The number of apps on android is swelling incredibly quickly, but, as with all platforms, it can be difficult to choose. Top 10 lists are a cliché, but they do serve a purpose, and I have found many useful apps on said lists. So, without further ado, I present to you my favorite Android apps, broken down into categories.

Home replacements

All of the home replacements I mention feature a few common features:

• Multiple screens
• Advanced drawers (Similar to N1)
• Desktop dots (switching between desktops quickly)

LauncherPro

LauncherPro is a useful launcher, that offers plenty of customization options. While not as customizable on some fronts (size of screen, etc) as other launchers, it offers a few unique features, such as message counts on the message icons in the dock. While not as fast as some other launchers out there, LauncherPro has a nice mix of features. I don’t personally use it as my homescreen, but I used to, and enjoyed it while i did.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.fede.launcher

ADW.Launcher

This is my homescreen of choice. ADW offers almost all the features of other launchers, plus several custom ones not found anywhere else. ADW is also one of the most customizable launchers avalible. With options to control nearly everything (Speed, colors, etc), this truly lets you make your phone yours. Although no 3D drawer is avalible with this version, the drawer is animated, and has a horizontal, iphone/samsung galaxy s style drawer, which i personally prefer to the other drawers. ADW is also very very fast, taking little to no system resources, and not impacting battery life.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.adw.launcher

Widgets

Widgets can be useless or very very useful, depends on how you use them. I have a few widgets i love to use.

BeautifulWidgets

BeautifulWidgets is an old standard on android. Way back when, they brought the HTC widget style to the masses, but after a cease and desist, they have changed their product to rely on 3rd party skins. The skins library is quite impressive, and if you look hard enough, you can reproduce the HTC Sense widgets quite easily. While the price tag may seem a little steep for just a widget, it offers quite a bit. It is fairly customizable, and has a pretty UI. Still, if you don’t need this widget and cant afford it, you shouldn’t buy it. Its more of a luxury.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.levelup.beautifulwidgets

Pure Music

Pure music is one of many widgets by Francois DESLANDES. In terms of usage, this is probably the one widget i use the most. Pure music has a simple premise: provide a useful music widget. And it does that and oh so much more. First off, Pure music, like all of the pure widgets, is completely skinnable. There is a modest collection of user skins, and you can make it match a look (htc sense, etc) fairly easily. Pure music also shows the Album art, has options to add more buttons (Back and Stop), and has a popup menu that lets you toggle repeat and shuffle.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.koxx.pure_music

Pure Calendar Agenda

Pure Calendar and Pure Calendar agenda are both tremendously useful applications. I only use Agenda, because i don’t really have much need for the calendar edition, but I know some people do. These widgets provide a powerful way for you to use your calendar, while remaining on your homescreen. If you use them right, you can actually emulate much of the Today screen functionality on other phone operating systems.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.koxx.pure_calendar

Pure Messenger

The final pure widget I use, Messenger is a very useful widget that acts as a hub for messaging. It has options to incorporate facebook, twitter, SMS, and Email (Both Gmail and otherwise). If you combine it with Calendar, it can give you a very nice today screen. Cool features include quick message previews, quick reply, and a boat load of customization options.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.koxx.pure_messenger

BatteryLife

BatteryLife is a simple, but pretty app, that provides you with a one-stop place for battery stats. It can show you your charge, the temperature, and the charging status. Colors can be customized to 3 different levels, or you can leave it at one color of your choice. And best of all, its free.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.curvefish.batterylife

Replacements

Apps that replace functions that came baked into Android. While this could include custom Homescreens, in this article it doesn’t. Usually these replacements have more features than their stock counterparts, and can lead to a more personalized experience.

Handcent SMS

Handcent SMS is a SMS app replacement. But it offers so much more than the stock SMS app. First of all, you can choose your message style, of several. You can make your phone look like the iPhone, or Sense phones, or if it floats your boat, the iPhone style. Handcent also offers bulk message tools, notification customization for EVERYTHING, quick reply popups, canned responses, and much more.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.handcent.nextsms

Dolphin HD browser

Dolphin HD offers quite a few features that are either missing, or difficult to use in the stock browser. First and foremost are tabs. Dolphin offers a true tabbed browsing experience, with the tabs running across the top of the screen and looking like, well, tabs. Other useful and cool features include swipes to view bookmarks, plugins, Gestures, full-screen browsing mode (no notification bar), and much more.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser

Camera360 Pro

Camera360 Pro is a very powerful camera replacement. It offers many features, such as touch-to-focus, art modes, bokeh mode, and higher resolution shooting. While the interface is a bit cumbersome, it makes up for it in functionality.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/vStudio.Android.GPhotoPaid

AppBrain

AppBrain provides an alternate interface to the Android market. Not only does it let you browse and install apps from your device, but you can also browse and install them from your computer. If you use the special Fast web installer, you can even push app downloads to your phone, just like the yet-to-be-released Android 2.2 feature. Appbrain also lets you build lists of your apps, back up a list of the apps you have, and manage bulk updates/installs. For anyone serious about their apps, AppBrain is a great tool to use.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.appspot.swisscodemonkeys.apps

Misc.

These tools are all very very useful, but dont really fit in any other category. Just because they arent easily categorized doesn’t mean they are bad. Don’t brush them off, as some of these are my favorite apps to use.

Powerstrip

Powerstrip is almost a home replacement, but not quite. What it does is facillitate faster, more efficient multitasking. Binding to your home button, power strip pops up, and gives you a palate to store widgets, shortcuts, and view all your apps. Power strip is kind of difficult to explain, but very easy to use, and very easy to get addicted to. Since installing this app, I hardly ever use my homescreen.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/mobi.intuitit.android.p.powerstrip

SDRescan

SD rescan is a simple app that does a simple thing: triggers a rescan of the SD card. Why might you want to do this? Because this forces the various multimedia apps to reindex missing content from their databases. So if you have pictures or music that doesn’t show up, use this app.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.bero.sdrescan

My Tracks

MyTracks is a great app, directly from google. MyTracks adds basic GPS breadcrumb functionality to your phone, letting you record where you’ve been, how fast you went, and other bits of data. Very useful for running, skiing, hiking, biking, and whatever else. And you don’t have to worry about fighting with obscure, difficult to use formats, MyTracks offers options to export to most major formats, including keyhole and garmin, as well as uploading a copy of your map to Google MyMaps.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.google.android.maps.mytracks

NPR News

NPR News is a great little app, that lets you listen to NPR wherever you have cell coverage. While NPR has pretty good coverage nation-wide, you might want to listen to a station from far away, due to local programming or whatever. NPR provides that. In addition to streaming radio, NPR News also lets you listen to various podcasts. And best of all, the app is Open Source.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.npr.android.news

Spare Parts

Spare Parts is a very poweruser-centric app. It lets you tweak various settings on your phone that are otherwise inaccessable. And best of all, it doesn’t require root. I personally like the enhanced input method animations, as well as boosting the system-wide animation speed. It makes the phone feel nice and snappy, and can actually make it run faster.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.androidapps.spare_parts

Tasker

Tasker is an event-action driven tool, that lets you set up “tasks” that occur when certain events and conditions are met. Similar to Locale, but far cheaper, tasker is a great way to customize your phone. I have a few tasks set up, such as the automatic silencing of phone when i put it in a bedside dock, and other useful features. Tasker, when used properly, can fix a lot of annoyances with the phone.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/net.dinglisch.android.taskerm