The 10 best free apps on Google Android

The T-Mobile G1 hits shelves tomorrow, the first device to use Android, Google’s new software for mobile phones. Here are the ten best applications from the Android Market so far, all of which you can download free.

1 - TuneWiki

TuneWiki turns your phone into a portable karaoke machine. Pick a video from YouTube (we chose the karaoke classic I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston) and the device will play the video with the lyrics scrolling underneath.

But this is a far more developed service than most. For example, there is also a "TuneWiki community"  where you can see other people’s favourite songs, and also the favourite songs from individual countries. This gives you a fun snapshot of the world’s musical taste.

So Britain and Guadeloupe are both loving Viva La Vida by Coldplay right now. Brave New World by Iron Maiden is the biggest thing in Albania. That Day That Never Comes by Metallica is hottest track in Tajikistan. And in Mali, Dr Carter by Lil Wayne is top of the pops. The world can, and must, do better.

2 - WikiMobile

In essence, a slimmed down version of Wikipedia, with the most popular articles ready to search and read. It is particularly good because it has a easy-to-use interface which makes reading wikipedia articles quicker and easier than if you pulled it up on a browser from your mobile.

3 - Shazam

Imagine that you’ve walked into a record store. You like the song you’re listening to, but don’t recognise it. With just the press of a button, Shazam listens to the song, analyses it and tells you what it is, within seconds. Brilliantly, it can then give you a link to Amazon’s mp3 store, meaning you can download it straight to your phone.

I tested Shazam for hours and loved it. It was largely successful at picking out the tracks, and only failed every once in a while when the track was particularly obscure. An audiophile’s dream.

4 - Imeem

Another music application, Imeem is a online radio player for your mobile. You pick a song or artist you like, it plays that song but then starts playing a stream of other songs it thinks you might like also. This isn’t a new idea, Pandora was doing this years ago, but that online service is no longer available in the UK.

Imeem would be higher in this list if the streaming of music was better and more consistent, and if you could skip more songs (once you’ve skipped 6 songs, you can’t skip anymore for the day). But signing up to the service is quick and easy, and it is a great resource for new music when you’re on the go.

5 - LolCat Builder

This one is dedicated to fans of the LOLcats phenomenon website. Take a picture of a cat, add your funny funny caption, upload it onto the web. So simple it hurts. And a good reason for me to add a gratuitous link to my favourite ever LOLcat.

6 - Bonzai Blast

In my opinion, the best game released for free on Android, because it looks good, is easy to play and becomes addictive fast. The game challenge players to shoot and match a tangled line of coloured marbles. If you’ve ever played Tetris, you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. The games will get better on Android, but this one is good fun in the meantime.

7 - Fat Secret

A calorie counter for those health freaks out there. You type in the name of food - everything from a banana to Green and Blacks Cherry flavoured chocolate bar – and Fat Secret quickly gives you the nutritional information in the form of a label.

8 - Barcode Scanner

A good idea that hasn’t been well executed quite yet, but will be worth downloading onto your G1. The phone scans any barcode you want, then give you a link to information about the product or webpages where you can compare prices. That’s the theory anyway. In practice, some of the web results Barcode Scanner comes back with are not that useful, so it can be quite frustrating. But worth having until a better version comes along.

9 - PicSay

Another photo application that gets high marks for simplicity. Take a photo, add a caption in a customisable speech bubble, save the picture, send it to friends. Quick, easy. and might even provide a few laughs.

10 - Brain genius deluxe

Labels itself as a “Brain Trainer”, where the friendly Dr Lababidi gives you a daily array of puzzles to exercise your mind. In reality, you’re unlikely to get any smarter, but it’s a fun game for the masses. They really need to get rid of the awful music though, which will drove me up the wall.

Comments

[Richie Jones]

The Shazam system can in fact be used on any mobile phone in the UK by dialing 2580 and holding the handset to the speaker.