Top Best Android Apps Must Have 2011

 Best Android Apps Welcome to 101 Best Android Apps. Trouble finding the best Android apps?  While it seems like everyone and their mom owns an iPhone, the Android is intent on dethroning it. Google and Apple are locked in a death match, and the winners are the customers. Why? Because in the process, hundreds of great Apps have been produced. Upgrade the share feature (for videos especially) to link with all Android  share options like installed Twitter apps and many more.

If you own an Android powered phone and are wondering what Apps you need to download, look no further. Here is an in-depth list neatly sorted for your App-finding pleasure. Have you decked out your Droid with business apps yet? If not, take heed: Google Android phones still have a ways to go in terms of business, sports, travel and many morre android apps for the best parts.

Business

Need an App to help you with business-related tasks? Check these out.
1.  Tasker – The ultimate automation app for Android, this app allows one to set conditions (time of day, orientation of phone, use of a particular app) under which apps launch or close. You can also edit volume levels, switch sounds on or off, and more. Includes many other automatic features.

2.  Documents to Go – View Word and Excel files on your Android device.  For $14.99, a key can be purchased that unlocks create/edit functionality.

3.  Bump – Take any two phones that have this app, bump them together, and swap contact information without a single button press. It doesn’t get any easier to share information than this.

4.  Maps - The Maps app is so dead useful that it alone can be considered worth the purchase of an Android device.  The new navigation feature removes the need for a GPS Unit, or subscription to your carrier’s navigation app.

5.  Currency - Up-to-date exchange rate info for just about every type of currency used in international markets today. A must for anyone going international.

6.  You Keep Your Money – A collection of apps that keep track of expenses. It shows them as graphs for easy analysis.

7.  Fake-a-Call- Great for getting out of a meeting gone too long.  Set up a call to go off at a given time, and your phone fakes the call for you to conveniently step out and answer.

8.  Google Voice – The best VoIP app on Android is — surprise — from Google.  This feature-packed app boasts number consolidation, text notification, voicemail transcriptions and several other bullet points.

9.  Dropbox – Quickly becoming one of the new must-haves for the tech-savvy, this app allows you to store and share files through your Dropbox account from your phone.

10.  It’s About Time – Track your finances from your device, if you’re a Quickbooks user.  Easy integration between Quickbooks Online is one of the big draws of this app.

Entertainment

Some Apps are just plain fun. Here are the top 10 entertaining Apps.

1.  Ringdroid – A neat little app that lets you slice mp3s on your SD card into custom ringtones.  Eliminates the need for all those annoying ringtone apps clogging up the market.

2. MP3 Music Download – Don’t have the song you’re looking for?  Must resort to a tone search engine?  This is the one — it eliminates as much hassle and fluff from the experience as possible.

3.  Movies – This is a Flixster-powered movie info app.  Simple to navigate, it features what’s playing, local showtimes, reviews, and even the ability to purchase tickets through the app.

4.  Solo – The first guitar app on Android to actually get it right and work well.  There’s a free, limited version as well, which drops multi-touch support as well as a chunk of the chord library.  $3.95.

5.  IMDb – Put all those questions and disagreements about who played who in what TV show/movie to rest with this app.  It creates an attractive and easy-to-use wrapper for IMDb.com, putting the site at the touch of a button.

6.  DirectTV- While only useful if you have DirectTV, this app is a good proof of concept: it allows the user to control their DVR from anywhere.  Forget to set up some shows to record tonight?  Sudden change of plans have you out of the house?  This can help.

7.  Caller ID Faker – Obviously meant for prank calls, this app features the ability to spoof a different number to your target’s caller ID.  The unfortunate bit about this app is its two minute limit on free calls, but it’s an excellent start to the idea.

8.  Steamy Window – Talk about a fun little time waster.  Blow into the mic of your phone to steam up the screen, and wipe it off by touch.

9.  Backgrounds – The only background gallery app worth mentioning.  If you don’t have any pictures that you’d particularly care to set as a BG, this 10,000+ background app is for you.

10.  Useless Facts – Another fun time waster.  Interesting, quirky, and offbeat true facts, served up at random.

Games

Move over Nintendo. These Apps turn your Android into the best personal gaming system around.
1.  Angry Birds – Physics based action and strategy, involving angry little birds and the pigs they came to get revenge on.  Destroy the pigs’ towers using the birds’ unique abilities, logic, and force.

