Android Applications and their Reviews.

[FilledVoid]

With the amazing growth of Android Phones I think it would be a good idea to review some of the applications available for the platform. As of now Ill just lay out an index as each person updates the thread.

However please when you make a review please include a rank sheet based on the following characteristics. Please use a ranking scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best.

User Interface :
Functionality :
Resource Consumption :

So far I could only come up with that much at the top of my head so if you give me more criteria Ill add it along in the above. once you add the application Ill add it to the below Index. Please enter what category the software comes under also so it would help to categorize the application as well. Hope everyone contributes to the initiative. Cheers.

Index
Chess

[amitabhishek]

Great initiative Filledvoid!

Will def. contribute in my own little way. What about tiny little hacks that we keep discovering once in a while; indexing them too will make a good resource. Just my $0.02!

[FilledVoid]

I definitely will add that to the index as well then . But I'm not sure if we should note hacks here or the Android Thread? Either way I can adjust accordingly since both first posts are mine. Even if I'm not here any Moderator / Admin can edit the post as well.

[desiibond]

or create another thread soleley for custom ROMs and hacks on android irrespective of phone model. mixing hacks and apps can be very very confusing.

[FilledVoid]

Well since None of you seem to want to write anything Ill add my first . Although it might seem Childish to many. My favorite application on the phone is a game . To be exact... Chess. Im an avid follower of the game and just love it .

Application : Chess for Android
Author : Aart J.C. Bik


User Interface :
Theres not much to say about the User interface other than its the usual Chess board with your pieces of course. The Menu options present the choices to start a new game, switch side, undo a move or series of moves, Change the game level , and a link to its website.

The options consist of choices of picking from which side to view the board from or choosing a chess piece set or board. There are two boards and piece sets at the moment in the game. The options also includes a Game Coach which shows you the valid moves or places wherre you can move each piece.

Functionality :
Now considering Chess is something that really needs processing power one might think that the game is quite limite din its AI. But this is quite not true. The game can have five different difficulty levels and itdoes seem to do a reasonable job at the respective levels. I must say that by no means is this Grandmaster worth material but it does offer a fair challenge at the highest level.

The game also has the functionality of export games into a format which you can use on other Chess Engines to analyze or email to friends . Which is quite a good tool in itself . Frther it allows to load games as well which you can play on your phone.

Resource Consumption :
Considering the amount of time Ive used the applciation I do not think that it burdens my Magic in anyway. I dont even think that it consumes alot of power for that matter either.


My Verdict
Definitely a worth applciation considering the resources ti has access to. however if you were to play this against a chess engine like Chessmaster Serieis or Fritz then its surely going to get slaughtered. Nonetheless I find it a worthy application and definitely worth trying if you are a chess fan.

Rating
4.0

[jain_pranav]

@ Filled Void

I think we should add the cyrket link of barcode so that we can easily download that app also.

[desiibond]

Apps that I use a lot:

1) Twidroid (twitter client for android).

One thing that I really like about this is minimalist design and clean look. It doesn't try to look heavy or glossy. And the notifications in the notification bar are perfectly done.

2) xda forums application.
Well, like the name says, this is the android client for XDA forums. Good looking design and fast too. advantage with this is that you need not open the heavy webpage to access XDA forums. the client is lightweight and the forum posts load very fast. lack of notifications is the only drawback
3) Air Control - superb and addictive game. a mustplay mindgame.
4) Laputa ebook reader
5) Dolphin browser
6) gutenberger (read project gutenberg ebooks)
7) Meebo ( chat client that is as good as it is in iphone OS)