iPhones. iPads. Android. Windows Phone 7. We've updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out!
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The end of the month is here, and that means it's time to do a little housekeeping on our list of the absolute best iPhone apps . Who will be inducted?
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My Secret Folder: My Secret Folder's icon looks like an iOS Folder but it's actually a private, passcode enabled app that stores pictures, movies, notes, contacts and a bunch of things you don't want people to see. It even has a porn mode browser! Oh and f someone accidentally opened the app, the app will snap a picture of the culprit and keep it on file for when you return. $1
Whale Trail: You play a flying whale that dodges storm clouds and collect bubbles. It's as addicting as Tiny Wings and maybe, possibly even better looking. The game is GORGEOUSLY cute. Try it out for a buck.
Swackett: A pretty hilarious weather app, it takes the weather data and then shows you what people wear in accordance to the weather. Cold? Winter coats and hats and boots. Hot and sunny? Shorts and shades with a side of suntan lotion. It looks pretty well designed and even includes an AccuWeather "Real Feel" temperature too.
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nations: Modern Combat 3 is a beyond awesome first person shooter game for your iOS device. There's 13 missions that take you from LA to Pakistan, a good story and various type of gameplay modes too (escort, destroy, helicopter, etc.) You can even play multiplayer with 12 other people. It's like Call of Duty but for your phone. $7
Find My Friends: Find My Friends, Apple's your-friends-are-now-live-dots-on-a-map, is here. The new location service eschews boring check-ins for convenient (and creepy) continuous sharing of your location. The app keeps track of where all your friends (opt-in, obvi) are in real time, which is kind of scary yet kind of exciting at the same time.
Movie Trailers: Apple's "iTunes Movie Trailers" app is one hell of a misnomer: it doesn't just beam down the giant library of trailers we love. The new app lets you buy tickets, find nearby theaters, and chart film releases on a calendar. I'm using this over other movie finding apps now. Free
Scribblenauts Remix: Scribblenauts is impressive as it was on the DS, you write a noun into the game and then the object you wrote appears in the game where you can use it or if it has half a brain (like an animal), will start playing around in the world too. 40 levels and non stop fun. So good. $5
A pretty great month of apps for Android, we have a Siri clone in Jeannie, some old forgotten favorites in PowerAMP and WidgetLocker Lockscreen and a lot more.
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Jeannie: A voice control app for Android that can actually hold a Siri-esque conversation with you. You can send emails, play music, search the web, set alarms, hear jokes, find news and more with Jeannie. There's a ton of features here, like controlling apps, playing music and videos, translating text or words, controlling volume, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
SwipePad: SwipePad is a better app switcher for your Android phone. Instead of holding down the home button to launch your recent apps, SwipePad uses hotspots-corners and edges of your phone's screen-to trigger a new 'pad'. Just drag your finger from a hotspot to the middle of the screen and the app switcher will pop up. Like adding another layer to your phone. Free
Winamp: Ah, Winamp. The good ol' days of music playing awesomesauce. Now, Winamp for Android (which has been available for some time) is updated to wirelessly sync their music and videos with the Mac. There's also an MP3 of the day and a premium version with even more features.
Mobo Task Killer: If you want to have control over your Android phone, Mobo Task Killer does everything you'd want without being too overwhelming. There's an auto-optimize feature that optimizes your phone's memory, one click optimization to free up memory, a memory meter to show where your phone's memory is currently at, a task killer and a lot more. It kills tasks. And it's actually pretty to look at too.
Guns'n'Glory WW2: A tower defense game that takes place in cartoony World War II. You can play as the US or even Axis Germany and fight through 12 different levels with all the strategy of placing key units along the lines. Tanks, soldiers, everything is here to lose yourself for hours and hours.
WidgetLocker Lockscreen: WidgetLocker Lockscreen makes it dead easy to customize your lock screen to do whatever you want. Add widgets, app shortcuts, slick slider shortcuts (slide to take a picture, etc.) and more are added to your lockscreen so you can quickly do whatever you want without unlocking your phone. If you use Android, this must be on your phone.
PowerAMP Music Player: It's easily the most powerful music player for Android. PowerAMP plays every file from here to the Sun, you can EQ music, crossfade, tweak bass and treble and so much more. Four slick widgets, lockscreen support and all the themes you'd want. So if you listen to music, get PowerAMP.
The headliner this month for iPad apps is Facebook. Finally! Other apps like My Secret folder and Find My Friends add their awesomesauce too.
