Android Apps Recommendations

Co-workers and friends sometimes ask about nice apps for their Android phones, so here is a list of some that I can recommend. Most icons below are actually a link to the app on Android Market if viewing this on your Android phone.

Essentials

• Barcode scanner, scan different types of barcodes to easily get apps, URLs or even exchange contact information.
  
• LauncherPro beta, better & faster launcher/home app
  
• Handcent SMS, excellent SMS/MMS app, customizable trackball/LED notifications as well.
  
• Adobe Flash player, play flash 10.1, yup that’s right, not only flash lite! Requires Android 2.2
  
• Google Gesture search, write letters with your fingers and it will show search results for contacts, apps etc.

Computer, server & networks

• ConnectBot, excellent SSH client, including port forwards etc
  
• Wifi analyzer, signal strength, channels etc
  
• Remote desktop www.toremote.com not free!
  
• MSN droid, one of the better MSN clients for android. Though I find that I mostly use Google Talk these days as it is so well integrated into Android and also very power efficient as it is using push notifications. Another good app is MSN talk
  
• Netcounter, Shows number of bytes sent/received over wifi/3G per day/week/month etc
  
• Dropbox, automatic sync of files between computers and now also iphone and android

Multimedia

• Spotify, stream music, for premium Spotify users
  
• Official XBMC Remote, remote control XBMC, browse movies/TV shows, show callers on screen,...
  
• Gmote, remote controller and touch pad for your HTPC
  
• Unified Remote, extensive remote control of windows computer, browse, power point etc, www.unifiedremote.com

Android

• Nav Launcher (Google navigate in non-enabled countries)
  
• EStrongs File explorer, including LAN, ftp etc (the previous(?) best was Astro)
  
• SayMyName Dessert, read out the name of the callers, SMS etc.
  
• OS Monitor, CPU usage per process, network connections etc

Cool

• Layar, Augmented reality with lots of different downloadable overlays
  
• Google Sky Map, hold up your phone and it will show you the sky in that direction
  
• Google Earth
  
• Mario Live Wallpaper
  
• Google Translate
  
• Google Googles, scan books, paintings, foreign language menus, bar codes etc and get info/translation/prices about it.
  
• Galactic Core Live Wallpaper, A good looking rotating spiral galaxy as the background

Other

• TwoTouch timer, quick direct usage timer and stopwatch
  
• CalWidget, calendar widget
  
• Facebook (official), recently released a new version
  
•  Twitter (official), one of the best apps regarding user experience and android integration
  
• Current week widget, some countries, like Sweden, use the week of the year a lot
  
• My Tracks, keep track of your running/hiking, upload to Google maps & docs spreadsheet
  
• Snowstorm, Excellent weather widget for Scandinavian countries
  
• Kindle for Android, Amazon kindle client in your phone, Read books!
  
• TrueCaller, looks up numbers not found in your address book for incoming calls
  
• SoundHound, music identification, lyrics etc
  
• Bubble, a bubble level in all directions
  
• Compass
  
• Flashlight, simple and nothing more just as it should be
  
• Speedtest, test your connection speed
  
• Adobe Reader, best PDF reader

Free Games

I haven’t tried any paid games yet…

• Robodefense Free, tower defense game
  
• Chess for Android, great chess app (there are others with online multiplayer)
  
• Age of Conquest Lite, Risk-type game but even more fun, lite version with less features

Sweden specific

• Scandinavian keyboard, what the name says.need Swedish dictionary for Scandinavian keyboard as well, separate download!
  
• Första hjälpen, hantera första hjälpen situationer, från Röda Korset.
  
• Sveriges Radio play
  
• Hemnet, find a new house
  
• Prisjakt, price comparison including bar code scanning. Excellent while in the store; “Is this a good price?”
  
• tv.nu, what’s on TV
  
• Bank apps, Handelsbanken, Swedbank and other Swedish banks now have some great apps!
  
• Vem ringde, looks up numbers not found in your address book for incoming calls
  
• SMS-biljetter, buy SMS-tickets for bus rides in quite a few cities in Sweden
  

Again, clicking the app icons in the list opens the Android Market entry for the app if viewing this on your Android phone.
Another list of good Android Apps: http://www.techcredo.com/android/awesome-android-apps-part-2