Anthropic / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET I've run the gamut of apps on Android, including those created to serve as an AI assistant or answer machine (not to be mistaken for the old-school answering machine). It seems every take on mobile AI has yet to satisfy me. Nevertheless, I continue searching for the one app that has exactly what I need. I think I've found it, and its name is Claude. Also: What happened when Anthropic's Claude AI ran a small shop for a month (spoiler: it got weird) Claude is a straightforward AI chatbot that includes an Android app. It doesn't have fancy animations or a UI that makes you feel like you're playing a game. Claude is simple and basic in its presentation, and powerful in its usage. It's one of the faster AI tools I've used on Android, and it gives me just the features I need, and nothing more. But what about Claude made me decide it was the AI app for me? It didn't take much. It's all about style and analysis I'm not talking style as in strutting on a catwalk or sporting your best suit, à la Morris Day. I'm talking about selecting how Claude will write responses. This feature isn't unique to Claude. In fact, most AI apps allow you to switch styles, so the responses are better tuned for your needs. But Claude makes this so easy. Also: Anthropic's latest Claude AI models are here - and you can try one for free today When you open Claude, you'll see a small Settings icon directly to the left of the chat box. Tap that, and the Settings pop-up appears. From that pop-up, tap Style to reveal the choices. You can select from: Normal - default responses. Concise - shorter responses. Explanatory - educational responses. Formal - clear and well-structured responses. The ability to easily choose a style makes Claude my go-to AI app. Jack Wallen/ZDNET For me, the style depends on what I'm asking. If I need Claude to explain something in depth, I'll go with Explanatory. If I want a quick and simple response, I go with Concise. If I want a response that's structured in such a way that the content is easier to consume, I go with Formal. I can also switch styles within the same chat. I can ask the initial question in the Explanatory style and then ask a follow-up in the Concise style. The ability to switch styles so easily is an important factor for me because I rarely want to use the default. I sometimes need more, sometimes less, and the default is neither of those. Also: The tasks college students are using Claude AI for most, according to Anthropic At the same time, there's the Analysis tool. According to the Claude documentation, the Analysis tool "enables Claude to write and run JavaScript code. Claude can now process data, conduct analysis, and produce real-time insights." For example, I asked Claude to write JavaScript code to generate random names. Claude very quickly went to work generating the code. Once the code was written, I instructed Claude to run the code, and, lo and behold, it successfully ran the code and produced the output. That was impressive. Simplified workflow Claude also includes a feature, called Artifacts, which are interactive, standalone outputs generated within Claude's interface, displayed in a separate window from the main chat. When you're working on a chat thread, you'll see an indicator at the top listing how many artifacts are included. Tap on that indicator, and the artifact will pop up over the main chat window. This JavaScript code, written by Claude, worked like a charm. Jack Wallen/ZDNET This feature makes it so easy to go back and view previous interactions within the chat without having to scroll and scroll and scroll. Again... impressive. Also: Claude AI can do your research and handle your emails now - here's how Those two features come together to make Claude my favorite AI tool for Android. On top of that, I'm always satisfied with the responses (although I still verify that they are correct), and the responses are always presented quickly. Simply put, Claude is one of the best AI tools I've used on Android, and I cannot imagine going back to Gemini (or any of the other apps I've tried). Want more stories about AI? Sign up for Innovation, our weekly newsletter.