10 best apps for the HTC One (M8)
Just acquired the beautiful new flagship smartphone from HTC? Here are the first apps you should download
The HTC One (M8) is a wonderful phone, and we suspect many of you will be splashing your hard-earned readies on one soon (if, indeed, you haven’t done so already). With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of essential apps and games to get you started.
Threes! (£1.20)
This ingeniously simple puzzle game has spawned a legion of shameless rip-offs (including 2048, which has, somewhat tragically, become more popular), but while these clones might have half-inched its essence, they can’t match its charm. Threes!‘s music and visuals are almost as important as its number-crunching tile-shuffling, and it’s quite simply a joy to play – then compare your top score to your friends’ and realise that you have a lot to learn.
Pocket (Free)
Previously called Read It Later, Pocket is a brilliantly useful app if you’re the sort of person who comes across interesting web articles all the time – but doesn’t have the time to read them. Now you can simply stick them “in your Pocket” for perusal at a time when you do have a few moments to spare, and because Pocket works in the cloud, you can add pages using one device and read them from another.
VSCO Cam (Free)
Take full advantage of the One (M8)’s classy UltraPixel camera with this wonderfully tasteful photo editing and sharing app. VSCO Cam lets you tweak a wide variety of criteria (exposure, contrast, sharpness, colour temperature etc.) as well as crop images and apply a series of adjustable filters that are far more subtle than Instagram’s equivalents. Finished images can then be shared to social media (including Instagram and Facebook) or VSCO’s own eminently elegant Grid platform.
Wunderlist (Free)
A smarter way to make a to-do list, Wunderlist syncs across all your platforms and its lists are shareable, meaning you can easily set up group tasks as well as personal agendas. Should you upgrade to the paid Pro edition, you can break down complex tasks by adding subtasks, and make your lists richer and more detailed via attached images, PDFs, videos and even soundbites.
Cut the Rope 2 (Free)
Given the original Cut the Rope‘s popularity, it seems amazing that it’s taken so long for a sequel to emerge. But emerge it finally has – and it’s free, albeit with in-app purchases sprinkled throughout to sour your fun somewhat. With enough new in-game elements to justify a download even for seasoned rope-slicing veterans, it’s a physics-based gem.
Arcus Hyper Local Weather (Free)
Arcus uses the Forecast.io API – as seen on iOS app Dark Sky – to predict weather in a specific location with unnerving accuracy. About to leave the house and not sure if those clouds are ominous enough that you need to pack a brolly? Consult Arcus and it’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen over the next hour: when the rain will start, when it will stop and how heavy it’s going to be. Because of its hyper-local focus, we’ve generally found it far more useful than more wide-ranging weather apps.
Reddit Now (Free)
Reddit is a rich source for all sorts of great stuff on the web, but reading the web version on a phone is a total pain in the eyes. Enter Reddit Now, which makes subreddits far more visually appealing. You can swipe along the top bar to move between different subreddits, and if you login with your own Reddit account you can customise the layout as well as comment and post from your phone. It’s ad-supported, but you can remove those by shelling out £1.50.
Android Device Manager (Free)
The Android version of Find My iPhone, Device Manager is an official Google app that allows you to locate a misplaced phone or tablet (as long as it’s associated with your Google account, that is). You can view the device’s location on a map in order to find it, and if you can’t you can remotely reset its screen lock code or erase all data on board. One of those apps you’ll hopefully never have to use – but one that everyone should have on their Android phone.
Hungry Oni (Free)
A cutesy, twitchy puzzler in which you control Oni, an ogre who eats items falling from a tree. Controlled simply with your thumb, the game allows Oni to eat only items coloured the same as the tree leaves – and these can be changed by consuming special rainbow leaves. It’s a basic premise, but as you rise through the levels things become thumb-testingly frenetic.
WhatsApp (Free)
Facebook paid out US$19 billion for this messaging app, and once you’ve started using it you can (sort of) understand why: it’s robust, supports swift cross-platform IMs and group chat, incorporates emoji and allows you to attach all sorts of useful – or just fun – things to messages including sound clips and location data. And it’s free. You just have to cross your fingers that Facebook is doing something totally innocent with all your data.
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
