Google says there are over 30,000 apps in the Android Market. Which is great if you know exactly what you’re looking for. But searching through calendar app after calendar app on a mobile phone trying to find the one that’s just right for you can be a mind numbing process. Wouldn’t it be easier if you could visit a web site on your PC to search for apps or find recommendations based on the apps you’ve already installed?
That’s what AppBrain lets you do. AppBrain is a both a web site and an Android application. Here’s how to set it up:
1.Create an AppBrain account on the web by signing in with your Google credentials (using Google’s API, so there’s no risk of identity theft).
2.Install the AppBrain Market Sync app on your Android phone (by searching the Android Market, or by scanning the QR code to the right).
3.Hit the “Sync with AppBrain” button on your Android device to send a list of installed apps to the web site.
4.Login to the AppBrain web site.
That it’s. Now you should see a list of recommended apps. You can also click the My Apps button to see what’s already installed on your device — and you can install and uninstall apps from the web interface.
But the really cool thing is you can save a lot of time by searching for new apps, reading reviews, and clicking the install button at the AppsBrain web site without even taking your phone out of your pocket.
Then the next time you time you fire up the Android client, you can click the “Perform all changes” button to synchronize the apps on your device with the cloud. AppBrain will bring up the default tools for installing or uninstalling apps.
It’s worth noting that if you want to batch uninstall applications, AppBrain will go through one uninstaller after another with no problems. Batch installing new apps is a bit trickier, since it basically searches the Android Market for the first app on your list. Once you’ve installed it, you have to click the back button to return to AppBrain, and then click “Perform all changes” again to go to the next app.
AppBrain certainly isn’t the first web-based app directory for Google Android. AndroLib, Cyrket, and others have been around for a while. But the integration with an Android App for synchronizing your installed applications makes AppBrain one of the most innovative solutions.
