Recent reports place the number of apps in the Market at around some 30,000 in number. The same report suggests that perhaps 10,000 are crap apps, looking to make a quick profit on unsuspecting purchasers. Indeed, it is very hard to move more than a screen or two in the Market without encountering this type of application, photo apps and sound boards and themes and other collections of flotsam, not to mention all the titillating apps that seem to clog every category. Whether you like this stuff or not, one thing is certain: it makes finding something difficult and makes browsing tedious at best. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do your app browsing from the desktop AND filter out the crap at the same time, like, well… iTunes? I have been playing with an application for the last few weeks that attempts to do just that for the Android world.
AppBrain Market Sync
AppBrain from Swiss CodeMonkeys is an attempt to allow you to choose and manage your applications both on the PC and on the device. Understanding that it cannot really replace the Market, it nevertheless does the best job to date of helping you to do what can be an enjoyable or agonizing job, depending on your mood, as well as find and remove applications from your device, but with a MUCH bigger view on your PC. This is done both by the website, used by a PC and by an application on the Android device. The application on the device allows you to communicate what applications you have to the AppBrain site, and then allows you to action on those apps or new ones back on the handset. Nothing is ever done automatically, and you have full control of the process along the way.
Once you create an account, you can browse through all the apps in the Market and see if there is something that interests you. From your device, you can sync your currently loaded apps. Between the two, AppBrain will start to suggest applications that might be of interest. Or, you can just choose a category or see what’s new.
In the graphic, you can see the categories that you can browse boxed in red, but the part I really adore are those areas boxed in light blue. AppBrain has an algorithm that it uses to calculate the ‘quality’ of an application, based on publisher, name, etc. It is pretty accurate and in the graphic those that it deems to be probable ‘crap’ are grayed out. Now, if you really want to see them, you can. But, if like the rest of us you are tired of the constant bombardment of crap, feel free to ignore!
If I take a look at an app, I will be presented with the data found in the Market, including some history. I can put this app on a list to just watch, or I can also choose to install it. Additionally, this screen give me a view of other apps that are similar, so it makes it easy to find alternative if this one doesn’t quite fit my need. This view doesn’t have the space to show it, but all the Market comments are also available for review. If I choose to install, it will then show the application as pending install.
This is a view of what your synced applications from the device looks like. Please note that this can only show what applications you have currently loaded, so it is not totally accurate with cost, etc. However, it is a great way to see what you have and you can sort this list several ways. In the same way that you can have an install pending, you can also delete apps and it will pass that list to the device application for your review. Nice way to clean up!
AppBrain on the Android Device
This is the main screen to the AppBrain app and after you login to your AppBrain account you can sync your app list to the AppBrain website.
If you have changes pending from your actions on the website, you will see them here. If you choose to install one of the pending apps, you tap it and it will take you directly to that app in the Market, were you can still look thing over and decide yes/no. You can cancel these pending changes at any time, but this is a great way to remind you of what you intended to do.
You can see the same App recommendations on the device that you can see on the website.
Recommendation
I believe that AppBrain is a great tool to help you choose and manage your Android applications. However, it is not an end-all be-all for that purpose. It cannot be. This functionality needs to come from Google. For example, I was fairly surprised to find out that I already own about 70% of the top recommended apps for me. I just don’t have them loaded at this point in time. If I don’t use an app every day, but there may be a time when I need it for a specific purpose, I back it up to my SDCard for reloading as needed. I have not been very disciplined about syncing AppBrain before and after I make changes like this. The apps are missing from the list now, but I have a suspicion that it will probably capture them if I were more dedicated. Another point: security. Now, I don’t think that it is that big a deal if people know what apps I have loaded, but you never know. AppBrain website allows you to make your app list Public or Private. I chose not to publish mine to the world.
AppBrain Market Sync is the number one way that I now look for apps to fulfill a specific purpose, or just to browse to see what is available. Give it a try and let us know how you like it. Enjoy!