2.  Robo Defense – The epitome of a tower defense game on Android.  Large maps, achievements, great graphics, and responsive gameplay have made it one of the most popular games on the platform.

3.  Fruit Ninja – Who knew that slicing up fruit could be so fun?  This hit iPhone game, now available for Android, will have you asking that question repeatedly.

4.  Alchemy – Combine the four basic elements (earth, air, water, fire) and their products to create more than 200 different new elements.  With a sometimes logical, sometimes bent sensibility, this game will have you captivated.

5. Bubble Blast 2 – A game that involves clicking on bubbles to remove them, and setting up chain reactions.  Think Bejeweled, minus all the trademarks and gems.

6.  Wordfeud Free – Android’s answer to Words with Friends.  A fun little multiplayer crossword app that allows you to play with friends or strangers.

7.  Live Hold ‘em – The best live poker app in the Market.  Allows you to play with users on Facebook or other Android devices. Just don’t bet!

8.  Solitaire – What would a computing platform be without a solitaire suite?  Simple and lightweight, this app has four common solitaire games to get you through whatever boring moment you’re facing.

9. Toss It- Tossing paper into trash cans.  Sounds exciting, eh?  You’d be surprised how addictive it gets, if you haven’t tried out a game like this already.

10.  Air Control – Guide aircraft safely down to the landing strip by drawing flight patterns for them, while avoiding crashes between planes.

Social Networking

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace… regardless of your chosen platform, the name of the game is staying connected. Here are the best Apps to do just that.
1. Tweetcaster – The best Twitter app currently on the Market, with all the features one would expect. Share your thoughts in about 140 characters.

2.  Facebook – The world’s largest social networking site’s official app.  Comes pre-installed on most Android devices.

3.  Foursquare- We’re not talking about the traditional ball game. This location-based game that allows you to earn points for letting people know where you’re at in the world.

4.  TweetDeck – A mobile browser that combines functionality for Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.  The standalone apps do what they do better than this one does, but if you’d prefer to have them all in one place, this is your app.

5.  HeyTell- Turn any Android phone into a Push-to-Talk phone with this app.  Send a short PTT message, encrypted, with the option of location, to other HeyTell users over 3G/4G/WiFi.

6.  Bump- Take any two phones that have this app, bump them together, and swap contact information without a single button press. Seriously one of the coolest concepts we’ve found.

7.  Myspace Mobile – the first big breakthrough of social networking may be on its way out, but if you’re still a regular user, this is the official app for mobile use of the site.

8.  Picasa Tool Pro – A functional, well-built app for users of photo sharing service Picasa. And Picasa is one of the best ways to share and manage photos.

9.  SyncMyPix- Are you having problems with Facebook syncing contacts and profile pictures incorrectly, or not at all?  Try this app out to simplify the process.

10. Google Buzz Widget – Allows you to post straight to Google Buzz from the homescreen.  This might be the kind of push Google needs to turn its fledgling service into a monster success.

Travel

 Hitting the road? The following Apps will make your trip a bit easier.
1.  Maps – An absolute no-brainer, the up-to-date maps and Navigation beta feature completely obselete the concept of a GPS unit.  No Android user should be without it.

2.  Street View on Google Maps – A nifty add-on to Maps that lets you get Street View from anywhere on the map. Essential when you;re out in the “real world.”

3.  GasBuddy – Comprehensive, up-to-date gas prices are what this app is all about, allowing you to find the cheapest fuel in your area.  Very useful for the budget-conscious traveler.

4.  Yelp – A massive database of reviews, info, and opinions on all the places to eat, sleep, and play.  The ability to write one’s own reviews is a plus.

5.  Kayak Flight and Hotel Search – Probably the best hotel/flight booker on a mobile platform, right now.  Easy to use, reliable, and the rates aren’t bad.

6. Car Locator – Tag your car’s location when parking in a large lot, and find it again later with minimal hassle and GPS accuracy.  Not too great in parking garages, unfortunately, but open-air parking is what this app was made for.

7.  Currency – Not quite as important to the traveler as the businessman, but still dead useful.  Exchange rates for nearly every currency in the world.

