The Google Play app store has exploded in recent years, with a
proliferation of apps that can cater to your every need. The problem is:
there are just too many of them.
Even with Editor's Picks,
Featured and Best Selling, Top Paid and Top Free categories there to
help you out with your downloading decision it's still a difficult task
finding the best apps around.
And that's why we made this list.
Like you we want the best apps for our Android phones. The apps that are
going to revolutionise functionality or, at the very least, offer
something so great that it becomes one of the must-have apps that has to
be downloaded whenever you get a new handset.
The following apps
will be constantly updated and are a mixture of paid and free ones and
have been chosen by our Android experts. So, even if you do dip into
actual cash for one of these apps, you are safe in the knowledge that it
is a worthwhile purchase.
1. BBC Weather
Free
Free from the BBC,
which arrived late to the weather app party in 2013 and delivered a
completely stonking, triple-A meteorological experience. A variety of
stylish widgets, long-range forecasts, location-aware settings and
support for multiple locations make finding out how much it's raining
everywhere a joy.
2. Google Now Launcher
Free
Exclusive to Nexus devices since launch, the Google Now Launcher
has recently been opened up to owners of any Android phone running
version 4.1 of the OS or higher. Install it and you get the weird
experience that is having Google Now fill an entire Home screen, dumping
a permanent collection of you cards to the left of the existing Home
screen setup. Useful if you use Google Now. Not so much if you don't.
3. Mailbox
Free
Here's another way to manage your get-bigger-genitals and sex-herb spam emails. Mailbox
is compatible with both Gmail and iCloud email accounts, pulling in
your messages to a fantastically stylish interface from which you can
manage emails in more of an SMS-like chat system. Swiping away, snoozing
senders, reminders and more populate a packed feature list that put
this among 2014's most impressive apps released thus far.
4. HTC Zoe
Free
HTC's
camera application has plenty of interesting tricks inside it, and
using it on phones with better cameras than the ones HTC's been putting
in its own mobiles recently is an excellent idea.
The selling point of Zoe is that it creates short animated clips, which are shareable with friends – who then make edits too.
The results can then be shared to the big social networks like Instagram or Facebook, or kept within Zoe's own walled garden.
5. Glympse
Free
Relative newcomer Glympse
simplifies the endless check-in-check-out location-based app concept no
end by coming with one key trick – the ability to share your location
with anyone.
Using GPS to accurately pinpoint the coffee shop from
which you're stealing the Wi-Fi, the results are sent to friends in a
format that displays in the web browser of the recipient – so they don't
need the app to know where you are.
You can even share live data, so people can watch you flitting about town from hotspot to hotspot.
6. Twitter
Free
Another must-have for those who want to keep up to date with what's going on in the world in 140 characters or fewer. Now that Twitter
has put the shackles on most of its alternatives, the official app is
one of the best to use, with functionality so simple anyone can use it -
and seeing some of the hashtags that trend, it looks like anyone does.
7. Vine
Free
The movie-making sensation
took a little while to appear on Android, then took a while for the
numerous bugs to disappear – but now it's all good. It's a simple
recording/stop-motion/animation tool, letting you shoot live video on
your phone and share it via social networks. The app is also the best
way of browsing Vines from others, as the categories and pages mean you
can leaf through it like telly, favouriting users.
8. Dropbox
Free
Pretty much essential for anyone juggling a work PC, home PC, laptop, tablet, phone and internet fridge, Dropbox's
key power lies in letting you access any files anywhere. It can also
automatically upload photos taken on your phone to your account, meaning
that, after a bit of uploading and downloading, all your shots are
*right there* on your desktop without any tedious cable connecting.
9. Speedtest
Free
Get
angry about how slow your internet is. Get smug about how fast your
internet is. Spy on the network speeds of your friends and neighbours.
If one of your frequent conversations with your mates is how fast your
internet currently is, then Speedtest is for you. You can do unlimited broadband up/down speed tests on any boring weekday evening.
10. eBay
Free
The app itself isn't what you'd call attractive, but eBay
lets you browse, watch items and buy stuff, integrating a Paypal
sign-in for quick getting of things. Better still, now Android phones
all have immense cameras on them, it's a doddle to sell items straight
through the app - take a photo, upload it, have most of the listing data
pre-filled for you. The app is better as a selling tool than the
desktop site, in fact.
11. Feedly
Free
If you felt a bit lost and disconnected from the News Borg when Google shut down its Reader RSS aggregator, Feedly
will help. It's a more glamorous and swishy-slidy way of getting data
from RSS feeds, with numerous ways of displaying site snippets and
navigating through your unread pile of possibly interesting things.
12. BBC iPlayer
Free
Took some time for the BBC to gradually get BBC iPlayer
to full parity with the iOS release, but it's just about there now for
the vast majority of popular Android models. A piecemeal approach to
introducing offline download support has annoyed some users, but it
remains a superb way of using your phone as a modern portable telly for
the bedroom, as long as your broadband's up to the task.
13. WhoSampled
Free
If you need to know who did the original of the twee music from that supermarket advert, then get WhoSampled.
It's
the app version of the music database website that tells you who's
stolen bass lines from whom over the years, and gives music lovers an
instant mass of trivia.
It'll even offer to scan your existing
music collection to pinpoint exactly where that addictive loop you can't
get enough of first appeared. And you erroneously thought Gary Barlow
came up with himself. (Spoiler: it was probably the Bee Gees again).
14. Handcent SMS
Free
If you wish to rage against Google's Hangouts enforcement push and Facebook Messenger, get Handcent SMS.
It's one of the most popular alternative SMS apps, with the recent 6.0
update arriving with an all-new, on-message, late-2014-season, flat
graphic design update. It's always been an ugly but reliable workhorse
for hardcore texters, now it's a really pretty workhorse for those who
get anywhere near hitting their 5,000-a-month SMS usage limits.
15. WhatsApp
Free (for the first year)
The instant messaging behemoth
is an essential Android install, especially if you can convince the
people you message most frequently to use it too. The concept is simple -
it takes over text messaging on your mobile, routing messages through
any Wi-Fi connection instead. Which means no more SMS allowances, no
size restrictions, plus images are sent at a decent resolution.
16. Nokia HERE
Free
One of Nokia's long-standing key apps
is now on Android, just about, with the Windows Phone maker doing a
deal to place its HERE mapping tool exclusively within the Samsung App
Store.
Users of larger Samsung mobiles running Android 4.1 or
higher can download it, then enjoy a feature-packed tool with full
offline map support that's a damn fine rival or replacement for Google's
omnipresent Maps
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