[ad_1]
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Welcome to issue 355 of Android Apps Weekly. These are the big headlines from the past week:
- Google Fit received an update this week. The new update adds sleep tracking features, a more complete view of your health on the home screen, and more social sharing features. Also, there are new Wear OS tiles for a better experience along with improvements to some tiles like the weather tile. Click on the link to see all the new features.
- Hulu is raising the prices of its live TV plans. The new price is $ 64.99 as of December 18, 2020. That is a price increase of $ 10 per month over the previous price. The ad-free package costs $ 70.99 per month, $ 10 more than the $ 60.99 price. It’s a pretty aggressive price hike, but it’s the flavor of the year. Netflix and YouTube TV also raised prices earlier this year and Spotify did as well. Click the link to read all the details.
- Google Pay had a redesign this week. The new design focuses much more on your favorite people and places than anything else. It includes things like a little chat feature, a warning in case you’re about to send money to a stranger, and integration with places you shop frequently. There is also talk of a bank account function eventually. The redesign is pretty good and should be a welcome development for Google Play.
- Samsung is working on a file sharing application with blockchain technology. It allows you to share files with other people with an expiration date. The file self-destructs at the specified date and time. It is a premise similar to Snapchat or Signal. Also, the application may prevent the file from being shared and the file may not be viewable in other file browsers. The app could debut on the next version of the Galaxy S series devices early next year.
- Google Photos will add new features soon. The first is the ability to search for original quality photos that you have uploaded to the service. It’s all part of a quota management tool for the service. The switch to a premium subscription service upset a lot of people and most of our readers don’t want to pay for it. There are alternatives if you also want to get out of trouble.
Hellopet House
Price: Free to play
Hellopet House is a kitchen simulator with a house building element. The player inherits a ruined mansion and is tasked with rebuilding it. Players can adopt a wide range of cats and dogs, decorate however they want, and do other things too. However, the main aspect of the game is a cooking game. You serve a lot of food and complete the level to advance in the game. The in-app purchase strategy is to sell player power-ups to help clear levels. It’s a cheesy little game without too much complexity and it’s a decent waste of time.
Socrates
Price: Free
Socreates is a wellness app for people looking for ways to improve their mental well-being. The app asks you various questions and provides you content based on your answers. There’s really nothing here that you can’t find on blogs or a Google search, but it’s a good way to get into that type of content if you’re fairly new to it. The design of the app is quite nice and there are some interactive activities to help make things easier. It’s not going to be a popular app by any means, but some people may find it useful.
Fruit ninja 2
Price: Free to play
Fruit Ninja 2 was released a couple of weeks ago. It is the successor to the wildly popular arcade game where you slide to slice open fruit while it floats on the screen. This version includes several game modes, including an endless mode, an arcade mode, and a classic mode. There are also some real-time multiplayer modes along with customization elements. The game had a rough first few weeks and the developers have fixed most of the outstanding issues. It will be a few more weeks before everything is settled, but now it is also a decent play.
Olauncher
Price: Free
Olauncher is a new open source starter application. Try to minimize distractions with a clean user interface and no annoying graphics. The home screen is basically a list of apps. You can touch anywhere on the line to open the application. It is customizable by long pressing the home screen to change the app list or you can swipe up to see all the apps. There is no support for custom icons because the launcher does not use icons at all. In fact, there isn’t much customization and it’s mostly on purpose. It’s a clean, almost clutter-free launcher that fits a niche better than most in its category. It is also completely free with no ads.
Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
A3: Still alive
Price: Free to play
A3: Still Alive is an open world multiplayer role-playing game. It has the usual variety of MMORPG elements, including tons of missions, a few different classes to play with, and relatively decent graphics. Additionally, the game features massive 100v100 battles along with a 30-player battle royale mode. The game received some initially negative reviews due to its auto battle system and first week lag issues, but lag issues are more or less resolved for most players. This one should end up getting pretty popular over time.
Thank you for reading! Check them out too:
If we missed any great news or Android game or app launches, tell us about them in the comments!
