The Ever-Growing List of Awesome Android Applications

Before I got my first Android device last year, I fine-combed the interwebs (and later also the Market, of course) in an attempt to find the must-have, topnotch software for my new handset and this is what I came up with. All these titles are freeware as of now – Android definitely offers a lot of great apps without having to spend a dime.

Since it’s easy to just search and browse the Market to get hold of great software, a list like this might seem redundant. However, the Market’s abundance of titles can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and make it hard to know what to download – and even know what you’re looking for in the first place. Hopefully this list will provide a good overview, especially for those new to Android: a place to start when you are about to fill up your device with some awesome Android apps.

Please note that a few of these applications are currently only available in the US, and some of them require Android 1.6 or higher. The QR Code links will bring up an image that you can scan with Barcode Scanner using your phone’s camera, and will take you directly to the Market. In case you feel that I have failed to include an essential app or if you have any other feedback, please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!

Do you think this list is too long? Check out My Personal Essentials at the bottom of the page.

•   Must-Have Software
•   Location-Aware / Augmented Reality
•   Multimedia
•   Utilities / Shopping
•   System Tools
•   Communication / News
•   Reference
•   Work-out Software
•   Games / Emulation
•   Just For Fun / Entertainment
•   My Personal Essentials

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•   Leave a Comment

Updates & Additions

Must-Have Software

Barcode Scanner scans barcodes on products, then looks up prices and reviews online. You can also scan QR Codes and lots more.

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Shazam. I knew of Shazam before I got a chance to try it myself, but I was still quite in awe by how well it worked. For those of you not yet familiar with this application: it lets you identify music tracks and buy them; plus you can learn more about the artist in question, load up their MySpace page and even watch the corresponding music videos on YouTube. In other words: let Shazam listen to a track you hear on the radio and it will not only tell you the name of it, but within a minute you can also watch the video for it and own the track. Pretty high WOW-factor.

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TuneWiki will not only function as an excellent music player, but it will also display perfect lyrics for the songs you play – synchronized, karaoke-style. Another application that is quite rad when you’re not used to it.

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Google Sky Map is one of the must-have apps with a big wow-factor. From Google’s website: “With Google Sky Map for your Android phone you can discover and browse the night sky just by pointing your phone to space. By using your Android phone’s orientation sensors, we can show you a star map for your location. Explore planets, stars, constellations, and more! Learn the name and location of space objects and impress your friends”.

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Aldiko Book Reader is a pretty awesome eBook reader. You can browse and download thousands of free classics and modern works and read them on your device, all presented in a polished and visually appealing interface. A must-have app for your Android phone. I’m impressed.

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Google Translate lets you instantly translate text between 50 languages – not just single words but entire phrases as well. It features: dictionary results, text-to-speech, voice input and more. A pretty essential download.

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Location-Aware / Augmented Reality

WikiTude World Browser – another excellent augmented reality application for Android. “WikiTude World Browser presents the user with data about their surroundings, nearby landmarks, and other points of interest by overlaying information on the real-time camera view of a smart-phone.”

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Celeste Lite will allow you to locate planets simply by aiming your phone’s camera towards the sky, day or night. It will also show various facts, like where the sun will rise or set, or if the moon is full and when it will appear over the horizon. Celeste tracks our solar system with 3D visuals, and is definitely a welcome addition to augmented reality on Android.

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Google Goggles lets you take a picture of something that you’re curious about, and it will tell you more about it. For example, take a photo of a famous painting, a landmark or a bottle of wine, and Google Goggles will make a Google search for that object. The software is still under development and it may not work for some things. Perhaps this isn’t an augmented reality or GPS app per se, but I still think it belongs in this category. Is currently only available in the US.

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World Surfer by GeoVector brings more AR to Android. “Using GeoVector’s directional search, you can point your phone at a place that interests you in order to learn more about it or aim your phone down a street to search for things which are in that direction.”

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Waze is a “social mobile app that enables drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation for an optimal commute. 100% powered by users, the more you drive the better it gets”. I guess the usefulness of this app depends on where you live and how much community-generated content is available.

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Foursquare is a location-based social networking service that has gained in popularity recently. It “gives you and your friends new ways of exploring your city”. You can earn points and unlock badges for discovering new things. If this sounds like your cup of tea, give it a try.

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Multimedia

Pandora. This is a highly esteemed application for listening to Internet radio.

