Here’s one, and should be more to follow soon.

~Shepy

I got my first android phone about 18 months ago, having been a Blackberry and prior to that a Nokia fan. When it came time for renewal I felt that  Blackberry was starting to fall behind the times in terms of development and advances with smartphones, and there was no chance I was going to go to Apple (I’ve long hated most Apple products for their dumbing down and locked systems). I’d had a bit of a play with friend’s phones and loved the freedom that Android gave, the plethora of apps that can not only do amazing things within themselves but often also interact and modify core parts and functionality of the phone. Being able to have widgets and show live information on the home screen, as well as customise the entire look, feel and use of the home screens and the many other customisations available on Android make it by far the better platform in my eyes. The fact that you can purchase any app from the app store, try it for up to 15 minutes and automatically get a full refund if you decide to uninstall it in that time giving you the chance to test any app is simply the icing on the cake for me.

Not long after I got the phone (or rather both of the Android phones I have now had) I rooted them, which to the nontechnical among you basically means I used software to gain full administrative control of the device and unlock the functionality even further, removing any restrictions placed on it by the manufacturer or my mobile network, so some of these apps will require that you have rooted your device.

I thought I would take a little time to list out some of the apps I have on my phone, what they do and why I love them, so hopefully if you’ve an Android phone you might find a few gems here you didn’t know about. These are simply in alphabetical order, I’ll try to give an indication of what type of software it is, and also if your phone needs to be rooted or not to use the software, finally if it’s free or not. The screen shots to the left of each app are all clickable to enlarge.

