Magnificent five. Spring 2016, part one

Another author's selection of interesting applications for your Android – device.

In this issue: a set of icons for supporters of minimalism, a tool for working with 'inaccessible' text, a conveniently organized list of changes in applications, 'live' wallpapers with information and social components, and a set of useful tips for curious users.

Min
(SixtyFour ThirtyTwo)

Not a bad set of icons for those who do not at all like colorful desktops with animation and screen twisted at full brightness. The app icons are white with no other accent colors. The application itself is quite standard: alphabetically sorted icons, about 60 wallpapers for the desktop, a tab for sending the developer information about applications not yet included in the set, and information about developers with material support for the latter (optional).

A relatively small size of icons can be considered a subjective disadvantage; not all desktop shells support changing this parameter. However, when using dark wallpapers, you can get a pretty nice looking desktop.

At the moment, the set includes about 1500 icons, which they promise to expand, many popular launchers are supported. For those who prefer a light background and dark icons, the developers offer their other product – Minoir, outwardly identical to Min, but made in a dark color scheme. Advise those who are used to minimalism or, on the contrary, tired of bright colors.

Cost: Free
Requirements: version Android 4.1+

Universal copy
(Camel Corporation)

It so happens that the required text found with such difficulty is not available for copying. This happens a lot on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr. And the user only has to take a screenshot to send it to the addressee or then retype the text. It is for such cases that Universal Copy is used. After activating the application in the settings and granting the appropriate permissions, a window appears in the notification panel, by clicking on which blocks of text become available for selection and copying.

A trifle, but nice, as they say. Universal Copy weighs less than a megabyte, which fits well into the constant set of useful utilities. Advise those who need to quickly get around this annoying inconvenience Android.

Cost: Free
Requirements: version Android 4.1+

Changelogs
(Thundercloud Development LLC)

A convenient way not to miss significant innovations of installed programs in the update stream, which often occurs in the background. Changelogs is a list of applications with the listed changes in new versions.

Such an application can be useful for those users on whose devices a decent number of applications are installed and automatic updates are enabled. Also, using Changelogs, you can view the list of programs and remove unnecessary ones by going to the application page on Google Play, it turns out much faster than searching for the list of applications in the settings. And so it happened in my case: for some reason, the icons of some programs installed purely for the sake of acquaintance were not displayed in the general list, it was quite easy to get rid of them. Advise to geeks and those who follow app updates.

Cost: Free
Requirements: version Android 4.0.3+

TapDeck
(TapTap Mobile UG)

At first glance – one of the many live “wallpapers” that can be found on the vastness of Google Play. However, even when setting up the application, it is clear that the developers went beyond the above-mentioned idea and added viewing news and sending friends the news / images they liked. At the first launch, the user is asked to select several sources that will 'deliver' interesting content to your desktop at specified intervals. Moreover, it will not be just an image: with the help of a customizable gesture on the image, either an article, an illustration of which is a picture, or information about the image and its author, opens. Subsequently, you can send the news to your subscribers in the service using the Drop option or add it to your collection by clicking on Retap.

You can not only use TapDeck as a desktop design option, but also as an aggregator of interesting news and beautiful photos. The design of the application itself is as close as possible to the Material concept, it is quite simple and accessible. In the program settings, you can select the refresh interval for the image, set up gestures and notifications, and visit the developer's pages on social networks.

It turned out to be a kind of two in one: both live wallpapers and an information application. Recommend to fans of live wallpaper and photography lovers.

Cost: Free
Requirements: version Android 4.1+

Assistant
(Google Inc.)

A kind of mobile technical support from Google will help users with any level of knowledge and skills in working with the device to understand how to use all the functions of their devices. When installing, you need to select one of three levels (beginner, experienced, expert) and, depending on this, the recommended tips will be displayed on the screen.

Overall, a pretty nice application, a kind of analogue of Google's web help. In addition to the main function, the Assistant provides system information about the device, collected in one place, which is quite convenient, in my opinion.

I would like more detailed tips to be in Russian, not everyone wants to search for a translation, and automatic translators do not differ in translation quality. Another annoying fact is that only Nexus and Moto devices are supported, so owners of other devices will have to download the .apk file, for example, here. Advise curious users of all experience levels.

Cost: Free
Requirements: version Android 5.0

Instead of an afterword, I would like to know from you, dear readers, would you be interested in similar reviews of software for Android Wear? Thank you for your attention.

twitter