Best iOS and Android Apps, Spring 2013 Edition – Part I

It’s App Recap time. For this post and the next, I’ve looked back at the apps I’ve reviewed since the beginning of 2013. The goal: Pick the six iOS and Android apps I like the best.

A few caveats are in order. First, the apps included may be completely new. Or they may have been around for a while but were upgraded or revised. Second, as with any “best of” roundup, the choices are highly subjective. I didn’t attempt to pick a cross-section of apps representing a variety of categories. I’m keeping it simple: These are the apps I reviewed and are least likely to be removed from my mobile devices. One last thing: I have listed them in alphabetical order.

Adobe VideoBite

iOS Only

Free

The iPhone and iPad have no shortage of video-editing and social sharing apps, including Apple’s own iMovie app ($5) and Google’s YouTube Capture (free). But Adobe’s VideoBite app is a great choice, combining just enough features to make it useful but not so many to overwhelm novices.

Once you’ve captured a clip, you can click a “heart” icon to stop and start the selection of a segment. This lets you easily pick the best parts of your video. VideoBite then generates a new version of the video that includes only the parts you selected.

From there, you can mix clips together, rearrange their order, preview your finished product, and share it to Facebook. Unfortunately, no other social networks are supported. You can save videos to your Camera Roll, however, and from there share them on other networks.

Birdseye Mail

iPad only

Free

It’s one of those ideas that someone would have thought of eventually: A mashup of Flipboard and Gmail (with a touch of Google Now). The result is Birdseye Mail, which the developer says is “the first email client built from the group up for tablets,” providing a “finger-friendly visual overview of your inbox.”

Instead of scrolling through a list of messages, as you do in other email apps, Birdseye Mail presents email as individual cards. You swipe from left to right to flip through the messages. When you land on a message you want to read, tap to enlarge it. You can reply, forward, delete, or star the message. I also like that you can do these actions without having to open the message. In some cases, you can “Unsubscribe” from junk mail, too.

Birdseye Mail won’t revolutionize how you work. But it will make going through your email inbox more pleasant.

PaperKarma

iOS, Android

Free

Junk mail—the paper kind—is a loathsome sight to behold, if only for the trees that died in vain to produce stuff that immediately gets pitched into the recycling bin.

PaperKarma, a free iOS and Android app, strives to rid you of this unwanted paper. You take a picture of the offending material, preview the picture in the app, and click “Unsubscribe Me!” The app takes over from there, contacting the junk mailer on your behalf and asking to remove you from their mailing list.

The app hasn’t successfully ceased the Citi credit-card offers, which arrive almost daily. Otherwise, though, PaperKarma has stemmed the tide of mailbox junk for me, and it should do the same for you.