Sunday, January 23, 2011

40 Android Apps for the Serious Student

40 Android Apps for the Serious Student

January 23rd, 2011

College can undoubtedly cause loads of stress, so you should take every measure possible to make life a little easier. Enter your Android phone. This little device is capable of a lot, including everything from calculating your GPA to finding and purchasing the cheapest available textbooks. So, do your homework, and find the best apps for school and college life. Here are 40 great ones to consider right off the bat — most are free, but if they aren't, it's indicated in the brief descriptions.

Day-to-Day Utilities

Your classroom experience can be supplemented with a variety of useful apps.

  1. CoursePro: For just $2.99, you can keep track of your courses, assignments and grades. With this app, you'll never be out of the loop.
  2. myDAY: A journal and note application that allows you to keep a chronological record of your daily activities.
  3. Thinking Space: The official Mind Mapping app allows you to organize and plan ideas and activities.
  4. Quick Calendar: View upcoming appointments and other events in your phone's status bar.
  5. GPA Calculator: With this tool, you can "calculate, monitor and manage your GPA."
  6. Evernote: Snapshots taken of text become searchable once scanned by Evernote's servers, making it easy to search and retrieve them later on your PC.
  7. Catch Notes: Another note taking app to consider. This one has garnered rave reviews because of its many capabilities, including the ability to Geotag your locations.
  8. ShareYourBoard: Capture, process and share whiteboard material in class when you don't have the time or will to write it down.
  9. StudyDroid Flashcards 2.0 Free: Save a few trees by creating flash cards on your phone. Text size and color are adjustable, of course.
  10. Voice Recorder: Perfect for capturing audio notes, personal notes, and if you're a journalism student, recording interviews.
  11. GDocs for Android: A tool that enables you to "create, edit, view, import, export and send documents as well as sync documents with your Google Docs account."
  12. Dropbox: Access files from your PC on the go by syncing them with your phone. Supports Word, PFD, video and audio files.
  13. WordPlayer: Choose from thousands of books to download within seconds. Customizable and easy to read.
  14. Cheap Textbooks: The best way to find affordable textbooks locally and online. Find quick results by using your phone's barcode scanner.

Research and Studying

Reference information or study at the spur of the moment. This is why it's called a smartphone.

  1. Dictionary.com: Search up to 325,000 words and definitions, and 300,000 synonyms and antonyms.
  2. Grammar Guide: A reference guide that offers "a glossary of terms, punctuation, capitalization, misused words, misspelled words, when to use numbers and tips for proofreading."
  3. Wapedia: Quickly search Wikipedia, even on slower networks. Also great for additional content such as news, Wikiquotes and Wikitravel information.
  4. Google Translate: Translates up to 50 languages and features dictionary results, text-to-text speech and voice input.
  5. handyCalc Calculator: A powerful calculator with advanced features that'll help you ace your most difficult math classes.
  6. StatDist: An advanced app that "calculates densities, probabilities, and quantiles of common useful continuous and discrete distributions." For the aspiring statistician.
  7. Formulas Lite: Find important math, physics and chemistry formulas when you need them the most. Also includes a scientific calculator, translator and interesting facts.
  8. Periodic Table: In addition to viewing the periodic table, access more than 30 facts about each element.
  9. SciencePal: Reference information about the periodic table, constants, polyatomic ions, nuclides Z=0-70 and the solar system.
  10. USA Graduate School: Education: Research prospective grad schools by reading overviews and finding admissions requirements, costs, rankings and more.
  11. PowerVocab Ultra Edition: Designed for tests such as the GRE and GMAT, this app has your vocab study needs covered.
  12. GRE Math: More than 1,000 questions and six mock quizzes make this your go-to app for GRE math prep — $4.99 well spent.
  13. GMAT Math: Just like GRE Math but made for the GMAT, containing just as many questions and quizzes. Also $4.99.
  14. LSAT Assassin — LR Deluxe: Prep by answering up to 250 real LSAT questions. $14.99 due to licensing fees.

Off Campus

Even the most serious students have lives off campus. Enhance yours with a few more good apps.

  1. Mint.com Personal Finance: Manage your money and track your spending habits. Perfect for any penny-pinching college student.
  2. Electricity Calculator: Calculate your electricity usage and costs way before the bill arrives.
  3. Layar: Search for the most popular hotspots in your area and dig deeper by exploring Layar's Augmented Reality view.
  4. Trip Journal: The No. 1 Google Awarded Travel App enables you to document and share details of those patented college road trips.
  5. Pandora Radio: Get a more personalized radio listening experience by simply entering the name of your favorite artist.
  6. fring: Video chat with your friends and family around the country.

Other Essential Apps

Your thirst for knowledge doesn't stop when class ends. Follow the latest news and keep your mind active by using your phone.

  1. NPR: Scan the latest news, absorb an hourly five-minute newscast, or simply listen to a local NPR station.
  2. New York Times: The "award-winning journalism of The New York Times" right on your Android phone.
  3. Wattpad: "The world's most popular ebook community" provides access to more than 100,000 books and poems written by people like you. You can share your work too!
  4. Pocket Knowledge: Ask a question — any question — related to anything from culture to physics, and receive an answer.
  5. Dean's List Trivia: For $3.99, undertake the challenge of answering up to 1,000 questions from various categories. Earn your spot on the Dean's List or even better accolades by showcasing your expertise in a subject.
  6. Memory Master: Exercise your mind and improve your memory by completing all 11 levels of this entertaining game.

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