Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.
Looking for the previous week's roundup? Find it here: 32 Best (And 2 WTF) New Android Apps, Games, And Live Wallpapers From Last Week (3/30/11 – 4/6/11)
Featured App
Today’s roundup is sponsored by XIMAD and their game Ninja Breakout. Ninja Breakout is an Arkanoid-like game, in which you protect pandas' homeland from evil ninjas using nothing but pandas, if you could believe it. Bricks, ninjas, power-ups, weapons all await you in the 40 levels of gameplay Ninja Breakout offers.
Apps
Baconreader for reddit
Baconreader, one of the most anticipated Reddit reader apps, gave birth to its first alpha this week. Challenging the current leader, redditisfun, Baconreader aims to take its crown and become to top reddit app on Android. Discuss the alpha here.
[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjNWk450mMs
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Presto provides a background Service which allows other applications to play MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files on your Android device at faster or slower speeds and/or faster or slower pitches. It does not provide a direct user interface to play audio files, but provides an API so that other developers can use speed and pitch adjustment in their apps.
This seems to be already implemented in the latest beta versions of BeyondPod, DoggCatcher, and PodTrapper.
Calibrate your battery when you think it's miscalibrated.
Requirements: Android 2.1+ | Root permissions
Calibration needs to be done after flashing a new ROM, but you can calibrate any time you think your battery is miscalibrated. This program does it by removing the batterystats.bin system file. The OS generates a new clean batterystats file soon, thus any fake information from the previous ROM is removed.
It's suggested, but not necessary, to let the phone fully discharge after calibration, then charged to 100% without break.
The app shows your actual battery status, and only allows you to start the calibration (i.e. removes the file) when it's fully charged, unless you force earlier calibration.
The voltage meter can be useful too. Full charge is around 4200mV.
There is an option to beep when 100% is reached so you don't have to closley follow the changes.
An easy app to change your SD card's read buffer and improve its read speeds greatly. The app supports setting the value on every boot. This is basically a wrapper around this technique we published earlier in the week.
A maid for your android, to regain precious memory and keep it clean & tidy.
THIS APP REQUIRES YOUR DEVICE TO BE ROOTED!
A new, cheaper alternative to tether apps that don't require root (like PDANet or EasyTether) for those who don't have access to similar features built into Android. 4.2 stars average rating, so the overall first impression are good.
Tether your Android phone WITHOUT rooting! Klink only needs a data plan and works without a tethering option.
Map your cell coverage and compare results to other carriers using RootMetrics.
Now with Tegra support.
live dmesg is the one and only boot animation replacement that shows the actual dmesg log (kernel debug messages). It looks a bit similar to a BIOS boot. Handy for developers too! Unlike other similar apps, the information you see on screen is real and live, not a pre-recorded fake.
ClockQ - digital clock widget with variety of customization options
This app looks quite similar to Google's own Translate with its conversation mode, but the difference is that conversation mode seems to only support English and Spanish, while this app supports French, German, and Italian in addition to English hand Spanish.
Communicate is a speech translator, allowing you to seamlessly communicate in real-time with someone who does not speak the same language as you.
In one tap, you can speak in your language, and Communicate will translate into your chosen language.
Additionally, Conversation Mode allows you to communicate by having a fast conversation between two people without having to change languages over and over again.
Supported Languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Italian
There are competing apps out there with a similar concept, but this new zMooth one seems to be getting rave reviews all around. If you're using key replacement apps, perhaps you'd want to give this app a look.
zMooth lets you use gestures to mimic your device's hardware keys (back, home and menu), you will be able to use very intuitive gestures to navigate your device.
Free42 is a re-implementation of the HP-42S calculator and the HP-82240 printer. It is a complete rewrite, and doesn't use any HP code. You do not need an HP-42S ROM image in order to use it, yet it is fully HP-42S compatible. Free42 is an Open Source project.
Look at what we've got here - a free SPB Shell 3D challenger? Sign me up.
Regina 3D Launcher has exciting and dynamic 3D effects for your pleasure.
Access the files you protect with Mozy online backup from your Android device.
Lookup allows Google Apps for Business and Google Apps for Education users to find and contact any user in their corporate domain. Users can type or speak name, domain alias (e.g., jdoe) or email address, and Lookup will find the contact information for the user from the Global Address List and provide rich, structured contact data. Users can tap to contact the person via email, chat, phone or open a map of the address.
An app from Sprint with more than 4 stars? I must be dreaming.
Sprint Radio comes FREE with your Sprint data plan! Only Sprint Radio gives you over 60 channels of crystal-clear music in all genres including Hip-Hop/R&B, Rock, Pop, Latin, and Alternative PLUS enjoy 100+ live-local stations from across the nation. Download the app to access your FREE Sprint Radio service.
$0.00 for hundreds of Internet Only Stations in your car... Why not?
$4.99 upgrade to add over 45,000 stations through the RadioTime directory
Free stations include: 1.FM, 181, 1Club, 977, AccuRadio, All Danz Radio, Boston Pete, CBS Album Premiere, Digitally Imported (DI), Got Radio, JazzRadio, Ministry of Sound, PowerHitz, Reunion Radio, Soma FM, Yahoo! Radio and more!
The iPhone version of this app was named a Top 20 finalist at the 2010 International Consumers Electronics Show’s Mobile Apps Showdown and the AT&T Open Call contest for developers at CTIA Wireless 2011.
