Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, 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.
Featured App
Passport Photo ID Studio
This week's roundup is brought to you by Passport Photo ID Studio from Handy Apps. If you need a photo for your passport, visa application, or any other kind of license or ID, you don't need to go to a drug store to get one. Just install this app, take a selfie with your front-facing camera, and the app will help you apply the correct format for what you need. It supports live capture and photo imports, direct printing via Google Cloud Print, and a staggering variety of sizes for various national passports.
Passport Photo ID Studio is a completely free Android app that allows you to capture, edit, share and print your passport photos and ID photos in as little steps as possible. With this free app, you can make professional-looking passport photos and ID photos at the comfort of your own home. Passport Photo ID Studio also allows you the flexibility to customize your passport photo sizes.
Features include:
- Create passport photos that will automatically be saved to pre-selected photo sizes
- OR import photos from gallery to make passport photos
- Supports both rear and back-facing cameras
- General guidelines before you create your passport photos
- Select your passport photo size that corresponds to a list of countries available
- OR customize your photo size
- Zoom, crop and rotate your photos
- Adjust brightness and contrast of photos
- Preview your photos before you print
- Select different photos to print on the same page
- On the printing page, photo positions will automatically be adjusted based on pre-selected photo sizes
- Print directly from your phone (provided you have Google Cloud Print pre-configured)
Apps
IFTTT
Android Police coverage: [New App] Official IFTTT Android App Hits Google Play Complete With Six New Android-Specific Channels
If This Then That - IFTTT for short - is an indispensable tool for Internet power users. It hooks into almost every major service on the web, letting you give yourself alerts and actions based on almost infinitely customizable rules. We use it in the background on Android Police all the time. The new Android app lets you create and manage your recipes right from your phone, or select from hundreds of pre-made recipes... including at least one for your favorite Android site.
Put the internet to work for you. IFTTT lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement — if this then that. Activate your Channels and create Recipes on IFTTT. Channels are services like Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, as well as devices like Philips Hue, Belkin WeMo, and UP by Jawbone. Recipes are connections between your Channels that unlock entirely new ways for your services and devices to communicate with each other.
Google Docs
Android Police coverage: Google Releases Dedicated Docs And Spreadsheet Apps For Android And iOS, Slides App Coming Soon
Google Docs used to have its own app. Now it shares space with Google Drive, plus QuickOffice. And for some reason, Google has decided to break out the platform even further with stand-alone document...
Create, edit & collaborate with others on documents from your Android phone or tablet with the free Google Docs app. With Google Docs you can:
- Create new documents or open and edit any that you started on the web or another device.
- Share documents and work together with others in the same document at the same time
- Get stuff done anytime--even without an internet connection
- Add and respond to comments
- Never worry about losing your work--everything is automatically saved as you type
Google Sheets
Android Police coverage: Google Releases Dedicated Docs And Spreadsheet Apps For Android And iOS, Slides App Coming Soon
...and spreadsheet apps. The new focused user interfaces are nice, but I've got the feeling that anyone who really wants to do this kind of work on Android has a separate solution. A Slides (PowerPoint) app is coming soon.
Create, edit & collaborate with others on spreadsheets from your Android phone or tablet with the free Google Sheets app. With Google Sheets you can:
- Create new spreadsheets or open and edit any that you started on the web or another device.
- Share spreadsheets and work together with others in the same spreadsheet at the same time
- Get stuff done anytime--even without an internet connection
- Format cells, enter/sort data, perform various sheet operations, and more
- Never worry about losing your work--everything is automatically saved as you type
MasterCard In Control™ US
Android Police coverage: [New App] MasterCard Releases MasterCard In Control US Android App For Easy Credit Card Activity Monitoring
Armani suit: $2000. Samsung 65" television: $1500. Buying five rounds for the entire bar: $600. Catching the jackass who stole your credit card after he makes a bunch of stupid purchases: priceless. Account monitoring is built into most banking apps, but this is the first time I've seen one specifically made for a credit card. At present MasterCard's monitoring app won't work with every available card, but it does include alerts for online or phone-based purchases and some basic budgeting tools.
Simply monitor your MasterCard credit card activity with the MasterCard In Control app. Now, you can know exactly how, when, and where your eligible cards are being used - for more peace of mind. Spending is a personal thing, and MasterCard In Control lets you keep it that way. Through easy-to-set-up purchase alerts, you’ll receive real-time email and mobile app notifications that keep you informed of where and how your MasterCard credit cards are being used.
