The first 8 Android apps on your Nexus One

So, my ‘Google phone’, the Nexus One, arrived and has already busted a whole afternoon of non-work, just as it promised. The good stuff is really good: crisp OLED screen, super-fast 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. Battery life sucks, of course, though turning off the pointless ‘active wallpaper’ helps.

I love the fact that Google integration is just there. No syncing with the desktop, or plugging into the laptop. Everything is there: contacts, Gmail, calendar, the lot. Admittedly no one has yet rushed up to me and spluttered ‘OMFG is that a Nexus One?‘. But it still feels like they might, at any moment.

Anyway, this isn’t a Nexus One review (plenty elsewhere), but a selection of recommended apps from the Android Market for anyone new to the phone or operating system. Most I’ve enjoyed so far have been free, but for any you need to buy, Google Checkout is pretty painless.

Evernote; free

A (literal) no-brainer this one. Evernote’s memory enhancing power to store, sift and find, and then access anywhere, stuff I’d long forgotten is fully integrated into my work as a travel writer specializing in Italy. The app also lets me record audio notes from the phone mic right into my Evernote folders. Essential.

Spotify; free (with £10/month Spotify Premium subscription)

I liked the Symbian app on my Nokia N95 marginally better than the Touch app I use in the dock at home. The Android version is up there too. Note: if you’re on any kind of limited data package, even unlimited ‘fair use’, remember not to stream music over 3G: go into settings and check ‘Sync over Wi-Fi, and uncheck ‘Sync over 3G’. You can select playlists to store locally and access offline, iPod style.

Listen; free

One of the major criticisms of Android is that it doesn’t (yet) have an integrated media player like iTunes. As a Spotify subscriber, not accessing music that I ‘own’ is no big deal, but I do need access to my podcasts, and an easy way to subscribe. So far, I’m liking this.

Wikitude; free

The original augmented-reality-meets-Wikipedia Android app has just updated to version 4. The upgrade promises to supplement the Wikipedia information with ‘overlays’ from the likes of Google Local Search and YouTube.

Google Goggles; free

Image recognition with a straight link to Google search results for whatever you’re pointing the phone’s camera at. Works well with landmarks and logos; not so with more abstract typologies. Rumour is that face recognition is already possible, but they switched it off to allay privacy concerns. I haven’t tested in on anything more taxing than a barcode yet, but this has serious potential.

Feedr; $0.99

I’ve been really rotten at keeping track of my RSS feeds in the last year or so, so I’m hoping this (recommended on TWiG) will sort me out. Having a nice screen to read on is only going to help. If you already use Google Reader, this syncs without any mess.

Seesmic; free

This looks like the best Android Twitter app at the moment. I like the way I can drill down right through conversations—a function that works better here than the occasionally random results that Tweetdeck throws at my desktop.

Google Sky Map; free

I can always spot Orion at night, but that’s about it. No more, however: cunning use of GPS, the compass and a whole bunch of celestial maps means I just point the phone’s camera at the sky and up pop the names of the major stars, planets and constellations. Exactly the kind of totally pointless, but absolutely brilliant thing mobile apps were invented for.

I’m always on the lookout for new killer apps, so if you have any suggestions, do share them below.