Android is still going strong, and the trend will most likely continue into the far future. The relatively new mobile operating system has already acquired more than 17% market share worldwide and more than 22% market share in the United States. If these numbers and the exponential growth are any indicatives, in 2011 we’ll see Android being used by more than 30% of all the phone owners in the world.
Of course, the apps marketplace also experiences an explosive growth, with new developers turning their attention towards its users and developing or porting currently existing apps for the new platform.
But, unlike iPhone and Windows Mobile, the Android OS has got its roots in open source and free software and a lot of users and developers don’t forget this fact. That’s why you can find a lot of absolutely free android apps that are extremely useful and functional and make you wonder “Why the heck is this free?”.
Let’s take a look at the best ones, which can improve anyone’s life, regardless of what they do:
This is a perfect example why Android is the best operating system if you want to save money (aside from the lower cost of the smart phones themselves). Documents to Go Main is a free tool that will allow you to open and view Word, Excel and PDF documents, right on your Android phone. Even though you can’t edit them, it’s still a great deal (who edits long documents on the phone anyway). You can use it to study something on the road if you’re a student or prepare the speech you wrote last night for your business proposal.
Documents to Go Main App-Android Apps
ES File Explorer is an all in one file manager and task manager and killer. It lets you easily explore all the files on your Android phone and also allows you to keep track of all the running processes, which you can force close if you see them using too many resources. Being that it is free, this is practically a must have on any Android smartphone or tablet pc.
ES File Explorer-Android Apps
Dolphin Browser
Dolphin is one of the most popular Web browsers for Android. It is very similar to Firefox (thanks to some code being shared and the interface being great) and packs a lot of useful features that can really make your mobile Web experience a lot better. It has gesture controls, multi touch features, bookmarks and much more.
Dolphin Browser-Android Apps
Opera Mobile is literally the best browser for Windows Mobile, and it outdoes iPhone’s Safari because, in addition to the same great features and amazingly accurate controls and page rendering, it has support for in-window flash! The Android version is still in Beta stage, but it’s coming out later this year and will totally change the Web experience on Android devices, making it much, much better. It has almost everything the desktop version has, from multiple tabs support to Flash and a fast Javascript engine. This ensures that it can open 99% of all websites and display them in their original form, which is simply amazing.
Opera Mobile-Android Apps
This little app allows you to browse and interact with any files on any remote Bluetooth device, such as computers and other phones. You can send and receive anything you want, including files (of course) and even contacts from your address book.
Bluetooth File Transfer-Android Apps
Rock Player
Rock Player is an important step in Android’s conquering of media capabilities, and it’s a video player that allows you to play almost any kind of files in most available file and encoding formats without having to convert them on your computer before downloading them to your phone. You can even download files straight from the Internet and play them on your phone immediately.
Rock Player-Android Apps
This is a simply great app for Android: it’s a full-fledged torrent client, with all the required features that will make it work on any network and more. If you have an unlimited data plan, are traveling and would want to download some books, music or videos, there is simply no better choice. You can leave it online to let it download what you need via a 3G or Wi-Fi network and then download the files to your laptop or view and listen to them right on your phone. It’s much better than leaving your laptop on – consumes less power and is less conspicuous.
Torrent-fu-Android Apps
There are many more similar apps on the marketplace, and 2010 promises to deliver even better versions and new releases. If you already own an Android phone or are just planning to buy one, you definitely can’t go wrong either way. Android has a bright future before it, but you should be careful and choose a model that will have enough processing power to last more than one year.
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