Best android apps for using facebook - year 2011

With this year, one of the most important tools, which has shown its supremacy above everything in online world is, Facebook. Not only has it changed the way people interact over the internet, but it has re-defined the rules. Baring some of the controversies FB ran into, weather it may be the privacy issues earlier, or the more recent privacy issues around Facebook’s settlement with FTC and selling of private information outside, it continues to rule the charts. Like it or hate it, Facebook single handedly has change the online world forever. Hence, I thought of putting together some of the nicer apps for Facebook which gets us connected to FB on our mobile devices and tablets over the android platform. Lot of friends of mine, have also asked for what app do I use usually, and I hope this would be able to help the ones, looking for different options for FB.
Facebook For Android	Challenges still faced are the app not working well with some phones. The notifications still doesn’t seem to be working rite. On my S2, it just continues to display new messages, when there are none. So, notifications aren’t working exactly how they are supposed to.
The official app for android store. I have to admit, I wasn’t a big of fan of this app, since it usually used to crash on my Acer Iconia A500 tablet running on android Honeycomb. Nor did it support the HD format with icons getting dithered upon stretching. The same situation I was facing on my mobile as well. The latest update though, has driven some initial brownie points home for FB. The app seems to be much more stable and running well. The timeline feature is supported well, and the interface is simplified and much in-line with your experience of the full site. I am still going to say, that Facebook definitely needs to give it more attention and bring it to a level where it’s stable and does the job efficiently. It’s reaching there, but taking lot of time and that’s the precise reason the official app still doesn’t have the same numbers which you may expect.
FriendCaster (Official Site)	The only challenge with this app which I still notice is the messaging. The messages sometimes don’t see to work and sometimes the person’s message carries wrong image which confuses. On the honeycomb version, I have noticed the failure of messages more often.
I have to say upfront that this is one among my favorite apps, for the experience both on mobile and tablet is similar and good. The finest point was the layout it gives you on a tablet version. The icons are laid to the left, creating a very friendly browse area, whereas in the centre is the feed and the specific feed which user is viewing is to the right side. This three column layout works extremely well, and adopted by lot of great apps (Read Google’s Gmail app). Not only it lets me create multiple users, but navigating between users or switching between your managed pages or your profile is simple. The apps works quite well, in getting the notification updates and the controls are placed at intuitive points. The mobile version is a similar mention with good features, making it a reliable app for the purpose. Recommended for use over any of your platforms of android.
Seesmic (Official site)
Seesmic, another app on my favorite list. Not only does it Facebook for you, but it lets you work with other social networks, like twitter, g+ as well. I fell for seismic, initially due to their color theme, cleaner layout, and the way the whole application manages content, both on tablets and mobiles. Later it was roboust experience, and feature package which retained me back. I am still divided between Friendcaster and seismic, but may be for additional features, Seesmic scores higher. Rock solid app with great UI and feature packed. Recommended for use over any of your platforms of android.
Friend Me
A nice app for starters. The app has been specially positioned at using Facebook on a tablet. The app has been optimized for honeycomb. Truely so! The UI is pretty, kept simple and does the job. It uses the good available real estate nicely, and displays bigger images, crisper text and nice navigation. Recommended for tablet use. I would still say if you get used to Seesmic or Friendcaster, you may not use it, but sure try it.
So, while this may be very well my last post in the year 2011, I am wishing that the coming year brings much more in terms of technology and learning for all us. Do share what you thought of this article and which is your favorite app. Is your favorite app, not listed here? Then do share with me, the one you love to you use.
All the image thumbnails are linked from the available internet images and are being used for brand/product illustration. If any of these images are copyrighted and shouldn’t be used here, please do let me know and I can remove them from here.

