Welcome to the 523rd edition of Android Apps Weekly, where we discuss the latest mobile news and take a closer look at some of the most interesting new apps and games. Let’s jump right in and take a look at some of last week’s biggest highlights:
- The biggest app news of the week happened at MWC, where Google announced a number of important app-related features and changes. Not only will Google Messages get Gemini access, but Android Auto will also get AI text summarization. Additionally, Google Docs will soon allow you to add handwritten annotations to documents using a stylus or finger, among other updates.
- New apps and games are launched all the time, but how often do they actually change the game? We can’t speak for all apps, but Whispp at least offers something new and genuinely useful. The app promises to provide voices for people with speech impairments by enhancing one’s current voice or recreating your original voice. The app does the latter using past recordings of your voice.
- Whatsapp is adding a new way to search i.e. “Search by Date” feature that will let you search individual and group chats by date. The news was revealed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckeberg, who first announced the news on his Whatsapp channel.
- Latest Google Play Services update includes new password sharing feature, but it’s not enabled yet Android system The feature was successfully activated using the feature flag. The feature could finally allow accounts within a homegroup to easily share usernames and passwords through a password manager.
- Not only is Google Play hinting at future features, Google Contacts also contains code for features that are currently inaccessible: a new UI for the header area of the Contacts screen that lets you quickly view recent messages and more.
- Photomath is one of the most popular apps for using artificial intelligence to solve math problems, and only requires a simple picture to get started. Now, Google has taken ownership of the app, officially adding it to Google products. Google hasn’t revealed any planned changes to the app experience, but it’s clear the company is interested in the app’s technology, which could help Google enhance its similar features in Google Lens, Search, and other products.
- Phone calls have certainly fallen out of favor in recent years, but for those who still prefer phone calls to texts and other forms of communication, Google may soon make those calls more fun with spoken emoticons. Recently, a beta version of Google Phone was released, and the code seemed to mention six audio reactions: drums, sadness, applause, party poo, laughter, and poop. These reactions also have reaction animations associated with them.
Android App Weekly: New Apps and Games
Looking for some new Android apps and Android games to keep you busy? There are two new apps to highlight this week, and three fantastic games.
Resleriana Studio
- price: Free with in-app purchases
Ateliera is a fairly well-known JPRG series, and now the experience is coming to mobile devices. The new game centers on new characters and is very story-driven. Unlike many other JRPGs, the actual missions are smaller in scale and more about achieving personal goals rather than grand concepts like saving the world. As for how the game plays, I found the combat to be decent enough and the graphics to be second to none for a mobile game. Unfortunately, from my experience so far, it’s also a very flawed game. In total, I played for about an hour, but during that time it crashed twice and I encountered a few glitches. As the game gets further updates, it promises to become a more polished experience, but even so, it’s worth checking out.
Ragnarok Origins: ROO
- price: Free with in-app purchases
The sequel to Ragnarok: Origins has arrived, returning to the legendary world of Midgard. This time you must protect the world from the destruction of Loki’s curse. On paper, the game is a worthy enough sequel, although in-app purchases get in the way of an experience that I thought would be better as a premium app. Unfortunately, this game, like the previous games on this list, has a lot of bugs and crashes. I tried it on three different phones and found that all but the Pixel 7 kept crashing. Even so, there are still some other glitches and bugs. When these issues are ironed out, this will still likely be a pretty solid mobile experience, but be aware that it currently lacks some necessary polish.
Get ready for golf
- price: Free with in-app purchases
Ready Set Goal is a new mini golf game with a lot going for it. While there are tons of similar games on the market, this one still stands out thanks to beautiful cartoon-style graphics, easy-to-learn controls, special moves that add to the charm of the game, and some very unique challenges and dangers, such as the brilliant . The game lets you play against friends and even matches you with players of similar skill from around the world. The downside to this title is that it has a ton of microtransactions and can remind you of them quite aggressively. On the bright side, I didn’t encounter any major bugs or playability issues.
Ball Party
- price: Free with in-app purchases
Eggy Party is a mobile party game with quirky kid-friendly characters and charming graphics. It kind of reminds me of Nintendo Land on the Wii U, where there was a large game park area that allowed you to have many different unique gaming experiences. There are several different modes: Hide and Seek, Rope Race, Pro Attack (a shooting game similar to Splatoon), Brawl (fighting), Playground Building, Bake Off and Who’s Rotten (you have to vote for who is the best of) bad guys, kind of like Among Us). The game is fun to play and accessible to people of all skill levels, although some experiences within the game are more intuitive than others.
Created by YouTube
- price: Free with in-app purchases
YouTube Create was actually announced last year with a soft launch in several markets, but now it’s finally coming to more markets, including the US. YouTube Create lets you edit Shorts and standard YouTube videos on your Android phone. You can capture video directly from the app or import existing files. There are also many handy features, such as transitions that automatically match background music, automatic subtitles, and an audio cleaning tool for removing background noise. You’ll need a phone with at least 4GB of RAM to run this program, which means you’ll need a mid-range phone or better.