Reader's choice: 11 Android smartphone apps to die for

Get Ahead reader Rahul Choudhary, a class XII student who has topped a national level computer test in Uttarakhand, lists out 11 to-die-for Android apps.

Got a new fancy Android smartphone? Overwhelmed by homogenous number of apps available on Google Market (now Play Store)? It is evident to get confused as to what apps are worth downloading. So to rescue you guys from trouble here is a list of must-have apps for every Android user.

1. All Angry Birds

The pigs have stolen the bird's eggs, they are angry and they want revenge. Objective is simple -- to destroy the greedy pigs' fortresses.

This is the most downloaded and played game on mobile devices across all platforms.

The developers (Rovio) of Angry Birds keep on updating the stages so it never gets old. It has four versions -- Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Seasons and the latest entrant is Angry Birds Space. It is available free on Android unlike IOS or Windows Mobile.

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2. MySettings

All settings quickly accessible in one app, it helps to quickly, without digging into settings, turn off unwanted services thus improving battery life.

It is better than the inbuilt power bar since it allows you to control more settings in one place.

3. 3G Watchdog

Days of unlimited data on mobile are over. Therefore there always is a necessity to monitor your data usage.

This app does just that; the nice part is that it clearly shows how much data you have used and how much time has passed in two different parallel bars.

Just keep both bars consistent and you are good to go.

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4. RD Mute

A neat app that mutes the phone ring sound when the phone is turned upside down. It really helps in certain situations.

It also has car mode which mutes the phone depending on the speed the car user is driving.

In case you don't want to mute important callers just add them to the exception list.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

5. Apps2SD

Phone memory in Android phones is usually inadequate with exception of high-end models. But thankfully some of the apps can be transferred to the SD card.

But it may be painfully long and time consuming to move one app at a time. Here is when Apps2SD comes into play. It lists all apps that can be moved to SD card and allows you to do so much faster.

Also whenever you install a new app that can be moved to SD card it notifies making sure none of the movable app is eating up space from precious phone memory.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

6. Google Sky Maps

Ever saw a star in the sky and wondered what its name could be? Now you don't need to wonder, just point your phone towards the sky and this app will name the star.

It also recognises other celestial bodies.

Since this app just coordinates a picture of all visible stars with the users' current location there is no data download required.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

7. Merriam Webster Dictionary

This is the best dictionary app on Android platform. Its plus point is that it allows you to look for definition of words offline.

Along with definition it also provides synonyms and antonyms. This is a great app for reference and vocabulary building.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

8. MixZing

The default player on Android is pretty basic.

This app overcomes all limitations of default Android music player. It has graphic equalizer, tag editor, sleep timer, automatically downloads missing album art, display lyrics and even more.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

9. MoboPlayer

Default Android player lacks ability to play different formats of videos. But MoboPlayer plays all the videos using software decoding.

It also supports external subtitles. It thus eliminates the hassle of converting videos.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

10. Opera Mini

This mobile web browser is prominent for its data-saving abilities and is the most used browser on mobiles across all platforms. It can save up to 90 per cent of data while browsing.

When we open a page on Opera instead of directly receiving from entered web site server it goes through opera servers. The opera servers do the job of compressing the pages and making them as light as possible.

After this process the page is displayed to user making it radically light. This is a great app for users on slow connection or limited data plans.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

11. Dolphin HD

It's a full-fledged web browser for your phone. It is fast, easy to use and supports flash (depends on phone).

The feature list of Dolphin is pretty exhaustive; the highlights are: add-on support, gesture, tabbed browsing, sonar-voice search and more.

If the feature you are looking for is not present you can simply add it via add-ons.

Besides these apps there is definitely an app for everything that is on any users mind. Just search Google Play Store for terms like dialer, launcher, fitness, etc. and rest assured you will find a suitable app.

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Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.