A Pro version of the free Instant Heart Rate, which is a remarkably accurate app that measures your heart rate. I'm not exactly sure what the Pro features are, but there must be some at $2.99.
Cisco Jabber for Android turns your Android device into a full-featured Cisco Unified IP Phone, allowing you to place, receive, and manage calls using your workplace's telephony infrastructure and Wi-Fi network. You will benefit from the cost savings from not using your wireless minutes, the ability to use your work phone number when placing calls from your Android smartphone or tablet, and the stronger in-building network coverage from a wireless LAN.
This is an advanced Launcher Pro skin, including most widgets (sadly, not the weather one) that makes Launcher Pro look like Sense UI. English is fully supported, even though the screens are in Russian.
Access all of your ESPN Fantasy Baseball teams with the ESPN Fantasy Baseball Android App. Manage your rosters, set your lineups and follow your teams all season long. In this application, team owners have access to live scoring, transactions, league standings, league chatter, rules and settings, plus up-to-the-minute fantasy news.
The app, previously available as an off-Market beta, is finally ready for primetime and was added to the Market this week.
LinkedIn for Android puts your professional network just a touch away. Walk into any interview or client meeting with the ability to look up the details and connect with over 100 million professionals worldwide. Get the latest updates and messages from your network and keep them up-to-date with your status in real-time.
Submit secure and anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers, law enforcement agencies or School Safety Officers and Administrators. Thousands of communities, schools and government agencies are covered by this application since it connects directly with TipSoft, the world's largest and North America's only, truly anonymous tip reporting system. Tipsters could receive rewards of up to $1,000 in the U.S. and up to $2,000 in Canada for information submitted to Crime Stoppers and nobody will ever know your identity.
This application allows you to access your 1&1 Online Storage. You can open, copy and delete any files such as images and office documents right from this application. Additionally, you can create new folders. 1&1 Online Storage is a free of charge part of most 1&1 hosting contracts which contain mail addresses. Each mail address comes with a free of charge 1&1 Online Storage with 2 GB of storage capacity.
Esurance Mobile makes it easy to manage your car insurance wherever you are. If you're an Esurance customer, download the app for instant and secure access to policy info, the nearest Esurance-recommended repair shops, repair pics, and more.
A DOSBox port for Android. DOSBox is a x86 emulator developed by DOSBox Team (www.dosbox.com) mainly for playing old PC games. If you never use DOS, you probably don't need this.
Those concerned with the GPL issues in this app, read the latest update posted to the app's description.
Games
Looks like the new crowd favorite word game, with a 4.5-star average rating.
The goal is simple: form words by touching adjacent (connecting) letters.
That is, you can move up/down and left/right as long as you are forming a word. When you have formed a word, press submit to score your word and watch the letters disappear.
This game was designed natively for android as oppose to our previous version. It features full screen professionally designed graphics and “iPhone smooth” animations. This version includes an expanded dictionary and plural word support! Inspired by popcap’s classic game bookworm!
9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2011, in association with MLBPA, brings you the best full-featured baseball game with all your favorite Major Leaguers! With REAL players updated with their latest stats, 9 Innings showcases almost 800 actual player profiles.
Those confused should proceed here. The first rule of PTDLock is you do not talk about PTDLock.
Hint: the code is "PTD"
I'm not sure about the gameplay, but this game is here due to a very interesting model it is using - play for 10 hours, and all ads are permanently removed. See our discussion here.
180 is an electrifying new "spin" on action-puzzle games. Easy for anyone to learn in a minute, but deep enough to challenge the most extreme players. Fans of classic games like Tetris Attack and Bust-a-Move will love the new "shoot and flip" mechanic!
Kind of like Rockband, but with turntables... The graphics definitely set this game apart.
Bland Corp and its vile henchmen have taken over Nightclub City and it's up to you to reclaim the music! Use rhythm tapping Moves like Bass Drop, Crossfade, and Scratch to put a stop to Bland Corp in your own REAL town, in this one-of-a-kind RPG!
Drive and upgrade different cars. Play against other people online, win boss battles and get more fun with your favorite cars.
Enzo’s Pinball is the world’s first virtual pinball game to include full-fledged tactile feedback, letting players literally feel the action on three unique tables as they flip their ball onto each ramp, bumper, and target.
From the developer of TileStorm.
The tactile action puzzle game which is simple enough to play with a single finger, yet involving enough to challenge all your gaming skills.
A very well reviewed (4.5 stars) puzzle game that requires some outside the box thinking.
Use mirrors and prisms to split or combine colored lasers, interacting with various environmental objects.
Turn-based RPG with seemingly decent graphics.
For Tablets
Map search apartments, houses for rent, real estate, vacation rentals and hotels. Requires Honeycomb+.
WTF Apps Of The Week
"Play 90210™ - The Game. See if you can make it into the cool crowd!" - just... no.
"Play the mobile game based on the hit TV show and find out how you rate with the cool crowd. Interact with your favorite characters - make the right moves to become popular, avoid being outcast, and rise to stardom at West Beverly High! Navigate through mini-games to test your social savvy and your fashion sense, see how you stack up - are you a model student or a rebel? Hang out with Naomi Clark, Dixon Wilson, and Silver to gain the cred it takes to win" - f$%! that (unless you're a 15-year-old cheer leader, then go ahead).
"This camera Game is a choose a uncle's hair in rotation.
If pull on too bad hair,it's loser photos taken."
Got it. Wait, why is it Russian again?
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 between Monday and Sunday this week
- 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.