I have always been fascinated by the idea of a personal shopper. Someone who could go to the store for me and come back with wonderful things that I would love right from the minute that I saw them. Its a great dream…and then reality sets in and I remember that THAT is NEVER going to happen! But now with thew new Yahoo! AppSpot Android app I can get the next best thing!
See, this nifty little App takes the time to get to know me. Then, once it does, it recommends Android apps for me to try. Some are good, some are great and some are headed straight for the trash bin, but the point my friends is that I don’t have to go scrolling through the Android Market each and every time I am looking for a new bit of fun.
Sound too good to be true? Well, the jury’s still out on that one.
Yahoo! AppSpot
Features
The idea here is simple. Add the Yahoo! AppSpot Android app to your Android device and it will make daily suggestions as to new apps that you should try. And, it works! Yippee! Each day I open things up and each day I have a new set of apps to check into. Some I like and some I don’t but again, the point for me is that I don’t have to go look for them!
Now let’s look at the high’s and lows. The low point is that the Yahoo! AppSpot does not seem to take your own preferences into account. It really feels like there is just a set list of offerings that are sent out to every user each day. I would like to see a more personalized approach that offered me Android apps geared to my own tastes.
The upside is that I really like the look of the widget and I like have a small handful of apps to check out each day. I may not end up downloading any of them, but I do like to look and shop. Plus, I have found a few gems that I probably would have missed if not for the Yahoo! AppSpot.
Yahoo! AppSpot
Functionality
In terms of functionality I did not have a single problem with Yahoo! AppSpot. The app is very large and I was pleased to find that I could move it to my SD card. Otherwise I may not have been able to keep it due to the giant file size.
The downside comes from the ever present permissions list. Why does the Yahoo! AppSpot Android app need control of my camera? Why does it need to “at any time collect the images the camera is seeing?” Why does it need my GPS location? Why does Yahoo! feel the need to gather all this information from my device when all they are offering me are suggestions as to what Android apps I should download?
I’ll be honest with you. The permissions for this Android app bother me more than normal. Why? Because Yahoo! should know better. And a company of their size should have better integrity and offer a higher level of security to their users. Thumbs down Yahoo!
WoW Factor
Overall this is a nice Android app that offers a good service. It worked well and showed me a few fun Android apps that I might not have found otherwise. But, no matter how hard I try I can’t get those permissions out of my head. They just won’t leave me alone and I ended up uninstalling the Yahoo! AppSpot Android app because of them. I just expected more from Yahoo!
But! If the permissions don’t bother you and you like the idea of a personal Android shopper, then give it a try. You might just find a few hidden gems of your own!
Yahoo! AppSpot
Android Apps Review Details: The Yahoo! AppSpot Android app is free. This app requires Android 2.1 and up. You may download Yahoo! AppSpot from the Android Market.
