It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the iPhone. The majority of the posts on this blog lately are about what apps I recommend. However, not all of my friends or readers have an iPhone. For those of you that have purchased Android phones, I thought I’d take the time to generate a list of iPhone apps that I’ve played that are also available for your phone of choice. I make no promises that any of these apps play as well as they do on my iPhone, or even that they’ll play on your specific Android device and OS version.

I’ve broken them up into three categories: free apps that I’ve used on the iPhone, paid apps that I’ve used on the iPhone, and apps I’ve never used, but look like they’d be worth picking up if you have an Android device. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a way to link directly to the apps on the Android Market, so it’s up to you to find them. All links on the app names link to the iTunes App Store for the iPhone version of the app.

Free Apps I’ve Used on iPhone:

  • Super KO Boxing 2 – Think “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out” with cartoon graphics: it takes a while to get the timing down if you’re a fan of the “Punch Out” series, but once you do, the game kicks serious ass. And is quite funny. Also comes in a paid version with no ads.
  • Angry Birds – A physics-based puzzler that resembles artillery games of old. Currently free for Android. This has been one of the most successful iPhone apps of all time, and seems to have translated very well to Android.
  • Space Man (Mr. Space!!) – Quickly move your stick figure to the “safe spot” before the ceiling collapses. Simple concept, addictive gameplay. The iPhone app has a different name, but the graphics and gameplay appear to be the same.
  • Bebbled – There have been a lot of SameGame clones for the iPhone, but this one has pulled in both my wife and mother-in-law. Putting it on Android seems like a no-brainer.
  • Meebo – An app that lets you sign into the Meebo.com service, which lets you use one login to access a great number of instant messaging services (AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, etc.). A must-have.
  • Dropbox – If you don’t already use the Dropbox service, you should definitely check it out. It gives you 2GB of online storage that lets you keep files synced between multiple computers. I’ve been using it for years and it is essential for quickly transferring files from one computer to the other, or for making sure that my work laptop and desktop have the same key files on them wherever I go. The iPhone and Android version of the app lets you access your files on your phone, save them to the internal memory of the device, and even email links to them to other people. You can also upload photos into your Dropbox to make sure they are safe. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up here to get an extra free 250 MB of storage.
  • Bible – YouVersion.com has made a large number of translations of the Bible available to mobile users. This app lets you download several of them to your phone’s memory so you don’t need an Internet connection to read them. You can also access all of the other translations through the app, as well.
  • Bump – When this app first came out, I couldn’t understand any reason to use it, but as the developers have advanced it (and made it cross-platform), I’m quite impressed by it. Simply choose what to share (contact info, social networking info, pictures, etc.) and “terrorist fist-jab” with another Bump user to trigger the sharing process.
  • Boink – First, fill out your sexual preferences, then use Bump technology to share them with another Boink user and get a sexual compatibility percentage. Lots of fun at parties.
  • Tango Video Calls – FaceTime is an amazing technology, but restrictions to Wi-Fi networks (most likely due to AT&T being… well… AT&T) makes it less useful than most would like. Tango is a cross-platform video chat app that works over 3G, as well as Wi-Fi. I’ve used it to talk to a friend on an EVO, and it worked fairly well. Not as elegant or smooth as FaceTime, but it’s certainly a nice option to have until FaceTime is more ubiquitous.
  • Sportacular – I like to keep track of how my favorite sports teams are doing, but I’m often unable to watch the games, due to the schedule, or the fact that they’re not broadcast over the air. The only sport I’m interested in that this app doesn’t cover is Scottish Premier League Football (Go CELTIC!), but that likely won’t affect most of you.