	Adfree Android	Block Unwanted Ads	Root Required	Free
	If your phone is rooted, then you can use this program to remove a lot of the adverts from games, applications and other software that displays annoying banner ads. If you use Adblock on Chrome or Firefox, then just think of this as the Android equivalent. Whilst some may argue that this is blocking development and stifling creativity on ad-funded applications, I’d counter that I’m in no way adverse to spending on applications if they are good, and serve a purpose, in fact 16% of the apps on my phone are purchased. I do however take objection to a large portion of an already cramped screen real estate being handed over to ads. I much prefer apps that offer a time limited trial for you to evaluate and see if it meets your needs, and then the option to purchase a license or upgrade to a pro or full version.
	Advanced Task Killer	Task Manager	Root Not Required	Free
	Like any modern computing device, occasionally the need to forcefully close some applications arises either because it has stalled or simply because you have so much running that your device is starting to get a little sluggish. Advanced task killer has been the best task manager I have found for Android, allowing you to quickly and easily see what is running in the background, kill apps individually or blanket kill everything (excluding pre-configured safe / desired apps).  It keeps an icon up in the notification area, so you can drag down the notification bar and get to it quickly and easily from any app.
	Air Hid	PC Remote Control	Root Not Required	Free
	This is one of those apps that you will never know how you lived without, once you’ve tried it. If you have a computer that you use for watching shows on, perhaps connected to your TV or at the other side of your bedroom or whatever, then this apps turns your phone into a wireless touchpad or keyboard for interaction with that computer. You simply install the server app on the computer and then you can open the app on the phone at any time and use it just like you would use the trackpad on a laptop, it sending the signal over your wifi network the computer.
	AirDroid	Phone Remote Control	Root Not Required	Free
	This is both wonderfully useful, and astonishingly beautiful, a rare combination. When AirDroid is running on your phone, it creates a stunning web interface to allow you to access a lot of the common features of your phone via a browser on your desktop computer. This means you can read and reply to your SMS messages with a full normal keyboard, or easily upload and download files or photos. You can browse through and manage the apps installed on your phone from here. You can also stream music from the phone, and even share clipboard between your computer and Android device, handy in a lot of situations.
	Alarm Clock Plus	Alarm Clock	Root Not Required	Free
	As I’d imagine it is with a lot of people, my phone is my main alarm clock, so it’s important that I can configure it how I want to wake me up and be able to rely on that happening. This app has everything you would expect from an alarm such as multiple alarms active on certain days for weekdays and weekends etc, but then it has a host of other options which make it stand out from the crowd. Options such as only allowing snooze to be pressed X number of times, a quick one touch option to skip the next occurance of an alarm such as for a day off, to have the alarm sound ignore the system volume so you cant forget to turn your phone off silent and then to have the sound gradually fade in to wake you gently. If you’re a particularly determined sleeper you can have it make you do simple maths problem before allowing you to dismiss the alarm entirely.  I’m not even scratching the surface of the options available here, just giving you an idea of what’s possible (though any and all options are entirely up to you if you use them, it functions great in all combinations of settings I’ve used so far.)
	AndSMB	Browse Windows File Shares	Root Not Required	Free
	Home networks and file servers are becoming more common, with music, photos and movies all stored on a server or networked device so they can be accessed by other computers around the house. With AndSMB then your Android device can be included in that, having access to upload, download, browse and do all the usual file actions you would from any other computer.
	Apps Organiser	Group Home Screen App Icons	Root Not Required	Free
	I like to keep my home screens for widgets to display information and switches or toggles quick access to settings, so I prefer not to clutter it with a lot of apps. Apps Organiser allows me to create groups of icons that can be accessed or expanded from a single icon, saving valuable screen space for other information. As I have my home screen I have just one app icon on there, which is actually an App organiser folder of the most commonly used apps, leaving all the rest of the spaces free for other purposes. If you’ve come from iOS then you’ll already be used to a similar feature with folders for apps on the home screen.
	BaconReader	Client For Reddit.com	Root Not Required	Free
	If you’re a self respecting geek, then you already know about Reddit, have an account there and have lost countless hours reading the pages it links to, articles and posts on the site and lost many hours of sleep to it. When you need a fix of Reddit and you’re away from a computer, then there is simply no nicer way to do it than BaconReader, it has all the features you need, some that you don’t and a pretty interface to boot. A must have for all redditors.
	Barcode Scanner	Scans QR Codes & Barcodes	Root Not Required	Free
