Get your fresh, juicy best Android apps of the week here! We pick only the most delicious offerings on the Android Market and transport them direct to your web browser for your delectation and enjoyment. This week we’ve got ripe fruit fresh from the British Broadcasting Corporation, a punnet of word-based tomfoolery and a freshly-squeezed glass of footballing action – this is a five-a-day you can trust!
Here you’ll find all of the relevant links to the online Android Market, but if you’d rather take a more direct route you can use the Barcode Scanner app to greedily digest the QR Codes below.
Best Android apps of all time: Top 100
FREE
Back in the early days of Android, BBC lovers were well-serviced by the unofficial – but totally brilliant – BeebPlayer application, a worthy candidate as one of the best Android apps of all time. Predictably, the broadcaster took offense at the app’s ability to harness a non-Flash feed of its programmes and promptly closed the door in 2010. At least the BBC has had the common decency to push out this officially-sanctioned, first party BBC iPlayer Android app, although it’s far from perfect. You can only watch over Wi-Fi at present, and there’s no way to download any of your fave shows to your phone’s memory. Still, these are minor inconveniences when you consider that this app gives you 24-hour access to episodes of Hotter than My Daughter. Not that we watch that kind of trash, of course. Ahem. Is it getting hot in here?
FREE
The addictive phenomenon which has robbed untold millions of man-hours on iPhone is now available on Android, and it’s lost none of its worrying potency in the transition. A sure-fire candidate for the best Android apps of the week, Words with Friends is best described as online Scrabble – you face off against friends (or complete strangers) in fiendishly challenging games of word one-upmanship, with the usual double and triple word point-scoring to indulge in. The best thing is that you can have multiple matches occurring simultaneously, with live notifications letting you know when it’s your turn. If you value your spare time and sanity, then whatever you do don’t download this.
Approx £4.22
It’s taken longer than we would have liked, but the Android Market is finally getting some love from big-name publishers. Konami is one such company, and it has rewarded those of us that haven’t succumbed to Apple’s posturing with this blistering example of virtual footie. Granted, attempting to replicate Wayne Rooney’s spectacular overhead volley on a touch screen interface isn’t easy, but the amazing graphics help soften the blow a little. It’s also encouraging to see how much of the console’s edition’s gameplay has been replicated in this pint-sized offering, with a wide range of leagues and teams to choose from.
FREE
Ever wondered what you’d look like if you were magically morphed into the same size, shape and appearance as Google’s robotic mascot Andy? Well wonder no more, because Google has given you the tool with which to fulfil this rather worrying fantasy. Androidify is an impressively slick avatar creation program which allows you modify aspects such as skin tone, size, clothing and accessories to create an Android-style likeness of your good self. You can then share this via all the usual channels. We imagine you’ll be seeing a lot of Twitter and Facebook profile pictures generated by this smart little app, so why not have a go yourself to see what disturbing creations you can dream up.
Twitter (UPDATE)
FREE
The official Android Twitter application has come on leaps and bounds since its release last year, and this latest overhaul ensures that its gatecrashes out best Android apps list for this week. The most obvious change is the move from cartoon-like blue to a more mature white – the fluffy clouds are also conspicuous by their absence. However, it’s not just aesthetic alterations that make this worth the download. The biggest change is the ability to use the app even if you don’t have a Twitter account, making it ideal for lurkers. We also love the auto-complete feature when typing in user names, and the new menu bar makes it easier than ever to skip between your various columns. If you’ve not already succumbed to the allure of the excellent TweetDeck, then this is unquestionably the best Twitter client on Android at present.
