Ah, family — you can’t live with them, but you really can’t live without them? Everyone has friends and family that they want to stay in touch with, and you might be surprised to find that your Android phone will help you stay closer than ever before — even when you’re far away. So don’t let college or that new job keep you from the people that you love most — just check out these Android apps and get connected!
1. Google Voice — Ever wanted to send a text message to someone that doesn’t have text messaging? Ever wanted to give out a number that was innocent enough to stay public while you kept your real number to yourself? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, you really need the Google Voice Android app. You will be able to send text messages to anyone with a Google Voice number, even if they don’t have a regular cell phone handy. They can read your text messages and even send messages back for your convenience.
2. Twidroid — Twitter isn’t just a nice thing to have — it’s practically necessary if you want to catch up with everyone’s tweets — or status updates as you might recognize them. Twidroid packs the best of Twitter functionality into an app that has definitely caught the Web by storm. Once you hit up Twidroid once, you’ll never regret it.
3. Glympse — If you do a lot of driving, Glympse is an app that you cannot live without. When your family wants to know where you’re at and how long you’ll be before you arrive, this app will give them the answers they want without you having to really even take your hands off the steering wheel — safety first, you know!
4. Meebo — IM should be simple, but with so many different networks out there, it can be pretty hard to keep up with your friends and your family. Thankfully, there’s Meebo — you will be able to connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, MySpace IM, Facebook, Google Talk, Jabber, ICQ…you get the idea — it’s a lot of different networks all at once. Everything is organized and everything will be saved to a chat history log you can view later on your phone or on the computer.
5. Skype for Android — The name gives it away — Skype is the powerhouse app for PC-to-PC calls, but you can bring that free connectivity straight to your Android. This mean that you won’t have to rack up huge phone bills just trying to stay connected to everyone you care for. Your family will also be pleased because they can get rid of the phone cards and just use their free Skype account to figure out anything and everything you’re doing.
All things considered, there are probably a lot more than five apps that you can use to stay in touch with family. However, these are the best of the best — why not check them out today?