World
Around Me (Travel App)
Mm requirements: Android 2.3. iOS
5 Size: 8.6 MB
If you've heard about Augmented
Reality (AR) but haven't seen it in action, this app is a great example of what
the technology can do. Point your device’s camera in any direction and specify
a range, from 100 meters to 50km (32 miles), and the app will augment the view
with layers of virtual information drawn from Google Places. Tap the floating
annotations for more details such as web links, phone numbers and user reviews.
The app works in more than 140
countries and lets you "see” all sorts of places within your given range,
including cash machines, places to eat, museums and doctors’ surgeries - even
when they’re behind walls or otherwise invisible to the naked eye. You can look
for certain types of place only, and rank them in order of priority so that
your screen doesn’t get too congested with information.
Freemake
Music Box (Music App)
Mm requirements: iOS 6.1 Size:
12.4MB
We've always liked the free
Desktop version of Freemake Music Box which lets you search for free music
online and organize it in playlists, so we’re delighted that it’s now launched
on mobile, albeit on iOS only. Find and play music from a library of 20 million
tracks, without having to register or put up with ads.
WikiExplorer
(Reader App)
Mm requirements: Android 4 Size:
18MB
This is probably the best
Wikipedia app we’ve ever used, you can save articles for offline reading and
organize them into reading lists: listen to articles using TTS (Text To
Speech); resize text: zoom into photos, and long-press any location on a map to
open a list of all related articles. If you’re running KitKat (Android 4.4)
there's an extra full-screen immersive mode.
TimePin
(Security App)
Mm requirements: Android 4.0.3
Size: 217Kb
Stop people finding out the PIN
you use to lock your Android device by setting this app to change it
automatically at regular intervals according to the current date or
time. For example, at 9.12am the PIN is 0912.You can add modifiers to make the
pattern more complicated and harder to crack. It’s a simple but effective way
of keeping your phone away from prying eyes.
Google
Play Music (Music App)
Mm requirements: Android (varies
with device) Size: Varies with device
The Android version of Google's
iTunes rival has had another big update this time to let you save entire radio
stations to your phone or tablet for playing offline. You can also now manage
the music on your device remotely from your PC. A more limited app is available
for iOS (bit.ly/iplaymusic340) but it’s yet to arrive on Windows Phone.
Superbeam
(WI Fi App)
Mm requirements: Android 2.3.3
Size: 2.9MB
Moving files wirelessly from one
device to another can be surprisingly tricky. Bluetooth isn't always strong
enough and uploading and downloading data via cloud services takes time and
bandwidth. Step forward Superbeam, which lets you share big files via Wi-Fi
using OR codes. The Pro version adds excellent NFC support.
