The Top Free and Awesome Android Apps Part 2

Twitter. The official Twitter app for Android is very slick, and a at the time of writing unique quality of the app is that it integrates with the OS very well. You can link your Twitter friends with the contacts on your phone, and you can see your friends’ latest tweets from your contact list and in Google Talk. Apparently, Twitter worked closely with Google to make this integration possible, and the code will be open source later on. I still think Twicca is a more powerful Twitter app, but the official one has lots of potential. Unfortunately, you need Android 2.1 or greater to install the official Twitter client.

Twidroyd is one of the oldest, most powerful and popular Android Twitter apps. There’s a Pro version as well with additional features. I’m not a huge fan myself, though, but the LivePreview feature in version 4 is actually pretty neat.

Seesmic is another solid and appreciated Twitter client for Android devices, with lots of features and a slick, convenient interface.

TweetDeck was a very popular Twitter application for other platforms before the Android version was launched the fall of 2010. Besides Twitter, TweetDeck also supports Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz. It comes with a nice set of homescreen widgets as well, and I like the app, although I prefer Twicca and Touiteur.

TweetCaster. The last thing this guide needs is another Twitter client. However, it’s a list of the top free Android apps, after all, and this is one of them. With more than 250 000 downloads and an avarage rating of 4.40, TweetCaster is definitely a popular Twitter app, and it’s slick with a nice interface. But until it stops showing ads, it’s a no-go for me.

chompSMS is one of two great Android applications for text messaging (the other is Handcent SMS right below). It has lots of extra features compared to the built-in Messaging application.

Google Voice. With the Google Voice client for Android, you can make calls from your Google Voice number, read voicemail like email, send free text messages and make cheap international calls, among else. This app is currently only available in the US.

Kik Messenger is a real-time, cross-platform texting application that aims to make SMS redundant, and it has become quite popular in the past few months. Check out the official website for more information.

Fring is an instant messenger that is available for basically all major smartphone platforms. It supports Skype, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, AIM, Facebook, Twitter and more. Fring also lets you make free mobile calls and video calls via Skype. Some users report that Fring force closes on their Android devices, but once they get the stability issues sorted out, I think this app can be a winner.

Nimbuzz is another highly popular smartphone IM that has made its way to Android as well. Currently, Fring and Nimbuzz are only two decimals from each other on the Market, so I guess it’s a tie between the two as far as ratings are concerned.

Palringo is another fully-featured instant messenger available for Android.

eBuddy is an IM with support for the most common protocols: MSN, Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ, Google Talk and Facebook.

AndChat is a multiserver Internet Relay Chat (IRC) app for Android. When I was younger, in the second half of the 90s and early 00s, I used IRC a lot (with the classic mIRC), since it simply was the best way for instant messaging, especially with more than two people involved. In recent years, IRC has declined in favor of IMs such as Live Messenger, Google Talk and Yahoo, but I still think IRC is hard to beat.

Google Buzz. This is Google’s very own Buzz widget, that will make it more convenient to use the service on Android devices. It requires Android 1.6 or later.

Opera Mini 5. I enjoy the native Android browser so much, that I’ve been hesitant to add Opera Mini to this list. Still, it’s a fast alternative for those who prioritize quick Internet browsing. Pages load faster since Opera’s servers compress data up to 90% before sending it to your phone, and hence, for those who pay data fees per MB, this is an excellent choice as well.

Bump. Bump, that was first released for the iPhone, “makes swapping contact information as simple as bumping two phones together”. Check out this page for more info on how it works.

Hoccer. This app is similar to the just mentioned Bump, since it’s also designed for sharing data via gestures. From the Market description: “Hoccer is your application for ad-hoc data sharing. Use intuitive gestures to transfer images, songs, contacts, URLs, messages and arbitrary files to nearby recipients. You can either throw n’ catch or drag ‘n drop!”.

SMS Popup displays a pop-up box with incoming text messages, so you don’t have to load up the text message to read what it says as it is displayed directly on your screen. There’s no point in using this tool if you have either chompSMS or Handcent SMS installed, since they can do the same thing.

Tumblr is the official Android app for the popular microblogging platform, and I recommend all Tumblr bloggers to check it out.