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Blogger- 3 new features of value

I have been an avid blogger and there have been many features which one requires as a must have for their blog. The bad thing is not all such features may be available directly with your platform. The good thing, there are multiple services available, free of cost, which help you reap benefits of those. In this post I am going to mention about three such features available on blogger as part of the platform, which are a value add-on.
1. Blog Stats: One such feature was the counter for your blog. Most of times I would rely on statscounter and services like those for getting those counters setup, but recently I noticed that blogger with few updates, have made it available as a ready tool. The new blogger statistic I quite cool. With multiple options of how the counter looks, you can choose to have dynamic effects while displaying the counter. Also I have noticed that not only it works quite well, it seems to update with refresh of the page, which is nice.	I am still not sure if you could reset the counter or start it from a certain number if you wish to, but this is still nice.
2. Web fonts: being made available for the posts, is definitely a great add-on. Gone are the days when you could post only in the specific, 6-7 fonts given on blogger. Now, blogger has brought onboard a huge set of web ready fonts, and you can do a lot more creative stuff with your posts by usage of fonts. Try it.
3. Ratings for blogs: Blogger has unveiled ratings for blogs, so your readers can rate a blog from 0 to 5. Although I thought the earlier feature where you could customize the message and get the user to tick them was much cool. For example, I could put “loved it”, “already knew” as options and then for each post these checkboxes would appear and user could tell you what they felt about your article, but guess ratings is more industry specific feature. So, kudos to bringing that on.
So, this is it. Hope you liked the article. If you already knew about these, do share the features which you love, and the features you found coming out newly. Share and learn! Have a great day.

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lesson in History-Facebook applications

An Awesome Button Have you met the “awesome” button! You probably have, but not able to recognize with the name I used. Let me rephrase it. Have you come across the “Like” button? I can see you smiling now.  Your mind is telling you that I am talking about Facebook. Isn’t it! I won’t be surprised if you know about Facebook’s “share” and “like” features. Facebook is the hottest thing on the web which has transformed the way internet has been seen for past couple of years now. But did you know that “like” was conceptualized as the “awesome” button on Facebook. The idea originated in 2007. Just like, you see your friend’s new Sports watch, and you cheer out “awesome”! It was simple and to the point. It was quick appreciation cum acknowledgement without the need of too much. The challenges in front, well, Facebook’s “share” sibling could lose its ground, and, another social media company already having a similar feature in place. Facebook held back this feature and continued to give their businesses “Become a Fan”. If you liked a particular business, you could become their fan, enabling you to follow the business’s updates. During early 2010s, the idea gathered steam again. This time, the implementation was taken ahead and “Like” was born. Facebook started by working closely with companies like ESPN, CNN to have their “become a fan” buttons on FB replaced with “like”. Huge benefits were shown to the marketers.  Facebook, based on their research, convinced that “like” would be more intuitive and would result in major conversions on the internet, in terms of followership. The “like” button, just on the launch, broke major records in 24 hours, confirming it was there to stay. By the time we reached late 2010s, the “like” button could be seen everywhere. Facebook made it extensible in way that you could see it floating on the internet, in various forms. The concept caught up like a wildfire. Browsing on some alien site, if I saw an advertisement of a new canon lens and its excellent pricing, and I “like” it, facebook would pull that back to my profile and soon, everyone on my friend list could see the same. A single “like” could become a vehicle for a chain reaction. Every organization now wanted to get a “like” placed for their products on the internet. On the other side, was replacing “Become a Fan” feature with “Like”, a correct perspective catch, shot into debate. The fundamental difference was quite clear. If I like your picture or a company’s product, I would instantly “like” it, give my thumbs-up to that particular posting/product/picture. Whereas if I appreciated a particular business or brand, for ex:-Canon. I would become their fan, since my following is based on a brand and not just a particular product. In simple terms, “becoming a fan” was much more of an involvement than just liking something. On the other hand, Facebook saw their idea gaining a major ground, but now directly completing and also confusing some on the internet, about why to use “share” button and which was more effective. Conceptually, both of these features were much similar. “Like” was proving to be effective, intuitive to click, and almost got the same job done. Showing how many others have also “like” it and thumbnails of your friends in front, gave you an instant sense of involvement. Currently, as Facebook is not working on “share” further, & the “like” has gone much ahead from just the one liner pick up boy. It’s amalgamating into features of Share and also making most of its rising popularity. Facebook surely got this one right and lot more to come ahead. Didn’t it really turn out to be an awesome button for Facebook!   References: Gartner reports and Social media trends.

