Cut the Rope screenshot taken on iPad. © ZeptoLab

Okay, I admit it. I’ve cheated on my Android phone with an iPad, of all things. I’ve been enchanted by the large amount of iPad apps and games which look absolutely stunning and work so well, and I’m a sucker for great graphics. A game app can be excellent, clever and well-designed, but if it’s got poor graphics I won’t find it worth playing. The Android Market has so far been a little disappointing in that area.

While devouring iPad games I came over Cut the Rope – and at the very first moment I met Om Nom and fed him a candy I was hooked. And my HTC Desire wept, laying jealous in a dark corner. Okay, actually it just lay on my desk.

But today, Friday 24th of June 2011, Cut the Rope became available on Android via the alternative Android Market called GetJar, for free! My HTC Desire quietly let out a little cheer, clinging on to the hope for me to pay attention to it again. Okay, okay, it still just lay on my desk.

The process of downloading Cut the Rope from GetJar when you don’t have the GetJar app from before is a bit clumsy. I couldn’t find the GetJar app in Android Market nor on their website, so this is how I did it. Remember to set the option to allow your phone to download apps from unknown sources.

1. On your Android phone, open up your browser and navigate to m.getjar.com.
2. Scroll to the very bottom, and click on “Quick download”.
3. In the pop up, enter 75206. This is GetJar’s ID to Cut the Rope, but as for now you’ll just download the GetJar app.

Cut the Rope on my HTC Desire

Your phone will now download the GetJar app. When it’s installed, fire up the app. It will direct you back to the GetJar-website, showing a list of available apps. Cut the Rope should be one of the top apps in the list, or you could click “Quick download” and enter 75206 again. Either one will download and install Cut the Rope on your phone. Yay! I downloaded it today, on Cut the Rope’s launch day, so I had to try a few times before I got through.

Edit July 8, 2011: As of now Cut the Rope is available at the Market, but costs money.

On my HTC Desire running Android Froyo (2.2) it runs smoothly and works just like on iPad, it’s just smaller (duh). Mind you, since the app is free there are ads in the game. But you’ll barely notice them since they only appear in the menus, not while playing. (As opposed to the Android version of Angry Birds where the ads appears in-game blocking some of the game field. Grr!)

Edit January 13th, 2012: Cut the Rope is even available in a splendid HTML5 web version.

Yep. I’m still a nerd. In May I wrote a (lengthy) post recommending my favourite applications (apps) for Android based phones, (and also bragged about just getting a HTC Desire.)*cough* Not much have changed since then, except for the expansion of the Android Market (for you iFolks: that would be the Android version of App Store). I admit that I’m not one to pay very much attention to the development of new apps, but I’ve traded tips from colleagues and friends with Android phones. The Android OS version 2.2 finally allowed us to move apps to the SD card, and a couple of weeks ago Norway finally opened up for paid Android apps. So I figured an updated list of awesome Android apps were in order.

The list is fairly shorter than my previous post, and it contains both free and paid apps. I’ve included QR barcodes next to each app so you can scan the image with Barcode Scanner on your Android phone and get the direct download link to the app.

Games

The puzzle game OpenSudoku is still fairly much played on my phone, but as for the last few weeks Robo Defense, and even more recently Angry Birds, has almost completely taken over all the gaming on my phone. I think you can safely say that I’m never bored when sitting on the tram home or on my way to work!

Robo Defense ($2.99)

Robo Defense QR barcode

Robo Defense is a tower defense game where enemies walk from one side of the screen to the other. Your job is to place towers, each has different shooting abilities and range, onto the map to prevent enemies to get to the other side alive. As the game progresses, several and tougher enemies appear. Even flying ones. You can upgrade the towers and specialize them, and you earn rewards points when playing which can be used to buy new kind of towers or upgrade your abilities. In short, addictive as hell. A free demo is available if you want to try it before you buy it.

The only downside, and something you should be aware of, is that Robo Defense really hogs battery power. Charge your phone very often if you play it, or keep the phone in the charger when playing.

Angry Birds (free)

Angry Birds QR barcode

Angry Birds is a good example of an app which is successful and popular because of its simple concept and great graphics. It’s actually so popular that it’s passed 2 million downloads on Android the past three days. Read that again: Three days! The full version for Android is free, as opposed to iPhone / iPad for which it was originally developed for. (hah!)

The idea is that you shoot different types of birds from a slingshot (ironically enough. I thought for one second there birds could fly on their own), onto fortresses where your enemies, which are pigs, sits protected. Or so they think. Your goal is to break into the highly creative structures and kill all the pigs inside before you run out of birds.

WordUp! (free)

WordUp! QR barcode

WordUp! is a puzzle game you can pick up and leave anytime, similar to OpenSudoku.

