Android has over 450,000 apps. With so many apps out there, app discovery (aka finding new and useful apps) is extremely difficult. With our Android Apps of the Day initiative, dotTech aims to change that. Everyday we post three apps, allowing our readers to discover new apps, daily. Enjoy! [Subscribe to our Android section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail]

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Apps for April 1, 2012

Home Switcher

The beauty of Android is customization. Part of customization is the ability to pick from different home screen/app launcher apps – there are many you can download from Play Store (most of which are free). Home Switcher is a simple app that allows you to easily switch between all the home screen/app launcher apps you have installed. When you run Home Switcher it lists all the home screen/app launcher apps you have installed; with a click of a button you can run either of those apps. Aside from that, Home Switcher detects which of the apps is your default one, giving you the ability to “clear default” so you can set a different app as the default.

Take note Home Switcher has two versions, both which are free. Home Switcher is for Android devices with Android 2.1.x and lower while Home Switcher Froyo is for Android devices with Android 2.2.x and higher.

Price: Free

Version discovered: v1.6, v1.1

Requires: Android 1.5 and up

Download size: 150-300 KB

Home Switcher on Play Store | Home Switcher Froyo on Play Store

Fast Reboot

Despite what the name of the app may make you think, Fast Reboot does not reboot/restart your phone nor does it make your reboot/restart process any faster. What Fast Reboot does is it simulates a reboot — it restarts all the core processes and apps that would turn on at boot of your device. It does this to help free up memory and fix any rogue apps eating up CPU. Fast Reboot is extremely easy to use — just click on the app icon and it performs the “reboot”.

Fast Reboot comes in two versions. Fast Reboot (free version) does what is described above. Fast Reboot Pro allows you to schedule automatic “reboots” and exclude apps/processes from the “reboot”.

Price: Free, $1.49

Version discovered: v1.8

Requires: Android 1.5 and up

Download size: 20 KB

Fast Reboot on Play Store | Fast Reboot Pro on Play Store

Quick Boot

Fast Reboot (the app mentioned above) does not actually reboot your device. Quick Boot, on the other hand, does reboot your device. With Quick Boot users can reboot/restart their devices, boot into recovery, boot into bootloader, or power off their devices with one click. The catch, however, is Quick Boot requires root access — your device must be rooted to use Quick Boot. You can access Quick Boot via its main app or use 1×1 widgets for each of the booting options.

Quick Boot (Reboot) is free with the features mentioned above. Quick Boot Plus is paid with all of the features above plus “hot boot” which “reboots only the Android user interface” (sounds an awful like Fast Reboot but I haven’t tried Quick Boot Plus so I can’t say for sure) and a Tasker/Locale plugin, if you use any of those apps.

Price: Free, $1.99

Version discovered: v4.1

Requires: Android 1.5 and up

Download size: 34 KB

Quick Boot (Reboot) on Play Store | Quick Boot Plus on Play Store

dotTechies: We have tested all the apps listed above. However, Android Apps of the Day articles are not intended as “reviews” but rather as “heads-up” to help you discover new apps. Always use your best judgement when downloading apps, such as trying trial/free versions before purchasing paid apps, if applicable.