Top 10 most popular Android apps from last week: Shot Control, Google Drive, …

Every week we cover Android gaming on Wednesday, followed by Top 10 app updates on Friday. Now every Monday we will look back and see which ones were the most crowd-pleasing among our audience. Read on for the 10 most popular Android apps from your peers.

For the second week in a row, AfterFocus was the most popular app on our site. This camera app is still less than a month old, but it continues to surprise me with the number installs it gets each day. Last week we saw the app receive its first update, which fixed several bugs and improved support for the Galaxy Nexus. The developer says a Pro version is coming in May, so be on the lookout.

Any app related to the camera, battery, or weather normally performs pretty well and Weatherwise followed that trend by debuting at the #2 spot this week. This app was featured in #thenextinstall column and I think people responded to the cool looking promo image above. The app is free so I gave it a try, but it didn’t impress me that much. Only one theme comes with the app, and then additional themes are $0.99 each. It still has an average review score of 4.3, so others are enjoying it more than me.

Carrier Coverage won week 3 of #thenextinstall, so it’s no surprise to see it finish near the top this week. The app still has some bugs, but the developer tells us that a new version is already in the works. If you like the concept of this app, some other alternative include Coverage Mapper, Cell Phone Coverage Map, and Sensorly.

Last week Google updated their Docs app into Google Drive, and the daily installs spiked to an all time high. The wait for Google Drive was a long one, but many people checked it out to get the 5 GB of free cloud storage.

Phonedeck is a new app that lets users manage a mobile phone right from their computer. The online dashboard lets a user read and send SMS, get incoming call notifications, edit contacts, view usage stats, and even locate a lost phone. I don’t have a need for the app so I haven’t tried it out, but early users are giving it mixed reviews. Some love the included features, while others say the app is clunky and uses up too much data. The app is still young with only 10,000 installs and we think it has potential, so it will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming months.

Samsung unveils the next Galaxy phone on May 3rd, and you can watch it live on the Unpacked 2012 app. It had some problems when it was first released, but Samsung has pushed out several updates that add support to a host of devices.

Down a couple spots from last week, AIVC comes in as the #7 most popular app. Voice functions in the free version allow you to control call, SMS, email, translation, navigation, alarm, timer, app launcher, calculator, Facebook, web search, weather, and search images. The app is ad-supported, but a Pro version kills them for $2.99.

For the 3rd week in a row, Battery HD makes our Top 10 list. If anything, I think this shows how important battery life is to the average Android user. The app has racked up 500,000 installs this month and it’s on pace to pass 1 million soon. Battery HD won’t extend your battery life, but it can tell you how long you can use each app.

Nova Launcher is a highly customizable, performance driven, home screen replacement for Android 4.0+ devices. We see launchers come and go quite frequently, and Nova and Apex Launcher are the new kids on the block right now. Both launchers are free, so give each one a try and see which fits your needs.

Shot control is a paid camera app designed to help serious photographers take better photographs. I haven’t used it yet, so I’ll refer you to a reader review from Trent. ”Simply put: this is a great tool for every mobile photographer out there. Having all of the camera controls on the main screen is heavenly, & you are able to adjust white balance, flash, exposure, & basically everything else without opening a menu. I love that you can map camera functions to the volume rocker. The developer is extremely responsive & the app is constantly being fine-tuned & refined. He is clearly committed to making this the most flat-out functional camera app on the market. Get it!”

Google Drive shows the developers Android device Google + Hangout

Now the existence of Google Drive isn't ' t really a question. There is no, it ' s there and now connect Android was confirmed for all those who may still have doubts.

In a Google + Hangout highlighting Android developers, an employee of Google with a link of the Galaxy inadvertently showed off the coast of the option "Share the drive" on his camera as you can see just in the above screen Cap.

Google has since drawn to the bottom of the video Google + Hangout, but many have already taken a blow of eye to the icon just sitting there in the sharing options, waiting to be unveiled to the masses.

Source: the point

Google Drive screenshot hints at 5 GB of cloud storage for Android smartphones and tablets

Following up on rumors that Google would be offering a cloud service to access files and multimedia no matter what screen you're looking at, some pictures with details of Google Drive have emerged. Apparently Google Drive will be giving away 5 GB for free with the option to upgrade for more, and the source of this shot claims that it will be launching on April 16.

Google Drive (or something like it) has been rumored for a long time; if this service is actually nearing a launch, it's taken its sweet time. Obviously Google already has a ton of cloud services already synced up with Android, but the only real file locker they've pumped out for Android is Google Music. Being able to wirelessly sync individual files between mobile devices and computers is bound to garner lots of interest, not because it hasn't been done before, but because Google will be able to feed it deeply into the Android OS and make it make it completely seamless.

So, any of you already hooked up with sync services like DropBox - would you be willing to switch to Google Drive for the sake of something a little more native? 

Source: TalkAndroid

Google Drive to feature free 5GB of storage, in-app document editor

The folks over at Talk Android have come across a screenshot which shows some further details on Google’s upcoming Google Drive cloud storage platform. Many were expecting Google to go the way of Dropbox and offer users 2GB of free storage with premium tiers for additional storage. While Google will certainly offer premium tiers to customers, all users will be presented with 5GB of free storage. Certainly not a significant amount of storage, but more than most of the competitors are offering, with some notable exceptions like Box which offers 50GB to most users.

According to support documents, Google Drive will also feature a built-in document editor, suggesting that Google Drive may be more of an extension of Google Docs than a standalone cloud storage service, though users will likely be able to upload multiple types of files to Google Drive. Engadget notes that the service could also be a complete re-branding of the Google Docs platform, with an expansion for multiple file types and a 4GB increase in the amount of available storage.

We should be seeing official unveiling of Google Drive over the course of the next few weeks, where all our outstanding questions of the service will hopefully be answered.