Agent Cruickshank has a fantastic selection of apps for you this July – from a 30-day fitness challenge to a vast free repository of some of the world's finest artworks! In short, there's something for everyone – check them out today and get downloading.
30 Day Fitness Challenge
NorthPark.Android
Free
Fitness and health go hand-in-hand. Being active, stretching your muscles and getting the blood and oxygen pumping through your body can all work wonders – and can help you with all kinds of things, from improving your quality of sleep to relieving skin conditions and preventing tiredness.
Unfortunately, finding time to exercise can be a challenge – especially if you're far from a gym and don't have a plan for how (and what) you'd like to exercise. That's where 30 Day Fitness Challenge comes into play!
Designed for home exercisers, this app features a 30-day regime to get you working out the main areas of your body, without needing expensive equipment or a personal trainer to instruct you.
To begin, you'll need to enter some basic information about yourself and pick an exercise plan to start off with. There are four exercise routines to choose from, and each workout comes with six separate monthly plans: two easy, two normal and two hard plans for the experienced exerciser.
Each monthly plan has individual exercise plans for each day, with great instructions to make sure you're doing each workout correctly. If you want to keep fit this summer and don't want to leave your house to do so, give this app a try and see if you can keep up for the full month!
Arrow Launcher
Microsoft Corporation
Free
Arrow Launcher is a 'smart' launcher for Android phones, developed by Microsoft. In case you were wondering, a 'launcher' is the fancy name for your phone's home screen and apps list – check out Agent Watling's article on launchers here for more information.
While nearly every Android phone works in just about the same way behind the scenes, the cosmetic differences between them are mostly down to each manufacturer including their own launcher.
Most users never switch from the default laucher which comes with their phone – and there's nothing wrong with that! Plenty of time and effort went into each manufacturer's launcher to provide what they feel is the best interface for their users.
That said, if you're looking for a change, whether it's for something a bit more lightweight and simple or something that's got a ton of extra features and customisation options, there's a launcher to suit your needs. Arrow Launcher is one such replacement – and certainly adds a smart touch to your smartphone.
Rather than having to dig through menus and address books, a quick flick of the finger between homescreens will cycle between your recent contacts, most popular contacts, recent photos, most used apps, reminders and also documents from your Microsoft account – it is a Microsoft app, after all! There's even a dedicated page for widgets, so you can have all your interactive applets in one easy-to-find page.
If you're looking for a nice, clean yet resourceful replacement for your normal phone launcher, give Arrow Launcher a try.
Google Arts & Culture
Google Inc.
Free
If you love visiting museums and art galleries, learning about history and culture and examining art and artifacts, you should definitely check out Google's Arts & Culture app for Android.
The app is packed full of information and high-resolution photos of hundreds of thousands of pieces of art and historical objects. With the ability to zoom into a picture far enough to make out individual brush strokes, you can almost get the real gallery experience without leaving the comfort of your home!
This intuitive and easily navigated app allows you to browse through a given artist's repertoire and check out various art styles with a flick of a finger. Tap on the colour-coded bar along the top of the app to group together artworks by colour style for even easier browsing!
There's definitely been a lot of effort put into the design of Arts & Culture– as well as into documenting all these important historical objects. If you plan on visiting a museum or gallery this summer but don't know where to begin, why not install this app and start planning what you'd like to see in person?
That's it for July's selection of the very best Android apps – but if we've missed off anything you can't live without, let our readers know about it in the comments below!