Saturday, March 26, 2011

Technogeekboy's Favorite Android Phone Apps

I'm a big fan of the Android platform. It's fast, it's stable, and it's got apps. Lots of apps. In fact one of my few complaints with Android is the Android Market. Even with the recent update, it's harder to find good apps than it should it be. Here's a little help.

Utilities/Tools


Advanced Task Killer Free
You need a task killer and this one works great. You can also set it to auto-kill background processes

Lookout Free
Great free security suite. Includes a phone finder and backup tool.

Quick Alarm Free
Great for quick naps or as a snooze alarm. A couple taps sets an alarm between 5 and 60 minutes from now.

ClipNote Free
Simple multi-paste tool. Great for filling out forms.

Games


Baseball Superstars $
There aren't a lot of good sports games in the Android Market, but this is one of the best I've played on any mobile device. Plenty of action, strategy and fun.

Field Goal Free and $
A great game for a quick time kill. Nice graphics and gameplay with plenty of challenge.

Alchemy Free and $
A fun and sometimes silly game that has you combining "elements" to form new things. For instance, did you know that glass+fire=lamp or fruit+pressure=juice? Well it's true.

Multimedia


DoggCatcher $
Pricey but invaluable tool for podcast fans.

Relax and Sleep Free and $
It goes beyond any sound soother to let you build and save custom sound combinations. You can even set a separate volume level for each sound in the combo.

Rhapsody $ subscription
I've been a Rhapsody subscriber for years and bringing the "listen to anything anytime" model to a phone is a truly liberating experience.

Last.FM Free and $ Subscription
I'm a big fan of internet radio site Last.fm and their Android app is actually better than the Web site. It's slick, responsive and sounds great.

Productivity

Extensive Notes Pro $
Simply the best mobile note taking app out there. It also sports a wide array of extras including a to-do list, currency calculator, image sizer, weather report, lyrics search, and on an on.

HootSuite Free and $ Subscription
A full-featured Twitter and Facebook manager. Post or schedule posts to accounts and pages, follow streams and messages.

Information

Pulse Free
A very attractive news aggregator that presents news in a grid-like format with all the bells and whistles.

Yelp Free
Still the best social ratings and reviews site for restaurants, venues, and more. The mobile version gives you a very clever "Monocle" real-time view of what's around you. My only quibble is that you can only draft reviews from your phone. You have to go online to publish them.

DroidAnalytics $
If you use Google Analytics for your Web site, you'd best get DroidAnalytics for your phone. Keep up to date with almost all the important traffic data about your site.

Google Sky Map Free
Use your phone to scan the stars in real time. Even if you're not an astronomy buff, this is one cool app.