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This week's releases are pretty heavily focused on streaming and media, from motion comics to movies, and even Pokmon! Our top app is eTrizzle, a media hub that makes it easier than ever to find content you want without having to check multiple sources. We've also got a great app for helping your friends and family with technical problems, a launcher with a built-in social network, an interesting app for checking out digital motion comics, and yes, an app dedicated entirely to the Pokmon TV show!
eTrizzle (Free)
As brick and mortar video stores hang on for dear life over the perilous pits of obsolescence, media soaks like myself are being faced with brand new problems. For example, with so many streaming and digital rental/purchase s ervices, how do I keep track of which services have which movies, or which would be the most cost effective? That's easy! I just use eTrizzle! It brings all the catalogues of the big streaming services into one handy place, from Netflix to iTunes to Amazon to Crackle to HBO GO. Now its much less frustrating to find that one obscure Takashi Miike horror flick you wanted to see...
Also on Appolicious
Enjoy reading The Atlantic on mobile devices? Learn how the iconic publication embraced digital from our friends at Zinio. ThisGuest Post is a real page-turner.
Optia (Free)
People in my generation, and the several that come after it, pretty much have all had the unique privilege of acting as personal tech support teams for our parents, auntie, or grandparents. From teaching them how to text message to fixing their phone settings or even teaching them how to properly close apps, the question s never seem to end. With Optia, our jobs just became even easier. Optia lets you share screens between different devices, so you can easily give instructions. You can even highlight different areas of the screen, and there are more features, like step-by-step instructions, coming in future updates. You're welcome, Grandma.
NARR8 (Free)
Digital motion comics have gained more and more traction as a legitimate entertainment medium. Barely animated with a bit of voice acting, properties as big as Watchmen and Buffy The Vampire Slayer have been brought to life through the motion comic treatment. NARR8 is an app dedicated to bringing episodic motion comic content to us all, completely for free. The comics in this app don't have the nearly the pedi gree of those I listed above, but they're still solid stories that come in quite a variety of genres and styles. Of course, you can share what you're viewing through social networks as well. At no cost, this is a very interesting app to check out.
Pokmon TV (Free)
This app may not be the top app of the week, but it is the top app of my heart. Granted, I pretty much gave up on Pokmon after the games Silver and Gold were released, and stopped watching the show around the third movie about a decade ago. But that doesn't make this app any less awesome, for adults, children, and parents who need to distract their children alike. You can watch Ash Ketchum defy nature and avoid puberty through years and year s of the show, all through this app, completely free, with a huge selection of episodes to watch alongside special features and trailers. I suddenly feel like dusting off my old Pokmon card collection! But first
Sulia Quick Launch (Free)
Closing out our weekly list is this great new launcher app. Sulia Quick Launch lets you check out social network feeds from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, plus search the web, all directly from your lock screen. That's right, you don't even have to unlock your screen to check Facebook anymore. Just imagine the nanoseconds you'll save! But seriously, this app is very convenient. Upon unlocking the screen, it's easy as can be to access your camera, dial pad, recent apps, messages, etcetera, all while keeping you connected to the Sulia social network for sharing news on all sorts of topics of interest.
Via: eTrizzle leads Android Apps of the Week
Whats it about? Optia allows users to share their screens between devices, which means you can get on-screen help from a friend or family member by sharing what you see with them, and vice versa.
Wha ts it about? Web-based video service WeVideo's latest Android app brings quick and easy video-editing capabilities to your Android phone.
Whats it about? Sela the Space Pirate pits players against wave after wave of enemies and tons of bullets in a top-down arcade space shooter with an old-school flare.
This is a side-scrolling shooter in every sense of the word, but one interesting feature makes it feel a bit more unique and open. You aren't just set on rails heading in one direction. You can actually flip your ship to face left or right, and explore each level fully. This is great for levels like the second, in which you must escort an allied ship through enemy infested territory. You can scout ahead and clear enemies as fast as you are able. I had a lot of trouble keeping the allied ship alive, even on lower difficulties, which is why I say the difficulty could use some tweaking.
Sulia Quick Launch is a hybrid homescreen launcher for your Android device, and a social network thats all about finding experts on various topics. Weve also got My Job Chart, an app for helping keep kids chores and rewards organized, and Nutty Fluffies Rollercoaster, a side-scrolling game in which players use physics to keep a coaster loaded with plush animals from flying off the rails.
Whats it about? Help kids keep track of their daily chores in My Job Chart, and use it to dole out rewards and keep them motivated.
Whats it about? Nutty Fluffies Rollercoaster is a side-scroller in which players control an off-the-rails roller coaster as it f lies across tracks, around loops and over gaps.
Last week, Sony revealed at a gigantic press event in New York the existence of the PlayStation 4 console, and we are all so very excited. And, I should note, it's not just exciting because it is pushing us into the next generation of console video games. The PlayStation 4 will usher in a new level of connectivity between home gaming and mobile devices.
Sony did detail one potentially interesting idea. The PlayStation 4 will allow users a level of social interactivity that we havent seen before, allowing your friends to peek in on your games as you're playing or even, if necessary, take over the game remotely if you need some assistance. The ability to watch your friends play will not be limited to the console itself. You will be able to do that from the companion app. This is not unprecedented, as OnLive has had this function available for years.