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Facebook: Facebook on the iPad! Finally. The left-hand column makes way for simple navigation of the News Feed, Photos, Messages, Groups, Apps, Settings, Chat and more. Facebook Photos and games on the iPad look especially good because they can both go full screen. There's also AirPlay for Facebook videos as well.
iTunes Movie Trailers: Movie Trailers: Apple's "iTunes Movie Trailers" app is one hell of a misnomer: it doesn't just beam down the giant library of trailers we love. The new app lets you buy tickets, find nearby theaters, and chart film releases on a calendar. I'm using this over other movie finding apps now. Free
Find My Friends: Find My Friends, Apple's your-friends-are-now-live-dots-on-a-map, is here. The new location service eschews boring check-ins for convenient (and creepy) continuous sharing of your location. The app keeps track of where all your friends (opt-in, obvi) are in real time, which is kind of scary yet kind of exciting at the same time.
NHL Gamecenter: It's the best way to keep track of the NHL season with live scores for every game, tv listings, standings, news articles, etc. If you upgrade to the premium Gamecenter app than you'll get live radio broadcasts, video highlights and more, more videos. If you have a GameCenter Live subscription, you can watch all the hockey games on your iPad too.
My Secret Folder: My Secret Folder's icon looks like an iOS Folder but is actually a private, passcode enabled app that stores pictures, movies, notes, contacts and a bunch of things you don't want people to accidentally see. It even has a porn mode browser! But probably best of all is if someone accidentally opened the app, the app will snap a picture of the culprit and keep it on file for when you return. $1
SoundCloud: SoundCloud is pretty much like a streaming music player that works with AirPlay. New tracks come through in a Twitter-like feed, which is populated by accounts you follow. This could be a favorite artist or label, a blog or magazine, or just a friend and a lot more. It looks perfect for a Saturday spent on the couch catching up with all the tracks I bookmarked throughout the week.
DirecTV: Hooray! DirecTV just updated its iPad app with the ability to stream live TV. You have to be connected to the same network as your DirecTV Plus HD DVR but that's okay cause it turns your iPad into another TV. The channels you can watch with the DirecTV app are actually pretty great too.
Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nations: Modern Combat 3 is a beyond awesome first person shooter game for your iOS device. There's 13 missions that take you from LA to Pakistan, a good story and various type of gameplay modes too (escort, destroy, helicopter, etc.) You can even play multiplayer with 12 other people. It's like Call of Duty but for your phone. $7
Real Racing 2 HD: Real Racing 2 got a new update for iOS 5 that's actually pretty sweet: you can play the game wirelessly on your TV with AirPlay and even challenge friends to a multiplayer race with Party Play. Ah-mazing.
It's been a pretty busy fes months for Windows Phone 7 as Mango was recently released and everyone is updating their apps to take advantage of its new hawtness. Make sure you update your apps as you jump to 7.5 and download these new apps that've joined the best WP7 apps list!
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Gchat: Even if you're on Windows Phone, Google Talk is still one of the bestest IM services to use. Gchat for Windows Phone is a really great app that combines the beauty of Winpho with the utility of Google. You get push notifications, the ability to pin contacts as secondary tiles and more.
GoodMovie: GoodMovie is a film buff's dream app—it taps into Rotten Tomatoes, Bing, YouTube and Wikipedia to give you all the information you'd want to learn about a movie. That means reviews, news, trailers and more all packaged in a sweet tile-y layout that's absolutely a joy to use.
BBC News: It's the BBC! Keep up to date with the world's news with their Windows Phone apps which has been re-built for Mango. The app also has support for push notifications and live tiles.
CleverPhoto: A basic photo editor that let's you take control of the pictures you take. The normal features (like crop, rotate, flip) are all there along with brightness and contrast controls. What's even better is that you can tack on a filter and add other artistic effects to the snappies you've taken.
Easy Ring: Want a ringtone? Of course you do! EasyRing makes it incredibly easy to set up a ringtone on your snazzy Windows Phone by giving you a database of mp3 files to choose from. A few clicks and your ring ring becomes a boom ba boom. Also! The app even acts as a music player too.
Cool Tools: A digital toolbox worth of apps. Like an all-in-one sort of deal, you get a stopwatch, countdown, flashlight, ruler, accelrometer, soundcheck, converter, tip calculator and more. Get this app to get more out of your Windows Phone.
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