 

 

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Top 5 free communication apps for android- 2011

The sun is soon to set on yet another eventful year for technology. So much so, that mobile and tablet arena have seen a major boom this year in terms of gadgets (read iphones, Samsung S2s, HTCs) and platforms (androids and mangos and OS5s) It just hit me to put together a small & quick list of some of 5 apps for android which I liked, for their simplicity and idea in the communication category. I could have done this list as “Top 15” or “Top 20” but then I plan to do a smaller set across different categories. Also gather more inputs from you, as to what are your thoughts and what are your 5 favorites apps.
Whats app Messenger	Whatsapp has lot of rivals in the market, since this idea has been executed well by many companies as well. One of my favorite counterparts to whatsapp would be Voxer which does the same job, and manages the content quite well and neatly. Do try out Voxer for its promising performance. Voxer Detailed Review coming soon.
A very efficient app, which lets you send infinite number of messages to another whatsapp user over the internet, and this offline chat is extended further to provide you option for sharing images, voice messages and much more. The walkie-talkie like feature does quite well, and I enjoyed the fact that the previous conversations are stored on your phone, for later hearing as well. I love the fact that this app is available for every possible platform, making it a great app for everyone and the numbers for that app stand for it. Using this service, the first year comes free and then charges a meager 1.99$ per year. A great app and a great idea executed well.
Pulse Read the complete review of the app here. We reviewed it just couple of days back. The app has been there for quite a while, and another extremely impressive and well executed app. My reviews would show how I am all praise for this app. Very smartly, you can create feeds from your favorite websites, pull story updates and manage them based on your taste. A very pulsating experience I must say.
Dropbox	Another app which has lot of competition with enormous number of sites providing similar space and services. One of the mantra which I feel has done the job for Dropbox is continuously evolving the app. With bug fixes reported by users to performance issues and recently upgrades to the UI to make navigation simpler. Dropbox team has been ever evolving the app.
Another one from the time tested and performing set of apps on android. When years down the line, one would talk about some of the nicest apps which came onboard when android became a rage, Dropbox would always be there. The app lets you share your content over the internet, and also let you create download centers at the place where this app is downloaded and logged into. Files which require regularly sync can be put on Dropbox and then you can work on those from any of your laptops, desktops, tablets or mobiles, and Dropbox would sync it back at all the places. coolest app.
Where’s My Droid	A great idea and power packed idea with lot of offer. Some areas it still doesn’t influence, but that we would leave to be discussed in the detailed review.
The next two apps are my favorites in the field of thought process. For starters, the app lets you search for your phone. It may be under the couch or sitting over the fridge and you aren’t able to find it. Send an SMS from your wife’s phone with the “keyword” to your number, and the phone would start the siren out loud. As you look closer, the app gets down to serious business. In case of theft, it would even let you wipe the data off phone, send you update if someone changed the SIM number to a configurable number and also send GPS location.
Glympse	You don’t require any sign-ups and it’s a straight forward app. The only downfall to it, or something which I was wondering was, that if my family or friends can see me where I was or where was I going, what next? May be we have to search for this in a detailed review of this app. But for starters, a great idea and good, no frills attached execution.
I tested this app yesterday and boy I was impressed. The idea is simple. With other apps, you share the location were at or the location you visited. With Glympse, you share that in real time. You create a real time window based on number of hours, send invite to one or many contacts via email or SMS and they can track you in real time about where you visit. The app works extremely well with GPS on and the location reporting is quite accurate.
I am hoping that you liked this quick collection. Do share which were your favorite apps in this communication category. It would be great to hear from everyone and do share how did you like this article.
All the image thumbnails are linked from the available internet images and are being used for brand/product illustration. If any of these images are copyrighted and shouldn’t be used here, please do let me know and I can remove them from here.

