Phandroid’s Best Android Apps: Playboard
As you all know, I spend a significant portion of my time on Phandroid writing about apps. It’s a great job, and something I really, really love to do. However, it can get difficult at times to find apps that you can write about.
With over a million apps on Google Play, discovery has become an enormous issue. For their part, Google is trying, particularly with the new store UI. The issue for someone like me, though, is that I don’t really want to write about apps highlighted on Google Play: they’re already getting a ton of coverage. I like to write about the smaller guys, those who would benefit the most from the coverage.
For this reason, Playboard has become quite possibly the most important app I have on my phone, outside of the necessities like GMail and Maps. A lot of people who have written about the app call it a “Flipboard for apps”, which I think is not completely accurate. Unlike Flipboard, you don’t mention your interests and get some computer algorithm suggesting apps to you. It is closer to Flipboard’s “magazines” feature, in that any user can create a board, which is essentially a curated list of apps that they recommend to other users.
The UI is pretty good, and more importantly the content (at least the highlighted ones) keeps you hooked. I have been installing an average of half a dozen of apps a day simply from what I find on their service. Once you find a board that you really like, simply follow it to see the updates trickling in. In case you fancy yourself as a curator, sign up (unfortunately with Facebook-only at this time) and get to it.
One additional aspect that I like about Playboard is their WordPress widget, which allows bloggers like me to share our collections. For example, my Uniquely Android board from the series I used to write earlier is at the bottom of this post. Going forward, I’ll try to incorporate the plugin whenever possible since it once again helps discovery.
I am a big fan of Playboard, particularly since it makes my work a lot easier. In fact, I am sort of scared that it might even replace me one day. Until then, Playboard, I love you guys. To download their app, hit this link.