With a more wide-open app Market and some seriously dedicated hackers, there's all kinds of mischief you can get up to with an Android phone. Here are some of our favorite apps for skirting fees, defeating corporate branding, and other kinda-sorta "Evil" maneuvers.
Note: For a look at the flip side of the mobile OS coin, check out the best "Evil" apps for iPhone.
Google Voice
Why does an app made by Google, and supported by most major carriers, merit any kind of mention during Evil Week? Think about the big picture. Sure, getting your friends to call a brand new number is a hassle, and the app isn't as reliable as, say, the bedrock dialer app on your phone. But once you're in, and once your callers are trained, you're doing a lot of things no business interest wants you doing. You're screening calls the smart way, keeping your voicemails off your carrier's servers (and avoiding their minute-draining "Press 5 to leave a numerical page" ploy), and sending text messages at no additional cost through your data plan. You're making your phone number truly independent and portable—no need to cross your fingers at contract termination time. Most of all, with the introduction of free calling through Gmail(and unofficial ways of VoIP calling through your Android), you're cutting minutes and inching closer to needing only a single service from the big guys—a service that you've proven yourself very aggressive in demanding with quality coverage. To someone sitting in the accounting department at one of the big four, Google Voice looks like a creeping evil, indeed. [Homepage] [AppBrain]
PDAnet
How does this app continue to fly under the radar? We have no idea, but we hope it continues (even though, yes, we're writing about it publicly). With all the carriers offering cellphone-to-computer data tethering at an additional cost per month, PDAnet offers a one-time $25 charge for an Android app that connects your phone's data connection to your laptop. The software requires just a touch of configuration on the Windows or Mac computer you're tethering on, but after that, you're good to go with the touch of one button on either end. This editor just used it to tie an Android phone to a MacBook on a 6-hour train ride, and it certainly felt a little evil watching other passengers type on tiny screens. [Homepage] [AppBrain]
ADW.Launcher & LauncherPro
HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and other Android phone manufacturers put a lot of effort into making their phones look distinct—from Google's basic Android, from the iPhone, from each other. In a few areas, they made improvements. In most cases, they made things slower, more awkward, or just plain confusing (what, exactly, is intuitive about an app named "People"?). Take back your phone and wipe away corporate branding with ADW.Launcher and LauncherPro, two apps that replace your phone's home screen and app launching tray with versions that look a lot like what Google originally built, along with adding in some great widgets, shortcuts, and other features. It's a minor rebellion, but very worthwhile move. [ADW.Launcher: Homepage, AppBrain] [LauncherPro: Homepage, AppBrain]
SuperOneClick, Universal Androot, and Their Friends
Using apps like SuperOneClick or Universal Androot to "root" your phone, or gain ultimate access to every layer of it, is certainly a tad selfish—but in a pretty good way. You open up your phone to apps that you couldn't otherwise run. That includes custom firmwares with lots of improvements, like CyanogenMOD, sure, but also utilities you can't believe aren't already on Android by default, like screenshot utilities. You also gain the ability to move apps to your SD card and run them from there, allowing a near limitless number of apps onto your phone. Rooting loosens the laws inside your own little digital kingdom, and if that's evil, so be it. [SuperOneClick: Homepage (Windows app)] [Universal Androot: Homepage]
iSyncr
iTunes was built to sell iPods, and it has offered very few other music devices an olive branch. Crash the gates with your Android and iSyncr, an app that's remarkably good at syncing playlists between an Android phone and a stocked iTunes library. It's easy to set up, and can work over Wi-Fi, which makes it better, to some minds, than the USB-required iPhone or iPad system. There's a man who dresses in black turtlenecks, and makes use of "magic" imagery, who would rather you play by the rules. This app does a great job at ignoring him. [Homepage] [AppBrain]
Shopper
I recently had to buy a digital voice recorder for an upcoming assignment. Not having time to wait for online purchase shipping, I walked into Best Buy, walked the racks, and found a recorder that had what I wanted—$64.99. Calmly retrieving my phone, I fired up Shopper, pulled the barcode of my would-be recorder up close, and discovered that Wal-Mart had the same model—for $56.99, and it was right across the street. Suffice to say, I chose to take the walk and use the savings to buy lunch at Chipotle. It almost feels evil to have that much power over pricing, but evil sure is tasty with salsa verde and fresh guacamole. [Homepage] [AppBrain]
Dial Zero and Slydial
Some messages are too complex for text, but not worth actually getting into a conversation with somebody. Then again, when something's wrong with a product or service, you want to skip through all that carefully crafted customer service automation and get right to an actual human you can lay into. Slydial gets you into someone's voicemail without their having a chance to actually pick up (most of the time), while Dial Zero is a great database of the tricks needed to find an actual human inside a corporate labyrinth. Both have their good and bad uses, so use wisely—or, at least, take a few deep breaths before enjoying them. [Dial Zero: Homepage, AppBrain] [Slydial:Homepage, AppBrain]
What's your own favorite "evil" app for Android—the kind that make you grin in a certain nefarious way every time you draw on its powers? Share your dark secrets in the comments.
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