You might have noticed the increasing number of Apple-, iPhone, or iPad-related posts here at Ask the Expert. Well, we can’t help it: the tech company makes excellent products – and apps – that we think are suitable for home use.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that our team of installation professionals doesn’t have love for Android. We love Google’s mobile platform, too. And it is the most popular mobile OS in the world, by sheer numbers. So that’s why we came up with this list of today’s most useful Android apps (for your Android smartphone or tablet) – Hooked Up Installs Edition.
Plex for Android
Plex for Android serves as a mobile media center – right in your hand. The app allows you to browse and play your videos, photos, and music either from your device or on your Mac or PC (via streaming from the Plex Media Server). In that sense, the app helps bridge the gap between your Android device and your home theater – all in one neat and gorgeous interface. Plex also enables you to stream online media through Plex Channels for CNET and Revision 3, among other online content sources.
Sonos Controller for Android
If you have a Sonos wireless hi-fi system in your home theater or home entertainment room, then this Android app is a must. The Sonos Controller for Android is a free wireless controller that manages your whole library, performs library searches using your voice commands, and allows you to listen to your music from every room in your house. You can play a different song in every room or play your favorite single in perfect sync in all your rooms – using just your Wi-Fi home network. No cables! This Android app also works with AUPEO, Deezer, Last.Fm, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify, Stitcher, and other online services that offer DRM-free tracks.
PrinterShare Mobile Print
Working from home? Preparing a set of paperwork for your early morning meeting at the office? Use PrinterShare Mobile Print to print your documents – DOC, DOCX, XLS, XSLX, PPT, PPTX, PDF, TXT, photos, Gmail messages, SMS/MMS mesages – directly from your Android device to your home or office printer.
Pandora
We’ve featured this Internet radio app in our list of useful iPad apps, but Android users won’t have to feel alienated because there’s a version of Pandora made just for Android. Pandora is a free personalized radio service that streams music on your Android device. Start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it.
Vlingo Virtual Assistant
Don’t feel like doing anything? You’ll be glad to work with the Vlingo Android app, which uses fast, intelligent, and accurate voice-to text technology to get things done using a personal virtual assistant. What can Vlingo do for you? Well, it can type, find restaurants, update your social networks, search the Web, look up travel deals, and find businesses, among many other things. The app was also recently significantly expanded to include a new beta feature called the “ActionBar”; there’s also excellent integration with the content and capabilities of KAYAK, Fandango, and OpenTable.
TuneIn Radio
Forget big, boxy, actual radios that take up precious real estate in your home theater or living room. Use TuneIn Radio instead. It’s an Android app that lets you listen live to your favorite radio stations, DJs, programs, talk radio shows, sports, news, podcasts. TuneIn has over 50,000 channels, featuring the best of today’s local, global, and Internet radio.
RemoteDroid
Developer Joshua Sera created this neat little (free) app, which turns your Android phone or Android tablet into a wireless keyboard and mouse with touchpad. RemoteDroid uses your Wi-Fi network to do that. Features include: touch-screen mouse control; two on-screen mouse buttons, with right-click and control-click functionality; portrait and landscape modes; and compatibility with Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems.
SqueezeControl
SqueezeControl is a feature-rich Android app that enables you to control your Logitech Squeezebox Server, search your whole library, play Internet radio, view cover art, and download albums and songs to your device. It’s a really clean app that’s fast and easy to use. Best of all? It’s free.
Lightswitch
Fan of home automation? Lightswitch is an excellent Android app for connecting your HomePlanner, JB Lightmanager Pro, HomeDaemon, Heyu, ThinkingHome, zVirtualScenes, or Zwave Commander automation systems to your Android device. No more remotes or manual effort needed to control the lights and thermostat in every room of your house. With the Lightswitch app, you can start managing your home automation systems with the touch of a finger.
Lightning Bug – Sleep Clock
Forget alarm clocks, sleep timers, yoga, and desktop fountain thingies. A visual sound machine is what your home needs, and the Lightning Bug Android app delivers just that. Studying a new recipe in the kitchen? Setting up your home theater? Cleaning up on a lazy weekend? Looking to relax after a long day at work? The app is basically a simple but powerful ambience and white noise mixer for Android, and it comes with an expanding library of sound loops, samples, and sound visualizations ranging from the natural peace of rain storms and ocean waves, to pure white noise, city trains, meditation bells, acoustic and electronic instruments, and down-tempo break beats. Lightning Bug also integrates a sleep timer, an alarm clock with customizable snooze, a customizable digital clock, and a plugin architecture with which you can download premium stuff.
DirecTV Free
The DirecTV remote control is a free Android app that gives you full control of your DirecTV receiver. The app includes a status bar notification and auto-discovery of your receivers, so you don’t have to spend hours configuring you system and connecting it to your Android device. There’s also a Pro version of the app, which includes features such as the ability to create a favorite channel guide as well as access to full DVR playlists.
Shazam on Android
Love the music but don’t know the name of the song or the artist? Shazam is a music recognition and discovery engine that lets you identify what song is playing, preview it, read the lyrics, track and album reviews, see tour dates, buy the song direct on Amazon, and share it to friends. Here’s the coolest part of the app, which has free and premium versions: the sound doesn’t necessarily have to be coming from your Android device. You simply point your device towards the music source – be it your home theater, the club or the bar, at a pub, a speaker at the department store, an FM radio, or the soundtrack on TV. Shazam’s patented pattern recognition technology works in real-world environments – enabling you to identify music when you hear it.
Seekdroid
Lost your Android phone? No worries. With the Seekdroid app, you’ll be able to track it easily and secure your data before someone else gets to your device. This Android app costs less than a buck, but is priceless in situations where you can’t seem to remember, or find, where you last placed your phone. If it’s been stolen, you can wipe the data on your device remotely. Other features include: alarm with custom messages, remotely enabled GPS, map location display, and device lock with custom code.
