40+ Best Android Apps & Android Games: July 2012

by Antonio Wells Aug 2, 2012 8:14 AM – 2 Comments

As if we didn’t keep you busy enough downloading more than 200 apps, we’re back throwing more than 40 of the best Android apps & Android games our review ninjas here at AndroidTapp thoroughly reviewed in July 2012! They all are vetted for superior quality and we only list apps rated 4.0 and higher out of a 5.0 star scale. Download or buy these top apps with convenient one-click tools below:

Shop our NEW Android App Store and Save on some of these Top Titles!

Best Android apps reviewed July 1, 2012 – July 31, 2012.

5.0 Stars

Interactive Telling Time HD, a great app to teach children how to tell time! Free, ~$1.99 Interactive Telling Time HD is an award winning educational app for teaching kids how to tell the time. Featuring several different activities that both educate and challenge children, it’s a genuinely fun app that feels more like a game. My youngest daughter loves this app and really enjoys trying out all the different options. If you have younger children, this is definitely an app to check out.

4.9 Stars

GuidePal City Guides – ultimate travel companion app Free GuidePal City Guides is the ultimate travel companion for any city-break or vacation. The app features in-depth tourist information for dozens of cities worldwide and wraps it all up in a beautiful and interactive user interface. From finding the perfect restaurant to using the in-built augmented reality feature when you arrive in the city, the app is rammed with cool features and useful information. If you are a frequent traveller, or about to embark on a holiday to any of the cities listed, this is a must-have app.

4.8 Stars

Mini Motor Racing – stunning RC-style 3D race car game with Multi-player support $1.99 Mini Motor Racing is a gorgeous 3D racing game available on both Android and iOS. Race cute cars around all manner of beautifully designed tracks, fire up with nitrous boosts and complete career mode to become the best driver out there! The game even lets you compete in multiplayer games over WiFi. Pedal to the metal and read on for more details!

Swing Shot, a crazy multi-player battle game… sling & knock opponent off the swing! Free, plus Optional In-app Purchases Swing Shot is a crazy multi-player battle game featuring jungle animals and all manner of throw-able objects. It’s part physics-based arcade game and part turn-based online multi-player. However, trying to pigeon-hole Swing Shot isn’t easy, it’s quite unlike anything you might have played before! Read on for more explanation and review.

Solid Explorer – slick looking Android file manager app loaded with features Free Solid Explorer is a fully featured file explorer application for your Android device. While most file manager look and feel relatively boring, Solid Explorer provides a richer experience without losing functionality. The app takes on some of the slick ‘Holo’ design principals so looks great as an app to use with Ice Cream Sandwich or Jellybean. Let’s face it, file explorers rarely come along looking this sexy.

Power Controls – quick access to Android settings from home screen widget plus they can be customized Free Power Controls is an advanced, customisable power control widget for Android homescreens. It looks good, is simple to use, comes with lots of options and can be customized to fit in with any homescreen configuration or theme.

4.7 Stars

Forever Drive – addictive futuristic 3D racing game, create & contribute your own race tracks! Free, plus In-App Purchases Forever Drive is a futuristic 3D racing game. It features lush, buttery visuals and addictive gameplay. The game includes tracks created by community members which flow into one another continually. In addition to all the racing activities, you can also create your own tracks and contribute!

MKCommander (File Manager). A feature-rich & Powerful app! Free MKCommander is a powerful and feature-rich file manager application for Android devices. Including lots of customisations, in-depth file access and even a media player, MKCommander is certainly one of the most detailed file explorer applications available in the Google Play Store.

Weather Flow – make your Android look awesome with this Weather app! $1.99 Weather Flow is a dedicated weather app for your Android device. Featuring a gorgeous ICS-inspired design and combining great visuals and customisation options with lots of handy information and forecasts, it has a growing army of fans on the Google Play Store and I am one of them. Let me explain why…

4.6 Stars

SmyleSafe: Kids Safe Browser – web & app filter controls for Android (Apps for Parents) Free 14 day trial, then $4.99 for the full version SmyleSafe is a useful tool if you want to govern your child’s Internet access via their smartphone. While there are various controls you can install on your kids laptop or personal computer to safeguard against them stumbling upon something they shouldn’t while surfing, there are few solutions for smartphones. Not only this, SmyleSafe provides a range of handy additional features including location tracking and an online dashboard.

