|
61. Sky Cloud WiFi
This one's a great
way of automating
the process of
signing into a
Sky-managed mobile
Wi-Fi spot,
minimising stressful
time spent NOT being
connected to a Wi-Fi
hotspot. The Sky
Cloud WiFi app senses
Sky-friendly
hotspots, then signs
you in
automatically. So no
more fiddling about
with a crappy 3G
signal when out and
about or typing in
passwords in a hurry
to use a bit of
internet.
62. Ticketmaster UK
After an age as a
US-only exclusive, Ticketmaster
UK is
now live for Android
users in the UK. It
does what you might
expect, offering a
full database of
events, complete
with simple buying
options from within
the app. There's
even a local search
option for accessing
a list of what's on
near you, should you
fancy taking a punt
on some random
artistic happening
or gig.
63. Gumtree
The popular
sofa-ditching site
has finally joined
the mobile age, with
a very flashy Gumtree
app.
It's presented in
the Ice Cream
Sandwich design
style, with a nice
tab bar and clever
floating and
segmented item
listings, and it
looks even better
when used in
landscape
orientation.
Trawling for an
executive massage in
the local area has
never been easier.
64. The Guardian
The Guardian's had
an Android app out
for a while, but it
was significantly
"first generation"
in look and feel. A
recent update took
care of that,
thankfully, boosting
the layout to modern
Android standards,
adding in support
for live blogs,
enhanced section
navigation, swipe
navigation through
photo galleries and
much more. Nice. And
free.
65. HotUKDeals
The amazing bargain
portal, which has
actually defied its
purpose and cost us
millions through
encouraging
unnecessary impulse
purchases of
discounted gear, is
on Android, with a
very posh and
feature-packedHotUKDeals
app now
available.
You can search for
local deals, submit
ones you've spotted
yourself, with the
app including an
easy category view
and search facility
for finding new ways
to buy things you
don't really need.
66. Amazon MP3
Amazon's MP3 service
is surprisingly
clever. Tracks
bought from the
retail giant are
automatically stored
within the company's
"cloud" servers,
from where you can
instantly stream
them back to your
Android device.
Sadly you're a
little limited in
the number of
existing MP3s you
can upload from your
own collection, but
for building,
managing and
streaming a legit
Amazon music
catalogue the Amazon
MP3 app is
a great, stylish
option.
67. TVCatchup
For those of you who
still pore over
listings and watch
TV live, as it
happens, and at the
original time of
broadcast, TVCatchup is
for you. But it's
not a "catch up"
service at all. It's
a simple
re-broadcaster of
the terrestrial
Freeview channels,
letting you watch
everything, live,
right there on a
phone or tablet. A
good test of how
reliable your mobile
data connection is,
too.
68. Barclays Mobile
Banking
The big banks are
gradually moving
away from mobile web
sites and embracing
full power apps,
with the Barclays
Mobile Banking option
a particularly fine
example. Logging in
is a simpler task
than accessing the
desktop site, with
the app just
requiring a PIN
number to access
your data. It also
cleverly works as a
PIN Sentry card
reader, ideal for
managing Barclays
services that need
its pain-in-the-arse
card reader to grant
access.
69. Amazon Appstore
There's only one
reason to have the Amazon
Appstore on
your phone or tablet
- free stuff. Amazon
is enticing users to
stick its alternate
Android app store on
their devices with
the promise of a
free app every day,
with some classics
like Sega's ChucChu
Rocket and World
of Goo featuring
as previous daily
freebies. The catch
is these are
unsupported
releases, meaning no
updates or fixes in
the future, but you
can't moan too much
about getting some
ace freebies every
day.
70. Flipboard
Flipboard is
pretty much just a
posh RSS reader,
which does a superb
job of pulling text
and images from
pages, sites and
social networks, and
presenting it in a
gloriously sexy
magazine-like
manner. The
Flipboard app has
recently been
updated with a full
tablet interface
style, for the
ultimate in glossy
media consumption.
71. BT Sport
The arrival of a new
sporting season
always brings with
it a collection of
new and exciting
ways to keep up with
action on your
phone, with the BT
Sport Android app
one of the coolest
to arrive this year.
It lets BT Internet
users watch the
company's new, live
sport feeds on a
phone or tablet. All
you need are your BT
login details and a
bit of fuss to
activate your
account through the
desktop site, and
you're ready to go
with live video on
your mobile device
of choice. More
Claire Balding and
rugby action than
you can possibly
handle awaits.
