Android has a built-in battery monitor that indicates how much battery a specific app has consumed. But it does not suit you when you’re trying to keep track of battery consumption. The Badass Battery Monitor Android app, on the other hand, gives better insight on power consumption. It gives detailed info on how much power is consumed, and by which apps. Badass Battery Monitor app for Android can be downloaded for $1.99.

How Badass Battery Monitor App Works?

The main screen of Android Badass Battery Monitor gives a list showing how much battery power has been consumed by the phone, screen, WiFi , phone radio, when the phone was held awake, Bluetooth, and apps. You can access additional functions from the Menu or by clicking on the blue ‘>’ icon on the right of list items. On top of the screen is displayed the average time and talk time left for the remaining battery. While this may not be entirely precise, it certainly gives a good idea of your battery’s health.

Another list shows the % battery consumed by individual applications; the difference between % of battery consumed by individual apps and foreground CPU usage; CPU minutes used by individual applications; the difference between CPU minutes used by individual apps and foreground CPU usage; network data used by individual applications; sensor time used by individual apps; GPS time used by individual applications; the total time individual apps had held the device awake; and the number of times individual applications woke up your Android smartphone.

Further, you can view the Android Badass Battery Monitor application icon in the notification bar displaying the percentage of battery left. You can also opt to have an app widget on the screen that shows the remaining battery life. The user interface is well laid out; while there are a plethora of options and information on the screen, it is not confusing at all at any point, thanks to its user friendly user interface layout.

Final Thoughts

Badass Battery Monitor app for Android will certainly give you more grips over the battery power management of your device. It provides a thorough breakup of the power consumption by different apps and processes in your phone. If you’re sort of person who is not comfortable with numbers, you can rely on the app’s prediction of battery life left/average talk time left so that you know when to shutdown power hungry processes in your device. Overall, a must have application for any Android user.

It is always wise to have a backup plan for your smart phones, especially if you tend to carry many important files/documents in your mobile device. 0 Backup Gold app for Android lets you wirelessly backup the files and folders stored in internal storage as well as SD Card of your Android devices to your Windows PC. The only catch is that both the Android phone and your PC must be connected to the same WiFi network, and your PC has at least one shared folder. 0 Backup Gold Android App can be downloaded for $1.96.

How 0 Backup Gold App Works?

0 Backup Gold app for Android is set to backup your files and folders from the /sdcard/ folder by default. However, you can easily backup the contents of your Android device’s internal storage as well, if you wish so. Other notable features of 0 Backup include an option to ‘exclude’ chosen files and folders from being included in a backup, and the option to remove backup from the server (which is nothing but your Windows PC) that are no longer in your Android smart phone . The 0 Backup can also be set to perform backup action at fixed times (automatic scheduling), or only when your phone is charging.

The big advantage of using Windows’ shared folder is that you don’t need to install any additional software in the PC for backing up. However, it may be a tad confusing as to how to setup 0 Backup Gold for first timers at least. But the detailed help guide with screenshots in the developer website could guide one on what is required to be done on your Windows PC.

The user interface of Android 0 Backup app is well laid out and quite easy to navigate around. Downloading and installing the app is a breeze. Its low file size (316 KB) means that the app does not take up much system resources either. 0 Backup works with Android version 1.6 and higher.

Conclusion

0 Backup Gold App for Android makes backing up files from your smart phone to your PC a cake walk. The best part is that you don’t have to install any software in the PC to perform the backup. However, the compulsion to have both your Android device and PC in the same WiFi network is an apparent downside. To sum it up, 0 Backup Gold app is a handy backup application to have in your Android smart phones, for Windows PC users.

Lookout app for Android is much like your antivirus program; it protects your smart phone against potential spyware and malware programs. The app also has one feature every phone must ideally have: device locator. And most importantly, Lookout is quite easy on system resources. Lookout Android app is a paid app ($2.99/month).

How Lookout App Works?

Lookout app for Android provides triple-threat protection, against malware, device loss/theft, and an eye for malicious programs that access more personal info than you might realize. The free version of the app provides malware scans, Find My Phone feature, and cloud-back up for your contacts. The paid version adds four more features: safe browsing to block phishing/malicious sites, remote wipe and lock, private advisor for your applications, and cloud back up for your photos and call history, so that you can restore the same on your new device anytime.

You need to register for a user account using a valid email address. You can use the same email ID to log into your online account in Mylookout.com. From there, you can perform system scan. If some malware is found, it is deleted automatically. Scans are performed by default every day, or when you are about to download an app. If you prefer scheduled scans, you can have it that way as well.

