28 Droid tools you can't live without

Gizmodo posted the best of series on their site a few days back, including Droid, iPad and iPhone lists of best apps.  Much of what they had there I'm a big fan of but there were some I felt had been left off.  So, here is my list of Droid stuff you can't live without.

1. Download AppBrain App Market and set up an account online.
   
   
   
   • Once you have the app on the phone and you’ve created an account, you can go to the web, pick the stuff you want and send it directly to the phone
   
   
   • This also keeps a record of all your apps, so if you have to reinstall or your memory card fails, you have an online back up.
   
   
   
   


2. Tango – video chat for the Droid like the FaceTime for iPhone.  Even better, iPhone users can Video chat with you using Tango.  Something FaceTime won’t allow.  Apple Sucks.


3. Handcent SMS – for SMS Texting.  Just nicer than the standard android sms.  You can do all kinds of things with it, including set your own backgrounds, chat colors, etc.


4. Pandora – if not already installed, get it.  Free internet radio that selects music based on recommendations you give it.  If you don’t like a song, tell Pandora and it won’t play it again ever.  Plus, it builds your taste preference and eventually selects stuff geared to your likes.  Not all artist are available, but still plenty of tunes.


5. Shazam – can listen to a song and tell you who the artist and title are.  Helpful when you’re in the car and hear something you like and the radio fails to tell you who it is.


6. IMDB – dur.  A must have for those arguments about who was or wasn’t in that movie.


7. Vignette – Awesome picture tool


8. Listen – Google's answer to podcasts.  You’ll be surprised at how many are out there and the content.  Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), my buddy Jim Mercurio at Shouts from the Lawn, NPR, This American Life, and tons more that are geared toward your fave topics.  Podcasts are nice to listen to in the car during a commute or when you need something more than just a song or book to read.  It's my only way of staying connected to the outside world now.


9. Alchemy – You can thank my cousin Aubrey for this one.  Simple but clever little game where you combine elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) to make new elements.  Those elements then make more elements and so on.  I played this for 1 hour last night and only got 80 of the over 600+ Possible elements.  Addictive.


10. Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons.  I don’t have to explain these two.


11. Google Voice – Google’s free internet phone number that you can point to any phone.  Give this number out instead of your real number and get added benefits like live call screening, voice mail transcripts, caller identification or blocked caller to VM and lots more.


12. Swift Keyboard – Scary accurate predictive text…


13. Beautiful Widgets – transform common apps into widgets on the home screens.


14. AKNotepad – simple, but one of the best.


15. Weather Channel – not the most with features, but it wins for me on simplicity and the “Feels like” feature.  Just give me the weather!!


16. Google Shopper – bar code scanning, voice and image searching, product finding, savvy shopper app.


17. Google Goggles – take a picture of something with Goggles and it will try and tell you what it is.  Buildings, famous paintings, etc.  Also a bar code scanner for searching best prices.


18. Spaghetti Marshmallow – Supposedly a very fun game.  Haven’t tried it yet. Damn you Alchemy!


19. Backgrounds – thousands of free wallpapers.


20. HandyCalc – Best.  Calculator. Ever.


21. App Organizer – if your Droid gets filled up with apps as quick as mine did, you’ll need this one.  It allows you to create “Folders” that store all the shortcuts for your apps, based on “type”.  You could have a Games folder, Tools folder, Social Folder, and so on.  It just makes finding that app you need one step easier.


22. Kitten Cannon – fire a kitten out of a cannon and record the farthest distance.  Hit bombs, dynamite and trampolines to make him go farther, but avoid spikes and other hazards that will stop him dead.  Not for the kiddies.


23. Mint – keep track of all your bills, bank accounts, etc.  Alerts for bills coming due, spend trending, etc.


24. Random LOLCat – 'nuff said.


25. Dolphin Browser – a much more user friendly and customizable internet browser.


26. Chrome to Phone – send your Google Chrome browser links directly to your Droid browser from your PC.


27. PicSay photo editor- add cute cartoon bubbles to your photos.   A must for parents who moonlight as comedians.


28. Goby – find fun things to do around town.  Still a work in progress, but getting better.

I'm sure I'm missing some but 28 is a good list.  I'd love to hear about your favorites so post it here and I'll give it go.  I'm always looking for the next cool app.