Lately we have seen many new devices and Mobile phones coming with Android OS. We already have T-mobile G1 phone running Google Android OS and might year 2009 will see many such android devices. One issue with Google Android based phones is that its hard to troubleshoot due lack of Android support community.

I have seen on many users asking on forum what is .apk file ? How to install .apk app on G1 phone ? How to install non market apk apps on android ? etc. A apk file is “android package file” with the extension ‘.apk’ use to install any application on Google Android powered mobile phone. So incase you need to install any application on your android phone you need to have file with .apk format.

Installing any application on google android is pretty easy but installing non market apps on android phone is little tricky one. Well don’t worry here is guide for installing .apk apps on android phones.

How to Install .Apk Apps on Google Android G1 Phone

1. Install and open the Apps Installer application from the Android Market.

2. This opens a view showing *.apk application names in the sdcard root directory.(note, if no AppNames are listed you have no .apk files in the root directory of the SDCard)

3. Touch the app name to initiate installation of the app.

4. The app is now installed

How to Non-Market .Apk Application on Google Android G1 Phone

1. Download and install Google Android SDK.

2. Now type adb in a command shell will display all the options, adb.exe is SDK tool used to install applications and interface with the device.

3. Now Connect Your G1 Phone to your computer using USB cable. You need to install Drivers for this. Download Android USB drivers from here. This driver is required for adb to interface with an android G1 phone using USB cable.

4. Go to Android Settings/SD card & phone storage and disable Use for USB storage. You can enable it again later after you installed your third-party application.

5. Go to Settings/Application settings and enable Unknown sources.

6. Download the Application installer .apk file to a local folder on your computer, Now type below command at command shell to install app.

adb install <Full Path to apk file><apk file name>

The above guide is only application for windows XP users and Windows Vista users wont be able to use it, since android sdk for windows vista is not available.