3x1: Megaselección de aplicaciones y juegos para Android

Finding stellar Android apps isn't the easiest task, but that certainly doesn't mean they don't exist. Here's the cream of the crop.

Social

Twitter: The official Twitter app is good enough for almost everyone. Along with giving you a clean, easy way to keep track of your timeline and updating your status, Twitter for Android also has a snazzy swipe down to refresh feature. Free.

Facebook: Facebook is finally decent on Android and now actually brings some unique features, namely the front page side-scroll of friend's recent photos and a pull up notification window. Free.

eBuddy Messenger: A well-designed IM client that keeps you plugged into AIM, Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook chat and others. Even better because it's free. Free.

Tango: Tango is the best (and clearest!) way to video chat with your buddies, Android or iPhone, over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi. Free.

Handcent SMS: Handcent puts SMS on steroids. It's fully customizable (in look and theme) and gives options for popups and to even tweak individual contact settings. If you've never thought the stock messaging app on Android sucked, we won't blame you. But after using Handcent, you will. Free.

Entertainment

Vignette: With Vignette you get those wonderful artsy effects your friends love and a ton of straight shooting options that'll make you leave your Point and Shoot at home. Not kidding, there's over 68 different effects, 56 unique frames and a ton o' shooting options like fixed focus, fast shot, steady shot, self timer, etc. $4

Pandora: Pandora. You know the one. The internet radio app that has uplifted a million work hours and scored a million make-outs. It's simply the best out there, streaming music at home or on the go over Wi-Fi or 3G. Free.

Rdio: A "social" music subscription service, as in you can leach off your friend's good music taste to listen to exactly what they are. Plus, you can sync songs to listen offline. Free.

Rockplayer: Rockplayer can play nearly any video file you throw at it, meaning those DVD rips, Windows files, decidedly non-standard clips and those videos you "obtained" from the Internet will all be good to roll. Free.

Shazam: You know that song you keep hearing everywhere but can't quite place? Shazam can place it. Like, almost every time. Shazam Encore, $5, gets you unlimited tags and a host of other features like a widget, recommendations, lyrics, etc. Free.

IMDb: Who's that guy? Where's he from? Should I even watch this movie? Solve all your movie questions with Android's official IMDB app. It's basically IMDB's website optimized for your phone—which in this case, is a good thing. Free.

Movies: Pretty simple: you like knowing the movies that are playing in theaters around you, right? Flixster's got local listings and showtimes, along with trailers and reviews from Rotten Tomatoes. Plus, you can manage your Netflix queue! Free.

FX Camera: It's a fairly basic lomo FX/hipstamatic style camera but it's REALLY easy to use and processes the pictures REALLY fast. There's not too many effects available (ToyCam, Polaroid, Fisheye, SymmetriCam, and Andy Warholizer), but all of them are stellar. Free.

Kindle: Just because you don't own a Kindle doesn't mean you shouldn't be buying Kindle ebooks—especially when Amazon has an Android app that's dead simple to use. The e-book wars aren't quite over, but no one will judge you for siding with Amazon. Free.

Listen: For podcast fiends, Google's Listen is easily the easiest app to use. Find your podcasts by searching Google's database and stay up to date with automatic downloads (set to your preferences).

Backgrounds: Ain't nothing like pretending your old phone is brand new than switching up the wallpaper. Backgrounds has a ridiculous, ridiculous amount of options to choose from (over 10k!). Free.

Games

Angry Birds: It's the world's most popular smartphone game, and with good reason! There's something about launching these different sorts of aviary ammunition into the precarious pig pens that just never gets old. There are always new birds and new stages coming out the pipeline to keep things fresh, too. Free.

Need for Speed: Shift: The best racing game on Android because of its impressively rich graphics and buttery smooth gameplay. You'll pop your eyeballs out when you realize that this kind of game can work that well on your phone. $5.

Fruit Ninja: I don't know what it is about chopping fruits that pop up on the screen but slicing a sick multiple fruit combo with juicy visuals never felt so good. Simple gameplay that's ridiculously addictive. $1.

Robo Defense: Robo Defense is a tower defense game at its best: excitingly chaotic, stressfully fun and strategically simple. Time disappears when you're trying to hit the upgrades and achievements in this game. $3 for Pro.

Alchemy: Alchemy is fun because it's so damn clever. The premise is simple, to combine elements to create things like beer, life, skyscrapers, vampires and more. One thing: you'll have to use your noodle to complete the game. Free.

