Android Developer Spotlight: Klinker Apps

   In this post I am going to be spotlighting certain developers and their applications found on the Google Play Store. These are developers that interact with their customers/users and care about the feedback that you give them. After all, if it weren't for people like us, they wouldn't have a job/extra pocket money hobby.

I'm going to start this off with developer Klinker Apps. This is not a review of these apps and are purely to make people aware of their existence.  

• Sliding Messaging 

     This is obviously an SMS app that replaces your default SMS on your phone. What made this a great application was the way it works. It was slightly customizable with themes and layouts, giving you the look and feel of Hangouts but for SMS (before Google added it to the actual Hangouts app). What this app also did, no other SMS app on the Play Store did; it kept all of your messages side by side. By simply swiping left or right from in the middle of the app, you could easily get to another message and, if you needed to get to a message that was all the way at the end of the conversations, just swipe out the left hand drawer to reveal all your conversations in a list format. To create a conversation, just swipe from the right edge of the screen start texting someone new. Sliding Messaging also gave you a quick reply, mark read, and delete right from the notification shade. Google Play - Sliding Messaging

• Talon For Twitter

     This Twitter client is probably the most popular of them all at the moment, and is the Klinker bothers bread and butter, with a beta program through the Play Store, constant updates, and amazing theme support. You'd think it was made by CyanogenMod this app has so many themes for it. Talon is fast, responsive, and feature packed. I'm not diving into the full list but know that you won't be disappointed with it. Talon includes 3 different layouts, 3 themes built in, and supports Android translucent system bars and is pretty reliant on the card based look and feel when replying to a tweet or posting a new tweet. Google Play - Talon For Twitter

• Blur - A Launcher Replacement 

     Based off of Google's own home launcher, Google Now Launcher, Blur adds something new and "Klinker". As most in the Android community know, Google did not release APIs for third party developers to incorporate Google Now into their launchers. Instead the Klinker brothers have put together something of their own. It's not quite as intuitive of Google Now but it will give the look and feel you want. The real beauty behind this home replacement launcher is; they left it open other third party developers to make ad-ons for it. Blur incorporates Talon, EvolveSMS (which I will get to momentarily), and other apps that have been developed to work with it. These ad-ons are called "pages" and "info cards", which is Klinkers take on Google Now. Pages are basically full apps built into the launcher for easy access, and info cards are things like weather, next alarm, and calender. I'm sure more are on the horizon. Google Play - Blur

• EvolveSMS

     Being a more refined SMS app than Sliding Massaging, you get a very beautiful application for your texting needs. Smooth animations, again, theme support, desktop support (Pushbullet) and as stated above, Blur page intergration. Some things return from Sliding Messaging like the quick reply from notification shade and a unified messaging center like in Sliding. There are in app purchases for the customizing support however. So far I have been very pleased with this app and I would recommend it to anyone looking to replace their stock messaging app on their Android phone. Google Play - EvolveSMS

Hope you enjoy these as much as I have! Thanks for reading!