Worthy Alternatives to Google’s Play App Store

Worthy Alternatives to Google's Play App Store

From the hundreds of places where you can download Android apps, a few stand out because they are more trustworthy and intuitive. Karan Bajaj & Hitesh Raj Bhagat round up some of the best options.

Android Pit 

Android pit market not only lets you discover and download apps but also has a dedicated 'Tests' area with app reviews, screenshots and ratings. In terms of installation, 50% of the apps can be installed from within the app while for the rest, it redirects you to the Google Play store. Get it from 

www.androidpit.com 

1Mobile Market 

Available from www.1mobile. com, this app store has a simple, list-based interface. The app also has lists where recommended apps under specific categories listed (games starter kits, app starter kit, photo editing, music apps) for ease of discovery. The only issue with this app store is that its search function is 

sometimes erratic.

Amazon Appstore 

To get Amazon's appstore, you have to visit www.amazon.com/getappstore & download the installer. Once installed, sign in to your Amazon account to download apps. Amazon does not have all the apps that Google Play has, but it does offer one paid app for free every day.

F-droid 

If you are only interested in free apps, F-droid (www.f-droid.org) is the marketplace to install. The app is dedicated to free open source apps. It displays different versions of an app for different Android versions (Froyo, Honeycomb, Gingerbread are all clearly listed) so that you can install the correct one. 

Slideme 

Slideme (www.slideme.org) has a similar interface to the Google Play Store. It requires you to first create a free account. The interface is fluid and you have the option of limiting apps displayed per page and the number of screenshots to save data costs. You can also set the target country to dispay local apps and lock the app with a PIN. 

Mobo Market 

Mobo (www.moborobo. com) not only has apps and games but also a dedicated section for wallpaper and themes. You also get a builtin download manager where you can monitor the downloads in progress. The app manager makes it easy to install and uninstall downloaded apps. 

AAOMarket 

Almost all apps on this marketplace are free. AAomarket (www.andapponline. com) claims that they have limited apps because they want to feature only quality apps. One issue is that there is no progress indicator, so you do not get to know how much time the selected app will take to download. 

Good E-reader App Store 

This app store displays the app rating right next to the app name in the main interface. The interface is very basic — you only get listings for hot and popular apps along with categories to browse through. 

A good thing here is that there is a dedicated section for alternative app stores — from where you can download most of the stores mentioned. (http://apps.goodreader.com) 

APKs FROM THE WEB AppBrain 

AppBrain is a trusted source for Android apps. First, visit appbrain.com from your device's browser and create an account. Then you need to download and install AppBrain's app from the Play Store. AppBrain app helps a lot with app discovery - once you see an app you like, you can choose to head directly to the 

Play Store to install it. 

Opera App Store 

Opera's App Store was built after the company acquired Handster - the store front is platform independent. To access the store, just open the web browser on your Android device and type apps.opera.com. The service will auto-detect your device and you can download APKs directly to the device. About 70% of the apps are free on this store. 

How to Install APKs 

APKS OR ANDROID Application Package files have the extension .apk and are like EXE or MSI files on a Windows computer - they can be used to install apps on your Android device BEFORE YOU TRANSFER an APK to your Android device, you need to allow the device to install apps from 'unknown sources', i.e., from places other than Google's Play Store TO DO THIS, head to device settings and look for the option called 'Unknown Sources' - this could be in Application Settings or under Security - make sure that you check the box and exit ONCE DONE, TRANSFER the APKs to your device via Bluetooth, email, memory card or just download them directly from a supported website. Use a file manager to click on an APK to begin installation 

 Courtesy : Tectonic, Times of India, dated: 10/07/2013