Word Feud: Like Scrabble or Words with Friends but available on Android. There's really nothing better than shocking your friends with your vocabulary skills. Free.

Nesoid: It's BYO ROMs, but this $3 NES emulator single-handedly solves Android's gaming problem by letting you play any NES game you can get your hands on. Bonus: The smug sense of satisfaction that this would never fly in the App Store. $3.

Productivity

Launcher Pro: Launchers are wonderful things! In a nutshell, they're homescreen replacements, but really, they can magically tranform an entire phone-especially if your phone has been saddled with crappy manufacturer skin. You get faster performance, new animations, more homescreens and a cleaner interface all around with Launcher Pro. Free.

Google Reader: Finally! After years of only having a web app (that's admittedly decent!), Google just released a full fledged app for Google Reader. If you're familiar with using Google Reader, it's exactly what you'd expect, only translated for the smaller screen (and faster than the web app). One super cool feature: using the volume keys to navigate through feeds. Free.

Google Voice: Google Voice simply changes the way you use your phone, and the app's seamless integration is a killer feature for Android as a whole. Free.

PDAnet: PdaNet is the ridiculously easy (and free!) way to tether your laptop to your phone, over USB or Bluetooth, without rooting it. If you don't wanna cough up $30 for the full version it'll still connect to non-https:// addresses just fine (basically the regular stuff). Free.

SwiftKey Keyboard: The star feature of Swiftkey is its predictive text, it literally learns the way you type. We're not kidding, Swiftkey will scan your SMS messages to see what words you're most likely to use. You'll feel like it can read your mind. Plus, it looks better than the stock Android keyboard. $2.

Beautiful Widgets: If you don't have a HTC Sense phone but still want some gorgeous looking widgets, Beautiful Widgets is all you need. Like the name, the visuals and animations are to die for. $2.

AK Notepad: There's plenty of note apps that throw in snazzier features but the beauty of AK Notepad is in its simplicity: it's a basic yellow pad that let's you jot down what you need. Free.

Evernote: If you need more features in a "note taker", Evernote is simply a powerhouse of a note taking app. Not only can you jot down notes but you can take pictures, record voice notes and upload files to remember all on their cloud. Free.

HandyCalc: HandyCalc is by far the best calculator on the market. It's so smart it gives suggestions on what you're trying to do and can even convert units and currency. Free.

Dropbox: It really doesn't get easier than Dropbox. With its Android app, you can view and edit all your Dropbox files in a sweet and simple interface and even stream music and videos you've uploaded to Dropbox in its media player (or save for offline viewing). Free.

Barcode Scanner: It's a straight scanner. Barcode Scanner handles both UPC codes (which does a quick product search) and QR codes (which will give you options to add contact, show on map, download, etc) with ease and throws in a few extra features (like searching within the book you scanned) as a bonus. Free.

Tasker: Here's what Tasker does: it performs a set of actions given certain rules and context, like if X happens, then Y will follow kind of deal. So if you're in your car and turn on Car Home on your Android phone, Tasker will know to also shut off Wi-Fi, turn on GPS, flip on Pandora, and crank the volume. Completely customizable, Tasker makes your smartphone even smarter. $6.

Astrid Task/To Do List: No other app gives as much detail to to do lists as Astrid. Its "advanced" options lets you set priority levels, integrate with Google Calendar, sync with Google tasks, and set up tags, alerts and periodic reminders. Astrid keeps it easy, for the most part, but also offers deeper settings if you're the obsessive, customize-everything exactly-how-you-want-it type. Free.

Astro File Manager: Astro File Manager makes it pretty easy to dig up files hiding around in your phone. It also can act as a backup, application manager, and task manager (if you're into that kind of thing). Free.

Voice Recorder: If you need a voice recorder app, this is the one to get. Send the recording via Gmail, record by widget and more, it does all a voice recorder needs to do.

Gmote 2.0: Using your phone as a remote control for your computer is practically a God-given right, and Gmote's the best Android remote for playing and controlling movies and music on your computer. Free.

Exchange by Touchdown: TouchDown syncs with your Exchange Server to let you send and receive email, manage contacts, view and edit appointments and filter through tasks. It all sounds so simple but TouchDown really is the best way to work with Exchange on your Android phone. $20.

Lifestyle

Flash Player 10.1: I really don't care if Flash is good for the web or not, I just want to see as much web content as I can on my Android phone. Downloading Flash Player 10.1 gets me one step closer to that. Free.

The Weather Channel: The Weather Channel app on Android isn't the most feature packed, but its the easiest to use. We love it because we can hit all the important features, like the "What It Feels Like" temperature, the 10-day forecast and hourly temperature, faster than any other app. Free.

