So, I’ve just gotten my new Droid Incredible, and as an iPhone convert, I’m getting used to moving from Apple’s draconian app store to the Android wild.
I’ve gone with a few gimme apps so far, like Advanced App Killer or Google Sky, but otherwise I’m a blank slate. So what are everybody else’s favorite apps? What are my must-haves?
Air Controller - probably the best free game in the market. The gameplay simple and addictive. You route aircraft to their runways and helipads.
Splash Piano - It’s a little keyboard, and multi-touch was just added for the INC just yesterday.
Tricorder - a trek app (with Nex gen look and feel) that showcases a lot or cool capabilities.
Google goggles, Google translate, and My Tracks are must too.
PDANet - the bomb
PDAnet, absolutely. But I have also been VERY happy with Shopsavvy (two words? Shop Savvy? Don’t have my phone handy to check). You aim your camera at a UPC sticker and it scans it and returns all manner of info about the product–where it is available online and for how much, available reviews, etc. We were at Walmart and saw this extremely low-priced Blu-ray player, a purchase we had been dancing around for a while, and here they were practically giving it away. I scanned the UPC label and read the reviews and we decided it was worth a try at that price. REALLY handy little app.
OnAir will let you transfer files over wifi via ldap, ftp or appletalk (meaning you can use pretty much any OS to talk to the phone). Useful when your usb cable/power adapter is elsewhere.
Hypnotic Spiral - what it says on the tin.
In the Netherlands, TreinTijden Lite give you up to date information on the train schedule.
Seconding Tricorder.
Google goggles and layar haven’t done anything useful for me yet, though the concept is potentially interesting and it looks cool.
ETA: VeloComputer may be interesting if you’re into biking.
The ones I use a lot:
**Listen **for all my favorite NPR podcasts.
**Jewels **, Sudoku Daily, and **WordUp **for time-killing.
**WeatherBug ** because I like the widget better than the pre-installed Weather Channel widget.
**ASTRO **for file-managing and viewing photos.
**EboBirthday **for managing birthdays and anniversaries.
**Shazam **for song identifying. This one is cool.
CallTrack logs calls you’ve placed, missed, or received to a Google calendar of your choosing
gTasks allows you to manually sync Tasks on your Google Calendar
IMDb app is better than the ugly website that’s overblown with ads
My Maps Editor to edit existing Google Maps
Pandora works just as well on a smartphone as it does via the browser
Thinking Space for all your brainstorming and flow chart needs
Wapedia has a compact way of displaying wiki pages from the major wiki websites
Thanks for that! I’m replying via my myTouch!
I’ve been wasting a ton of time playing WordUp, a version of Boggle. It is really helping my Scrabble game because it shows you all the possible words.
Advanced Task Killer, to kill all those apps you’ve just loaded that are running and using up battery.
Thirding or fourthing Tricorder. I don’t really use it except to show off my droid.
My favorite one right now is voice texting - it is much faster for me than typing, and the Droid, at least, is incredibly accurate.
Google Skymap is an awesome map if you live in a city where you can actually see stars at night.
With Android 2.2 (Froyo) do you need PDANet? My understanding was that you could turn the device into a wireless hotspot without additional apps. My Nexus One arrives this week and I’ll be trying that out myself.
PDANET is simply modem tethering software that lets you (invisibly to the phone carrier) use your smart phones data connection as a net connection for your notebook, and is subject to the phone’s speed and data plan limitations. Turning your phone into a re-broadcasting “hot spot” that others can share wirelessly is (I believe) something else entirely.
[hijack]Is there a good ebook reader for Droid phones? One that reads multiple formats (epub, txt, pdf, etc.)?[/hijack]
I have a Nexus One with 2.2. In addition to the wireless hotspot, it also has USB tethering built in. The only thing that PDANet can add is Bluetooth tethering, if you want that.
My favorite app for android is FBReader. I have something like 200 ebooks on my phone now.
I also like Tapatalk. It’s a good front end for the StraightDope message boards.
I use Handcent, which is a text messaging app. I like it because you can get the text to act as a “pop-up” and reply, have it read to you, call the person, delete, or simply close as read right from the pop up.
Sportstap is an amazing app as it keeps track of just about any sport’s scores you can think of (even tennis!).
I like SMS Back up - it will save (either automatically or not, your call) your text messages by sending them to your linked Gmail account.
Love Google Sky Map as does everyone that sees it.
My time waster apps are backgammon and jewellust.
aCar is a nifty little app that lets you keep track of your car’s maintenance, including things as simple as fuel fill-ups.
I’ve only paid for one app - Baseball Superstars 2009. Actually, other than that, I’ve had trouble finding games I like.
Beyond that, Visual Voicemail, Bump, WeatherBug, Flashlight (surprisingly effective), Bank of America Mobile (if you’re unlucky enough to be a B of A customer), WikiMobile, XKCDviewer :), Facebook, Pandora, AnyCut, and Where’s My Droid?
In addition to others already mentioned (specifically Astro, Pdanet and Pandora):
gStrings - great guitar (actually just about any instrument) tuner
Nesoid, Gensoid, SNesoid - NES, Genesis, and SNES emulators
Barcode Scanner - good to have for when you see those square barcodes (QRcodes) that can contain address book info, direct links to market pages for apps, links to web sites, etc.
Shopsavvy is da bomb. I rarely make a big purchase without scanning the UPC. It’s saved me a ton of money on several occasions, or let me know I was actually getting a good price.
Best purchase: I went to Fry’s to pick up a printer. Scanned the bar code, found it for $100 less at the Office Depot across the street. Fry’s was willing to match the price (after calling to verify they had it in stock.)
Can’t beat that!
Oh yeah, a couple more good apps.
Seconding Word Up … it’s a majorly fun game, and has multiplayer capabilities
Cestos Another majorly fun multiplayer game where you have marbles in an arena and try to knock opponent’s marbles into pockets while preseving your own. It’s online only with a lobby and matchmaking, plus has cross platform play with iPhone
Bonsai Blast - Zuma on your Android!
Zilch! A very fun dice game that also has multiplayer
Zombie Run! A creative way to take walks… You enter your destination on Google Maps, and it randomly populates the map with zombies who, if you get close enough, converge on your location. Your goal is to avoid them.
PicSay photo editing, with word balloons and captioning capability… It’s like being able to turn any picture you take instantly into an LOLcat…
3 A music player that blows away the built in app. This one’s hard to find on the Market because it’s actually ‘Cubed’ (superscripted 3) so you may want to search for its author, ‘Filipe Abrantes’
Relax and Sleep a noise generator for sleep… White noise, rain, crickets, fan sounds if you can’t stand silence when sleeping.
Flixter Fantastic movie app, helps you find nearby theaters and showtimes, has tie-ins to Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix
Rainy Days - An animated weather radar app. Simple and free. My wife had it when camping a few weeks ago, and whenever they wanted to take a hike or some such, she could check for rain in about 2 seconds.
OurGroceries - Grocery list that syncs with other users, and a website. Setup a list for Costco and one for the regular grocery store. You remember you need X while at work, add it to the list and whoever goes to the store next has it. Also makes a handy shared to do list.
Opera mini - Beats the pants off of the browser packaged with my phone.
World Attack Abduction - Fun little game, actually paid for the full version.