16 Android Apps Not Available For IPhones

May 24, 2015

One of the best things about Android is that apps have a lot more freedom compared to those found on iPhones.

Some of the most interesting Android apps are exclusive to Android because they do something Apple wouldn't allow.

From an app that lets you message your friends while watching Netflix to an app that lets you hack your smartphone's LED lights for custom notifications, you're guaranteed to find something new.

Here's over to 17 such interesting Android-only apps.

1. Muzei

May 24, 2015

Muzei promises to turn your home screen into a "living museum."

Muzei is a live wallpaper that changes your home screen into a different famous work of art each day.

Price: Free

2. AppLock Face Voice Recognition

May 24, 2015

Unlock your phone and apps with your face and voice with AppLock Face/Voice Recognition.

AppLock Face/Voice Recognition is an interesting app that lets you use your face and voice to unlock your phone and access locked apps. You can decide which apps to lock and unlock using this method, and there's even a nifty "liveness" feature that requires you to move your face to protect against people tricking the system with photos.

Price: Free

3. Google Keep

May 24, 2015

Google Keep is a powerful tool for recording what's on your mind.

Google Keep is a flexible note-taking and reminders app. You can colour code your notes and take pictures from within the app, and if you record a voice memo on the go, the app will automatically transcribe it for you.

Price: Free

4. Wikileaks

May 24, 2015

Wikileaks lets you browse leaked documents and files.

Apple removed the Wikileaks app from the App Store, but you can download a version of the app on Google Play (though it hasn't been updated in years). The app lets you browse and dive into Wikileaks' treasure trove of leaked documents.

Price: Free

5. Light Flow

May 24, 2015

Light Flow lets you hack into your smartphone's LED for custom notifications.

If your phone has an LED light for notifications, Light Flow will let you assign a custom colour for when you receive a text, email, phone call, calendar reminder, or even when you're running low on battery.

Price: Free

6. HoverChat

May 24, 2015

HoverChat lets you message without stopping what you're doing.

HoverChat is a messaging app that lets you continue your conversations even while you're using another app or watching a movie. By resizing and deciding how transparent you want the messaging window to be, you can customize your messaging to fit what you're up to.

Price: Free

7. Cover

May 24, 2015

Cover puts your favourite apps on your lockscreen.

Cover removes the hassle of searching through pages of apps to find what you're looking for. Instead, Cover senses whether you're at home, work, or driving, and puts the apps you use most during those times right on your lockscreen.

Price: Free

8. Lux

May 24, 2015

Lux lets you darken your phone beyond the default brightness setting.

Lux lets you tweak your phone's brightness settings. You can lower the screen's brightness below the default zero when reading at night, and there's Night Mode that can be turned on automatically at sunset.

Price: $3.80

9. Cerberus

May 24, 2015

Cerberus is the best anti-theft app out there.

Cerberus does a lot more than just let you track your stolen device. You can control it remotely using the website or via text message, sound an alarm even in silent mode, wipe everything, lock the device with a code, record audio from the mic, see a list of sent and received calls, and even hide the Cerberus app so the thief doesn't notice it.

Price: Free trial, 4.99€ one-time upgrade

10. Locale

May 24, 2015

Locale lets you customize your phone with crazy levels of detail.

Locale is an automation app, meaning you can customize how your phone behaves based on where you are, who calls, what your battery life is, the orientation of your phone, or the time. For example, you can set it up so you silence your phone by turning it over, or turn down the brightness automatically when your battery life hits 20%.

Price: $9.99

11. Google's Sky Map

May 24, 2015

Google's Sky Map makes stargazing fun and informative.

Sky Map was created by Google to help people learn more about the stars above them. By pointing your phone up to the sky, you can see what constellation you're looking at.

Price: Free

12. Link Bubble Browser

May 24, 2015

Link Bubble Browser could change how you browse the internet.

Link Bubble Browser is all about saving time. When you click on a link online, the app will load it in the background, leaving you free to continue browsing. Once it's done loading, just tap the link bubble and you'll see the fully-loaded page.

