Android Tablet Update

Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most upgraded apps for the week. I’ve found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to look at what people are actually updating, and not focus on which apps have the most installs.

To find the most updated apps, I turn to AppAware. It’s a great tool that shows me which apps have active support from their developers and sometimes reminds me of an old app that I might have removed long ago. Make sure to install it so your activity can help determine our weekly top 10 list.

The following is a Top 10 list of apps which were updated in the last seven days and received the most updates during that time period on AppAware. Based on previous feedback, I am filtering out apps that have over 10 million installs since most are well known. I hope you enjoy this weekly feature and discover some apps that you might find useful.

XDA-Developers – Version 1.5.2

What’s new in this release:

1. Improved notifications
2. Ability to Thank someone
3. Image uploads
4. Bug fixes
5. Fixes FC bug in dark theme

If you have ever hacked or rooted your phone, chances are you have visited the xda-developers forums. This app is a mobile version of the site that allows you to browse the forums, read, post, send private messages and more. I’m not really a fan of reading through 100-page threads, so I don’t visit the site like I used to.

Box – Version varies with device

What’s new in this release:

1. Bug fixes!
2. View and add comments to files
3. Invite folder collaborators
4. Improved uploading experience, including the ability to batch upload multiple files from an SD card
5. Updated UI including use of the standard Action Bar
6. Now localized in German, Spanish, French and Italian
7. App2SD!
8. Contacts Permission: We only use this permission to quickly retrieve email addresses when you want to invite collaborators, and do NOT store any contact information on Box’s servers.

Box is another cloud storage app that lets users view and share files from anywhere. They currently have a promotion that lets you receive a receive a free 50GB account upgrade, so now is the time to check it out. The latest update includes an enhanced UI and improved uploading.

Go Locker – Version 1.12

What’s new in this release:

1. (New) Support gesture password
2. (Improved) Update some languages like: Dutch, Turkish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese
3. (Improved) Input vibrate switch of PIN password
4. (Improved) The screen will unlock after input the correct PIN, without click ‘OK’
5. (Fix) The problem of virtual keyboard will show in lock screen
6. (Fix) Bug of Notification
7. (Fix) Some FC bugs

Many people are familiar with Go Launcher EX, but not as many users have tried their other apps. Go Locker allows you to replace the default lockscreen of your Android device. The Go team just released a locker theme template, so devs can now design their own custom lockscreens more easily.

Camera Zoom FX – Version 3.5.0

What’s new in this release:

1. create favorite FX!
2. custom signature for sharing
3. added French, Hungarian translations, improved Russian
4. bug fixes

Camera ZOOM FX is one of the more full featured alternative camera apps for Android. It features multiple shooting modes, full editing studio, and over 90 free addons. The app is currently on sale for only $0.49, so now is a good chance to buy it if you have wanted to check it out.

Wattpad – Version 2.6.1

What’s new in this release:

1. Fix saving last reading position
2. Day/night reading mode
3. Screen brightness controls
4. Improve swiping controls
5. Fix language setting stickiness

Wattpad is a site I had never heard of until today, but they claim to be the world’s largest community of readers and writers. Their social eReading app connects readers and writers across all genres, lets them vote for the best stories, share their comments with other readers, or leave a suggestion for their favorite author.

Soundhound Infinity – Version varies with device

What’s new in this release:

1. Performance boost and bug fixes
2. Music search improvements on some devices
3. New Permission: CHANGE YOUR AUDIO SETTINGS - Used to ensure optimal audio recording settings

Soundhound Infinity is the paid version of the popular music ID app. They claim to be the world’s fastest music recognition service and the world’s only viable singing and humming recognition. This paid version is currently on sale for $0.49 and offers additional features like home screen widgets, geo-tagging, and the removal of ads.

Wetter – Version 1.3.3

What’s new in this release:

1. Fixed text shadow on low dpi devices
2. Fixed movable to SD-card
3. Adjusted background colors to improve text contrast
4. Weather conditions translated to English
5. Fixed bugs that could crash the app under certain circumstances

Wetter.com is a popular weather service in Germany, but their app supports forecasts for any location. Most of the additional features like reports, radar, and videos are limited to European countries, so you might want to avoid this is you live in the US.