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Act 1 Video Player is one of the most fully-featured video players available for Android. The trial version is free and the full paid version costs 99 cents. A nice alternative to Android’s native video player.

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Meridian is another noteworthy media player for Android.

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MixZing is one of the most popular and fully-featured music players for Android. I haven’t felt the need to use any other music player than the one that comes with the HTC Hero (besides TuneWiki every now and then, of course), but MixZing is actually quite good. Some of its highlights are:
* Mood Player: play a song and MixZing plays more like it
* Home-screen widgets with album art
* Automatically download missing album art
* Get recommendations for new music
* Get artist info, videos, photos
* Genre and video browsing
* Specify music folders

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i Music. I’m not exactly sure about the mechanics behind this piece of software, but it lets you download an unlimited amount of MP3 songs from various networks.

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Music Online Lite. Like i Music above, this app lets you search for songs and play or download them.

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GigBox will help you find events based on your location and your musical taste, and bookmark your favorite events and artists. During live events you can chat, rate and publish pictures directly from your phone.

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PicSay is basically an image editor that lets you add various objects to your photos and play around with them. It’s a great and entertaining way to spice up your multimedia messages!

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Photoshop.com for Android is Adobe’s Android client for their online photo editing service Photoshop.com.

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Zedge is a client for the Norwegian Zedge.net website, which is a very popular place for cellphone wallpapers, themes and ringtones. I’m almost embarrassed to admit I’ve visited their site from time to time for years, mainly to get themes for my Nokia devices. Their Android app has a slick interface and is actually quite good. My favorite of the wallpaper applications, and it most likely has the largest collection to download from.

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Utilities / Shopping

ShopSavvy allows you to use your phone’s camera to scan barcodes to find the best prices for online and local items. It probably has limited usage outside of the US so far, but it’s still a nice app to have even for non-Americans.

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Google Shopper. In February 2010, Google released their own shopping app: Shopper. I like Google’s simple and descriptive approach to naming their services. Shopper very much works like the other shopping tools, and you can make searches by taking pictures of products, scan barcodes or say the name of products out loud. You can also share products with friends and save your history and favorites.

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Cooking Capsules is a clever recipe application with full cooking instructions in three steps: watch a video tutorial, shop ingredients and cook the meal. However, the number of recipes is currently limited and a larger collection would certainly increase the application’s usefulness. Do you know of more good cooking software for Android? Leave a comment and I’ll check it out.

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Recordoid Lite is a great dictaphone for your Android device with a beautiful, retro cassette deck interface that’s easy to use. You can add notes to your recordings, send them via e-mail, save and view recording locations on the map and assign recordings as ringtones. I really dig this app.

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AK Notepad. I was surprised when I found out that Android does not have a native application for taking notes. I had hoped there would be a Notes app that would sync with Google Notebook (I later realized Google had stopped developing Notebook altogether in favour of Google Docs). There are however software on the Market that handle notes very well, and AK Notepad is one of the better among them, with lots of features and settings

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Evernote. Yep, you guessed it: yet another notes application. This one stores your notes online and you can access them from your browser as well. If you’re unsure which one of these apps to go for, I’d suggest 3banana.

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Astrid is an esteemed and very popular to-do list manager. From the developers: “Astrid is a todo list / task tracking system for Google’s Android platform that is built with your productivity in mind. Astrid’s goal is not to be the most feature-complete task organizer, but to be the most simple solution that helps you stay productive.”

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Currency Converter is another solid currency converter for Android that deserves to be mentioned.

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Finance Apps / Expense Trackers
A while I go I was in the need of an application that could track my expenses. I wanted a way to quickly see how much was left on one of my accounts, and get an overview of what I spend my money on. I ended up using Money Manager, and it’s great for that purpose. It might be a bit too basic, but that’s also a strength and I love the homescreen widget showing my account balance. Other popular finance apps are DailyCash and EasyMoney.

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Countdown Alarm and Ultimate Stopwatch & Timer. I wasn’t impressed with the native timer application on my HTC Hero, and these two apps were the best replacements I could find. They are both very basic, but do the trick.

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Gmote. From the developer’s website: “Gmote turns Android into a remote control for a computer, allowing users to run movies and music at a distance. It supports all of the standard remote control features such as play, pause, rewind, volume controls etc. It also has a built-in file browser that lets you select what to play.”

