Anyone who knows me knows I like to gamble from time to time. nothing major, just a few trips a year to a casino for some blackjack or poker. I also like to hold small poker games at my house. Naturally, when looking for games on Android to pass the time, I look for casino games easy to play, you can stop and start them whenever, and just maybe they would help improve my blackjack and hold ‘em skills.

There are a ton of poker and blackjack apps out there, so most of the apps here will fall under one of those two categories, but I also included some table games and slot apps.

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Click on the Green Application Name to Download

 

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Live Hold ‘Em Poker Pro

Price: Free

This is my favorite poker app of the lot. You can select from a number of several tables, with blinds anywhere from 1 and 2 to 20K and 40K. You can also play in two tournament style games: "Sit and Go" which appears to be a regular style Texas Hold ‘Em tournament; and "Shootou" which is a three round tournament, with a different buy-in for each round.

You can also add people to your friends lists, and join in on games they are playing. The app does require a login, and you can either create a new username and password, or you can link it to your Facebook account.

WSOP Hold ‘Em Legend

Price: $4.99

Visually, there is a lot going on with this app. Animations, an circular menu and a ton of graphics that need to be downloaded the first time you boot up the app. You can play a couple of different types of Hold ‘Em games, but they all seem to be against computers. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see a way to play other people without using OpenFeint.

Even using OpenFeint, it looks like you need to have other friends online to play the game, you cannot play random people. While the app does look nice.

Zynga Poker

Price: Free

Zynga is a company that  makes a bunch of games on a bunch of different platforms, and have brought you hits like Farmville and Mafia Wars, so its no surprise that you need a Facebook account to play Zynga Poker. I’m generally against stuff like this because I don’t want everything I do being associated with my Facebook account.

But if we look past that, this is actually a pretty nice app. You play against real people and your Facebook friends can gift chips to you . However, one feature I was looking for was a list of my Facebook friends that also had this game, which I could not find. I would really like to see that functionality added to this app so I could start tables exclusively for my friends. Of all the poker apps, I would say this one has the most potential.

Texas Poker

Price: Free

I became acquainted with this app for iOS and enjoyed it. You can register or play as a Guest, and you can add or search friends to see where they are playing, as well as select from a large number of tables to play on. You can also press "Play Now" to join a random table. As far as I can tell, all of the tables have real people, not bots.

 

Real BlackJack

Price: Free

Real BlackJack is my favorite BlackJack app for Android. Its simple, serving as a teacher for those who are just beginning. Its just you against the dealer, you can to surrender, split, double down, hit, and stand. There’s also an advice button that tells you what it thinks you should do, a basic strategy sheet, and some card counting methods. Its a full featured app for a relatively simple game.

Ultimate BlackJack 3D

Price: Free

Compared to Real BlackJack, I am not a big fan of this app. It forces landscape mode, and has pretty distracting voices and music on by default. You can go to the Settings to turn them off, but for the voices you have to uncheck each option individually. While the app does offer a lot of customization options in settings, I feel like it’s overkill for a Blackjack app.

As far as gameplay goes, things seem a little cramped and the interface is not as intuitive as Real BlackJack. To hit, you tap the deck, to stay you tap just about anywhere else. If you want to split or double down, you need to press the Menu key. Some more thought about the interface would have allowed these functions to be placed somewhere on the screen instead of in a secondary menu.

The graphics, while pretty neat in their technical ability, are really annoying as far as UX goes. If the phone is not stationary, the angle of everything moves. This makes for a very unenjoyable playing experience.

Live BlackJack

Price: Free

The interface for Live BlackJack is similar to Real BlackJack, and is pretty easy to use. Like Live Hold ‘Em, you have to log in to play. However, you cannot use the same login for both apps, which seemed a little strange to me. You can also opt to use Facebook to log in.

The app also has an option to play with friends, but that just displays a "Coming Soon" message. Right now, it looks like you can only play the dealer.

Astraware Casino (Tutorial & Game)

Price: $1.94

Astraware Casino is an 11-in-1 casino games app and includes Texas Hold Em, Blackjack, slots, craps, and more. The games are actually pretty cool: they are easy to use, there is a how-to for each game, and the variety can keep you busy for a while. Plus, if you are looking to learn any games, this app is worth the $2 as it shows you how to play.