Beyond streaming demos, integrating Gaikai's cloud gaming into the PS4 will allow for remote play of games on the PS Vita handheld. Although Sony is currently working toward allowing PlayStation games -- and they specifically mentioned PS3 games -- to be played on any screen, including mobile devices.
Change. It seems like the last year has brought more change to mobile apps and the digital publishing space than the previous ten years combined. At the company where I work,Zinio, we have watched our entire world change as we grew to 5,500 magazines and moved from desktop into PCs, iPads, smartphones and eBooks.
Whats it about? Next time youre looking to rent, buy or stream a video, you can use eTrizzle to find the best prices and availability.
Whats it about? The official live wallpaper app of musician Deadmau5 brings more than just a cool background for your Android device.
Whats it about? Top-down racer Slingshot Racing isnt about steering and braking. Its all about using slingshot timing to launch cars around curves at breakneck speeds.
Falcon Pro is a relatively new Twitter app that has received a lot of attention. As I am writing this, apparently the app has reached its Twit ter token limit, a new rule Twitter has placed on 3rd party apps. Hopefully Twitter will allow this app to continue to develop. The most attractive feature of Falcon Pro is the layout. The app consists of a double sliding menu, meaning the main view is your timeline. Swipe left to access your account details, such as timeline mentions, DM and retweets. Swipe to the right to get your lists, starred users, saved searches and trends.
Carbon for Twitter is a free and simple app, which is definitely not a bad thing. Note that this app can only work on devices with Android OS Jelly Bean or higher. There are not many settings to worry about, as you can pretty much only modify notifications. The app does allow for multiple accounts, but the timeline will only display one account at a time. To switch accounts, simply swipe to the left to see the list. The menu bar on the bottom has three buttons: add tweet, account indicator, and short cut to settings, favorites, lists, search or trends.
Whats it about? Catch up on the beginnings of Major League Baseball as Spring Training kicks off with MLB.com At Bat.
Whats it about? Childrens storybook character Wubbzy has to deliver letters for Friendship Day, giving kids a chance to read along and interact with Wubbzy and his friends in educational app Wubbzy Loves You.
Whats it about? Climb in a super-fast hover-ship and take down other racers, either with tight skills or your hull-mounted weapons, in Flashout 3D.
This game from Doppler Interactive is a unique platformer, in which the people of Nicetown have rolled their sadness up into a little ball and set it loose on the world. Of course, everything goes wrong, and the ball must save everyone and go to a Heaven of sorts. Ball of Woe employs swipe control, and your goal is to roll the ball away from the Nicetown folks. Visuals aren't exactly high-resolution, but they are stylish and defini tely cool to look at. And then you have the soundtrack, which is quite engaging, and a story that is actually quite compelling for a mobile game.
While we're talking about space games, I feel its the right time to bring up Syder Arcade, a space shooter - not unlikeGeometry Wars - with quite the hard edge. Though this is the kind of game you'd normally expect to play with a twin-stick gamepad on a home console or a PC, touch controls are more than adequate, and man does this thing just look gorgeous. Syder Arcade from Studio Evil is one of those games for which you'll need to close all your background apps or else you might get some stutter. Did I mention this game is really hard?
As we've discussed before, more old-style adventure games should make a home on mobile because touch controls just screams for those types of games. Forever Lost: Episode 1 by Glitch Games, with its Myst-ish gameplay, is almost an ideal mobile experience with its interface, and it's pretty creepy to boot. Also, it has a hint system that will help you out when you encounter difficulties, and so you won't get stuck in a room for weeks like you probably did with Myst back in the day.
Whats it about? With CloudOn, you can experience Microsoft Office on your Android devices. The app lets you create, edit, and share documents through cloud services such as Dropbox.
Whats it about? Part cloud storage drive, part document creation and collaboration software, get your work done with Google Drive.
Whats it about? Remember Tamagotchi, the virtual pet you carried around on your key ring? Its back in Tamagotchi L.i.f.e., with more pets and a colorf display.
Google Drive just might be one of the most useful apps on the Android platform. The app ties users into cloud-saved documents, giving them the ability to write, edit, and create on the web-based platform, and wrapping it all together with a super-handy cloud storage system. With all the capabilities Google Drive brings to smartphones and tablets, its the kind of app you absolutely need.This update adds pinch-to-zoom capabilities and streaming video support.
As far as music streaming services go, Slacker Radio wants curated content to be more than just big giant list of songs. Of course, there is a big giant list of songs that you can pull from and create your own playlists. But Slacker Radio adds talk radio , sports coverage, and playlists that combine those elements to allow, thereby offering alternatives to the most popular song hits of the day or obscure tracks from years ago. And its new update adds a total redesign of the app, bringing a new and tighter user interface.
Whats it about? Comic reader app NARR8 focuses on motion comics in an attempt to bridge the gap between TV shows and comic books.
Whats it about? The Weather Channel provides users with tons of information about weather forecasts from all over the country.
