A powerful password manager that keeps your information safely guarded behind a single password. On Android, LastPass provides access to your password vault, auto-fill forms, secure notes, and a password generator. LastPass can even be used to enter login information for website and apps on your Android device. While it's a bit difficult to use out of the box, a quick read of the online documentation will have you bending passwords to your will. 0.30 per transaction. If money management stresses you out, Pageonce makes it all so much easier. Google Voice offers low-cost international voice calls and unlimited free text messages for a unique Google Voice phone number. An update in November adds group text messaging, offline voicemail, and "improved" text message notifications. Go SMS Pro is the SMS/MMS app for power Android users. You can send "short" messages containing text, voice, doodles, and photos. There's a lot of room for tinkerers to customize themes, messages, and folders for storage.
FreeGen X-ers and a few Y's will recall ICQ, perhaps the first instant messaging program to seriously blow up when it launched back in 1996. It disappeared just as quickly, but now it's back with a new mobile focus. ICQ for Android lets you send unlimited messages for free, chat with ICQ, Facebook, and Google Talk friends, and read messages offline. Multi-purpose instant message apps can falter on mobile phones, crashing frequently or draining the phone's battery. While it's not perfect, IMO Instant Messenger is by far one of the lesser offenders. Another reason it's better than some others is it supports instant messaging across an impressive 11 networks (both popular and relatively obscure) including MSN, Yahoo! AIM/ICQ, Google Talk, Myspace, Skype, Facebook, Jabber, imo, VKontakte, and Hyves. Stable and reliable video chat apps for Android aren't easy to come by, but ooVoo is terrific. The Android video chat app supports group video, voice calls, and instant messaging—across iOS, OSX, Android, and Windows! Not only do you get solid Android video calling, but you can practically video chat with anyone.
It's hard to beat a free, extensive communications network. Skype uses your phone's front- and rear-facing cameras to place free video and voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi. Send unlimited text, photo, audio messages to anyone in the world, as long as both of you are connected to the Internet. Its UI may not be as slick as KakaoTalk, but it's hugely popular and multi-platform (talks to your iOS and BlackBerry friends). Viber distinguishes itself from other free voice and texting apps, like Google voice, by adding in your computer as a communication device. From your Android, you can seamless transfer a voice call to the Viber PC app and keep talking, or pick up a text message conversation already in progress. With a growing list of fans, Viber is well positioned to make talking and texting a little easier (and cheaper!). Badoo isn't known as the "flirting app" for nothing. Badoo uses your phone's GPS to locate other members in your area, displaying their Badoo profiles which contain likes, dislikes, and photos.