Yahoo Screen
Android Police coverage: [New App] Yahoo Screen Brings Android Another Source Of Clips From Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, And Anything Amusing
YouTube is an amazing visual medium for human communication and interaction. But as former Android Police writer and generally reprehensible human being Eric Ravenscraft recently proved to me, we tend to use it just to swap funny videos. Yahoo's YouTube clone gets rid of the pretense and delivers funny videos right to your phone, most of which are licensed from sources like Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central. A few original videos are thrown in for good measure.
Stream your favorite Saturday Night Live skits, Comedy Central clips, Yahoo original content and more. Yahoo Screen is the exclusive home for all clips from the SNL archives. Catch highlights of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Tosh.0 and South Park. Enjoy Yahoo Originals and videos from Buzzfeed, New York Times and The Onion.
Slyde - Floating App Switcher
Android Police coverage: [New App] Slyde Is A Neat Floating App Switcher From The Makers Of Tablified Market
There's not a whole lot to this app: slide in from the side of your screen to open one of five other apps with a quick gesture. It's basically a more nuanced version of SwipePad, if only because gestures can banish the always-on button to your notification drawer. The location of the activation button can be moved around at any time, like most of the recent "floating" apps that have hit the Play Store.
Slyde gives you the ability to quickly and easily switch between your five favorite apps with just one sliding gesture. Features:
• Slyde's floating bubble hovers on top of ALL your applications. Always ready to switch to your next app.
• The opaque floating bubble is non-intrusive, yet visible at all times.
• You never have to guess what part of your screen will activate the app. You're always aware.
• Double tap to minimize Slyde to your notification. Perfect when watching a video in fullscreen.
• Adjust the location of Slyde's floating bubble by dragging it up or down on the right side of the screen.
• Slyde doesn't interfere with the navigation drawer of other apps.
• Switch between your favorite apps in less than a second.
• Very minimalistic design without the unnecessary bulk like other app switchers.
• Root NOT required
GRE / SAT Vocab Lock
Android Police coverage: [New App] GRE Vocab Lock Helps You Study For The Big Test Every Time You Unlock Your Phone
Here's a neat idea: give yourself a tiny vocabulary quiz every time you unlock your phone. Vocab Lock presents you with a secondary lock screen (after your PIN or password, if you have it enabled) with a word and two choices for a synonym. Pick the right one, or get it wrong and do it over. If you need a little help, the sliding unlock will show you the definition with the little "d." The free version is locked to 20 words a day, or up to 50 with a $1 in-app purchase.
Did you know the average person unlocks their phone over 150 times a day? Imagine if every time you unlocked your phone you could study a new GRE or SAT vocabulary word.
Unlock your phone -> Answer a GRE / SAT Vocab Question -> Learn a new word ( English words only)
How to play: Unlock your phone and then drag the vocab word to its synonym. Green means right. Red means wrong. Our proprietary algorithms will repeat the vocab word until we are sure you understand it. If you don't know the word, then drag to the little d to see the definition of the word. It is so simple it hurts.
Waygo
Waygo works on the same (awesome) principle as WordLens: it lets you point your camera towards any sign or text, translates the text from one language to another, and inserts it back into the image in real time. But WordLens doesn't work with Asian languages, which require wholly separate translation algorithms (just ask Google translate). WayGo works with Chinese (traditional and simplified) and Japanese, translating both to English. You get 10 free translations as a trial, then the app costs $6.99.
Waygo Translator for Chinese and Japanese has arrived on Android.! Traveling to Asia? Learning Chinese or Japanese? Instantly translate printed Chinese or Japanese text to English using your smartphone camera. No data connection needed. Go like a local.
- Use your video camera as visual translator or dictionary
- No data connection required
- See the pinyin pronunciation of the words
- Simply point and translate foreign text to English
- Share your translations through SMS, Facebook, Twitter and Email
Waygo is the leader in visual translation services, easily translating images of printed text offline. Waygo Chinese translator and Chinese dictionary has been featured repeatedly in ABC News, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Tech In Asia, GigaOm, Forbes, Technode, e27 and VentureBeat as the top visual Chinese translator.
Versus
HTC One M8 or Galaxy S5? GTX 770 or Radeon 7950? This sort of direct comparison is at the heart of savvy consumerism, and most dedicated tech-heads will spend hours looking over specs before making the final decision. This app lets you do that in a quick, easy, and downright beautiful way, with head-to-head product comparisons and easy-to-read technical breakdowns. Everything from hard drives to ski resorts are available for perusal.
