If you’re an Android user, you know the Google Play Store is\r\nfilled with apps — many of which are outstanding, but some of which… are not.\r\nFinding a few of the hidden, lesser-known gems isn’t a terribly challenging\r\ntask, but it can take a while. So to save you a bit of time, I searched the\r\nPlay Store and came up with five apps you may never have heard of but might\r\nbenefit from using. Let’s see if any of them fits your bill.
Note: This gallery is also available as an article.
As far as proxy apps are concerned, ProxyDroid makes it\r\nworth taking the time to root your device. You’ll also find a handy widget for\r\nenabling/disabling proxies. Note that when you use the widget, you must have\r\nselected the profile to be active within the ProxyDroid settings window. If you’re\r\nlooking for the single most powerful proxy app available, root your phone and\r\nlook no further than ProxyDroid.
Total Commander is, by far, one of\r\nthe ugliest file managers you’ll ever use. It is also one of the best. If\r\noffers a built-in text editor, properties dialog, FTP/sFTP/WebDAV/OBEX support,\r\nplug-ins for cloud services, and features that let you copy/move whole\r\nsubdirectories, drag and drop, zip/unzip/rar, select/unselect groups of files,\r\nsearch, select a range of files/folders, and much more
Total commander is like getting the old-school UNIX Midnight\r\nCommander on your Android device… only with an updated feature set and a slightly updated interface. One cool\r\ninterface feature: If you’re viewing in portrait mode, Total Commander displays\r\na single pane. However, when viewing in landscape mode, you see a dual-pane\r\ninterface.
RedLaser is a great\r\nprice-comparison shopping app. Just scan a barcode and it will crawl the\r\ninternet and display the best online prices available. From there, you can tap\r\nthe top price to open the item in a web browser and purchase it.
If you can’t sleep because there’s just too much quiet,\r\nAmbio will soothe you into slumber with the sounds of the ocean, rain, ticking\r\nclocks, fans, airplane cabins, heartbeats, white noise, and much more. And if\r\nyou don’t like the included sounds, you can download more (including premium\r\nsounds). You can even pause sounds and create your own mixes (combining four\r\nsounds to create the perfect cacophony of noise to make you forget you’re in an\r\nunfamiliar hotel bed trying desperately to get enough sleep to make the next\r\nday of work possible.
Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic, The New Stack, and Linux New Media. He's covered a variety of topics for over twenty years and is an avid promoter of open source. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.
