Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Welcome to the 473rd version of Android Apps Weekly. Listed here are the massive headlines from the final week:
- Google rolled out an replace this week that kind of fixes an Android Auto downside. You’ll be able to’t usually open Google Maps in your cellphone when Android Auto is energetic. This newest Google Maps replace makes it potential for a small variety of customers. We’re unsure if this was even intentional, however we actually hope it was.
- Vivaldi Browser on Android now enables you to play YouTube movies within the background. This allows you to hearken to music, podcasts, or simply common movies while not having to be caught within the app. The large replace additionally included some efficiency enhancements, UI scaling choices, sync reminders, and extra.
- Samsung’s Digicam Assistant app is now out there for extra One UI 5.1 telephones, together with the S22 Extremely and others. The app has a number of choices that the inventory digital camera app doesn’t have, and it even fixes a number of the shutter lag on some S23 Extremely telephones. These with older Galaxy telephones on the One UI 5.1 replace can verify the Galaxy Retailer to see if it’s out there for you.
- Mozilla did a examine to see if apps had been defending person privateness. It seems, lots of them aren’t. Some examples of the worst offenders embody the Google Play Retailer, Twitter, and TikTok. Hit the hyperlink to see the outcomes of Mozilla’s examine.
- AI was an enormous subject of dialog this week. Qualcomm used an Android cellphone to generate an AI picture in beneath 15 seconds with no Web connection required. In the meantime, Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing and Edge apps got here to cellular this week, though it is advisable be a part of Microsoft’s preview program as a way to use it. Samsung’s Bixby makes use of AI to clone your voice to reply cellphone calls in your behalf, however it’s solely out there in Korean presently. Lastly, Gboard could give customers the flexibility to generate AI pictures from textual content. Hit the hyperlinks to be taught extra about every AI product.
NoteFor
Worth: Free / $1.49 monthly
NoteFor is a journal or diary app. It includes a minimal UI that will get out of your means so you possibly can write down your ideas and life comfortably. There’s a pleasing formatting to all the pieces, and it’s additionally calmly themeable. You’ll be able to maintain a number of diaries if you wish to, and all of it syncs to the PC model of the app in order for you it to. We additionally like the flexibility to export your diary as an EPUB, so it’s usable by e-book reader apps. There’s a 1,800-character restrict, which can irk some people, however it’s actually not an enormous deal. We expect this one is fairly good total.
Starfall Fantasy: Neverland
Worth: Free to play
Starfall Fantasy: Neverland is an open world MMORPG. It appears to be like much like most within the class. You run round, speak to NPCs, do quests, and progress the story as common. The sport world is colourful, and you are able to do issues like chat with the opposite gamers. You may also do factor like be a farmer if you wish to. As per the norm, you’ll discover a mount system right here, together with the flexibility to purchase and adorn your individual house. The options are too quite a few to listing right here, however it does verify quite a lot of the bins. The one actual criticism is that all the pieces is mainly on auto mode on a regular basis, so that you spend vastly extra time watching the sport than enjoying it. That type of takes away quite a lot of the attraction, and we hope the builders add a full guide possibility ultimately.
Symposia: Artistic Discourse
Worth: Free
Symposia is a neighborhood app for artists and artistic varieties. It’s virtually like a LinkedIn for artistic folks. You’ll be able to be a part of the community, join with folks, and community with different artists. The Google Play description says it’s genuine, which is normally a large crimson flag that it isn’t. Nonetheless, the social feed, chats, and all of that may be useful when you’re attempting to increase your attain in the neighborhood. It’s not tremendous widespread but, so there aren’t a ton of customers, however it’s one thing to keep watch over in case it will get greater sometime.
Final Sackboy
Worth: Free to play
Final Sackboy is a cellular tackle the Little Huge Planet franchise. The sport makes use of characters and design components from the console video games, however that’s about it. The sport has gamers racing by ranges to attempt to take first place. The races are pretty straightforward at first however scale up in issue fairly rapidly, as is regular for a free-to-play cellular sport. Gamers improve their characters with garments, and there’s additionally on-line PvP if you wish to strive it out. It has the bones of an honest cellular sport, however it positively wants a coat of polish, particularly regarding the wait timers.
PicSo
Worth: Free / $9.99 monthly / $69.99 per 12 months
PicSo is an AI artwork generator app, and one in all many new ones on the Play Retailer as of late. It enables you to create distinctive AI pictures simply by asking it what you need. The screenshot above is a bit deceptive, although, since you are able to do far more issues than simply ask for anime women. It additionally does guys too. It labored fairly properly in our testing, however there’s room for enchancment, as there’s with most AI era apps.
The one draw back is the worth. It’s a bit costly for month-to-month use, and it appears to cap what number of pictures a person could make with a credit score system. We expect a credit score system disguised as a subscription system is a bit deceptive, but when the builders repair it, that is in any other case good.
If we missed any massive Android apps or video games information or releases, inform us about it within the feedback.
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