Google picks best Android apps with awards

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - There are millions of apps in use around the world, but which ones are the best?

Google just did the heavy lifting for you, by picking ten apps it believes stretches the boundaries of greatness, with the first ever Google Play awards. A ceremony was staged at the I/O conference for app developers in Mountain View, CA.

The top winners:

BEST APP: Google chose Houzz, a popular interior design app that looks to inspire with photos of homes, connection to architects, contractors and designers and shop for home You can use the smartphone camera to take a picture from a product page and insert it magically into your room to see how it will look.

(All the apps chosen are available at Google Play for Android, and the Apple App Store.)

The rest of the best:

--MOST INNOVATIVE:: The New York Times VR app, where viewers of NYT's 360-degree VR films need to go to see all sides of the productions, top, bottom, left and right.

Tarun Sainani, founder of the World Around Me app. (Photo: Jefferson Graham)

--EARLY ADOPTER: From VR to AR, the World Around Me app takes another unique use of the smartphone camera. Take a picture and the app uses augmented reality to post overlays of important things in the area, like restaurants, ATMs, shops and bus stations. "You won't have to rely on maps," says app founder Tarun Sainani, "and you won't get confused about where north, south, west or east is."

--STANDOUT INDIE: Alpha Bear, a word puzzle game where winners produce animated bears--sure to put a smile on anyone's face. "Our goal is a little simpler than most app developers. We just want to make the world a little happier, for people who need a day to relax," says founder Daniel Cook, the game founder.

Logo for Hopper app (Photo: Hopper)

--STANDOUT STARTUP: Hopper, the travel app that promises to find you the lowest airfares. Hopper says it can save you up to 40% on your next flight, by analyzing billions of flight prices daily to predict how prices will change. It sends you a push notification when your flight is cheapest, How cool is that?

"We're using historical data to predict the future." says Maggie Moran, the head of product for Hopper. "We save the average user $50, but on international flights, we can save up to $1,300, so that's a pretty good reason to use it,"

Other winners: Think Rolls 2 won best family app, while Clash Royale got the nod for best game. The Robin Hood app, which sells stocks without a commission, won for best use of material design.

What's your favorite Android app? Let's chat about it on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham.

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