Whats cool? AWESOME Land features main character Manley, whose motorcycle was stolen by evil aliens, and w ho must venture through 25 different levels to get it back. With solid touch controls and big boss battles, AWESOME Land manages to feel fresh while invoking some of the best-known classics in video games.
Cordys base abilities include a double jump, plus a grappling hook that he can use to swing from certain nodes or access teleportation circuits. Now, through plenty of helpful friendly robots that he wears like backpacks, he can do a lot more. Magnetbot lets him stick to surfaces and use free speed boosts, Smashbot lets him break block obstacles, his old pal Volt turns into a jetpack, and Copterbot is used in levels that are just like the Flash game Helicopter, or more recently, Jetpack Joyride. Fully exploring every level with these different abilities is more than satisfying.
Planning a trip? Hotel Tonight, an app makes it possible to book same-day hotel rooms when youre traveling for big discounts, was recently updated for optimal performance on Android tablets. Following that is NewsWhip, a news aggregator app that uses social networks to find out about the biggest stories in the world. Finally, Forever Lost: Episode 1 SD brings players into a horror adventure to solve puzzles and a mystery.
Whats it about? News aggregator NewsWhip finds the most interesting and important news of the day by scanning what billions of people find important through social networks.
Whats it about? Forever Lost, developed by duo Graham Ranson and Simon Pearce of Glitch Games, is an adventure game where players figure out the world around them, as well as who they are, after waking up in a strange place with no memory.
Side-scrolling games are the bread and butter of mobile gaming, and my phone is packed full of them. And so when Vector,a free-running game a la Mirror's Edge on iOS, hit the Google Play Store last week, I got all pumped about it.
This is a lot like Canabalt in t erms of mechanics, except this time you ride down the mountain on your skis or snowmobile or the back of a yeti. Since you're riding downhill, you are self-propelled, and once again all you have to worry about is jumping. Unlike Canabalt, though, where you need to avoid falling into holes and dying, what you're worried about here is the avalanche sliding down the mountain behind you. You have to go fast if you want to survive, which you won't, because eventually you'll goof up. But the fun is in seeing how long you can last.
Although this new version of the original Sonic game from the Genesis days initially had some issues on the Galaxy Nexus, it totally works right these days. Handling a g ame as fast-paced as Sonic 4 Episode 1 can sometimes be a little bit problematic with touch controls, but, hey, it's Sonic. I'm 25 years old, and Sonic was definitely a big part of my childhood, even though I was primarily a PC gamer growing up. In any case, Sonic 4 Episode 1 is an authentic Sonic experience, and it's guaranteed to help you stop wishing you were still a wee gamer.
Todays fresh apps start with an impressive user interface update to Slacker Radio, a service that predominantly streams music and talk radio. Weve also got Tapestry, an app that delivers free short stories straight to your device, and Zombie Minesweeper, a fresh (though undead) take on the classic numbers-based puzzle game.
Whats it about? Tapestry is a free short story reading app that provides regular new short stories from various authors, including Robin Sloan.
Whats it about? Remember Minesweeper? The puzzle game had players clearing a grid of squares and searching for mines by using numbers as clues. Zombie Minesweeper starts with that formula and adds the element of setting landmines to explode hungry animal zombies.
This app is designed to help students improve problem-solving skill by focusing on logical reasoning. It is a free app supported with ads. There is a paid version of the app, which appears costs $2.99 and removes all in-app ads. The app has 10 categories of questions you can choose from: Number Series, Essential Part, Matching Definitions, Logical Problems, Statement and Assumption, Theme Detection, Letter and Symbol Series, Analogies, Making Judgments, and Logical Games.
As with the previous app, this app is set up to do a little bit of work each day. This is the free version of the app which has over 5000 SAT vocabulary words and over 150 SAT math problems. The pro version has over 7000 SAT words, over 250 SAT math problems, and over 250 SAT Sentence Completion Problems.
Whats it about? As the name suggests, Pokmon TV enables you to stream Pokmon cartoon shows straight to your Android device, wherever you are.
Whats it about? Bump is an app for sharing contact information and files just fill in your info, then bump your Android device against someone elses to exchange phone numbers, email addresses and photos.
Whats it about? Last week saw the release of A Good Day to Die Hard, and along with the movie came a game, DIE HARD, which riffs a bit on the Temple Run formula.
The first Cordy was a fun platformer with a unique aesthetic, and overall a solid game. Developer Silver Tree Media is back though, and Cordy 2 improves on the original in many ways. This free to try platformer is packed with awesome content, from the smooth platforming to the customization options an d unlocks, plus more of the unique robotic world that Cordy and his new helpful friends inhabit. Everything has been improved for this sequel, with a thick coat of polish thrown in for good measure. This is probably one of the best mobile platformers out there today.
This is really more like a big update or expansion to the first Boardtastic Skateboarding, which relea sed early last December. It updates everything, and introduces a multiplayer component for a complete package. This game is sure to satisfy any skating fans, especially since there are less skating games to be found on mobile in general. Heck, you can even play this at the skate park! The 3-D visuals are awesome, the gesture based controls are well implemented, and there are plenty of customization options for your skater as they skate around the world, with plenty of upgrades attached to clothing and decks.
