Six Android apps you need now!

(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

Pick up a new Android device recently? If so, you'll probably want to break it in with a few killer apps. Here are six hot picks available from Google Play now.

If you're rocking a new Android device, there's no question you're going to want some killer apps to test its limits. Lucky for you, we've put together a list of some of the hottest downloads available now.



Falcon Pro (99 cents)
Falcon's interface is about as attractive as they come, with its minimalist typeface and light-on-dark color scheme. But what's most impressive is this app's exceptionally smooth controls. Swiping up and down through your Twitter timeline is a pleasure, free of any jerky refreshes, while swiping laterally between control panels is as smooth as butter as well. Even though it may one of the newer Twitter clients on the block, Falcon Pro could end up ruling them all.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

iHeartRadio (free)
Think of iHeartRadio as a sort of Pandora-TuneIn-Radio hybrid. It lets you stream live radio from more than 1,500 stations around the country as well as create custom stations based on a song or artist. And did I mention that the custom stations are all ad-free? Just sign in with an e-mail address or Facebook account to get started.

One bonus feature that iHeartRadio offers is a Sleep Timer. With this, you can set the app to automatically shut off after anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours of playback.

(Credit: IObit)

Advanced Mobile Care (free)
Developed by the makers of the popular utility Advanced System Care for Windows, Advanced Mobile Care is a beautifully simple app that quickly scans your Android system for any potentially harmful issues. To use it, simply open the app and hit the giant scan button in the center of the screen, then wait a few seconds while it sniffs out malware, junk files, and more. From there, you can deal with whatever issues it finds by tapping Repair. If that's not enough, Advanced Mobile Care comes with a few extra tools for optimizing your system, conserving battery life, and securing private files. Check it out now.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

Air Patriots (free)
If you just got yourself a new Android device, then I'm sure you'd love to test-drive it with a game or two. If that's the case, I suggest starting with Air Patriots, the very first mobile game developed and released by retail giant Amazon. Available for free download, Air Patriots puts a new twist on the popular tower defense game genre by incorporating only mobile units instead of the stationary towers and turrets that you might be used to. Rather than simply buying a unit and plopping it down next to an enemy's route of travel, you have to tap and swipe patrol routes for your units, which might be a little jarring at first. The difficult part, of course, is creating an efficient network of patrolling aircraft that keep raining down the pain at every point along your enemies' path. That's also the fun part.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

Ruzzle (free)
Similar to the classic word game Boggle, Ruzzle consists of a four-by-four grid of letters. Your job as the player is to use sequentially adjacent letters to create as many words as you can in two minutes. Words can be oriented diagonally, horizontally, or vertically, and can even change directions to form "L" or "V" shapes. Of course, what sets Ruzzle apart from Boggle is that you can compete online against players from around the world.

While some might call Ruzzle a rip-off of Zynga's Scramble With Friends, I say that it's actually better. I'm not a big fan of the coins or power-ups that Scramble brings to the table, and I love that Ruzzle is more faithful to the classic Boggle. One thing Ruzzle could use, though, is a Pause button.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jaymar Cabebe/CNET)

Snapseed (free)
Designed for the more discerning mobile photographer, Snapseed is head and shoulders above any typical one-dimensional, tap-to-apply photo-editing app. It offers an incredible level of control over photographic attributes such as brightness, saturation, contrast, color, and even focus. Quite simply, it is the best Android app I've seen for enhancing photos. It employs a unique gesture-based control scheme that is difficult to figure out at first, but enjoyable to use once you're familiar with it.

Courtesy of: cnet.com