AndroidGuys

Back in January, we reported on a class that MIT was starting a class centered on Android and writing for the platform. Four months later, the class has unleashed 7 applications on the world, one of which made it past the first round of the Android Developers Challenge. CrunchGear was at the presentation from students in the Building Mobile Applications with Android class with the likes of HTC, Google, Sprint, and other members of the press.

The list seems to be mostly location based programs, but each is unique, offering different features.

Here’s a quick list of the apps with a description:

• Loco -Mobile social network built on top the contact manager. View and track where your friends are located using Google Maps and real-time geolocation. View real-time photos of events that get tagged as “party” that are in progress and check out the scene ahead of time. Keeps yourself from showing up at a sausage fest.
• Flare -Geolocation tracking system perfect for small business owners. Keep tabs on employees and delivery trucks. Find out where the pizza delivery guy is and why your pie’s getting cold. A great feature is the ability to supply a 3rd party with a temporary ID and PIN so that they can see where the driver is. Obviously, these would be temporary numbers. Perfect for pizza places, florists, and moving companies. Not to mention the player who wants to keep an eye on all his girls so he doesn’t run into one while out with another.
• GeoLife - One of the handiest sounding programs yet, it’s a to-do list built on top of Google Maps. No more accidentally driving by Blockbuster video and forgetting to drop off the rentals. Find yourself within a certain range of an address or destination, you get an alert. It also works for things that are not location-centric.
• Locale - Dynamic settings manager. Depending on your time and location, your phone acts differently. Things like volume setting, call forwarding, and other features will change for you based on personal preferences. This is the application that won $25,000 for the first round of the ADC.
• Re:Public - Location-based social networking program. Rate and tag your friends, find your favorite buddies, and get a score compiled based off of factors like how much time you spend near others.
• Snap - CrunchGear says it’s kind of like Digg program on top of a map. Users can tag certain places for other to vote that particular attraction up or down. So when you go to a conference in a strange town, look and see what other peeps already think of points of interest. Find the best clubs, golf courses, and recreational spots so you’re not sitting in the hotel bored.
• KEI -Virtual key for all your stuff. The early version demonstrated was an automatic car starter and door unlocker. Good for those wives with deep purses, this one renders keys somewhat obsolete. Apparently, it can be set up for one person to control multiple cars as well as multiple people with access to the same car. Oh yeah, there’s also some admin rights you can set using the 128-bit encryption so you can disable access to things like company cars and jilted lovers.