6/11/14 9:18 AM

For those of you who got lots of phone apps:

Aside from recommendation from trusted friends, do you ever go "searching" for apps to do something you want? What's the best route(s)?

The reason I ask is, a few times I got good recommendation on apps, I found I've been missing something nice for so long!

But sometimes, I'm first one who thought "it'd be nice if I can do this...". That's when I'm a bit unsure how to go about searching for apps to do some specific task.

I bet there're such things as app stores. And I bet it'll be full of gazzilion of apps to do everything except brush my teeth! So if you have a good source or strategy on how to quickly find some apps to do random task, I'd love to hear about them.

Or are there good app review sites that are well organized so I could easily find and choose the best candidates for ANY task?

6/11/14 9:20 AM

April, what kind of phone do you have?

6/11/14 11:13 AM

Android for now

6/11/14 11:25 AM

Hmmm.

With Android, I suspect that searching for apps in much the way I search for shareware/freeware in the Windows world. Define your terms and google for it. "android app" + "microsoft exchange" (for example) brought up an interesting list of stuff.

Other than that, I have no idea. Apple and Microsoft seem to have nailed things down with their proprietary "stores," though how much control they exert over them, I don't know.

6/11/14 11:25 AM

google

6/11/14 12:18 PM

More specifically, try https://play.google.com/ or look for the Google Play icon on your phone

6/11/14 12:25 PM

Well, I was referring to standard google. It allows you to search more in plain text and will turn up forum posts and other things that Google play may not.

6/11/14 12:30 PM

But I don't want to just download it. Not just yet. I want to browse and learn about it before deciding whether to download it or not.

I guess I'm looking for that "app library"! Better still, with review.

Googling it works if I have a narrowly defined topic. But if I want to see something in a broadly related term, the results are too large. It's also not ordered (ok, it's ordered by popularity). Makes it a chore to go through the search result.

6/11/14 12:35 PM

"I want to browse and learn about it before deciding whether to download it or not. "

Right, and you're going to have to sift through a lot of different apps based on your initial post so googling for things outside of the play store, i.e. real user experiences, is going to take some time.

6/11/14 1:03 PM

"you're going to have to sift through a lot of different apps based on your initial post so googling for things outside of the play store, i.e. real user experiences, is going to take some time."

Well, yes. It's just I want to keep that sifting process as efficient as possible. So if a source exist that does some initial collection and elimination of junks, it would be quite valueable. Unless of course, there is none.

6/11/14 1:28 PM

http://www.androidcentral.com/

6/11/14 2:13 PM

It's really not complicated and the level of commitment is low. It's convenient, one stop shopping. The google play store has user reviews, plus other information detailing the app. Many apps are free to download. With a mobile app, you'll know pretty quickly if you like it or not. If you don't like the app, its easy to delete.

6/11/14 2:24 PM

but my time is valueable

6/11/14 2:50 PM

No doubt your time is valuable. So is mine. You asked for input and I'm freely sharing my experience. You can ignore the free advice and spend more needless time. However, keep in mind whichever app you decide to buy/download, there is only one place to do so for android and its google play. Ultimately you will end up there. Hence the one stop shopping.

6/11/14 4:56 PM

+1 Google Play. I tried skirting around it at first, simply the simplest way IMO.

6/11/14 5:30 PM

"No doubt your time is valuable. So is mine. "

It wasn't mean to imply your recommendation is useless.

Merely to emphasize I was looking for consolidated information source BEFORE trying, with the express purpose of cutting down on the amount of trying.

6/11/14 5:35 PM

In my experience, The App Store / Google Play saved the most time FWIW.