Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

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| $3.32 | AnderWeb

Droid Life’s Top 25 Android Apps Of 2011 – Droid Life - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

As we draw closer to the end of year, we wanted to reflect on some of the apps that seemed to have taken 2011 by storm.  It was only a year ago that the Android Market hit the 200,000 apps milestone, and now we are talking 10 billion app downloads and beyond. Whether it was a new messaging client, revamped social networking tool, or even a game that consumed our days to the fullest, this was a great year for applications on Android.  2011 also marked the release of the Amazon Appstore, which changed the way developers could market their apps to potential buyers and also showed that Amazon knew people loved free things. So below, we have a list of the apps that we feel were the most popular, talked about and influential here at Droid Life throughout the year.  We have tried to keep it to apps that were released this year, but might have one or two that were released in late 2010, or that were just too damn good and received a big enough overhaul to leave out.  There are games, utilities, social media outlets, home replacements, and everything in between. These aren’t in any particular order of importance, so feel free to sift through and weigh in with your opinions via the comments. Did we miss any? Agree or disagree with our top choices?    - An iOS game with possibly the cutest little green character called Om Nom, that finally made its way to Android in 2011. In a mobile gaming world dominated by that damn birds game, this was the breath of fresh air we had been waiting for.  - Before Google Reader, we were forced into testing out every 3rd party feed reader app that Frank and Joe hacked together in their basement. The options were Read More

Amazon MP3

| FREE | Amazon.com

Astro File Manager Update Adds Themes, Amazon MP3 Adds ICS Support – Droid Life - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

A couple of all time favorite apps are receiving updates in the Android Market right now. Astro File Manager, one of the longest running file managers out for Android is adding themes and icon sets into their application. No need to fear though, if you like the classic look of Astro, the “Classic Astro” theme will make everything look nice and familiar for you. The Amazon MP3 app also has an update waiting for you, one that promises compatibility with the and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in general. They also threw in the ability to move to SDcard, but only if it is not factory installed on your device. There are a few other bug fixes, but it is a solid update in general. Read More

Assistant

| FREE | Speaktoit

Jealous Of Siri? Then Check Out These Android Apps - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

   When Apple announced that Siri was going to be baked right into their OS, then showed off how it worked and how smart it seemed, I was a bit jelly. We luckily have some great Android apps that act in just the same way for us on our devices. Speaktoit is a free personal assistant which can be found right on the Android Market and the app does basically all the things you might want it to. Update your Facebook status, look up directions and many many other things. You can choose an avatar with whom you speak with. It’s actually quite the neat little app.   (free) |  (free) The next app we wanted to point out is called Voice Actions. One of our readers emailed us the perfect description: It gives the user the ability to do a wide array of commands from setting alarms, creating reminders, checking weather, and just about any other Google command plus more. After looking at the Market description, this almost seems like a must have for every Android owner on the planet. So there you have it. No need to be jealous of Siri and her wizardry. Look no further than your very own Android Market for the latest and great tech goodness. Read More

MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS™

| FREE | Electronic Arts Inc

Madden 2012 Also Available on Android Today - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

Anyone headed to a store this morning to pick up ?  Or have some of you already gone 2-3 hours deep into your first franchise season?  Or did some of you have to work today? (I say that because this is like a holiday for gamers)  If for whatever reason you had to and are not able to plant yourself firmly on a couch, you may want to grab the Android version of the game that was also released and dive into a season from your desk.  It will run you almost $8, but that could be well worth the time spent discovering who will be this year’s unstoppable force.     :   Read More

Zoombie Digger

| FREE | CrazyBit LLC

Bury All The Zombie Animals You Can, In Zoombie Digger! - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

In this classic battle of man against zombie animals, you must destroy and bury your enemy with much haste before they make it to your city. Zoombie Digger is visually appealing, and is actually quite the challenge. With zombie elephants, rhinos, and even zombie hedgehogs driving tanks, this game is bound to keep you digging for a while.  There are many different cities you must help keep safe – ranging from Washington DC, New York, and even Moscow. But don’t worry, there are also plenty of upgraded guns you can buy to help you destroy the living dead animals. Check out the video below to get a good feel for it, and let us know what you think. Does this game remind anyone of Plants vs. Zombies at all? It sure did for me. Anyone spy a certain jerk terrorist at 10 seconds in? Read More

DC Comics

| FREE | comiXology

DC Comics Launches Android App With Help From ComiXology - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

