Hunt For The Best Dialer - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 9] exDialer Delivers Beautiful Theming, Simple Functionality In A Lightweight Package

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer, Reviews

Modoohut's exDialer application, an extremely light-weight, easy-to-use, theme-able dialer app, brings a lot to the table as yet another alternative to Android's stock dialer, especially considering that it is totally free.

At A Glance

Though exDialer's theming options are impressive, the default theme itself (inspired by the famous MiUI ROM) is gorgeous, and I haven't exchanged it for another skin since first downloading the app weeks ago.

The app itself is exceedingly easy to use, and has a footprint of a mere 1.35MB, making it lightweight. The only drawback in this respect is that exDialer automatically installs exContacts, an app that basically serves as a shortcut to exDialer's built in contacts system.

Nov

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 8] TAKEphONE Makes A Good Barebones Replacement For Stock, But Lacks That Certain Something

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Offering a simple, no-nonsense entry into the replacement dialer game, ShSh Software gives us TAKEphONE - a plain, unassuming alternative to Android's stock Phone app.

At A Glance

TAKEphONE is by all accounts a simple dialer replacement. When I say simple I mean it has three main screens, each with subtle variations in their settings menus. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it keeps the app lightweight and easy. I will say, however, that the app could use some polish. It works well enough, but there is much to be desired in the way of visual finesse. For example - the Call, Favorites, and Call Log icons are jagged and look rather low-res.

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 7] Contapps Contacts & Dialer Is An Undoubtedly Impressive, Beautiful Dialer Replacement

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Continuing on the quest for the perfect dialer to replace Android's stock phone application, I've come across Contapps Contacts & Dialer, an app I had never heard of until I began scouring the market. For a free dialer app, it has a lot to offer, and I'm surprised that it isn't more popular.

At A Glance

Contapps is a dialer replacement that is simple, practical, and well-designed, with enough extra features to make it feel new. While it may have a couple of redundancies or inconsistencies, it's definitely a great dialer, and definitely has a shot at being my everyday dialer solution (at least until I get my hands on Ice Cream Sandwich).

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 6] Angel Dialer Offers An Alternative To The Stock Dialer For Those Who Like Simplistic, Pre-Defined Interfaces

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Joining the vast crowd of dialer replacements in the Android Market, our hunt has brought us to Angel Dialer, an uncomplicated app that effectively replaces the stock Android dialer, but which may have compromised necessary functionality for a no-frills implementation.

At A Glance

While Angel Dialer takes a concerted stance against superfluous features, its simplicity is not always a plus. While its features work, and it provides the same basic functionality we've seen before, it is lacking a few things that would take it up a level, and make it a decent dialer replacement. As it stands, I wouldn't say it's in the running for my day-to-day dialer app, but it does have some positive points.

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 5] DW Contacts & Phone & Dialer: A Little Cluttered, But A Powerful Option Nonetheless

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

From developer DWP, DW Contacts & Phone & Dialer (hereafter referred to as DW Contacts) makes our fifth entry in the hunt for the best dialer, combining a slew of features into one versatile (if a little clumsy) interface.

At A Glance

The first thing I notice about most apps is their visual design. DW Contacts was no different in this regard, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. DW doesn't offer anything really new in the design department, except for the ability to change the colors, transparency, and font size of pretty much any element of the app. This is nice, but nowhere near as flexible as the theming we've seen with certain other dialers.

Sep

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 4] GO Contacts EX - Buggy At Times, But Full Of Convenient Options

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Bringing us familiar dialer features and fun design touches, GO Contacts EX is coming in at number four on our Hunt for the Best Dialer replacement for your Android phone. GO Contacts comes to us from the always awesome GO Dev Team, the developers behind other popular apps including GO launcher, GO keyboard, GO weather, and GO SMS (Note from the editor: If you haven't tried out GO SMS Pro, I highly recommend it.).

At A Glance

GO Contacts EX appears to be a simple enough dialer replacement, with all the features we've come to expect - the dial pad, call log, contacts, groups and favorites.

Sep

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 3] Dialer One Packs Your Favorite Phone Features Into One Beautiful, Versatile Screen

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Last Updated: September 23rd, 2011

Next in our series of dialer reviews is a very popular replacement dialer called simply Dialer One, developed by Yermek Zhumagulov and available from the Android Market for free. It has a slick design with multiple theming options, and combines just about all the features you need into one screen, which seriously cuts down on time spent navigating around to find what you want.

At A Glance

I have a habit of talking a lot about the design of an app, but in this case there isn't much to say. The design of Dialer One is great. It's simple, clean, and interchangeable, including a black, white, gray, and 'wallpaper' theme (which makes the interface transparent, showing your own wallpaper behind it).

Sep

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 2] Touchpal Dialer Brings Together Useful Features And Subtle Design

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Next in our hunt for the best replacement dialer app is Touchpal from the developers at CooTek, the same team behind Touchpal Keyboard and Search.

CooTek's dialer is extremely well-designed, unassuming, and easy to use. It combines most of the features I want in a dialer but doesn't attempt to overdo things with too many superfluous or redundant functions. Best of all, the dialer is totally free.

At A Glance

Immediately after installing Touchpal, I was impressed. The design is clean, simple, and unassuming. It combines the familiar tabbed browsing of Android's stock dialer with a dialpad/call log screen reminiscent of HTC's Sense dialer, in a way taking the best aspects of both and combining them into a simple, lightweight app.

Sep

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 1] RocketDial Makes Improvements Over Stock, But Still Overshadowed By Bugs

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Hunt For The Best Dialer

With all the things that Android phones are capable of, it's easy to neglect the feature of the device that actually makes it worth carrying around instead of a tablet or laptop: the dialer.

Android's native dialer is super fast, but pretty basic. It works alright, but just doesn't add that extra something that brings making a phone call up to par with the rest of the things your phone can do. That's why we've decided to set out on the hunt for the best dialer. That is, the best dialer to replace the one that comes preinstalled on your phone.