How to determine Quality of Android Apps

For those that would prefer not to be too risky with Android Apps, this post is for you.

Even though I subscribed to news from XDA, there are a lot more apps that being posted at many more forum. I would like to try them out, but would not like to mess up with my SGS2.

Usually I would like to try new apps on my SGS2, however I have a set of rules to determine should I try the apps or not.

1. If you are getting an apps from other forums, check on Google Play first if there is free version available. Google Play is the trusted source of apps or apk. There are trusted forums, but we cannot confirm all the posted apk are safe.

2. Second point for consideration is to look at "Average rating". Unless I am very interested with the apps, I will just skip anything that is less than 4.0 rating.

3. The third one to look at is "User Reviews". There are reasons why user would give a 1 star or 2 star.

4. The forth one that always make or break is how many percent of users gave 1 star out of total users that gave review. Example for this apps, there is about 19.9% users gave 1 star! This is one of the apps we should avoid!


I have listed out the steps for searching quality Android apps, hope that you can have a reference to find your favourite apps. :-)


Like this if you are FB user and you think this post is useful. The button is at top right of content of this post.
+1 this post if you are Google+ users and you think this post is useful.
Hope you will enjoy this post, subscribe to my RSS or mailing list or follow me on blogger or twitter. :)
source: I wrote this!

ICS Launcher for Gingerbread and Froyo

One of the problem with smartphone is the hardware will be outdated much faster than software. For PC or laptop or desktop, usually we can use for at least 3 to 5 years until it is really slow, but for smartphone the apps and OS upgrade force users to change to a new phone in less than 3 year or most of the time 2 years. Apple in that other hand have a new iPhone every year, so you must buy a new iPhone every year to enjoy the full goodness of new iOS.

Luckily for Android users that there are always developers that write very nice interface or theme or launch for others user to enjoy and most of the time they are free!

The Launcher that I going to show here is Holo Launcher, which looks very similar with ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich, a.k.a Android 4.0). In fact it is based on Android 4.0.4 Launcher, so you will get the same feel.

pic credit: Google Play

Some of Holo Launcher features:

1. Full ICS Style
• ICS Icons, Folders, Outlines, Drawer Tabs, etc.
2. Custom Desktop Pages/Grid
• Up to 9 desktop pages and 10 x 10 grid.
3. Custom Drawer Portrait/landscape Grid
• Set different drawer grid for portrait and landscape screen.
4. Scrollable Dock
• Up to 7 icons per page and up to 3 pages.
5. Infinite Scrolling
• Loop through your desktop/drawer/dock continuously.
6. Desktop Previews
• Pinch to access desktop previews.
7. Backup and Restore
• Backup and restore your settings and shortcuts.
8. Other Customization Options
• Keep in memory, home key action, hide labels, etc.

One of the thing I like about Holo Launcher is no root required. Some people might prefer to stay away from rooting their Android, so this is the apps for you. Just download, install, configure and you are good to go.


To download from Google Play, go to this link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobint.hololauncher

If you prefer to download directly:
Holo Launcher Stable APK
Holo Launcher Beta APK

You can also help to translate Holo Launcher to your language:
Holo Launcher Translation

Like this if you are FB user and you think this post is useful. The button is at top right of content of this post.
+1 this post if you are Google+ users and you think this post is useful.
Hope you will enjoy this post, subscribe to my RSS or mailing list or follow me on blogger or twitter. :)
source:TARGET="_blank" XDA