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AppAware - Be the first to know about new apps!
Tested version: 1.7
Latest version: 2.5.0
Requires Android: from 1.5
Summary
I’m complying to several requests and reviewing a “useful” application rather than a game today. I have to confess that I’m somewhat of an app-nut, always on the lookout for new applications. But for some reason, I wasn’t finding anything that really sparked my interest in the Android Market as of late. I kept tripping over the infamous and annoying “Sexy Girls” applications as soon as I started scrolling a bit.
The app I’m reviewing today isn’t a Market replacement, it’s a search engine which allows you to look for the most popular apps that have been downloaded the most often.
As per usual: read on to find out more!
Features & Use
With AppAware you can search for apps that have been downloaded the most often in your area, time zone or in general. It only shows the apps of users who have also installed AppAware; thus, it also registers your download information.
Both free apps and ones you have to pay for are listed. You have to be connected to the internet via your provider or WLAN, because AppAware automatically updates the lists of apps each time you start it up.
AppAware has a Market button which allows you to go to the Market and directly install the app of your choice.
Switch on the GPS in order to search for the most popular apps in your area.
If you so wish, you can also allow the information about installing and uninstalling apps appear on your Twitter account. Now, I don’t Twitter, so my jury’s out on how well this function works. If you’ve tried it, could you send me a quick message or post a comment to let us know how you got on with it?
The app has a 4x1 Widget, as you can see on the screenshots. If you click on one of the two arrows (left or right), the apps are updated and you can see the top ten downloaded apps of the last hour. Clicking on the Widget allows you to open the app, and pressing on the Home button gets you to AppAware’s main menu.
Every app that is displayed has different tags which are meant to classify and help describe the app. You can add more tags if you think that there’s something missing.
AppAware has become one of my top ten apps: I use it every day to check out the 10 most popular apps, and am always surprised to see one or two that I haven’t yet heard of on the list. I almost always test them. I have to admit that in the beginning I was worried that I’d always see the same apps in the most popular list, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that not being the case.
Bottom line:
Not to mince words: AppAware does what it’s meant to do. The apps are often switched up and so you can be sure to discover lots of new favorites for your Android.
Screen & Controls
Here’s a list of the buttons you’ll find on AppAware’s main screen:
• Live
• Around
• Top
• Profile
• Installed
Live allows you to update the most recently installed apps. If you want only the apps that have been downloaded in your area to be displayed you can click on Around (provided you’ve switched GPS on). Profile lets you know which apps you’ve recently installed and uninstalled. The Ninja is a nice feature: every user had a small black ninja as an avatar, and once you’ve installed or uninstalled over 50 apps it goes from black belt to yellow belt. As its name suggests, Installed shows you which apps you’ve already downloaded.
The app’s main function is the Top button: a list of the five apps which have been installed most often appears. You can then choose between Last hour, Last day, and Last week. Each time the top five apps are displayed, and you can see more apps by clicking on More, in which case a longer list will appear.
The way in which individual apps are evaluated is interesting: a UV meter is shown beneath each description of an app. The meter is green on one end and red on the other, and there’s an arrow pointing at a part of the meter. My theory is that the more users install (and don’t remove) a given application on their Android, the further the arrow points towards the right. So, logically, the more often users have installed and then uninstalled an app, the further the arrow points towards the left/red section of the UV meter. If one out of three users keeps an app the arrow points to the orange section, and if it’s two out of three users the arrow will swing towards the green section.
I do have one small request: I would like to see the size of the app displayed on AppAware.
Bottom line:
Controls are easy to use and smartly done. The bar at the bottom of the screen is great and visually the app isn’t bad either.
Speed & Stability
Everything ran very smoothly, save for was one small glitch. The app crashed several times as I was trying to search for apps in my area, having activated the GPS (via QuickDesk Beta) belatedly. I went back to my homescreen, started the app up again and then it all worked out fine. Maybe this was an exception, but I wanted to let you know in case you have a similar occurrence.
Bottom line:
Very stable except for the incident when switching the GPS on after having started the search.
Price/Performance Ratio
You can download AppAware free of charge from the Android Market.
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