Here at Android Headlines we know that apps are an important part of an Android user’s everyday life. That’s why we take the time to find the Top 10 Best Apps of the month, and compile them together in one convenient place for you. We know that there are a lot of apps out there and we don’t always get it right, or you may even have an awesome app of your own to suggest. These are our Top 10 apps chosen by our skilled team. That being said, we want to hear some of your favorites from this month, as well! Enough simple banter, let’s get started with the Top 10 Apps for May, shall we?
10. NodeBeat
NodeBeat is a pretty cool music creation app, that really doesn’t force you to conform to any kind of design structure. The best part is that it doesn’t matter how familiar you are with the traditional music creation process, you can jump right into NodeBeat and create some pretty awesome tunes. It’s $1.98 with no free version available, but the $2 is definitely worth it.
9. Duolingo
Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Duolingo is a free app that provides you the help you need to learn Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and English. It’s free, there are no advertisements to bother with and it’s actually quite fun. It includes achievements to unlock, stat tracking and tons of mini-games. Who said learning a new language couldn’t be fun?
8. GMD Hide Soft Keys
If you dislike the software button toolbar that constantly displays on your device, and you’d much rather have more screen real estate then this app is for you. Unfortunately, it only works with select Nexus and Xperia devices for now, but it will be expanded to support others eventually. You also need a rooted device to make use of the app with superuser access. It essentially autohides the navigation bar (just like the Windows Start Menu), which can be called upon with a single swipe gesture. It’s free and there are no advertisements to bother with.
7. CPU-Z for Android
The renowned system monitoring tool CPU-Z is now available for Android. It’s already lauded by desktop users and overclockers everywhere. The Android version offers extremely detailed information about your device’s internal hardware, system, battery, integrated sensors and more. If you ever wanted to know the individual core speeds of your SOC, the health status of your battery, or the measurement information for your internal sensors then this is the app for you! It’s free and currently there are no advertisements to bog down the experience.
6. Tapatalk 4
Tapatalk has long been the go-to app for forum based websites. This release celebrates the 4 year anniversary of the app and has been improved with the Holo UI, and several other features. The app has now moved into the public beta release stage, and boasts over 50,000 active communities ranging from hundreds of topic categories.
5. DigiCal Calendar & Widgets
DigiCal pretty much puts the vanilla Android calendar to shame thanks to all of it’s additional features, but that’s okay because it integrates with Google Calendar. It’s also optimized for both tablets and smartphones so it will look great on all of your devices. There’s an integrated location search feature, and advanced widgets that offer way more functionality than the stock widgets. DigiCal is free, but it supports advertisements and the pro version DigiCal+ ($4.95) offers an extra widget or two, some improved visuals and no ads.
4. Notifications Off
Everyone is always trying to improve how notifications work on Android, but what if you just want to get rid of those pesky things altogether? With Notifications Off you can disable push notifications for various apps by profile, or you can disable them completely. For example, if you want to silence certain apps while you’re at work, you can do that. It’s free but it does require a rooted device to work properly. Furthermore, you need Android 4.1 or higher to use it.
3. Google Keyboard
Forget all of those other keyboards out there, Google has just released the stock Android keyboard for all. Of course, you’ll need at least Android 4.0 or higher to use it (that seems to be the trend these days). It offers Swype-like gesture typing, voice typing, advanced prediction support and more. What are you waiting for, it’s free? Personally, I’ve found the Google keyboard to be quite a bit more responsive than Swiftkey.
2. Vine for Android
Vine is finally available for Android, but you need Android 4.0 or higher to use it (sad face). If you’re not familiar with Vine, just think of it as the Twitter of video sharing. Seriously though, Vine is offered by the same folks that created Twitter so that explanation really makes sense. With it, you can share five to ten second video clips of random things. You’ll find a lot of creative types on Vine’s existing network, so be prepared.
1. Next Browser
Don’t worry, we’re not saying it’s #1 because it’s the best app ever, but before you take our heads off at least give it a try. Next Browser takes a bunch of pretty useful features that are commonly spread across several different web browsers and meshes them together to offer a more complete experience. The browser extensions support alone is worth it, although currently there are only a couple of extensions available. Overall, Next Browser offers some pretty admirable functionality options for a mobile browser. Definitely check this one out.