Personal Finance Apps for Android

There are apps galore to help you manage your money, track your budget, pay off your debt and much more. Here is a review of some of the top personal finance apps for Android.

Mint.com is one of the trusted names in personal financial management today so you can’t go wrong with their free Android app, Mint.com Personal Finance. It pulls in all your bank accounts and credit cards, so that you can view all your financial information from a single interface. It tracks spending, categorizing every transaction so that you can see where your money goes. You can create a budget based on historical spending. Other features are investment tracking, personalized recommendations, bill reminders, over-spending alerts and unusual pattern alerts. The app employs the same security measures used by banks to keep your information protected.

Budgetroid is a simple app that does exactly what it promises - easy real-time budget monitoring. It will allow you to type in your incomes and expenses and quickly compute what you have left in your budget. The clean, uncluttered interface and the simple operations are the USP of this upcoming app.

Easy Envelope Budget Aid is yet another budget management application, but with a unique feature- you can sync up multiple phones to create a shared budget. It is also backed up on the Web. It is free and ad-free too. It operates on a concept of virtual envelopes and as you enter transactions, keeps track of the envelope balance. It has some features which make entering transactions into the app easier –like auto-complete, auto-categorization and location-based auto-complete.

Mortgage Calculator, by Adonis Apps, is one of the popular loan calculator applications for your Android phone.  It can calculate your monthly payment and display amortization tables when you are shopping for your new car or home. The Pro version has additional features like graphical charts, Estimator etc.

For those of us who have unfortunately fallen into bad financial habits and debt, there is help in the form of debt payoff planners. One of the popular debt payoff planners for Android platform is Debt Payoff Planner, from Adonis Apps. It uses the proven and systematic “Debt snowball” method to create your debt payoff plan. It then shows you month-wise debt snapshots and allows you to enter payments, prepayments and countdown to debt-free. The paid version looks worth the money, though the free version, Debt Payoff Lite, is too limited to be actually useful.

Fun and learning: Top 3 Android Apps for your preschooler

All the edutainment your preschooler needs can now be carried everywhere – on your Android phone. Here are three of the most popular apps for Android that combines learning with fun for kids under five.

Going by the number of downloads and user reviews, Kids Connect the Dots is one of the most popular apps for preschoolers. This game, developed by Intellijoy, is bright, colorful, interactive and easy to use. The dots are numbered and can be connected by dragging along or by tapping the dots. When all the dots are connected, the outline comes to life as a charming creature or colorful object! The dots can be customized to show alphabets and odd or even numbers. In audio mode, a voice speaks out loud the alphabet or number the child touches. The game improves motor skills while teaching alphabets and numbers. The paid version has more than 100 puzzles and the free version, with 25 puzzles, is called Kids Connect the Dots Lite. There is also a Christmas version, Kids Connect the Dots Xmas, with 45 Christmas themed puzzles.

Kid Mode by Zoodles is the free Android app with the unique and popular Zoodles Child Lock feature that puts devices into Kid Mode.  When the app is running with Child Lock enabled, the child is locked into the app and cannot accidentally make calls or get into other apps or phone functions. The app has hundreds of games and activities for age 8 and below. To customize the app, parents must set up a free account and create profiles for their children. The child taps on his picture to log in. Based on the age information, Zoodles will curate age-appropriate videos, games and activities for the child.  Other cool features are the art studio where kids can draw and color, the illustrated storybooks that you can read and record and the weekly activity emails about what your child has been doing within the app.

Kids Preschool Puzzle is another great game from Intellijoy. The child is shown an image of an animal, food, vehicle, number, alphabet etc. On the left side are brightly colored puzzle pieces that can be slid into the outline. Once all the pieces are snapped into place, the name appears on screen and is also spoken out loud. The game improves reading, shape recognition, tactile and motor skills while the interactive and colorful format with 100+ images keeps children entertained. A free version of this game is available as Kids Preschool Puzzle Lite with 20 puzzles.

Temple Run for Android Review

The popular adventure game, Temple Run, finally became available for Android devices in March 2012. As expected, Android users flocked to it, creating a record 1 million downloads in just 3 days. The game, which had first released for iOS in August 2011, was a runaway hit on that platform, becoming the top downloaded iOS app in December 2011 and top grossing iOS app.

