There is far more to smartphone life than Apple's iPhone. Google launched its Android software in 2008 and has since sold more than 300m of its
smartphones; currently, more than 850,000 are added to that number every day.
More than 450,000 apps are available on
Google Play,
which is generating more than 1bn app downloads every month. The latest
Android smartphones are also viable competitors to the iPhone (stylish
and powerful phones from companies such as Samsung, HTC and Sony
Ericsson have been flying off the shelves in the UK), but Android apps
haven't always had a great press. Android has been criticised
on security grounds, with accusations that there are more viruses and
malware apps on Google's store than on Apple's App Store. However,
Android apps have to ask for explicit permission to access your personal
data and phone features, so familiarise yourself with these permissions
requests when installing apps and you'll be less at risk.
Big games such as
Grand Theft Auto III and
Angry Birds Rio
now launch on Android at the same time as on iPhone, while all the
major social networking apps are also available on both. There is a
growing catalogue of useful productivity tools and lifestyle apps, while
Google has ensured that its key web services all have polished
incarnations for Android.
Over time, Google has made it easier for
people with Android smartphones to find new apps, too. Its recently
rebranded Google Play store has improved greatly on the one available
when the first Android phone went on sale, but as with iPhone, finding
the best apps can still feel like rooting through a digital haystack;
apps such as Appsfire (featured here) are making the needle hunt less of
a chore.
Android is interesting, because it attracts two very
different kinds of people: on the one hand, tech-savvy users who have
made a decision to choose Android over iPhone and regular phone users
who want a nice smartphone for a more affordable price. We've taken as
read that you'll be installing some of the most obvious apps, such as
Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Amazon Kindle, BBC iPlayer and eBay, which is
why they aren't in this list.
We've left out some very good apps due to restrictions on their availability or the phones they work with.
Google Chrome browser
(currently restricted to the handful of handsets running the latest Ice
Cream Sandwich Android software) and excellent keyboard app
Swype
(still in beta and not available on Google Play) are two examples.
However, the fact that they will be available for all Android users in
the near future is another reason for smartphone owners to feel excited
about the future of their gadgets. This list of 50 apps is a starting
point, but there is plenty more in store.
OUR TOP 50 PICK OF THE ANDROID PHONE APPS
ANDMADE SHARE Free This
is a simple utility that replaces your Android phone's default "Share"
menu with a better one, to make it quick to share your photos, messages
and updates on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.
FOURSQUARE Free It
started as a way for groups of friends to check into bars, restaurants
and other venues and earn points for their gadding about. That's still
true, but now it's as much about using that data to recommend new, cool
venues to visit.
GLANCEE Free One
of several social location apps that are all the rage. You sign in with
your Facebook details and it then alerts you when people with similar
friends and interests are nearby, so you never need miss an important
connection.
GOOGLE+ Free It's nowhere near as big as Facebook, but Google is making a big push for its
Google+
social network, which has plenty of fans already. Its most impressive
feature is Mobile Hangouts: live video chat with up to nine friends at
once – and while you're on the go.
PATH Free Instagram
for Android has only just been announced, but Path is plugging the gap
with this well-designed social photography app. Upload photos for
friends to see and post them to Facebook to share with your wider
circle.
LINKEDIN Free If
Facebook is for fun, Linkedin is strictly for business: a network for
your work contacts. Its easy-to-use Android app helps you add new
people, see what your contacts are up to and enables you to browse news
from your industry.
WHATSAPP MESSENGER Free An
app that wants to kill off text messages, replacing them with instant
messaging that works across every smartphone. It supports text, photos,
voice notes and videos and also offers group-chat features.
ENTERTAINMENT
TUNEIN RADIO PRO £0.20 TuneIn
is an essential download for radio buffs or anyone who regularly
travels abroad and wants to fend off homesickness. It streams more than
50,000 radio stations – including the big UK ones – as well as
podcasts.
ADELE Free She's
sold more than 20m albums and scooped a host of awards and Adele's
official Android app is equally classy. It offers news, videos and tour
dates, as well as a "fan wall" to post comments and chat to other fans.
7DIGITAL MUSIC STORE Free Looking
for a good Android alternative to Apple's iTunes Store for music
downloads? 7digital is the one. It has a catalogue of 18m tracks for
sale and lets you re-download your purchases when you buy a new device.