8.  Urbanspoon- When you can’t decide where to eat, this app is here to help.  It suggests places to try out, and features favorites and wishlists in order to better tailor your experience with the app.

9.  Trapster – This app will alert you when you approach known police speed traps, red light cameras, and speed cameras.  Throw in 5 million regular users constantly updating the database, and you’ve got a dead useful app.

10.  Happy Hours – An app designed with the drink and food specials in mind.  This app alerts the user to the best local deals at bars and restaurants.

Sports

Do you live and breathe football, baseball, or basketball? Maybe another sport like MMA? Then you need to get your hands on some of these Apps.
1. ESPN Scorecenter – Keep updated on all the latest scores with ESPN’s incredibly comprehensive coverage of every sporting event known to man.

2.  Live Scores – Much simpler and more stripped-down than ESPN’s offering, Live Scores is a just-the-facts app for those who want numbers and no flashy designs.

3.  MMA News – MMA is hot. Period. This is the most popular and highest quality MMA news aggregator currently available, for those who love their fights.

4.  MLB.com At Bat – The official app of the MLB.  Scores, news, standings, rankings, and anything else you could ask for.  It’s a bit late to pick this one up now, but rest assured that 2011 will bring plenty of joy to the baseball fan with this installed on their device.

5.  NBA Game Time – With the 2010-2011 season gearing up, now is the perfect time to pick up the NBA’s official scores and news app.

6.  Skydroid Golf GPS – This app turns your phone into a GPS based rangefinder, perfect for club selection on that next tricky shot. Golf just turned more science.

7.  Yahoo! Fantasy Football – Fantasy football has exploded. Here’s the web’s #1 fantasy football community by numbers comes to Android in the form of this functional, light app.

8.  ESPN Fantasy Football – Manage and get all the news for your fantasy team and league with this convenient app, with the professional backing of ESPN.
9.  NFL Sunday Ticket – Another DirectTV based app with a good concept.  With a subscription to DTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket package, this app allows live streaming of any and every game being played at the moment.

10.  Sports Radio Droid- An internet radio app with a pure focus on sports streams and shows.  Great for the superfan.

Healthcare & Fitness

Technology isn’t just for the lazy couch potato. Use these Apps to stay healthy.
1.  Instant Heart Rate – This app measures your heart rate with only a finger over the camera.  Pretty nifty, and accurate enough for such a gimmicky application.

2.  CardioTrainer – An app to track walking, running, biking, and other activities.  Keeps track of distance, time, calories burned, and maps the route taken with GPS.

3.  Lightning Bug – A sleep machine app with a decent collection of different sounds.  Perfect for those who need a little white noise to sleep to—including babies.

4.  Calorie Counter by FatSecret – Keeping track of your calorie intake has never been so easy.  Searchable databases and a barcode scanner make it easy to quickly input your meals.

5.  Sleep Bot Tracker Log – Exactly what it says on the tin – a sleep tracker.  Allows you to not only track how much sleep you’re getting a night, but your total sleep debt overall.

6.  Baby ESP – Being a new parent is stressful. This app allows you to track your baby’s needs. It even predicts when you can best to address those needs.

7.  First Aid- Plenty of information on first aid for dozens of different situations.  Easy to use, and quick — very important in certain emergency situations. Remember, no one expects accidents to happen. Be prepared.

8.  Favorite Recipes – Don’t know what to cook? Search recipes by name, ingredients, keywords, and categories. An excellent pocket cookbook.

9.  PillReminder – An app version of what women have been doing with their cellphone alarms already for years, this app is basically a birth control reminder. And from the looks of the comments, very effective.

10.  Mindfulness Bell – Quite the interesting concept – this app rings a bell periodically during the day, at which point the user is to think about what they are doing and their current mindset.  Reportedly, this is very good for mental health and de-stressing.

News

 The days of newspapers and the evening news are long gone. With these apps, stay up to date on everything that’s going on in the world around you.

1.  The Weather Channel – This App has a great interface with simple and low-resource widgets. Also get up-to-the-minute weather information make this app a must-have.

2.  Engadget – This is the dedicated reader for Engadget. It’s the definitive source for news and reviews on gadgets and technology.

3. USA Today – The latest news, scores, and weather from USA Today.  A great way to keep aware of what’s happening in the world at large.

