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 two weeks or so. Today I have a new Playground app that stars Childish Gambino, a calculator app that can read your handwriting, and a Pokémon TCG Card Dex app that's perfect for cataloging all of your cards. So without further ado, here are the most notable Android apps released in the last two weeks.

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Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

Apps

Playground: Childish Gambino

Android Police coverage: Childish Gambino AR Playmoji dances onto your Pixel five months after Google reveal

During Made by Google 2018 the company showed off a Playground app that contained the likeness of Childish Gambino, and despite a four-month delay, it would appear Google has finally published the app on the Play Store. This new release serves as a Playmoji pack for Playground that will allow you to create your own music videos while learning dance moves from a cartoon version of the rap artist.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

MyScript Calculator 2

Android Police coverage: MyScript Calculator 2 with AI-based handwriting recognition released on the Play Store for $3 (free for first week)

There are a lot of people out there that hate math, and you can count me among them. The recent release of MyScript Calculator 2 can help with this affliction. It's an app that can turn your device's screen into an interactive piece of paper. Essentially it's a calculator that can read handwriting. What this means is that you can write math problems on your screen as you would on a piece of paper, and if your writing is legible enough, this app will solve the problems automatically.

Monetization: $2.99 / no ads / no IAPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpU24ooMY-8

MyScript Calculator 2 Developer: MyScript
Price: 2.99
4.6
Download

Pokémon TCG Card Dex

Android Police coverage: The Pokémon TCG Card Dex app is officially available on the Play Store

Pokémon TCG Card Dex is an official release from The Pokémon Company, and it was created to help Pokémon TCG players and collectors scan their cards into a single database for easy tracking. This way you'll always have an accessible app on your phone that lists all of the cards you currently own. It's also a useful tool for tracking which cards you still want to add to your collection.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Sound Amplifier

Android Police coverage: Google releases Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier apps to improve Android for the hearing-impaired

Sound Amplifier is a new app from Google that's designed to help users hear their over-the-phone discussions in loud environments. This is essentially an amplifier app that can boost low-volume sounds. You can even jump into the app while in a conversation to fine-tune your sound output, should you ever need to adjust on the fly for unwanted and distracting noises.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Sound Amplifier Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
3.8
Download

Live Transcribe

Android Police coverage: Google releases Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier apps to improve Android for the hearing-impaired

Live Transcribe is another new release from Google, but this time it comes from the Research at Google team. It's a transcribing app for the deaf and hard of hearing that actually works in real time. By taking advantage of Google's state-of-the-art automatic speech recognition technology, this app can transcribe speech into text right on the user's screen.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Live Transcribe & Notification Developer: Research at Google
Price: Free
3.7
Download

EPIX NOW: Stream Movies & TV

Android Police coverage: Epix streaming plan and Android app are now available, costs $5.99 a month

The EPIX NOW app offers instant access to a wide array of curated TV shows and movies for $5.99 a month. You can stream on-demand or chose to download your favorite content for offline viewing. New customers can take the service for a spin for free for seven days, but after that, you'll have to cough up the monthly subscription fee to continue with the service.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs $5.99 a piece

MGM+ Developer: EPIX Entertainment
Price: Free
4.6
Download

Night Video Player

The first thing you'll probably notice is that Night Video Player clearly takes advantage of a dark theme. What you may not immediately pick up on is the fact that this is not the only nighttime viewing feature of the app. You see, this is also one of the first video players on Android that offers a speech loudness enhancing feature, which is very useful when trying to watch your favorite movies and TV shows in a quiet environment since it boosts speech while toning down loud noises like explosions.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Night Video Player - voice amp Developer: Clear Voice tech
Price: Free
4.4
Download

WalkBy

WalkBy is a simple bluetooth communication app for sharing drawings with local users. It basically replicates the StreetPass functionality of a Nintendo 3DS so that your pictures will get shared automatically with anyone nearby that also has the app installed. The goal of the app is to encourage people to go outside.