	QR codes have been around for years, though I’d never seen them quite as widely used as I have since I moved to Android, with many sites using them for a quick and easy way to download more software to your phone, or open a URL on your phone. This app is one of the best scanners I’ve tried, and it also adds in a few great features for standard barcodes such as you would see on your groceries. If you scan the barcode of a normal produce, lets say a DVD or a book, then it will recognise that code and confirm the product back, then offer to do a product search for you, making it a great way to check the price of something online before you buy it to see if any savings can be had.
	Browser To Phone	Send URLs To Your Phone Easily	Root Not Required	Free
	An offshoot of the original Chrome to Phone app, this takes the idea and runs even further with it. By adding a bookmarklet or an extension to your browser you can quickly and easily send links over to your phone by simply clicking a button, or right clicking a link. Say perhaps you wanted to save an image over to your phone easily, or have stumbled across an app that you wish to open the link for on your phone, then this app takes all of the trouble out of doing so. This expanded version allows you to further control how those links are handled on your phone, such as having it auto save a copy of images, or changing a facebook link to the mobile site version, for example.
	Call Track	Log All Call Activity To A Google Calendar	Root Not Required	Free
	If you’re a freelancer or anyone else who has a need to be able to check when you spoke to a client, perhaps for a followup meeting or for time billing then Call Track is something you’ll find quite useful. It will automagically create a calendar entry for every call you make, with the correct start and end time as well as the name or number called. You configure which calendar it saves these in to, so you can simply hide that calendar from your normal view in Google Calendar so as to not clutter up your normal schedule, but know it’s there for reference if and when you need it. As Google calendar is so easily searchable, you can simply type in a search for a contact name and instantly have a full view of all contact with that person in seconds.
	Camera Zoom FX	Fully Featured Camera App	Root Not Required	Not Free
	As regular readers will know, my main passion is photography, so this round up of apps wouldn’t be complete without a few photography related apps in here, the first of which is Camera Zoom. This camera goes far beyond any of the standard or built in options of Android devices with some features that are highly useful, and some that are just for fun. One of my favourite functions is the ability to remap any hardware button, so even though my current Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy S2 doesn’t have a dedicated hardware shutter button, that isnt a problem as I’ve simply remapped volume up to this function, and have remapped volume down to switch between the various focus modes. Features such as voice activated camera, time lapse, burst mode and auto uploading to Twitter, Facebook and more in a single click make it a very versatile app. Add into that the presets, frames, characters and modifications as well as over 90 different addons and plugins and you’ll be hard pressed to find a better camera app on Android.
	CoPilot Live Premium	Turn by Turn Navigation	Root Not Required	Not Free
	I’m one of those people who likes their phone to be a swiss army knife, with apps and utilities to do many tasks throughout the course of an average day. One of those that I consider absolutely mandatory on a phone is a good GPS sat nav system. While the built in Google Maps navigation of Android is adequate for most uses, it lacks a few features that I had wanted such as display of current speed. I had a play with a few of the free options from other companies, and finally settled on CoPilot. Whilst it is the most expensive app here at approximately £20 (£16 whilst on sale till Jan 8th) I feel that the cost is justified, especially when you compare that to a TomTom or similarly featured device. With active route planning and traffic mapping it checks your route constantly and warns you of any problems ahead, and offers alternative routes if they would save you time. Selecting a destination gives a great selection of options from address input, contacts, favourites, POI, map browsing and more. You’ll find all of the usual features you’d expect of a high end GPS unit, as well as a few more by virtue of it being part of your phone and inheriting it’s features.
	Delayed Lock	Delay Enabling Lock Screen In Several Ways	Root Not Required	Not Free
	If you’ve ever been annoyed when you send a text, put your phone down then get a reply and have to unlock it again to read the reply, then this is the application you need. Disabling lock entirely is simply not an option, too much scope for someone messing around with your phone if you leave it lying or lose it, but having to enter the unlock pin/pattern/password every time you pick it up is far too annoying. With delayed lock you can configured it to lock only after XX minutes since the last unlock, or screen being turned off. It also has several free plugins that will disable the lock when connected to a specified wifi network, or bluetooth device or in a specified location, meaning that I never have to worry about the lock when at home or work or in the car, but everywhere else it activates automatically.
	DeskSMS	Send SMS Remotely From Browser & More	Root Not Required	Not Free
	Whilst this app has a little bit of crossover with the previously mentioned AirDroid in that it allows you to send and receive SMS from your computer, it differs in that you do not have that computer connected to the same wifi network as the phone for it to operate. With messages being routed via the app developers servers, you are able to send and receive messages through your browser, Google Talk or email. An ideal way of using SMS, especially if you happen to have left your phone at home and are in the office, for example. The developers of this are the famous (within Android circles) ClockworkMod group, so the security and reliability of this app is superb.
