My Top Android Apps for 2013

Joining the bandwagon of lists that are usual for this time of the year. I also think it would be fun to see how my app usage varies over the years.

I have a Nexus 5 and Nexus 10 running the latest version of Android Kit Kat. The order of appearance has no meaning here but these apps are the ones I usually find myself  using when reaching for my devices. There are others but the usage just isn't high enough.

1) Foursquare

2) TweetLanes ( phone) / TweetCaster (tablet)

3) Google+

4) Google Maps

5) Chrome Beta

6) Hangouts

7) WhatsApp

8) Instagram

9) Google Drive

10) Gmail

11) IMDB

12) Google Now

13) GoRead

14) Flipboard (tablet only)

15) Astro File Manager

16) Waze

17) GoRead

18) Netflix ( tablet only and 100% of the time to Chromecast)

19) Flixster

The Android Moon-shot

While it is clear that some level of merging between Chrome OS and Android will & has happen , I think the other (and primary)  reason for Sundar taking over is this

Look at the pictures of the devices running Chrome OS . It is absolutely clear that this is software by Google, powered by Google while running on differently spec'd machines. There is nothing TouchWiz or customized about this.

This is the result that Android needs. While Android has grown and is available on a number of devices, the message that it is is software by Google, powered by Google has been lost along the way.  In many cases manufacturers don't even talk about Android when presenting their devices.

Im guessing that a big part of Sundars role will be to take control of the Android ecosystem and get the Nexus brand going to reclaim the message that is a Google presentation. This is +Sundar Pichai s  moon-shot in my opinion

2012 Travel

One of my resolutions from last year was to start travelling more and luckily enough in 2012 I was able to cover a lot of ground. This image from foursquare shows all the places I went to this year and I hope in 2013 I can have a lot more blue dots on the map

1) New York - primarily to see The Daily Show

2) Mumbai, India

3) San Francisco

4) Las Vegas

5) Edinburgh, Scotland