An overview of miniature Android apps that will bring your old smartphone to life

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

When the browser slows down and the launcher restarts every five minutes, then you want to throw your smartphone out the window. However, do not rush to do this and go to the store for a more powerful gadget. The apps in this review will work comfortably even on the weakest Android smartphone.

Most application developers try to constantly develop their products, adding new functions, themes and additions to them. As a result, yesterday still compact and nimble utilities turn into huge monsters that can hardly fit in the phone's memory and consume a huge amount of system resources.

Working with such "fat" programs on weak devices turns into a real torment, and their owners inevitably begin to think about purchasing a more powerful smartphone or tablet. However, there is another way out - to replace the gluttonous and clumsy programs with their counterparts with more modest system requirements.

Launcher

The choice of the shell must be approached especially seriously, because it is the launcher that largely determines the usability of the device. It should instantly respond to user actions, take up little space in RAM and, moreover, have a pleasant interface.

All these requirements are met Holo Launcher HDwhich is based on the Android KitKat home screen and weighs only 1.3 MB. Despite such a modest size, the capabilities of this launcher significantly exceed the functionality of the standard Android home screen. So, you can create several desktops, change the grid for placing shortcuts, combine shortcuts into folders, change the icons of all or individual programs, control some actions using gestures, and much more.

Another lightweight and fast launcher for Android is Smart Launcher … Its minimalistic design is very different from the shells we are used to, so the first time will be spent on getting used to and mastering. The main tool here is the so-called "flower", which allows you to quickly launch frequently used applications. There is also a general program menu, and it automatically organizes all shortcuts into categories. The capabilities of Smart Launcher can be extended with special plugins and themes.

SMS

Recently, the updated Hangouts from Google has become the standard application for working with SMS. It has a hundred thousand features that come at the price of high system requirements and low operating speed. For those who want to remember what really fast messages are, we recommend trying the program Textra SMS … This program is notable for its modest size, good performance and a number of additional features, including the presence of toast notifications, the ability to use more than 800 emoticons, group messaging, built-in themes and other features.

Browser

It is very convenient to use the same browser on a smartphone or tablet as on a desktop, then all your data will always be synchronized. But mobile versions of Chrome and Firefox have become so heavy lately that not every device can handle this burden. Therefore, we recommend that you pay attention to more compact alternatives, especially to CM Browser … This program is only 1.7 MB in size and at the same time has all the functions of a full-fledged Internet browser. More details can be found in our review.

An even more extreme option is called Naked Browser … Yes, its interface may seem ugly, but the speed of work is at a height. The author tried to leave only the most necessary functions in this tiny program (115 KB), and, judging by the high marks on Google Play, he succeeded. The program can instantly display even complex web pages in several tabs, supports gesture control, allows you to view the desktop version of the page, has a zoom function and many others.

Social networks

Another type of software that no advanced Internet user can do without today. The Google Play catalog has a sufficient number of alternative clients for Facebook and Twitter, but most of them, in an effort to outdo each other with additional features and beauty, are even more heavyweight than branded applications.

Facebook users with weak smartphones should first try a special version called Facebook Lite (286 KB). It is actually intended for residents of Asian and African countries, where there is no high-speed access to the Internet, but it may well be useful for our users who have low-power devices. You can read more about the capabilities of Facebook Lite and how to install it in our review.

Although the very concept of the Twitter service calls for minimalism, the branded client of this service sometimes manages to slow down even on powerful devices. So pay attention to the program Tinfoil for Twitter, which weighs only about half a megabyte, but has all the functions of the mobile version of the service. And most importantly, it won't pester you with unnecessary notifications for every tweet.

Gallery

Among the many programs for viewing images QuickPic is the best in many respects at once. The application has an exceptional speed of work, has a beautiful interface, integrates with most popular cloud services, and contains a built-in graphics editor. And all this splendor is contained in a program whose size does not exceed 1 MB! An excellent replacement for the standard Android gallery.

We hope that the programs offered in this review will help you find a reasonable compromise between speed and functionality when using devices with weak technical characteristics. And if you know other good programs with very low system requirements, we hope to see their names in the comments.