The not-so-obvious top 15 Android applications for 2010

2010 was a big year for Google's Android mobile operating system, as it moved at a lightning pace from a minority position into the position of most popular operating system in the United States. Nevertheless, when retrospectives are put at the same time for "best apps of the year" lists, editors often make choices that seem obvious. We've put one at the same time for 2010 that hopefully avoids the more self-explanatory choices.

The gaming department when compared to iOS

Moodagent-- Although it's frequently chided for being weak in the gaming department when compared to iOS, Android has far more ground to gain against it in the MP3 player category. With the many OEM-skinned media players, the built-in one at times looks unremarkable. That's why third party media management apps on Android is a category worth paying attention to. Moodagent is a playlist-creation app that takes the music stored on your Android device and categorizes each song by its "feel." The user at that time sets sliders labeled "Sensual," "Tender," "Happy," "Angry" and "Tempo," and playlists appropriate to the mood are built according to its settings.

MicDroid-- Remember "I am T-Pain" for iOS? This is Android's version of that. It's a goofy little autotune sound recorder in other words available for free or a $2.99 donation. It's a good source of humorous audio snippets, especially if you use it on people who do not know they're being recorded.

The extreme popular

Yahoo! Mail-- Although Yahoo's Webmail remains in the extreme popular, there was no easy way to set up Android's native email client to connect to free Yahoo inboxes. Up to the time that this app was released back in July, setting up Yahoo Mail pop3 workarounds was my top Android support request. Nevertheless that the app exists, the problem is solved.

Mint-- Intuit's Web-based personal finance site launched its Android app and widget in May 2010, and I took it for a spin when it was in beta. This application as a matter of fact surprised me, and Mint's minimalist design makes for a highly usable app that quickly grows on you.

Bing-- First launched exclusively on Verizon Android devices in August, Bing for Android became available for all users in November. The easy-to-use search app retains Bing's highly visual design and applies it to location-based searches, mapping, news, and movies, and as well utilizes Android's sophisticated voice recognition engine for voice-powered Bing searches.

Heavy Gunner 3D-- During I was personally quite disappointed with this game, it is in fact a great technical example of how solid a gaming platform Android can be. Utilizing the phone's gyroscopes as so then as touch screen, this 3D first-person-shooter is a far cry from the first generation of Android Games launched just one year ago. It's not even remotely as popular as Rovio's Angry Birds, now I feel it's a better display of potential.

The Android Market two weeks ago

Chumby-- This late entrant only launched in the Android Market two weeks ago, and was long overdue, if you ask this Chumby user. What is Chumby? It would be best described as a connected alarm clock that can cycle through different functions as you need them. This app gives a whole new level of functionality to Android devices that utilize charging docks, like the Motorola Droid. With it, the docked phone can cycle through clocks, webcams, photostreams, status updates, and over 1,500 Chumby apps.

Google Books-- 2010 was the year that every major e-book competitor entered the Android space. Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon all had their own apps available in the Android Market when Google launched eBooks. This particular app is especially handy for Android tablets, because it doesn't necessarily require a connection to sync content like other e-reader apps do. This one can store as many as 16,000 e-books on a microSD card for offline reading.

Firefox 4-- The mobile browser from Mozilla formerly known as Fennec had a slow and somewhat buggy start, nevertheless for Firefox users, the sync capabilities and promise of similar extension functionality make this browser one with an in the extreme bright future. It's currently however very much a work in progress, yet for all the hype given to Skyfire and Opera on Android, I'm putting my hopes in Firefox.

Bit more of an obvious choice

Springpad-- This one is a bit more of an obvious choice, in my view, as it enjoyed quite a bit of publicity when the Android app launched back in May. Now, this Web-synced note-taking app for all that appears to be playing second fiddle to Evernote, so that's why I included it here. The app lets users snap pictures, scan barcodes, take down notes and reminders, or save and share links and content to the web-based Springpad service.

Vonage Talk Free-- Imagine a mobile, voice-enabled Facebook Chat, and you've got Vonage Talk Free. First launched in August, this app lets users place free VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls to Facebook friends with the Vonage Talk Free app installed on their profile. During it does access in substance everything it can possibly access in both your Facebook profile and your Android device, it is a nice feature to be able to use for free.

Winamp-- Pairing Winamp 5.6 with Winamp for Android creates an end-to-end music management solution for your desktop and Android device that rivals the iPhone and iTunes. You can sync your music collection wirelessly, listen to SHOUTCast streaming radio, scrobble, and manage collections via a homescreen widget or lock screen controller. Otherwise, even if you don't use Winamp on your PC, you have to enjoy Nullsoft's hybrid Android-Llama logo.

Snapit-- When my father passed away last year, I was presented with huge stacks of his work-related documents that I wanted to scan, now the only tool I had was my phone. I downloaded Snapit just because it was the only thing that turned up when I searched the Android Market for OCR, and turned out to be specifically what I needed. I snapped dozens of pictures of documents that were instantly converted into fairly accurate text files. Yes, this app is from 2009 and my anecdote was too, yet I made a personal exception for it because it came through for me when I needed it, and I didn't make a list like this last year.

Oh yeah, since this article is about android apps, it would be highly useful to show QR codes for the apps' URLs. Otherwise easily possible, at that time the listed apps should be hot-linkable to the market location and alternatively to QR image of the market locationFor instance:[url=market://search?q=pname:com.moodagent.android]Moodagent[/url] [QR] -- Although it's frequently chided for being weak in the gaming department when compared to iOS, Android has far more ground to gain against it in the MP3 player category. With the many ...Ooops.. would have worked if url tag accepted market:// links hehehe

Speed Shutter would be a contender too. Lets you take pictures at 20 to 30 frames per second on your phone. Hate waiting for a picture to get taken, be saved, at that time be wrong because I missed something.

PhoneUsage - lots of statisitics on your phone calls and texts.Google Sky Map - live view of the stars and Sky, excellent for stargazing.MyTracks - live recording of your location to create Google-Maps compatible trails, works for walking, running or driving.Sky News - Sky News with breaking news gadget.Facebook - official application however supports Facebook chatCaloirie Counter - a free calorie counter - excellent way to loose weight. Really as a matter of fact works.Remote RDP - Remote access to any Windows machine using "Microsoft Remote Desktop" protocols.Music by AudioGalaxy - FULL access to ALL your music on your PC at home, in an instant.MixZing - an excellent music player with album art and GRAPHIC EQUALIZER.Listen - easy podcasts.

Sync by a long way is 2010's most useful and widely beneficial research. Sync wasn't invented this year, now the research reached a crescendo of usefulness -- anytime, anywhere and on anything.

How we treat each other as tech enthusiasts

Charity should be everyone's resolution for 2011 -- how we treat each other as tech enthusiasts and how we use innovation to make the lives of every one of the world's 7 billion people a little better.

Pundits contend that in 2011 Apple will repeat the mistakes made in 1995, when Windows 95 crushed Mac OS. They forget one thing -- 1995 was different.

The stars are in line

All the stars are in line, and tech industry experts however expect an explosion in the close-range wireless communications research known as a rule as Nearly Field Communicaitons Now is it as secure a method of sharing as it could be? According to one company the answer is yes, yet cost has been a prohibitive factor up to nevertheless.

Rumors of a new Windows that supports the ARM instruction set have prompted speculation again about Microsoft's place in the tablet market.