One of the biggest pluses of Android Lookout application is that it doesn’t hog system resources. Lookout’s safe browsing feature negates phishing attempts. This feature prevents your browser from opening malicious links. The app launches itself as soon as you open any browser. Lookout’s device locate feature lets you remotely lock your Android device, if you’d lost it, or perform a factory reset, by logging into the admin portal. It is also possible to make your phone let out a shrill sound, which would certainly scare the daylights out of the thief who has your phone. The sound can only turned off by logging into your Mylookout.com account.

Each Lookout account comes with 1.5GB of cloud storage, which is more than enough to back up most users’ contacts, photos and call history. Finally, Lookout can geo-locate your lost phone using WiFi, GPS or the location of the nearest cell tower, and pin the location on Google Maps, viewable from your Lookout online admin portal. Privacy advisor feature lets you an overview of all the permissions required by all your apps. It is also possible to uninstall an app from within Lookout, if required.

On the downside, Lookout won’t alert you even if someone changes the SIM.

Conclusion

Lookout app for Android provides a complete package as far as your mobile security aspect is concerned. Verdict: A must have for your Android phone.

tTorrent Pro app is a torrent client for Android. In fact, one of the best in the game at the moment as far as downloading and distributing files is concerned. tTorrent Pro App for Android may be downloaded at a cost of $3.91.

How tTorrent Pro App Works?

tTorrent Pro app for Android has a funny user interface; when you open the application, you’ll see virtually nothing. You may have to tap on the menu to bring out the options. In order to search torrents, you need to install Transdroid search engine. If you attempt search without Transdroid, the app will prompt you to install the search engine.

Using Transdroid, you can search any file type, and the app will list the available torrent files. If you don’t know it yet, every torrent file carries its date of creation, file size, alongside the total number of seeds/peers available. The torrents will be displayed in the descending order of the number of seeds, thereby ensuring high speed downloads.

Now tap a file name to bring up the download options screen. From there, you can view the files contained in the package, and you can initiate a download, if you wish so. Click ‘download’ to start downloading straightaway. tTorrent Pro supports up to 8 torrents simultaneously, and seed up to eight torrents at a time, with the option to queue up downloads. Searching torrents is not limited to keyword search in tTorrent Pro. You can subscribe to RSS feeds, and start downloading when a new file is added at the site your app has been monitoring. From the ‘Settings’ screen, you can control the refresh frequency of your RSS feed. Simultaneous download is turned on by default. You can change the same from the ‘Settings’ screen. You can change the download speed, file directory, or even the torrent search engine from the ‘Settings’ screen.

tTorrent Pro Android application supports downloads over WiFi only out-of-the-box. However, options to download through WiMax or any other data connection are available in the ‘Settings’ screen. tTorrent Pro offers myriad options to manage download. For example, you can stop/pause download at will, and resume later, delete file alongside the original .torrent, recheck download, or move file from the present directory.

On the downside, you can’t stop downloading a file by sampling tapping on it. Instead, you have to tap and hold your finger for couple of seconds before the concerned menu pops up. Singe-touch option would have been more welcome, even though most of us can put up with waiting couple of seconds.

Final Thoughts

tTorrent Pro app for Android is feature packed, and is apparently the best torrent client out there. It is easy to use, fast, and reliable. Verdict: A handy app for all your on-the-go torrenting needs.

Handy Scanner Pro PDF Creator App for Android is a simple, yet efficient document scanner application. The app uses your phone’s camera to capture documents, and let you convert them into PDF that can be shared in multiple ways. The Pro- version of Handy Scanner Android app may be downloaded for $3.99, while the ad-supported thinned down version comes free of cost. Handy Scanner works with Android OS versions 2.2 or higher.

How Handy Scanner Pro PDF Creator App Works?

Android Handy Scanner Pro ‘scans’ your documents using the device’s camera. Once you’ve hit ‘done’ button, you’ll be asked to select the edges of the document from the photo. On doing that, the app smoothes out the document and crops out the parts of the picture/document that is not required. You’ll be then provided some color and quality options, such as contrast and gray-scale or printer enhancements, to optimize the picture quality. Now the ‘scanned’ image is ready to be saved or shared via email or SNS. The entire process from scanning to saving should not take more than couple of minutes max.

However, Handy Scanner app for Android might not deliver perfect results in the case of color photos or other complex documents. For example, if you try to ‘scan’ a paper with a glossy surface such as a magazine cover, the flash could cause glare that will show up in the final product as well. In short, the app works well with plaintext or black & white documents, and using the basic enhancement settings, you can easily make fax or photocopier replicas of the originals inside few seconds. The user interface is well laid out, with all menu options easily accessible.