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aCar. I am a big city commuter myself and I haven’t owned a car in 10 years (right after I got my driver’s license), but for those who drive a lot, this app will probably be useful. It helps you track the maintenance, fuel mileage and expenses of your car, and can provide you with statistics, charts and reports.

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System Tools

AppManager allows you to manage your installed applications with the following key features: backup apps to SD card, install apps from SD card, uninstall apps, locate apps at market, launch apps.

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Astro File Manager allows you to manage files on your phone without the need for a computer. Perhaps most useful for people with rooted devices, but still a valuable tool – especially since Android doesn’t come with a file manager.

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AndroZip File Manager. For a long time, I was content with using Astro and I never looked elsewhere for my file managing needs. But there are plenty of other fish in the sea, and AndroZip is a strong challenger. Besides basic file management, it can also compress/uncompress ZIP and RAR archives, and it may also serve as an app manager.

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EStrongs File Explorer is my current Android file manager of choice. One of the application’s main benefits is that it can browse local area networks (LAN) and FTP servers in addition to your phone storage.

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EStrongs Task Manager. There are plenty of good Android task managers out there that do what they’re supposed to, and selecting which one to use is mainly a matter of preference. This is a popular and acclaimed choice, and it’s the task manager I use at the moment.

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Bar Control. Ever wanted to put links to your favorite apps in the notification bar, so you can access them quicker? With Bar Control, you can.

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Any Cut allows you to make a shortcut on your homescreen to pretty much anything. I couldn’t find an official homepage for this utility, but just search the Market and you’ll find it. There’s a more advanced commercial version available as well called Better Cut.

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Toggle Settings is a very useful tool that allows you to quickly access the most common settings (Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, Silent Mode etc) right from your homescreen. The application’s main downside is its surprisingly long load time, at least on my HTC Hero, which will delay that “quick” access. It’s also a bit too bloated for my needs.

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Ringdroid is an application for editing and creating your own ringtones, alarms, and notification sounds.

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FlyScreen is by many considered to be an essential application: the first they install on a new device and the first they recommend. FlyScreen basically puts your favorite web services on your phone’s sleep screen, for quick and easy access to the content you use most often. I don’t have it installed actually, mainly because I can get most of what it offers simply by going to my regular homescreen. But I can see how FlyScreen can be very useful for some people.

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WaveSecure is a security tool that first gained acclaim on Symbian devices. It enables users to remotely lock down and track down lost phones, get a copy of their data securely backed up, and remotely wipe data of the phone to protect user privacy. If you download the application from the Market before the 31 January 2010, you’ll get a free lifetime subscription. It feels safe to have WaveSecure installed, just in case.

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Communication / News

Twidroid is one of the best and most popular Twitter clients for Android. There’s a Pro version as well with additional features.

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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.

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Handcent SMS. Just like chompSMS above, Handcent SMS is a utility for text messages. Perhaps the most fully-featured of the two with plenty of room for customization, and my personal favorite. A powerful messaging app.

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Facebook for Android. This is the official Facebook client for Android. Like Symbian’s Facebook app counterpart, the website designed for touchscreen phones is still better, though.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 the way to roll. It also offers more details than the HTC weather app, so it can be a good complement anyway.

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AndFTP is exactly what it sounds like: a full FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client for your Android device. I haven’t had to use it yet, but I have a feeling that AndFTP will prove useful someday.

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Reference

Plink Art. I like this one a lot, not because I’m particularly into art or that I will have much use for it, but because it’s the kind of application that would seem futuristic and almost a bit sci-fi only 4-5 years ago. Plink Art will let you identify almost any work of art simply by taking a photo of it, sort of like a Shazam for art. This app was one of the ADC 2 Overall Winners.

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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…

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Work-out Software

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

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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.

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Games

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.

Space Physics Lite is a puzzle game based on physics. It’s more entertaining than it might sound, and the goal is to move a ball towards a target, by drawing objects on the screen that come to life.

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Shoot U! Lite is another hand-drawing style physics game from Camel Games. This time, you only need to shoot out funny looking dudes from a cannon and hit a star. It can actually be quite difficult, and quite addictive.

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Nesoid Lite is a NES emulator for Android.

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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.

Bebbled is a jawbreaker game for your Android phone.

