If you’ve just purchased your first Android phone or you’re looking to round out your existing collection, here’s a list of 20 must-have apps that every Android owner should consider. They’re all free, too!
1. Google Voice
If this is your first phone or you’re switching phone numbers, do yourself a favor and sign up for a free Google Voice number and give it out to people instead of your cell phone number.
Google Voice for Android lets you use this new number on your cell phone and provides nice extras like voicemail transcription, free text messaging, call filtering and blocking, do not disturb settings, and more.
Link: Google Voice
Similar Apps: YouMail Visual Voicemail Plus, Visual VoiceMail, Mr. Number Call Block
2. The Weather Channel
The sheer number of weather apps runs deeper than my love for pancakes but the Weather Channel has its own, you know, channel. And we all know that society judges something based upon whether or not it’s on TV.
So in that spirit, the Weather Channel app is a good place to start. It’ll show you the forecast based on your location using the phone’s GPS chip, there are radar maps, severe weather alerts, 10-day forecasts, and you can even set up automatically updating widgets on your phone’s home screen.
Link: The Weather Channel
Similar Apps: WeatherBug, AccuWeather.com, Radar Now!
3. Facebook
If you’re not on Facebook, how will you know that the kid who lived next door to you for less than a year in third grade just completed a fruit flush? I have no idea what that is, but someone I know literally just posted that Facebook. See what you’re missing? All that—and on your phone!
Link: Facebook for Android
Similar Apps: Myspace, AIM,Tango Video Calls
4. Twitter
While Facebook is good for keeping up with your real-life friends (or people you’ve somehow convinced to approve your friend requests), Twitter lets you live vicariously through celebrities, minor celebrities, and strangers.
Want to know what Alyssa Milano thinks of fur? She does not like it. You could wait hours (days? weeks? months?) for the mainstream media to report that fact, or you could have gotten it directly from the source in real-time. If you can think of a better use for a phone, I’d like to hear it.
Link: Twitter
Similar Apps: TweetDeck, Foursquare, Seesmic
5. GasBuddy
Thinking back on all the mindless, ridiculous crap you’ve wasted your money on over the years, it’s amazing how far out of your way you’ll go to save a buck on gas. It’s a compulsion, really.
GasBuddy knows this, and its Android app feeds that compulsion like retired parents feed their adult-aged children as though they’re still in high school. You’ve got one click access to a map of nearby gas stations and what they’re each charging per gallon. Lowest price wins.
Link: GasBuddy
Similar Apps: Gas Stations, Gas Record, AroundMe
6. Mint.com Personal Finance
Your various banking institutions and credit card companies may each have their own Android apps, but Mint.com’s app ties them all together and aggregates your total income and debt so you can put an exact number on the soul-crushing feeling of constantly being in the hole.
The app also helps you set a budget for yourself, lets you track your spending, and presents you with money saving offers, so there’s a light at the end of that tunnel after all.
Link: Mint.com Personal Finance
Similar Apps: Yahoo! Finance, PayPal, Tip Calculator
7. Angry Birds
Some pigs steal from you and then hide in a ramshackle fortress built out of wood and ice. You knock down said fortress by launching birds from a slingshot. These birds each have different powers. Except flight.
That’s the basic premise of Angry Birds. I think. I’ve played every level and I still can’t figure out why the birds and the pigs can’t just get along. Anyway, just get the game. It’s free and highly addictive.
Link: Angry Birds
Similar Apps: Angry Birds Seasons, Fruit Ninja, Words With Friends
8. Shazam
It’s quite possible that you’d find Shazam to be a useful app. If you hear a song that you like on, say, the radio or in a bar, you hold your phone up to the speaker and Shazam will analyze the song’s waveform and match it with the correct artist and track information.
But perhaps more importantly, Shazam is the app you show off when a luddite asks, “What’s so great about a smartphone?” It leverages just about every piece of technology in that little handheld wonder.
Link: Shazam
Similar Apps: Pandora Radio, Slacker Radio, Amazon MP3
9. ESPN ScoreCenter
Do people who read TIME like sports? I can never really tell. I like sports, if that makes any difference. If you like sports, you’ll want an app that relays scores and news from the world of sports, no?
ESPN’s ScoreCenter app covers just about every sport on the planet, serving up real-time scores and news in a slick, simple interface.
Link: ESPN ScoreCenter
Similar Apps: SportsTap, Yahoo! Fantasy Football, ESPN Radio
10. Adobe Photoshop Express
That little hole on the back of your phone actually takes decent photos from time to time, huh? For the ones that don’t live up to your standards as a born-again shutterbug, a little editing can go a long way.
And while editing photos on a cell phone isn’t exactly anybody’s idea of a good time, Photoshop Express makes it pretty straightforward with a nice mix of tools you’ll actually use. You can upload edited photos to Photoshop.com and share them with friends and family, too.
