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.

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Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

AccuBattery

Today's roundup is presented by AccuBattery from Digibites. Barring any accidents, the battery is the part of your phone that generally wears out the fastest, so it pays to keep an eye on its health. AccuBattery tests your battery's effective capacity in milliamp-hours to see if it's deteriorated, including tools for live reporting and battery life projections. The Battery Alarm feature tells users when to stop charging to make the usable life of your phone even longer.

AccuBattery protects battery health, displays battery usage information, and measures battery capacity (mAh) based on science. Batteries have a limited lifespan. Every time you charge your device, it wears out the battery, lowering its total capacity. Scientific research shows that battery lifespan can be extended up to 200%, when you charge your device to only 80%. AccuBattery measures the actual battery usage using information from the battery charge controller. Battery usage per app is determined by combining these measurements with information on which app is in the foreground. Android calculates battery usage using pre-baked profiles that device manufacturers provide, like how much power the CPU uses. In practice however, these numbers tend to be highly inaccurate.

- Measure real battery capacity (in mAh).

- Use the charge alarm to prolong battery lifespan.

- See how much wear your battery sustains with each charge session.

- Look up the discharge speed and battery consumption per app.

- Remaining charge time - know how long it takes before your battery is charged.

- Remaining use time - know when you will run out of battery.

- Screen on or screen off estimations.

- Check the percentage of deep sleep, when the device is in standby mode.

- Ongoing notification for real time battery statistics at a glance.

- Real time CPU and battery usage overlay for spotting battery draining processes.

- Access to historical data of more than 1 day.

- Detailed battery statistics in notification

Accu​Battery Developer: Digibites
Price: Free
4.7
Download

Apps

Trusted Contacts

Android Police coverage: [APK Download] Google releases Trusted Contacts, a location sharing app for personal safety and emergency assistance

If for some reason you'd like to share your exact, renewable location with someone who's far away, this is the app for you. Google's Trusted Contacts allows user A to show his or her exact location and history to user B, complete with a map location and an auto-share function if you're unable to access your phone. Permission to track can be revoked at any time.

Trusted Contacts is a personal safety app that opens a direct line of sharing between you and your loved ones.

• Add your closest friends and family as trusted contacts

• Allow trusted contacts to request your location. If everything’s fine, you can deny the request, but if you’re unable to respond your location is shared automatically (works even if you’re offline or your phone is out of battery)

• Proactively share your location if you feel unsafe or find yourself in an emergency

• Your trusted contacts can see your phone’s activity status to quickly know you’re OK

Whether you’re online or offline, in an emergency or just need reassurance, Trusted Contacts connects you with the people you care about most at the times you need them most.

DIRECTV NOW

Android Police coverage: DIRECTV NOW gets a dedicated Android app, right on schedule

DIRECTV NOW is the company's effort to appeal to a new generation of cord-cutters that doesn't want anything to do with cable boxes or contracts. The initial offering is pretty impressive too, even if it doesn't have a DVR function. The Android app can stream all live and on-demand content, complete with Chromecast functionality... which is good, since it's not compatible with Android TV at the moment.

DIRECTV NOW is your NEW standalone streaming service for Live TV and On Demand entertainment. Enjoy local news, sports, events, and shows as they air. Your favorite TV series and movies can be accessed anywhere, anytime. Looking for instant access to TV with no annual contract or commitments? You’re one click away from breaking free from old school TV. Simply install the DIRECTV NOW app and join the streaming revolution.

DIRECTV Developer: AT&T Services, Inc.
Price: Free
3.1
Download

Clip Layer

Android Police coverage: Microsoft's Clip Layer app lets you copy text from any screen by long-pressing the home button

The long-press home button gesture - the one you usually set to Google - can be remapped to other functions without root. Microsoft would very much like that spot on your phone, and to that end they've published Clip Layer. It's a copy-paste tool that can grab text from anything, including images and apps that don't offer a cursor function. Text can be added to Wunderlist for easy syncing across devices, or shared via the standard menu.

Clip Layer, a Microsoft Garage Project, can be launched over any screen so you can select, copy, and act on snippets you care about in simple series of taps. After selecting a snippet, copy it to clipboard, add it to Wunderlist to have it accessible across different devices, email it, or share it to any other app installed on your phone. We would love to hear your feedback here. http://aka.ms/tapselectfeedback

EvGenie Preview

Android Police review: Titanium Backup developer offers a preview version of EvGenie, a synced calendar app

The folks behind the much-loved Titanium Backup now have a calendar app to offer. EvGenie is stuffed to the gills with extra features, but the primary focus is on teams and sharing, with a lot of tools for granting or denying access to specific shared events and associated files. Right now the app is in a free preview state, so syncing with other devices and platforms isn't yet enabled. The interface is a little drab, but Titanium fans probably don't mind.