Download Versus, the sophisticated comparison platform presenting facts stripped of marketing influence, easy to digest—from phones to cities, over 30 product categories. Compare: phones, cameras, CPUs, tablets, headphones, graphics cards, cities, sports watches, single speakers, PC and gaming headsets, camcorders, monitors, fitness trackers, game consoles, motherboards, TVs, all-in-one DJ MIDI controllers, universities, robotic vacuum cleaners, washing machines, projectors, mobile phone headsets, gps navigation systems.
Confide
Confide is an interesting little message service that's obsessed with privacy. You send a message to your recipient, and no record is left on your phone. They have to manually swipe across each line to read it in the opposite of the "blackout" text from the spy movies. (This makes screenshots an impractical means of copying.) When they're done, the whole message disappears. It's encrypted from end to end, but there is at least one downside: both of you need the app to get each other's messages.
Confide is your off-the-record messenger. We combine end-to-end encryption with disappearing and screenshot-proof messages to foster genuine, unfiltered, and efficient communication.
● Messages disappear forever once they’re read
● Swiping prevents screenshots
● Instantly send messages to any email address or phone number
● Messages you send are private and encrypted
● Read receipts tell you when your message is read
● It’s FREE
Baby Monitor 3G
Got a kid? Got a spare phone? Then you don't need to shell out for an expensive baby monitor. Just point your old phone or tablet at Junior and connect this app to your active phone, and you can peek into his sleepy time on any connection. The app offers live video and audio over 3G (on either device), and it even has a vibration alert that will let you know when he or she starts moving around.
Turn your two phones or tablets into one single baby monitor. Hear every noise, see still pictures and soothe your child remotely. Works over Wi-Fi, 3G, and LTE, and is trusted by hundreds of thousands of parents worldwide. The app requires two devices. One stays in the child’s room while the other one stays with you. No registration or connection adjustments are required and initial setup takes less than 30 seconds. Baby Monitor 3G is the only app of its kind working on WiFi and 3G.
Ryde
If you're lucky enough to live in a city with multiple car-hop services, you might wonder which one will be cheapest. This app compares fares for Lyft, UberX, and old-fashioned taxis for your start and end tips. It even incorporates service functions like Lyft's Happy Hour and UberX's surge price. The could really use a comparison with mass transit (including the additional time), but the idea and execution is solid.
Ryde makes it easy to determine whether you should use UberX, Lyft, or a plain old taxi to get to your destination. Simply drop a marker (or type the addresses) for your pick-up and destination locations, then let Ryde estimate the fares for UberX, Lyft, and a taxi. You can also indicate whether or not UberX's surge pricing or Lyft's happy hour or prime time tipping rates are in effect, to get more accurate fares. Cities currently supported are Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C..
Sunnycomb
There's not a lot of utility in Sunnycomb that you won't find in other weather apps, but man, is it pretty. The unique display creates a honeycomb of weather photos that match your current weather and (if possible) your location. Some more advanced features like crowdsourced timely reports and the usual predictions are also included. It's only a shame that this thing wasn't around back in the Android 3.0 days.
Japan’s most popular weather app is now available worldwide. Sunnycomb is a social weather app that makes weather forecasts personal by including the emotions of thousands of users from around the world. Sunnycomb isn’t just a traditional weather app that shows temperature, current conditions, sunrise and sunset. It’s a community of weather enthusiasts who share their experiences and bring your local weather forecast to life.
QuickCamera
This pre-release app is basically a copy of Motorola's gesture-based camera launch function on the Moto X and 2013 Verizon DROIDs. Install this on any Android phone and you'll be able to open up the camera with two quick flicks of your wrist, even when it's turned off. It's in alpha at the moment, but you can join the Google+ community to get it from the Play Store.
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QuickCamera is a free and open source application that lets you quickly launch the camera app (normally or from the lock screen) with a simple gesture that involves twisting your wrist twice, quickly. It's the same gesture that's used to launch the camera app on the Moto X. Pull out your phone, perform the gesture and the camera app will be ready to take wonderful photos. No need to wake the phone or press any buttons.
QuickCamera Alpha - XDA Developers
BASE - Smart Notifications
And here's another app that was probably inspired by Motorola software. BASE uses the same active notification style - big, finger-friendly notifications that let you quickly launch the related app. Unfortunately the app doesn't have the same motion and orientation detection as the Moto X, but it does light up a dormant phone as soon as you get the alert. Developers can add BASE functionality to any app, but right now it works with some of the more obvious social and planning apps.
Base is an innovative tool that brings your mobile notifications to life. Instead of browsing through dozens of unnecessary notifications every day, Base delivers only what’s really important exactly when you need it. Base is always there when you need it- on a screen you never thought can be used. Every time you get an important alert, your phone’s black screen comes to life, elegantly reminding you to interact with it. After a quick glance at the notification, a simple tap is all you need to dismiss the notification and launch your device directly to the relevant app.
