The winners of the first round of the Android Developer Challenge have been announced. Fifty developers will receive $25,000 each to build out their Android mobile phone apps. Only 46 were announced (the other four prefer to remain stealth—wimps). From this list, ten will receive another $100,000 each, and another ten will receive $250,000 each. The Phandroid blog gives a rundown of what each app does. Here are ten that caught my eye, with the rest of the list below. Excerpt:
- AndroidScan – Use your phone to scan a barcode, get pricing information from dozens of stores, product reviews and more. Never make a bad purchase again! (by Jeffrey Sharkey)
- BioWallet – A biometric authentication system for Android. This application features iris recognition and can act as a password safe and provide single sign-on for other Android apps. Jose Luis Huertas Fernandez
- City Slikkers – a Pervasive Game (alternatively Location Based Game) which takes place in the real-existing city. It is designed to connect a large number of players through-out the world and change the way the surroundings are seen. The central idea behind the concept is to give people the opportunity to symbolically interfere with the everyday urban environment and come into contact with previously unknown people. By PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems.
- Cooking Capsules -Simply “watch” a very short cooking show, “shop” with the grocery list, and “make” using the handy step-by-step recipe directions. If you are out of your usual neighborhood you can use the ‘find nearest market’ gps feature. If your friend is stopping at the market, simply hit the ’send to friend’ button to text your list to them. By Mary Ann Cotter and Muthuselvam Ramadoss
- GolfPlay – give support to all the real time necessities of a golf player during a game, using GPS location and an online querying site where it is possible to access to their game statistics, tournament creation and a social network to exchange impressions with other users about the sport that links them: golf. By Inizziativa Networks
- Locale – Locale is one of 7 Android applications submitted by MIT students. It enables you to set up location- and time-based profiles for your phone, so you can make it shut up when you’re at work, forward calls to your landline when you’re at home. Clare Bayley, Christina Wright, Jasper Lin, Carter Jernigan.
- SplashPlay – SplashPlay offers the next generation in musical tuition and learning to play the guitar just got a whole lot easier. Simply attach the pod and light panel to your guitar and start strumming to your favourite songs in minutes. Songs are sent to the pod from a mobile phone or computer using a USB or Bluetooth connection, giving total portability. Other features include a guitar tuner, guitar metronome and a hands free, Bluetooth foot pedal. The product will provide an easy, portable and fun method of learning music.
- TuneWiki – Our goal is to have the lyrics always on, always available, always synchronized to music – on any device that can play music back and connect to the internet. By TuneWiki Inc.
- Wikitude-the Mobile Travel Guide – Find points of interest based on your current location. By Philipp Breuss.
- PedNav – an application that helps you plan your activities efficiently when moving around and interacting with an urban environment. Like a good personal assistant, PedNav first inquires about your general plans for the day. By RouteMe2 Technologies Inc.
See our previous coverage of TuneWiki, Locale and other worthy Android apps. Below are the other 36 named finalists (which ones will make it to the next round?):
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