Pris at the Market

May 14, 2009 10:12 PM

What Android apps do you love?

I just got a G1, and it's so great, but the applications store is downright overwhelming, and the rating system doesn't seem to be trustworthy. Which apps have you found? Which ones are useful or fun or important to you?

posted by simonemarie to technology (16 answers total)

I've downloaded quite a few, but the ones I use most are:

Twidroid (Twitter app)
SMS popup (displays your text messages on the screen when they arrive)
Toggle WiFi (basically an easy on/off switch for WiFi)
Shake Awake (Shake the phone during a phone call to easily access the number pad)
Wallpaper Set & Save
Where (like Yelp sort of)
Ringdroid (easy way to make your own ringtones out of music files on your phone)

Some others that are kind of nifty but I don't use them often:

G1 Psycho (shake your phone and it plays the Psycho theme when activated)
Compare Everywhere (scan a bar code and get all kinds of info about the product)
posted by katillathehun at 10:23 PM on May 14, 2009

Papijump (game), Shazam (instant song identification).
posted by halogen at 10:26 PM on May 14, 2009

Toddler Lock is useful for entertaining my 2-year-old on long car rides.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:37 PM on May 14, 2009

If you like Papijump, you'll like Abduction! World Attack. It's the same concept but with cooler graphics and more options.
posted by fireoyster at 11:42 PM on May 14, 2009

Go here 1st: link (kinda slow today)

MUCH easier to browse the market from a computer.

To install an app from Cyrket you'll need to download "Barcode Scanner". Once installed you can then point the G1's camera at the QR-Code (square funny barcode) on each of the app's page and scan it. Then the G1 will ask what to do, just tap "Open Browser" and the G1 will take you to the market and the app's page. install from there.

Now for my favorite apps.

Abduction Price - £1.35
Bonsai Blast Price - FREE!
Steel Price - FREE!
Ringdroid Price - FREE!
Power Manager Price - $0.99
SMS Popup Price - FREE!

And the best one of all
Locale Price - FREE!

Here is my list of apps I have installed.

Enjoy your new toy.
posted by Dr.Jeckyl at 11:46 PM on May 14, 2009 [2 favorites]

I find Lexic (basically a wordfinder game) strangely compelling.
posted by Chairboy at 2:21 AM on May 15, 2009

The Metal Detector app. Works great.
posted by Plug1 at 2:47 AM on May 15, 2009

Your location might dictate what apps are most useful. For example, ShopSavvy seems to have more data in my area than Compare Everywhere.

There are tons of Twitter apps out there. My current favorite is Twit2go.

If you don't want to wade through a bunch of other stuff to get to movie times and theaters, Movies by Flixster is pretty good.

I just downloaded Google Sky Maps, and it is really cool.
posted by gnomeloaf at 6:39 AM on May 15, 2009

3banana is a good little application for taking notes. It syncs over the air with an online service, which is handy. Sort of like Evernote lite.
posted by aparrish at 6:39 AM on May 15, 2009

SnapPhoto improves a bunch of the capabilities of the standard camera. I think there's a free version and a paid version. I use the free version and it's still great.
posted by InsanePenguin at 8:00 AM on May 15, 2009

Here's most of what I've got -- all are free. I've starred the ones I use most/think are the most useful. If anyone's got questions about what they do, let me know.

Apps/Utilities:
*AK Notepad
*Alarm Clock
*Any Cut (can put a shortcut to txt someone on your desktop)
Compare Everywhere
DC Metro Map (just a simple map of the DC metro; nothing fancy)
Dial Zero (haven't actually used it yet, but seems like it'd be useful)
NBA Gametime
Gmote
Moon Phase
My Account (app from T-Mobile to track account usage)
My Tracks
*Owner (put user info on the locked screen)
Power Manager (used it when it was free, haven't upgraded yet though)
*Ring Toggle (easily switch between ring/vibrate/both/neither)
Scoreboard (sports scores from google)
Shake Awake (don't use this much anymore)
Sky Map
*SMS Popup
*SnapPhoto (free version. Didn't even know there was a paid version)
Speaking Pad (fun, no real purpose)
*StarContact (easier to search for contacts)
Steel (upgraded browser; broken with cupcake, so worthless right now.)
StopWatch
TeaChimer
Telnet
Touchdown (using free version; to connect to Exchange mail server)
Traffic
*Useful Switchers (turn different things on/off)
Where
*YouTube (view youtube videos)

Games:
Brain Genius Deluxe
*Friction Mobile
*Lexic
Pac-Man (doesn't work wonderfully, probably deleting soon)
PapiJump (eh. Simple, anyways.)
PapiRiver (eh. Simple, anyways.)
Scrambled Net
TiltMazes
*Trap!
posted by inigo2 at 9:03 AM on May 15, 2009

inigo2, do you have those all installed? You must have a better phone than mine.

I used to have both a Twitter client and a Facebook client but they both poll and tend to suck a lot of battery life. Orienteer is afun compass app and MyTracks is great. Also, the new SkyMap app is way cool.
posted by GuyZero at 9:17 AM on May 15, 2009

inigo2, do you have those all installed? You must have a better phone than mine.

I do, yeah. Most of them are pretty small, sizewise. I just have the G1.
posted by inigo2 at 10:39 AM on May 15, 2009

Bonsai Blast -- mentioned above; I enjoyed this, but it was pretty big, so I ended up deleting.
posted by inigo2 at 12:29 PM on May 15, 2009

Shazam -- forgot about this one. I use it a bunch, actually.
posted by inigo2 at 12:49 PM on May 15, 2009

I'm a big fan of the ACast podcast app. It downloads podcasts like the other various apps, but it also lets you play episodes as they're downloading -- very nice for when I'm bored on the bus. The UI is quirky and takes some getting used to.

Handycalc is a really good scientific calculator.

Wikitude AR shows you the positions of nearby geocoded Wikipedia entries. Useful for impressing friends with how cool your phone is.

GMote lets you control your computer from your phone.

ANetShare turns your phone into a wireless AP (requires a hacked Android build).

K-9 is a greatly imprpoved version of the included email app.

The last.fm app is really polished.

(Posted from my G1)
posted by miyabo at 6:56 PM on May 20, 2009