Mashable's 15 best Android, iPhone, and WP7 apps for 2011

'Tis the season - for "Best Of..." lists. Mashable.com chimes in with The 15 Best Mobile Apps of 2011. There are five each for Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone 7. The WP7 apps listed are:

• Tango - Tango lets you make free phone and video calls over cellular data and WiFi to other Tango users - like Skype, except that as Mashable notes, Skype isn't ready for WP7 yet. Since Microsoft purchased Skype last year, it's probably only a matter of time before Skype users can take advantage of features like the front-facing camera on the HTC Radar - but Tango is dancing a solo on WP7 for now. Oh, and it's free.
  
  The Marketplace on my HTC Radar  shows two versions of Tango. Version 1.1 from tango.me earns 4 stars from reviewers. Version 1.0 from HTC only gets 3 stars. The HTC offering notes that only the HTC Titan and HTC Radar support video calling. The 1.1 app details page notes support for the Samsung Focus and Omnia 7.
  
  As an experiment, I tried installing the 1.1 version to see if it would kick out an error - it didn't, but since I don't know any other video-enabled smartphone users with Tango, I didn't bother to get very far into the app.
   
• Metrotube - allows you to watch YouTube videos. According to Mashable, it's better than the native WP7 YouTube app built by Microsoft, and a look at the WP7 Marketplace bears this out -- Metrotube gets 4 1/2 stars from user reviews, a good deal better than the 3 stars garnered by Microsoft's offering. Metrotube is $0.99 in the premium version in the Marketplace (not $1.99 as Mashable would have it), but there is a free version that does almost everything except HD video streaming.
   
• FeedWorm - this free app syncs with one's Google Reader account, allowing one to read RSS feeds - i.e., blog feeds. For someone who blogs regularly, reading other blogs is de rigeur. According to the Marketplace Details FeedWorm has a "no-frills...efficient interface...deliberately simple and focused...dedicated to the basics." Mashable agrees, citing the "super-clean interface", compared to rival app Fuse. Marketplace downloaders have given FeedWorm 5 stars. I'll be installing it soon myself.
  
  
• bubblegum -  bubblegum is a free photo app with "cool filters and social options", according to Mashable. The publisher in the Marketplace is listed as Goofball Labs, but Mashable says it was "Created by Microsoft programmers." Perhaps Goofball Labs is a pseudonym for a group of Microsoft programmers - I couldn't find a Goofball Labs website in Google or Bing.
  
  If bubblegum was a project by Microsoft programmers designed to show off features of WP7 (rather than a commercial app), that may explain why the app doesn't seem to have gotten needed updates in months, if the user reviews in the Marketplace are any indication. The Marketplace rating is only 3 1/2 stars - there are quite a few 4- and 5-star reviews, but there are also a lot of 2- and 1-star reviews from disappointed users. Mashable notes that Pictures Lab ($2.99, 4 stars in Marketplace) and Thumba Photo Editor (not in the Marketplace, but available for $0.99 from thumba.net) are popular alternatives to bubblegum.
  
  
• Mixtapes - a WP7 app for 8tracks.com free Internet radio playlists (created by 8tracks users). Mixtapes is free and collects 4 1/2 stars from WP7 Marketplace users.