Final Thoughts

In a situation where someone asks for a scanned copy of a document, and you’re not anywhere near a scanner or photo copier, an app like Handy Scanner Pro PDF Creator app for Android can be a life saver. It is easy to use and you can finish the job pretty quick. However, it should be kept in mind that the quality of the final product depend a lot of camera quality. So, if you got an 8MP camera, the results will be really good. If you still got doubts, try out the free version of Handy Scanner app first, before deciding whether to go for the Pro version.

There are lots of live wallpapers available in the Android Market. But there are only few options available to the users to change/modify them to suit their changing tastes. Light Grid Pro app for Android is one such application that provides unlimited wallpaper customization options, plus features to create your own. You can download Light Grid Pro from the Android Market Place for a nominal $0.99/license.

How Light Grid Pro Android App Works?

Light Grid Pro app for Android not only offers a wide array of attractive backgrounds, but also provides extensive customization options that were not seen on any app of this kind. If you wish to do minimal customization, you can start with the pre-defined styles that come with the app. The said styles are based on various shapes like squares, hexagons and lines. Each of them has got animated details that cause the background to slowly change as you use the phone.

But the real fun of Light Grid Pro Android app is in creating your own wallpapers. You can have a free run of your creativity on the various options available to customize a wallpaper. You can choose various shapes (such as Triangles, Squares, Hexagons, Circles (grid & Hex layouts), and horizontal/vertical bars) and colors, change/adjust their sizes, add outlines, or even set how much the wallpaper shifts while switching home screens. Further, you can add ripple effect, adjust the size of ripple, add touch effects, and adjust how often and fast a shape slide. There are also options for you to take screenshots of your creations, share themes with your friends, and even save and mange themes at will. Even though these may appear to be whole lots of options, they are properly listed under settings.

If to point out a downside, Android Light Grid Pro has no option whatsoever to add 3D effects. It would have been great had the app offered 3D wallpaper customization as well. Also, keep in mind that customization of wall papers takes longer than you think before you would be able to upload the final product.

Conclusion

Using Light Grid Pro app for Android, you can customize live wallpapers (or create them altogether) with virtually endless combinations of colors/shapes/effects. You can have your own rules, and have your own wallpapers adoring your phone’s screen space. Verdict: Must have if you’re bored of your current crop of live wallpapers.

If you are in the habit of reading eBooks in your Android phone, online or otherwise, perhaps this is one application that you should seriously consider having in your gadget. It supports multiple formats and languages, have different themes to choose from, and a very pleasing user interface.

How Moon+ Reader App Works

Moon+ Reader app for Android has got a very simple layout that is very easy to navigate around. Once installed, Moon+ Reader automatically integrates any eBooks that is already saved in the SD card into the app. Also, you can opt to download eBooks from the multiple eBooks catalogue that comes pre-installed. The search function comes handy to sort your choice of books or based on any particular writer. On the downside, each catalogue seems to use a different search filter; so the precision of results seem to vary a bit.

The same search feature can be made use of to search the eBooks in your SD Card. Moon+ Reader supports multiple file types such as txt, html, epub, umd, fb2, chm, zip or OPDS. Also, it is a fully customizable application; you can change the font, font size, alignment, orientation, margins, line spacing, background image or even set up hardware buttons to perform specific actions (such as turning the page). The app also got a day-night mode, read-aloud feature and option for bookmarking. The coolest feature in the app however is the ability to highlight and mark passages as you wish. You can then add it to your notes, and have it translated (if in a foreign language) using Send to Dictionary feature.

The graphical part of Moon+ Reader application certainly stands out. The page-turning animation and book shelf style browsing gives a pleasing experience to the reader. If you are a person who frequently looks for variety, you’ll love the fact that the Moon+ Reader app also supports 10+ themes.

If to point out another negative, the app does not support PDF.

The pro version of Android Moon+ Reader app (priced at $4.50) comes with added features such as multi-point touch , headset and Bluetooth key control, sharing of annotations, direct-to-book home screen shortcuts, highlights and bookmarks, ad free and a “shake to read” function.

Final Thoughts

Except for the lack of support for PDF, Moon+ Reader Android app has everything you look for in an eBook reader for your smartphone. It is easy to use, feature rich, and above all, comes at a reasonable price tag. Verdict: A must have for your Android phone/tab if you are an avid reader.

Solo app for Android was good before Eric Clapton got his hands on it, but now that he actually played the app to perfection on national television, there is no question that Solo Android application has become the guitar app of choice for the guitar playing population. It is a cheap app to purchase when you consider all of the features that it has.

Jam with lots of features

Solo app for Android is definitely the app to use when you are looking to jam with lots of features. Whether you are interested in looking at different chords and therefore would like to use the chord library or you are interested in creating your own chords, Solo Guitar Android app can definitely help you get that done.