Ivideon Surveillance – video surveillance system you can monitor from your Android device Free Ivideon Surveillance is a simple home security system you can access on your Android device. Coming with motion detector sensors and the ability to stream surveillance video direct to your mobile device, the app is also free and remarkably easy to set up and configure.

PicFrame – frame & collage multiple photos into one $0.99 PicFrame is a cool app that lets you create neat frames for your photographs. Incorporate up to 5 pictures at a time in a customisable app that gives you lots of control over the frames; rounded edges, thickness, patterns, colour and the ability to adjust the picture position. You can choose between 36 different frames and the app comes with a variety of ratios. All-in-all it’s a brilliant app for giving the pictures you share a fresh and organised look.

Pocket Planets – a brilliantly geeky app to explore the galaxy in cool 3D Free, ~$2.99 for full version Pocket Planets is a brilliantly geeky app that allows you to explore the galaxy from your Android device. Featuring rich visuals and jam-packed with lots of facts and information, it’s the perfect application for the amateur astronomer, regardless of age.

4.5 Stars

TrackID – this app 'listens' to music & identifies the track for you! Free TrackID is a music identification service from none other than Sony. While there are quite a few similar apps already in the Google Play Store such as Shazam and SoundHound, plus Google’s new Jelly Bean service Google Ear. However, it’s arguably still worth checking out the offering from Sony seeing as they invented the Walkman!

Birds on a Wire – cute & addictive Zuma style arcade puzzle game $0.99 Birds on a Wire is a Zuma style arcade puzzler where your goal is to clear the cute and colorful birds on the face-paced wire of the same color group to free them. There are tons of fun levels, plenty of power-ups, a few gaming modes, plus it’s quite addictive!

Flick Golf Extreme! Not putting on 'the green' but from helicopters, battleships & oil rigs! $0.99 Flick Golf Extreme is a golf game with a difference. Instead of teeing off on lush green fairways and playing 18 holes in the beautiful countryside, Flick Golf Extreme sees you taking shots from a moving helicopter, over canals, tower blocks and ravines. Easy to play, hard to master, the game is also highly addictive and fun.

BBC Olympics – follow the London 2012 Olympics via this Android app! Free BBC Olympics is the official app of the UK broadcaster of the Olympic games, which, at the time of writing, starts in just a few days. The app comes in two versions; one for the UK and an international version. From what I can see the only real difference is that the UK version is able to offer live streaming of events. So, if you’re gearing up for this years games, it’s a great app to follow the action and staying up to date with medals, events, athletes and news.

QUICK for eBay & Craigslist – easily Buy & Sell across multiple marketplaces from your phone Free QUICK for eBay & Craigslist is a slick shopping application for buying and selling across multiple online platforms. The focus here is to make selling items really easy and buying things a more streamlined experience. The app comes with a few other cool features, which I’ll expand on below…

Pocket Pond 2 – build relaxing & beautiful Koi ponds Free, plus In-App Purchases Pocket Pond 2 is a soothing Tamagotchi-style game where you must build and flourish beautiful ponds filled with Koi and other complimenting aquatic life.

Evry'U – social app for people looking to make friends, chat & flirt Free Evry’U is a mini social network and discovery tool. The app lets you find new friends, share pictures and messages, search users based on different criteria and, as the app suggests, ‘flirt without exposing your identity’. The app is very polished and responsive, making it easy for people to try it out.

4.4 Stars

aCar – a Feature Packed Car Maintenance Application Free, $5.99 aCar is an an all-in-one application to track and manage your car: maintenance, fill-ups, fuel mileage, expenses, and business trips for your vehicle.

Bridge Constructor – awesome bridge building puzzle game! Free, $1.79 Bridge Constructor puts you on the island nation of Camatuga, they’ve suffered from massive earthquakes and it’s your job to rebuild the bridges. You must connect the canals using various building materials, get vehicles safely across, but restricted by your budget. Check out this brain teaser in this full review!

Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time! An HD zombie shoot 'em up game Free, plus In-app Incentives Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time is a slick arcade game which pits you against an oncoming hordes of crazy time-travelling zombies. With dashes of humour, gorgeous cartoon graphics and 31 different missions, it’s a cute title with lots of longevity.

Saving Yello – Angry Birds meets Finding Nemo! Free, $0.99 for the Full Version Yello the goldfish often finds himself in precarious situations, most notably, those that drop him outside his bowl! Literally like a fish out of water, Yellos is as uncomfortable as he can get, and it’s your job to save him! Saving Yello blends physics-based gameplay with Angry Birds-esce destruction across loads of challenging levels.

Met Office Weather Application – most accurate weather app for the UK Free Met Office Weather Application is the official app of the UK’s national weather service. It features highly accurate weather info, maps, supports multiple locations and comes with a couple of handy widgets. While the UK continues to suffer the wettest, ugliest and most dismal summer ‘since records began’, this app can at least provide some comfort in that it’s about as precise with its predictions as you can get.

Evi – cool virtual assistant app to ask your Android questions & get answers! Free Evi is a cool voice search application that’s available right now in the Google Play Store. While most users have watched videos of Google Now but know deep down their carrier/manufacturer won’t be updating your device any time soon, virtual assistants and other artificial intelligence apps continue to be popular. Evi is awesome at answering questions and, while it doesn’t yet open apps for you, it can answer lots of questions and has excellent voice recognition (for an example, I’ve tested this while suffering from a cold and it’s understood me 95% of the time!) It’s completely free and well worth checking out.

4.3 Stars

aButterfly Fantasia Live Wallpaper is a beautiful addition to your Android home screen Free, $1.30 aButterfly Fantasia Live Wallpaper brings your Android device’s wallpaper to breathtaking life with fluttering, lit-from-within butterflies. These colorful, translucent little lovelies flit here and there across your screen, delivering smiles with their detailed, elegant animation.

Ringtonium – make your own ringtones for your Android! Free, $1.99 Ringtonium is a gorgeous ringtone creator and, after being hugely popular on iOS, is now available on Android. Featuring a beautiful user interface and accurate sound file cutting, it’s the perfect app for creating your own customised ringtones.

Tweet Lanes – the new ICS inspired Twitter app on the Android block Free Tweet Lanes is a new Twitter client for Android that brings in a slick Ice Cream Sandwich thematic, loads of options and some very cool extra features. If you love Twitter, but are left feeling cold with the official client, this is a great option if you like the ICS design. The app is still in beta but is very stable and works brilliantly.

SushiChop – slice & dice flying fish to become 'SushiMaster' in this game Free, plus In-App Purchases SushiChop is a new take on the familiar ‘Fruit Ninja’ genre where your finger becomes a razor sharp knife, this time tasked with chopping fish in a sushi restaurant. It’s simple to play initially, but both addictive and challenging as the game progresses.

HeadWar is a Manga-style gem game of strategy Free, $0.99 for full version HeadWar is a cunning strategy game that mixes Manga-style visuals and plot with traditional collect-three-of-a-kind gameplay- akin to the likes of Bejeweled. As with other such games, it’s very addictive and challenging. Definitely give it a look if you enjoy the brain and puzzle genre.

4.1 Stars

DEAD TRIGGER – HD first-person shooter game, a Zombie massacre! $0.99, Plus In-app Purchases DEAD TRIGGER is an insane first person zombie shooter that makes you double-take whether it is a mobile game and not on a PS3 or Xbox. You’re in a post apocalyptic world where mindless zombies roam the lands and it’s your job to earn cash, find ammo and supplies and shoot your way to safety. Game developers, MADFINGER Games, really shines in the 3D graphics department, but there’s a few quirks in the game that may put some off. Explore this in-depth app review of DEAD TRIGGER with me to see exactly why and make your own decision!

