Having an Android along for your daily commute or occasional car trips can make the ride a lot easier, safer, and simply more fun. Here are our favorite Android apps to have on hand when it's time to hit the road.


Note: We've included links to each apps' homepage, which usually include a QR code for easy installing or Market search directions. We've also included a link to each app's page on AppBrain, where signed-in AppBrain users can easily beam the applications to their Android phone.

Note 2: For a look at the flip side of the mobile OS coin, check out the best iPhone apps for your car.


Maps, Navigation, and Car Mode

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Maps, Navigation, and Car Mode all come with your Android (version 2.0 and higher), and they're all crucial to the Android-in-the-car experience. Maps is less useful when you have your hands on the wheel, but the ability to "Star" locations from your desktop or laptop browser, then quickly pull them up for directions on your phone, is very nice. Navigation, as we've previously detailed, is an entire turn-by-turn GPS navigation package, as long as you're not driving too far away from a data signal. The Car Mode makes pulling off Voice Actions and getting Navigation directions safer while your hands are occupied, and Maps' break-out app, Places, gives you a chance to see a simple list of nearby restaurants, gas, ATMs, or other spots. [Free on Android phones, but check Market for updates]




Vlingo or Voice Actions


If your phone's running Android 2.2, you can upgrade your phone's built-in Voice Search to the Google-built Voice Actions. And if you're double lucky, Voice Actions won't frequently crash on you, as it does currently on at least a few of the Lifehacker editors' phones. With Voice Actions, you can write texts or emails with your voice, search Google, activate directions or Navigation, find or call businesses—all after only touching the screen once, making it a very helpful and safe car tool.




If you're not on 2.2, or can't get Voice Actions to play nice, you want Vlingo. Actually, you might want Vlingo anyways, if only for the SafeReader function.

Vlingo's a third-party app that does pretty much everything that Voice Actions can do, but uses its own server to pass your voice commands along. It even offers its own keyboard with a dedicated Vlingo button for entering your voice in any text field (great for those stuck on much older firmware), and can take over the default action for holding down your Search button. Even if you like Google's own Voice Actions better, you can install Vlingo and use its SafeReader function. Set up the app with your email accounts, and it can read your incoming email, and text messages, out loud for you, whenever you've activated SafeReader from a home screen widget. Pretty amazing functionality, really, for a free app. [AppBrain:Voice Search (Voice Actions), Vlingo]




Waze


Google's Maps & Navigation wants to get you where you're going through search, data points, calculations and voice recognition. Waze, too, gets you there with turn-by-turn directions, but it also wants you to run over cupcakes, share interesting spots and details about your trip, and help you avoid traffic jams, accident scenes, speed traps, and find good stuff through the power of social reporting. Anyone who's running Waze on their BlackBerry, Android, iOS device, or other phone while driving is feeding into Waze's maps and traffic data, and those who really dig Waze can compete on picking up power-ups, share traffic tips, point out free parking, and otherwise lend to the community spirit. [Homepage] [Waze]



Listen, Pandora, and NPR News


Your car is probably the one spot where you can really enjoy new tunes, get in-depth with your podcasts, and listen to the news uninterrupted. For Android owners with time to listen, Pandora, NPR News, and Listen are the best. Listen is Google's own podcast app, with great search capabilities, subscription syncing to Google Reader, and a pretty smart setup for deciding when to refresh and download your audio. Pandora is, of course, the very nifty streaming service that creates "stations" based on artists and songs you like, and it works just fine wherever you can get an internet signal. NPR's own app for Android can stream your local station and download entire show episodes, but also has a very handy ability to cherry-pick segments of shows like Morning Edition or All Things Considered, then queue them up in a playlist. [AppBrain: Listen, Pandora, NPR News]



GasBuddy


GasBuddy does one thing and one thing well—points out the places where you can fill up your car for less. On an Android, GasBuddy can map out or list nearby stations using your location, or search out spots where you're heading to. You also get details about the station, including an address you can navigate to. [Homepage] [AppBrain]



ParkDroid


In cities, at stadiums, and other places where you walk a long way from where you park your car, you might have once said, "Boy, I should draw a map!" Now you just open ParkDroid, tag your location with your GPS powers, then go about your day until you're ready to head back home. ParkDroid is more than just tagging, though. It pulls up paid and free parking locations from the web and maps them out, then also takes in free and paid parking finds from its users (unless you opt for "Private" when tagging). If you're parked at a meter, or need a time limitation, you can set that up in ParkDroid, too. [AppBrain]



That's our handful of really helpful picks for Android owners who also own one of those fancy horseless carriages. What Android apps are crucial to your own driving experience? Share your list, and links, in the comments.

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