Monetization: free / contains ads / no IAPs

WalkBy Developer: Stjin
Price: Free
Download

Digital Dojo Karate Training

The Digital Dojo Karate Training app offers exactly what its name implies. It's a karate training companion that allows students of the art form to study and train at home with ease. It's still a beta release, but it already covers things like basic kicks, six different kinds of Katas, and plenty of other introductory techniques.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Lens Distortions®

Lens Distortions is a photo editing app that can help to add all sorts of lens distortion effects to your photos. What's cool about this setup is that the app's many lens distortion options come from actual images, which is how this release creates such convincing edits in just about any photo. So whether you're looking for distortions that mimic lens flare from glass, natural sunlight, rain, snow, or fog, Lens Distortions has you covered.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs from $0.99 - $4.99

LD Photo Editor Developer: Lens Distortions
Price: Free
4.7
Download

TextBlast Bulk SMS

Sending bulk text messages can be a pain, which is why there are many apps on the Play Store that offer this functionality. TextBlast Bulk SMS is one of the latest releases that concentrate on this specific feature. From within this release, you can quickly write a customized message, select every contact you would like the message sent to, preview your message, and then it's off to the races.

Monetization: free / no ads / IAPs $5.49 a piece

TextBlast Bulk SMS Developer: Sandoche
Price: Free
2.2
Download

Manufacturer And Tie-In Apps

Nike Adapt

Android Police coverage: Nike Adapt BB sneakers app is live on the Play Store

Ever since Back to the Future Part II was released in theatres, it's been many a person's dream to own a pair of self-lacing shoes. Well, in 2019 this is a possibility, and of course, there's an app that ties into Nike's new mechanical footwear. This app is useful for fine-tuning the fit for each foot as well as adjusting the color of the shoe's LEDs. While self-lacing footwear may sound somewhat ridiculous and paint a picture of laziness, I would imagine they could make life a lot easier for anyone that suffers from a lack of dexterity.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Nike Adapt Developer: Nike, Inc.
Price: Free
4.1
Download

Cox Business MyAccount

The Cox Business MyAccount app makes it easy to manage your business account from the comfort of your Android device. You can check your balance, view a list of your services, reset your equipment, create support tickets, and chat with customer care 24/7. This release is basically an all-in-one solution for anything related to a Cox Business account.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Merchant Console

Merchant Console is a new release from Mastercard that makes it easy for merchants to accept credit card payments from anywhere. The app also comes in handy for tracking and managing payments as well as managing your store's inventory. You can even take pictures of new products with your camera to then add them to your store using this app. It does everything.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

Merchant Console Developer: MasterCard
Price: Free
3.8
Download

Amazon Alexa - Show Mode for Lenovo

Amazon Alexa - Show Mode for Lenovo is an app that lets you access Amazon's Show Mode from Lenovo devices. So say you own a Smart Tab and would like to use it as an Alexa device with a smart screen, just install this app and then you can use Alexa to control your tablet with just your voice.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

3Doodler

3Doodler is a tie-in app that works with a physical pen that can draw with liquid plastic. This app supplies simple guides that can be traced with the pen right on a glass screen. The plastic can eventually be peeled off the screen and then assembled into whatever creation you chose to trace. It's a bit like manually creating your own 3D-printed creations.

Monetization: free / no ads / no IAPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfJ_asisKvE

3Doodler - Guides & Ideas Developer: 3Doodler
Price: Free
3.7
Download

Live Wallpapers

Wave 3D

Wave 3D is a brand new live wallpaper that can display an assortment of colorful waves on your homescreen and lockscreen. This is a premium release, which means you won't have to worry about hidden costs. So if you are looking for a colorful live wallpaper to customize the look of your favorite Android device, you may want to give Wave 3D a closer look.

Monetization: $1.99 / no ads / no IAPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLyJCuj40I

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.