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Having reviewed a new Android app every day for the past year, we at Life Of Android like to think we know a good download when we see it. So far we’ve given our verdict on 339 brilliant and not so brilliant downloads for Google’s smartphone OS but as time goes on, opinions change and new favourites are discovered.

To give you our definitive assessment on the absolute Android Market essentials, we decided to make a list of our 10 favourite apps from the last 12 months. No Android handset is complete without them.

10. iTriage

There are very few apps with lifesaving potential but iTriage can count itself first and foremost amongst that small list. A medical app designed to help diagnose symptoms and then suggest suitable treatments for them, this is easy to use and even comes with some excellent GPS features to help locate nearby medical institutions if you live in the US.

9. Super Dynamite Fishing

How could we possibly run a ‘Best Apps of 2011′ list without including Redneck Joe and his humble bathtub? We’ve only been fishing once before and it was hopelessly boring. Clearly what would have livened up the occasion was explosives and lots of them. This invaluable lesson makes Super Dynamite Fishing not only a great arcade app but an educational download too.

8. The Adventures Of Tintin

As the smartphone version of the blockbuster movie, The Adventures Of Tintin had a lot to live up to and it succeeded in doing so with suitable aplomb. Expect console quality graphics, epic gameplay and the ability to play as numerous characters, including Snowy and Captain Haddock, when you part with your money for this outstanding app.

7. Tasker

Tasker is a ginormous toolbox app which allows you to endlessly tinker with your Android handset. Protect your battery life by turning off Wi-Fi when a certain amount of power is remaining. Prevent excess procrastination by limiting Browser to a specific number of page views. We won’t bore you with the whole list of this app’s features but, needless to say, it is vast and impressive.

6. Adobe Photoshop Touch

Adobe’s Touch Apps suite may have turned out to be a mixed bag but Photoshop Touch easily ranks amongst the best apps you can own on an Android tablet. With most of this app’s features borrowed straight from its desktop cousin, designers are now able to complete a lot of their photo editing on the go.

5. World Of Goo

A properly innovative puzzler, World Of Goo is a construction-based app where you have to mould your goo into a stable structure so that they can reach the pipe on the other side of the level. Fiendishly fun and wholly original, we’ve been glued to this app since the moment we first laid eyes on it.

4. Spotify

As much music as you can possibly listen to for just £9.99 ($9.99), that’s the very definition of an Android bargain. When Spotify finally bag The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Oasis it’ll be Number 1 in our books but for now it’s still an app we use every day without fail.

3. Riptide GP

Riptide GP is our favourite racing app because it’s absolutely perfect for casual smartphone gamers or hardcore Android nerds. Some sumptuous 3D graphics and an immense mix of racing and stunt-based gameplay set this app well apart the rest of its competitors on ambition alone. The fact it actually manages to achieve these lofty targets makes it unmistakably essential.

2. Wheres My Droid

Wheres My Droid is the ultimate tool for recovering a lost smartphone. If it’s nearby and placed on silent, then the app will turn on a loud white noise, making your handset impressively easy to find. If the smartphone is further afield, your phone will send you a Google Maps link to its location. Pretty amazing stuff.

1. Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary

A late surge from Grand Theft Auto III saw Rockstar’s decade old title do the impossible and take the title of our favourite app of the year. While it may seem unfair giving the top spot to a port, GTA III’s superb controls and huge world to explore place it so far ahead of the competition it was unignorable. Simply put, there isn’t an app you’ll get more gameplay out of.

For our verdict on all the best Android downloads, why not check out more app reviews here?