The 12 Most Awesome Google Android Applications

Posted May 12th, 2008 by Kathryn in Gphone (Google Phone)

After Google released its Android phone platform into the market, the company launched an Android Developer Challenge to stimulate competition amongst those people creating applications for the product. Applications that were submitted for review included everything from cutting-edge mobile social networking apps to innovative ideas for using the cell phone to remotely control your car. The first round of judging from that challenge is complete; the Top 50 highest scoring applications are going to receive $25,000 each and will move on to the final round of the competition.

In addition to this news, there have been headlines recently about students who are creating Android applications in their high-tech classrooms. Specifically, there is a group of students at MIT who developed a series of different Google Android applications at no-to-low cost. Their final classroom presentations of the products drew an unusually large amount of attention; attendees to the presentation included representatives from Sprint, Verizon, Google and HTC.

So what are all of these applications that have people so interested in the forward motion of the Google Android platform? Here are some of the top apps from both the challenge itself and the MIT student presentation:

1. KEI

This method of using your phone to remotely control your car is one of the most unique Android applications developed by the students at MIT. It’s essentially a Bluetooth key which functions as a control for your car so that you can automatically unlock or start the vehicle remotely by using your phone. It’s set up so that you can control one car with multiple phones (for families that share cars) and / or you can control multiple cars with a single phone (for people who have more than one vehicle). KEI requires a simple install device in the car and is designed to eventually be able to read the car’s diagnostic information for you. This is an ideal application for people who always lose their car keys but never forget to take their phones with them.

2. AndroidWallet

Forgetful folks might find that they like more practical applications such as this one which allows you to store all of your private data right in your Android phone. Similar to the service that’s available on a PalmOS, you can enter everything from the passwords to your websites to all of your credit card data into the phone. Supposedly this application keeps everything secure so that you can retrieve the information from your Android phone but nobody else can get into it.

3. Monolith Android

Function is great but most of us also want to use our phones for fun. That’s why the simple little Tetris game available on many phones gets so much wear and tear even from people who don’t do a lot of computer gaming. Android users can step up the action with this game application which is designed to be a 3D style of Tetris that can be used on the Android platform.

4. Loco

For those of you who don’t just spend your life gaming and who actually have a life that involves other people, the best Android applications that are being developed are those that are designed for mobile social networking. This is one of the MIT creations; a mobile social network that turns all of your Android phone contacts into “friends”. Each of these friends can tag events and their locations and then you can see them through a Google Maps ap that uses real-time geolocation features. If people are taking photos at the event, they can upload them to the phone so you can watch things unfold even if you can’t be there. Loco is an application that’s marketed towards the partying youth crowd but it’s also one that could be good for live event bloggers and on-location journalists who want to update their contact base with real-time geographically-relevant information.

5. Android Location

This is an application similar to Loco which is currently under development. The difference between this one and the MIT product is that it has a stronger link to the mobile blogging aspect of mobile social networking. It does let you know where all of your friends are using a real-time map on the phone. In fact, it will ping you to notify you that you’re in the area near another one of your friends. But it also implements a “journal” function which lets you microblog about the place you’re going, the things that you’re seeing and the feelings you have when you’re on the go.

6. Flare

One of the concerns that people have about the proliferation of location-based social networking is that other people are ALWAYS going to know where they are at. If you happen to be someone who wants to capitalize on those fears, you might be interested in Flare. This is an Android application which lets you keep tabs on the location of other people who may not want you to know where they are. It’s ideal for business owners who want to keep track of their employees (the MIT students who created this use the pizza delivery service as their example) and could also be a featured used by parents to keep track of their kids.

7. GeoLife

Some of Android’s applications (like Loco) are primarily for the purpose of social networking but also use geo-location as a supplement. Other applications are designed primarily for their geo-location services. That’s the case with GeoLife which lets you create To Do lists on your Android phone and then have the phone tell you when you’re going to be able to do them. In other words, you can enter that you need to pick up groceries; then when you’re in the area of the grocery store your Android phone will notify you that it would be a good time to do that errand. Future versions of GeoLife could also implement routing tools to let you better plan out your trips from your mobile phone (something that would help you be a greener mobile phone consumer without any effort!)

8. Locale

If you really want a phone that knows what you need then you might be interested in getting an Android application that you can program based specifically on your needs. Locale is a dynamic settings manager for your phone which means that you can tell it to do different things for you at the times that you need them to be done. For example, you can set it so that all of your calls are automatically forwarded from home to your cell phone during your work hours. This is a creation from the MIT student team which was also a winner of the Top 50 first round Android competition.

9. Android Scan

Another of the really interesting Android applications that made it through the first round of the developer challenge is this one which lets you input bar code information into your phone in order to obtain information about products. Let’s say that you’re in a store and you see something that you like but you don’t know if it’s good enough to buy it; you can scan the barcode and reviews will be available to you. You can also search for better prices on the same product available through different stores.

10. Snap

People who spend a lot of time in the Web 2.0 world are interested in the mobile features that are similar to their social networking and social bookmarking sites. While there are a lot of applications out there which are related to social networking on Android, Snap is one of the few that addresses the area of social bookmarking. It allows you to tag places (restaurants, attractions, etc.) on your phone and vote them up or down based on your preferences. You can then share this information with others like you would on traditional social bookmarking sites like Digg, Mixx and StumbleUpon.

11. TuneWiki

For all of those people who like to use their phones as a music player, this Top 50 winner could be of interest. It serves to set up a media library for the Android phone but then it goes a step further and does oh-so-much more. Some of the additional features that it has are streaming lyrics (so you can karaoke on your phone), community-based music sharing, and location-based syncing (so you can find the music others are listening to near you).

12. PocketJourney

The mobile phone is increasingly used as an educational tool and that function is only going to grow as mobile broadband becomes more widespread. This is an Android first challenge winner that is designed to educate people about the locations where they are at. It’s ideal for travelers who want to rapidly learn about the cities and landmarks they are visiting. It could also be used by anyone who wanted to appear smarter than they really are.

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