These are the apps I use every day, and games I play to and from work (or when ever I get a little time to spare). Some cost money, others are free, but I feel that if you enjoy the trial, buy the game! The prices on the Android Market are so cheap, that it’s well worth investing some money to get the most out of your Android device.

Here goes!

Applications

Tweetdeck

I have been using this app ever since i got my HTC Desire, and thinks this is by far the best Twitter client on the market right now. I know that some might disagree with me, but for me this gives me any and all updates both from twitter and facebook directly to my notification bar. It displays all updates in a nice way, and allows for custom columns for specific people or companies you would want to follow updates on. Posting updates has all the features you would need, like posting pictures, videos and updating location. It also integrates support for shortening of links directly when pasting an url or sharing it from another app.

FeedR News Reader

I have an account on http://reader.google.com that I have been using for quite a while, and is basically a collection of rss feeds from around the web that i follow and keep updated on.After looking for a decent feed reader for quite a while, I finally came upon this app. You simply log in with your google account, and the app pulls the feeds you follow directly into the app. You can specify update interval, and notification type. You can also use googles own mobilizer function to see pages that would otherwise would be heavy to load on your phone browser.

K-9 Mail

The cleanest, fastest and feature rich mail client yet (and the name + icon is a reference to Dr.Who, which is a huge plus of course). This mail client even has the ability to give you “push” mail to your inbox. Don’t ask me how they do it, but with this app you will get any mail that arrives to your inbox more or less instantly, instead of having to wait for the next update interval. (And yes I did borrow this screenshot from another site, as I did not want all my e-mails on display for everyone to see).

AppBrain App Market

This is a good one. I always cycle through a ton of apps and try everything I can find. The problem is, there is so much to sip through, I find it hard to find the really good gems on the Android Market. That’s why I simply use an app, to find other apps! With this app I can sort out what’s hot today, this week or all time and find good apps that other people enjoy using. It will also recommend apps based on what you have installed, so finding apps that are to your liking is really easy.

PowerAMP Music Player

(Unlock key)

The default music player for android is quite nice, but it lacks a good equalizer. With PowerAMP you can specify a whole range of specialized sound calibrations, that will increase the quality of your music tenfold. The bass & treble pre-setting is my personal favorite and makes the hardstyle and dubstep i listen to sound the way they really should, deep and thundering.

Games

BattleHeart

Here’s the most cutest RPG game I’ve ever seen. The concept is simple. You control small characters that each play their role in each encounter. You have a tank, a healer and DPS of various sorts, and you simply pull these characters around to attack enemies. As the encounters gets significantly harder, you gear up by either buying gear from a merchant, or by killing enemies and gaining loot from the end of each encounter. It’s great fun and a solid time-sink.

Pocket Legends (3D MMO)

I was looking for an online game to play on my way home from work, and found this 3D online MMORPG. The graphics are great, and the characters are cute. You can play a warrior, enchantress or archer, and you run around, do quests, raid dungeons and kill bosses with other players from around the world. All while you sit on your buss on your way home. Amazingly enough, this works flawlessly on 3G, and the graphics are very smooth. Further more, they keep adding content to this game. The latest I’ve seen is crafting of your own gear, and PVP, which is all pretty amazing. As with all free online games for cellphones, you are able to pay real money for extra in-game currency etc, but it’s is not necessary in order to enjoy the gameplay.

Millionaire City

This is one of those games that practically plays itself. It’s like sim city without the constant interaction. You start off with a couple of buildings and some currency, and from here you start hiring out buildings to various classes of society, which in turns takes x amount of real-time minutes, hours or days to give money in return. You can also decorate to increase amount of money earned, and extend your city to become a huge metropolis. It’s a simple game I start when I feel like it and collect rent, build some buildings and close again.

Trial Xtreme

Here’s a game with great 3d graphics, enjoyable gameplay and a simple concept. Get from one side of the track to another, and along the way you have to get over various obstacles. The tracks of course increase exponentially in difficulty, which is just the way it’s supposed to be. I highly recommend this game as a game just to play for some minutes just to get a few tracks done.

MX Moto

This game is very similar to Trial Xtreme, but more like the old Elasto Mania. You have a 2D map with a motorcyclist and a track with various difficulties. You use the gyro on your phone to control your cyclist, and gas and brake with left and right side of the screen. What I enjoy most about this game is the fluid graphics and neat CG animations.

