I’m not really the social media type, however I do have friends and family that are on Facebook. For me there was no avoiding using the service. I find the Facebook app on the Play Store to be a bloated mess that eats up storage and battery. I wanted an alternative to the Facebook app that does does the basics right. That is why I use Facebook Lite.
Essentially, it does the basics like messaging and looking through your feed. It’s better than the alternatives because it’s very small in size and doesn’t use a lot of RAM which is fantastic. I can install it on high end or low end devices without having to worry about running into issues.
Clover is an image board viewer for the popular site 4chan. Clover is another lite application that looks modern with its material design look. I find it essential because I spend time on it finding great wallpaper and book recommendations. The app has different boards that are based on interests like literature, videos games, anime, or technology. There are alternative apps for browsing 4chan but I find this better than the rest because of its great look and functionality.
Hangouts has been the first application I install or update on a new device I get because my friends and I tend to video call a lot and have group conversations. Cell coverage on my college campus is horrible, but luckily there is always a Wi-Fi network to connect to. That’s when Hangouts google voice functionality comes into play. When my friends or family who aren’t on Facebook need to contact me a simple text message to my Google Voice number will notify me on Hangouts. If someone I don’t know too well asks for my number, I’ll give them my Google Number just in case. There are alternatives such as Facebook Messenger, but not everyone is willing to install it.
PlayerPro is another essential application for me because it’s been a solid and reliable music app that also plays videos. It may not seem like the most eye pleasing music player when first opening the application, however there are several skins available like Skin Pure Black. PlayerPro can play various types of audio files which comes in handy. I have been using PlayerPro going back to the days when Gingerbread 2.3 was powering many people’s devices. There is also a DSP pack to download as an option if tweaking the way music sounds is your thing. I find it better than the alternatives such as Poweramp and BlackPlayer because it offers lots of features while still being lite.
Disclaimer: This app violates Google’s terms of service and allows you to download content that may be copyright protected.
There’s many times where I find a song on YouTube that I like but I want to download it that’s when this app comes in handy for me. There is an option to download the video or just the audio track. While watching a video, the audio will continue playing while the screen is off. There’s also a feature that allows you to switch to a floating window on top of other applications.
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