IDENTIFY THE MUSIC YOU HEAR
Shazam is a free application that can end those arguments about what music is playing. Load it up, click “Tag Now” and the application will use the phone’s microphone to analyze the music and then send the waveform data to an online server. Promptly returned is the name of the song, the authors, and the album it is from along with pictures of the cover. It then allows you to purchase the MP3 from Amazon.com or search for it on YouTube. Your history is stored so you can see which songs you have discovered using Shazam. Free, useful and fun, absolutely no reason not to have this one.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHAZAM
YOUR OWN PERSONALIZED RADIO STATION
Last.FM is a huge community of users listening to music and sharing their musical preferences. It works on the principle that if you like one song, the chances are you might like another similar one by a different artist — Last.FM will keep recommending songs based on their vast collection of user preferences (which worked well for me). These songs are streamed directly to you on your phone using its Internet connection. The aLast.FM Player is a client for listening to these personalizable radio stations on your Android device, allowing you to walk around all day listening to your favorite tracks for absolutely free (after a month, a subscription of US$3 is required, but it’s well worth it). The application itself is robust and clean with a simple user interface requiring the operator to touch a heart icon indicating that they like that track.
If you really want to test your Android phone, play some tunes on aLast.FM Player and then load Shazam and see if it can identify them. I bet it can.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LAST.FM
EXPLORE THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Google’s desire to map the planet has now spread to the Solar System. Using Google Sky Map you can hold your phone up to the sky and it will detect where you are and accurately map the portion of the sky you are pointing at. If you see a star and wonder what it is, you hold your phone up to it as if you were going to take a photo of it, and on the screen the sky will be mapped perfectly, allowing you to easily find that star or indeed planets and constellations and even more. You can also tour the solar system by dragging your finger or searching for something. No doubt extremely handy for some, and downright cool for the rest of us.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE
BUY AND STREAM MUSIC WITH NEAR-ZERO BUFFERING DELAY
Spotify is a peer-to-peer music streaming service that allows you to purchase and listen to music on the move with virtually no buffering delay. Once you have purchased a track or album using Spotify it is yours to do what you want with it, move it to your iPod, PC, etc. Spotify uses the phone’s Internet connection to stream your music from your online library. This means there is no need to store files locally on your phone, unless you wish to, if, for example, you are on the MRT and can’t get a signal. Spotify is funded by advertisements, unless a subscription fee of around US$15 is paid for the premium service, which has no adverts and higher-quality streaming. The Android Spotify application is available now and is very simple to use.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPOTIFY
KILL SHAMBLING BEASTS WITH A NAIL GUN
The legendary Quake has been ported to Android. Anyone who has played this game will be excited to play it on their Android device, and anyone who hasn’t is in for a treat. Quake is a 3D game that takes advantage of Android’s 3D acceleration and delivers a dark and visceral gaming experience in the form of a first-person shooter. It can be played online with up to 16 other players.
A bit of expertise is required to install the Quake files into your phone’s SD card, and the game is a bit sluggish on the Google G1, though smoother, more fluid game play is possible on the newer and faster Android devices that are coming out this year (such as the Motorola Droid). If you like Quake, you may also want to check out Android Doom, too.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE
ESCAPE FROM THE DARKNESS
Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus is a scary but fun adventure game where you awake in a dark locked room. You must find clues around you and use whatever you can find to escape. The game features a decent-looking 3D engine and the ability to walk around the room by dragging your fingers and using the trackball. Occasionally figures will appear in the darkness adding to the atmosphere. A great time-killer if you are on a long journey or just bored.
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