For all of you who found an Android in your stocking or under the tree, these apps, tips, and phone accessories are what you need to know about your phone.
Let’s start with apps that don’t break the bank. TweetDeck is free and it solves all of the problems the Twitter App has, which includes supporting multiple accounts, real-time notifications, and refreshing. This App is also compatible with Facebook and Foursquare. Pandora comes at no cost and is a gateway to all of your favorite songs while you are out and about. Swype is a tool where users can trail letters on their keyboard to form words. This “connect the dot” approach is the time saver we all need.
Extended battery is the unsung accessory, rarely thought about until your phone is about to power down while you are a ways away from any cell phone charger. Batteries like Seido give up to an extra hour of juice and they fit in battery cases without causing extra bulk.
If you want to install Apps that require leaving the official Android store, you may have to enable this option. This can be done by going to Settings, select Applications, and then check the “unknown sources” box. A short cut to your Voice Action systems is holding down the search menu and the option will pop up. Another short cut is using NoLock, free service, which allows you to skip the tedious step of unlocking your phone when it comes out of hibernation.