4.  CNET News – More tech news, but from the decidedly differently-flavored teams at CNET.  Very slick, pretty interface on this one.

5.  BBC News – The BBC’s top headlines and stories in a convenient package. It’s easy to use and read.

6.  HuffingtonPost.com – Keep on top of the Huffington Post’s provocative and informative reporting with this app. Not your average news here, Ladies and Gentlemen.

7. reddit is fun – An easy to use shell for reddit.com, taking all the hassle out of using mobile web to browse the site. Just open it up, read, and vote.

8.  NY Times – The New York Times in a simple, compact app. No need to explain this, right?

9.  Voter Map – More of a discussion of the news than news itself, but with midterms just finishing, this app connects politically active minds to one another quite beautifully.

10.  World Newspapers – Top News - An aggregator collecting news stories from all the major US news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, as well as many non-US papers/magazines, and web content.  Great for an all-in-one solution to your news, though the standalone apps for each source look prettier.

Reference

Looking for information? Here are the top 10 Apps for finding and viewing it.
1.  Google Sky Map – One of the coolest things to come out of Google labs, this app overlays a map of the night sky on wherever the camera is facing, showing you what stars you’re looking at (or would be, in case of daytime).

2.  Aldiko Book Reader- Currently the most successful e-reader on Android, with tens of thousands of texts to choose from.  Must-have for literary types. Remember readers are leaders.

3. Kindle for Android – Bringing the Amazon Kindle’s entire library to the Android userbase. That’s like 700,000 texts.

4.  Dictionary.com – An app wrapper for Dictionary.com, this turns it from a website into a pocket dictionary.  Useful and quick.

5.  Wikidroid- Wikipedia in a more attractive format for mobile devices, with all the functionality of the actual site ported into the menus. The best destination for any random knowledge you could ever want.

6.  United States Constitution – The full text of the Constitution, for review or edification. You’d be surprised how many people have no clue what it says.

7.  Wolfram Alpha – The computational knowledge engine that was a minor internet firestorm not too long ago is now available in a convenient app.

8.  Audible for Android – Audible, the Internet’s leading provider of digital audiobooks, presents its library for listening pleasure in this app.

9.  Urban Dictionary - Slang has become such a huge part of our language that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with all of it. Thankfully, Urban Dictionary does the work for us. And it’s funny.

10.  How to Tie a Tie – Now let’s be honest, nobody is going to need this app for more than one special occasion, or maybe their first week at a job that requires a tie.  But it performs its function.

Music

Who needs the radio when you have an Android? Check out your options for listening to music below.
1.  Pandora Radio – The absolute best music app of all time.  Customizable radio stations, tailored to your tastes by you.

2.  Last.fm – Between Pandora-style stations, the social networking aspect of Last.fm, and the ability to scrobble plays to your Last.fm profile, this app is a fun total package for those wanting to be more sociable with their music.

3.  TuneIn Radio- Listen to radio streams that have jumped on board with TuneIn, from local to syndicated to internet broadcasts. Just download and “tune in!”

4.  Listen – Google’s standard podcatcher, and the best one currently available.  Manage your podcast subscriptions, listen to new episodes, and search through the catalog of thousands of audio feeds.

5.  Ringdroid – A neat little app that lets you slice mp3s on your SD card into custom ringtones.  Eliminates the need for all those annoying ringtone apps clogging up the market.

6.  Shazam – An app that puts an end to wondering what song you’re hearing on the radio.  The app listens to the song, analyzes it, and reports back with the title and artist, as well as links to info and places to purchase.

7.  Winamp- Still in beta, Winamp’s mobile incarnation far outclasses any of the stock Music players that come packaged with Android builds.  Highly recommended as a main music player.

8. TuneWiki Social Media Player – another music player that beats the stock application, with a twist: this one searches and displays the lyrics of a given song karaoke style as the song plays.

9.  Album Art Grabber Free – A tool that grabs album art for the music loaded on your SD card.  Not essential, but sure does make things prettier when combined with Winamp.

10.  Uloops Music Composer – A loop-based music composition program with a vibrant and talented community.  There’s a bit of a learning curve to using it, but this is probably the best way to make music on a mobile platform seen yet.

Which Apps have you downloaded? Are there any you think should be added to this list?