Cool Gadget | PDA Phone

The great thing about the Android operating system (OS) is that you have access to the Android Market, Google’s answer to the iPhone App Store. Though it hasn’t been in existence as long as Apple’s implementation, there are quite a lot of programs available. Here, we highlight some of our favorite free ones and tell you why you should download them for your Android device. 

Quickpedia

While you can read Wikipedia entries on a browser, you have to go through a number of steps to find a wiki you are searching for. With Quickpedia, you simply type in the search term after firing up the app, and it formats the entry for your small screen. It’s the best way to browse Wikipedia on your Android phone and will come in handy when settling trivia disputes among your friends. 

Twidroid

For those into Twitter, Twidroid makes it easy to use this social-networking tool on an Android phone. Aside from letting you tweet, your timeline is attractively laid out complete with your friends’ profile pictures and the option to reply to their tweets directly. It can be set to check for new tweets automatically and will let you see up to 250 tweets at once. 

Useful switchers

This is a must-have app for every user. It makes it easy for the user to toggle things like Wi-Fi, GPS and auto sync mode without having to go into Android’s settings page. You can even perform tasks like change the display brightness and white-out the screen so it can be used as a makeshift flashlight. 

Retro Defense Lite

No phone is complete without games these days, and Retro Defense Lite is among the better free ones out there. In the mold of the Flash-based Desktop Tower Defense game, you play by building weapons on a game grid to destroy enemies that move from the top of the screen to the bottom. This is the free version of the paid app Retro Defense and was designed as a demo so that users will buy the full version. Even so, it’s challenging enough to occupy you for a few hours at least.

Voice recorder

The app doesn’t have a fancy name and does what it’s supposed to without fanfare. The interface is simply a big red record button and you tap on it to start recording. After you are done making your voice note or singing into your phone, press stop and a window pops up to let you save your audio recording. From there, you can even email the file to a recipient. The app will automatically launch Gmail and attach the saved 3GP-format audio clip.

[By John Chan]