	DoggCatcher	Podcast Player	Root Not Required	Not Free
	When I used to listen to podcasts on previous devices, it always annoyed me to have to tether / sync the device to get the latest episodes on there, so I was happy to find that Doggcatcher (as well as others) on Android removed this annoying link in the chain and allows you to download episodes automatically over wifi or 3g. I tried a few podcast apps, and settled on DoggCatcher because I found it’s features and options to fit best with what I was looking for, options such as restricting how many episodes to keep in the download buffer, how and when to download the episodes, even launching automatically when it detects my bluetooth car kit to play through my stereo as soon as I start the engine.
	Dolphin Browser HD	Web Browser	Root Not Required	Free
	There is a slew of choices for browsing the internet on your Android device, and even the default built in browser is very capable, but I much prefer the speed and features of Dolphin. With features normally found in the bigger desktop browsing market such as tabbed browsing, gesturing and speed dials, as well as a wide range of plugins that can extend the feature set even further, I settled on Dolphin a long while ago and though I do have other browsers installed for testing and such like, I use this as my daily app for websites.
	DroidFtp	FTP Client	Root Not Required	Free
	If you hose your own site, or need regular access to an FTP server, then this is a great little lightweight and fast client to allow you to access those files quickly and easily directly from your android device. You can do all the usual things you would expect to be able to do on FTP such as upload, download etc.
	Dropbox	Remote sync client	Root Not Required	Free
	As i mentioned on a previous post, I’m not a massive fan of Dropbox for data sync and relying on them for important files, after one of their updates left everyone’s files open to anyone for a while. That said, it is a great app for quick and easy transferring of files to and from an Android device (especially when they are files you don’t care about the security of) such as for grabbing pics from the device or uploading APK quickly.
	EZCam Speed Camera Detector	Speed Camera Notifier	Root Not Required	Not Free
	There is a wide choice of speed camera notification apps on the market, each with their own pros and cons but I opted to go for EZCam for two main reasons. Firstly it can do over the air simple updates of the POI files for camera locations, where as a lot of the others require you to download and import them manually. Secondly, it has an overlay option (shown in screen shot) where you can have it show your speed and/or a radar showing location of speed cameras which can display over the top of any running application, which is handy if you may be using phone for music or with a sat nav system showing most of the time in the car.
	Evernote	Note Taking & Organisation	Root Not Required	Free
	With so much information to remember, often from a variety of sources, keeping tracks of notes, memos and other little scraps of information can become a task in itself. Evernote steps in to fill that requirement, with simple not taking, tagging and organisation of all your little pieces of info you need to keep track of, as well as pics, voice reminders and other such information you chose to upload to it. With extensions for most browsers, as well as a great site, it’s an ideal way to keep track of all the stuff you would otherwise lose or forget.
	Friendcaster For Facebook	Facebook Client	Root Not Required	Free
	Most users of the official Facebook app very quickly come to loathe it, there are just so many problems with it. I quickly shifted off it and had a look about the other options, settling on Friendcaster. Whilst the free version is perfectly capable (though ad supported) there are a few options that are only available in the paid version, i upgraded but please do have a look at the free version (linked) first and see if the options missing are worth you paying the upgrade
	Go Launcher EX	Launcher Replacement	Root Not Required	Free
	As i mentioned in the intro to this article, one of the things I love about Android is the ability to modify and control things that go right to the heart of using the device, one of the most obvious of which is the launcher which presents your home screens and app drawers. I could write an entire article just about Go Launcher and the various options that it has to offer above stock home screens, but to give you a flavour. You can modify the look and feel of transitions between home screens, app drawers etc to suit your needs. You can add folders to group icons both in the home screen and app drawers. You can add multiple rows along the icon dock on the bottom of the screen. You can add looping on the home screens. You can hide icons you don’t want showing but don’t want to uninstall the app. The number of customisation options is huge, and all for this for free! Well worth spending a wee bit time playing with. It also has the option of a load of widgets and plugins to extend the features, should you find something missing.
	Go SMS Pro	SMS Messaging	Root Not Required	Free
	The stock messaging app has always been a bit short on options for customisation, and advanced features in my opinion. Whilst the name suggest this is a paid app, it is entirely free and lets you firmly take control of your SMS messages (a must have if you’re a big texter like myself). You can fully control the layout and display of the app, as well as things such as scheduling SMS to be sent at a later time / date, or auto filter messages from a certain contact into a different folder, or perhaps hidden entirely if you’re getting spam SMS etc. From the same company as Go Launcher, this app works great with their home replacement, but also works just as well as a standalone app.
	Gylmpse	Location Sharing App	Root Not Required	Free