The game revolves around a group of explorers who steal an idol from a temple. The game starts immediately after the idol is stolen and the explorers are being pursued by a group of demonic monkeys through the temple. There are seven different characters in the game, which differ in their appearance and the sounds they make. One of the characters will be controllable by the player. The default character is a red-headed man, Guy Dangerous. The objective of the game is to survive by running away from the pursuing monkeys, while avoiding the different obstacles on the path. To avoid obstacles like cracks, cliffs, mossy rocks and burning arches, the player must slide his fingers to jump, duck and turn the character. Along the way the user can collect coins and bonus items. The coins collected by the user can be spent in the game store to unlock the other characters, get new wallpapers and upgrades. Upgrades include increasing the value of the coins you collect and additional powers for your character such as the power to go through obstacles without needing to avoid them. You can also buy all this from the store using real cash.

The extremely detailed and dimensional environment of the game makes it look very realistic, as befitting a game from the famed Imangi Studios. Controls are simple and navigation is easy, the sound effects and graphics are crisp and awesome. No game is complete these days without social integration; in Temple Run, it comes in the form of tweeting your score from the game. There is even a feature that’s missing from the iOS – the ability to set the sensitivity of your gestures. The game is ad-free and released for Android in a freemium model. It is free to play and makes money through the purchase of coins by players from the game store.

Cons, as of now, include that the game is buggy and crashes multiple times. It also takes a heavy toll on the battery of the device. Hopefully, future updates will  soon sort out these bugs.

In short, an addictive adventure genre game with amazing graphics that every fan of adventure-genre games must try.

Amazon Price Check App for Android

The online retailer Amazon has always been at the forefront of bringing technology into retail in amazing ways, and they’ve done it again with Price Check, their latest comparison shopping app on Android. The app is familiar to iPhone users, having released its iOS version a year before it finally ported to Android in November 2011.

The app, in Amazon’s own words, helps you find out “if the deals you see in retail stores are really deals?” It does this by allowing you to compare the price of items you see at retail stores with Amazon prices, as well as read product descriptions, ratings and reviews. During the holiday shopping season of 2011, Amazon even offered a discount if customers used the app to check the price of items while inside a retail store.  With such promotions, it is no wonder that the app stirred up controversy with brick-and-mortar retailers alleging unfair competition.

Such apps are here to stay though. For a major purchase these days, almost everybody uses online retailers, comparison shopping sites and review sites to research alternatives, reviews and prices. With its Price Check app, Amazon takes this to the logical next step, so that even for smaller purchases and products, customers can easily research their purchases right from the store.

Price Check App allows you to search for items using barcode scan, image search, voice search, or text search. If you are at a store, simply scan in the barcode using your Android phone and Amazon will return the exact product matched. You can also take a picture of the product using your phone. Amazon uses image matching algorithms to match your product to the products in their database. You can speak the name of the product into the app and do voice search. In addition to these pretty futuristic options, there is the old-fashioned text search too, where you type in the search query and get matching products. The app will display the product descriptions, customer reviews and ratings from Amazon.com and the Amazon prices. You can log in using your Amazon.com account and securely purchase using the App.

Other features of the Price Check App are adding to the Wishlist, sharing using Facebook, Twitter, e-mail or text message. Price Sharing is another feature introduced in the latest version of the app, which further steals the thunder from brick and mortar stores. Using this feature of the app, while shopping at a retail store, you can share their prices with Amazon.

Angry Birds Space for Android Review

Angry Birds Space, the latest release of the wildly popular Angry Birds series was released on 22^nd March 2012. The new version takes the game into interstellar space for new levels of pig-smashing fun.

The storyline is that the Angry Birds are chasing a giant claw which has kidnapped their eggs. They pursue the claw into a wormhole and end up floating in a strange new galaxy, surrounded by space pigs. The game is the same – to smash the green pigs by launching the angry birds at them. However, the game is played on planets with different gravity conditions – even zero gravity. This results in a very different game from the older versions. The gravity field of each planet is marked by a blue line and you should take into account the effect the gravity will have on your bird missile’s movements. This makes for some very challenging and different puzzles. The game has 60 interstellar levels – two worlds of 30 levels each. There are 10 more levels available through free updates or purchases.

New bird characters have been introduced in the space version and some of the birds have new special powers. The red bird has a new “Uber Mask” and he can see the sling scope – the path by which he can cause maximum damage. There is the classic blue bird, black bomb bird, the huge green bird, yellow lazer bird and a new extraterrestrial bird called the Ice Bird. The ice bird has powers to freeze an area and the pigs it smashes into, making them easy to break on the next impact. There is also a Space eagle power-up, similar to the Mighty Eagle from the earlier versions. The pigs have also gained special contraptions like a robot, a UFO etc which can be destroyed only in particularly inventive ways. Other additions to the game are levels with a hidden egg, called Eggsteroids. Finding this egg unlocks an interesting hidden level. The designs of these levels seem to be inspired by classic video games like Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros., Pong etc. On finishing the level, the player is returned to the point where the egg was found.