Honorable mentions

Order & Chaos

I wanted to add this game as well, It was released not too long ago, and is the next generation in online gaming. It’s basically an exact replica of World of Warcraft, except it’s for your cellphone. It’s got amazing graphics, character customization, quests and interaction between players. The only requirements is a Gameloft live account. They will give you 3 months free subscription before you will have to pay $0,99 each month, which is the only real downside about this game. It does make sense that they have to charge for it, but sadly I don’t it will be something I will subscribe to just yet. It might be ok to play on a tablet, but on a phone it will not be sufficient.

QuickPic

I really feel the gallery 3D app that is included in Android these days is really bad, and was looking for something a bit more minimalistic. Turns out this application was perfect. It’s simple, fast as hell and scans through my SD card like a bat out of hell. It’s well worth changing to if you feel the default gallery app is too chunky and bloated.

Jailbreak it. I know, it’s not very legal now is it? Or at least it’s a gray zone. However, it enables you to fully enjoy your phone the way it should be. No limitations, and all the benefits of jailbreak tweaks and applications. Be aware though, you will break your warranty by doing this, and it seems Apple have started finding new ways to block jailbreakers from enjoying their phones (ref: The 3.1.3 update).

Also, it seems they have started blocking users to the app store that are running jailbroken software (ref: Apple Bans iPhone hackers). Note: This might be users that are running pirated app store apps, not jailbroken apps, which is what I will present here.

Step 2:

Ok, so you’ve jailbroken your phone, now what? I’ll tell you what. Here’s a small list of tweaks and applications that is in no way available through the regular Apple ways.

- Android lock: (Free) Yeah, someone has made an effort and made an lock screen more similar to the one Android uses. This will make it harder for your buddies to tamper with your phone and surf on your pay-pr-kilobyte connection for for large non-iPhone supported sites.

- SBsettings: (Free) Tired of having to go into settings to enable and disable the wifi, Bluetooth or airplane mode all the time? With sbsettings you simply swipe across the topbar, and you have instant access to all settings you would ever need.

- qTweeter: (About 1$) If your an avid Twitter user, then you want your tweets out as fast as possible. This app is another swipe-to-access app, where you slide your finger down from the top bar. This produces a window for instant tweets (and Facebook updates).

- Backgrounder/Kirikae: (Free) This is a combo suggestion, as both apps really work well together. Backgrounder enables you to do exactly that, place running applications in the background. This way you can run your last.fm/spotify in the background, while surfing the web or reading your mail. Kirikae enables you to quickly do switches between your running apps by a simple tap on the specified button (in my case i double click the home button).

Backgrounder doesn’t really have something to take a screenshot of, but works by simply holding the home button. You then get a message saying the app has been backgrounded, and you can change to and from with Kirikae.

Step 3:

Have fun! With these additions to your iPhone, you might feel it’s worth keeping for a little while longer. And if not, enjoy your next gadget!

I also came across an workout schedule app for the iPhone at around the same time, which was just what we were looking for.

So here’s my recommended list of apps if you wish to get in better shape:

(All icons link directly to the iTunes app site. Titles link to the apps web page)

#1 C25K (Couch to 5K)

This is the app I came over that made us start working out.

Description by the developer:

“C25K, is a fantastic program that’s been designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometres or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks.”

So we bought some jogging shoes, put on our training trousers and head out, with a goal. We were going to finish this routine, no matter what.

So far we have managed to get through Week 3, day 2, and we will be doing the final day of week 3 on Sunday. We have worked out every second day since we started, and we have not skipped a single day yet.

Results: We feel we are doing better and better. In the beginning we did a run which consisted of 60 seconds of running, and 90 seconds of walking, for a total of 20 minutes. After the first run we were totally beat, now, we can do a 3 minute interval run without much problems (Alina is having some problems with her feet acting up, but it’s getting better).

#2 Runkeeper Pro

Before we started the C25K app, I started “working out” with this app. By working out, I mean I used it for tracking my walks from town and home (which can be a bit of a workout with those steep slopes to our apartment). Basically it’s just made for tracking your run on google maps, but the latest update also added support for setting up your own interval runs.

Conclusion: One of the best tracking applications out there! It gives you audible notifications, average pace,  current speed, distance you’ve ran and so on. Here’s a sample of a run Alina and I did 04.08.2009:

As you can see, it shows speed, distance and elevation on the bottom, and marks of every kilometre on the map. You also get quite a list of neat stats on the top, which are also shown on the app itself when you’re out running.

#3 Two Hundred Situps

Seeing as we wanted to get in shape, not only by jogging, but also by building some muscles, we found this app. There’s a series for these, but we decided to only go for two of them.

The app itself is very simple. You start it up, and it asks how many situps you are able to do. It then sets up a routine for you based upon what you put in. We started at one, seeing as we’re both in horrible shape. After each day, the number of sit-ups you are supposed to do increases.

