Three Curious Apps That Boost Your Wi-Fi Experience
I know, you’ve read the title and you are now wondering what could be so curious about the Wi-Fi Apps discussed below. What unique features and characteristics do they have?
Let’s start with #1: WiFi Manager by Kostya Vasilyev. First of all, a search for its name will return a Play Store page written in Russian, rendering it useless for most of us. The link above uses a small trick to send you (and I) to the English version of the app, which would otherwise be ignored by many.
And it would be a pity, because WiFi Manager has many interesting features. It helps you find the available Wi-Fi networks in your area, for example. Yes, it’s a feature that can be found in many similar apps, but this application displays the results using easy to understand graphs – see for yourself!
If you’ve ever wanted to find out what other networks in the area use the same channel with yours, this app will provide all the needed answers. WiFi Manager will also prove to be useful if you are traveling and want to connect to open networks, which aren’t protected by a password.
I strongly suggest that you should avoid doing that, though; Data Alliance has recently released an alarming report which shows the top risk online activities done by people over free/open Wi-Fi. In a nutshell, the minute you connect to an open hotspot, your personal info and data can be stolen by villains.
Back to our curious little app: WiFi Manager can also switch to the best network on its own. It’s a fantastic feature to have even if you’re never leaving your home, provided that you’ve got a modern, dual-band router. This way, your phone will automatically connect to the 5 GHz network when you are near the router, and thus help you benefit from higher upload/download speeds, or it will connect to the longer range 2.4 GHz network when you are away from the router.
WiFi Manager also comes with cleverly designed widgets which provide detailed connection info, allow you to connect to your preferred network using a single tap, and more.
I think that we’ll all agree on this: Wifi Booster (Joker) is a curious name for an app. But the joke stops the minute you read the author’s app description: ” Wifi Booster (joker) is the best tool to analyze and accelerate your Wi-Fi connection”. Is that so? Let’s find out!
The app will restart your Wi-Fi connection, and then reconnect to the network. It’s a known fact that many Wi-Fi problems can be solved this way. But what other aces has this app got up its virtual sleeves?
To begin with, it can identify and suggest the fastest Wi-Fi network channel. Then, it can clear the DNS cache. It optimizes settings, using unique values for 3G/4G/Wi-Fi connections. It pre-buffers videos coming from the top video sharing sites: YouTube, Vimeo, etc. It frees the memory blocks that store data which doesn’t belong to any active app. It also boosts signal reception by tweaking settings.
And when you take into account that it does all these things without requiring a rooted Android phone, you start to understand why it has got a solid 4.1 rating, coming from close to 2,000 people.
The third (and last) Wi-Fi app in this article is Network Signal Speed Booster. It’s a curious app, because the author doesn’t tell us how it actually works. Apparently, you simply run it, and then benefit from an improved Internet browsing experience over Wi-Fi. I would be tempted to say that this app doesn’t do us too much good, but the huge review score of 4.4, which comes from close to 100,000 people, would easily contradict me.
And since a few million people have installed it on their Android devices, it works, so you should definitely give it a try.
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Four Curious Apps That Help You Kill Time
I don’t know about you, but I waste several hours each day. I waste time while waiting to pick up my girl from school, for example. I waste time waiting for people who don’t show up at meetings on time, and so on. It’s true that I always have my phone with me, though, so I can kill some time by browsing the net, logging into my social media accounts, etc. But there are several apps that seem to be built for this very purpose, helping us kill time without feeling its burden. Here are a few of my favorites.
- Paperama
Paperama is a virtual Origami app, but it’s one that captures the authentic paper folding experience quite well! Things start easy, with levels that only require a few paper folds, but then move on to complex levels.
And the best part is that you can translate this virtual experience to real-life origami without too much effort! Paperama has close to 100 levels, so it can definitely keep you entertained while waiting in line.
- How to Make Paper Airplanes
Do you remember that kid who used to build those great looking, long-range flying paper airplanes? Yeah, I didn’t like him either. But now you and I can be just like him! In a good way, of course 😉
How to Make Paper Airplanes includes designs for tens of great looking models, providing step-by-step information on how to build them. All you need is one (or more) pieces of paper.
The app has been installed by millions of people and has a great 4.2 rating. If you’re often bored, you should give it a try.
- SuperRetro16 Lite (SNES)
Trust me, our kids can’t appreciate a good game. To them, a great game is all about the newest pixel shader v33.5 and the like. Oh boy, how I used to tremble while fighting a 12×2 pixels monster back in the day! Yeah, games had a real story back in the day. Sure, graphics mattered to a certain degree, but gameplay was king.
Fortunately, if you still have those game cartridges (ROMs) stored somewhere in your basement, you can install SuperRetro16 Lite (SNES) and relive some of those sweet memories. The app is a SNES emulator, in case that the name didn’t give it away.
SuperRetro16 Lite auto-detects the installed games and yes, it even supports the most popular SNES cheat codes! It can work with external controllers, and it even allows multiplayer gaming through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – a fantastic feature to have, if you ask me.
If you love retro games, this app will help you kill time without even noticing it!
- Osmos HD
I have saved the best app for the end of the article. Osmos HD is a game with bubbles, but it’s a game like you’ve never played before!
It can be peaceful when you are playing it alone, or it can turn into fierce combat when you play it using its cleverly built multiplayer mode.
You start as a tiny bubble, which can only absorb smaller bubbles. As you absorb other bubbles, you grow, being able to absorb larger bubbles, and so on. It may sound simple, but the game has a great atmosphere and a huge replayability (is that even a word?) because the levels are randomly generated each and every time you run the app.
Do yourself a favor and install this game. You will love the music and its gameplay. And those long hours of wait? They’ll pass in a jiffy – it’s a promise 🙂
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