	Ever had the need to share where you are with someone, perhaps so they can catch up with you on a night out or see when you are going to arrive from a long car journey, but don’t want to have that information permanently available? Glympse is the ideal solution to this, allowing you share your location with anyone over Twitter, Facebook SMS, Email etc but time limit that sharing so that it is only available for a pre-specified duration. The link that is sent the person will auto update with your location, drawing a track if you’re moving about, but after the expiration time it will simply stop showing where you are, without you having to remember to turn it off or disable it.
	Golden Hour Photos	Sunrise & Sunset Times	Root Not Required	Free
	The light around sunset and sunrise can be particularly pleasing for photography, many photographers even shoot only at these times. Knowing when this light will be available can mean the difference between a good shot, and a great shot. This app makes it simple to know when these times will be, allowing you to select your location and date and then showing you the best times to shoot to capture this light. You can even have the app give you a notification a certain duration before the start so you can get in place for the shot you want.
	Google Sky Map	Star Chart & Finder	Root Not Required	Free
	If you’re looking at the night sky and want to identify a constellation, or want to know which way you should be looking to see something in particular, then Google sky map is what you need. Open the app and point it at the sky, and using the sensors and GPS on the phone it knows where it’s being pointed and shows you the names of the items in it’s field of view. If you want to look for something specific, just do a search and it will guide you wil an arrow till it’s in view.
	Hacker’s Keyboard	Keyboard (Alt/Ctrl/etc)	Root Not Required	Free
	When working on some code, or if you’re connected to a server over SSH, then the lack of alt / ctrl / esc and the arrow keys can seriously hinder your productivity. Hackers keyboard allows you to regain the use of these keys, more closely emulating a normal desktop keyboard than any of the usual input methods.
	Ivona Text To Speech	High Quality Text To Speech	Root Not Required	Free
	Another of the customisations that I love about Android is the ability to choose your own text to speech engine for reading out voice prompts from applications. Ivona is the best I have found, giving a very natural sounding voice (though by no means perfect) and is customisable with different accents and language packs. By setting Ivona to the default TTS is your Android options it will become the default speech engine for almost all apps, unless they specifically have their own hard coded in (few and far between in my experience)
	JuiceDefender Plus	Power & Battery Saver	Root Not Required	Not Free
	One of the common complaints about Android (and indeed smartphones in general) is the poor battery life. Whilst it is understandable that something so powerful and capable of so many things is going to chew through a battery quite quickly, there are things you can do to mitigate this and get as long from the battery as possible. Things such as Wifi need not be enabled when you are nowhere near a network you use, or perhaps the screen being off means you only want the device to check for notifications every 10 minutes. These and many more options can be configured in Juicedefender to make the most of that precious power between charges. There are a few version of JuiceDefender, I’ve linked to the specific one I use, but there is a higher option and a free option, so have a play and decide for yourself which you want.
	Kindle	Ebook Reader	Root Not Required	Free
	I’m sure by now the Kindle brand is synonymous with ebooks and needs no introduction from me, so if you have a kindle or not, then you should consider this app for your phone. If you don’t have a kindle then it’s an excellent way to read ebooks while on the go, with all the features you’d expect such as dimming screen to be easier on eyes, adjustable font size etc. It can grab books automagically from your Amazon account if you have purchased them there. If you do have a kindle, then another great feature of this is the sync between the two devices. so if you have left home and forgotten your hardware kindle, just open the app and read the book on your phone, and when you get home it will sync back where you read to and you can continue from there. As I never go anywhere without my phone, this has been a life saver at times when waiting at the docs or suchlike.
	Mortplayer Audio Books	Audio Book Listening	Root Not Required	Free
	Spending a lot of time in the car, I find myself wanting to change up what I’m listening to depending on mood. Sometimes it’s podcasts, sometimes it’s music, sometimes a stand up show and sometimes it’s an audio book. Mortplayer makes audio books nice and user friendly, with simple folder based book adding and automatic bookmarking of positions when exiting the app or pausing it, rewinding a customisabule duration after a pause to get you back in to the swing of the book more easily. If you like audio books, definitely worth checking out.
	OI File Manager	File Manager	Root Not Required	Free
	Having more storage in you pocket today than you had in your first computer is all well and good, but without a file manager on your device those files can quickly get out of hand and be a pain to deal with. OI File Manager is fast and does everything you need, without adding in too much bloat or getting in the way. Includes things like thumbnails for images, and ability to be called from other apps to extend it’s functionality to their limited file handling.
	Pano	Panoramic Camera Stitcher	Root Not Required	Not Free
