The 100 Best Android Apps of 2013

Apparently there are well over 800,000 apps on Google Play. That means if you wanted to see them all, you'd have to download and try over 90 apps an hour for a year. No one's got that kind of time, which is why we've put together this list of 100 Android apps that are sure to pique your interest.

We've been pruning and updating this list for over a year, trying to make sure it has a little something for everyone but also keep it fresh and interesting. While our tastes and yours may be different, we think our list is a good starting point. Hopefully the next time you stop by, you'll see something new.

Whoa, 10 pages? Uncool.
Paginated stories are pretty annoying, I agree. But with 100 apps, we had to break it up just to make it readable. We've even divided the article into themed sections, so you can skip over the first 50 or so if you're only interested in, say, music apps.

All Hail Samsung, King of the Android Market

If your name is Samsung, you should be pretty pleased with yourself these days. The company's smartphones and tablets are number one in South Korea, which should be no surprise because that's where it's headquartered.

But Samsung is killing it all around the world. According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, "global tablet shipments reached 51.7 million units in the second quarter of 2013. Android secured a robust 67 percent global share, while Apple iOS declined further to 28 percent. Windows also fell back but secured a 4.5 percent global share." My own research suggests that of all the branded tablet vendors, Samsung sells the most Android mobile devices and has become Google's largest branded partner for Android. Keep in mind though, that a lot of this Android tablet growth came from white-box makers and ultra-cheap Android tablets.

So yes, Samsung should give itself a pat on the back. It has become aggressive in retail and even has its own dedicated stores within Best Buys, which allow it to sell through an additional channel as well as have a concierge desk to answer customers' questions on the spot.

But the secret to its success seems to be tied to its various promotions that make it tricky for researchers to track profits. I happened to be in the United Kingdom last week and decided to go to CarPhone Warehouse, a top smartphone retailer, to buy a cheap unlocked phone that I could use in Europe. While in the store a special Samsung promotion really caught my attention. For $26 per month with a 24-month contract you could purchase a bundle that included a Samsung Galaxy Ace smartphone and a 7-inch tablet. For $42 per month with a 24-month contract you could buy a Galaxy S III$249.99 at Amazon Wirelessand a 7-inch tablet. Both smartphone plans included 300 minutes of talk time and 500MB of data and of course, you could buy more talk time and data. This is a really good deal for U.K. customers but also for Samsung since both of the devices offered run Android and help Samsung double its sales to a single customer.

Similar aggressive promotions are going on in other parts of the world and I would not be surprised to see Samsung eventually do a promotion in the United States. This suggests that Samsung, of all the branded players in the Android market, is determined to stay on top of the smartphone and tablet market at all costs, and in the process champion Android for Google, at least for now.

While ultimately this is good for Google and the advancement of Android, I am not sure how good this is for Samsung. It is a unique company because it is vertically integrated, meaning it makes its own processors, screens, and memory. However, it does not completely control its destiny because it farms out its OS to Google and is thus highly dependent on Mountain View. Apple, on the other hand, completely controls its fortune since it owns the hardware, software OS, and services.

With such influence in the mobile market, Samsung should be able to go to Google and ask for a larger share of the Android-related revenue that flows through any Samsung device. But Google will refuse because sharing more of the revenue with Samsung would mean it would have to do that with other Android vendors as well.

With that in mind, many analysts are closely watching Samsung's decision to merge its own mobile OS, Bada, with another open-source OS called Tizen. While we don't expect Samsung to drop support of Android any time soon, the fact that it is also backing Tizen is quite interesting. Indeed, it recently launched its first Tizen smartphone and sources suggest a Tizen-based tablet is in development too. While all of the apps on the devices are Android, at least one software emulator is in the works that would allow Android apps to run on Tizen.

If Tizen was the core OS on a Samsung device, it could do deals with software developers directly as well as with various service providers and keep any shared revenue driven by paid apps and services all to themselves.

I find it hard to believe that Samsung wants to continue to boost Android without more control of this mobile OS and better revenue sharing. At some point, I believe Samsung could bite the bullet and migrate to Tizen.

One could argue that Samsung tinkering with Tizen is actually a ploy to get Google to compromise. I don't think that's the case. I think Samsung is feeling its oats and knows full well that it now has the clout to cultivate its own OS over time. I wouldn't be surprised if the company starts moving to Tizen in a calculated and strategic way in order to take control of its success and grow its market on its own terms, not Google's.

Control your PC or Mac from your iPhone, iPad, or Android device

Is there a simple way I can control my desktop (and, if possible, my notebook) from my iPad or iPhone? I've had a look but I quickly got lost in a jargon! Is there something easy?

With the summer upon us – for a while at any rate – people want to spend more time away from their PCs and Macs. But that doesn't mean they don't want to be out of the loop. And a great way to do this is to set up your smartphone or tablet with the ability to remotely access your system.

I've tried dozens of solutions for controlling my systems remotely, but the one I keep coming back to – and the one that I use myself – is LogMeIn.

(Source: LogMeIn)

There are a number of reasons why I recommend LogMeIn over the competition:

• Easy to set up – you don't need to know anything about networking!
• There's a free version of the service that is ideally suited to 90 percent of users
• It's platform agnostic, which means that you can drive PCs or Macs from other PCs, Macs, iOS or Android devices
• Access multiple devices
• You can wake up a system that's off remotely if that system supports "wake on LAN" (most modern systems do)
• Connection between devices is encrypted
• Built-in multi-monitor support
• Syncs your clipboard, so you can copy data from a remote device

If you want more features – such as file transfer, remote printing, file sharing and more, then this is available for $69.95 per year. You can check out the features matrix here.

