Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

Apps

PhotoScan by Google Photos

Android Police coverage: Google announces PhotoScan app to digitize your old photos and improved editing tools in Google Photos

Here's an app from Google that's a bit surprising, if only because it's separated from the main Photos application for some reason. PhotoScan is designed as a rough-and-ready scanner for importing old photos, complete with a few basic tools to make them look their best in digital form. Most of these, like glare reduction, cropping, and rotating, are automatic. It's a handy app if you need to quickly get digital versions of a lot of old printed photos for safekeeping or editing.

PhotoScan is a new scanner app from Google Photos that lets you scan and save your favorite printed photos using your phone’s camera. Don’t just take a picture of a picture. Create enhanced digital scans, wherever your photos are.

  • Get glare-free scans with an easy step-by-step capture flow
  • Automatic cropping based on edge detection
  • Straight, rectangular scans with perspective correction
  • Smart rotation, so your photos stay right-side-up no matter which way you scan them
  • Capture your favorite printed photos quickly and easily, so you can spend less time editing and more time looking at your bad childhood haircut.
PhotoScan by Google Photos Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
4.2
Download

NYTimes - Crossword

Android Police coverage: The famous New York Times crossword puzzles move across platforms and down to the Play Store

There are people who subscribe to the New York Times just for its famous crossword puzzle. Now they can skip all that award-winning journalism and civic responsibility, and get to the good stuff with the dedicated app. It includes a catalog of puzzles updated every day with the same content as the paper, only you'll save on burning through all those erasers. The app has a free seven-day trial, after which puzzle fans can get all-you-can-solve access for forty bucks a year or seven dollars a month.

Solve and enjoy the same puzzles printed in the daily newspaper in this app built by The New York Times. A subscription to The Crossword gives you access to our puzzles anywhere you care to solve them. Just create an account (or connect an existing one) and take your progress with you across any number of devices, or on the web at nytimes.com/crossword.The daily puzzle is released at 10 p.m. E.T. the evening before appearing in the paper. (6 p.m. E.T. on weekends).

Contextual App Folder (C.A.F.)

Android Police coverage: Contextual App Folder shows apps based on context triggers

This interesting app auto-populates a folder on your homescreen with the apps that you need, according to a variety of contextual triggers. For example, you can set your preferred music player, activity tracker, and timer app to fill the folder when you arrive at the gym. Other triggers include Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections, call status, plugging in a charger or headset, or specific app notifications. Smart.

Create contextual app folder on your homescreen and get quick and easy access to your apps and shortcuts just when you need them. Use Cases:

• Your sport tracking apps become available once you reach your gym or running location

• Your folder contains your music apps once a headset is plugged in to your device

• Navigation apps are easy to access once your phone is connected to your car via Bluetooth

Main Features:

• 9 different trigger

• Various styles and color options

• Works on top of your existing launcher

• Modern, intuitive user interface (Material Design)

Contextual App Folder (C.A.F.) Developer: ts-apps
Price: Free
3.7
Download

Nexar - AI Dashcam

Android Police coverage: Nexar turns any Android phone into an always-on AR dashcam

There are a lot of dashcam apps available for those who prefer to use their phone instead of a dedicated gadget. Nexar has an advantage over them with a live traffic view: it can give you proximity alerts and other luxury car-style bells and whistles. The app can dynamically store recorded video so that only the most recent stays, unless you flag it or move it off of local storage. The app can also record from both front and rear cams at the same time, even in the background.

Turn your Phone into a smart dashcam recorder for free - and join the connected driving revolution. You don’t need to buy a dashcam anymore. Nexar is the world’s first AI dash cam app and It will help you stay protected on the road. Record all dangerous events while you drive - whether someone cuts you off, runs the red light, or in the unfortunate event of a crash.You’ve now got proof.

Nexar - Connected AI Dash Cam Developer: Nexar
Price: Free
3.5
Download

Attenborough's Story of Life

Android Police coverage: BBC releases the Story of Life, a collection of Sir David Attenborough's work

Americans might have to wait a couple of months to hear David Attenborough's dulcet tones narrating Planet Earth II, but in the meantime we can take a peek at some of the BBC's previous nature documentaries with this app. Clips from Attenborough's Life and Planet Earth series are available for perusal, along with the equally-interesting behind the scenes videos for some of the clips. Videos can be shared or stored in custom collections.