ESPN FC Soccer & World Cup
Android Police coverage: [New App] ESPN Releases FC Soccer & World Cup App For Android A Month Ahead Of This Year's Tournament
The World Cup is coming, so you can expect every major news organization on the planet to try and get your eyeballs in conjunction with the games in Brazil. ESPN is at the front of the line with their new FIFA World Cup app, showing schedules, news, scores, and analysis for all the games. If you live in the United States (and you actually care about soccer), you can also see highlights and video clips from the games.
Follow all the action and drama of soccer with the new ESPN FC app, starting with the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Full-time and exclusive in-game highlights (US ONLY), breaking news and analysis are a click away. ESPN FC also delivers comprehensive coverage of all the major club leagues with videos, highlights, news, opinion and personalized reports so you can stay on top of your favorite teams.
Jumptuit
USE ALL THE SERVICES. Jumptuit lets you log into pretty much any and every web service with an API to access files, photos, songs, and videos. If you hate having more than a few apps on your phone (or you never want to pay for extra space on a cloud storage service), this might be a good solution. The app can also sync and copy files between services.
Jumptuit syncs with the cloud services and devices that you use and love.
- One Login, Search and Drive
- Sync, copy, move files between cloud services and devices
- Create slideshows of photos across cloud services and devices
- Create playlists of songs and videos across cloud services and devices
- Swipe between songs, videos and photos no matter where they are stored
- Optimal media experience for your files stored in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.
Cooliris
Cooliris is basically a combined photo viewer for pictures on your local phone or tablet, plus all the major social and photo services out there. It doesn't do much that you can't do with the official apps, but it looks pretty doing it. If you'd like a single hub for every photo you've ever taken or "liked," this is it, and the fancy animations and attractive UI are better than at least some of the services it hooks into.
Cooliris is your complete personal media hub. Beautifully experience all your photos in one place, no matter where they are stored, and easily share them via email, text message or your favorite social network. Access and enjoy all your photos within one app: Android Gallery, Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Google+, Google Drive, Twitter, Tumblr, and many others. Or endlessly discover your friends’ photos from social networks. Easily save your favorite photos to your device and Google Drive.
Hightrack
Despite the app description, Hightrack is just another task manager. The one unique thing it brings to the table on top of other calendar/to-do apps is the "Tracks" function, which is basically a list of nested to-dos combined with an agenda view for the calendar. Still, the app itself looks nice and clear, and you can access your saved information via the web. Too bad you can't sync other calendars with the service.
Meet Hightrack, the productivity partner that will redefine the way you work. It's not just another task manager. It's a productivity suite than combines a Task manager, a full Calendar, and a never before seen app called 'Tracks'. All three come together in a simple and clear interface. And they play like a strong team. With Hightrack you will discover smart work. It's time to say goodbye to plain task lists. Tracks are smart 'playlists' for working, letting you focus better on the info that counts.
FacesIn
Do you often find yourself out and about, at a gas station or a barber shop or the DMV, thinking, "this experience would be improved by annoying people I know and telling them to share in it with me"? Well now you can totally call up anyone in your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Foursquare lists whenever they're nearby (or at least whenever they report it to their social network). Aside from my cynicism, the map view and distance views for friends are pretty neat in this location app, it just seems a little nosy.
FacesIn is the ultimate geo-location social experience. You just need to activate your existing networks and you will instantly become aware when a friend or contact you care about is nearby. Combining the most popular social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Meetup - Google+ support coming in a future update) in a single stream, FacesIn will surprise you when an old friend you haven't seen for a while checks-in on your town - instantly and seamlessly just by activating your networks and lots more.
VoxxBoxx
VoxxBoxx is basically an audio-only version of Chatroulette, which solves exactly half of the problems with that service. Press the "listen" button and you'll get a recorded message from a random VoxxBoxx user. Press "send" and you'll send one. It's all anonymous, so expect a lot of profanity and "rubber baby buggy bumpers" style messages. My first received message: "Some people really do need a high-five in the face with a chair, it's just really hard when the evil b**** is nearly 80." Charming.
VoxxBoxx, a mysterious app that connects you to people around the world. Listen to their voices, music and sounds or send out your own messages anonymously. Get your Voxx out there now. Highlights:
- Authentic sounds and voices by real people for real people.
- Global, personal yet anonymous messaging.
- Discover the power of your voice.
- You will hear a Voxx only once, ever.
- Voxxes are 8 seconds, no more no less.