Just For Fun / Entertainment

Funny Jokes. “Browse the funniest jokes on your Android. You can add your jokes, share them with others, and send them via email or text message. Thousands of free jokes in 12 categories (Yo Momma, Chuck Norris Facts, Comebacks, etc.)”.

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

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Daily Strip is a comic strip viewer. You can choose from 98 different strips, like Calvin & Hobbes. Cool.

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FMyLife FML is the official Android client for the often hilarious and splendidly bitter FML website.

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MagicMarker by Jaytronix is a program for writing and drawing with neon colors on a black background. You can share your artwork via Gmail or save it to the gallery. It’s actually more fun than it sounds.

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

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My Personal Essentials

Even though I love trying out new software, I prefer not having too many applications installed. I’d rather have 30 great apps that I actually use, than 80 good applications that I rarely even run and just clutter up my device. So here is my highly subjective list of essential Android applications:

• Barcode Scanner. You got to have a good barcode scanner. I like this software’s no-frills approach.
• Shazam. Not that I have used it that much so far, but Shazam has a high WOW factor and can certainly come in handy if you listen to a lot of new music. It identifies songs by listening to them and tells you more about the tracks in question (MySpace, YouTube etc).
• TuneWiki. Sometimes I’m not sure what my favorite artists actually are singing (I kind of like that sometimes, though), and TuneWiki displays perfect lyrics for the songs I play – synchronized, karaoke-style.
• Google Skymap. Aim your phone towards the sky and this app will tell you what you’re looking at: planets, stars, constellations and what not. Would have seemed science fiction five years ago.
• Aldiko Book Reader. Although I prefer reading real books the old-school way, I’m impressed by how well this application works.
• Layar Reality Browser, WikiTude and World Surfer. There are plenty of excellent augmented-reality apps for Android. I have a hard time choosing just one, so I have all these three installed (I probably have more than that, AR is cool and intrigues me).
• PicSay. This image manipulation application is perhaps a bit silly, but I like to spice up my multimedia messages with it sometimes. Can be fun to use.
• FxCamera. Another application that in no way is essential, but that is fun. It lets you take photos with different digital filters, like the AndyWarholizer.
• Zedge. I have Zedge installed to conveniently get access to new homescreen wallpapers.

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• ShopSavvy and SnapTell. These applications will allow you to use your phone’s camera to scan barcodes to find online information about products.
• 3banana. My favorite application for taking notes.
• ConvertDroid. You never know when you need to do some unit conversions.
• Currency. A great app for converting currencies.
• Compass. This is a traditional compass for your Android phone. You might not use it everyday, but hey, you never know?
• FlashLight. Lets you use your phone’s display as a little flashlight.
• Astro File Manager. Android doesn’t come with a file manager out-of-the-box, and this is my favorite of the ones on the Market.

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• Task Manager. There’s generally no way to close applications manually on Android since the system handles it for you. If you want to close processes yourself, you’d have to use an application like Task Manager. TasKiller is another popular choice. Either works.
• Spare Parts. I like to customize my devices, and this utility lets me access more system settings than is available by default.
• Live Bookmarks. A must-have for me: it will simply display a list of your bookmarks in the sort order of your choice, so you can access them directly from your desktop.
• Quick Settings. Gives you quick access to the most common settings, another essential tool.
• WaveSecure. A phone security application, great to have if you loose your device.
• Twidroid. The best Twitter client for Android. I use it as a complement to HTC’s own Twitter app: Peep.
• Handcent SMS. Replaces the default Messaging application with plenty of additional features. Its competitor chompSMS isn’t far behind.

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• Facebook for Android. The official Android Facebook client has lots of room for improvement, but I still use it daily.
• Plink Art. This app automatically identifies art, and this type of application automatically have a home on my internal storage.
• Wapedia. There are lots of Wikipedia/Wapedia clients: WikiMobile and Quickpedia, just to name a few. But Wapedia is basically all I need.
• Free Dictionary Org. A free English Dictionary that will give you English definitions, synonyms, pronunciation, spelling and more.
• My Tracks. This app will enable you to view live statistics while you work out – such as time, speed, distance, and elevation. SportyPal and CardioTrainer are other popular choices. But just one will do.
• Daily Strip. Will give you direct access to a large number of different comic strips that you can read on your device.
• Funny Jokes. Why not? Jokes can be funny.

That’s pretty much it. These are the applications I install first and use the most. Would your list differ a lot from mine?