Would you like to jam with music that you already have? Simply play the music on your phone and away you go as far as jamming is concerned. A capo options are available if you’d like to sing while playing and you can even create, save and later load your own chord layouts on Solo for the Android.

Choose your guitar

Not only will Android Solo app give you the chance to use all of these options, but it will give you the chance to use these options with pretty much any guitar layout that you can conceive. Are you interested in playing with the old-style tunes? The classical guitar option on this app might be what you want to have in that case. Would you like something that deals more with natural sounds? Go right ahead and change over to the acoustic guitar which does a great job of emulating the sound you might hear from a real acoustic guitar. Finally, the electric guitar option will give you the authentic sound common to the best of the guitarists in the modern age of music, allowing you to play along with the majority of modern songs.

Final Score

Solo app for Android will give you the chance to really play the guitar without having a guitar. There are of course limitations on how accurate an Android app can be when compared with the real thing, but you will find that Solo for the Android is about as good as it can get when all of these things are brought into consideration. We love Solo Android application and that is why even with the $3.98 price tag we would give it a hearty recommendation with a final score of 10 out of 10.

SwiftKey Keyboard app for Android uses AI to make typing fast and reliable across 17 languages. It comes with an assortment of features such as next-word prediction, bilingual predictions, auto learning, voice-to-text, and multi-touch to provide a new typing experience altogether to the user. A trial version of SwiftKey Keyboard can be downloaded for free, while its full-version comes with a price tag of $1.99.

The Application

For some people at least, especially the non-techie types, installing a new app can be confusing, and SwiftKey Keyboard Android app seems to have taken this into consideration. During installation, a self run app will take the user through the set up process, including letting him/her choose the language of preference, and even directing to the settings page where the keyboard needs to be enabled. You just need to simply follow the path shown by the said ‘guidance’ app to complete the installation process.

Unlike other keyboard apps for Android, SwiftKey Keyboard application uses natural language processing technology and machine learning to offer unrivalled word prediction and correction. As a result, while you type a word/phrase, the app will attempt to predict the next word, from the context of your sentence. The more you use the app, the more precise the app becomes in terms of word prediction.

The Android SwiftKey Keyboard app also seamlessly integrates with any Android theme that you have in your handset. Save the additional features, the keyboard works similar to the Sense and Swype keyboards for most parts. For example, in selecting symbols, simply long press on a particular key on the SwiftKey Keyboard app for Android to bring up the symbol you need. At variance is the ‘#’ sign that is buried deep under secondary symbol menu. Such minor issues apart, the SwiftKey Keyboard app delivers what it promises.

Conclusion

Those looking for a new and robust keyboard for their Android handsets may safely try out the SwiftKey Keyboard application. It is easy to use, precise for most parts in terms of next-word prediction, and supports a multitude of languages from around the globe. Since the app walks one through the set up process, it is a non-brainer even for a first timer, the multistep process of installation/setup notwithstanding. Verdict: SwiftKey Keyboard app for Android handy keyboard application that improves your typing efficiency, albeit marginally.

There are many different options available to people that want widgets for the desktops of their Android devices. You can go with the many great free options out there, but if you would like to pay a little more in order to get a lot back, Beautiful Widgets app for Android could very well be the app for you.

Lots of choice

One of the major improvements that Beautiful Widgets Android app will give you over the average free app is the fact that you get a lot more choice. A normal free widget app might give you something basic, but Beautiful Widgets for the Android gives you a lot more.

You can get many different skins of 2×1 and 4×1 clocks and you can get different inputs for battery power, date, weather and everything in between. These are the widgets that most people want for their phones and instead of having to download a bunch of different apps from a bunch of different places, Beautiful Widgets for the Android will give you the chance to get them in one package.

Customization

If there is one strength to Beautiful Widgets app for Android that should be emphasized over anything else, it might be the fact that you can customize the widgets that you get with this app to a great degree. No longer do you have to worry about downloading a free widget app only to find that it really isn’t anything that you are interested in displaying on your desktop.

Android Beautiful Widgets application gives you the full power of creative thought. You can change colours, change sizes, swap different widgets out for each other and do everything in between. The power is there if you want to use it and that is one of the major reasons why this app is as popular as it has become.

Final Score

Beautiful Widgets app for Android is not a free mobile application. It will cost you a total of $2.80 when all is said and done, but you do need to keep in mind that you get a lot for that small amount of money invested . Overall, Beautiful Widgets for the Android has a lot to offer for that small amount of money and we appreciate this fact. That is why our final score for Beautiful Widgets Android app is 9 out of 10.