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Posted on October 15th, 2009 by Mike Jennings
My favourite Android apps
After Editor/Overlord Tim Danton gave it a glowing review last month I took the plunge and upgraded my aging phone to the HTC Hero – and, so far, it’s been a fantastic experience. Android is proving to be a solid OS and HTC’s TouchFLO 3D interface makes the phone more intuitive than any I’ve used before.
I’ve been particularly impressed by the Android Market, though, which has introduced me to numerous tools and widgets that have quickly become indespensable.
Take Google’s own Places Directory, which is a prime example of how apps can be used to make life easier. Using the Hero’s built-in GPS, the software notes down your location and figures out what banks, bars, restaurants, shops, attractions and transport links are in your area – and then provides you with a route to the service you’ve chosen using Google Maps, which updates in real-time. It’s already proved invaluable when wandering around unfamiliar areas of London and works extremely well – and is a superb advert for the Hero.
Another application that’s even more impressive is Layar, an augmented reality browser which also makes good use of the phone’s GPS and net connection. It may sound complex, but it’s remarkably easy to use: choose a layer – the default finds pizza restaurants within a mile, for instance – and this information is then presented geographically over a live feed from the Hero’s camera, using both the real world and a computer-generated overlay to guide you to your destination.
It doesn’t just do pizza, either: featured layers at the moment cover golf courses, tube stations and links to Wikipedia articles, and another layer will use your GPS and Twitter details to find which users are active near you. Other layers can be used to view photographs, find a hotel or see what’s playing at local cinemas. It’s a spectacular piece of software that could be used for finding dinner or for some high-tech tourism – and is a fantastic demonstration of how this sort of technology could be used in the future.
Other applications are less spectacular but still very useful: the BBC News app sits on the homescreen and provides updated feeds from every nook and cranny of Auntie’s website, and the eBuddy is a simple and well-designed IM application that means I’m always kept in touch. The Reddit Is Fun widget, meanwhile, keeps me in touch with the weird and wonderful side of the internet that the BBC, surprisingly, doesn’t cover. Other news applications, including those from the Telegraph, New York Times and Huffington Post, are never far from my homescreen either.
Of course, not all applications are perfect. Wapedia, which is high on the list of popular applications on Android’s Market, can be slow to unresponsive even with a decent web connection, and the Hero’s built-in Twitter client is normally fine – but links, whether to hashtags or other profiles, normally don’t respond until the third or fourth click. It’s not what I’d expect from a screen which has been virtually flawless elsewhere.
Many of the apps that top the Market’s popularity charts are those that are either very, very cool, like Layar, or those that are incessently practical – but occasionally something a bit quirkier turns up, too. Take the Metal Detector. I’ve no idea how it works but, somehow, it does, filling the screen with a simple meter that grows larger as metallic objects get nearer – hit the jackpot and the phone buzzes, indicating that you’ve either found a record-breaking stash of ancient currency or a few bottle caps lurking in the soil.
One of the best things about all of these applications is that they’re all absolutely free -and I’d wager that, if they were being sold on the iPhone’s app store, some of them wouldn’t be available for nothing.
The sheer variety available is also pretty impressive: while it may not boast the volume of programs available from Apple’s store, there was still more than 10,000 pieces of software available at the beginning of September, with almost two-thirds of them costing absolutely nothing.
That means that there must be some hidden gems out there – and more popular applications that you just can’t live without. These may be some of my favourites, but what are yours? Let me know in the comments section below.
Tags: Android, apple, apps, Google, Hero, htc, iphone
Posted in: Random
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19 Responses to “ My favourite Android apps ”
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October 15th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Sorry IMO still doesn`t hack it compared to iPhone
October 15th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
My favourites in no particular order:
Barcode Scanner – Allows you to use the camera to scan barcodes and then searches for them on line to check prices for example.
Battery Widget – Its just a way of easily switching off and on power hungry functions like GPS/Wifi
Google Sky Map – I love this gives you a map of the sky and using the compass allows you to track across the night sky and it overlays the stars, planet and constellations. Amazing.
London Tube Stuation Status – Easy to use list of line siwht their status. YOu can get more info on a delay or even see the time till the next train arrives at a particular station.
Voice Search – I think the review of the Magic mentioned this but it really works well saving typing into Google.
Wifi Analyzer – Gives a screen veiw of all networks available and relative strength. It also provides an view of the channels in use. By providing your network will will tell you the best channel to use.
I am sure there are many more.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Tim_Wn – thanks for your feedback. I’ll be sure to try out the Battery Widget, Sky Map and Tube Station Status as they sound great and, in some cases, better than the apps I use at the moment!
Davedishwasher – why do you prefer the iPhone? Just curious
October 15th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
the fact it looks like Jimmy Hill is a bit of a deal breaker
October 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
beebplayer, Iplayer on Android.
My Train Times – Self Explanatory, pulls from National Rail I expect
BeyondPod – Easily manage podcasts like PC Pro (paid version is great)
Google’s Listen does this but has very few of the features.
0870 – it will try and redirect the 0870 number you dial to a normal national rate number, which should be included in your minutes.
MixZing – much improved music player than the standard one.
