The Best Android Applications
By Nick Mokey
September 30th, 2008
If getting a phone without any third-party applications is like getting a toy without batteries, then Google’s Android Developer Challenge was like giving onlookers handfuls of sweet, sweet AAs and nothing to put them in. Developers turned out in drove to delivers scores of creative, interesting and sometimes off-the-wall applications for an operating system that didn’t even exist on any commercial phones yet. But now that the first Android-based phone, the T-Mobile G1, is just around the corner, we revisited their creations to whet our appetites. Here are the top 10 upcoming Android apps we can’t wait to load up on the G1:
10. Beetaun
Ever stumble upon a hidden gem in your city that’s just begging to be discovered? Beetaun allows users to tag locations around a city, then browse through maps of what other people have found interesting. Unlike GPS units where points of interest are stores and other brick-and-mortar locales, Beetaun tags could be anything from a particularly picturesque viewpoint, to a farmer’s market, to a story about something that happened at a place. We dig the off-beat possibilities. (link)
9. ShareYourBoard
Some day, every complex flowchart you sketch out will be recorded digitally, and painlessly. Until then, we’ve got whiteboards, and they’re pretty tough to send to other people. ShareYourBoard makes it easier to pull all the sloppily illustrated (but brilliant) ideas that end up on those office whiteboards and spread them around on the Web. We know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t that just a digital camera?” Hardly. ShareYourBoard will detect the edges of the whiteboard photo you shoot, lay it flat, adjust the image for legibility, then thumbnail it with others for easy browsing. (link)
8. City Slikkers
Productivity tools are great, but at the end of the day, everybody loves a good game. Although the makers of City Slikkers have been somewhat vague about actual gameplay, the details we know so far make it quite unique. Android owners will play within the cities they actually live in, which will be represented to them using 3D maps tapped into GPS. The makers even envision people meeting up at real-life locations that represent in-game sites. There’s no question you’ll probably look like quite a weirdo playing this one, but then again, that’s why we love it. (link)
7. Wertago
If running around in a real city that’s standing in for a simulated city isn’t really your thing, maybe you’ll prefer Wertago as a way to relax, which is more like a sophisticated way to get drunk. Besides offering a directory of hot venues in any given city Wertago will allow users to swap messages and pictures, set up profiles, and ultimately, meet up on the town. OK, it’s a geeky way to flirt. But hey, at least the people you’ll meet are into Android, right? (link)
6. Locale
This is one of those clever uses for a location-aware phone that we’re amazed nobody thought of earlier. It allows you to set your phone to behave differently in different places. Not at work? Stop taking calls from the boss. At home with a battery under 30 percent charged? Set a reminder to plug it in. If only we could get a universal version of this that will shut everybody’s phone off at movie theaters. (link)
5. ShopSavvy
We’ve seen many different versions of phone-based services that allow you to price check items in a store before, but ShopSavvy’s use of the G1’s built-in camera as a barcode reader and GPS makes it one of the most refined yet. Just snap a photo of the UPC on the item you’re considering and ShopSavvy will not only give you the best price on the Web, it will give you prices at nearby stores too, letting you know when a 5-minute walk down the street will save you $50. Regretful impulse buys? Banished! (link)
4. ShapeWriter
Sure, we’re psyched about the G1’s QWERTY keyboard because it will allow us to ditch lame touchscreen keyboards… but ShapeWriter’s new method for typing with a screen still has us intrigued. The premise: rather than tapping all the letters you need to make a word, why not string them all together with a single finger drag, then let software figure out which ones you wanted to use? It’s gesture-based typing, and we think it looks much easier than the older alternative. We’ll wait until we get to try it on the real deal to chalk this one up to a success, but there’s no question it holds promise. (link)
3. Wikitude
As hopeless Wikipedia addicts, the last thing we probably need is an application to make looking things up on the site even easier, but we can’t help but love the concept. Besides some fairly plain features like plotting Wikipedia entries across a map, Wikitude actually boasts an “augmented reality cam” which will peg items in your photograph that have Wikipedia entries about them. For example, taking a picture of a mountain range allows it to label each mountain and show you more information on each one with further clicking. Terminator vision, a reality? And with Wikipedia? Yes, please! (link)
2. BreadCrumbz
Sometimes a line on a map just doesn’t cut it. BreadCrumbz helps create directions for the orienteering-challenged by snapping first-person photos of a route as you walk it. You can even record spoken voice directions to accompany the route. Besides creating alternatives to the traditional map-based approach, BreadCrumbz also serves as a substitute navigation system when GPS isn’t available, like indoors. Ever live in a maze-like apartment complex where finding the building is only half the battle of getting to your room? BreadCrumbz gives guests a picture-by-picture path straight to your door. (link)
1. Piggyback
Unless you like to plot trips to the grocery store weeks in advance and travel on somebody else’s rigid schedule, Web rideshares don’t really work out that great. Piggyback breaks the agonizing process of preplanning by showing rideshare possibilities in real time. Drivers see possible passengers along their routes, and passengers see possible rides. It will even keep track of how far you take a passenger, divvy up gas costs automatically, and then handle the transaction automatically every month via PayPal. Think Hitchhiking 2.0. (link)