Using EvGenie, you can:

• create instant events or schedule them

invite your friends and colleagues and give them appropriates roles & permissions

sync events across your devices (smartphones, tablets, PCs)

• view your schedule either as a list, as a customized calendar or on a map

contribute, discuss, like and moderate contributions within an event

• capture & share documents (photos, videos, notes, recordings, ...)

• access your events and media offline

• keep your private, familial and professional lives separate

• have everything stored in a Swiss digital safe that preserves your privacy

• comply with the BYOD mobile enterprise strategy

Yahoo Answers Now

Android Police coverage: Yahoo Answers Now comes to Android with all its useful, random, and weird Q&As

Yahoo Answers, the platform that allows users to ask and answer questions of each other, is something of a joke on the web. Answers Now is a little more nuanced - it's the release version of a formerly beta product, Yahoo Hive. Answers Now has the same ask-and-answer format you're familiar with, with content from real people and not search engines, in a surprisingly appealing app package.

Yahoo Answers Now is a new Q&A app that gets you quick advice and honest answers to questions that a regular web search just can’t solve. Get real answers from real people when you really need it.

  • Real results - We’ll route your questions to knowledgeable people and experts in the community for a quick response.
  • Craft awesome answers - Share your knowledge and answer questions with text, photos, emojis and links.
  • Blazing fast - Receive real time notifications when someone answers your question or thanks you for a great response.
  • Create our community - Write rich answers. Ask questions. Comment on anything. Thank someone for a great answer. Keep track of your favorite contributors, posts, topics and followers.
  • Slick and Simple - You’ll love the easy-to-use interface. Browse by category or search for specific questions or topics.

DRIVETRIBE

Android Police coverage: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May launch new DriveTribe social network, Android app now on Google Play

DriveTribe is a social network for car buffs. It's made by (or at least on behalf of) the trio of British guys who starred in Top Gear for years, and are now doing basically the same thing on Amazon's The Grand Tour. Drivetribe includes a fair amount of exclusive articles and videos from some of the experts in car media, plus the usual user profiles and sharing tools. And considering it's an app for gearheads, the interface isn't half bad, either.

The brainchild of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, DRIVETRIBE is an experiential platform by fans, for fans, featuring every car and bike culture imaginable. Join in seconds. Experience it yourself. DRIVETRIBE has gathered thousands of the motoring world’s best-loved writers, racers, photographers and filmmakers.

• Discover over 7,000 Tribes instantly. Join as many as you like.

• Browse your personal feed. It’s only the best stuff from Tribes you’ve joined.

• Experience, enjoy and share videos, images, long-form articles and photo galleries.

• Express yourself and interact with comments, reposts and ‘bumps’.

• Create your profile. Unlock badges for great stuff you do.

PlayStation Communities

Android Police coverage: Sony releases PlayStation Communities, an easier way to find friends to game with

Communities is Sony's stab at a video game-focused social network. The app has the usual friends list and news feed, but it also has specific sub-sections built around individual PlayStation games. If you're especially invested in the social tools baked into the PlayStation platform, the app might be better than email or console alerts for keeping in touch with your gamer friends.

Communities are places where you can find players on PlayStation Network who have similar interests and preferences. Join Communities and talk about your shared interests with other members, or find players to game with you.

・Find Communities and join them.

・View the message of the day and posts from other members on the Community wall.

・Receive activity info from your Communities via mobile push notifications. Push notifications can be set individually for each Community.

Transparency

Android Police coverage: Transparency app from Amazon shows the origin and ingredients of consumer goods

Amazon isn't always seen in the most positive light, but they'd like to be. To that end the company has released a new app that allows customers to scan a QR code on select shipped products and see exactly where it came from and what it's made of. It seems pretty straightforward and useful, but at the moment Amazon itself (and not its thousands of partner vendors) seems to be the only participant in the code program.

Transparency shows you details about participating product's origins, including the manufacturing date and location. How do I use it? Every item with a Transparency label includes a unique code that can be used to track product information. To learn more about the item:

1. Look for the Transparency code on the product.

2. Download and launch the Transparency app on your phone.

3. Scan the code to learn more about the item's origins, authenticity, and more.

Transparency Developer: Amazon Mobile LLC
Price: Free
1.8
Download

PayPal Business

Android Police coverage: PayPal releases PayPal Business, fulfilling small business needs like account and invoice management

PayPal is the preferred online payment system for a lot of small businesses. The service has a web dashboard that's serviceable, but before now it's lacked a mobile counterpart to the standard app that most users are familiar with. The Business version includes all the transfer and tracking tools of normal PayPal, plus invoice preparation, sales history, and access to your customer information database.

