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5 Android apps you shouldn't miss this week! - Android Apps Weekly
Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Let’s check out the big headlines from the last week:
- In perhaps the saddest news we’ve reported on in a while, the mobile-centric Humble Bundles are coming to an end. The service will still have apps in their regular Humble Bundle deals and as individual sales, but no more bundles with just mobile games. It was a staple event covered by this show for years and we’re sad to see it go.
- In a surprising move, Google Play removed the famed Tasker application from the Play Store for an alleged permission that would ignore battery optimizations such as Doze Mode. What’s funny is the app had no such permission in the main version although it was present in the beta version. In any case, the app has been restored to the Play Store and is available right now.
- The season of acquisitions continues this week as Pandora picked up Rdio for a cool $75 million. Rdio was circling the drain and was in the middle of declaring bankruptcy when Pandora stepped in and took over. We don’t know how this will affect Pandora, but we’ll know for sure sometime in 2016.
- Pushbullet announced a new pro version of their popular application. It’ll cost you about $5/month or $40/year. What’s new? Pretty much nothing. The pro service is being criticized not because it’s charging money, but because it’s not giving anyone anything new. The same old Pushbullet now costs money and the free version is now a stripped down version. It’s available now if you’re interest.
- Starting in early 2016, the Google Play Store will start letting users know if an application has advertising. This will be placed in the app listing right alongside the in-app purchases label to let everybody know. It should start rolling out Monday, January 11th.
For even more Android apps and games news, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. There you’ll find a wealth of app info that we didn’t have time or space for here. If you’re so inclined, you can sign up using your email address and we’ll send it to you every week!
[Price: Free]
Samsung released a new application this week called Samsung+. This is a customer service oriented application that connects you with reps to help you solve problems with your Samsung devices. The app also features tutorials on how to use Samsung’s features, exclusive promotions for other products, and some device maintenance features. It’s completely free but, as you may have guessed, it’s for Samsung device owners only.
[Price: $2.99]
Lifeline 2 is the latest release in the Lifeline franchise. For those who don’t know, Lifeline 2 is a text-based RPG where you embark on a quest as a woman trying to save her lost brother and avenge her dead parents. Choices you make will affect the game and either keep the main character alive or kill her. It’s quite good for a text-based game and it works really well with Android Wear. There are also no in-app purchases and also beware for early release bugs.
[Price: Free / $2.99]
Horizon Chase is a retro style racing game that is a self-labeled ode to the racing games of old. With this one, you’ll get all kinds of racing fun with retro graphics and old school game music to round out the experience. It’s a lot of fun and the game is free to demo with the pro version being unlockable as an in-app purchase. There’s a peculiar and hilarious bug on Marshmallow where you have to give the game permission to run, but otherwise it’s a lot of fun.
[Price: Free]
Pool is a new photo sharing application from Mediafire. Yes, that’s Mediafire the popular file sharing service that most of us have used before. The application itself allows you to share photos with friends and family. Think of it like a private Instagram mixed with Google Photos. It’s not quite as robust as either of those applications, but it is young and has a ton of potential. It’s also totally free to use, at least for now.
[Price: $4.99]
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee is one of the more hotly anticipated games of 2015. It’s an action-adventure platformer where you must do all kinds of weird stuff to obtain the last can of caviar. It’s a really goofy game with decent graphics and one of the better controls schemes we’ve seen in this genre. It also has no in-app purchases and, so far, rave reviews on Google Play. It should be compatible with most current devices but do check out the hardware requirements before buying!
Wrap up
If we missed any great Android apps and games news, releases, or updates, tell us about them in the comments.Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!