Live Scores: I'm not exactly smitten with the app's design but there's no other app that offers as much details and stats about sports games as Live Scores. You could set scoring alerts for your favorite teams too. Free.

Yelp: Everyone's a critic when it comes to bars and restaurants; Yelp puts that impulse to work for you. Search for food, drink, or whatever else by location, price, style and then read up on what people have to say about it. Free.

USA Today: A great app to find the latest headlines, sports scores and weather reports because everything is laid out right smack in front of you. USA Today's app is much like USA Today itself, all the relevant news whittled down and easy to understand. Free.

Wapedia: Wapedia is perfect: it gives you all of Wikipedia, in a quick and easy-to-understand format, and offers more reference options to search through like wikiquotes, wiktionary, and even more specialized wikis (Call of Duty, Mad Men, etc) for the most specific information you can glean from in an app. Free.

Google Earth: It's, like, the entire world...on your Android phone. Google Earth is cooler than ever when you're using your fingers to manipulate it, seamlessly zooming around the globe and diving into various places to take a closer look. Free.

Google Shopper: If Google Goggles and a barcode scanner hooked up, we'd get Shopper: a barcode scanning, voice and image searching, product finding, makes-you-a-smarter-shopper shopping assistant. It's a damn good app, and ties nicely with Google because well, it's made by Google. Free.

Google Goggles: Hey, what's that building over there? Is this a famous painting? Those are all questions that can be answered by Google Goggles, which is really searching by taking a picture. The image recognition can be insanely good. Free.

TripIt: TripIt is just an absolute godsend when you're travelling. It's like having your own travel assistant, all you have to do is forward your travel confirmation emails to TripIt and they'll automatically organize it for you in their tidy app. You'll always have your itinerary right on your phone. Free.

Layar: Quite simply, the king of augmented reality apps, able to layer pretty much whatever kind of data you want on top of your boring, HUD-less reality. Free.

Fuente: http://gizmodo.com/5739420/the-best-android-apps

Los mejores juegos de la semana para Android

Esta semana os traemos bastantes juegos, y de diversas temáticas. Tenemos un plataformas por aquí, un shooter por allí, un RPG un tanto peculiar, y un par de casuals. La mayoría de ellos son gratis, así que no teneis excusa para probarlos, y darnos vuestro punto de vista. Sin más, vamós a por ellos.

Eagle Nest – shooting!!

Imaginaros en cualquier parque de atracciones, en la zona de sacacuartos, sí. Dónde hay que pagar por todo, para que tengas 1 posibilidad entre 20 de sacar un peluche gigante. Es típico ver lagalería de tiro, donde aparecen y desaparecen dianas aleatoriamente, a diferentes alturas, en movimiento… Pues este juego es precisamente esto. Un shooter sencillo, con buenos gráficos, y de fácil manejo. Solo hay que pulsar para disparar, y para recargar. Tenemos que concentrarnos mucho, poner a punto nuestros reflejos, y disparar. Hay diferentes escenarios, cada uno con una meta de puntos. Iremos subiendo de nivel, y cada vez será más difícil acertar, porque las dianas desaparecen más rápido. Y a la que se acelera un poco… ya me despido. No soy bueno en estos juegos. Por supuesto, es gratis.

EAGLE NEST - shooting!!

by Feelingtouch Inc.

FREE

Super Dynamite Fishing

En este simpático juego nos pondremos en la piel de un pescador un tanto… vasto. Estaremos tranquilos en nuestra barca, y nos dispondremos a pescar, pero sin caña. ¿Que cómo? Pues como bien indica el nombre del juego, a bombazos. Según avancemos en el juego, dispondremos de nuevos barcos, nuevas armas, y nuevos lugares donde pescar. Realmente, es más completo de lo que me esperaba. Nos da bastantes opciones de juego. Tendremos que ocuparnos de los peces por debajo de nuestra bañera (al inicio), ypor encima de los pájaros. Con ello conseguiremos dinero para mejorar nuestro arsenal. Funciona muy bien, pero he tenido un freeze al cargarlo la primera vez, creo que por ser impaciente, como muchos de nosotros, porque veía que no empezaba a cargar. Aparte de eso, un buen juego. Recomiendo probarlo. Dispone de versión gratuita, y de versión de pago, para eliminar la publicidad. La gratuita es completamente funcional.