Tub Thumper – Drums on yoour phone of course.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Oh and I believe that the UI is called Sense when it’s on the Android, not Touch Flo.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Nigel – do you really think the “chin” is that much of an issue? Sure, it protrudes slightly, but I’d rather it had that than be a very plain slab.
David – great suggestions! My Train Times looks like it’ll be very useful and TumThumper is a good laugh too.
October 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Mike, it’sthe closest thing i’ve seen to an Iphone- beating experience but that angled chin is too much of an aquired taste.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I had a real problem deciding whether to choosey a considerably lighter wallet for the gloss of the iPhone or an Android handset but really pleased with the little robot.
Excellent free apps include the must-have TasKiller which kills any background tasks freeing memory and prolonging battery.
Abduction (crazy bouncing cow game) and CentOS (bumping marbles in space) for games
Scorchio – direct feed from HotUKDeals
Guardian Anywhere – downloads from the Guardian website in a really easy to read format and can be scheduled to download ready for the commute.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am
Reference the comments on the ‘chin’ – although perhaps unsightly to look at, it actually is very useful as it means that if the phone is placed face down on a (flat) surface the screen can’t get scratched it also angles the phone mic closer to the mouth when using the phone to make calls.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 am
ChompSMS is much better than the HTC default number.
TwiDroid also brings a lot of features and usability for twitter users.
Astrid is great for keeping a ToDo list.
BeebPlayer for watching iPlayer programs.
Bubble is a surprisingly userful talking spirit level.
CashLog for keeping tabs on my business expenses.
Gmote to select/play/pause music and video on my comptuer or to stream it to my phone.
Guardian Anywhere downloads the guardian every morning so I can read it on the bus.
Mother TED streams the brilliant TED talks.
All free. This phone is fantastic. The ‘chin’ provides a perfect grip to get the phone out of your pocket or when you’re using it one handed.
And the price: I paid £50 for the phone and £20/month on Orange for 600 mins, 500Mb and unlimited texts.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:16 am
Great little article I’ll be sure to saerch some of these apps out….my favourites so far are soccer livescores, which gives you lives cores for the football for pretty much any game in the world. Theres a Movies app for viewing trailers and seeing where the nearest cinema is. I just love it, think its a great phone. As for the chin well I like it. As was said it means its harder to scratch your screen, the mic is closer to your mouth and also the chin allows the phone to stand up, which is useful if you put the nightclock app on and use the phone as your alarm
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 am
I can second many of Charlie recommendations:
Twidroid
Astrid
Bubble
I really like CardioTrail for mapping running/walking and ixMAT Scanner which reads barcodes, including 2D/QR codes
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Have you tried Rummble yet? We’re a location based service platform based in London looking for insightful bloggers in the industry to test our newest android beta version!
We’ve been consistently working to upgrade our services and have loads of new functionality on our most updated beta version that we would love some feedback on!
Any insight is appreciated as we are a small team working long hours!
To be included in the next beta version update just click here to join our testing list: http://bit.ly/rumbeta
You can also find me on twitter and @ me there with your information..@cait_tierney.
Thanks!
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I’ve had the HTC Magic for a couple of months now and am loving it. Here are my favourite apps (in no particular order):
– AnyCut: great for adding shortcuts to the home screen (e.g. single tap to call my lovely wife)
– 3Banana: For notes on the go that sync online.
– Toggle Settings: Rules ensure my phone is on silent during working hours and turns on the Wi-Fi in the evening when I’m at home.
– London City: Offline tube routing in London (useful when underground and have to make a plan B).
– ChompSMS: Conversation view for txts. Brilliant app!
– SMS PopUp: Txt messages are automatically displayed rather than just getting notification.
– Super Dial: Finding the contact you want doesn’t require massive scrolling.
Where’s My Droid: Just in case you lose it.
Klaxon: More options for alarms (I like a gentle tune to wake me up). This is the only app I’ve paid for.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Can I suggest Buzz Deck from the Mippin team? It brings together all your favourite news, web content, services and social networks in to one handy application, which opens and accesses all your content at the same time. Great way to save time, and enjoy flipping between services simulatenously!
October 28th, 2009 at 9:43 am
@davedishwasher – I’d love to know why you are of the opinion that it “doesn`t hack it compared to iPhone”? Android itself supports mult-tasking and desktop widgets, and great apps are taking advantage of this, such as Locale, which are just not possible on the iPhone. This, I think makes any Android phone able to at least “hack it” with the iPhone. Of course your opinion is perfectly valid, but I think your argument would be better made with some reasoning behind it.
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I`ve always liked Apple`s stuff,but to be honest I`m holding out for a Hero!
November 27th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Four Android apps that I recommend, highly. All are FREE.:
.
‘Locale’ – A very sophisticated feature- and power-management tool.
.
‘My Tracks – Record, save, and analyze your outdoor exercise or other activities as map-trails which include full data on time, speed, distance, etc.
.
‘FlyScreen’ – Replace your Android lock-screen with multiple custom widgets, so you can check your feeds without having to wake the phone.
.
‘Calorie Counter’ – Excellent tool for dieters and athletes.
.
‘Shazam’ – The amazing and well-known ‘ID that song’ tool, still FREE for Android users!