The game remains as charming and addictive as before, yet in a fresh new avatar with new elements and gameplay mechanics. The game is free and ad-supported for Android users.  In short, the fourth installment of this global phenomenon with 700 million downloads, does not disappoint and continues the success story.

Essential Shopping Apps for Android

Smarter shopping can help you save by finding better bargains and products that give the best value for money. Here is a lineup of some of the best shopping apps for your Android phone to help you shop smarter.

Shopper by Google, is an excellent app to find information about a product you are interested in. You can scan the barcode or take a photograph of the product.  Locking in on barcodes using the barcode scanner or recognizing products from the images is quick and returns relevant results fast. The results include online and brick and mortar prices and reviews aggregated from many sites. Other features are search history, favorite products and sharing products via email. It also supports voice and text search. The app works best on CDs, DVDs, books and video games, cannot scan QR codes and may not offer very relevant local listings. ShopSavvy is another price comparison app worth checking out. Though it offers product recognition only via a barcode scanner, it has a richer database of deals and relevant local listings including mapped directions and other information on the stores. It also supports long-term price tracking of the products you are interested in with price alerts.

If you are one of those people who end up holding up the checkout line while fiddling through a thick stack of rewards and membership cards, Key Ring Rewards Card is the app for you. Scan in all your cards and recreate them on your phone using this app. When you are shopping, you can quickly locate the card on your phone and ask the cashier to scan it from the phone screen.

Out of Milk is a Shopping List, Pantry List and To-do list app. It supports multiple user-defined lists, so that you can organize your shopping. You can enter items manually, scan a barcode, or just speak your list into the app. It has a simple, intuitive interface and a lot of presets to help in entering items. It maintains the price totals of your list, and maintains shopping list and price history. You can move items between lists, and share lists by email or text message.

The Coupons App is one of the most downloaded coupon apps for Android. It saves time spent on searching for coupons as it brings the relevant deals and coupons to you, in real-time throughout the day. Browse through the list using filters and save the coupons you need. When you are out shopping, just show the phone to the cashier to redeem your coupon! Other features include comparison shopping using a barcode scanner and the ability to share coupons using Twitter, Facebook, text and email.

News Reader Apps for Android

Mornings are incomplete without a cup of coffee and your daily morning news fix. While your Android phone may not replace your morning cuppa soon, you can get the latest news on your smart phone with one of these amazing newsreader apps.

Feedly is one of the most popular news feed reader apps on Android. The default configuration has a set of RSS feeds covering a wide range of topics, which can be replaced with your Google Reader feeds.  Feedly follows a clean, minimalistic layout and gives a choice of dark or light theme. The feeds are organized into pages, four feeds in one page, with the article heading displayed prominently. You can easily search and add new feeds. Feedly also supports photo and video streams. A very useful feature in Feedly is the Instapaper and Read It Later integration. Both these services allow you to bookmark an article so that you can pick it up later, even from another device or computer. You can recommend an article on Feedly, or share it via Twitter or Facebook. Feedly is a free app, without ads.

Pulse News app stands out among news feed reader apps with its unique and attractive interface - a mosaic of card sized thumbnails. The items from a single source are arranged in a row and you can scroll up and down the page to see all the sources. The navigation is intuitive, with smooth and appealing animations. You can choose from the featured feeds, search and add feeds, import feeds from your Google Reader or integrate with Facebook to create a feed from status updates or links shared by your friends. The feeds are arranged in five pages and users are restricted to 60 feeds. You can share articles on social networks or via email.

Google Currents, which was initially dubbed as the Flipboard for Android, has turned out to be more of a RSS feed reader than a social network aggregation app. They have tied up with more than 150 partners ranging from TechCrunch to PBS to provide full-length articles in a beautiful magazine style format.  You can select from the content partners on the app, add your Google Reader feeds or search and add any public RSS feed. Google Currents is also strongly focusing on pulling in more dedicated content partners. They have created Google Currents Producer, where even bloggers and small news publishers can customize their feeds for Google Currents with customized branding, feeds and CSS. The Trending feature makes use of Google search to show the top trending stories across the world in different categories.