As we all know by now, applications are the very essense of what makes a smartphone so smart. As the signature line from Apple goes, "There's an app for that." It's crazy how far we've come in regards to the sheer volume of applications available in each platform's market. Even the platforms like BlackBerry and Windows Phone, which both have very low numbers when compared to the 800,000+ applications that both Android and iOS offer to their consumers, still have an impressive amount in their own right with Windows Phone having over 150,000 and BlackBerry having over 80,000.

That's a lot of applications, and a lot of applications that seemingly never get noticed.

I've put a lot of emphasis on why applications are the main reason that I hesitate to leave both iOS and Android in favor of BlackBerry or Windows Phone. Yes, they have a lot of applications but a lot of them aren't the mainstream ones that I need, or perhaps they just don't work as well. But in the shadows of every platform, behind the mainstream applications like Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, etc. lies thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of applications that are less spoken of. These are the applications that I go looking for when I'm bored.

Most of the time the applications that I download to occupy my time for a short while and end up getting deleted for one reason or another, but a few of them make the cut to my designated 'Guilty Pleasure' folder, which is not nearly as dirty as it sounds. Most of the applications within the folder are just embarrassing, but nothing you would catch me using in public. But today I've decided there's no shame in my game, because I'm almost certain that everybody has, or had, at least one 'guilty pleasure' application that might give you a bad rep to your friends.

Pictured above is what's contained in my guilty pleasure folder. Among my favorites are I Am T-Pain (of which I have become exceptionally good at) and Toca Boca Hair Salon. I discovered the Toca Boca Hair Salon upon going with a friend to a babysitting job, who had applications on her phone... for the kids she was babysitting. I saw one girl play the game, and the moment I had the chance I decided to give the game a try too. It was through this very application that I found out I have a real talent for doing fashion-forward hairstyles.

You can never have too many doo-dads in your hair. Just look how much she loves her new do!

Most of my other guilty pleasure applications have something to do with singing as well like La Di Da, Sing!, Glee Karaoke (I don't even watch Glee, but their karaoke app is pretty fun if I do say so myself), and AutoRap (which I have also gotten very good at - and when I say 'good' I mean you don't have to do anything but talk into the phone and the application does the rest for you, so I mean... pretty much everybody is good at it by default anyway.) I'm actually a terrible singer, so I depend on songs that correct the pitches for me so that I can at least pretend that I have a future in my dream job as a pop star. Auto-tuning apps truly are my guilty pleasure when it comes to smartphone applications.

But aside from auto-tuning myself, I'm also fairly fond of autotuning other people. Also in my 'Guilty Pleasure' folder I have an application called Songify, which takes anything you say and turns it into a song. I enjoy recording people who I'm in mid-conversation with unbeknownst to them. The best part is replaying what the person said back in song form, as they're usually not sure what to think of it and probably heavily consider the pros and cons of removing you from their friends list in real life (tip: it's best to do this to friends you are close to, and not your boss). It's apps like these where I'm happy that smartphones let me live out the childish antics that I just never grew out of.

I don't use my guilty pleasure applications very often, but when I do I could potentially waste hours with them. Like I said, the mainstream applications that I use everyday are the most important applications to me, but the fun applications that I find on the side are what I consider the little things that help make me love these little handheld computers and what they can do with modern day technology so much.

Now that you know what my guilty applications are, readers, it's your turn to share! What are some of your guilty pleasure applications? (Remember to keep it clean and stay classy!)

Image via WM Power User