Tech consultant for Olympia, Lacey, And Tumwater

My Top Ten Favorite Android Apps

Android Apps

I am noticing that people are picking up Droid phones like crazy recently. Maybe it is because of the holidays or maybe it is because of Droid users like me that can’t stop praising the phones. I am pretty sure that many will get Droid phones for Christmas as well. Either way I am getting lots of questions about what the best apps are to download for the regular user. I really don’t care about the ultra-tech users. They have proven to me time and time again that they don’t have a clue what the average user wants or needs. When I was telling them that people wanted bigger phones, all they could say was that bigger phones would be like carrying around a brick. Brick this, brick that, but how do we watch all this great media that is getting shoved in our faces? Well, notice how much bigger screens have got over the past couple of years? Now there is already talk about devices that are somewhere between a phone and a “pad” type device. Meaning a phone with a screen twice the size of a Droid 2 or your standard iPhone device! So ignore the stuck up technorati. They don’t know their head from their ass and are nothing more than a useless echo chamber most of the time. This top ten list is for the everyday mobile phone user. If this helps you please send it to a friend. I have no ads and my only payment is watching my stats go up if you people like what I write.

10. Twitter Official App
This app would rate way higher if they got rid of the location crap. Or at least made it less annoying for those that don’t want that feature.

9. TasKiller
It’s a red icon. I tried the Green icon version once before and it just didn’t work very well. This red guy however works great. I read somewhere that the green one is called “Advanced Task Killer” and this one is called “TasKiller”. I hope that helps you find the right one.

8. Last.fm
I know that Pandora is more popular in the United States. Maybe it’s better, maybe not, but Last.fm works for me and I love it. So I never gave Pandora a chance to be honest. If you are a fan of music, no matter the style, you must try one of these services. Unlike traditional radio type services it learns. The more you play with it, the better it gets at guessing what you like. Even someone as picky about music as I am finds it great. This thing can even tell the difference between true thrash and modern thrash (which is just death metal with slower riffs). I don’t know of even too many Thrash fans that can tell the difference anymore, but this thing can!

7. Angry Birds
Some may find it shocking that this one is so low on my top ten list, but honestly I think it is a bit over hyped. It’s fun, but after a few fun levels it turns into something for hardcore gamers only. Some levels take me days to get past and that is just plain boring watching the same screen over and over again.

6. Facebook Official App
It is a little buggy at times and will only let you go back so far, but other than that I have had no problems.

5. AK Notepad
Just like with the windows desktop verion of Notepad, what I like about this is that it has pretty much zero features. It’s just a place to spew notes. It works so well I am using it to write an entire book. It’s a fiction novel. I write it when I’m on the toilet. Seriously.

4. Softick Freecell
Just a stupid card game, but I like it. There are some annoying ones I tried before I found this one so be careful.

3. Paper Toss
Just like with Angry Birds this is a stupid game that takes no thought. Great mindless fun.

2. iMobsters
I know what you are thinking. “I thought Mark hated games like this?” Wong. I love games like this. I just didn’t want it on my Facebook. That along with Zynga (the company behind the most popular Facebook based social games) being caught in so many scams makes me stay clear of anything they touch. Now the iMobsters app for Android has had many problems. For months after it was released you couldn’t even get past the log in screen to register or play at all. Then Android users got the snot beat out of them because of buggy behavior and slower response times compared to iPhone users. All these problems seem to be fixed now though and the game is fun. If you have tried the game before on Android and got pissed off and removed it, give it another try.

1. The Official Google Reader App
I have tried them all. Even the much praised “News Rob” version and they all failed miserably in my opinion. Then came the official Google Reader app and all was right with the world. This is now my favorite app of all time. It is the most intuitive app I have seen so far. There was no learning curve at all. I knew how to use it without reading any directions or fighting through any frustrations. I just knew how to operate it right from the second it was installed. It’s just that damn good.

The problem with iMobsters app

imobsters

So I decided to start playing the iMobsters game on my Droid phone. I am quickly noticing a problem. Somehow people are able to attack me even when I can get the app to navigate. I had enough money to upgrade my protection gear, but since I have been trying to get to the place on the app to purchase it for the past several hours I have been attacked enough so that I no longer can purchase this protection upgrade. My question is, why can others navigate around to attack me when I can’t navigate around to do a damn thing on the game?

I have a theory. I am willing to bet that those people that are attacking me have iPhones. The iPhone app is probably better designed. The Android app obviously has bugs. There are way more Android phones than iPhones. The reason for this is that Android is an operating system that goes across several phones and several providers. Iphone is just one specific phone on one provider (AT&T). Despite Android having a much wider customer base, it is still treated as the redheaded step child by developers.

Imobsters obviously doesn’t care as much about their Android users as they do for their precious iPhone users. What is the problem here Storm8? Why so buggy? Does a bigger customer base not motivate you to get your shit in gear? I will give your app a little longer, but I am growing very tired of being attacked and not being able to do anything about it because my app crashes after just one button push.

Plain and simple, you owe your Android users a major apology. Stop treating us like crap or another game developer will steal us away and you will be hard pressed to win us back. Android is the new king. Get with the program or be left behind.

Verizon Droid 2 Unboxing

Well I now have my Droid 2 in my fat little fingers. Keep watching this site for more videos as I learn all that can be done with the Droid 2. Yes, i am a Droid noob! I have had a “dumb phone” for the past two years because last time I bought a phone I was extremely disappointed in what phones were out there. So I have owned smartphones before, but this is my frist Droid phone.

Tons of Droid tutorial videos will be posted on this site, so make sure and subscribe. Feel free to ask me questions and i will do my best to answer them as best as I can. Questions will only be answered on the show though. You have to watch my videos to see your answer. So subscribe, subscribe, subscribe!

Happy Droid 2 day everyone!