5 Android apps you shouldn't miss this week! - Android Apps Weekly

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
This week’s episode of Android Apps Weekly is brought to you by Tap n Flap. Yes, I know this is a Flappy Bird clone but this one is actually pretty decent. It comes with Google Play Games achievements and leaderboards and if you pay the reasonable $1.49 for the in-app purchase, you’ll have five levels to choose from, each with their own bird skin. Once you unlock all achievements, you can change birds and even obstacles to whatever you want. It’s a time waster, but a decent one and it’s kid friendly. Check it out and show your support for Android Apps Weekly!

Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines for this week:

• MasterCard is working on a new app that will let you take selfies for payments by verifying the identify the user before processing a payment. This would be among the precious few instances where selfies were actually useful.
• In an interesting twist, Shadowgun: Deadzone by Madfinger Games now has mods! The modding will allow people to change characters, weapons, levels, and even some of the game mechanics. All you have to do is download the Deadzone GM kit.
• Sony and Twitch have teamed up together to allow broadcasting game play from Sony Xperia devices. Right now, it’s limited to only the most recent Xperia lineup including Z3+ and Z4 but this gives mobile gamers more ways to stream on Twitch.
• Microsoft has rebranded their entertainment apps to lose the Xbox moniker. From now on, Xbox Music will be Groove while Xbox Video will be Movies & TV. This is likely in anticipation for the Windows 10 launch next month.
• Telltale Games has released the first trailer for the highly anticipated Minecraft: Story Mode game. It definitely looks like a Minecraft game except this will have a story line. In classic Tellate Games fashion, this will be an episodic adventure. It should be pretty good.

For even more Android apps and games news, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter! There we’ll have all the updates, new releases, and headlines that we didn’t have time for here. If you want, you can sign up for your email and we’ll send the newsletter to your inbox every Friday!

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
The popular keyboard Fleksy made a huge announcement this last week. They have lowered the price of the app to free and it will now be supported with in-app purchases. Fleksy has a huge year in 2014 and it’s considered one of the best and most popular keyboards around. We anticipate it being free to use will help continue all of that. Along with going free, it will also soon be receiving an update that brings some new features.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Action Launcher got a fairly significant update this last week. A new feature called Quickbar was added that allows users to customize the search bar at the top. This allows fast access to applications along with a little more functionality. The update also included some minor tweaks and changes along with the boilerplate bug fixes and performance improvements. It’s a good launcher if you’re in the market for one.

[Price: Free]
Disney has released an official Star Wars app that is meant to be your one-stop shop for all things Star Wars. The app includes notifications for big announcements and releases, content from the Star Wars blog, and even find Star Wars gifs. The app can also be themed based on your preference of the Force. The app is experiencing some release day issues that Disney is working through, but it’s a good download for fans.

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
Ramboat is a surprisingly intense game that is kind of a parody of the Rambo series. This is a 2D, side scrolling shooter where you must race up and down rivers and mow down bad guys. The graphics aren’t amazing but they’re definitely not bad. It even includes a poker game mechanic. It’s definitely a time-waster type of game but let’s face it, there’s gambling and guns, what else do you need?

[Price: Free]
Tossup is a new application out of Microsoft Garage and it’s a fun little app. What it does is help you plan events and gather opinions about things. Using the app, you can ask people if they plan on attending an event and get answers back quickly. You can also use it to find things like restaurants or even individual opinions about something. It’s a bit simple and there are some release day bugs, but it’s worth a shot.

Wrap up

If we missed any great Android apps or games news, let us know about it in the comments!