Android essentials: The first 12 apps I install on every phone

When you use enough Android devices, you start to realize something: There are certain apps you just can’t live without. The apps that form a foundation of what makes a phone your own. The core essentials you need to get by.

As a guy who writes about and reviews mobile technology, I use a lot of Android devices. And I’ve noticed a consistent pattern with what apps I load onto a phone first — whether it’s a personal phone I’m planning to use long-term or a review unit I’m moving into for a few weeks.