I have been reading a lot of reports lately saying that the Android OS has skyrocketed in the last quarter. This excites me because more users means (hopefully) better apps. Ryan got his Android device nearly 2 years ago and he was the first person I know to ever get one. After seeing everything it could do, I (not so) patiently waited for my upgrade to get one and I have had it for almost a year with no regrets.

Recently, my friends have been getting Android devices and asking me what apps are my favorites so I thought it was a great idea for a post.

I’ll tell you right now that I don’t use any kind of Task Killer. You can read here as to why. It is kind of a long read but packed full of good information. If don’t have time to read the whole thing, at least skim over the bullet points in the TL;DR section.

Ryan and I joke about having “Go Phones” because we love the the Go apps, so part 1 includes apps strictly by the Go developers.

1. Go Launcher Ex – I loved Zeam for the longest time because it was fast but had almost no features. This launcher is fast and packed full of features, themes, widgets, and so on. You can even uninstall apps from the app drawer. I’m currently rocking this theme.
   
2. Go SMS Pro – This messaging app is a million times better than my stock sms app with themes, pop up with quick reply, nice UI and not to mention custom notifications including LED light color and number of blinks along with the notification icon itself.
   
3. Go Keyboard – I think the new stock gingerbread keyboard is crap and I don’t understand why people like it so much. This keyboard fixes everything I hate about it and I love the white theme. Are you seeing a pattern here? THEMES!
   
4. Calendar Go Widget – This widget is the best calendar widget out there. Even if I wasn’t a huge fan of the Go Launcher (which you have to have to use this widget), I would download it anyway just so I could have this widget. One click cycles between month view and your agenda. Not to mention, there is a cool theme.