Google "Players Choice" Curates Top Android Apps From 2013

Google has revealed the top Android software of the year, throwing the judgement over to Android phone and tablet users themselves for 2013's results. Around a million users voted in Google's six categories and made suggestions as to which four apps should take the remaining spaces on the leaderboard, with favorites like Switfkey and Knights & Dragons getting namechecked.

Most popular Google app was YouTube, while wildly-popular keyboard alternative SwiftKey took a prize too. Movies by Flixster was the best service app.

Google broke down the gaming categories into a number of sub-fields, though "most addictive game" is perhaps the most important. There, Gree's Knights & Dragons took the top spot, starting a swords-and-monsters theme of sorts; in "Best Game Based on a Movie" it was The Hobbit: Kingdoms that took the prize.

Bejeweled Blitz unsurprisingly took recognition for the most popular retro title, but interestingly Google's own Ingress – the augmented reality game which sends Android users out into the real world to compete for territory – also took a prize. Samurai Siege was a player-voted winner, while Duolingo scored in the "enhancing the everyday" category.

Google says the 2013 "Players' Choice" will be the first of many, as it helps curate the top applications from the growing number of Android titles. Sifting through and picking out the best software for new users is a problem most major platforms face, iOS included, with standard search falling short of turning up gems.

As a result, lists such as these have grown in popularity, though Google has also been working on improving how search operates. Recently, for instance, Google search for Android was updated to include Play results, while the gaming subcategories will be enlarged in 2014, Android Community reports.