So I just joined the 21st century in terms of getting myself a Nexus 5, and now I need to find the proper apps for it. So far I rooted it, installed SuperSU, Terminal Emulator, JuiceSSH, Busybox Free, and Hacker's Keyboard for development. I also added Skype, Trillian (which I was disappointed to find didn't have IRC support in its Android form), and AndChat for IRC. I tried copying a .avi file from my computer, but the built-in Play Movies & TV Shows app seems not to recognize it, so casting about the internet a bit, I found RockPlayer Lite. However, it seems to be using software rather than hardware decoding (which is laggy and probably will run down my battery fast), so what do you guys recommend for media playback? VLC Player seems to not have an Android 4.4 KitKat version yet. What other important apps, games, and such do I need? I should mention that I'm cheap and would prefer to stick to free apps as much as possible.
Sorry, I know you said "free ones" and that this one is like 13$ but seriously it's worth it. Next Launcher 3D. Note that there is a 3D mode and a 2D mode, the 3D mode being newer and having less features than the 2D one). Every time I thought "would be great if it did that", either it did and I didn't see it or it did it in a next update.
The 2D mode is completely customizable, like not only you can apply themes to your launcher, but you can also apply a theme to a part of your launcher and another theme to another part of your launcher, or apply a theme to one icon only, or put the image you want on the icon you want, or put your icons where you want (not only in a grid, but you put them without caring about the grid, and you can even put two of them at the same place), ...
I know this is still 13$, but you can try the free version at worst.

And the only free game I'd recommend (I'd recommend paid ones but you said no) is Cut the Rope. The three of them. They are really short and not very hard, but still entertaining, and I like redoing all the levels getting 3 stars on them as fast as I can (this game is so great I ordered two plushes
for Christmas).
And if you are cheap but still with some money sometimes, I'd recommend AppSales. It helps you be aware of, well, App Sales. You can get a 5.99€ game for 0.89€ sometimes (sorry for using €, I don't know about $).
What I love on my android :

viper4android : it's a sound driver/architecture alternative to the stock one. Has awesome effects, equalizer and many more.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2198584
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191223

xposed framework : give you acces to mod/patch the rom (visual [great themes], add menus, add new features).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1574401

the best launcher yet for me : xperia z modded launcher
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=43254993&posted=1#post43254993

I'll add some more later.

I always used this player, as it have many features (including hw decoding) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad&hl=ro
For a video player, MXPlayer is by far the best. You might also want to consider ES File Explorer and Nova Launcher (although, if you're using the Nexus 5, I'd probably stick with the GEL you have now).
Minecraft Pocket edition (Lite=FREE, Full version=$6.99)
-Mobile Minecraft (Alpha) (Lite version is in Infdev and is never updated)

Hill Climb Racing (FREE)
-Addicting physics based driving game
KermMartian wrote:
So I just joined the 21st century in terms of getting myself a Nexus 5, and now I need to find the proper apps for it. So far I rooted it, installed SuperSU, Terminal Emulator, JuiceSSH, Busybox Free, and Hacker's Keyboard for development. I also added Skype, Trillian (which I was disappointed to find didn't have IRC support in its Android form), and AndChat for IRC. I tried copying a .avi file from my computer, but the built-in Play Movies & TV Shows app seems not to recognize it, so casting about the internet a bit, I found RockPlayer Lite. However, it seems to be using software rather than hardware decoding (which is laggy and probably will run down my battery fast), so what do you guys recommend for media playback? VLC Player seems to not have an Android 4.4 KitKat version yet. What other important apps, games, and such do I need? I should mention that I'm cheap and would prefer to stick to free apps as much as possible.