You are given a board with random letters on it, and the task is to find English words by connecting the letters. You can drag diagonally, horizontally, vertically, back and forth as long as they share a side or a corner and isn’t previously marked in the current word. It’s pretty amazing how so many words can appear in such a small board (max 6×6), and how difficult it is to find them all.

When you choose to finish a game (it’s nearly impossible to find all words), you can see a list of all the words that was possible to make, and they are linked to a dictionary. So it’s educational as well. :-p

Jewels (free)

Jewels QR barcode

I haven’t played Jewels as much because there has always been other games more tempting and addictive. I blame the above-mentioned games.

You get a 8×8 board with random symbols. You click or drag two symbols to get them to switch places in order to get three or more of the same symbols on a row. They disappear and the rest fall down to fill their places. You get different bonuses from doing several in a row (without switching), and the game continues until there are no more moves. The graphics is pretty good and the game is alright, but I don’t find it as addictive or fun as the other games, probably because Jewels doesn’t require much thinking or quick reactions.

Tools

App 2 SD (free)

App 2 SD QR barcode

With Android OS 2.2 we can install application on the SD card, as opposed to on the phone’s limited internal memory. This was a great feature, but not all apps can be moved, and they don’t automatically install themselves on the SD card yet. This is where App2SD come in handy.

Instead of going through the complete app list, clicking on every single app installed to see whether or not it can be moved to the SD card, you use App2SD. The app provides a list of all and only apps that can be moved to the SD card. Whenever you install new apps (which can be moved to the SD card), you get an immediate notification from App2SD, and with a quick flick of your hand the app is no longer taking up the phone’s internal memory.

DroidAnalytics (€0.99)

DroidAnalytics QR barcode

DroidAnalytics is pretty much straightforward, it’s an app to view Google Analytics, in which you can view the most popular types of data and graphs. I mainly use it at work where we use Google Analytics on our different websites.

I’ve tried a few Google Analytics apps, but DroidAnalytics is by far the best I’ve tried as for the moment. But it’s not as good as iPhone’s Google Analytics-app, it’s missing some options and graphs. But I hope it continues to develop and improve, especially since I’ve paid for it. :-p

Adobe Photoshop Express (free)

Adobe Photoshop Express QR barcode

Adobe Photoshop Express is one of the greatest photo editors yet for phones, in my opinion. You can change the contrast, exposure, tint, saturation, brightness, sharpen, crop, rotate, add borders and add the filter “Soft focus” on your photos. I’ve seen some more filters on the iPhone version, but seriously, all these possibilities are more than enough!

Great for improving photos before sending it in a MMS or uploading it at your blog from your phone when you don’t have a computer or Photoshop at hand. And it’s free!

Metal Detector (free)

Metal Detector QR barcode

Some phones have a built-in compass which can be used as a Metal Detector, and HTC Desire is no exception. This is one of many apps which utilize the compass as a metal detector and brags in its description that it “makes people with iPhones jealous”. I wouldn’t trust its metal detection 100%, but it seems to work reasonably well. If you have a HTC Desire, keep in mind that the compass resides somewhere inside the bottom part of the phone.

I haven’t found this app useful yet (well, what did you expect, I’m a woman, I have no metal detection needs), except of having fun suprising people when the detector detects a large amount of magnetic electrofield when I hold it ontop of my head behind my ear. (I have a Cochlea Implant).

Instant Heart Rate (free)

Instant Heart Rate QR barcode

Yet another app which you shouldn’t trust 100% but is fun to have and show off, is Instant Heart Rate. It tries to measure your heart rate from your finger using the LED light and camera on your phone.

This app can only be used on phones which have a LED light as camera flash light, and also which is located very near the camera lens. A HTC Desire works just fine. You put your finger ontop of both the camera and LED light, and waits. The app tries to read the blood flow in your finger, but it’s not easy to get a stable and accurate reading. If the app claims that you heart rate is below 30, I hope you’re smart enough to not call your doctor in panic or enter the E.R. screaming in fear of dying.

HTC Desire, my new mobile phone toy

I recently got myself a brand new mobile phone, HTC Desire with Android 2.1. And (apologies to my bf) I’m in love. Not only with the phone itself, but the OS as well. I was sick of my previous phone which was, in more ways than one, like a piece of brick – a HTC Touch Pro with Windows Mobile 6.1. I wanted a smartphone with touch screen, possibility of installing additional software (apps) and a well-functioning way of syncing contacts, mail and calendar with my PC. The choice was between an iPhone or an Android-based phone. I’m not a fan of Apple and iPhones, so I decided to give the fairly new Android OS a shot. Almost immidiately after getting myself a Android phone, I see at least five things my phone can do that iPhone can’t.

