Google Finance

Platform: Android

RATING:
2 out of 5

PRICE:
$FREE

TASTY:
Free access to stock quotes, business news, data charts, and your Google Finance portfolios via your Android device.

BUMMER:
Stock quotes are U.S.-only and does not display individual portfolio statistics (gain/loss/shares), both of which are available in the standard (and superior) browser version at http://www.google.com/finance. Some stock price information delayed by 5-15 minutes, users reporting inaccurate importing of some data from portfolios, some specific DROID models cause app to crash.

COOL:
The latest version adds the ability to sync multiple Google Finance accounts with your phone.

REVIEW:
Professional and amateur investors, take note. Google’s free Finance for Android app streams U.S. stock quotes, business news, and data charts to your phone, and syncs with your Google Finance portfolios. The latest version adds the ability to sync multiple accounts, making it a must-try for all Google Finance users who need access to data and trends on-the-go via their Android device.

That said, there’s a fair amount of “buyer beware” warnings attached to the app. Only U.S. stocks are supported, which makes it a no-go for all global investors (and, frankly, who isn’t these days?)

Plus, with the recent upgrades made to the Google Finance website, here’s hoping Google upgrades this app to match; importing your portfolios results in some data corruption issues, and you can’t see the net gain or loss to your investments as a whole.

Some quotes I viewed were more than 10 minutes old to boot. Plus, the service runs in the background, draining battery life.

That said, your mileage may vary. If you’re already using Google Finance to store and work with your portfolios, give the app a try. If not, the Android Marketplace offers many other apps to track stocks in a much more friendly, consistent way (Stock Alert anyone?).