The list doesn't include games, as they get their own separate post: this week's selection included Android titles like Ayakashi: Ghost Guild, Beach Buggy Blitz, Arsenal Fantasy Manager 2013 and Contract Killer 2.
iOS apps get their own separate post too: you can find that here. For now, here's the pick of the Google Play store from the last two weeks.
In
good time for Halloween, this book-app from Loud Crow Interactive sees
Charlie Brown and his Peanuts friends waiting for the Great Pumpkin,
with lots of interactivity, voices and music from a 1966 TV special, and
a Peanuts avatar creator to help children make their own characters.
I'll
get the disappointing news out of the way first: this doesn't appear to
be available in the UK yet. It's Nuance's new conversational assistant
software for Android devices, which is in beta for devices running the
Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean variants. It has you making calls,
sending texts, updating social networks, using maps, reserving
restaurants and other tasks by chatting.
Musicovery
is one of a crop of apps encouraging people to play music by their
mood, picking songs from their own collections, but also making its own
recommendations for tracks that they don't own already.
One
for designers and the design-conscious, this: an app to "capture, map,
and explore the world of vintage typography", with a map-based guide to
interesting signs and typography in the real world. You're encouraged to
upload and tag your own examples too.
There's
a buzz around the PerfMon utility, which is a floating performance
monitor tool that hovers over an app that you're using, showing how your
device is running. Useful for developers, or for other Android users
who suspect an app is a tad crunchy on the processor.
DAR.fm's
Ubertalk app has a job on its hands swaying Android radio-heads away
from TuneIn Radio and other apps. Still, it's worth a look: streaming
music and talk radio, as well as the ability to record some shows for
listening at your leisure.
Voice-over-IP
apps are ten-a-penny on Android, so can Jaxtr's new
international-focused one cut through the clutter? It makes calls via 3G
or Wi-Fi, as well as offering access numbers in 40 countries when
neither is available. Some countries can be called for free, and online
voicemail is included.
Also
covered in this week's iOS roundup, this is a curveball app from DeNA,
which is best known for its social mobile games. Comm is another
Voice-over-IP app, which adds photo-sharing and instant messaging into
the mix.
Remember
the days on iOS when virtual pints of beer were all the rage? BeerMap
is an app that wants to get Android users supping pints in the real
world: a "social beer tasting app" for drinkers to share their ratings
and notes for both tipples and pubs in the UK.
Skypath
is the latest social photography app for Android, which runs alongside a
desktop application of the same name. The idea: it synchronises photos
between your Android device, your PC and the ImageShack storage service.
This
is a niche app, but it's an interesting sign of the way things may
develop for other apps in the near future. It has one use: "Use your
Android as a remote for the RightmoveTV app on Samsung 2012 SmartTVs",
developed by Rightmove itself, the online property site. The app can
also send texts and call individual estate agents, and share details of
properties on social networks.
Hong
Kong-based B2B marketplace Alibaba now has an Android app for searching
its millions of products, browsing suppliers and contacting them with
enquiries. The app also saves favourite products for later reference.
This
is an app tied to one specific location: the ancient Roman fort at
Ruffenhofen in Germany, but I thought it was worth including for its
glimpse at how augmented reality technology is good for more than
adverts jumping out of chocolate bar wrappers. Designed to be used while
walking around the fort, it offers videos, panoramic pics and text
about the site.
And
more culture here: an app that offers paintings from 80 masters (Da
Vinci, Van Gogh and Monet included) arranged in a timeline from the
Renaissance through to the present day. Every work and artist gets their
own profile, although the developer appears to be hoping the use of
some copyrighted works will squeak through "in accordance with fair use
principles", which could be interesting.
Android-owning
parents have an increasing collection of good apps for their children
to use, with Doodle Joy being a welcome addition to the list. It's a
drawing app for kids offering more than 20 digital brushes, and the
ability to save the process of drawing, not just the final image.
Hotel-bookings is a hot area on all smartphones
at the moment, with Orbitz's new app the latest trying to help people
book a room and get a discount. In this case, the latter can include up
to 50% off listed prices, with the promise of thousands of hotels to
choose from globally.
There's
always scope for improvement of the default music players in
smartphones and tablets. FusionPlayer is trying to make Android's
"simpler and easier", with a single screen containing the entire player.
It also pulls in lyrics and YouTube videos.
Another
music app here, but one focused on social sharing. In fact, it's
focused on Twitter: a quick way for Android devices to share details of
the song currently being played with friends.
This
is an add-on pack for Aviary's Photo Editor – and really an excuse to
write again about that app, which is excellent. Like the company's other
packs (grunge, nostalgia etc) it provides 15 virtual stickers with
which to customise photos, then share them with friends. The football is
the American variety, by the way.
Photo
punch? Nothing to do with violence. Instead, this is about cutting out a
portion of one photo, then pasting it into another. Cat head on human
bodies, that kind of thing. Memes. Anyway, it's a quirky take on photo
manipulation that appears to be sprouting wings on the Google Play
store.
Another
app that's a sign of how technology is developing – this time in
classrooms. It's an app for viewing, capturing, annotating and sharing
live images from a document camera, visualiser or digital microscope,
for use in classrooms where students have their own devices to hand to
watch on.
"Less
talking more wub wub" reads one of the sample messages in the Google
Play screenshots for this photo-manipulation app, designed to be used
with Instagram. The idea: use themes created by its designers with your
own words, posting to Instagram but also Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and
Pinterest.
Actually,
this is an app for all children, not just those with autism – even if
the latter are its initial target group. For parents, it's about putting
in place a behaviour plan for a child, who earns tokens for behaving
well, with a colour-based system letting them know when they need to
moderate their actions. The app supports up to three children.
Not
just a Pedometer! It's a Pedometer Plus! What's the plus? That would be
measuring more than just the number of steps you take: think calories,
speed and time. It also tracks your routes using GPS, although the
feature can be turned off if you prefer to save battery life.
Flipboard
and the rest mean it's tough for any new social news-reader app to get a
foothold on the major smartphone platforms. NewsBlur is having a go
though: a way to read articles via Google Reader, share and comment on
them with friends, and see what other people with similar tastes are
reading too.
Another
US-only app for now: an "experience-based social gifting platform".
That means sending real things to friends as gifts via social networks:
food, drinks and desserts at a range of venues, which can then be
redeemed in those places by using the app.
It's
nearly that time of year again, when men up and down the land start
growing furry upper-lip slugs and raising money for charity. Movember
now has an Android app too: helping people manage their fundraising
campaigns, and post updates and photos on the Movember site.
It's
nearly Halloween. Is anyone really looking for "free Halloween apps"
and an app to find them? That's what MagicSolver is hoping, with the
promise of an unlucky 13 app recommendations in and around Halloween.
This
is a showcase for its developer's SDK for other developers, rather than
an app for consumers. It's a viewer app for logging in to remote
desktops, altering their settings and then working with files stored on
the computer. There's lots of competition in this area, though.
This
is very much a professional app: for hair and beauty staff. The idea
being it helps them learn and recognise the signs of skin cancer among
their clients. It ties into a wider skin cancer awareness campaign in
the UK.
That's our selection, but what new Android apps have you
been using this week? Make your recommendations in the comments section.