	This app was available in a recent sale, and i bought it thinking I would likely never use it, but I’d buy it just in case as it was on sale. I’m really pleased that I did as I have ended up using it a lot more than i thought. Though the cameras in mobile phones have come a long way in recent years, there are still some things they are not great for, but Pano makes good inroads in to making it better for panoramic images. Simply take the shot, then line up the semi-transparent overlay on the edge of the image and take your next shot. Lather, rinse, repeat till you have captured all you wanted to, then let Pano do a surprisingly great job of automagically stitching the pieces together.
	PcAutoWaker	WakeOnLan Automation	Root Not Required	Free
	I found this to be another of those apps that I never knew I needed, and now can’t live without. Add in the mac address of a computer, and the wireless network that you would be on when near that computer and this app will automatically send out a magical Wake On Lan packet when you connect to the wireless, turning on the PC. Obviously this requires the computer to support WoL and requires a bit more technical knowledge and configuration than most of the apps here, but definitely useful to many.
	PhoneUsage	SMS / Call / Data Statistics	Root Not Required	Free
	If you’re on a limited amount of minutes, sms or data then this app will let you keep a track of them. you can view what’s going on either by going in to the app itself, or by adding one of it’s customisable widgets to one of your home screens. As expected you can configure your limits for each of the options, and your billing date to see what you can expect on your next bill, as well as historical data if that interests you.
	QuickPic	Picture Viewer	Root Not Required	Free
	Being a photographer I keep a metric shedload of photographs on my phone, so a quick and easy way to scan through them and find anything I might be looking for is essential. Quickpic suits that just perfectly, being incredibly faster than the stock gallery app and having all the usual tools for viewing, slideshow, renaming, copying and sharing images with any other app you would expect. Folders can easily be protected and hidden from normal views, or extra folders added in if you store photos in a non-standard location.
	Read It Later Pro	Offline Reader Sync	Root Not Required	Not Free
	When i find a lengthy article on a site that I want to read, but don’t necessarily want to read right now, then I hit a wee button in my browser and it sends the article over to my read it later list. This collects them all together and I can either go on to the read it later site and read them at my leisure, or using this app they are also synced out to my phone straight away and I have it there for reading on my phone when I please. There is a free version, but I prefer the complete sync and some of the other options of the paid version, but if you don’t think you’ll be a heavy user then check out the free option.
	Relax And Sleep Plus	Sound Play/ Sleep Helper	Root Not Required	Not Free
	I tend to like to have a bit of background noise to help me fall asleep, and this app is perfect for that. It has a number of sound effects from straight white noise to gentle music and many others. You can select and load a number of sound effects with individual volumes for each, and have it play that for a set time before fading out in the hope you are asleep. I find having the same pre-saved sleep sound configuration really helps me drop off quickly, almost a Pavlov effect of my brain associating the sound with sleep. There is a free version but I prefer the auto loading and playing of favourite preset on launch of app that the plus version offers, as long as you don’t mind having to do a few clicks to get things started then free will work fine.
	Root Explorer	Root File Manager	Root Required	Not Free
	If you want to tinker with some of the core operating system files and folders, then you are going to need a file manager which has root access. It basically offers all the same functions and features as other file managers, it just allows you to see and work on some files that would not be visible without root. It also has a few additional things such as creation or extraction of zip, tar, gzip and rar, execution of scripts and searching.
	SMS Backup	SMS Backup to Gmail	Root Not Required	Free
	I like to have a backup of my old SMS, easily searchable so I can find something if I need to. This app automatically backs up all SMS as they arrive (including option to backup any already on device) over to Gmail and tags them with a label of your choosing, and optionally marks them as read. That means wanting to look back through them is as simple as opening that label on Gmail (handset, site or whatever) or even just searching. Nice and simple, nice and reliable, perfect.
	SetCPU	Over / Underclocking CPU	Root Required	Not Free
	This is one of those apps that is touted as a must have for root users, allowing you to control the clock speed of your processor. This will allow you to either overclock it to get a bit more performance out of it, or even underclock it to save on battery. With profiles this can be automated, such as underclocking the CPU to save power when the screen is off and you’re not using the phone, so unlikely to miss any difference in speed but reap the rewards of longer battery life.
	Smart Rotator	Rotation Setting Automation	Root Not Required	Free
	Automatic rotation of the screen can be a great thing, if you’re looking through pictures or doing something where it is helpful. More often that not I find though the screen decides to rotate at the most annoying time, when you’re in an app that you would never use landscape mode for. This can be especially annoying if you’re laying down. This app allows you to specify which apps should and shouldn’t be allowed to auto rotate the screen, and if they are not selected in here then they will remain in the orientation you open them, much nicer!
	Startup Cleaner	Control Boot-Time Apps	Root Required	Free