The PayPal Business mobile app helps you stay on top of your PayPal business account while you’re on the go. Create and send invoices in the moment, so your customers can pay right away. You can even send your customers payment reminders if you notice an unpaid invoice. Check payments and stay on top of your account whenever and wherever you need to. Move funds to your linked bank account, issue refunds, and send money in just a few clicks.

PayPal Business Developer: PayPal Mobile
Price: Free
4.2
Download

1600

Android Police coverage: New '1600' augmented reality app builds the White House on a $1 bill

If you're tired of the breathless coverage of the American election, here's something a little more frivolous to enjoy. This app from the White House Historical Association turns any $1 bill into an augmented reality version of the president's domicile. It's mainly aimed at kids, but there are some interesting architectural and historical tidbits to discover about the building as well.

The White House's "1600" is a new way for kids and playful Americans of all ages to learn about what happens at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. All you need to do is tap "Start" and point your camera at George Washington (on the one dollar bill). Built through a collaboration with the White House Historical Association and Nexus Studios, the app’s aim is to educate and inspire the youngest Americans to learn more about the White House's role in our democracy.

Pyrope Browser

I've been searching for an indie alternative to Chrome for months, and preferably one that offers fullscreen/immersive mode browsing. Since Gello was never really offered outside of CyanogenMod, Pyrope is the best browser alternative I've found. It's based on Chromium code, so it's fast and responsive (especially on Qualcomm hardware), and it has extra features like an ad blocker, offline pages, night mode, and fullscreen browsing that Chrome doesn't have. Best of all, updates seem to be coming in frequently.

This browser is based on Cyanogenmod browser (Gello) and Chromium / swe. A fast, smooth and safe web surfing experience on your Android device. If your phone has a Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processor, performance can potentially be increased by 10% - 40%, which makes it even faster than most other browser

• Web Refiner - Filters advertisments for a cleaner and faster browsing experience

• Incognito mode - Search in private with incognito mode, Pyrope will not record your history and cookies

• Power saving mode - Improve battery life by restricting performance and certain functions

• Night mode - inverted colors to rest your eyes

• Immersive mode – make the browser fullscreen

Friendly for Facebook

Facebook's Android app sucks... and it seems to suck more and more as time goes on. Divorcing the instant message function from the main app to try and force us to install Messenger didn't help. Friendly is an alternative Facebook app that brings the feed and messenger tools back together. The rest of it doesn't look half bad either - it offers a themed interface, ad blocking, and word filters for your friends' politics/baby/Westworld spoiler posts.

Friendly is the most complete Facebook and FB Messenger alternative. Built as an extension of the light Facebook mobile website, it will preserve your battery, storage and data, while giving you back control over your news feed. The brand spanking new Keyword Filtering feature for Android devices works in two ways: If you’re tired of seeing political posts, simply set your Keyword Filter to hide posts and articles containing the keywords “election,” “Republican,” or “Democrat”... and voilà: Any posts containing those words will not appear in your feed.

Quartz

It seems like mobile developers are trying to turn every tool into some sort of messaging conversation. Quartz delivers world news via a conversational engine, a la Google Assistant in Allo. It's not all the standard headlines - it delivers a custom haiku for the stock market results each day, for example. But aside from the novel format, there's really nothing that makes it better than a standard news app.

Quartz's new app puts the entire global economy in your pocket. It's an ongoing conversation about the news, sort of like texting. We'll send you messages, photos, GIFs, and links, and you can decide when you're interested in reading more. Each session lasts just a few minutes, so it's perfect for the train, elevator, grocery store line, or wherever you have a spare moment.

VR Apps

Netflix VR

Android Police coverage: Netflix VR for Daydream is now available on the Play Store

Here's Netflix's Daydream VR app. It's essentially the same grid-based interface the service uses for Android TV, but presented in a virtual "living room" with a gigantic screen. Keep in mind that this version of the app is only available for Daydream-compatible phones, and it will eat through batteries double-quick thanks to the virtual environment and high-bitrate streaming.

Enjoy TV shows and movies, including award-winning Netflix original series, movies, and documentaries. With Netflix, you can watch all you want anytime, anywhere. The more you watch, the better Netflix gets at recommending TV shows and movies that you’ll love—just for you. There’s even a section just for kids with family-friendly shows and movies. Don’t have Netflix? Start your free month now. No ads. No contracts. Cancel anytime.