ESPN GOALS Free This
sounds too good to be true for football fans, but it isn't. ESPN's app
delivers video highlights of Premier League goals just minutes after
they're scored, as well as live scores and stats. It's free, and funded
by ads.
SHAZAM Free Are
you listening to a tune on the radio or in a club, but can't quite
place it? Shazam is your friend. It identifies tracks, then enables you
buy them, watch the YouTube videos or start them playing in Spotify. It
can also display lyrics.
SKY GO Free to Sky subscribers Sky's
live TV app offers up to 23 channels, although how many exactly depends
on which you have access to through your home subscription. They stream
over 3G or Wi-Fi and you can register up to two devices.
SPOTIFY £9.99 a month Streaming
music service Spotify goes from strength to strength, with more than
15m tracks available to stream or store locally on your phone for
offline listening. It also works with Facebook for friends' music
recommendations.
TED Free Californian
conference Ted is famous for its thought-provoking technology talks, as
big thinkers grapple with the future of… everything. Its Android app
serves up its archive of videos, many of them genuinely mind-changing.
GAMES
ANGRY BIRDS RIO Free You can't escape
Angry Birds
on any smartphone these days. The game sees you catapulting the miffed
birds at nefarious pigs, with the addition of characters from animated
movie
Rio and boss battles to spice up the action.
FLICK SOCCER £0.69 There are full simulations, such as
FIFA on Android, but the most addictive football game is
Flick Soccer, which sees you flicking free kicks into a goal from a variety of positions. Fearsomely addictive, with bags of depth.
FRUIT NINJA £0.77 Fruit Ninja
is another casual game that's as playable on Android as it is on
iPhone. Here, you're slashing various fruit in half with swipes of your
finger on the touchscreen, building up your score with squishy skills.
GRAND THEFT AUTO III £2.99 It's 10 years old, but
GTA III
still feels fresh on a mobile phone. This is the full console game
crammed on to Android devices, with new touchscreen controls. Your nan
still wouldn't approve, but this is excellent.
MINECRAFT - pocket edition £4.29 Want a game where you make things rather than kill them?
Minecraft
sees you roaming a colourful virtual world made of blocks and digging
and building to your heart's content. It's like digital Lego for gamers.
TANK HERO: LASER WARS £1.99 The first
Tank Hero
has been a big hit on Android, with more than 5m downloads. This sequel
bumps up the puzzle action, as you kit out a tank with all manner of
destructive weapons to eliminate enemies.
WHALE TRAIL £1.49 Another
excellent iPhone game that has found its way on to Android. Willow the
Whale soars through the clouds as he seeks to escape the evil Baron Von
Barry. The soundtrack comes from Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys.
WORDS WITH FRIENDS Free Words With Friends
is basically Scrabble under a different name: you make words with tiles
on a board with rows and columns. Here, though, you're competing with
your Facebook friends, taking turns at your leisure.
WORLD OF GOO £2.99 Having started life as a PC game,
World of Goo
has become one of the stickiest Android games. It sees you squeezing
and stretching goo balls to build objects to get you through a
succession of puzzle levels. Tactile and wonderful.
READING
THE CAT IN THE HAT £1.91 There
is a comprehensive selection of Dr Seuss books on the Android Market,
so why not start with the most famous? You get voice narration, sound
effects and words that rise up to help children's comprehension.
THE GUARDIAN Free Excuse us this one self-interested entry. This app puts a slick, mobile interface on the
Guardian
website, complete with podcasts, videos, the ability to save articles
for offline reading and customise the homescreen categories.
BBC NEWS Free The
BBC's official news app for Android is a well-designed way to scoot
quickly through its stories, from UK and world through to technology,
business and entertainment. You can also pick categories for its
homescreen to suit.
PULSE NEWS Free Pulse
is one of a clutch of news aggregation apps for Android. You tell it
what websites you like and it pulls down the latest stories, while also
letting you search for keywords of specific topics you're interested in.
LIFESTYLE
AA ECO DRIVE Free An
app that aims to save you money while also helping the planet? That
will be AA Eco Drive, which uses GPS to track your driving style, then
provides useful tips on how you can be more efficient at conserving
fuel.
ANDROIDIFY Free One
of Android's strong points is its striking robot logo, something
capitalised on by Google's own Androidify app. It lets you create your
own Android avatars, complete with accessories, to store and share with
friends.
