Android Apps Alert 11: Music, news, and word games, too

Looking for the best Android apps? Good luck finding them on your own. But if you do stumble across apps people will love, let the world know. Androinica.com encourages users to tweet great apps with the #androidapps tag on Twitter, and we plan to incorporate that into our weekly notifications of new, updated, or recommended apps. Get to downloading and keep telling us about those exciting #androidapps.

Happy Holidays from Androinica. In light of Christmas, apps were in short supply this week and my time to cover them was even shorter. Here are a few videos showing apps that I think you’ll enjoy. Unlike previous episodes of Android Apps Alert, these videos are split in order to make them easier to upload and share, cutting down on the time it takes for me to edit them.

NPR News

Public radio is now in your hands with NPR news, an official app from one of America’s most known media outlets. Use this application to listen to radio stations and shows from NPR, or tap into the written stories available from the news arm. Fans can browse through NPR’s popular programs or find stories by topics ranging from general news to politics, arts, and business.

WordUp

English was always my best subject in school, so of course I’m going to recommend WordUp. Word nerds will enjoy this game that places letters on a board that players must connect to form words. Players can take turns competing against friends or race against a clock and test their vocabulary in a single-player game. There’s a free lite version, but I highly recommend purchasing the $1.99 upgrade because it’s well worth it.

Shoot It!

The holidays remind us to reconnect with family and friends, but apps like Shoot It! can connect you year-round. Shoot It! takes photos from a camera or SD card and adds a short message to your contacts. Once submitted, the company will send a physical postcard to the recipients address. (Prices start at $0.99 each postcard but can increase depending on region)

iheartradio

Clear Channel promised that it would deliver an Android version of iheartradio before Christmas. They waited until Christmas Eve, but its technically here and well received. With this application, users can listen to Clear Channel stations from various markets. Listen to your local radio, a favorite station in another city, or listen to a station centered around one artist.

Museek

We all know that the default music payer for Android is kind of disappointing, so maybe you’ll get a kick out of Museek. This media app organizes your music library visually, allowing you to browse through album covers and find similar songs. Smart shuffle can recognize if you’re skipping a lot of dance songs in favor of rock, so Museek will recognize this and play similar songs.

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Android Apps Alert 10: The Replacements are coming

Looking for the best Android apps? Good luck finding them on your own. But if you do stumble across apps people will love, let the world know. Androinica.com encourages users to tweet great apps with the #androidapps tag on Twitter, and we plan to incorporate that into our weekly notifications of new, updated, or recommended apps. Get to downloading and keep telling us about those exciting #androidapps.

In the 10th edition of Android Apps Alert, we’re in double digits and full of “replacement apps.” Most of the new apps featured in this episode are gunning to replace something you already use, want to change the way you use Android, or are updates of something we’ve seen previously. Below are text explanations and QR codes for this week’s apps.

Evernote [0:25 - 3:50]

Memorizing just got easier thanks to Evernote, a note-taking app that features four ways to recall your ideas. Evernote takes snapshots, uploads files, text notes, and audio notes, and then syncs them to a member’s Evernote.com account. The app also supports tags for additional organization and reading notes created previously on the phone or computer.

RTM Tasks [3:51 - 5:34]

I was disappointed to discover that Astrid was unable to sync with Remember the Milk recently, so I went out looked for a replacement. RTM Tasks was the best of the free remaining options. RTM Tasks is a to-the-point app to read, edit, and add tasks to RTM. It lacks some of the notifications and filtering features seen in Astrid, but it’s a simple solution for someone who just wants the basics of RTM.

Note: Astrid has since resolved its sync issues with Remember the Milk.

Facebook [5:35 - 6:59]

The official Facebook for Android app debuted lacking some basic features even third-party apps offered. Facebook still lacks some of those features, like in-app photo browsing, and still doesn’t include an inbox, but it has improved slightly. The official Facebook app has most of the features available in the Droid version, so feel free to update and see better organization, a home tab, and the fastest solution for using Facebook on Android.

Dialify [7:00 - 9:28]

Anyone who reads this site knows that I love shortcuts, so it should surprise no one that I included Dialify in this episode. Dialify is an app the places contacts in the notification bar, providing direct access to your favorite people no matter what app you’re running. Rather than go to the homescreen or take 10 steps to use the Dialer, just swipe down and select someone to call or text.

Slacker Radio (US only) [0:10 – 2:10]

Personal radio streaming app imeem seems to be dead, so consider replacing it with Slacker Radio. Much like imeem and Pandora, Slacker creates custom stations based on user preferences on favorite artists or songs. To improve the accuracy of selections, users can change a station’s settings to play more/less hits, discover new artists, and love/ban certain songs. Though my experience has told me that Pandora is better at predicting the types of artists I want to hear, Slacker is arguably a more complete service because it has artists not available elsewhere, includes pre-made stations, and is more customizable.

Note: Users will have to order a Plus account in order to gain unlimited skips and remove ads

Ninja vs Ghosts (FREE Lite, €1.99 Pro) [2:11 - 4:26]

Ninja vs Ghosts has a simple premise: a ninja on a skateboard slides across the screen and throws weapons at ghosts. The game gets deeper because shooting a large ghost creates more ghosts and touching one leads to death. But if you can slide across the screen and send these creatures back to another realm, you’ll join the ranks of the game’s top competitors.

Fandango (BETA) [4:27 – 7:02]

Are you a movie lover who always wants to know what’s playing and where it’s playing? Fandango commonly provides those answers online, and they’re now doing the same on Android. Fandango allows users to browse the listings at their local movie theatre. Moviegoers can see what’s new in theatres, find show times, and purchase tickets directly from their phone. The app is still in beta and doesn’t have a few features seen elsewhere (like critic scores or reviews), but it does have the most basic information organized and available at a moment’s notice.

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Issuu delivers your favorite magazines direct to an Android device

In light of all the ereader news that’s been floating through the Android atmosphere in recent weeks, I thought I’d take the time to highligh Issuu Mobile, a new ereader app that will “revolutionze the way people read on phones” according to its creators. Lofty words of priase, but does the app live up to those words? No, not yet, but I will say that this app is very well put together and a cool way to read magazines.

Issu features an “EasyRead” technology that enhances the reading experience on mobile phones without sacrificing the design elements that set magazines apart. The app intuitively formats text to make articles friendlier to the mobile platform. Publishers upload a .pdf copy of their content to the Issu website, which automatically creates the EasyRead version of the magazine. Readers can then read articles from their favorite mags and maintain the basic integrity of the design created for print.

Android is the first platform to get Issuu, and a BETA version of the application is available in the Market. Features include

• The ability to read 1 million magazines, newspapers, and catalogs
• Subscribe to publishers to be notified of new issues
• Sync with a personal Issuu.com library
• Social features to track what friends comment on, publish, and bookmark

But why tell you when I can just show you?

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