Wednesday, October 26, 2016
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly
Welcome to the 150th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Just like last week, we have our news broken up between Pokemon Go and everything else. That way, you can skip the Pokemon Go news if youd like. Lets get started!
Pokemon Go news:
- Razer has announced that theyre making a chat application specifically for Pokemon Go. The app, which will be called RazerGo, is a location-aware chat app that will be open to everyone who is in your general vicinity. The idea is to help Pokemon Go players chat it up when theyre near each other and talk about the game. It should be out before too long.
- The first sponsored Pokestops were dropped this week. The winner of being able to say that they were first was McDonalds. The chain will have most of its 3000 locations in Japan become Pokestops and Gyms for players to flock to and enjoy. We dont know when it will roll out to other companies, but it should be soon.
- A Redditor did a little research this week and showed that level scaling in Pokemon Go is absurdly high. Getting from level 30 to level 31 requires as much XP as going from level 1 to level 25. This has launched discussion about whether or not the game scales too aggressively and what Niantic can do about it. Well let you know how it turns out.
- GameStop has reported that their sales have spiked 100% since the launch of Pokemon Go. Theyve been able to make their establishments Pokestops or Gyms and have been hosting family events. This has brought tons of people which has, in turn, caused sales to spike. Its a genius strategy, really, and GameStop is one of many companies to see sales go up thanks to Pokemon Go.
- Its been estimated that Pokemon Go is currently making about $2 million per day. The AppInstitute website has a real-time tracker that shows you a rough estimate of what the game is making. It piles up wicked fast and the game seems to be making a ton of money right now.
- Pokemon Go was actually supposed to release in France earlier this week. However, after the tragedy at Nice, Niantic decided to delay the release there for a little while to respect the events that occurred there. There is still going to be a French release, but its going to be a little bit longer. It did launch in Canada along with Japan and 26 European countries over the last week.
- Sprint is jumping onto the Pokemon hype train by giving out a ton of free stuff. Each of their locations will become charging stations for players and they will also offer experts to help in certain locations along with Lures at locations that also have nearby Pokestops. This is after T-Mobile announced free data for a year for Pokemon Go players last week.
The rest of the headlines:
- A while ago, it was announced that a conglomeration of Chinese investors wanted to buy Opera for $1.2 billion. However, this week it was announced that the deal has fallen through due to regulatory issues. Shortly thereafter, a new deal was announced. The new deal, which features all of the same players, is for $600 million for a controlling stake in Opera instead of for the whole company.
- A court ruling this week has set a precedent that uploading videos of people in a bathroom stall to Snapchat without their consent is now a crime. This occurred after a high school student took video of another student in a bathroom stall and uploaded to his Snapchat. The other student later committed suicide because of the video. As a result, courts have ruled that such behavior is now illegal. Why this wasnt a law sooner is beyond me, but its official now.
- Twitter is making verification a little bit easier for user accounts. The idea is to help people get verified accounts even if theyre not as popular. The process is actually very simple. Youll be asked to make some changes to your profile to accommodate the requirements. After that, youll need to submit some links to verify who you are and then submit the form. Twitter will reach out a few days later if youre verified.
- Everyone is talking about a new photo app called Prisma this week. The app uses artificial intelligence to apply some truly unique filters to your photos. This gives them a unique look that you wont find with other apps. We have a hands-on video on our YouTube channel if you want to check it out. It was briefly available as an invite-only beta, but that has since closed down. Now were all waiting for the public release.
For even more Android apps and games news, dont forget to check out this weeks newsletter by clicking here! Its full of news, updates, and releases that we didnt have time for here. If youre interested, you can sign up for the newsletter using the form below and well send it to you every Sunday! For even faster updates, check out our official app!
Blue Angels – Aerobatic SIM
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Its been a long time since we saw a good flight sim released on Android and Blue Angels fits the bill. The game is based around the official Blue Angels and youll be allowed to perform similar manuevers and aerobatics with these that you may have seen in real life. Youll have an Airshow Mode, Additive Mode, and more where youll be able to fly around and do some really fun stuff. Its officially licensed by the US Navy and its free to download.