Kindle for Android is the official Kindle app by Amazon Mobile. It lets you read more than 620 000 Kindle books on your Android device, including thousands of free titles. No Kindle is required. The app automatically synchronizes your last page read between devices with Amazon Whispersync, and you can adjust the text size, color mode, and brightness.

Android Book Club (ABC) tries to help you discover the book you want to read next by letting you browse the various New York Times Best Sellers lists, and then show information from Amazon when you tap on a title. It’s an app that works as it should and is done by the book, and I’m rather surprised that it hasn’t gotten more attention in the Market. Here’s my review of the app at Androinica.

Buzz Deck by Mippin is an ADC 2 winning application that will display news from various sources as cards. I like the interface, and the application is actually quite good. Mippin has dished out many news apps for various platforms, and this one is the best of the lot so far.

StumbleUpon is a service for discovering new photos, videos and websites. It makes unique recommendations based on your preferences, and also based on the preferences of other users who share your interests. When you rate and comment on the suggested content, StumbleUpon further learns your taste. This is StumbleUpon’s official Android client, and it’s pretty good actually. It can also be used to discover new Android apps.

NubiNews is an excellent way to read various news from one place. It can serve as a GoogleReader as well.

NewsRob is a RSS/Atom reader that auto-syncs with Google Reader. Many people love this app, but personally I think it’s hard to beat the Google Reader website for touchscreen phones.

Express News offers instant access to over 300 news channels for quick and convenient reading.

Fandango lets you watch movie trailers, view fan ratings, use your Android phone’s GPS to find the closest theaters and the flicks playing at them. You can also purchase tickets directly from the app. As far as I know, this app only works in the US at the moment.

Onion News Network lets you watch the entire video catalog from news satire organization Onion News Network. You may “see the latest videos, sort by show, access popular segments, editors picks and search ONN’s vast archives.” If you’re a fan of The Onion, this app is really worth checking out.

Time Mobile will give you the latest news from Time Magazine bloggers – all neatly formatted for your Android phone, and the app also lets you browse Time’s award-winning photography. It likely provides the best way to access Time articles from an Android.

Issuu Mobile lets you read and explore over a million magazines and newspapers. With their “EasyRead technology”, the idea is that you can enjoy reading your favorite publications on the small screen everywhere you go. My impression is however that Issuu as of now don’t work that well, but since it’s still in beta, it is bound to be improved.

WeatherBug. I made the mistake of not adding this weather application at first, since HTC’s own weather software is so good. But every Android user do not sport a HTC device, and then WeatherBug is one of the best ways to roll. It also offers more details than the HTC weather app, so it can be a nice complement anyway.

Palmary Weather is one of the most advanced weather applications for Android, with 48-hour and 15-day forecasts, airport delays, weather alerts and more.

Animated Weather Free. Those who want a different weather app with lots of eye candy, animations and effects should give this piece of software a try. From the Market description: “The exquisitely realistic video effects of cloudiness, rain and snow provide the vivid sensation of current or future weather conditions for more than 50000 locations over the world.” The free version is ad-supported.

PDANet Free is a tethering app that allows your computer to go online through your Android phone’s data connection. Pretty sweet. Check out the official website for more information.

Telnet. As the name implies, this is a Telnet client: the Telnet client for Android.

Scanner Radio. Perhaps not an app that most people will have a daily use for, but it’s cool nonetheless. Scanner Radio lets you listen to live audio from over 2200 police and fire scanners, railroad communications, and weather radio broadcasts from around the world. More sources are being added daily, and the audio is provided by volunteers.

ConnectBot. From the developers: “ConnectBot is a Secure Shell client for the Android platform. Its ultimate goal is to create a secure connection through which you can use a shell on a remote machine and transfer files back and forth to your phone”. A powerful alternative to the previously mentioned Telnet app.

Talk To Me is a speech-to-speech translator. It supports voice input in English, Chinese and Japanese. The app is compatible with high quality voices from SVOX Mobile Voices. There’s also a cloud version of this app available, that does not rely on any TTS library.

WikiMobile. A really good Wikipedia client.

Quickpedia. Another excellent application for browsing and searching Wikipedia.

