Top Free Android Apps for your Phone- Part 1

Good free Apps availability is one of the major factor for anyone to switch to Android device or smartphone. Today’s posts is extension to our Forum Mod Ashwin thread at Avinashtech Forum about Top Free Android Apps. The list below is compiled by him and I am just trying to add more details here. (Thank you Ash).

We will talk about Free Apps available in Android Market which offer loads of additional features for your phone without spending any money. Some of the apps are lite versions of the Pro version or ad supported. As the list of Apps is too long, we will cover them in series of posts. This post is first in that series.

Communication and Internet:Call/Message Blocking:

Easy Filter

Easy Filter was one of the best App available for blocking unwanted calls and SMS sometime back. But not sure what prompted developers to add some spam stuff with the app after their latest update, which asks users to join some third party sites before using the app or checking the blocked list etc. All this spam kind of stuff perhaps lead to Easy filter being removed from the Android Market. Right now, this app is not available for download from Android Market.

Mr. Number

Mr. Number App lets you tell friends when you’re free to take a call and will send divert the calls to voicemail when you’re busy. It block calls and texts from any phone number, any area code or prefix, all private and restricted calls, or block everyone except your contacts per your setting.

You can configure as many contacts or numbers to block the calls or SMS or text.

You can block call with ‘pick up and hang up’ or ‘send to voicemail’ option. You can also make exceptions. It also has the ability to add new contacts to your address book with just one click.

Data based Calling: (free calls via Internet, read the ToS of app before using)
Skype

Skype as most of you know is the most popular VOIP client available on the web. You can use it to talk to your friends anywhere who have a internet access and skype client installed. Using the android Skype app, you can talk to your friends just like as you do though your phone. It lets you have Skype-to-Skype IM, calls and video calls over 3G or WiFi.

Contacts
GO Contacts

If you are not happy with the default contact manager in Android, then Go Contacts is the right app for you with loads of additional features like Smart dialing, fast search, grouping, duplicates merge and secure backup/recovery.

aContacts
aContacts is another T9 dialer with features like Contact search by group, company, T9 search (Eng, Russian, German, Hebrew, Swedish, Czech, Romanian, Polish),  Search in any field,  Grouping phone contacts, Advanced call log, Callback reminders and speed dial.

Data Usage Monitoring
3G Watchdog

If you are using a data plan which is not unlimited, then you need to keep tab on how much data your phone is using so that you do not have to pay more for excess data usage above your plan. 3G Watchdog  is a free Android App which lets you keep track of your data and monitors Mobile Internet (3G/Edge/GPRS) data usage.

Dialer:

Go Dialer : This is a part of Go Contacts with additional smart dialing feature.

Dialer One

Dialer One is another great dialer withsmart multilingual T9 like dialer application, Speed dial,  Call log grouped by contact, Swipe between screens ability, Tone dial etc.

Messaging: aka SMS/Texting

Handcent SMS is a powerful free sms/mms tools for your android phone having features like Group sending options,batch send SMS, SMS Popup with quick text, Security lock options, smileys, password protect handcent app and your stock messaing application and loads of other features.

GO SMS PRO ( FREE)

GO SMS Pro is a free Android SMS app with loads of features like better UI, chat/list style, popups, backup/restore, scheduler, encryption, blacklist, folders, many themes and tons of other settings.

We will cover more Android apps in our next post. Stay tuned. If we missed any of your favorite Apps, tell us and we will be happy to include them here.