Weekly Apps in Review – Episode I

This post marks the start of a new era in the Phandroid kingdom – Weekly Apps in Review (WAR). Instead of waking up each morning and sorting through the “All Applications” button sorted by “Date” in the Market (read: Every morning of the past month for yours truly), we at Phandroid are starting a WAR post. No, this doesn’t mean the usual iPhone fanboys vs. Android fanboys in the comments, it means… WAR. So let’s get started!

(This first week will be semi-incomplete but as WAR continues in the following weeks a more detailed post will be published. We will only make posts about notable and/or popular apps, and will order them from oldest to newest)

1. Bookmark 2 – This app allows users to select a preexisting bookmark, which then loads the selected booksmarks page. From there the user is can then choose any picture or part of a web page to use for the bookmark’s icon. It allows for adjustable size of the selection to enable the user to custom-fit the icon they’d like for the app. Very useful for online apps that are used a lot such as Meebo, Google Reader, etc…

2. vTap Video Search – Instead of just supporting YouTube videos, vTap allows the user to search multiple databases of online videos at once including YouTube. It searches other external sites for news, entertainment, and other videos. 

3. Remote Droid – If your laptop keyboard or trackpad is giving you trouble and/or unusable, or you just want to mix things up a bit, RemoteDroid does the job well. Like a few similar iPhone applications, RemoteDroid connects to a user-defined local network and allows wireless text and trackpad input, all for the comfort of your…G1. 

4. Bubble – The infamous accelerometer based app has hit the G1 and Android – and it is more bubbly than ever. Instead of going to your local Home Depot, head to your local Market and get it fo’ free. This app is unique, in that it allows for text-to-speech based output using the text-to-speech library available on the Market. This is one of the reasons Android is so powerful – it allows the extension and improvement of an app through other apps.

5. Astrid Task/Todo List – This is the most useful and easy to use task/organization app that we’ve seen hit the Market – some of the other apps out there allow for a few more options, but Astrid makes it easier and more complete. 

6. The Schwartz Unleashed – The raving popularity of the iPhone app is now on the G1, and although it’s basic, it still has those Starwars fanboys squealing for joy. If you like this app – you have to also check out Tricorder, which is a Star Trek powered super-super nerd app. 

7. VoiceMemo – Simple, clean, and powerful, VoiceMemo allows it’s owner to record his/her deepest and darkest thoughts straight onto their G1. It also allows users to interview and save conversations with people such as Kobe Bryant and Barack Obama, for a limited time. 

Other notable apps:

EveryTrail, which allows users to add geotagged photos, save travel logs and tracks, and share them. 

Continous Shoot, gives camera-enthusiasts the option to shoot 1-30 sequential photos. Again, adds the possibility of taking pictures of Kobe Bryant dunking over Yao Ming. 

SlavoEd Dictionaries, the first large dictionary libraries for Android, supporting fast look ups and offline searching. 

Look forward to next week where more apps will be reviewed in higher detail! Until then – get those shots of Kobe we’ve been looking for.