Price: Free

13. TTorrent

May 24, 2015

tTorrent allows you to find and download torrents with your phone.

tTorrent is a peer-to-peer app that makes browsing and downloading torrents easy, and it comes with all the bells and whistles of other popular torrenting programmes.

Price: Free

14. Mighty Text

May 24, 2015

Mighty Text lets you text from your computer using your Android number.

Mighty Text allows you to send and receive SMS text messages with your computer or tablet, which is great when you're in work mode and can't glance at your phone. It also works from within Gmail.

Price: Free

15. Tasker

May 24, 2015

Tasker is another automation app for customizing every aspect of your phone.

With over 200 built-in actions, Tasker is another great app for deciding what your phone will do when a certain "action" occurs. You can create custom actions based on the app, time, day, location, event, widget, or shortcut, and there's even an built-in platform 

Price: $2.99

16. UCCW

May 24, 2015

UCCW lets you create your own custom widget.

UCCW allows you to design your own widget for your homescreen. You simply choose from one of the many skins to create your own look. You can also choose what the widget displays, with options for text, images, weather, clocks, calendar, battery info, missed calls, Gmail, and more.

'Android is cooler than Apple'

SAN FRANCISCO: Holly Riggle, a 29-year-old white-collar worker from Ohio, is just the kind of everyday customer Apple would love to have for its new iPhone 6.

But Riggle is sticking to her Android smartphone, calling Apple less "original" than it was under former CEO Steve Jobs. She's one of the 16% of respondents in a Reuters/Ipsos poll who said Apple had become somewhat or much less cool in the last two years.

By comparison, some 11% of respondents said that Android had lost some sheen in the same timeframe. In a similar poll a year ago, 14.3% of 1,379 people surveyed thought Apple had lost its cool image between 2011 and 2012.

While still a juggernaut, with analysts expecting sales of around 9 million iPhone 6s in its launch weekend, Apple may be losing some of its shine, according to the poll.

More Americans feel that Apple has lost its "coolness" quotient than has the Android brand, according to the poll, conducted September 8-13.

When questioned on how they perceive five popular technology brands — Apple, Android, Microsoft, Dell and Hewlett-Packard — respondents gave the highest coolness factor rating to the Android brand, which includes devices such as Samsung and others that run on Google's mobile operating software.

About 50% said that in the last one to two years, the Android brand had grown cooler, compared with 48% who voted for Apple.

Although the poll is based on a limited sample, it reflects how Android products, which tend to be less expensive, have caused Apple to shed some of its buzz.
"Especially when you have competitors who are doing a lot of innovative things themselves and great advertising, it's not surprising that Apple doesn't have the same cachet and coolness that it once did," said Kevin Lane Keller, a branding expert and professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.

The mobile phone wars have become a lot like politics, with battling Democrats and Republicans, said Rob Janoff, the designer of the Apple logo and an independent branding and design expert based in Chicago.

"You can't carry that magic forever," Janoff said, but that does not mean consumers should dismiss mature brands. "I think people have to accept that companies that are out there, they age."

Last year when it launched its previous version of the iPhone, Apple sold 9 million iPhone 5Ss and 5Cs in the first three days in stores. But drawing a comparison with the iPhone 6 is tricky as sales are based on availability, and Apple has not shared comparable details.

Also, this time iPhone is not launching in China on Friday, unlike last time, Shannon Cross, an analyst with Cross Research, explained.

Many customers will need to wait until next month for their new iPhones after Apple logged a record 4 million first-day pre-orders, double the number for the iPhone 5 two years ago.

Errand-service TaskRabbit said more than 500 people in the US and London have hired individuals at $25 an hour to stand in line at Apple stores to grab the new iPhone, up 43% from requests during iPhone 5 launch two year ago.

Apple's iPhone is "easily broken and expensive to fix," said Jim Jackson, a 55-year old from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, who participated in the survey.

"Apple is following Samsung at this point in terms of design," Jackson added. "A couple of years ago they were making fun of Samsung because Samsung grew big and now they've gone big," he said, referring to the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6-Plus that had hit store shelves on Friday.

That was the only area where Riggle saw innovation at Apple.

"The only new idea they've come up with is that they're adjusting the size of their products," she said.