Super Dynamite Fishing FREE

by HandyGames

FREE

Super Dynamite Fishing

by HandyGames

€2.99

Tiki Golf 3D

Aquí tenemos un juego de simulación. Muchos hemos jugado a minigolfen algun camping en verano, ¿verdad? Bueno, pues este juego nos acerca un poco más a ello. Con gráficos en 3D, y diversas opciones de juego, como contrareloj o aventura, iremos jugando a través de circuitos con multitud de desniveles y loopings como si de una montaña rusa se tratara.

Tiki Golf 3D FREE

by Arb Studios LLC

FREE

Virtual Horse Racing 3D

Este juego también es de simulación, pero en este caso participaremos en carreras de caballos. Podremos apostar, dinero ficticio, no os emocioneis. Los caballos tienen habilidades únicas, y podremos consultarlos antes de apostar por ellos. También nos permite consultar las repeticiones. No tiene mucho más misterio. Es un juego para pasar el rato, y ver cuánto podemos conseguir con nuestra “intuición”. Por supuesto, también gratuito.

Virtual Horse Racing 3D

by Natenai Ariyatrakool

FREE

Rush Ninja

Este es uno de estos juegos que a mi me gustan. Sin mucha complicación, ni mucha posibilidad de juego, pero muy adictivos. Hay muchos por el estilo, y este es uno de los que merece la pena probar. Somos un ninja que va corriendo. Tenemos que correr el máximo de distancia posible. Nos encontraremos agujeros, otros ninjas, obstáculos… Podemos saltar, lanzar shurikens, colgarnos del techo, acelerar o frenar… y tenemos una habilidad especial para acelerar, cuando obtenemos un shuriken plateado. Es fácil de jugar, y una cosa que me ha gustado mucho, es que el nivel no es siempre el mismo, como muchos juegos del estilo, sino que se rediseña en cada partida, así que no se hace monótono el empezar infinidad de veces, ya que cada vez es diferente. Particularmente, es mi juego favorito de esta semana. ¡Lo recomiendo!

Ninja Rush

by Feelingtouch Inc.

FREE

Tales of Pocoro

Por último, os traemos un juego de puzzles, combinado con un RPG de fondo, lo que le añade un punto de adicción. Dispone de más de 200 niveles, y de 3 niveles de dificultad, así que tenemos entretenimiento para rato. Es un juego de estos que te van a hacer romperte la cabeza durante horas. Funciona desde Android 1.6 en adelante. Este no es gratuito, así que tendréis que probarlo durante los 15 minutos, y si os interesa, pagar los 2€ que vale.

Espero que os hayan gustado los juegos de hoy.

Fuente: http://www.elandroidelibre.com/2011/02/los-mejores-juegos-de-la-semana-para-android-ninja-rush-tiki-golf-3d-y-muchos-mas.html

Todo muy lindo, pero…

Un 26% de las aplicaciones solo se usan una vez

Portaltic/ EP | 02/02/2011|09:59h

El mercado de las aplicaciones para smartphones y tablets ofrece a los usuarios la posibilidad de descargarse casi todo lo que se puedan imaginar. Aunque más de una cuarta parte, por lo visto, son curiosidades que pasan sin pena ni gloria por los terminales.

Actualmente, cerca de 400.000 aplicaciones están disponibles para el iPhone y el iPad de Apple y alrededor de 200.000 para los dispositivos Android. De todas ellas, el usuario vuelve a abrir la mayoría pero un 26 por ciento de las mismas sólo son utilizadas una única vez.

   Así lo demuestra un estudio realizado por la empresa Localytics. A través de un análisis, la empresa estudió miles de aplicaciones para Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry y Windows Phone 7. De todos aquellos clientes que se descargaron una aplicación, la compañía analizó la primera vez que cada consumidor utilizó dicha aplicación y si han continuado o no utilizándola desde enero de 2010 hasta enero de 2011.

   Este análisis demuestra que entre enero y marzo del año pasado, el 22% de los usuarios no volvieron a abrir una aplicación de nuevo. En el segundo y tercer trimestre del año, la cifra aumentó hasta el 26% y en el cuarto, siguió aumentando hasta el 28%.

   Aún así, el 74% de los usuarios sí utilizan las aplicaciones descargadas en más de una ocasión y el número de usuarios de teléfonos inteligentes en Estados Unidos creció de los 42,7 millones en noviembre de 2009 hasta los 61,5 millones en el mismo mes de 2010, al igual que aumentaron el número de aplicaciones disponibles.

Fuente: http://www.hoytecnologia.com/noticias/aplicaciones-solo-usan/261205