Google Arts and Culture
[Price: Free]
Google Arts and Culture is a free app that lets you view all kinds of art, landmarks, and more. It boasts high quality, 360-degree images from over 850 museums and archives along with much more. This is a great app for art aficionados and its doubly good as an educational app for youngsters. It also comes with sorting features to help find what youre looking for and a Collections section where you can organize your favorites. Its completely free with no in-app purchases.
Suicide Squad: Special Ops
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Suicide Squad: Special Ops is a first-person action game where you play as members of the Suicide Squad. The mechanics are an unusual mix of first person shooter along with a fighting game. That means youll be bashing in the faces of opponents in the first person view. It has decent graphics and plenty of gameplay content for you to play with. The only downside is that it can get repetitive after a while since most of your time will be spent mowing down bad guys. Still, its a decent game, especially for fans of the series. Its also a free download.
Swiftmoji Keyboard
[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
A lot of people have been wondering what SwiftKey has been up to since its Microsoft acquisition earlier this year. The answer is Swiftmoji Keyboard. This is a new keyboard that uses Swiftkeys prediction system to try to predict which emoji you want to use and when you want to use them. It worked alright in our testing, but these kinds of apps usually get better the longer you use them. We dont know why this wasnt integrated into Swiftkey directly, but at least its free if you want to try it out.
Borderlands 2
[Price: $14.99]
Borderlands 2, yes the actual Borderlands 2, was released on Android this week. Well, technically, it was released on Android TV devices and on the Nvidia Shield Console. The game is a port and contains all of the same story elements, graphics, and gameplay mechanics as its console and PC counterparts. Along with the original game, youll also have access to new classes and characters as well as online co-op mode. If you have an Android TV or Shield Console, this is probably worth the $14.99 price tag.
Related best app lists:
- Use that strategic mind of yours to tackle the best tower defense games on Android!
- Or check out some of the best strategy games on Android, period!
If we missed any of the best Android apps or games news from the last week, tell us about them in the comments!To see our complete list of best app lists, click here.
And that about does it for this one folks. If you want to watch our Prisma hands on video, well have that linked up there on the screen adn in the video description below.
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Monday, September 26, 2016
Mobile Nations Weekly Modular mainstream McLaren
Mobile Nations Weekly Modular mainstream McLaren
Motos modular masterpiece and Nokias never known novelty.
Motorolas latest phones — the Moto Z and Moto Z Force have at long last arrived, but with a catch: theyre Verizon "Droid"-brand exclusives for now. But give it a little while and the modular-backed smartphones will be available elsewhere. And even though the BlackBerry Security Summit was all about, well, security, we couldnt help but wander about new BlackBerry devices — word on that is coming next week.
Windows Mobile is going through something of a retrenchment period while a new path forward is plotted, but before things went south there was the Nokia McLaren. This highly impressive Windows Phone never saw the light of day until now, and weve got everything you need to know about its giant camera, all-metal body, and insane depth- and pressure-sensing display. Oh, and Microsoft made a bunch of money in the last quarter.
VR took a step into the mainstream with an impressive Mr. Robot tie-in and a new Star Wars game for HTC Vive. Speaking of the Vive, its cropping up in the most unexpected places, like hospitals.
And, as you might expect, PokéGeddon continues, and were all in. Theres a new podcast — Go Time! — tips on throwing Pokémon Go curveballs, and a parents guide to the insanity.
Android Central — May the Moto Z Force be with you
After an ample amount of runup, Lenovo and Verizon released the Moto Z Droid Edition and Moto Z Force Droid Edition to consumers. We have a full review of both phones, along with some takes on which Moto Mods you should buy and how the Mods stand out from what LGs already done this year. We also dropped the Moto Z Force. A lot.
And dont worry, the Moto Z will indeed get security patches in the future.
For those who want to keep up with the bleeding edge of software, Google released the fifth and final Dev Preview of Android 7.0 Nougat. Theres a bit more polish all around, and a crazy-hard-to-find Easter Egg. Its available to anyone with a modern Nexus device.