	Installing a lot of apps can mean a lot of things trying to start themselves at boot, consuming valuable power and slowing down the boot up time. With this app you can take control of that and prevent apps from starting, making sure that your phone remains as responsive and uncluttered as you want right from boot.
	Subsonic	Remote Media Streamer	Root Not Required	Not Free
	This app lets you stream music and video from your media server, over wifi or 3g, so you can enjoy your entire media connection wherever you happen to be as long as you have a good connection to the internet. I’ve marked this app as not free, as though the app is the server part of it that installs on the computer is not ($15 for a lifetime license) though there is a free trial for you to test it before you buy.
	Swiftkey X	Predictive Keyboard	Root Not Required	Not Free
	The keyboard preference is one of those things on Android where people fall into one of a few camps, and swear their choice is the best, Swiftkey is my choice. Where as most keyboards try to guess the word you are typing, this one goes a step further by also trying to predict the next word so you can often type long messages with only 30 – 40% of the keypresses that would otherwise be required. The excellent prediction engine in this for current and next word makes it by far the fastest to type with on Android, and learns from your sent SMS, Facebook, Twitter and email should you chose to make it even more accurate.
	SwipePad	Application Shortcuts	Root Not Required	Free
	If there is an app you need to get to often, and quickly, then SwipePad could be the perfect solution, providing a hot area of the screen (selectable from several) that when swiped to the middle of the screen, much like bringing down the notification bar, it will present a 3×4 grid of shortcuts that can be configured to open any app. Great for when you have something open that you dont want to close, such as sat nav, but want to get to something else. You can even add contacts to the grid to quickly call them from the swipe.
	SyncMyPix	Contact Image Sync	Root Not Required	Free
	I dont like to have Facebook syncing contacts, I prefer to keep a tight control over the contacts in my phone and only use the ones from Google. I do however like to have the Facebook pictures of my contacts  showing, so this app will grab only the pics from Facebook and sync them in to your google contacts.
	Tasker	Automation & Macro	Root Not Required	Not Free
	This is another app that could have a post all to itself, the capabilities of this are truly amazing. Tasker lets you create profiles, which react to certain events or actions on your phone, such as receiving an SMS, or plugging in power or a headset, certain times of day, etc. From these profiles you can then configure a number of actions to be carried out, such as for example when I plug in my power cable it asks me if it should just charge, open my sleep app, silence sounds, or go into car mode and open sat nav. If i receive a text, rather than just playing a notification, it also tells me the name of the person sending it, and if enabled reads out the content of the message. You pretty much are only limited by what you can think of to do with Tasker.
	Teamviewer	Remote Control Of PC	Root Not Required	Free
	Teamviewer lets you take control of your computers from your Android phone, over the internet or over wifi if you are in the same location. This is great if you need to be able to do something on your home computer while out and about, or perhaps to help someone with a computer problem no matter where you are. You can save all your computers into a simple contact list to make connecting to them even quicker.
	Tinyshark Downloader	Music Downloader	Root Not Required	Free
	Got earworm and need to hear a song to get it out of your head? Or just want a quick and simple way to grab a track? Tinyshark will download the track for you from Grooveshark as mp3 and save it to your Android phone in seconds.
	Titanium Backup	App & Data Backup	Root Required	Free
	With hundreds of apps installed, and important data on your phone then the idea of losing it or even just having to re-install apps and configure them all again becomes very worrying. Titanium Backup lets you back up many different aspects of your device, with several different options of destination for those backups so you can rest assured that your configurations and data are safe and can be restored should the worst happen.
	Visidon AppLock	Application Security	Root Not Required	Free
	Another app that truly amazed me the first time i saw it, not because of the facial recognition but because of the way you can selectively apply this to any other app. I have Facebook, Twitter, file managers and such like locked on my device so that you have to pass a facial recognition test before it will allow you to open those apps. Great for avoiding being fraped! There is a free version, but i prefer the options in the paid version. I’ve linked to the free one so you can try it first, but I imagine you’ll upgrade quickly.
	Widgetsoid2.x	Home Widgets / Switches	Root Not Required	Free
	As i mentioned previously, I love being able to add widgets to the home screens, and this app allows you to add a huge amount of information or switches right to the home screen so you dont have to go searching for your favourite options / most often tweaked settings.
	Wifi Static	Static IP Addressing	Root Not Required	Free
	Using things like Airdroid means having a static IP is much simpler, you can bookmark the interfaces on your desktop for simpler access. Wifi Static allows you to specify all of the IP information and then auto apply this based on the Wifi network specified, automatically upon connection.
	µTorrent Remote	Remote Torrent Control	Root Not Required	Free
	If you use uTorrent for your downloading, then this is a great app to give you control of those torrents while you are away from your computer. You can even add torrents direct to your home download queue remotely with it.