Batman fans, get ready for the awesome – DC Comics has unveiled their new Android app that includes over 3,000 issues from their library.  Titles will be available for $.99 up to $2.99 and are cross-platform accessible, so you don’t have to continue to buy them over and over again.  They partnered with comiXology to get the app put together in time to make this splash before Comic-Con. DC COMICS LAUNCHES ANDROID APP Partners with comiXology to bring its DC-Branded App to Huge Android Audience 07.19.2011– NEW YORK / BURBANK, Calif., – Just in time for San Diego Comic-Con, DC Comics and comiXology have partnered to create a DC-branded app for the Android platform that is available starting today. Already one of the most popular digital comics publishers, the new app for Android users brings DC’s extensive line of the world’s greatest super heroes to an even broader mobile audience.  Additionally, DC Comics purchased via apps powered by comiXology are accessible across different platforms so customers can access a comic purchased once on the iOS and the Web as well. “This launch is another great milestone in our digital strategy,” stated Hank Kanalz, senior vice president of digital for DC Entertainment. “Our goal is to make DC Comics available to the broadest audience possible and this Android launch extends our reach among mobile phones and tablets. We want our readers to enjoy comics whenever and wherever they want, be it at home, work or while walking around San Diego Comic-Con.” The Android app will offer more than 3,000 issues from the DC Comics and Vertigo libraries, priced from $.99 to $2.99 per issue.  The hugely popular $.99 sales will also apply to comics sold via the DC Android app. “DC has really embraced digital as a strategy to ensure that their readers Read More

Bubble - note Bubble Notes

| FREE | GoodFriend

App of the Day: Bubble (Non-game) - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

Yesterday we reviewed Simple Text. What did everyone think? Now, in between keeping up with all of the give away goodies, I think the app Bubble is something everyone should take a look at. How many times have you caught yourself saying, “there was something I wanted to tell you but I forgot what”? Well Bubble is like your pre call assistant. You assign bubbles to any contact with a question or statement. When you call that contact, the bubble(s) pops up on the screen and reminds you of what you had assigned to it. It seems like a simple concept and it is, yet I have found that it’s just plain handy. If I have a thought about something I wanted to ask someone on a future call, I just go in and type up a quick bubble instead of having a note in my pocket or trying to remember what it was. It has a very simple UI and is easy enough to use. Video and free market link below.   *Today’s Amazon App Store free app is: textPlus GOLD+. It is normally $2.99 and has a current AAS rating of 2.25 stars. Read More

Firefox Beta

| FREE | Mozilla

Firefox Beta for Android Introduces “Do Not Track” Privacy Feature - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

Users of the beta Firefox Mobile for Android can feel much more secure after today with the introduction of a “Do Not Track” feature which gives them more control over the way their browsing behavior is tracked and used online.  By simply toggling the DNT to “Yes”, users are sending a ”DNT: 1″ signal to each website they visit – prompting that site to stop tracking them.  Not a bad feature, right?  Now, how about we ad support for Flash next? :   Read More

Timeriffic

| FREE | RDRR labs

App of the Day: Timeriffic (Revisited) - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

Yesterday we took a look at TweetCaster from AAS. How many jumped on that one? Thursday, while I compulsively scanned twitter, @droid brought this app to my attention:  Timeriffic. We touched on this app over a year ago, but I think it’s worth repeating to our readers. Since that time the developer has been featured at I/O 2011 and was a top developer in 2010. So let’s give him another go round. This little doozy of an app is pretty slick. I should mention that this app was created by a high school student looking for a way to maximize the hours in his day and spend as little time in his phone settings as possible. Queue Timeriffic. Who doesn’t want to basically get that little green robot a bit more automated? Heard of profiles, like back in the day when you had settings for “outdoors”, “sports”, etc? Timeriffic is kind of like that concept, but on steroids. You can set up multiple profiles for multiple events in your life. Work? Sleep? Party? This is your app. You can set up literally every setting on any event within any profile that you want. Or do individual events. And what these events do is the bread and butter. You can assign the event time then direct the phone to do what you want done in that time. Silent? Vibrate? All loud? Media only? WiFi on/off? Any combination you want for the time frame is yours. Just set it up and let it go. Now you can forget about that untimely alert going off in a meeting, missed call because you forgot to turn the ringer up again, or even that battery drain from Wifi search when you forgot to turn it off. All can be done automatically now based on your schedule. Read More

Plants VS Zombies

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Video: First Look at Plants vs. Zombies on Android - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog - Droid Life: A Motorola Droid Blog

Last week, PopCap announced that it’s super popular iOS title Plants vs. Zombies, would finally make its way to Android before the end of the month courtesy of the Amazon Appstore .  We have a feeling that it could show up tomorrow, but just in case it doesn’t, we wanted to give you guys a quick preview of the game before it has been released to the public. For those of you not familiar with PvZ, just think of it as another tower defense game only it involves zombies, plants and rednecks.  It’s pretty a pretty entertaining game to say the least.  We have a video walk-through of it below.   Read More