Join broadcast legend Sir David Attenborough to explore more than 1000 of the greatest wildlife moments ever filmed.

• Explore the most comprehensive collection of Sir David’s work ever released online.

• Includes six decades of highlights from more than 40 landmark BBC programmes, including Planet Earth, Blue Planet, The Life of Mammals, Africa and others.

• Watch unique collections of films curated by Sir David and others.

• Create and save your own collections and share them with friends and family.

• Hunt for hidden films featuring Sir David, recorded exclusively for the app.

Twitter for Android TV

Android Police coverage: Twitter gets a dedicated Android TV app for streaming football (and maybe some other videos too)

Pretty much the only reason Twitter is getting a full Android TV app is so it's easier to watch those Thursday Night Football games. Yes, it can browse tweets with embedded images and videos, and the interface has a row dedicated to live Periscope streams. But this is all about the football. The app doesn't even have a means to type in a tweet, and that's probably for the best.

Watch the best of what’s happening. Watch live sports, entertainment, and news like never before on Twitter for Android TV. Live stream the show for free and get the full story with all the Twitter commentary. See what everyone is talking about with expert analysis, on the ground exclusives, bonus video feeds, and celebrity buzz. Get the best of Twitter today plus top global Vine videos and Periscope broadcasts, all without logging in. No account required.

Online Console Compiler(Beta)

Apparently there really are people who use their Android devices for coding and programming. Now those people have a compiler to go along with (I assume) their fold-away Bluetooth keyboards. Online Console Compiler can run code from 16 different languages, covering pretty much all of the bases for modern programming. At the moment it's free, but in beta.

Online Console Compiler (Beta) helps you to compile and run programs on your smart phone for more than 15+ programming languages. Languages supported include:

1. Java

2. Python

3. C/C++

4. Ruby

5. Clojure

6. PHP

7. JavaScript

8. Scala

9. Go

10. VB.net

11. C#

12. Bash

13. Objective-C

14. MySQL

15. Perl

16. Swift

See It Buy It - Shop by Photo

See It Buy It is a visual search engine for buying stuff, mostly clothing. The idea is to search with an image you've taken, which doesn't need to be tied to a conventional text search, like garment type or label. There's also a "shop by color" tool, which is more flexible than standard text because it uses an image editor-style color slider. The interface borrows a lot from Instagram and Pinterest, and actual searching inventory might be limited by vendors.

See It Buy It (SiBi) turns online fashion shopping upside down by removing two of the biggest hurdles to finding the clothing, shoes and accessories that you are interested in - text input and limited selections. With See It Buy It you discover apparel the same way you do when you shop for fashion in a mall - visually. Shop by Photo - If you see an apparel item you like – anywhere or anytime - just snap a photo of it and submit it to the SiBi fashion discovery catalog and instantly matches for that apparel item will appear on your screen.

WB Movies All Access

WB Movies All Access is basically the same service as Disney's Movies Anywhere, only, ya know, for WB movies. (Stop me if I'm going too fast here.) Digital Ultraviolet copies can be associated with your user account for streaming access to movies whenever you like, including special features and some basic sharing functions. It won't do you any good if you buy all your flicks from Google Play or similar, but it's handy for someone who still insists on paying for physical discs.

Digital Movie watching just got better. WB Movies All Access is whole new way to watch movies.

• Experience synced features

• Get exclusive content

• Discover scene locations

• Share clips with friends

• And more.

Redeem a compatible Digital Movie on UltraViolet and watch in WB Movies All Access. If you already own a compatible movie in your UltraViolet library, simply link your existing UltraViolet account to WB Movies All Access and enjoy a new to watch your movies.

BBC Earth Colouring

Come on BBC, now you're just teasing us. This coloring app (sans the "u" if you're on the west side of the Atlantic) features scenes from Planet Earth II, plus the compulsory facts about the wildlife featured in the show. Unfortunately customers will have to pay for most of the coloring pages via in-app purchases... which could bring the cost above a real, dead tree coloring book quite quickly. It looks like it may not recognize S-Pen input on Galaxy Note devices, either.

