Elliot's Thoughts

Thought i’d kick off this blog with something i’ve been meaning to do for a while, especially whern i meet new android owners who just don’t know how many cool apps are out there. Here are my favourites, listed in alphabetical order.

• 0870 – Once installed, when you dial an 0870- or 0845- number, it will search the publicly available database to see if there is a cheaper number to call
  
• Aldiko – the best e-book reader for Android bar none
  
  
  
• Astro – the de-facto standard for android file-browsers
  
  
  
• Barcode Scanner - Scans barcodes (urls, etc – like these!)
  
  
  
• Compare anywhere - Scan barcodes of products to compare prices (fairly us-centric for the time being)
  
  
  
• Gentle Alarm - The best alarm clock in the world ever. Completely configurable. Lets you wake up to any sound, any mp3, or a playlist so you can have different tunes each morning. Turn the phone over to snooze. Emits a delicate “pre-alarm” 30m or so before the main alarm that will only wake you up if you’re between sleep cycles – you’ll wake up even more refreshed than if you got up when the alarm sounds!
  
  
  
• Google Listen - Podcasts sans iTunes. Though this may not last long on th elist copnsidering how unstable the most recent version is on my Hero… good concept though.
  
  
  
• Google Sky Map – needs no introduction – THE Android Killer App
  
  
  
• Guardian Anywhere – mashup bringing the best of the guardian to your phone. It even downloads during the night for offline viewing on the train!
  
  
  
• Hoccer – an interesting take on file sharing. Lets you “throw” files to other android users who can then download what you “threw”. Seeing is believing
  
  
  
• Locale – Set triggers of time, location, status (e.g. plugged in or low battery) to activate features (wifi, silent mode, vibrate, etc). Invaluable! Unfortunately it’s now a paid app, and at 9.99 is just not worth it for me at the moment.
  
  
  
• MyMaps Editor by Google – gives you access to “my maps” from your google account if you have any. I’m not sure why you can’t access these straight from google maps, but until you can, this app is just the ticket.
  
  
  
• myPlayer – BBC iPlayer for your phone. Unofficial so it doesn’t always work, but most things do, especially on WiFi
  
  
  
• Musical Pro – tools for musicians: metronome, pitch pipe, tuner, even a piano and drum kit to play with
  
  
  
• NewsRob – RSS reader that syncs with your GoogleReader account
  
  
  
• Orientation Lock Widget – if you’re like me and you like reading stuff when you’re lying in bed, you’ll appreciate this handy way to stop your screen orientation changing to landscape
  
  
  
• PDA Net – invaluable app for allowing you to “tether” your computer to your android so you can use the 3g connection from your computer. Works on mac/windows/linux – no root access required!
  
  
  
• Pkt Auctions eBay – a great way to follow your bay auctions on the go
  
  
  
• Rehearsal Assistant – an useful tool for musicians/performers. Lets you make sessions for a rehearsal and start recording at the touch of a button. Then you have all the recordings from the session along with time markings to go over when you want to review what was rehearsed
  
  
  
• Remember the milk (RTM) – task management stuff. Another where you need a subscription to use the android app, but i find it very useful to be able to make todo lists or whatever on your computer and have them wherever you are! (Astrid is another good location-aware tasks app if you don’t want to pay for RTM)
  
  
  
  
• Ringdroid - Extract ringtones from music tracks from your library
  
  
  
• Shazam - Ever wonder what that tune is?
  
  
  
• Skype Lite - Call anyone on your skype contact list (dials a local number) Note: apparently not available on Eclair…
  
  
  
• SpeedTest - If you’ve ever used speedtest.net to test your broadband connection, you’ll emnjoy this equally-useful, equally-gorgeous Android version
  
  
  
• Spotify and/or Last.fm - Android versions of the best music sharing apps – for spotify on the android you need to have a subscription (tenner/month) but is worth it to have just about any music you want wherever you are (as long as you have signal of course!) LastFM is free
  
  
  
  
• Taskiller - Some form of task manager is obligatory for running android without driving yourself mad. Sometimes you need to kill those apps that are taking up memory . Best thing is the widget, that shows you how much memory is left, and kills all programs (those you’ve not marked to “ignore”) with the touch of a button!
  
  
  
• ToMarket – a great app for compiling shopping lists
  
  
  
• TV-Guide – what it says on the tin
  
  
  
• Twidroyd - The best twitter client for Android
  
  
  
• Volume Control – quick access to all the different volume settings for your phone (e.g. Ringer, Media, Notifications, Alarms, In-Call, etc)
  
  
  
• WeatherBug – a very good weather app, gives detailed written forecasts for your area
  
  
  
• Wifi Analyzer – good tool for checking the relative strengths of wifi signals in your area
  
  
  
• Wikitude/Layar – The two main “augmented reality” apps
  
  
  
  

I will try to keep this list up to date as i discover new ones.Do you have any others i should try? Alternatives to the ones above or new ideas i haven’t come across? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. Thanks to qrcode.kaywa.com for providing a very useful qr-codes generator and host engine.