Current progress: We are in a routine now which involves an interval training with between 10 and 14 sit-ups per interval. It’s hard, but we get through it.

#4 Two Hundred Squats

This is another one we just wanted to go with, as squats are fairly easy to do. It’s got the same interface as the Two Hundred Sit ups app, but with a graph as well, showing your progress.

Current progress: No problem. Squats are fairly easy, and this early in the program we’re just going through it at a steady pace. We are currently at week 2, day 1, which consists of intervals of between 6 and 10 squats. Reason for it being so easy, is because we started this one a bit later, and we’re still on the “easy” levels of the game ;)

That’s my little list of apps. Now install them, and start working out! The first, third and fourth app also works perfectly on the iPod touch, so there’s no excuse to not start if you don’t have an iPhone.

The procedure:

1. First off you have to download the redsn0w application from one of the following links:

Torrent:

Windows- http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4965140/redsn0w-win_0.7.1.zip.4965140.TPB.torrent

MacOS X – http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4965042/redsn0w-mac_0.7.zip.4965042.TPB.torrent

Jumpingmushroom.com Mirrors:

Windows – [download id="1"]

Mac OS X – [download id="2"]

2. After you got this, you will either have to download the latest IPSW file from the net (in. ex. here for ipod touch/iphone classic or here for iPhone 3G, or find your own copy after you did your first upgrade in “C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR-USER-NAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates\”

3. Place this file in the same folder as redsn0w, and lets get crackin’!

(I’ll do this guide for windows users only, but I’m guessing it works similar with Mac OS X)

4. First off, start up a command prompt. That’s Start button – run – cmd.

5. In the command prompt you go to the folder where redsn0w resides. I’d probably suggest that you extracted the folder directly to c:\, so there won’t be any problems with spaces in folder names.

Once there, run the following command:

redsn0w.exe iPhone1,2_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw

This will start the jailbreaking. Just follow the instructions exactly as listed, and you should be done in no time!

I myself had some problems getting my phone into DFU mode, but this video helped me out:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb_ss0bljHY

After the jailbreak is complete, make sure you start up cydia and do a full update of the core apps (you will be asked about this after the second time you start Cydia).

If you need your phone unlocked, make sure you keep refreshing http://blog.iphone-dev.org/, as this is where the developers for redsn0w/yellowsn0w update with the latest news.

Hope this guide helped out a bit, and good luck!

Note that these are just applications that are of use to me personally, and you might think they’re not applications you would have any use of But then again, that’s not what this list is for.

1. Twitfire

Twitfire is a very simplistic Twitter client. It’s made just for posting tweets, and that’s it! I figured, instead of having 3 or for twitter clients that does an ok job, reading and posting. I’d have one client that does one thing, and does it well.

With this app you can post pictures that get automatically shortened with in.ex twitpic, update your twitter location data, and add a link to your current location in google maps, and you can also post the usual @replies,  URL links, hash tags and so on.

2. Facebook

Can’t go wrong with a good Facebook client. This client does exactly what it’s supposed to. You can read latest updates, update your status, brows profiles and upload pictures. All within the app.

3. Runkeeper Pro/Free

Well, now for some non-social related apps. This app is by far one of the best runtracking apps available at the moment. It’s simplistic, low battery consumption, supports playing music while used and uploads statistics to the net for your own personal statistics.

So far I’ve used it about 3 times, as I’ve really wanted to get in better shape. And every time I’ve received a perfect placement on the google maps for where I walked, how fast I walked, how many calories I’ve burned and so on.

On this page http://bit.ly/13yogv you can find a trek and see how it looks after a walk from down town and home.

4. SHOUTcast

This little app enables you to stream any radion from the shoutcast directory, directly to your phone. Either through WI-Fi, or 3G (probably also on Edge, but it’s not recommended). The quality is superb, and the selection of music is very good.

5. Bussorakelet

Now here’s an app that probably isn’t for that many of you, but it’s very useful for us living in Trondheim. It’s an app that enables you to query the time tables for the local bus transit called the bus oracle. This simply asks the busoracle on http://www.team-trafikk.no and gives you the results directly in the app. It lacks several features in my opinion, like for example the possibility of having pre-defined questions, but it’s good for when you’re in town and wonder when the bus will be leaving.

I’d say it also beats having that big wad of paper with you with all the different buss routes.

I will probably make more of these posts as I come across apps that I find useful. There will no doubt be changes to this list, once the push notification system for the iPhone OS 3.0 is up and running with all the new updated apps that are coming out.

(P.S: All the logos are links that go directly to the iTunes application.)