As long as you are in a 3G or Wi-Fi zone, you can get access to your systems. Screen quality will adjust according to your connections speed, but even at its worst, it is good enough for most applications.

You're probably wondering if it's really possible to control a desktop system from something as small as an iPhone? It is. You don't want to be doing something involved and complex like creating spreadsheets or editing images, but for quick and simple tasks, it is more than adequate.

Highly recommended!

Android now owns half of China's smartphone market

Android now owns a half of china's company

During the first quarter of 2013 Android topped 50 percent of all installed smartphones, says research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Android has upped its lead in the growing Chinese smartphone market.

Google's mobile OS reached a milestone at the end of the first quarter as it gobbled up a 51.4 percent slice of all smartphones owned in China, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said on Friday. That figure showed a gain of 2.8 percent over the fourth quarter of 2012.

Among all Android vendors, Samsung proved the fastest growing with a 15.2 percent share among Chinese smartphone owners. And Kantar expects more growth on the way.

"Samsung has recently launched the Galaxy S4, selling over 10 million units globally in less than one month," Craig Yu, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement. "We predict the launch of Galaxy S4 Mini in the not too distant future will greatly increase its product reach in urban China."

Nokia's Symbian took the No. 2 spot in China last quarter with a market share of 23 percent, down 2 percent from the prior quarter. As Nokia phases out its older mobile OS, Kantar expects Symbian to drop to third place sometime in the next two quarters. Apple's iOS came in third with a 19.9 percent share.

Smartphones in general continue to see heavier demand among Chinese buyers. Smartphone ownership reached 42 percent in China last quarter, up 1.2 percent from the prior quarter. Much of that growth came from owners of feature phones upgrading to smartphones. Almost half of feature phone owners who changed their devices last quarter opted for a smartphone.

"Feature phones are losing their price advantage as Android smartphones are rapidly becoming more affordable and delivering better value," Yu said. "We expect to see accelerated smartphone adoption in China in the coming months."

Android Trojan New Virus and Affects

Android Trojan 

Then New Android Trojan virus makes them mobile insure even it breaks the two step verification method.

Two-Step authentication feature become insecure system when your android device got infected with a new malware which is capable of intercepting your messages and forwarding them to cybercriminals.

The Trojan, discovered by the Russian antivirus company Dr.Web , spreads as a security certificate that tricks users into thinking it must be installed onto their device.

Once installed, the malware does nothing other than displaying a message stating "Certificate installed successfully and your device is protected now."

But in background, the malware collects your phone information including Device's serial number, IMEI, model, carrier , phone number, OS.  Once the data has been gleaned, it attempts to send the info to the remote server.

After successfully sending the info, the malware awaits instructions from its master.  The cybercriminal behind the malware can now send instructions and control the malware to do the following : intercept and forward sms from specified numbers, send ussd message, show message and more.

This malware makes the Two-step authentication feature insecure because it can read the message sent to your mobile. It means the trojan can get the temporary password sent from Bank or any other sites using the 2-step authentication feature.

Android has become the worst enemy of Microsoft and Windows

Windows vs Android

HP, in a way, is putting Microsoft and Windows on notice with its new Android offerings.

Hewlett-Packard rolled out another Android device this week. This could become a pattern as PC makers hedge against a world that's less about Microsoft and more about Google.

On Tuesday, the largest PC maker in the world -- a dubious distinction these days -- added a laptop-tablet hybrid to its growing stable of products based on Google operating systems.

The $479 HP SlateBook x2 is an Android first for HP. It's "powered by Android, the world's most popular mobile operating system...100 percent tablet, 100 percent notebook, 100 percent Android," according to the company's ad copy.

The operative phrase is "most popular mobile operating system." HP knows that mobile, not desktop, OSes are where things are headed.

This follows the announcement of an HP Chromebook and the Slate 7 Android tablet in February.
Don't expect HP to stop there. Android is a force of nature that's only going to get bigger and more important.
Asus, another big Windows PC maker, is leaning more on Android these days too. It makes the popular Nexus 7 for Google (second-generation 7 is due soon), its Transformer Pad has been well received, and Asus came out with an Intel-based Android FonePad recently.
And Acer, after whining incessantly about Microsoft's foray into the PC business via Surface, has been busy introducing its share of Android devices, like its most recent entrant, the Iconia A1.
All of the above "PC makers" will continue to make Windows laptops, hybrids, and tablets (HP also announced the Windows 8-based Split x2 this week), but the market momentum is in Android's favor.

Black Berry Mobile is turning to Android and iOS

Today at BlackBerry Live, CEO Thorsten Heins announced BBM will soon be available on Android and iOS. The messaging app will launch globally this summer. This is a huge move for BlackBerry as it brings BB10′s strongest feature to literally hundreds of millions of potential users. 

The app will be free on both Android and iOS. Much like other messaging apps, it will be a standalone application. iOS 6 or Ice Cream Sandwich will be required. Initially, only messaging and group features will be available. But Heins promised that the rest of BBM will eventually make its way to the Android and iOS versions including screen sharing, BBM voice and the just announced BBM channels.