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Recommended Android applications, games, stores and more

Tue, 08/09/2009 - 11:22am — admin

Android SDK Release History

SDK Release dateVersionHighlightsScreenshots
18 August 20080.9Betaby helloandroid
23 September 20081.0 r1Final releasealmost same as 0.9
10 February 20091.1Minor updatealmost same as 1.0
30 April 2009

Cupcake

1.5

Major update
  • Locales
  • On-screen soft keyboard
  • Widgets
  • Stereo Bluetooth support (A2DP and AVCRP profiles)
  • Video recording and playback
  • Copy 'n paste; Search within a page in browser
  • Android Virtual Devices (AVD)
JF 1.5 Screenshots
15 September 2009

Donut

1.6

Minor Update

almost same as 1.5
26 October 2009

Eclair

2.0

Major Update

  • Multiple accounts can be added to a device for email and contact synchronization, including Exchange accounts.
  • Quick Contact for Android
  • Improved virtual keyboard layout
  • Multi-touch support
  • Smarter dictionary learns from word usage and automatically includes contact names as suggestions
  • actionable browser URL bar, double-tap zoom for browser
  • Bluetooth 2.1, New BT profiles: Object Push Profile (OPP) and Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP)
  • AVD Manager tool, downloadable component platform
Android 2.0 SDK
12 January 20102.1

Minor Update

  • Live Wallpapers
  • speech-to-text
  • increase homescreen from 3 to 5
see Nexus One review

You can find the timeline of Android evolution by androidacademy here.

Android softwares & hardware

At the time of writing (December 2009), there are up to 20,000 applications on Android Market, 62.3% free and 37.7% paid, as reported by AndroidLib. Though Google officials says there are only 16,000 around. Not an easy task to filter out the junk and pick the best. Those Android applications and games listed below are what we think are the important ones you should look at in their category. Click the link for the respective application for information and/or download and install them via Android market.

If you have not purchased any Android device yet, you can easily compare the specifications of the various Android device in (or coming to) the market on this Android hardware comparison chart.

Android applications (FREE)

Android Application/Game Stores

Well, there are many Android application stores other than the Official Android Market installed on Google Experience Handsets such as HTC Dream G1 and HTC Magic G2.

Reasons for their existance

Some of these complains will be addressed in Android Market for Android 1.6 as Google have announced....but there is the need for 3rd party app stores remains.

Official Android Market web-based PC interface

One major problem for developers and users is the lack of internet based interface to browse the Official Android market using a computer instead of an Android handset. Since the Android Market application is proprietary not available outside Google Experience Handset, it is not even possbile for prospective users or developers to install it on the Android emulator and browse it there. The only way to look at the Official Android market is to use a Google Experience Handset such as HTC Dream G1 or HTC Magic.

Fortunately, for those without the handset, there are great people out there who had setup web sites which mirrors the Official Android market and allows you to browse the market on your computer. With the increasing number of Android applications and games, currently in the thousands, the web interface is going to be of increasing importance because the small screen on the handset makes it difficult to browse quickly and efficiently.

Here are the unofficial web based mirrors for the Official Android market

Android Application and Games ranking

To save you some time to read through and try the thousands of Android applications out there, you can check out the rankings for different applications/games in the sites below.

Android Application/Games review sites

You can also check out reviews of Android application or games in the web sites listd below. Or you can check out our aggregrated reviews and comments of the latest Android apks here.

Android news/information sites

Well, the aggregrated Android news on this site are collected from multiple sources and can be considered as one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date around. You can view it here but we would encourage you to check out other places as well ;)

Android FAQ/Wiki

Find everything you want to know about Android in the wiki below.

Android Developer Challenge (ADC)

This is an event organized by Google to promote the mighty Android platform. Developers code applications for Android and submit it for judging. The winners get a prize, a considerable amount of cash and frame.

ADC1 was closed on 14th April 2008 and the Top 50 applications were announced on 28th August 2008. "Out of 50 teams of finalists, 10 teams received a US$275,000 award each and 10 teams received a US$100,000 award each. Each of the top 50 finalists also received a US$25,000 award."

ADC2 was closed on 31th August 2009 and the Winners were announced on 30th Novermber 2009. There is a total to 10 categories, where the 1st prize is US$100,000, 2nd prize is US$50,000 and 3rd prize is US$25,000. There is also an additional prize for the overall winner across all category where the 1st prize is US$150,000, 2nd prize is US$50,000 and 3rd prize is US$25,000.

For more information, visit The Official Google Android developer blog for Android Developer Challenge - it contains all the official information posted about Android developer Challenge.

Want to get your relevant site or apk named above? Let us know by e-mail or through our forum.