 

 

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android marketplace has a 'pulse' and a lively one

App Name : Pulse
Platform: Android
Category: News & magazine
Price: Free
Details Another app on android which has been here for quite a while, and has done pretty well. But I would still like to review it, to bring some of such nicer apps more visibility. The app claims and provides you to aggregate stories from various sources. It makes reading more fun, and consolidated. Most of the websites can be turned into something which appears to be a collage of information, and then scrollable portions.   Looks/space utilization/Creativity Coming to looks, the space has been used beautifully.  It lets you add n number of data sources-
		-from where the stories are to be pulled and still manage them very well. The scrollable stories and management of space makes it a winner for me. But hold on, is that it.   Review No, it’s still a lot more than that. Pulse lets you add new sources by couple of clicks around. Not only that, it categorizes different areas, and hence has already configured a lot of famous websites. So, as soon as the app is on your phone, you can see various areas of interests like Photography, fun & humor, business and the list goes on.
For each of these areas, you have great data sources available like Dilbert’s daily strip or CNN money. What more, you can also create multiple pages and manage the way you would like to keep up.   I also like the way they carry around the scrollable feature around. When you are reading a particular story on your feed, you can again make use of the scrolls to see other stories on that site. Isn’t that cool. With the simplicity and efficiency of the design, I would like to give this app a 5 star, but since nothing is perfect, I would still say that though very nicely done, if you are one of those with smaller display phones, this app may pack in a little too much to be viewed and used daily. Not much the Pulse can do about it though.
Opportunities
1. Hard to find.
Final rating
4.5/5 For all the features, this is a must have app for keeping up with the latest in your area of interests. A must have app for readers.   Legends: (1-Don’t think about it. 2-timepass 3-Really an app 4-Creative, and rich 5-Must Have)

 

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Reviewed "Phone Usage" for android

App Name : Phone Usage
Platform: Android
Category: Communication
Price: Free
Review
Looks/space utilization/Creativity The app looks very simple, plain and to the point. The space has been utilized very well. On my Samsung S2, the usage of space, was very visible and gives a nice feeling. The icons are simple yet do what are supposed to do, communicate. The pie charts and graphs are again a good representation of data, and with techies used to seeing and interpreting data, it gives a good amount to gulp down. Features The count of messages, calls and their duration came out very well. The app claims to provide usage count of 3g data, but I didn’t test for 3g yet. One of the things which it lacked or didn’t seem to do was tracking 2g data. Something not seems to be working for it. You can set limits of various aspects and the features provided by “settings” do quite well. There are many levels of constraints which can be put to make it a fairly complex calculation. You can very well exclude certain numbers from being counted as part of the statistics and limits. The list is definitely not small. The data is well presented. For each of the functional areas, calls, messages and data, the data points are presented graphically. Home: Provides you a good view of phone usage in different buckets, like today, week, and month or further. Good usage and gives quick information. Calls: The calls section is divided to provide data spread across incoming, outgoing and both and based on period. You can view the number of calls made, volume by days and then a fun chart displaying who has been receiving most number and max volume calls from you, and vice versa. Not the best of charts to share with your wife, if your chart doesn’t show her name. SMS: The SMS section doesn’t quite similar to the above and not much to mention here. Data: The data claims to present in buckets of 3g, but I couldn’t test that out. However I was disappointed that my 2g usage wasn’t getting recorded here. Though a nice feature of displaying your top apps at the bottom brings your smile back. Screens Here is how the app looks on my Samsung S2. Screen 1: The main screen of the app. Screen 2: Settings Screen 3: Calls Screen 4: Top apps
Opportunities
1. The UI can be upgraded and it can provide some customization around graphical representations and type of charts.
Final rating
3.5/5 For a free app, this really does very well. Feature rich, useful, quite extensively data centric. All their adjectives makes it a nice app, hence can be tried for a while it you get accustomed to it. I liked it, and it’s not moving out of my phone very soon. Legends: (1-Don’t think about it. 2-timepass 3-Really an app 4-Creative, and rich 5-Must Have)

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Screenshot on Samsung S2

Before i could start spending time on writing some useful reviews, here is a simple tip for people who are already using, or are planning to pick up a Samsung S2.Extremely convenient to take screen shots. Works flawlessly, especially useful for purpose like mine, to review apps.

Here is how it works: Hold the home key, and a second later press the power button.

Samsung S2 has inbuilt feature, which lot of phones don't offer. The simplest way of taking a screenshot, made even easier to access, since the screenshot gets saved in the gallery.

Try it. have a good day!

(Checkout a sample snap)

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Apps reviewed

Test post. Keep watching. going to be writing some tech reviews.

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