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Click the image above to watch the video on YouTube!
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Android Apps you shouldn't miss this week
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Beme
If you took the act of creating reaction videos on YouTube and turned it into a social network, it would be called Beme.
Download from Google Play
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Dark Sky
Dark Sky is an iOS app that's been ported to Android to show why subscriptions are stupid.
Download from Google Play
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Bejeweled Stars
Bejeweled Stars is the latest match-3 puzzle game to try something new and it actually kinda works well.
Download from Google Play
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Pokemon TCG Online
This is a real, actual Pokemon game developed by The Pokemon Company. In this one, you trade and collect cards.
Download from Google Play
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Fallout 4 Live Wallpaper
NVIDIA has released a live wallpaper themed around Fallout 4. It's charming in that classic Fallout fashion and features bobbleheads that react to the various things you do on the screen.
Download from Google Play
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Headlines this week
- Google released Gboard to iOS this week, which is a keyboard that integrates search, GIFs, and emoji together along with everything you like about Google Keyboard. People got surprisingly mad about it, despite Google stating that it was coming to Android as well. In any case, the keyboard seems kinda cool and we'll let you know when it comes out.
- Microsoft announced this week that the sun will soon be setting for Sunrise Calendar. According to an official post, the developers are busy working on Outlook and they don't have time to update the app so they're shutting it down which kinda sucks. For anyone interested, this probably isn't going to happen to SwiftKey, at least not for a long time.
- This War of Mine was our pick for the best Android game released in 2015 and now it's going to be a board game. The idea was put on Kickstarter this week and has already racked up over three times it's goal of $57000. It looks quite complex and it should mirror the experience of the game rather well. You can find it on Kickstarter right now.
- A developer over on Reddit created a way to play old school Virtual Boy games using your Android device, a popular emulator called Retroarch, and Google Cardboard. It's a little complicated to get it all to work, but it does actually work and includes some extra features like changing the color from red to grayscale and others. This is awesome.
- The creators of Siri have been working on another AI assistant and this one is called Viv. In its short demonstration at TechCrunch Disrupt, it seemed to outdo Google Now, Siri, and Cortana. It appears as though this one will be platform agnostic which means we'll likely see it on Android either as a beta or when it gets released eventually.
- A new piece of software came out this week called VRidge. This is essentially an Oculus and Vive emulator that lets you play VR games on your computer and stream it to your device while you use Google Cardboard. It's very rough around the edges and a poor overall substitute, but it's a fun way to see what those VR games are like.
- The Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is reported coming with something called Samsung Focus, which would be an app that puts all of your contacts, communications, and calendar events in one place, similar to Blackberry Hub. We'll know more later this year when the Note 6 gets released.
- Barclays has announced that it intends on joining the contactless payment spectrum alongside Android Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay. It'll be mostly for its customers and support payments between £30-£100. It probably won't be available to anyone outside of the UK, but it's interesting nevertheless.
- In this week's Android Customization, Johnny Feist shows you how to use Tasker (and root) to reboot your phone without requiring modifications.
- Google Now got an update this week that now lets you translate various things with just one tap in any application on your device.
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App Updates this week
- An update to WhatsApp's web version now lets you send documents straight from your computer! Oh, also, WhatsApp has Windows and Mac apps now!
- Android Pay appears to be almost ready to be released in the UK.
- Google Calendar received an update this week that lets you automatically log into conference calls, even if it has a code!
- Google Photos now lets you add comments to photo albums that have been shared to you.
- YouTube received a fairly substantial update this week that essentially turns it into a messaging app. The idea is to get your friends on the service and then you all can share and chat about YouTube videos along with other stuff. It doesn't have the best implementation and we're sure it won't replace your current messaging service, but it could be a fun idea someday.
- Instagram received a total revamp this week that includes a new icon and a new interface. As per the norm, Instagram went their own way with their interface and it features no Material Design whatsoever. Tons of people have expressed dislike for the icon also. Overall, it's not much different than it was before, but it does look a little bit nicer. Except the icon. Gross.
- ES File Explorer released perhaps it's more horrible update ever that claims to charge our device 20% faster.. Instead, it hijacks your lock screen, puts ads on it, and, because it's hogwash, it doesn't actually charge your device any faster. At this point, we're just waiting for them to change the name to ES Power Boost Memory Cleaner.
- Miitomo received an update this week that now allows you to invite people to join you using SMS or email.
- Last week's Humble Mobile Bundle received an update and it now has two more games. The Beggar's Ride and Boulder Dash 30th Anniversary are now included!
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