Netflix VR Developer: Netflix, Inc.
Price: Free
2.6
Download

HBO GO VR

Android Police coverage: HBO joins the VR craze with an 'unreleased' Daydream version of HBO GO

This is the Daydream version of HBO GO, offering all of the premium channel's current movies and original series in a headset-friendly UI. The GO VR app is for those who subscribe to HBO via cable or satellite...

HBO GO VR is the virtual reality feature that gives you all of HBO on Daydream-supported Android devices to watch your favorite shows and movies in a virtual reality experience. HBO GO VR is available to HBO subscribers through your participating TV providers and is available at no additional cost.

• Enjoy every episode of every season of original series such as Westworld, Game of Thrones®, Ballers®, Vice PrincipalsSM, and Veep®—plus iconic favorites such as The Wire®, The Sopranos®, Six Feet Under®, Sex and the City®, and more.

• Stay current with popular talk shows such as Last Week Tonight® with John Oliver and Real Time with Bill Maher.

• Watch anticipated premieres as they air. Get instant access to the latest hit movies—plus hundreds of cult classics and hidden gems.

HBO NOW VR

...and the Now version of the app is for those who buy HBO directly via HBO NOW. Get to it.

HBO NOW VR is the virtual reality feature that gives you all of HBO on Daydream-supported Android devices to watch your favorite shows and movies in a virtual reality experience. HBO NOW VR is available to HBO NOW subscribers and is available at no additional cost. .

• Enjoy every episode of every season of original series such as Westworld, Game of Thrones, Ballers®, Vice PrincipalsSM, and Veep®—plus iconic favorites such as The Wire®, The Sopranos®, Six Feet Under®, Sex and the City®, and more.

• Stay current with popular talk shows such as Last Week Tonight® with John Oliver and Real Time with Bill Maher.

• Watch anticipated premieres as they air. Get instant access to the latest hit movies—plus hundreds of cult classics and hidden gems.

Manufacturer And Tie-In Apps

T-Mobile DIGITS

Android Police coverage: T-Mobile's DIGITS beta allows multiple phone numbers on a single device

DIGITS is T-Mobile's virtual number service, which allows customers to make and receive calls and texts from different numbers on the same device. It's a contained version of the BYOD dream. The good news is that it works even on non-Tmo phones via the DIGITS app, but the bad news is that at the moment it's in a limited beta that's only available to post-paid customers. When it graduates it'll be paid, but the company isn't giving any indication of the price. By the way, T-Mobile: spell check is your friend.

The DIGITS app for Android lets beta participants:

  • Make and receive calls with your DIGITS on any Andorid device
  • Send and receive text messages with your DIGITS on any Android device
  • Use up to 5 DIGITS on any Android device
  • Turn ON and OFF your DIGITS at any time
  • Access your texts, voicemail, and call histrory from any Andorid device

For more information about DIGITS and the DIGITS beta program go to www.t-mobile.com/getDIGITS

T-Mobile DIGITS Developer: T-Mobile USA
Price: Free
3
Download

Android Police coverage: DJI GO 4 offers a new UI and fresh editing capabilities for drone pilots

Oddly, DJI decided to release a brand new app for some of its new drone models, despite the fact that it's version "4.0" and the previous app is still available. This is a companion app almost exclusively focused on the drones' onboard cameras, with live streaming, local recording, editing, and sharing capabilities built in. The new version of the app looks a little better than the old one, but initial reaction from drone owners is less than positive.

Capture the world from above. DJI GO 4.0 has been optimized for all of DJI's latest products. These include the Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 Pro, and Inspire 2. It provides near real-time image transmission and camera settings adjustment, as well as editing and sharing of aerial imagery.

  • All-new Homepage and UI
  • Near Real-time HD Image Transmission
  • Camera Settings Adjustment
  • Updated playback interface
  • Updated Editor with improved UI
  • More templates and music tracks in Editor
  • Convenient video downloading, editing and sharing
  • Integrated live streaming
  • Near real-time flight data recording

AWS IoT Button

Amazon's Dash gadget is a connected button that allows users to re-order a single item from the retailer - food, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, what have you. This app is for a more generic version of that button, a single-purpose gadget that can be reprogrammed to control more or less anything. Users will need one of the buttons, of course, and familiarity with their "Internet of Things" platform of choice in order to use it.

The AWS IoT Button is an easy way to get started with the Internet of Things. Based on the Amazon Dash button hardware, the AWS IoT button is a developer kit that can be programmed to control internet-connected devices and services. This programmable Wi-Fi button is designed to help developers get started with AWS IoT, AWS Lambda and other Amazon Web Services.

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.