A few days after I bought my HTC Desire, a bunch of friends also bought a HTC Desire saw how awesome HTC Desire really is that they bought it. Even my boyfriend. He who spent a few days defending his beloved and trusty HTC TyTNII, only to wake up one morning and totally fall in love with my phone. So to share my excitement for Android, support the expanding app market and to tell people which apps that would totally rock their world (well, at least the phone’s world), I’m listing my favorite Android apps in this post. The application market for Android is fairly new, but is expanding fast. There are already tons of applications that make your Android phone even more awesome.

I’m warning you, this post is lengthy. I’ve tested all apps on my HTC Desire (Android v 2.1), and they are all free. I live in Norway where we haven’t made a deal about paying apps. Yet. The apps below are my absolute “must”s, mostly general tools, widgets and some games. I’ve included barcodes to each app, so if you have Barcode Scanner or Google Goggles on your Android-phone, use it to get the direct download link on your phone. Otherwise I’m providing the link to each app on Androlib, a web site where you can find all Android apps, on your PC. Enough talk, let’s get started!

Essentials (in my opinion)

Barcode Scanner

I’ll start the list with the app you’ll need in order to take advantage of these funny images/barcodes in this post, Barcode Scanner. It does as its name says, it reads barcodes. And it does it well. I’m amazed how this app can identify items such as books, DVD’s, food products and more, just by scanning their barcodes. If you want an app that can identify more than just barcodes, I suggest Google Goggles (I’ll get to it later in this list), but it is slower than Barcode Scanner. Note: If your mobile’s camera pretty much sucks, you’ll need good lighting and a steady hand in order for this app to be able to successfully scan anything. Not a problem on Desire, but I know HTC Hero is troublesome.

Apps Organizer

Apps Organizer is the app if you come into a habit of clogging all available home screens with shortcuts to your programs. With this app you can place your wanted programs into groups, say “Internet”, “Games” or “Tools”. Then you can add the group as a single icon on your home screen, and clicking on it displays a box with all shortcuts to all programs that resides in that group. Easy to use and configure, and a great space saver. Previously I used 2 and a half screen for shortcuts only, with Apps Organizer I reduced it down to 3 single icons! Yay, my phone no longer looks like an iPhone and I get more space for widgets.

Task Manager

Task Manager is a task manager with an excellent “kill apps” functionality. You can add apps to an “auto-kill” list, and all apps in this list will automatically be killed when you press the power button to turn off the screen. Yes, I know Linux is good at memory handling and that Android eventually will shut down programs I don’t use, but it’s useful for killing all software that hogs your battery life if you’re far from a charger. You can also see which apps that are currently running, manage, start and uninstall apps from this app.

SMS Backup and Restore

SMS Backup and Restore is an app where, well, you can backup and restore your SMS messages. They are being saved as a XML file on your SD card. I also used this app to import my messages from my old Windows-mobile (I had to modify the XML file somewhat in order for this app to accept it). Now I regularily backup all my messages onto the SD card, and feel pretty safe that it’ll be able to keep my old messages throughout my next mobile phones (which I suspect will be Android based phones).

Nifty tools and widgets

Battery Widget

When changing from Windows Mobile to Android I missed the opportunity to see the remaining battery life in something more accurate than a tiny tiny icon in the upper right. Battery Widget does exactly this, it displays the remaining battery life in percent, but it’s even better than that. Clicking on the battery widget gives you a popup to enable/disable Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS. I restored three widget spaces with this app, since I didn’t need three different widgets for turning on and off each of the three networks. I find this app so awesome that it resides on my main home screen.

Android Agenda Widget

Android Agenda Widget is my favorite calendar widget. It displays current and all coming events from your chosen calendars and time ahead, complete with date, time, place, calendar color and pretty much everything is customizable. The great things is, you can choose any widget size (from 2×2 to 4×4). I have dedicated a full home screen for this app only, a 4×4 widget displaying coming events, appointments and birthdays, refreshed every 15 minutes. The only downside is that events spanning more than two lines gets cut off instead of giving the event more lines. But it’s no big deal, clicking on an event takes me to calendar view for that event.

Notes

Notes is a simple and basic notes app. I wanted a simple program where you can write a note, decide its title, sort all the notes after the title or date, and not much else. No fancy stuff, like syncing the notes with your computer or disturbing ads and backgrounds. I just need a notes app where I can jot down anything that comes to mind, and keep wish lists, stuff to remember and .. well, notes. I’ve tested several popular notes-apps, but this subtle named app appealed to me the most. Edit: Seems like the recent update is a little buggy – whenever you create a new note, it gets duplicated some times until you close the note. Just delete them all but one.

