Start here: the best apps for all your new devices PART 1

Christmas morning is over. The fire is roaring with wrapping paper, broken candy cane pieces litter the phone, and you've just opened a brand-new gadget. Maybe it's a new PlayStation 4, or an iPhone 5C, or the Windows tablet you've been not-so-subtly asking for all year. You've unwrapped it, torn the box to shreds, and turned it on. Now what? This year we've picked out some of the very best apps, games, books, and downloads for your new devices. Dig into below for the very best Android apps, Android games, iPhone apps, iPad apps, iOS games, Windows Phone apps, Kindle books, console games, and for your Mac and PC. They're not the only ones you'll ever need, but they're enough to get you started. And before it's time for your Christmas nap, you'll be up and running with something great on your new device.

-Growl

-GIF Brewery

-G-Ear Player

-Fantastical

-Freedom

-Divvy

-Airmail

-Bartender

Bartender

OS X app developers seem to love to create menu-bar apps. When you've got Chrome, Dropbox, and just a few other things running, the right side of your menu bar will feel cluttered — install Bartender (get it?) to clean things up.

Airmail

Sparrow was fast becoming the go-to email client for Macs, but after it was bought out by Google, development promptly ceased. AirMail has since appeared in order to pick up the slack. You'll find a unified inbox for all your accounts, support for Gmail, Exchange, and virtually any email service you can think of, and tie-ins with popular services like Dropbox to make sending large attachments easy.

Divvy

Instead of constantly heading to the mouse to keep your windows organized, try a window-management tool like Divvy. It lets you set up simple key commands to instantly resize windows from the left half of your screen to full size and back again. Save your mousing for more important things.

Freedom

Productivity app Freedom has been an essential install on all our new computers for years. The app simply shuts your internet connection down for a set period of time, which does wonders for getting things done.

Fantastical

Fantastical is the best calendar app for Mac. It lives in your menu bar and effortlessly turns your sentences into events. Open Fantastical, type “Dinner with David at Bon Chon at 8PM,” press Enter, and you’re done.

G-Ear Player

Google Play Music's web experience has definitely improved since launch and now offers an excellent mobile app on iOS and Android, but we still opt for a dedicated player on desktop. The $3.99 G-Ear Player might not be the prettiest thing around, but it's fast, customizable, and offers full playlist control.