Wikidroid. It might seem redundant to add yet another wrapper for Wikipedia, but the aim with this guide is to include all the best apps, even those who are similar to other applications. And with a current 4.26 / 5 rating based on ~1500 ratings, Wikidroid qualifies. Whichever of these Wiki apps you choose, is mainly a matter of preference, since they are all good and work in the same manner.

FactBook. Ever heard of CIA’s World Factbook? It’s a reference resource with lots of interesting info and statistics about the countries of the world, and the Factbook is frequently used for academic research papers. This app will give you convenient access to it straight from your Android. I think anyone with a thirst for knowledge, an interest in geography and in facts about countries will get a kick out of FactBook. Here’s my review of the app at Androinica.

iSearch makes searching various websites easier, by quickly showing a search box – you select which site to search with the press of a button. You can choose from a lot of websites. I especially enjoy how it has made searching IMDb a lot smoother for me, until Android gets a proper IMDb client. Supposedly the reason that there aren’t any IMDb apps out there, is because the site lacks a proper API, but one can always hope…

SportyPal. Another very popular tool for monitoring your work-out sessions and tracking your progress.

Runstar is comparatively new among the exercise software and is made by Swedish company Color Monkey. It can prove to be a strong contender, but it’s currently only available for VGA devices running Android 1.5 and up.

RunKeeper is a training app that initially only was available for the iPhone, but the company has now released an Android version as well. Like the other fitness applications, RunKeeper enables you to use your phone’s built-in GPS to track all of your outdoor fitness activities, including duration, distance, pace, speed, elevation, calories burned, and path traveled on a map.

Age of Conquest (formerly known as Aevum Obscurum). The Market contains both a free “Lite” version as well as a commercial version of this game. From the developers: “Age of Conquest is an online turn-based multiplayer strategy game, where you take the reigns of a budding empire and struggle against fellow players for control of Europe”.

ScummVM. How would you like to play all the 90s LucasArts DOS adventure game classics on your phone, like Sam & Max, Simon the Sorcerer, Full Throttle and Monkey Island? These games are all created with SCUMM (“Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion”), and this program is a virtual engine for it. ScummVM is available for many different platforms, and the Android version has a bit of catching up to do. Still, it’s better than nothing!

A World of Photo. From the ADC 2 Winners page: “Loosely inspired by the traditional ‘Spin the bottle’, A World of Photo is a casual, geographic worldwide multiplayer online game with a social touch. Players spin their phones and will receive a photo from whomever in the world they pointed to. For best play experience, let the app run in the background.”. Here’s a review of A World of Photo at AndroidGuys.com.

Doom for Android. This is an Android port of id Software’s FPS classic from 1993.

Mystique. A horror mystery game, with the objective of escaping various rooms. Is available in several chapters.

Bonsai Blast is a slightly addictive puzzle game with nice, appealing graphics. The game’s object is basically to clear all coloured balls by shooting at them before they reach the end of the level.

Jewellust Lite – another popular Android puzzle game.

Labyrinth Lite. Ever had one of those classic games where you control a steel ball by tilting a wooden labyrinth? This is the software equivalent, using your phone’s accelerometer to control the ball.

Radiant Lite is a classic shoot ‘em up game with a really retro design. Pretty cool.

Robo Defense. This real-time strategy game had me hooked for a while, until I realized that it was way to easy and the “strategy” part was quite limited. I haven’t tried the Pro version though, and it might be a bit more of a challenge.

Trap!. The object of the game is to trap the balls by drawing lines in between their paths. Trap! is certainly not the first game with this concept, but beware: it will probably get you hooked!

Bebbled is a jawbreaker game for your Android phone.

LOLcats. “A builder, viewer and widget that lets you easily see all the lols from the icanhascheezburger website and the YouTube videos!”.

Manga Browser lets you read your favorite manga comics on your Android. The app offer several advantages over simply using a web browser for this purpose.

Droid Comic Viewer is a very popular image, comic and manga viewer. It can read comics from an SD card, supports touchscreen and trackball zooming and navigation, and it can handle the following formats: CBZ/ZIP, ACV, CBR/RAR (beta), JPEG, PNG, BMP. For some reason the app is listed as ACV in the app drawer.

Coin Flip by Ajas is the software equivalent of flipping a coin.