Google Goggles

Google Goggles is an app which tries to identify what you take pictures of by searching the web. You can take pictures of assorted products, logos, landmarks, artwork, barcodes (just like Barcode Scanner above) and assorted texts, and it does a pretty good job about identifying the object. Logos and barcodes works very well, and with the recent update you can access Google Translate when taking pictures of text. I’m planning to test landmarks as soon as I’m near something that’d count as a well-known landmark. I live in Norway, so that could be a challenge.

Led Light

Led Light is a handy widget that allows you to use your LED light/flash on your camera as a flashlight. It’s as simple as that. Useful when in dark places and you can’t bother to keep the screen activated by regurarily touching it. 1×1 intuitive widget for turning the light on and off. NB: Works on Desire only.

3G Watchdog

3G Watchdog is simply an app that run statistics on your mobile network data transfers. It doesn’t include Wifi use, there’s other apps for that. But this app is precisely what I wanted. I was worried I’d spend much money on mobile data, seeing as my phone syncs alot and seems to download almost constantly even when I’m not using it. The 3G Watchdog icon sits in the upper left corner, and you can at all times see how many Mb you’ve received or transmitted. Set a monthly quota and see how you fulfill or exceeds it. Simple and accurate.

EStrongs File Explorer

EStrongs File Explorer is the file explorer app. Not only you get a nice file explorer for you SD card, but it can read shared LAN folders, connect to FTP servers and transfer files on Bluetooth as well. Its display settings is customizable, and you can multi-select, see the phone’s root directories, search and copy/paste. But seriously, the ability to connect to LAN and FTP makes this app pretty awesome.

SMS Backup

SMS Backup is another “backup your SMS messages app”. I have both SMS Backup and Restore and this app in my phone. Whereas the previously mentioned app, SMS Backup and Restore, saves the messages as XML files on the SD card, SMS Backup backups messages as threaded mails in your Gmail account. It adds a label in your mail account and syncs automatically, so you have access to all SMS messages when logging onto your mail account. The downside is that you can’t restore them back into your phone.

Games

Being a gamer and wanting to develop my own Android games one day, I obviously checked the Android market for games. Keep in mind that I’m more of a “thinking game” girl than “shoot kill shoot kill aargh”. I’ve mostly been looking for games that can be played as quick time killers, like when riding the bus home.

I was very excited to finally be able to play my favourite puzzle game, Griddler, on my phone. But sadly it appears that the only Griddler app available, Nonogram, pretty much sucks. Seems like I have to go through with creating my own Android based Griddler. But as for now, try some of these games:

OpenSudoku

OpenSudoku is the Android based Sudoku game. It supports different modes of filling in numbers, is ad-free (so far), simple and works very well. The app comes with 90 puzzles, 30 easy, 30 medium and 30 hard ones. The best thing is that you can download no less than 400 more puzzles, also for free, 100 puzzles in each of four difficulty levels. I will never be bored while riding the bus or waiting for someone ever again.

Trap!

Trap! is an action game that requires quick reactions and some thinking ahead. The goal is to fill more then 75% of the board. You can draw lines and blocks in order to fill the area, but the thing is, there are balls bouncing around. You can’t have any one of the balls hit the lines while they are being placed (it takes a while for the line to be placed). As you progress, more balls are added in each board with varying speeds. Sounds simple? It isn’t. But I love it!

Bonsai Blast

Bonsai Blast is another action game. This is the most well-made games I’ve seen on Android phones, its music and graphics are great and the game works smoothly. The gameplay is basically like so: A line of marbles with random colors are being pushed on a certain track, and your job is to pair three or more marbles of the same color, before the line of marbles reach the end of the track. “You” as in some kind of marble rocket launcher. As you advance the game features bouncing the marbles on walls, shooting them into chutes and different types of bonuses to shoot at.

Air Hockey: EM

Air Hockey: EM is simply the arcade game Air Hockey on Android. Push the hockey puck into your opponent’s goal, and prevent the opponent from shooting it into yours. You can choose to play alone against AI, or have a friend play on your screen. Physics works very well and it’s pretty much as the real thing. With the exception of dragging your finger across a mobile phone screen. And the size of the board.

Sea Battle

Sea Battle is a clone of the board game Battleship. You play against the computer AI, and the goal is to find and sink all the enemy’s ships before the opponent sinks all yours. You both place several ships, which has different lenghts, onto a grid, and neither of you can see the enemy’s arrangement. Then you simply guess by clicking twice on a cell, taking turns. The app works very well, has good graphics and works great as a temporarily time killer.

Gem Miner

I haven’t played Gem Miner as much, but it seems to be a well-working and good-looking game. You play a miner whose goal is to earn money in order to buy more advanced mining equipment. You mine in a large underground maze, trying to find coal, gems and iron which you can sell for money at the surface. You need to place a bunch of ladders to navigate and get back up to the surface, and supports to prevent falling rocks. And you can only be underground for a certain amount of time before the miner get too exhausted or short of oxygen.