Top Android Apps

Etsy (free):

Crafty commerce site Etsy has a thriving community of buyers and sellers online, as well as on iOS. Now its app is available on Android too, providing a window into its catalogue of 17m+ items for sale. A clean and elegant design keeps the focus firmly on the items.

Heroes of Order & Chaos (free):

Gameloft's Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA – a genre you'll be hearing more about on smartphones and tablets in 2013) game sees you forming gangs for fantasy battling, in a world based on the company's existing World of Warcraft-like Order & Chaos Online game. Expect heroes, monsters and upgrades a-plenty.

Finger Hoola (£0.69):

Finger Hoola is a different kind of game entirely: one that sees you tracing shapes on-screen hula hoop-style to the strains of ambient music. As much a way to relax for a few minutes out of sight of your inbox as a game, it's very good indeed.

Top Gear SSR (free)

Top Gear Stunt School Revolution has been a hit on iOS, and now it's available on Android too. It's a driving game based (loosely) on the BBC series, meaning the emphasis is on eye-popping stunts, often with a dash of the surreal.

Snapseed (free):

Photo-sharing app Snapseed's developer Nik Software was acquired by Google earlier this year, making this (sort of) Google's in-house rival to Instagram. By which I mean taking and sharing photos while applying visual filters and borders, with a strong tie-in to the Google+ social network.

Candy Crush Saga (free):

King.com's Candy Crush Saga has been a huge hit on Facebook, and recently made the leap to iOS. Now it's on Android too, albeit in beta – so don't be surprised if you spot the odd bug. The gameplay sees you matching sweets over more than 100 levels, with social features high in the mix to compare your efforts to your friends.

Clay Jam (free):

In what's already looking like another good month for Android gaming, Clay Jam is the latest title from Zynga, through its publishing deal with developer Fat Pebble. It's a claymation-style action game that sees you rolling and bouncing the hero down a series of hills. The visuals make it stand out from the crowd, but the gameplay delivers on this promise too.

Zenonia 5 (free):

Gamevil's Zenonia has become one of the biggest and best mobile-only RPG franchises over the last couple of years, with this fifth iteration deserving to win even more fans round. It has a huge world to explore, more monsters than you can shake a stick/sword/spell at, and global player-versus-player match-ups for a social spin.

23snaps - Family Photo Book (free):

More photo-sharing, but this time with a focus on families. It's an app designed to help parents share snaps of their kids with family and close friends, as an alternative to slapping them up on Facebook (although, if you're on top of your group settings, it's possible there too). This beta app works very well though, with its value as much about browsing back through the photos later, as the actual sharing at the time.

Slice Keyboard (£3.11):

There are a number of popular keyboard replacement apps on Android, so Slice Keyboard faces ferocious competition. But it's an interesting approach to the challenge of touchscreen typing: a blank "home row" to place your fingers on, determining where other keys appear