AT&T Android user jonesing for the Amazon Appstore's free daily apps? You can get 'em, with some work

If you're an AT&T Android user, and you're perturbed about the fact that you can't download anything from the Android-based Amazon Appstore, because that requires sideloading, and that's something AT&T has completely shut off from its Android devices, you're not alone, and that's something AT&T will have to fix. However, if you're concerned about missing out on the freebies that are announced daily in the Android Market, you are not totally out of luck.

Each day Amazon.com has a free app in the Amazon Appstore. On Tuesday, it was Rovio's Angry Birds Rio, exclusive to the Amazon Appstore. Wednesday, it was World Series of Poker: Hold'em Legend, and on Thursday, it was "Doodle Jump." With the exception of Angry Birds Rio, which is still free for a "limited time," after 24 hours, those apps go back to paid.

Thus, AT&T users are losing out on any opportunity to get those apps gratis. Ah, but there's an app for that.

In fact, it's Amazon.com's Appstore app itself. If you go to the Amazon Appstore page you can request an email or SMS that will give you a link to download it. However, what good is that when that app must be sideloaded?

If you click on the link and download the app in your browser, you'll be able to pull it out of the browser's download folder, and email it to an account you can access through your desktop. At that point, you can then sideload the app via the Sideload Wonder Machine.

Once you've done that (and honestly, it's somewhat painful), enter your Amazon account information
and from that point on you will be able to order items on the Amazon Appstore with a click of your desktop browser mouse.

Once again, what good is that? Simply stated, those "purchases" can be installed anytime. Once AT&T fixes the issue (and they have admitted it's an issue), you will be able to download those apps on your AT&T device.

Unfortunately, you can't use the Sideload Wonder Machine to install those purchases as you need access to the APK on your computer. You must, however, at least sideload the Amazon Appstore app before you can make purchases via your desktop browser, as otherwise it will just keep asking you to download and install the app via the SMS or email.

Admittedly, it won't do you any real good in terms of being able to actually install, but at least you will not have missed out on any freebies you may have wanted to download.