The graphics can be a little strange sometimes you will see some pixelation and the screen goes blank when you are in the lobby. This does not seem to happen during gameplay.

 

Roulette Royale

Price: Free

This roundup would not be complete without a Roulette app, but I do not think this is the best one the Android Market has to offer. The graphics are nice and the gameplay is fine, but the app has a bunch of built in sounds and speech that you cannot turn off because there are no settings.

That being said, this may be the best free one out there. The other (free) Roulette apps I tried were either buggy or had some features I did not really appreciate, like requiring Facebook to use the app.

 

Many Android developers do not give enough attention to user interface and fail miserably in terms of quality of design and usability features. This article will be more than just a round up and highlight the key features that will help every news based App to become a success. I have omitted some Apps previously reviewed on this site like News Republic and Read it later Pro.

1. Feedly (Free)

Feedly is obviously the number one on this list as it clearly stands out from the crowd by its "out of the box" layout with minimal text based article listings and cute little icons. Powered by Google Reader, Twitter, Instapaper and Read It Later, it is clearly the best news feed reader out there.

Feedly comes in both light and dark versions. The opening page has nice big title and lots of white space that is pleasing to the eye. When you tap the header bar you get a nice scrolling options drop down menu with a pre-populated list of useful RSS feed sources. If you sign in to Google Reader then this list will be replaced by your Google Reader settings. I am really digging the minimal style of article lists with thumbnails. The icons in the top bar are self explanatory and users have no difficulty in using them. Articles are displayed with minimal text based layout by default but users can always switch to web view.

The image gallery is excellent and has two styles depending on the source feed with titles overlaid. I have checked various multimedia RSS feeds and found the experience exhilarating. Vimeo or Youtube feeds work the best.

2. Pulse News (Free)

Our close runner up to the top position is Pulse News App. True to its description, Pulse takes your favorite websites including Facebook and transforms them into a colorful and interactive mosaic. It is also my favorite App for daily use. The developers clearly made a remarkable feat by redefining the “listview” for articles; instead of a vertical scrolling list we find a very convenient horizontal scrolling news feed with thumbnails. The smooth transitions and animated swipes make it an enjoyable experience.

When you first open the Pulse News App, you will find an elegant handwritten instructions panel to add source feeds. The latest update comes with five main pages (1) or containers to hold the news feeds. Just like Feedly there is a pre-populated list of sources. For example when you click on Technology (2) from the Top page it will instantly add “Top Stories in Technology” to that page (3). You can swipe left or right on each row (4) to see current and previous articles. Clicking on the thumbnail will move the entire row down, exposing the article view.

3. CNN (Free) 

CNN for Android Phone is definitely a smarter, sleeker way to experience a world of news and insights. I was really impressed by the dark theme and multimedia content (2). If you are someone who wants breaking news with video content then this App is a must to download. The dashboard icon (1) is a useful shortcut to headlines (3),  iReport (4)  and other options.

 

4. CNET (Free)

CNET News app delivers award-winning coverage of the consumer technology world and a must download for every tech savvy person out there. The best features are image galleries and video content. The bad part is many users complain that there are too many ads. But nevertheless it is a well designed app and deserves to be on this list.

5. MSNBC (Free)

MSNBC is a very popular news source, backed by Microsoft, with rich multimedia content. The MSNBC app for Android meets our expectations and provide diverse and engaging articles and related videos. I really love the flower petal (or is it two peacocks?) navigation to various sections of the news.

The Zumobi Network has many similar apps in the Android Market and worth checking it out. My only complain is the huge logo in the bottom and the amount of ads. This app made this list purely because of the aesthetics and nice icons. For controlling instant updates you need to download another app called Airmail which i think is an unnecessary step.

6. USA Today (Free)

I have been using USA Today since the Android 1.5 days as it was the only one that would work in those ancient versions. It is very useful for latest US News, Sports, Weather, Pictures and Snapshots.

7. Yahoo News (Free)

I have Yahoo as my homepage on the desktop. So I wanted to check out the Yahoo News App for Android… and was a little disappointed actually. I liked the clean minimal layout but do not we expect more from Yahoo? Yahoo search is integrated and the content is fantastic. You can probably use the browser to visit the mobile website of Yahoo instead of downloading this app, but the app will save you a lot on loading time and data usage.

 

Adidas has teamed up with games developer THQ to create a miCoach app for motion-gaming platforms PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 for a true virtual workout with some of best professional sports stars in the world.

