The default Chrome-like browser that Google provides with the Android Operating System is a decent, standards-based web browser. But just because it's a decent App doesn't mean you have to live with it. Today you get a double dose of Android App of the Week as I look a two very viable alternative browsers: Skyfire and Opera Mini.

This week brings a small and simple utility for adding some fun to photos taken with the camera on your Android device. FxCamera is independently developed, but has a fairly large user base with over 18,000 ratings and 250,000 downloads to date. The developer behind the program is quite active, even if the English language skills are a bit off.

This week I decided to do a little spotlight on Social Media, particularly, Twitter. Now, there are quite a few Apps out for your Android device that fill this function, such as Seesmic or the ever-popular Twidroid, but the real question is which one to choose? Well, after testing each of the "main-contender" programs for some time, I believe I've found a real winner: Touiteur by LevelUp Studio.

One of the more lackluster aspects of the Android device is its media player and default functionalities. While Android 2.1 brings some enhancements especially with the picture gallery, there is still a lot to be desired in terms of its audio and video players. Thanks to afzkl, an independent developer, for creating an excellent video player app, mVideoPlayer.

One of the things Apple did right in developing their iPhone OS software is the functionality that has text messages (SMS and MMS) pop up in a dialog window, giving you the ability to quickly delete or reply to any messages that you receive. Google's default offering through its messaging service uses the notification bar to inform you and allow you to access messages. Some people like the unobtrusive way the default application informs you of messages, others prefer the pop up style of messages the iPhone offers. The people at Handcent Software ask: Why not have both? Why not have even more options?

Okay, so the Android OS developers over at Google made some pretty smart choices when programming for audio, If you're a heavy sleeper, you want your alarm volume to be super loud, but at the same time, you don't want to blow out your eardrums listening to your music at full blast. Hence, there's a volume control for Media applications as well as Alarms. There's also volume controls for notifications, ringer, and a general system volume. The problem comes into play when you need to change each of the volume settings for different circumstances. How frustrating is it when you need all of your volume settings to be set to zero, when there's no way to easily do this with the default programs. Introducing Volume Settings a.k.a. cVolume...

One of the main reasons you buy an Android Phone is simple: Google account integration! I mean it's a OS made by Google, so they should make it play nice with their flagship products, right? And they do, for the most part. Excellent G-mail support, good calendar integration, and even built-in programming for Google Voice make for a sweet phone. But one area that still suffers is Google Docs. Sure you can view virtually any document from the web browser, but that assumes you are in an area with a good data connection. And you can't even edit rich-text documents. That's where GDocs comes in.

This week I've chosen to spotlight an image viewer replacement app for your Android device. It's called B&B Gallery. Almost sounds like a vacation location for bed and breakfast goodness, but the longer name, Bread and Butter Gallery makes more sense. Multi-touch gesture control is supported, along with cover-flow view in landscape mode. It is a true improvement upon the standard image viewer app shipped by default on Android devices. Read on for the full review.

This program is a must-have if you store vital personal or company data on your phone, and let's face it, we all have at least one bit of pretty valuable information on our smartphones. And you have further incentive to get moving on this one, because a free lifetime subscription is available for all new users for a limited time only.

This week's choice is from the fun and entertainment genre of Apps. DailyStrip provides a convenient way to deliver comic-strips to your Android device on a daily basis. It accesses a library of over 100 comic-strips, so virtually any comic you want to follow is available.