Paid Apps I’ve Used on iPhone:

  • Galcon – A fast-paced strategy game with a simple premise: tap on your bases and tap a location to send your armies to overwhelm the enemy. It bears a strong similarity to Risk, but pared down to just the combat and a much faster pace. The iPhone version supports online multiplayer, so it seems likely that the Android version will, also.
  • UniWar – When iPhone 2.0 first released, I waited with great anticipation for a turn-based strategy game for the device. UniWar was the first (and, for the longest time, only) highly-polished game in this genre for the iPhone. Thankfully, there are now a plethora of turn-based strategy and tactics games for the iPhone. Unfortunately, I can’t find the majority of them on Android, but this one is there. Since it has awesome multiplayer support, it’s totally worth picking up.
  • Scrabble – Play Scrabble with Facebook users, iPhone users (that sync with Facebook), and Android users (that also sync with Facebook). You can also just play against the computer, or pass-and-play with your friends.
  • Flick Kick Rugby & Flick Kick Field Goal – A rather simple game of flicking your finger to kick a rugby ball or football through the uprights, while taking into account wind blowing from side-to-side. Honestly, I prefer Flick Kick Rugby to Flick Kick Field Goal, but they are both virtually the same. Pick whichever you want.
  • Reckless Racing – I just picked this up and have to say, it’s rather impressive. The graphics are incredible, and there are plenty of control options for you to choose from. It’s a top-down racer similar to Super Off-Road Racing or R.C. Pro Am.
  • Crush the Castle – Similar to Angry Birds above, but with a medieval theme and a trebuchet launching various munitions, rather than firing birds from a slingshot. It’s a port of the popular flash game, so check it out and see if you like it.
  • 360 Live – A simple app for accessing the web front-end of xboxlive.com so you can see who’s online, send and receive messages, compare achievements, and manage your friends list. My only complaint is that messages are automatically appended with a signature that says that they were sent using 360 Live, unless you manually remove it each time.
  • SoundHound ∞ – If you’ve heard of Shazam, then you understand how SoundHound works. However, SoundHound goes above and beyond by letting users sing or hum a song, or even search by typing in the lyrics of the song. SoundHound ∞ is the unlimited version of the app, but there’s a free version that lets you recognize 5 songs a month (but you can still sing, hum, or search by lyrics for as many as you want).
  • Pulse News Reader – A rather unique take on RSS readers that focuses on a gorgeous visual display of the information. Very useful if you need to read less than 20 sites regularly, or if the sites you read tend to post an image to go along with the story, which really makes it stand out in this app.

Never Used:

  • Instinctiv – Android’s media player leaves a lot to be desired, so when I heard about this player, I started recommending it to everyone. So far, everyone I’ve suggested use it has liked it. Give it a shot.
  • Pacific WIngs – A vertical shooter in the vein of 1942. The graphics look pretty nice, but I can’t speak to the gameplay at all.
  • SolidNote, mNote, & AndroNoter (all sync with SimpleNote) – On the iPhone, I use SimpleNote to take notes. They sync with the cloud quickly and reliably and the app is very fast and easy to use. These three apps are all different apps that sync with SimpleNote, but I’ve never used any of them to determine which are worth using.
  • Crystallight Defense – I couldn’t find my preferred iPhone tower defense titles (The Creeps! and Star Wars: Battle for Hoth) available for Android, but this particular game has pretty nice graphics, and seems to be a popular download for Android OS.
  • Guns’n’Glory – Another popular tower defense title, this one is actually available for iPhone and has been very well received. Play as cowboys fighting off raiders and thieves in this Wild West-themed tower defense title.
  • Pokedex – I sort of missed out on Pokémon in the beginning, but I have grown to love the concept of an RPG where, instead of picking different weapons or powers to use, you pick different monsters to field against your enemies. Even better, is the ability to evolve your monsters adding a sim element to the game. An iPhone app, called Dex lets you see all the different Pokémon types and what they’re weak against, etc. Pokedex appears to be a similar app for Android.
  • WoW Droid Armory – The World of Warcraft Mobile Armory for iPhone lets you view your characters, their stats, equipment, and more. It also gives you a talent calculator, access to the Auction House, and the in-game calendar and several guild tools. The Android version is little more than a browser for what’s available on the WoW Armory web page, letting you see various characters that are viewable in the Armory. Still handy for Android users that want to show off their characters on the go.