72. Google Play
Games
Google and its many
games developer
friends have been
adding its backend
gaming services to
apps for a few
months now, meaning
many Android games
now have a unified,
Google-backed method
of matchmaking,
monitoring
achievements and
keeping track of
play sessions.
The Play
Games app is
a simple frontend
for it all, giving
gamers a central hub
to keep an eye on
their game
collections, score
leaderboards and
lists of friends
made through the
system.
73. YouView
The new interactive
digital TV system
has finally launched
its YouView
controller app on
Google Play, letting
Android users join
their iOS cousins in
having fun with
their new YouView
boxes on phones and
tablets.
The app features
boring stuff like
seven-day programme
listings and
information, but
it's the remote
record feature
that's the main
reason to have it.
Once setup via a
paired code input
system, up to five
devices can be
granted the power to
make the box record
shows while you're
out.
74. BBC Weather
A
substantial
percentage of
Google's 1,000,000+
Android apps are
based around
guesstimating what
the weather's likely
to be a bit like
later today or
tomorrow. But for a
forecast that's
perhaps slightly
more locally aware
and believable than
others, head to the
BBC.
The BBC
Weather Android
app's beautiful,
featuring hourly
breakdowns, a
selection of smart
Home screen widgets
and UV/pollen
forecasts thrown in
too. Plus it uses
the lovely old BBC
weather icons, which
add a touch of style
to any overcast
situation.
75. Vine
The madly popular
social video
phenomenon
eventually hit
Android earlier this
year after an
infuriating period
of exclusivity on
Apple devices, with
Android fans now
able to see for
themselves what all
the fuss is about.
Vine is
about one thing - a
simple interface
that lets you start
and stop recording
by touching the
screen, and a
six-second time
limit. Clips are
then reviewed,
processed and
uploaded to the Vine
servers, for others
to rate.
You might become
star. Or just clog
up the world's
internet pipes with
a trillion clips of
your cat not doing
anything out of its
normal behaviour
range.
76. BBC iPlayer
Radio
The BBC's iPlayer
app was always a
little poor when it
came to representing
the corporation's
radio channels, a
situation that's
been fixed by this
stunning little app.
It's designed well,
with a strange
little wheel system
letting users
navigate through the
available listings,
plus the Beeb allows
streaming to be
conducted over both
Wi-Fi and mobile
data networks.
There's also a
catch-up selection
of past shows, plus
a nice little clock
radio tool to have
it wake you up with
the station of your
choice.
77. Guardian Witness
Witness is
the Guardian's
attempt at getting
its users to
generate endless
list features on its
behalf for free,
with the
accompanying Android
app letting the
paper's readers
contribute photos
and stories through
a phone or tablet.
The app lets you
sign in with a
Guardian, Twitter or
Facebook account,
although don't go
expecting to "troll"
the world with your
UFO photographs -
every submission's
vetted before being
made live. There are
some special
missions reserved
only for users of
the app, so it's
worth trying if
you're into the
whole crowd-sourcing
thing.
78. Rando
Rando is
sort of a social
network, only with
the social stuff
removed. Its USP is
that you share
photos, which must
be taken live, with
random strangers
around the world.
You have to take and
send one in order to
receive one back,
making it into a
weird form of
photo-sharing
tennis.
You might get
something
interesting from
Japan, or a boring
photo of a man's PC
keyboard from closer
to home. It's
addictive. You can't
help pinging them
off and wondering
what's going to come
back in payment.
79. Runkeeper
Offers similar
functionality to
popular sports
tracker Endomondo,
only withRunkeeper you
get a more
Android-like design,
integrated support
for music playback
and audio coaching,
a camera option so
you can include
images with your
workout details and
much, much more.
There are also goals
to set, customisable
routes for tracking
your favourite runs,
plus it's compatible
with physical
heart-rate monitors
if you take it all
very, very seriously
indeed.
80. DashClock
DashClock is
an extremely clever
widget that
completely replaces
the lock screen on
any devices running
Android 4.2 or
higher.
The clever thing
about it is its
support for
additional plugins
that are available
on Google Play, so
you can further
adapt your phone or
tablet's lock screen
to include weather
data, a shortcut to
a torch, advanced
battery data and
more. An incredibly
versatile system
that adds loads more
fun toys to
Android's standby
modes.
|
