When it comes to the subject of app stores, you can say that the Android Market is still playing catch-up to the iTunes App Store. But you can also say that the Android Market is doing a fine job of keeping up with the iTunes App Store. This is especially true when it comes to uber-popular applications. Just this Wednesday, Flickr for Android is now made available through the Android Market.

I'm sure most of you can recall that when it comes to music and video playback, there was a time when we are stuck with Windows Media Player or whatever it is that comes by default with your operating system. But then one open-source, cross platform media player arrived and multimedia playback has never been the same again. I'm talking of course about the uber-popular VLC Media Player. If you haven't heard about it, then...

Facebook has just pushed another update of its official Android App which now brings Chat and Push Notifications to all Android based smartphones. Last month, Facebook added Groups and Places but this time with addition of Chat and Push Notifications, Facebook for Android is now completely on par with the iPhone version.

Android protector is a handy app which allows you to password protect individual apps on Android phones. You won't have any issues in letting your friends to use your Andoird device without them getting into your personal data. They won't be able to read your messages or emails without the password.

VPlayer Alpha is the only app in Android Market which allows you to play wide variety of video and audio formats on your Android phone including FLV, AVI, 3GP, MKV, MP4, RM, DivX/Xvid, WMV and MPEG. I have tested all of these formats on my Google Nexus One and have found no lag or any other issue with it so far.

adbWireless is extremely useful Android app which allows you to run ADB commands on your Android phone wirelessly over a Wifi connection. This app is particularly useful if your phone's USB cable is not functioning due to some reason.

Skype is finally available for Android platform. Skype app will be supported on a wide range of Android phones (Motorola, HTC, Samsung). You can download the app for your Android phone from Android Market, or by simpling typing skype.com/m on your mobile's web browser. Android 2.1 or later is required for Skype app.

I tried YouTube Downloader, YouTube Ripper and many other video downloader apps but none of them were able to download and play any YouTube videos on my Nexus One running Android 2.2.1. BestTube is the only Android app which not only downloads and play YouTube videos offline but also allows you to extract the audio of saved YouTube videos in MP3 format.

Just like iPhone, there exist an app for Android based phones which allows you to reply or delete SMS without opening the native Messaging app. SMS Pop is a handy Android app which opens a small popup on your phone screen displaying the content of the message whenever you receive SMS from your friend.

StumbleUpon has just released its official apps for iPhone and Android devices. Stumpleupon iPhone / Android apps were anticipated for quite some time. Finally they are here and same desktop Stumbling experience has been transformed to mobile phones quite efficiently.