Best Android Apps

The best Android apps are getting harder to find in the increasingly crowded Android Market. We're here to help as we test and rank the top applications available for Android phones.

When T-Mobile launched the very first Android-powered handset – the G1 – back in 2008, the app library to go along with it looked like a minimart beside Apple’s Walmart. But the past few years have been kind to Google. The steady release of high-profile, high-power Android handsets like the HTC Droid Bionic, Samsung Galaxy S II and Motorola Droid Razr have turned that initial drizzle of apps into a torrent. Now with over 250,000 apps and counting, Google’s Android Market offers applications for just about everything – sometimes making it difficult to choose. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up what we think are the best Android apps in several different categories to give new users a rough guide to getting the most from their phones, and experienced users a heads up on some apps they may be missing out on.

Looking to buy an Android phone? Check out our picks for The Best Android Phones.

Utilities

HopStop (Free)

Those of you who don’t live in a city, this won’t be an app for you, but those of you in New York City or other cities full of complicated subway and bus routes, HopStop is one of our favorite services. The Android app (m.hopstop.com works as well), but it’s the most accurate subway and bus navigation system we’ve used. You do have to know the address of your location, but HopStop does a good job guiding you to more generic locations like an intersection, which some services struggle with. It also maps out how long it will take you to walk around, features a lot of flexible options to modify your route, and lets you save routes for the future and view them offline, which is helpful if you’re underground. Give it a try. (The tablet version is coming soon.)

 

Weather Channel (Free)

This is the weather app you’ll find yourself checking before you even crack the blinds in the morning. Besides offering accurate current conditions with extreme detail down to wind speed, humidity and UV index, the Weather Channel’s app offers hourly and 10-day forecasts for planning ahead, plus advanced features like animated weather radar.

 

Google Voice (Free)

With Google Voice, you get a free number for receiving calls, sending texts, and even receive access to your voicemail and text messages over the Web. With the Android app, you can even keep your true mobile number private by making outgoing calls using your Google Voice number instead. Another handy feature is voicemail transcription, which automatically transcribes your voicemails to text so you can read them like e-mail.

 

iTriage Mobile Health (Free)

Created by doctors, this app is designed to give users quick and easy access to medical info as well as nearby treatment facilities. With just a few clicks, users can find the nearest medical facility based on need (emergency, urgent care, pharmacy, etc.) and quickly use built-in Google Maps to navigate to the destination. The app also features a symptom-checker, doctor directory, and information about diseases and procedures.

 

Opera Mini Web Browser (Free)

We loved the drastic speed boost from Opera Mini on the iPhone, and it delivers the same shot of adrenaline on Android. Opera greases the wheels of the Web using special servers that compress pages prior to sending them to your phone. Besides using less bandwidth, pages appear in a fraction of the time, which makes it the go-to browser when you need to know who won the World Series in 1964, the colors of the Estonian flag, or the population of Miami in a flash.

 

Pulse News (Free)

This free app is a great reader for those who like to get their daily dose of news or gossip on their Android device. Pulse lets users select up to 30 online sources to pull from, and then creates clean, magazine-like pages that feature thumbnail photos and headlines from each source. Most articles or blogs can be easily read within the app, and the sources update in a flash. It’s the perfect substitute for your morning or evening Internet scan. Add sources like CNN, Gawker, Salon, Wet Paint, MSNBC, and Mashable.

 

IMO Chat (Free)

If you like to use your Android phone to chat with friends using instant messaging applications instead of simple text messages, you most likely find yourself shuffling between Facebook, GTalk, and AIM, or some similar combination of apps. While most of those individual apps for Android are great themselves, IMO Chat eliminates the hassle of carrying on multiple conversations on different IM apps. IM on Facebook, GTalk, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, Skype, and more with this app. The IMO Chat app also supports voice IMs, group chat, and multimedia attachments.

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