed over to scouring over changing pixels in the screen.  This app feeds the newspaper thirsty minds. This has a list of about 66 US, 11 UK and 19 CA papers all in one place. For the interested, the papers in this app are listed below.  Think of this app more as a bookmark of the mobile sites of all the newspapers.

How:

It has an interface which lets you select the newspaper that you want to read and then displays the mobile version of the newspaper in the app.

For £0.99 you can get the paid version which lets you choose your favorite newspapers.

Usefulness : The free version has most of the goodies. For £0.99, you can just bookmark your newspapers and that is not much for the money.

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These are newspapers listed in this app

Canada : Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Le Journal De Montreal, La Presse, National Post, Toronto Sun, Vancouver Sun, The Gazette, The province, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Le Journal de Quebec, London Free Press, Windsor Star, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun, The Star Phoenix, The Leader-Post,

UK : The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, The Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Daily Record, Evening Standard, The independent, Manchester Evening, BBC News, ITN News, Reuters UK,

US : USA Today, The WallStreet Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, The Arizona Republic, The Denver Post, Newsday, Dallas Morning News, Star Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Plain Dealer, Detroit Free Press,Philadelphia Inquirer, The Star-Ledger, St.Petersburg Times, The Atlanta J-C, The San Diego U-T, The Sacramento Bee, St.Louis  Post-Dispatch, The Kansas City Star, The Indianapolis Star, The OC Register, San Jose Mercury News, The Baltimore Sun, Post-Gazette, Orlando Sentinel, Milwaukee JS, The Seattle Times, Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, The Columbus Dispatch, The Courier-Journal, San Antonio Express, The Commercial Appeal, St.Paul Pioneer Press, Fort Worth Star-T, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Charlotte Observer, Contra Costa Times, Arkansas Democrat -G, Las Vegas Review-J, Omaha World-Herald, The Buffalo News, The Detroit News, North Jersey Record, Pittsburgh Trib, The Oklahoman, Richmond Times-D, News & Observer, The Hartford Courant, Boston Herald, The Tennessean, Fresno Bee, The Palm Beach Post, The Press-Enterprise, LA Daily News, Democrat and Chronicle, Daily Herald, Des Moines Register, Honolulu Advertiser, The Journal News, Courier-Post, The Monitor, Las Vegas Sun, CNN, Reuters US

Price : Free

What : Ever gotten a call from an unknown area code that made you go -  ‘Huh, wonder where this number is from’. I have had these moments many times and thanks to this app, I don’t anymore.

How : This app displays the City and the State at which this phone was registered when you get an incoming call.

The fact that even with the same area code, it was able to differentiate between cities and display the right one, was notable.

The settings lets you change the font, the size of the display and also the location of the display on the screen. Install this app, enable it in the settings as shown, and you are all set.

Usefulness : Note the fact that it displays the city and the state where this phone was registered.  Though it is easy to get a different state number from anywhere,  it gives a fair idea for the most part. Also, it does not give the current location as it does not use the GPS. I found it useful and this one will be a keeper.

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Version : 1.1 RC1 Battery

Great news – NPR news is now available for Android too and it is a little better than the iPhone version because it can run in the background.

What

According to NPR

NPR was introduced to Android, an open source platform from the Open Handset Alliance^TM, when Google^TM employee, developer and avid NPR fan Michael Frederick approached NPR’s Mobile team with an offer to build an NPR app. Because Google employees are allowed to donate 20% of their time to any one project, Frederick offered to build an NPR mobile app for Android. NPR’s app for Android will be available soon for download in Android Market^TM.

Highlights of the NPR News app for Android:

· Backgrounding. The NPR News app for Android allows backgrounding, so that users can click to listen to audio and then toggle between applications as the audio is playing. It also uses open source code, allowing developers to iterate and improve the app in the future.

· Listen and Read. Allows users to listen to programs and read news at the same time.

· Extensive Topics section. News section showcases NPR’s top 10-20 topics of the day ranging from Science to Books to World News.

· NPR station listening choices. Easy to find and bookmark more than 600 favorite NPR stations and hundreds of station on-demand streams. Live station streaming to launch in Spring 2010.

· Playlist. Bookmark favorite programs to play later.

You could browse into any radio station and listen to their programs as podcasts. Now because it is in Android, you can read articles while listening to a program.  Come Spring 2010, Android users should be able to tune in to live radio stations. Now, that would  be something, wouldn’t it?

Here are some screenshots.

Screenshot for selecting stations:

Usefulness: If you listen to NPR, don’t even think twice.

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