Did you get your favorite Android device for the holidays? Congratulations! Here is a list of some our preferred and best looking applications for your device. Examine them out and let us know how you like them!
Social Networks:
Facebook – Everyone has Facebook, so check out the newly released native android app with much improved speeds and easier navigation.
Google+ – Google+ is one of the best looking and most fluid social networking apps currently available in the market. If you haven’t yet joined the growing social network, this app is a good excuse to jump in with both feet.
Falcon Pro / Plume – Twitter has a pretty decent native application, but if you’re looking for something with a little more eye candy, then try out either Falcon Pro or Plume. Both are very well designed and fully functional. Also check out the Falcon widget (a separate app) for some beautiful home screen Twitter action.
Path / lnstagram – If you’re into photo sharing, these are the best and most beautiful photo sharing apps out there.
Snapseed – Speaking of photos, Snapseed (recently acquired by Google) is a beautiful and full featured photo-editing software. You’ll be hard pressed to find anything more robust then Snapseed when it comes to editing capabilities.
Pinterest – If you’re a girl (or a man who likes girly things), check out the very well designed Pinterest app, so you can keep all your recipes and house decorating ideas in one place.
Reading:
Press / Feedly / Pulse – If you’re a big Google Reader user you’ll LOVE these gorgeously designed reader apps that link into your Google Reader account. Each one is different, but excellent. Try all three!
Flipboard – The famed Flipboard is like an ever-changing magazine with all of your favorite categories of content.
Zite – Zite is also a content discovery app. Choose the categories you enjoy most and Zite will find articles that it thinks you’ll like. You can rate the articles after you read them and the app will feed you better content over time.
Bible – If you’re a searching for a good looking app to read the Christmas story with your family, there is no better looking Bible application than Life Church.TV’s Bible app.
Pocket – Pocket is a beautiful “save it for later” reader. If you find content you want to read, but don’t have time, just save it to Pocket where you can read it at a more convenient time…even if you’re phone/tablet is “offline”.
Kindle – Kindle is a beautifully designed e-reader that syncs all of your highlights, bookmarks and last page read across all of your Kindle applications and devices.
Google Books – Google Books recently got a design update and is now one of the cleanest, most elegant readers you will find. It’s great if you haven’t already bought into the Amazon Kindle ecosystem.
News – If you enjoy reading Google News, but don’t like their bland site layout, News is a simple but elegant Google News app.
News Republic for Tablets– News Republic is another good looking news app designed specifically for tablets. It also lets you read articles from different categories of interest. It has some nice animations and eye candy.
Google Currents – Google Currents is Google’s competitor to Flipboard. Looks good and works well (but don’t let it cause lag on your device!)
Talk Android – Of course you’re a Talk Android reader! Check out our new official Talk Android app!
Listening:
Google Music – Looks great and syncs all of your Google Music directly to your device, so you don’t need to store anything on the SD card.
Double Twist Player – Double Twist knows how to design incredibly beautiful apps. This music player is one of them! Lots of features, and even more can be purchased in app.
PowerAmp – Another popular music player is PowerAmp. Be sure to check out our PowerAmp giveaway. We are giving away fully licenced versions to 15 lucky readers.
Pocket Casts – If you love listening to podcasts, Pocket Casts is the most eye-pleasing podcast app I have found to date. Looks great and works well.
Spotify / Rdio / Pandora – Music streaming has turned into a big business, and these three apps come from the top contenders in the catagory. Grab all three and see which one you like best.
TuneIn Radio – Tunein Radio lets you listen to radio stations from across the world. It is totally free and is very well designed.
Productivity:
SwiftKey 3 – There is nothing more productive than speeding up your typing. SwiftKey does exactly that by predicting your next word for you. It is extremely accurate and gets better over time. Not only does it work great, but it looks great as well, with multiple themes.
Chrome – Hands down the best browser in the universe. The end.
Eye in Sky – Eye in Sky won top honors in our Best Weather Widgets rundown, and rightly so. This is the best looking weather app that you’ll find for Android.
Evernote – Keep all your ideas and notes in one place with this great looking app. Syncs to all your devices that have Evernote installed.
Mint – A beautiful and super functional financing app that puts all your financial data in one place and gives you a break down of spending, income, net worth and more.
Wunderlist / Any.do – If you love “To-Do” lists, then you’ll love Wunderlist and Any.do. Check out both of them, but we personally like Wunderlist because they have apps and webapps across all devices and platforms.
Expedia – Travel a lot? Expedia just got a major makeover and it looks great!
Flight Tracker – Speaking of traveling, Flight Tracker is the most beautiful way to see when your loved ones’ flights are arriving.
Google Translate – Traveling overseas for the holidays? Google Translate not only looks great, but works awesome as well. Speak into it, and it’ll automatically translate your sentance into another language and speak it for you! Wow! You live in the future!
Craigslist for Android (CLapp) – If you’re a big Craigslist shopper (or poster), this is the most beautiful craigslist app that we’ve found. It has fully adopted Androids new design language and it looks great!
Zenfield File Manager / Astro File Manager – There are many great looking File Manager apps on the market, but Zenfield and Astro look most like a “stock Android” app, which is why they made our list.
Timer / Minu Timer / Hybrid Stopwatch – Timer, Minu Timer and Hybrid Stopwatch are all excellent time keeping tools.
Double Twist Alarm Clock – Speaking of time, if you want a beautiful clock to wake up to in the morning, there is nothing more elegant than Double Twist’s offering.
Lifestyle:
TED Talks – If you want to expand your mind, check out the official TED Talks app. It is very well designed and follows all of Android’s new design cues.
BBC Good Food – Here is a new and beautiful cooking app for Android.
Nike + Running – Feeling fat from all the holiday food? Grab this beautiful app and hit the streets. It’ll tell you how far and fast you ran, as well as how many calories you burned. Get to it!
That is it for now. Those are our choices for the most wonderful Android operating system applications currently available. We wish this record got you began on a fun new experience with your Android operating system device! If you have discovered any wonderful applications that you think we didn’t remember, add them to content. Happy holidays!
