The most obvious way to get your hands on third party apps for Android phones is to use the official Android Market application. That’s fine except for 3 things.

• The Market isn’t available on all phones or in all territories
• Not all apps are available through it
• The on-phone Market application isn’t the easiest to navigate

Here’s a quick rundown of some (but not all) alternatives.

Cyrket.com and Androlib
Strictly speaking since neither Cyrket.com nor Androlib.com provide downloads they’re not alternatives to the official Android Market, as such, but instead make the process of browsing through the thousands of applications available a tad easier by serving the Android Market data through a web site. Both provide full listings of the applications available, accompanying summary, comments and user ratings.

Cyrket.com home page

One cool feature of both sites is that QR codes (2D bar codes) are provided along with the application summaries. This means you can browse available apps on a laptop/desktop and once you find an app you like the look of, you can whip out your phone, scan the code and go straight to the app in the Market ready to download. You’ll need a barcode reader like this one in order to do the scanning. Alternatively, you can browse either site with your phone and click a direct link to take you to the application page within the Market but that seems to slightly miss the point.

Listing apps with Androlib.com

Both sites are great resources but Androlib maybe has the edge with slightly better designed navigation, the inclusion of third party review links (including Appnoodle’s!) and a mobile friendly version of the site. You can also select your own territory, thereby limiting your search to apps which are actually available from your version of the Market.

Andappstore
Andappstore.com provides direct downloads of applications rather than simply an alternative view of the Android Market. Although there is duplication of Market apps and the current inventory isn’t huge (200+ apps), Andappstore scores with a funky, well designed download client providing sensible categorisation of available apps. It’s also a useful resource of free apps for those owners of non-Google phones who don’t have access to the official Android Market.

Andappstore are keen to increase their inventory so if you’re a developer looking for more exposure, get in touch!

Andappstore.com

Androidgear
Androidgear.com lists 150+ Android applications many of which aren’t available via the official market. The site is well designed and easy to navigate with decent categorisation and a user ranking system. The downside is that some applications listed which are also available via the official Market are priced higher at Androidgear. However, it’s worth a look for those additional listings.

androidgear.com

Handango
Currently listing 364 downloads for the G1, Handango is probably the largest third party app store serving the Android platform. In common with the other sites listed you can search for a specific application or browse categories but unfortunately at the time of writing sub-categories weren’t actually populated. Prices generally seem to be slightly lower than Androidgear (from a small sample) and more in tune with the official Market prices, but are still higher in some instances so do make the comparison before buying.

Handango.com

Edit: Added Slideme.org to list

The people at Slideme.org aren’t simply providing a Market alternative, they’re trying to build a community around the Android application development process. Here’s some blurb from the site.

‘SlideME offers products, services and experience that help promote individual Android developers and their creative efforts. The SlideME community is focused on helping developers gain quality assurance and financial rewards in the multi-billion dollar mobile content industry.’

The idea is to give developers the chance to connect with users of their applications and for users to give more direct feedback to developers than normal.

Slideme

That’s great and everything but what’s the inventory like? Well, it’s okay actually. Slideme currently list almost 250 free and paid for applications in 17 categories but the really nice feature of Slideme’s offering is their custom market application. It’s slicker and more feature rich than the official version, including as it does extended info, screenshots of featured apps and a well designed interface (providing you like turquoise).

Slideme's app store

Screenshots included

Conclusion
If you’re on the look out for applications for your Android phone the official Market is a good starting point but don’t limit yourself to searching there as there are plenty of alternative resources available. Check them out!

One last thing. Several of these sites require you to manually download and install the Android Package files (APKs). If you’re not sure how to do this you can see our instructions for installing APKs here.