Go Keyboard – Version 1.3.1

What’s new in this release:

1. (Added) Commonly used symbols for English keyboard
2. (Optimized) The loading method of scanning aplications in GO Market
3. (Optimized) A detailed picture browsing for full screen in GO Market
4. (Optimized) The left symbols column for T9 keyboard will turn back after inputting
5. (Fix) The collapse error when update initiatives
6. (Fix) Download error of Emoji and handwriting plugin

Another release from the Go team, Go Keyboard is one of the most full featured keyboard replacement apps for Android. It supports a ton of languages, has endless themes, and includes a custom layout optimized for tablets. The app is free, so it’s worth a shot if you are unhappy with your current keyboard.

Fing – Version 1.28

What’s new in this release:

1. Improvements and fixes
2. New icons

Fing describes itself as the ultimate toolkit for network management. Features include network discovery, service scan, ping, traceroute, DNS lookup and many more. The latest update includes a refreshed look with new icons.

ScoreMobile – Version 1.5.5.5

What’s new in this release:

1. We are working hard with Google to resolve push alerts issues that are affecting some users*
2. Fixed missing menu button issue that was affecting some Android 4.0 devices (e.g. Galaxy Nexus)
3. Fixed Widget Force Close issues that were affecting some users
4. Minor bug fixes and enhancements

I’ve tried all the sports apps, including this one, and I always end up returning to ESPN’s mobile site. ScoreMobile looks to be well liked among its users with an average review score of 4.4. They recently added in-depth UFC coverage featuring interactive live blogs, so maybe I’ll try it out again. ScoreMobile also supports live event push alert notifications, so you can keep up the latest scores of your favorite teams.

Honorable mentions

Did you see any Android apps that received notable updates in the last week? Share your suggestions in the comments below and we will add them to our honorable mentions list.

• Glancee: Updated to version 2.0, which inroduces Radar and Diary and an easier interface. Radar shows you who’s near you now, sorted by distance. Diary shows you who was near you before, sorted by time.
• AppBrain: Updated to version 8.0 with misc. improvements and a fix for ICS devices.

With nearly 400,000 apps available in the Android Market, it is often difficult to discover cool new releases. We started our weekly column Top 10 Android App Updates to help our audience discover apps that others were actively using, but it only identifies the well established apps that have already have a bunch of installs.

So how do you discover the coolest apps that just hit the Android Market? Like the ones that have less than 5,000 installs. I’m sure that someone could write an algorithm to help with that problem, but for now we are going to hand pick them.

Introducing Glancee

Speaking of discovery, wouldn’t it be neat to have an app that helped you meet interesting people that had similar likes and networks? Glancee is that app that lets you discover hidden connections and meet with people important to you.

The app works by connecting to your Facebook account and analyzing your likes and friends. It then uses your location to suggest people around you that have similar interest and connections.

I travel a lot and I often find myself in new places where I don’t know many people. At trade shows and media events there are always the other bloggers that I talk with, but it’s fun to meet new people. The problem I have with meeting new people always seems to be time. I can walk around a huge room with hundreds of people, but how do I know which are the most interesting people that I should be introducing myself to?

Glancee provides that digital sixth sense that can intelligently alert you about interesting people you might want to meet.

Here are some success stories taken from Glancee users:

•  Karen (Chicago) wrote: “I’ve been talking to this cool guy from Ecuador. It’s great as we started talking because of a book we had in common. He said he never met anyone that had read it before!”
• Richard (San Francisco) said: “I was stuck at the airport as my flight got delayed. Glancee showed an old friend of mine as ‘steps away’ so I wrote her and she was at the airport too! I was actually happy my flight was late.
• Alberto (Italy) was at a conference in San Francisco and got a notification that there was someone from his small hometown back in Italy. Such a small world! He would have never met him in such a large crowd if it weren’t for Glancee.
• Maia (San Francisco) needed a designer for her startup. She added “design” in Glancee and found some people with similar interests. One was so nice to help her get in touch with a fellow freelancer.

The app is still brand new, so it won’t be that useful until more users sign up. Thankfully, they support Android, iPhone, and Facebook web so I anticipate it will grow quickly. Just like other social apps such as Foursquare and Foodspotting, Glancee is ideal for dense urban areas. If you live out in a rural area then you might not find much use for Glancee yet, but I think it’s still worth a download.

As for the other features of Glancee, I don’t want to share too much. The point of this post is to persuade you to go install the app and play around with it.

Final Words

This site only averages about one million visitors a month and there are over 250 million Android devices out there, but our community still has the ability to accelerate apps to stardom. We are the taste-makers and the ones that our friends and family go to when they have questions about their Android devices. This app might not be for everyone, but if you see the potential in Glancee please share it with your friends.

Have a suggestion for the next Android app in the rough? Message Taylor if you find an interesting app with less than 10k downloads that you think has a lot of potential and others would enjoy.