BUILDAPP Free This
app is still in beta, but if you are thinking of moving house or
redecorating, it could still prove invaluable. Buildapp enables you to
design your rooms in 3D and then move virtual furniture around to see
how it might look.
GOOGLE MAPS Free Google
Maps remains, hands down, the best maps app for Android. Hardly
surprising – it's easy to use and the maps are clear and detailed.
Although built into Android, this standalone version is updated more
frequently.
JAMIE'S 20-MINUTE MEALS £4.99 Android is as pukka as iPhone for Jamie Oliver, whose app offers 60 recipes. They can be made in less time than an episode of
The Naked Chef (though 20 minutes is optimistic)and have step-by-step instructions and photos.
LONDON BUS CHECKER £1.66 This
app has been a huge hit with the capital's commuters on iPhone, but now
it's on Android too. See live times of the buses coming to your nearest
stop, based on live data from Transport for London as they travel
around.
MET OFFICE WEATHER APPLICATION Free The
UK's Met Office has an official Android app and it's very good indeed.
It provides five-day forecasts and daily weather maps, as well as severe
weather warnings and favourite location forecasts.
NETFLIX £5.99 a month Netflix
is a service for streaming films and television shows. It crossed over
to Britain from the United States early this year and has a broad
selection of things to watch. It works well on Android smartphones and
tablets.
TOUCHNOTE POSTCARDS Free Picture
messaging, Facebook and email might be good ways to share your photos,
but sometimes you have to get physical. Touchnote turns your pics into
postcards, sent to any address for £1.49 a time - in the UK or beyond.
TRAIN TIMES UK £3.49 If
you're used to using the National Rail website to look up train times,
Train Times UK is the best equivalent on Android. It provides live
departure and arrival times, fare details and directions to and from
stations.
SHOPPING
BARCLAYS PINGIT Free Barclays'
new mobile payments app is an innovative and impressive idea: send
money direct to friends' bank accounts from your phone. For now, only
Barclays customers can send, but that will change in the future.
APPSFIRE Free Appsfire
is an app to help you shop for… apps. It lets you browse your own
collection and, crucially, recommends other app downloads you might
like, based on your tastes. Appsfire offers a good way to keep on top of
the latest apps.
AMAZON MOBILE FOR ANDROID Free Still
think people won't shop on a phone? They said that about websites once.
Amazon's app is fast and efficient for browsing and buying products,
with barcode scanning to get more details on something when in a
real-world shop.
TESCO GROCERIES Free Tesco's
shopping app is a model of simplicity and effectiveness, as you create
and manage shopping lists, book delivery slots and switch between the
mobile and web shopping services. You can also scan products in-store to
add them to your list.
TOOLS
ADVANCED TASK KILLER Free If
you're experiencing performance issues with your Android smartphone, it
may be because too many apps are running in the background. Advanced
Task Killer is the antidote, helping you shut down those you don't need.
DROPBOX Free Wonder
why there's so much excitement around cloud services? Dropbox should
help you understand. When installed on your computer and Android, you
can swap files between the two at will – photos, videos, documents…
EVERNOTE Free Another
good advert for the power of the cloud, Evernote wants to help you
"remember everything across all of the devices you use", storing and
synchronising notes and to-do lists, while adding photos for visual
memory aids.
GOOGLE DOCS Free It
should come as no surprise that Google's own online office suite works
very well as an Android app. You can create, edit and share Google Docs
with it; it also uses the camera to convert snaps of printed text into
documents.
ONAVO Free You
may know that your mobile tariff provides 500MB of data a month, but do
you know how that data gets used by different apps? Onavo will show
youhow, monitoring data traffic and displaying it as easy-to-understand
charts.
OPERA MINI Free Looking
for an alternative to Google's preloaded Android web browser? Opera
Mini is well worth a look. It uses compression technology that ensures
websites load faster and cost you much less in data usage – a godsend
when roaming abroad.
SKY MAP Free Originally
made by Google, this app has just been open sourced for other
developers to work on. It's an excellent showcase for Android phones:
point your device at the sky and it will tell you what the various stars
are.
SWIFTKEY X KEYBOARD £0.49 If
you don't get on well with the default on-screen keyboard for your
Android phone, maybe you should give Swiftkey a try. It learns your
language and provides more accurate predictions and corrections as you
tap.
