Android has over 450,000 apps. With so many apps out there, app discovery (aka finding new and useful apps) is extremely difficult. With our Android Apps of the Day initiative, dotTech aims to change that. Everyday we post three apps, allowing our readers to discover new apps, daily. Enjoy! [Subscribe to our Android section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail]

Developers: Click here to get your apps featured here!

dotTechies: Want to see an app on here? Send us a tip!

Apps for March 17, 2012

TED

TED is the official Android app for TED Conferences, the world renown nonprofit organization that sponsors intellectual, thought-provoking conferences where many famous people speak at. With this official Android app, users can view over 1,200 TEDTalks in audio or video format, whichever is preferred. Users can either stream the videos/audios or download them directly to their devices (videos can be downloaded in high or low quality while there only one level of quality for audio files). TED works on phones and tablets.

Price: Free

Version discovered: v1.0.3

Requires: Android 2.1

Download size: 3.2 MB

TED on Play Store

AppGarden

AppGarden is a Swiss army knife of reference tools; it throws together a bunch of tools that you might need on a regular basis into one app. At the time of this writing, AppGarden has 42 tools users can use ranging from searching what abbreviations mean to airport codes to a unit converter to a dictionary to searching Wikipedia to Bit.ly URL shortener to a thesaurus and everything in between. For those of you living outside the USA, there is an option in Settings which you can uncheck to get the non-American version of the tools. Take note, however, many of AppGarden’s tools require Internet access so if you don’t have regular Internet access on your Android device than AppGarden is not for you. AppGarden Lite is free and ad-supported while AppGarden is $1.99 and ad-free.

Price: Free, $1.99

Version discovered: v1.0.12

Requires: Android 1.6 and up

Download size: 843 KB

AppGarden Lite on Play Store | AppGarden on Play Store

inDefend Mobile Backup

inDefend Mobile Backup is an app that allows users to backup and restore their messages, contacts, call log, system settings, calendar, browser history, and/or bookmarks. (Note: inDefend Mobile Backup may not work if you are using third-party apps for messages, contacts, call log, system settings, calendar, browser history, and bookmarks instead of the default apps that came with your phone. For example, bookmarks from the default Android browser are backed up, not bookmarks from Opera or Chrome.) Backups can be scheduled to automatically occur and you can get e-mail notifications whenever an automatic backup has finished. Backups are stored to and restored from the cloud (on the developer’s servers) so you must have an active Internet connection to backup/restore; and before you can use the app you will need to register a free account with the developer. Each device can have up to ten backups.The developer claims to encrypt backups but if you aren’t comfortable with storing your data in the cloud, then inDefend Mobile Backup is not for you. Take note the developer of inDefend Mobile Backup is Dataresolve Technologies, an IT company based in Kolkata, India; so your data is governed by whatever laws India may have.

Price: Free

Version discovered: v1.3.0

Requires: Android 2.0.1 and up

Download size: 842 KB

inDefend Mobile Backup on Play Store

Attention dotTechies: We have tested all the apps listed above. However, Android Apps of the Day articles are not intended as “reviews” but rather as “heads-up” to help you discover new apps. Always use your best judgement when downloading apps, such as trying trial/free versions before purchasing paid apps, if applicable.