 

The app will display the star you have chosen alongside you, working out and pointing the way for your own workout. This will be done virtually with your movement tracked thanks to the Kinect and PS Move controllers, and displayed on the screen.

 

The miCoach app is already available for iOS and Android and gives you lots of options on how to plan your workout. You can set a free workout or select a sport you wish to train for, like basketball, football, tennis and more. Then you can select if you would want to up your endurance, speed, looks and more. The miCoach app provides a virtual coach, which speaks in your ear and gives you pointers as to what you should do.

 

Among the accessories for the app, Adidas has provided a heart monitor, which comes in a strap-on fashion or a watch fashion and can monitor your pace and that of your heart and give you tips. All of this is stored for free on your miCoach account on miCoach website, where you can track your progress.

 

Video Below!

 

WhatsApp Messenger is a cross platform messaging application available for Android, Blackberry, iPhone and Nokia phones. The app works using the internet connection (3G, WiFi or mobile data plan) of your phone. Android, Blackberry and iPhone users can send and receive pictures, audio notes, and video messages too.

WhatsApp's main screen

Installation & Download

*Installing the app is a really simple procedure.

1. Download the app either from the Android Market or directly from the WhatsApp website.
2. Accept the terms of license agreement terms.
3. Select your country and enter your own number.
4. Enter a display name of your choice. This is used only when contacting iPhone users.

Thats all. Now the app will look for contacts in your address book and will add them to your WhatsApp contacts list if any of those numbers have WhatsApp installed on their phones.

WhatsApp is now ready to be used.

Adding a New Contact

1. Add the contact to your phone address book.
2. Open WhatsApp.
3. Click on the pen icon on the top right of the screen.
4. Press menu button and then click on refresh.
5. WhatsApp will look for contacts in your address book using WhatsApp and will add them to your WhatsApp contacts list.

Features

1. Unlimited use. There is no restrictions on sending and receiving data or messages. Also there are no charges even when the other person is in some another country. You can chat with your friends all over the world.
2. Group chat feature is also available. Open WhatsApp, then press Menu and tap Group Chat. You can choose a group subject and group participants; one group can contain up to five people.
3. WhatsApp does away with the need for PINs and usernames; you only need the phone number of the person you need to add to your WhatsApp contact list.
4. Always on. There is no need to log in. You will immediately receive a notification for any message sent to you even if the app is not open. (If you are using a task killer, unselect WhatsApp app from the list of apps you choose to kill.)  In case you turn off your phone, your message will be stored by WhatsApp and you will receive the message whenever you turn on the phone.
5. You can e-mail chosen chat history.
6. You can choose a wallpaper to set as the background in the app. WhatsApp has a background wallpapers collection available for download too.
7. You can set custom notification tones.
8. Status updates are supported.
9. Facebook pictures of contacts are imported.

User Interface

When you open the app, the screen will display the summary of the most recent chats sorted by time. Chats from a contact are grouped together.

The Facebook picture of the contact is displayed on the left and the time stamp on the right. All conversations are displayed in bubbles, like the stock display of the iPhone.

whatsapp chat interface

You will notice that there are two ticks before every message sent; the first tick indicates the message has been successfully sent, while the second one indicates the message has been successfully received.

To enhance the chatting experience, WhatsApp comes with a lot of smileys. Also, when you are chatting with any contact, you can see the status of the person on the top left below the contact name, which also shows when the contact is typing something. You can update your current status to Available, Busy, At School, or whatever you like.

Pricing

The app is available as free for use for a period of one full year, and then $1.99 per year after that. All the features of the app are available even during the free use, and there are no advertisements of any sort.

Support and Storage

The app works on all Android versions. It will open quickly and run smoothly on most of the phones. I did not come across any force close errors. However, older and low end Android phones may find this app to take up a lot of their memory: the app takes up about 7 MB of your internal storage space, and cannot be moved to the SD card. While running in the background the app uses up around 16 MB of your memory.

 

Of all the Android app markets the world has to offer, the Amazon one is the best to visit today. It offers the popular Plants vs Zombies game exclusively and its free for today only.

The game is quite a fun and offers a unique defense style of gameplay. You plant all sorts of battle-ready vegetation in front of your house so the upcoming crafty zombies do not eat your brains.

 

Demo Below!