Technology & News: Free Apps To Recommend Part 7

Image from Samsung Galaxy Note II

It's not easy to break away from the food recipes and restaurant recommendation sharing these days because there isn't much out there that interests me. It's either scorching hot or pouring wet outside. This got me to stay indoor all the time. I miss my football and I can only play that on my PC nowadays.

Then again, if you are always staying indoor and your best friend is still your smartphone, then you might want to have a few new apps to play around with. Recently, I have found a few practical ones for the Android devices, sorry iPhone fanboys.

The first one is PicsArt, one of the best apps on the Galaxy Note and Note II because it is a camera . photo-editing app designed specifically for the S Pen.

The lady does look like a lot like a Korean,doesn't she? She speaks like an American-born Chinese though.

Anyway, I really like the function that you can use the pen to apply or remove effect partially from the photo. I've used it once and I have decided that I can remove a bunch of other photo-editing apps now.

Intelligent Ringer
Image from XDA-developers

The next one is called Intelligent Ringer, developed by XDA member soulreaver1. Quoting from the XDA Forum,

Intelligent Ringer aims to adjust the ringtone volume based on the amount of noise level of the environment the phone is in. It does this by analyzing the amount of sounds with the phone’s camera microphone and adjusting the ringtone volume down for when all’s quiet (such as a library), or higher during situations when it’ll be hard to hear the ringtone (i.e. a party). Users can adjust the sensitivity and accuracy of the microphone, the minimum and maximum volume, among other settings available. Intelligent Ringer also changes the volume when it detects the phone in your pocket thanks to the proximity sensor.

This is an extremely useful app if it works. I haven't tried it yet because I like to manually change volume myself, but I can imagine how immensely useful this app is who truly like to have a "Smart" phone.

Hi App Lock

Image from XDA-developers

The next one is Hi App Lock, developed by XDA member hiapp. Quoting from XDA forum,

Hi App Lock allows you to lock any app on your phone with a four to eight digit PIN. A more efficient way of protecting information from intruders than apps that require you to navigate to a specific location to view protected files, Hi App Locks simply prompts for a PIN input every time you want to open up an app. This method also allows for the flexibility to protect any sort of data and information that may be on your phone such as emails, bank details, photos, text messages, and so forth.

So if you don't want your wife to find out who(m) you have called, lock it! You don't want to disclose your contact, lock it! You want to restrict your kid from playing games, lock the games! You don't want them to install other apps so they can phone chat, lock Google Play!

Hey, you know what's even cooler? Remote lock and unlock the apps, then you can make sure your kid never get out of your control!!! (Locky's snickering!) Maybe I should tell hiapp about this great suggestion!

SidePanel
Image from XDA-developers

For those who doesn't own a Samsung Galaxy device but envy their multitasking ability, you can try SidePanel, developed by XDA sukso96100. I know very little about this app because I don't need it, because I have a Galaxy Note II, but if you are using other Android devices, you can give it a go.

Battery Style

Image from XDA-developers

Battery Style, developed by XDA member OsamaGhareeb, you need to root your phone and follow a series of instructions to install this app. Whether this is worth the chore is for you to decide.


Vocabulary:
fanboy -- (n)[C] a person considered to belong to one or more fandoms to a point of obsession
bunch -- (n)[C] a number of things of the same type fastened together or in a close group
immensely -- (adv) extremely
snicker -- (vb)[I] (also snigger) to laugh at someone or something in a silly and often unkind way:
chore -- (n) a job or piece of work that is often boring or unpleasant but needs to be done regularly:

Resources:

GALAXY Note II - Photo Editing with PicsArt @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/43Jpi3pgn8Y

No More Ringtone Surprises with Intelligent Ringer @ XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/no-more-ringtone-surprises-with-intelligent-ringer/

Keep Your Phone Safe from Prying Eyes  @  XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/keep-your-phone-safe-from-prying-eyes/

The Open Source SidePanel @  XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/the-open-source-sidepanel/

Swap Battery Icons Easily with OG Battery Mod @  XDA-developers
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/swap-battery-icons-easily-with-og-battery-mod/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy_(disambiguation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy_(disambiguation)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bunch_1?q=bunch+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/immensely?q=immensely+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/snigger
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chore?q=chore