Paperland Live Wallpaper – check this cool & calm LWP background to personalize your Android Free, $0.99 for the Pro version Paperland Live Wallpaper is a rich and fantastic-looking live wallpaper for your Android device. It includes lots of settings, themes and scenes making it one of the most customisable wallpapers available. If you like original wallpapers, this is a brilliant app for personalising your experience.

Ski Safari – what does animals, avalanches, high speed skiing & stunts make? $0.99 Ski Safari is a blisteringly paced skiing game that has found it’s way to Android after success on iOS. Speed your way down the mountain keeping ahead of the avalanche. Ride penguins and Yeti’s perform flips, collect coins and score points in this smooth and exciting racing game.

4.0 Stars

Goal Defense – tower defense game of Olympic-sport proportions! Free, plus In-App Purchases Goal Defense is a tower defense game and the foes are athletes from a wide range of Olympic sports: baseball, football, bowling, skiing, and much more. This fun and zany variant of the gaming genre may look cute but can be quite the challenge as your goal is to stop hordes of players from reaching your trophy goal. Can you use enough strategy, speed and skill to stop them? Learn more in this app review!

Strikefleet Omega – epic space blaster game! Free, plus In-app Purchases Strikefleet Omega is a superbly designed space strategy game for your Android. Blast aliens to smithereens in this epic shooter which places you has commander of a dynamic space fleet. Elements of gameplay hint at tower defense titles, but also real-time strategy games such as Archipelago and GalaxIR. If you like games slick, challenging and full of excitement, definitely give Strikefleet Omega a look.

HomeFinder.com Real Estate is a great way to start your property search Free HomeFinder.com Real Estate has millions of real estate listings. It taps into your GPS to locate homes for sale and apartments for rent around you. And if you have a HomeFinder.com account, you can sync your searches to browse from phone, tablet or computer.

Restaurant.com – browse & buy restaurant deals from your Android Free Restaurant.com lets you connect to your account, browse and buy deals to local restaurants directly on your Android device.

True Weather, Waterfalls a is live wallpaper with stunning scenery & forecasts $3.79 True Weather, Waterfalls lets you personalize your Android by showing stunning waterfalls based on your season, time of day, location and gives the weather forecast in an Android live wallpaper.

SudokuPDQ – Suduko with a twist, fast-paced multi-player competition Free SudokuPDQ mashes up the concept of competitive online multi-player gaming with brain-bending Sudoku. Race against other players to solve the puzzle and win virtual cash. Is this new twist on the age-old leisurely game enough to download? Learn more in our in-depth app review.

Drop Block – challenging & fun Tetris-like game Free, $1.00 Drop Block involves a colored block moving left/right on the top of the screen towards progressing towards the bottom, your goal is to use speed and accuracy to drop the block and line up three or more of the same colors to remove that set. A bit like old school Tetris by nature, but with a different twist, let’s check out more in the review!

Epidemic – strategy game for Android, grow your deadly virus & crush humanity (insert evil laughter!) ~$1.49 Epidemic is a mostly text based game where you try to wipe out the human race. Shape a virus that infects and kills as many as possible in this apocalyptic strategy game. You’ve probably fought to contain viruses in any number of zombie-related games, so why not try life on the other side by trying to wipe out every last human? (insert evil laugh here)

Nothing under 4 stars jack!

Tags: Android App Reviews, Android Apps, Androidtapp.com Android App Review, Best Android Apps, Best Android Games

Categorised in: Android Advice, Apps Blog, Featured, News

2 Comments

By Hunter on August 2, 2012 at 8:58 pm:

Thanks for the great list of apps, Antonio. It seems like there were a lot of great apps released this month. I already have Power Controls and it is the best system management widget I have ever found. I really like the look of that Pocket Pond 2 and I think I will have to give it a shot. While I am not sure as to when it came out, I did recently discover an app that I would like to recommend. It is called DISH Remote Access and I use it to watch TV and DVR recordings almost everywhere I go. It has come in super handy recently as my new position with DISH requires that I travel all over the country. I would go insane sitting in all of those airports without a little entertainment.

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By Andrey Fidrya on November 7, 2012 at 3:13 am:

Shape Puzzle is a newly released learning Android game for kids – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=biz.ideus.puzzler

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