Welcome to the 438th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week:
- Gaming Chromebooks are apparently on the way from Lenovo and HP. They will even include some gamer features like RGB keyboard support and other things. However, it seems like the main focus of this Chromebook is streaming games rather than playing games in person. Reports say they will ship with Stadia installed out of the box along with access to Nvidia GeForce Now game streaming. Hit the link to learn more.
- Google Password Manager can now be used directly from your home screen. Basically, you just open a password manager, hit the Settings cogwheel, and add it to your home screen. This will add an icon to your home screen that you can use to access your passwords more quickly. Here’s how to if you want step-by-step instructions.
- The Twitter board has approved the purchase of Elon Musk. However, Musk delayed the sale. This week, we find a few reasons why it might be. The fake account problem is a problem we all know about. In addition, setting up financing and getting shareholder approval is still in the way. A shareholder vote is expected in late July or early August.
- Samsung Pay turned into Samsung Wallet this week and it comes with good and bad news. We’ll talk more about the new features later, but one of the bad parts is that they no longer work on non-Samsung devices. People without Samsung phones can’t install it and even if they could, it doesn’t work anymore. That’s a bit of a disappointment.
- Telegram Premium officially launched this week and it’s a pretty big deal. It costs between $5 and $6 per month and includes several new features. The premium version includes upload sizes up to 4GB, up to 1000 channels, voice to text conversion, faster download speed, no ads and much more. It can still be used for free. Hit the link to learn more.
Bloodline: Hero of Lithas
Price: Free to play
Bloodline: Heroes of Lithas is a mobile RPG and partial strategy game. The goal is to become a successful city leader while exploring the world and defeating evil. It boasts a large number of character races and many places to explore and experience. You will also be tasked with rebuilding the city and expanding it. There is also a story to play through and the graphics are pretty good. The launch was a bit rough and the combat mechanics felt like an idle game, but we’re confident the game will find its niche as time goes on.
Health Connect by Android
Price: Free
Health Connect is a new app from Google. It aims to share data between your various health, fitness and digital wellbeing apps while remaining private. It keeps all your data in one place and should work with most major applications. I personally only use a Fitbit, but it works pretty well. UI is very clean and easy to use. It will work fine for the most part, and we look forward to more support in the future.
Petness
Price: Free to play
Petness is a pet care simulator game. Pets come to your shop and you take care of them within given time limits. Doing so will earn you a star for each level. They will get up and move to make things difficult for you. The game also includes boosters to make things easier, a story to play through, and a few extras to collect. It’s not a very serious or deep game. It’s also quite family friendly with a bunch of cute animals. This is something you will play if you enjoy games like Candy Crush or restaurant simulators.
Samsung Wallet
Price: Free
Samsung started rolling out the Samsung Wallet app last week. It still uses Samsung Pay in the Play Store, but when I try it on my S22, the UI says it’s Samsung Wallet. The new Samsung Wallet works just like the old Samsung Pay, except it now stores ID cards, boarding passes, digital keys (if your car supports them), vaccine records, and more. In terms of usability, they all work the same. Tap-to-pay still works and everything seems fine. The only downside is that it no longer works on non-Samsung phones.
Disney Mirrorverse
Price: Free to play
Disney Mirrorverse is another new mobile RPG, except this one is an action RPG. It features Disney and Pixar characters in the original story. Each character you unlock has its own set of spells, skills and abilities to help you get through everything. It’s one of the more competent western gachas we’ve played and has a lot of potential. The only issues are that some of the on-screen controls stutter at times and the game’s UI isn’t the most visually appealing. Hopefully, the developers improve on that over time.
If we missed any news or a major Android app or game release, let us know in the comments.
Thank you for reading. Try this too:
