The Most Essential Android Apps

Android has gained enough popularity since its launch in late 2008, and is already competing tightly with Apple. The Android Market - the online software store hosted by Google - has over 460,000+ estimated apps available for both free and paid download, and as of July 2011, there were more than 6 billion downloads from the Android Market.

Google has managed to ship over 107 million Android devices in Q2 of 2011, and with the increasing number of sales in the mobile market, developers are continuing to develop more and more apps for Android phones.

Best Android Apps

If you have recently bought an Android powered smartphone and looking to download some of the best Android apps, then we have complied a list of apps that every Android owner should consider. The best thing is, they are all free!

Best Android Apps

News Republic

News Republic reports all breaking news that really matter to you. The app covers news on topics: Sports, Tech, Business and Celebrity and Entertainment. You can create your own personal topics and follow them. The app will accordingly organize relevant stories for you with an interactive interface. It displays you with complete stories from top quality news sources: Associated Press, AFP, ITN, WENN, eWeek, Adfero, New Media Age, BNO News and so on.

Springpad

Springpad lets you quickly save notes and tasks on your Android powered smartphone. With an amazing user interface, it’s not only easy to use but also a great way to organize and keep a track of all your notes and tasks. You can also look up for products, places, movies and get instant enhanced information.

Seamless Food Delivery

Seamless Food Delivery is a new app developed for Android users that uses the phone’s GPS system to find a location, and display a list of restaurants that will deliver nearby. You can sort through the restaurants ratings and menus and the items before placing your order. After you have placed your order, you will be sent a confirmation e-mail with an estimated delivery time.

ATM Hunter

ATM Hunter is developed by MasterCard that helps you find the nearest ATM anywhere in the world using your phone’s GPS location, and will even notify you whether the machine will charge you for any transactions or not. It also locates your own bank’s ATMs when you want to make a deposit or a withdrawal.

GasBuddy

GasBuddy is one of the best Android apps as it helps you find the cheapest and the nearest gas stations in your area. With just one click, you will locate all the gas stations near you along with their current gas prices. You can also report updated gas prices, and for every gas price reported, you’ll earn points toward prize give-away entries. Every week a $250 gas gift card will be awarded to those users who have reported the highest number of updated gas prices.

Google Voice

Sign up for a free Google Voice number and share it with your friends to make cheap international calls and send free text messages. It also allows you to listen to voicemail and read transcripts. However, the service is available in the US only, and will be available to other countries in the future.

Angry Birds

Got some free time? Or tired of working? Then here’s a perfect time pass. Start destroying the ugly looking pigs that hide in a ramshackle fortress built out of wood and ice using the unique powers of the Angry Birds. There are over 250+ levels and each of the levels require logic, skills, and of course, force to solve them. If you have some free time, this is one of the best Android apps you can get.

TuneWiki

Now sing along with the song that you are playing on your phone. TuneWiki is a music player that provides you with lyrics of the song that you are listening to, be it the song you are listing on the radio or the song that is already there in your phone. The app recently got a new feature called “discover” that brings up a map which displays songs being listened to through TuneWiki around you. You can then choose to follow music listeners with similar tastes, adding people from Facebook and Twitter. Maybe not one of the best Android apps but definitely worth the try.

Hound

Just speak out the name of the artist or song name, and instantly get handful of information and photos, including tour dates, lyrics and artist biography. It basically uses the concept of voice search instead of the conventional typing method.

Lookout

Lookout is an anti-virus app that provides you an easy way to protect your device and data by blocking malware, spyware and viruses. It allows you backup your contacts to the web or restores data to an existing phone. Additionally, it scans each app that you download to ensure that it is safe and virus free.

Prey Anti-Theft

Did you ever lose your phone and felt that it was nearly impossible to track it down? Well then, here’s an app that is quite helpful. Prey Anti-Theft app is an open source, cross-platform anti-theft phone tracker, which tracks down your lost or stolen phone. Once your phone has been activated and instructed to go into “missing mode”, the app automatically starts tracking the phone’s current location and locks the phone or deletes the files on it.

The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel app for Android updates you with the forecast based on your location using the phone’s GPS, severe weather alerts, and you can also set up automatically updating widgets on your phone’s home screen. It also offers the “find me” function that allows users to get weather forecasts for their location or search by city, ZIP code, street address or landmark. The app also includes interactive maps that are fully customizable and feature the functionality of Google Maps.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express is a photo editing app developed by Adobe Systems. The app lets you edit and share photos virtually anywhere by uploading them to Photoshop.com. With this app you can give artistic effects to your photos and impress your friends by sharing it with them.

What are the best Android apps for you?

I might have missed some of the best Android apps that were worth mentioning here, or have you stumbled across any interesting and essential Android apps that should be added to this list, please let me know in your comments. What do you think are the best Android apps?
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