The 281st edition of Android Apps Weekly is here! Check out the big headlines from the last week:
- Microsoft is getting its timeline feature in as many places as possible. This week, the newest place became Google Chrome. The extension uses the Timeline API to sync your browsing activity between your Windows 10 computer and any smartphone with Microsoft Launcher installed. If that sounds like something you want, hit the link to learn more.
- Pokémon Go is having legal troubles in California. A proposed settlement to the legal matter wants Pokémon Go to remove all Poké Stops in residential areas that are too close to houses. There are a laundry list of other demands as well, including the maintenance of a database of requests from residents with property within 40 meters of a Poké Stop. Of course, all of those affected would get $1,000 as well. It's not a great settlement for Niantic.
- Monument Valley developers UsTwo are working on two new games and they are definitely not Monument Valley games. The studio is under pressure to create another great game series aside from the iconic puzzler. However, they are giving the developers the freedom to make basically whatever they want. It should be interesting, at least.
- Google put together a report with over 30 pages about fighting disinformation on the Internet and its plans to help combat the problem. It labels disinformation as deliberate efforts to deceive and mislead. The paper goes on to talk about the problems with disinformation, whether or not disinformation is intentional or accidental, and other such nuances. Ultimately, Google wants to de-rank such publications for the sake of public safety. We'll see how that turns out.
- Meanwhile, Google's new permissions policy is still messing with apps. The latest victim is a sex workers app. The app tracks people who abuse, rob, or assault sex workers. Unfortunately, the new permission system means this app can't exist anymore. Google rejected the app's application for exception. The app either has to remove some of its most important features or close down. It's not a great situation.
RWBY Deckbuilding Game is, well, a new deck building game. It centers around the RWBY universe, the pseudo-anime from Rooster Teeth. This one doesn't rely on pack or booster sales like most card games. Some of the other game play features include playing against the AI or real human player, a Relic Adventure mode for you solo players out there, and, of course, plenty of cameos from characters from the show. The game was definitely released a little too early in our opinion, but the core mechanics of the game are solid. We recommend giving it a little while to fix some of the bugs before giving it a try.
TextBlast Bulk SMS is what the name says. It helps you send bulk texts to a lot of people at once. Of course, you can just do this in your SMS client of choice. However, this app makes it slightly easier. You write out your message, select your contacts, and it sends each person a message. This is especially helpful if you want to, say, send an invite for an event, but don't want a huge group chat. Most of its features are for marketing, though, so this app definitely isn't for everyone. It's new, so there are some bugs and this is a niche genre anyway. We don't think a ton of people will find this helpful, but a few might.
Sons of Warfare reminds us a little bit of the old X-COM games. This is a turn-by-turn strategy game with simple graphics and a simple premise. Players get dozens of weapons and soldiers along with various types of vehicles. They do battle against the opponent and try to win. The game also features an online multiplayer mode and a single player campaign mode. The single player campaign mode worked offline during our testing. There's a decent amount of content. About our only gripe is the slower game play indicative of a turn-based strategy game, but fans of the genre don't usually mind.
Widget Screensaver is a neat little niche app. It lets you create a screen saver with widgets. That way you can do more than just look at the time or watch pretty colors swirl around. It worked fine with the widgets on our test device. Additionally, there are burn-in prevention features for those of you with AMOLED (or any OLED) devices. There isn't a lot of extra commentary necessary, really. It does what it says it does. The only caveat is the lack of support for Huawei and Honor devices. Unfortunately, that's an EMUI problem, so the only way to get around it is with ADB.
Langrisser is a mobile version of the popular strategy RPG series. It technically came out a few weeks ago and we admittedly missed it until this week. Anyway, this is a fairly decent port if you don't mind freemium games. It has a lot of the same elements as other long running games making their freemium debut. That includes callbacks to older parts of the series, cameos by popular characters, and other such things. The game plays like most strategy RPGs. You move characters around a board and attack the bad guys. You also get fully voiced cut scenes, a surprisingly decent soundtrack, and more. Aside from the freemium elements and the bugs associated with new game releases, this is a fairly good experience.
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