Radio Disney
Android Police coverage: [New App] Radio Disney Pipes In All The Tween Music You Can Handle And More
Radio Disney started up right around the time that I myself was a "tween," and it was pretty abhorrent even back then. I can only imagine how much worse it got after they strayed into original programming. With the official app, you, or your kid, or your jerk friends who stole your phone for a laugh, can listen to the syndicated Radio Disney stream all day, every day. The app also has some cutesy web-based content and a song request feature.
The official Radio Disney App. Listen to Radio Disney 24/7 to hear the latest music from artists such as One Direction, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and more. You can also find out information on our upcoming local events, see exclusive photos, watch fun videos and check out these features:
- Picture This. - Post your own image with our custom frames on your phone.
- Alarm Clock - Wake up to Radio Disney.
- Videos - Watch exclusive videos featuring your favorite stars
- Photos - Check out exclusive photos of your favorite celebrities.
- Request A Song - Pick which songs you want to hear.
- Sweepstakes - Enter to win our latest sweepstakes for a chance to get an amazing prize.
KM Clock Widgets
Artem loves these Gumby-style customization elements - you may have seen the plasticine live wallpapers in previous roundups. The rest of us do not. We'll let you be the judge and make your own decisions. (Hint: the decision to cover your homescreen with Gumby UI elements is the wrong decision.)
Paid widgets pack of clock widgets made of plasticine. Especially for fans of Live wallpapers made of plasticine; Also available as In-app purchases of "KM Plasticine widgets". Now you can have clock - just use KM Clock widget.
Background defocus
Android Police coverage: [New App] Sony Publishes Its Own Exclusive Background Defocus Camera App To Google Play
Like image stabilization a year ago, background defocus - which is basically a software trick that imitates the depth of field effect from a camera with a low F-stop lens - is the photography feature of the moment. Here's Sony's version of the effect. It will only work with Sony Android phones, but if you really must have it, you can do the same thing with almost any desktop image editor. Or Google's new camera app.
Let the object in focus stand out. The Background defocus app simulates a shallow depth of field by creating a blurred out background. It captures two photos with different focus settings, which you can bring together to create a photo with one object in sharp focus, against a beautifully blurred background.
1. Start the Camera and select Background defocus as camera mode
2. Tap the object you want to focus on in the viewfinder
3. Tap the camera key to take a photo
4. Change the blur level and blur effect with the controls on the screen
5. Tap the save button
Remote and Handset BRH10
Android Police coverage: [New App] Sony Publishes The Companion App For The BRH10 Mini-Phone, Even Though You Can't Buy One Yet
Is your phone so big that you need a smaller, more manageable phone to use as, well, a phone? Do you connect it to your TV so often that you really wish it had a remote? Then the Sony BRH10 is for you. This Bluetooth remote/microphone will work with any Android 4.4 phone or tablet (even non-Sony ones!) in conjunction with the Smart Connect app. The bad news is that you can't actually buy the gadget yet.
This is the official Sony application for Bluetooth® Remote with Handset Function BRH10. With this app, you can make the most of this innovative accessory. Use Google Voice Search to activate smartphone and tablet functions and search the web from a distance.
To use this app, you will need to install Smart Connect from Sony, a popular device-to-device connectivity app.
Samsung Home Monitor +
Android Police coverage: [New App] Samsung Home Monitor Turns A Samsung Smart Camera Into A Security Cam Or Baby Monitor
Some Samsung "smart" cameras can double as a security camera or baby monitor. A neat feature, especially since it works with non-Samsung phones via this remote viewing app. The app will send you notifications for sounds in your house, or you can just watch live. This one's for the latest and greatest of Samsung's cameras - check this one if you've got an older model.
Samsung Home Monitor +' is an app works in conjunction with the Home Monitor + feature found in the newest Samsung Smart Cameras. The 'Home Monitor +' feature can be used with a smartphone that is connected to the internet indoor or outdoor – it’s activated by sound or vibration coming from home and then the video is streamed in real time (Time delay may occurred). The user has to have Samsung account to use Home monitor + feature.
WTF App(s) Of The Week
LeBron
Experts believe that by the year 2020,the ego of LeBron James will grow to supermassive levels before collapsing into its own gravity well, destroying the Earth and everything else in the solar system. When that happens, you won't be around to feel sorry for downloading the official LeBron app. But if you were, you would totally feel like an ass.
LeBron shares his life on his phone, but he’s putting it down to focus on the playoffs. Don’t want to miss out? Don’t worry, we got you. Get an all-access pass to LeBron’s game, life, and journey with never-before-seen content and clips throughout the playoffs. Download custom lock screens and wallpapers, check stats, and watch LeBron strive for greatness as the competition heats up.
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.