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

Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! This week we talk about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a huge game sale in Google Play, and some awesome new games!
By
December 20, 2015
Android Apps Weekly
ES file Explorer Pro Android Apps Weekly
Sponsored by: ES File Explorer Pro

[Price: $2.99]
This week’s Android Apps Weekly is sponsored by ES File Explorer Pro. This is one of Android’s oldest and most stable file managing apps and includes a ton of features including pretty much any file management feature you could ask for along with cloud storage management, app management, remote file management, archive management, and tons of other types of managements. It’s also all wrapped up in material design.
Recently, the developers also released ES File Explorer Pro. It’s exactly the same as ES File Explorer in every way except you’ll have expanded theming options, no advertising, and a promise from the developers to keep being awesome. I bought this the day it came out long before they ever became a sponsor because I really do actually like this app a lot. Give the pro version a go yourself and show your support for the Android Apps Weekly show.


Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines from the last week:

  • As you have no doubt heard, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has had fairly stellar reviews so far and the fan hype has been unbelievable. To celebrate, the Google Play Store is currently offering the movie for pre-order on Google Play as well as the soundtrack. Sure it’s kind of silly to pre-order digital goods that never run out of stock, but hey, it’s there if you want it.
  • This last week, rumors began to surface that Google Hangouts was going to lose SMS integration. This is, of course, bad news for people that use both SMS and Hangouts and it’s been reported that Google will begin promoting their SMS app instead. Google Voice users will still be able to text and the app itself will gain other new features.
  • In a bizarre ruling, court officials in Brazil levied a 48 hour ban on WhatsApp when they refused to hand over user information for a criminal drug trafficking investigation. The ban has since been lifted because it was ruled unconstitutional that millions of Brazilians get cut off from their messaging services over something like that.
  • Facebook has announced that they’re shutting down their photo syncing service on January 10th, 2016. From that moment on, users can download a zip file containing their photos or they can get the Facebook Moments app which will continue the photo syncing goodness. I guess they want Moments to be a competitor to Google Photos. We’ll see how well that does.
  • To celebrate the holiday, there is currently a game sale going on in the Play Store. There are more than 35 games on sale, including most Square Enix games, Prune, a couple of LEGO games, XCOM: Enemy Within, and plenty more. Check out the list and grab some awesome games for cheap!

For even more Android apps and games news, updates, and releases, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter. We had a ton of stuff this week that we didn’t have time for here and we encourage you to check it out. If you want, you can use the form below to subscribe to the newsletter and get it sent directly to your email address every week!


picpal Android Apps Weekly
Picpal

[Price: Free]
Picpal is a new app that is kind of like Snapchat. You and your friends take pictures of things and those pictures are used to create a collage that is then posted. This process can be repeated whenever the mood strikes. It’s a fun concept and the app uses Material Design which looks great. Unfortunately, the app only allows Facebook login and it is a little rough around the edges but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on.

picpal Android Apps Weekly

ted baker watch face Android Apps Weekly
Watch Your Style Watch Faces

[Price: Free]
This last week, Google announced over a dozen new designer watch faces that aim to give Android Wear users a little more class to their smartwatches. Some of the designers include Ted Baker, Vivienne Tam, ADIDAS, and plenty of others. Each watch face is entirely free and they all have their own unique looks and features. They’re definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re getting a bit bored with your watch face.

android wear Android Apps Weekly

scribbenauts unlimited Android Apps Weekly
Scribblenauts Unlimited

[Price: $4.99 with in-app purchases]
Scribblenauts Remix was one of the most popular paid games on Android in its heyday and Scribblenauts Unlimited aims to continue that proud tradition. It uses a lot of the same mechanics from the prior game, such as allowing the user to type words out and have those things actually appear. At its core, it’s a creative puzzle game where you must create things to solve puzzles. It’s a lot of fun and contains a ton of content.


microsoft apps Android Apps Weekly
Microsoft Apps

[Price: Free]
Microsoft Apps is an application by Microsoft that shows you other Microsoft apps. This may seem a bit silly given that you can simply search for those apps, but not everyone is as tech savvy as some of us which means there is a legitimate use for an app like this. Especially with Microsoft’s unusually large app collection. It’s simple to use and adheres to most of the Material Design standards. It’s also totally free.

microsoft apps Android Apps Weekly

cut the rope Android Apps Weekly
Cut the Rope: Magic

[Price: Free with in-app purchases]
ZeptoLab has released the latest version of Cut the Rope just in time for Christmas. Much like its predecessors, it’s totally free with no in-app purchases and again revolves around helping the small, adorable little monster solve puzzles. It borrows a lot of its mechanics and premise from prior titles in the series, but includes new elements such as transformations, boss levels, and over 100 new levels.


Wrap up

If there are any great new releases or headlines that we missed, tell us about them in the comments! Thanks for reading and watching, we’ll see you next week!