BBC Earth Colouring is released to coincide with the global launch of PLANET EARTH II - the latest Attenborough-narrated wildlife documentary epic from the BBC's Natural History Unit. Free to download, the app features packs of 12 intricate line drawings based on iconic shots from the new inspirational series - the first picture in each pack is free, with the remainder available as an in-app purchase.

BBC Earth Colouring Developer: BBC Studios Limited
Price: Free
3.4
Download

Manufacturer And Tie-In Apps

Chase Pay®

Android Police coverage: Chase Pay is now live, but currently only works at Starbucks and Best Buy

Because eventually every single business on the planet is going to release its own mobile payment app, now we have one from Chase bank. Of course it only works with Chase-branded credit and debit cards - that goes without saying. What's surprising is that it only works at Starbucks and Best Buy at the moment... and both of those retailers also have loyalty programs. With cards. So kiss any chance of actually saving time goodbye until this thing gets some more support.

Chase Pay® is more than a mobile payment app. It’s a new way to shop at participating merchants and even check your Chase eligible card balances – all in one app.

  • Use your chase.com username and password to get started.
  • Your eligible Chase Visa® consumer credit, debit and Chase Liquid® cards will automatically be loaded into the app so you don’t have to add them yourself. If you get a new card, we'll update that information automatically.
  • Use your mobile phone to quickly pay for purchases at participating merchants. Go to chasepay.com for the full list of merchants.
  • Just tap "Pay" to use Chase Pay at checkout.
  • Easily check the available credit line(s) for your eligible Chase credit card(s) and any available funds in your debit and Chase Liquid® accounts.
  • See your transactions from the past 90 days.

Shop Samsung

Does Samsung really need a dedicated app for shopping at its electronics storefront? That's not the relevant question here. No, a better question is, why would Samsung make a dedicated Android app for shopping in its online store... then restrict its use to only Samsung phones? Surely if the point is to sell gadgets, you'd want to give access to as many shoppers as possible, including those considering a switch from another brand? You can have that bit of marketing advice for free, Samsung.

Discover new and featured products, shop easily by category, or find our best gifts in the Holiday Gift Guide. You can also redeem offers, receive notifications the minute your order ships, add items to your wishlist and purchase faster with checkout that remembers you. One-tap customer support means that help from our experts is always nearby.

Samsung Smart UX Mobile

Here's an app that's designed to control a compatible Samsung printer. It's probably more intuitive than the interface on the printer itself (because it would more or less have to be). It's compatible with Android phones and tablets running 4.1 or higher, including non-Samsung devices.

The Smart UX Mobile app enables you to operate Samsung multifunction printers from Android mobile devices. Print, scan or send faxes wirelessly from your Android phone, tablet, or any other supported Android device. You can also use Smart UX Mobile with most digital contents, like Office documents, PDFs, images or documents stored in Samsung Cloud Print. In addition, the app lets you scan documents on an MFP and save the files in a variety of formats on your mobile devices.

Live Wallpapers

Christmas Free Live Wallpaper

We see at least one of these flashy light-based wallpapers every holiday season, but this one seems especially flashy. The standard Christmas tree effect is in the freebie version, but for more options and even flashier designs you'll have to spring for the upgrade. The developer is Maxelus, creator of some of the best-loved live wallpaper packs from the earlier days of Android.

Merry Christmas. Is the perfect way to bring some Christmas spirit to your device. Shiny sparkle will draw Christmas tree. If you move the phone, gyroscope move the camera. In ::FULL VERSION:: sparks will draw different kinds of 3D Christmas trees, snowmen, Santa's sleigh, stars, a total of 15 different Christmas elements. Wallpaper has a lot of options. You can change the background colors, lights, spark color, and more.

Know A Worthy New App? Let Us Know!

If you have an application in mind for the next issue of the roundup, feel free to send us an email and let us know.

Important: there are 2 requirements in order for the app to be considered, listed below.

  • the app's launch date has to be no longer than 2 weeks ago
  • it has to be original, ground-breaking, well-reviewed, interesting, fun, etc - the cream of the crop

Now, if and only if the above requirements have been satisfied, fire up an email to this address: oh.no.its.the@androidpolice.com.

1 sponsored placement per week is available (your app would be featured at the top and marked as sponsored) - please contact us for details.