The most impressive physics based interactive Android apps

Most of the Android phones in the market today come with special sensors that detect direction, acceleration, light, ambience and what not! We normally use the basic apps and never get to utilize the true power that lies inside our phones. It's about time we put these sensors to a good use.

In this article, I've rounded up some really cool physics based simulation games and wallpapers that you might fall in love with. I downloaded all of these apps and let me assure you, they are worth the time spent. Some of these are processor intensive so make sure you have removed applications (that are running unnecessarily in the background) before trying these apps.



1) Gravity Home

This is not really an application but it is a live wallpaper. This wallpaper allows you to chose some of your installed app icons to be shown in the live wallpaper, literally hanging around based on physics (gravity). Depending on the orientation of your phone, the icons move to follow the law of gravity. Moreover, these icons can also be clicked to launch the respective app. It is so fun when you begin to use it. It has many options and configurable icon selection. So go ahead and try it out. You can download it here.

 

2) Liquid Physics

This is a really cool and realistic looking live wallpaper. It is based on Liquid particles and pretty much a hardcore physics based application because if you look at the settings, you'll realize the degree of customization you could do; from adding motion blur to changing the sensitivity of gravity and acceleration.  Here is a short video link to show you how it looks and how you can customize it. It also has multi-touch interface capability so you can interact with the particles better.

I'm quite skeptical on how this wallpaper will affect the battery performance but it is fun to play with nonetheless. You can download it here.

3)  Apparatus

This is a physics based game, more popularly known as 'Contraption' in the real world. Watch some videos of these contraptions in action(youtube). You will be amazed at how awesome they are. Anyways, back to the game. The idea is simple : You need to build a complex machine to perform a simple task. The objective is the transfer the marbles from start to end using everyday objects such as cables, batteries, motors. Build mechanical bridges and let the marble go through a roller coaster ride to the goal. This is a very fun game but this is the Lite version and are limited to fewer levels. You can, of course purchase the full version if you think you love this game. Download the Lite version here.

Note : A minimum processor speed of 600MHz is recommended. A screen resolution of 800x480 or higher is recommended but the game runs on lower resolutions too.

4) X Construction

This is a a pretty addictive game that tests your understanding of civil engineering and patience. The idea is to construct bridges with steel so that it can help cross a train across it. Sounds easy but it depends entirely on how the structure is built, the stress, the strain and other physical factors. This is civil engineering at its best :) The graphics are quite okay, not as good as Apparatus but it is worth the time spent playing this game. Here is a link to download. Please note that this is the lite version with fewer levels than the full version.

 

5) Space Physics

This game does not offer a great graphical experience but the versatility to draw objects with your hand and bring them to life is simply awesome. As usual, gravity is the boss here and there are so many levels you can explore and enjoy. I would rate this as one of the best physics based games on the Android market. You can download it here.

6) Fleya

Many scientists and engineers use CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to model and predict behavior of certain fluids under certain conditions. These simulations normally end up being used as important data to determine the feasibility of a project without having to build too many prototypes. This app does none of that, but it uses CFD in order to render models of fluids that will be affected by external influences and such (your touchscreen).

A very interactive app, and as a Physics buff myself, I can assure you that this is really fun. You can choose different fluids to simulate fluid dynamics. You really do not have to be a physicist to use this app. Just download it and have fun. Moreover, you can save your creation as images in the gallery and share it with others. Download the game from this XDA Thread. You can also check out this video here.

Okay, those were some of my favorites. There are so many other good physics simulation games and wallpapers. I cannot cover all of them. The ones I covered above are free versions. Here are a few links to some of the other popular physics based apps, definitely worth a look:

• Manic Mechanics 
• Clever Contraptions 
• Moblox 
• The Elements 
• Break It

If you know any other good physics based simulation games/apps, please share it with us. If you are a developer who recently developed (or in the course of developing) such games/apps, let us know and we shall try our best promoting it.