Link: Adobe Photoshop Express
Similar Apps: PicSay – Photo Editor, Doodler, FxCamera
11. OpenTable
Calling a restaurant on the phone to make reservations is barbaric. There, I said it. The background noise is off the charts, the hostess has better things to do than talk to you (and it’ll show in her tone), and trying to nail down your preferred time can be an exercise in futility.
OpenTable lets you skip all the nonsense and get right to the point: What’s around me, which times are available, and how are the reviews? Once you find an available table that looks good to you, tap to reserve it. Simps.
Link: OpenTable
Similar Apps: Happy Hours, Restaurant Finder, Yelp
12. Klondike Solitaire
The ultimate time waster: solitaire. Every phone should have it, and this version is the straight-up, old-timey, standard Klondike flavor that everybody knows and loves. The same company makes a pretty decent Hearts app, too, if you’re looking for something a bit different.
Link: Klondike Solitaire
Similar Apps: Hearts Deluxe, Solitaire, Spades!
13. Ringdroid
There will undoubtedly come a time in your smartphone owning life when you sit up and say, “I want more! More!” You’ll be talking about ringtones.
The stock ringtones are okay but nothing says smartphone ownership like crafting your very own alert and subjecting everyone else in the world to it. Ringdroid lets you do just that. Use an existing music file on your device or record a sound using the microphone, then clip out the best part.
Link: Ringdroid
Similar Apps: RingTone, Myxer, Uloops Studio Pro
14. Kindle
There’s no shortage of places that want to sell you digital books, but Amazon’s Kindle store is a relatively safe bet considering that the company has built apps for just about every portable device out there.
The Kindle Android app features newspapers, magazines and books, and synchronizes the last page you’ve read with any other Kindle-enabled devices you own.
Link: Kindle
Similar Apps: Google Books, NOOK for Android by B&N, Audible for Android
15. Kayak Flight and Hotel Search
Is there anything more relaxing, majestic and undeniably wonderful than air travel? Don’t feel like you need to answer that—it’s best not to yell obscenities at your computer screen while you’re at work.
Kayak lets you easily and quickly search multiple airlines for the best price on plane tickets, track your flight status, and book hotels and cars, too.
It’s especially helpful while you’re actually in an airport and you need to book a flight to replace the one you just got bumped from for no good reason. Maybe all those obscenities had something to do with it.
Link: Kayak Flight and Hotel Search
Similar Apps: FlightView Free Flight Tracker, TripAdvisor, HotelsByMe Hotel Reservations
16. Movies by Flixster
Not only does Flixster’s “Movies” app let you peruse show times for nearby theaters, but you can watch 15,000+ trailers, browse 65,000+ DVDs and even manage your Netflix queue.
There are built-in social networking elements, theater maps, reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and more. It may just be the ultimate movie nerd app.
Link: Movies by Flixster
Similar Apps: Fandango Movies, Moviefone – Movies & Showtimes, IMDb Movies & TV
17. Dolphin Browser HD
Don’t get me wrong: Android’s built-in web browser handles just about any web page just fine. But sometimes you’ll need to deal with a few curveballs that only an alternative browser can address.
Dolphin Browser HD supports tabbed browsing, add-ons, advanced multi-touch gestures, and user agent settings to mimic desktop, iPhone and iPad devices. You can download different themes, too.
Link: Dolphin Browser HD
Similar Apps: Opera Mini web browser, Skyfire Web Browser 3.0, Miren Browser
18. Google Translate
Because you never know when you’ll be in a situation where you and one other person are trying to converse in two different languages, there’s Google Translate. You may find other uses for it as well.
As close as we’ve come to a true on-the-fly translation machine, Google Translate allows you to speak English into your phone and have Spanish come out the other end—and vice versa. Other languages, too.
Link: Google Translate
Similar Apps: TransZilla Translator, Translate, Real-time translator
19. Urbanspoon
“Where do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know, where do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know. I’ll eat anything.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“I don’t really care where we eat.”
“Me neither.”
“So, where do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know, where do you want to eat?”
Enough. Urbanspoon is like a slot machine for nearby restaurants. Pick a neighborhood, cuisine style and price range if you must or just let the fateful wheel decide all three for you.
Link: Urbanspoon
Similar Apps: Fast Food Map, Pizza Finder, Search & Dine
20. Barcode Scanner
As you make your way through the world of Android, you’ll start to notice QR codes everywhere—that weird square in the above photo that looks like a fingerprint is a QR code. Use Barcode Scanner to scan those doohickeys and revel in the strange and wonderful information that is your reward.
Barcode Scanner can also—you know—scan barcodes. So the next time you’re in Best Buy and you wonder if $40 is a fair price for an HDMI cable, scan it and buy it for $3 online, directly from your phone.
Link: Barcode Scanner
Similar Apps: ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner, Google Shopper, Grocery iQ
(Techland Time)
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