For those who are big launcher fans, you should take a look at the latest version of Action Launcher. If thats not for you, maybe see if something else piques your interest on our full list of the best Android launchers.
- After a disappointing start to 2016, Im hoping for the best Sony phone in years
- Acer Chromebook R11 review: Solid laptop, mediocre convertible
- Try a blue light filter on your phone — your eyes will thank you
- 7 things to know about the Sony Xperia X Performance
- Introducing Go Time — A Pokémon Go podcast!
- Where next for mid-range Android phones?
- Charging your Nexus on the go with the Monoprice USB-C battery pack
- First impressions: Android apps on the Chromebook R11
- Android malware — should you be worried?
CrackBerry — Conditioning
For BlackBerry and CrackBerry readers, this week was all about the BlackBerry Security Summit. John Chen and crew kept things mostly related to security as one would expect from a security summit but we did get some hardware news and information to go along with all the other key announcements and demos.
- Watch John Chens keynote from the BlackBerry Security Summit 2016
- Media "conditioned" to ask BlackBerry about handset business, says Chen
- BlackBerry will discuss new devices next week
- BlackBerry Hamburg / Neon built by TCL turns up at the FCC, marketing name DTEK 50
iMore — Checkmarks and changes
Its been a surprisingly busy mid-July week for iMore: The Pokémon insanity continued apace, Apple started rolling out some pretty major changes to Apple Music, and Twitter now lets anyone apply for blue checkmark verification — though actually getting that verification is still a shot in the dark.
On the PokéFront, the folks at Android Central started a new podcast called Go Time!, Serenity shared her foolproof way for throwing curveballs, Lory worries about people playing the game in awkward places, and Georgia wrote an excellent guide for parents playing with their kids. We also have a pretty fantastic contest to win the ultimate Pokémon Go survival pack, so check that out!
Apple snuck between the Pokémon insanity to introduce a much-welcome change to the Apple Music: The companys iTunes Match service will now be offered as part of an Apple Music subscription. Weve got everything you need to know about the change, as well as how-tos on cancelling iTunes Match, if you rock both services, and an update to our iCloud Music Library Ultimate Guide.
We also wrote about the iPad, your iPhone 7 wishes, and more how-tos than you could shake a stick at.
- The iPad Paradox
- Breathe: How Apple Watchs new app will help you live and feel better
- Whats on your iPhone 7 wish list?
- How to request Twitter verification on your iPhone
- Fed up with the iOS 10 lock screen? Find zen with this quick Settings change | iMore
VR Heads — Medicine, magic, and mystery
We all love playing games in VR, and theres so many to choose from now its amazing, but there are practical uses for this tech as well We spoke with a physical therapist using the HTC Vive for concussion treatment this week, and it opened the door to some incredible discussions about the positive effects of VR in the world.
- VR Therapy — using an HTC Vive to help with concussions
- Mr. Robot in VR is gone for now, but will be back soon!
- Star Wars: Tials of Tatooine is now live on Steam VR!
Windows Central — What could have been
Microsoft is in the final stages of preparing the big Windows 10 Anniversary Update for August 2. Insiders on the Slow Ring have now received the final bits with build 14393 going out this week. Speaking of Microsoft the company earned $22.6 billion (non-GAAP) for FY16 Q4 beating Wall Street estimates.
But perhaps our biggest story this week was our exclusive deep-dive into the canceled Nokia McLaren smartphone featuring some crazy 3D Touch technology. You have to see this phone in action to believe it.
Windows 10 Mobile finally picked up native panorama support. While it took a long time to get here the feature is likely one of the best implementations of panorama yet. We also played around with the new Acer Liquid Jade Primo smartphone in our unboxing video and came away impressed.
- Fully Exposed: Unreleased Nokia McLaren Windows phone with 3D Touch
- Windows Ink is the best new thing in Windows 10 Anniversary Update
- Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 460 review: Business in front, party in back
- Whats new with Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 Anniversary Update
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