Welcome to the 440th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week:
- Diablo Immortal is getting more and more popular. If you are interested in giving the game a try, check out our tips and tricks guide for beginners. This will get you through the first few hours and familiarize you with some of the game terms.
- Author Dhruv Bhutani is an avid Plex user and isn’t happy with the service’s feature creep. According to Dhruv, the service is getting away from its roots and has a lot of extras that both old school and hardcore Plex fans don’t want. We asked our audience and many of them either use Plex or are interested in doing so. Roughly 50% of our readers are happy with Plex as of now, but that’s a bit lower than we’d expect for the service. Hit various links to check them out.
- Netflix is in a strange space. It has received a lot of criticism lately, but is still the number one streaming service in the world. We’re guessing it’s because it’s an old option and people are comfortable with it. Plus, some shows like Stranger Things are actually pretty good. Still, it’s a curiosity when other streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu exist and people seem less than happy with them.
- WhatsApp may add new features in the near future. The new feature lets you reveal (or hide) your online status. Other services have this feature and they have had it for a long time. WhatsApp will catch up. However, we found some screenshots of the feature. There is something similar this time, but the screenshot shows the second part which specifically lets you show your online status to certain people. Hit the link to learn more.
- Google’s Pixel Pass has a lot of promise. This gives you an upgrade path for your phone every two years, 200 GB of Google One storage, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, and Google Play Pass. It’s honestly not a bad deal. Unfortunately, it’s not great to register. People with existing accounts must close it before signing up. Plus, those with family accounts don’t have the option to share their account with their family. Hit the link to learn more, but we expect Google to upgrade Pixel Pass over time.
Woice is an interesting messaging app. It allows you to send voice messages to your friends or coworkers. It’s asynchronous, which means it will send a message and they will see it when they check the app. It not only keeps track of your conversations but also provides a transcription of your messages. That means they will be able to read your messages as well as listen to them. We don’t know if this idea is enough to make it big and it seems that it is mostly intended for professional use. Still, it’s a neat idea overall.
Crown Hero
Price: Free to play
Heroes of Crown is an idle mobile RPG with some gacha elements. That’s quite a lot, but basically it means that the game is capable of playing itself and all you have to do is make decisions. The game pits you against monsters, bosses and other bad guys. This lets you grind in the background as a silent game so you can do things beforehand without spending too much time grinding manually. The game also offers a PvP mode, though that might not be the most fun thing about the game. The idle element makes you feel like you have to watch the game more than play it, but it’s a decent casual experience for those who don’t want to try too hard.
Capsll
Price: Free / $7.99 per month / $79.99 per year
Capsll is a different type of application. It wants you to keep your life’s memories, but instead of sharing them with everyone publicly, everything is private until you decide to share it. The video that starts when you open the app is a nice touch. UI is quite good and easy. You upload items, organize them into memories, and then you can share those memories later. That means a vault of sorts with the aim of sharing content with your kids or grandkids and not your random friends. The free version gives you 1GB of storage and a few other things. Subscription lets you choose next of kin so your items can be transferred to them after you die. A bit pricey, but cool idea.
Black Fairy Tale
Price: Free to play
Tales Noir is another new gacha game with over 100 collectible characters for you to get. It is an open world game in which the player explores the game world and uncovers things. The combat is a pretty basic hack-and-slash RPG. There are also fantasy stories to play out. There are other things to do in the game too. The different princesses you summon have different abilities so you can customize your party according to your needs. Voiceover is a bit dry and there are some early bugs, but that’s common enough for newer games. It has a lot of potential.
Volume is a news and discovery app. It takes a lot of topic and keeps it bite-sized so you can consume it fast. Other than that, the entire experience revolves around listening rather than reading. The app offers algorithmically curated content and an editor so you’ll see what the app wants you to see. Time will tell whether it’s a good idea or not. You can check out different categories to learn something new, join communities, and see statistics about what you consume so you can see why the algorithm chose what it chose. There’s nothing wrong with that, so we hope the developers keep up the good work with this one.
If we miss any news, updates or major Android app or game releases, let us know about them in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @ThatJoeHindy.
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