Welcome aboard! How do you like the nexus 5? I myself have a hard time not having a physical keyboard on my phone, so I'm using a droid4 still, which I love other than the screen. However back on topic, the apps I mainly use are:
This battery widget/notification. It's not bad, I'm sure there is something better, but I haven't had any issues with it, so I never looked for something better.
Kik which is just a messaging app I use to talk to a few people that don't have phones, or in my girlfriends case has crappy cell service a lot of places, but is connected to wifi and this works well.
Baka reader which is for light novels from Baka-Tsuki.org.
Pandora which I believe I don't need to describe.
Twitch.tv app I honestly don't use this much, but its nice sometimes to cure boredom.
Steam just the steam app, also self-explanatory.
Reddit is fun app which is nice, I've heard good things about bacon reader and alien blue, but I'm used to this one and it's quite nice.
Soundhound Music recognition and such.
Airdroid is a neat app, allows you to control your phone from a web page on your desktop.
Mint which monitors my finances and stuff, always telling me I'm broke.
I also use skype, tumblr, Tweetcaster, netflix, nfl mobile, Google maps, Hangouts, the discover app for my discover card, dropbox, amazon mp3, words with friends(I really hate how crappy and slow that app is, but its fun) and along with a few google apps, mainly doc's are about the main ones I use anyways. I have plenty more installed, they just don't get used much.
I guess Offcie Suite is also handy sometimes too, along with Quick office, which is from google.
I can add links to all those other ones that I use if you wish.

Quick edit:
leafiness0 wrote:
For a video player, MXPlayer is by far the best. You might also want to consider ES File Explorer and Nova Launcher (although, if you're using the Nexus 5, I'd probably stick with the GEL you have now).

I'd have to agree I like MXPlayer as well, though I don't use my phone for watching many downloaded videos or movies now that I think about it. With the file explorer you should just be able to find the movie you threw on your phone and try to play it with stock.
Most of the things I'd recommend are purely utility things..
  • Tiny Travel Tracker: continuous GPS tracks of your location.
  • GPS Status & Toolbox: effective interface to raw GPS data.
  • Llama: configurable device profiles selected based on location. For example, silence the device between 23:00 and 07:00 when you're at home.
  • K-9 Mail + APG: if you don't want to move all your mail through Google, with PGP support.
  • Podkicker: mostly for listening to NPR podcasts.
  • Tinfoil for Facebook: less data-grubbing way to access Facebook (runs the web site in a sandboxed browser).
  • Graph 89: easier than always carrying a TI-89.
  • GTasks: task list backed by Google's Tasks widget (I like having tasks on the phone and on gmail's web interface)
  • Bittorrent Sync / FolderSync: push data (photos!) from your device to other of your machines. Handy for backups or simply synchronization.
Tari wrote:
Most of the things I'd recommend are purely utility things..
  • Tiny Travel Tracker: continuous GPS tracks of your location.
  • GPS Status & Toolbox: effective interface to raw GPS data.
  • Llama: configurable device profiles selected based on location. For example, silence the device between 23:00 and 07:00 when you're at home.
  • K-9 Mail + APG: if you don't want to move all your mail through Google, with PGP support.
  • Podkicker: mostly for listening to NPR podcasts.
  • Tinfoil for Facebook: less data-grubbing way to access Facebook (runs the web site in a sandboxed browser).
  • Graph 89: easier than always carrying a TI-89.
  • GTasks: task list backed by Google's Tasks widget (I like having tasks on the phone and on gmail's web interface)
  • Bittorrent Sync / FolderSync: push data (photos!) from your device to other of your machines. Handy for backups or simply synchronization.

I think I'm going to be using a few of these myself now actually, awesome.
rcfreak0 wrote:
I'd have to agree I like MXPlayer as well, though I don't use my phone for watching many downloaded videos or movies now that I think about it. With the file explorer you should just be able to find the movie you threw on your phone and try to play it with stock.
Not really true, MX Player supports more format than the stock player.
I keep my devices pretty clean of apps, but besides GPS status (which Tari already mentioned):

* Dropbox (Auto-uploads your photos to your dropbox)
* feedly (RSS reader)
* HaxSync (Syncs your contact photos with facebook)
* Lightflow (Most ROMs include some sort of notification light handling, Lightflow does it better, and also works with stock)
* reddit is fun
* Super SU (if you have root)
* titanium backup (required if you'll be switching around Roms)
* TuneIn Radio
* Dashclock (a great widget for your lockscreen)

And that's it I think? Some of those are probably paid.

Oh, and finally, don't bother with all of those launchers or whatever. Stock Android is more than fine.
You could try my ROM, if you had another phone... Smile

But apps...I use:

* aCar Pro (vehicle stats)
* Solid Explorer (file manager)
* Root Explorer (file manager)
* Nova Launcher (launcher)
* Terminal (by Jack P.)
* Titanium Backup (backups)

I have more, but not anything super useful. Razz
  
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