Well that’s it for my top 50 or so, but I’d love to hear what apps you simply cant live without via the comment form below.

~Shepy

The castle

A grand castellated mansion which now forms a substantial and atmospheric ruin amongst parkland overlooking the River Irvine, Loudoun Castle was built 1804-11 incorporating portions of a 15th or 16th century keep (of which four storeys remain) to the design of architecht Archibald Elliot and is now a listed building. Known at the time as the ‘Windsor Of Scotland’ it comprised some 90 rooms and boasted a library containing over 10,000 volumes. As is the case of so many of these older buildings, there is rumour of a ley tunnel running from the castle, under the River Irvine to Cessnock Castle over a mile away. During the second world war the castle was used to house Belgian troops, till a fire starting in the library in 1941 gutted the building. A Yew tree in the grounds is reputed to be over 800 years old.

The theme park

The theme park on the site opened in 1995 and became a 4 star visitor attraction stretching over 600 acres, including 25 rides, live shows and an educational farm. The theme park however was short lived, closing as soon as 2010, which the owner put down to a number of reasons such as the increased VAT rate, and nearby publicly funded attractions such as the Burns Centre and Transport Museum in Glasgow, which were free for the public to visit. The closing of the park resulted in the loss of 11 permanent positions, and 160 seasonal jobs. The owners are still in discussions for future uses of the site, but as yet nothing has been decided.

The Pictures

~Shepy

When you get a message the day before a photoshoot with Dee La Beau, which reads: “I am going to rub fruit into my titties if that’s ok?” then you know it’s going to be a fun one (though they always are!)

I was shooting today with Dee wearing some of her new latex from Catalsyt Latex, an awesome company, ran by great people with some great designs, if you like latex check them out immediately. Here is a sneak preview of the images we shot. Lots more to come from today’s shoot, and I still need to blog the last lot we shot together, so will likely roll both of them into one update. As always, you can click to enlarge.

~Shepy

You can see a preview of the cover on the right there, and the book can be found on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0755358716/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0747263906&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0JT6SFRDBBVRYS3RZS4M

~Shepy

For those of you who don't know, Infiniti is Nissan's luxury and performance car arm to their business, based around high performance and high style in all the range. They're taking this a step further with their new digital art challenge in conjunction with global design magazine designboom. More info on the competition can be found on designboom's website at http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/13768/infiniti-digital-art-competition.html The first stage of the competition invited entrants to design a sculpture, projection or installation that would be entered into the competition and eventually whittled down to 6 finalists. These will be shown in the Infiniti showrooms around the country, helping them enhance and reinforce the message of the style and art these places bring, above that or a normal car showroom.

The bespoke boutique-hotel-style Infiniti Centre Stockport (Manchester, UK) is the latest of these showrooms and is in the middle of a week long promotion inviting people to come along and look at the art works as well as the cars. Art and high performance cars in one place means there has to be something for everyone there! The art works include the exquisitely crafted ‘Value Added’ monument by artists Jan Ziska and Juraj Rattaj; the ‘Synthesised by Nature’ sculpture created by English artist Jackson Tayler – a dynamic creation inspired by nature; and the work of Shinji Nukumi of Japan, entitled ‘Infiniti Passion’ – a design which expresses the potential of Infiniti cars from the inside rather than from the outside.

A sample of some of the works is:

And the rest can be seen at: http://www.mikedodd.co.uk/othe/infinitiinstallationsfs/index.html

Visitors to the showroom can help take part in the competition by voting on which they think is the best piece, and ultimately what wins. If you can't get along to Stockport then you can also view the pieces in the Leeds showroom October 21st to 28th, and there will be other locations throughout Europe announced in the near future. 

Early next year the artist who wins the competition will receive a prize fund over €10,000. 

Register on www.infinitireveal.com for invitations to the gallery in Stockport and other future locations to make sure you dont miss out.

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Viral video by ebuzzing

Great feeling to have one of my pics be the first thing seen as you walk off the train at Newcastle, my home town. Would love it to have been one of my model shoots or an urbex picture, but I’ll get there eventually! For now I’m just really happy that the client loved the pics, and hopefully there will be more from the rest of the campaign going up in various locations.

~Shepy

I’m also waiting on the imminent posting of one of my images used in an advertising campaign taken on a shoot for a corporate client, that should be posted on a billboard in Newcastle Central Station any day now.

~Shepy

~Shepy

Quality control not what it should be!