The Android Market isn't always an easy place to get around. Our first edition of the Lifehacker Pack for Android rounds up essential Android apps—our personal favorites for productivity, multimedia, internet life, and just plain usefulness. Lots of people are picking up new Android phones these days—nearly 200,000 per day, at last count. Google's default apps are pretty handy, but the Market has many great apps, most of them free. Here's a look at our favorite free and cheap Android apps. We're using the great app search and sync service AppBrain to create a Lifehacker Pack for Android. If you install the AppBrain App Market on your Android phone and sign in through the AppBrain site (using a Google OAuth, no-password-revealed log-in), you can check off and click install multiple apps from the list, or visit the individual [AppBrain] link at the end of each app write-up to find out more Read More

Another week, another shift in the weekly download charts. If you’ve tried any of the applications on this list, please share with other readers in the comments. Your Top 10 Android Apps for the week for Monday, August 2nd 2010 are: 10. Advanced Task Killer Advanced Task Killer is a tool you can use to kill running processes and free precious memory on your Android phone. It has been in the #10 spot two weeks running. 9. Mobile Andrio Mobile Androi is a Super Mario Brothers-like game for all Android versions. Comes in both free (ad-supported) and paid versions (approx $2.00). 8. Handcent SMS Handcent SMS is a text-messaging application that features conversation view and allows users to customize their messaging notifications, application skins. See our full review here. 7. LauncherPro Beta Launcher Pro is a home screen application drawer replacement app, featuring 7 home screens and a 2d or 3d Read More

We’re back with our weekly top 10 app downloads of the week column. Hopefully this will be an opportunity for our readers to explore new apps that they may have never tried before. If you decided to try an app from this list, or already use an app on this list, tell us about it in the comments! This week, we see some new entrants to the top 10 list, including one that came out of nowhere to take the #1 spot. Your top 10 most downloaded applications for the week of July 26th, 2010: 10. Advanced Task Killer Advanced Task Killer is a tool you can use to kill running processes and free precious memory on your Android phone. 9. SwiftKey Beta SwiftKey Beta is a beta version of a popular keyboard replacement application. Check out our review here. 8. C-ThruFone C-ThruFone is a wallpaper that makes your phone’s homescreen transparent. Read More

Every week, Androinica.com attempts to highlight the best Android Apps. Using tips from the #androidapps tag on Twitter and recommendations from our own eagle-eyed staff, we highlight recent additions to the market and apps we feel readers will enjoy. If you’d like to recommend an app for inclusion, mention @androinica or use the #androidapps tag. This week’s theme is shortcuts and soup-ups. All of the apps below are designed to cut down on the time it takes to perform tasks or enhance Android’s default functions. Either way, they both give you more time to play with your beloved device. Tell all of your Froyo-wielding friends that there’s at least one feature from their version of Android that you can get, too – Google Chrome to Phone. If you’re browsing the web and want to continue reading an article or send directions to the phone, LinkPush is a great app to have. Read More