32 Best (And 1 WTF) New Android Apps And Live Wallpapers From The Last 2 Weeks (6/17/14 – 6/30/14)

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

Featured App

Premium Wallpapers HD

Today’s roundup is sponsored by Premium Wallpapers HD from Pixign. Every time a new version of Android comes out there’s a scramble to disseminate the new wallpapers, which proves that there are a lot of you out there who want them. Premium Wallpapers HD lets you choose from over 10,000 images in HD quality, sorted into 25 categories, with new items appearing every day. Best of all, you don’t have to rely on the app alone each time you get a new device or flash a new ROM: you can save wallpaper files to your SD card for easy sharing or cloud storage. The app is free, with a $1.99 in-app purchase to remove ads.

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Premium Wallpapers HD and Backgrounds HD is a collection of the best full HD wallpapers and backgrounds for your smartphone or tablet. All our wallpapers have been personally selected so you can personalize your smartphone. A modern but simple UI is used so you can easily navigate between categories. We hope it will make it easy to get to the wallpapers you want. Also in Premium Wallpapers HD (Backgrounds HD) you have the opportunity to favorite the wallpapers you like most along with users all over the world, making your favorite wallpapers rise to the top.

Apps

Google Slides

Android Police coverage: [New App] Google Slides App Joins Docs And Sheets In The Play Store

Google’s Docs (Word) and Sheets (Excel) components of Google Drive have already been given the separate app treatment, and now it’s time for Slides (PowerPoint). This app will let you create and edit Slides presentations on your Android device, though getting particularly fancy is probably something you’ll want to save for a full desktop. You can cache files for offline access, and changes made should sync with Google’s servers almost instantly.

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Create, edit, and collaborate with others on presentations from your Android phone or tablet with the free Google Slides app. With Google Slides you can:

• Create new presentations or edit any that were created on the web or on another device.
• Share presentations and work together with others in the same presentation at the same time.
• Open, edit, and save Microsoft PowerPoint files.
• Get stuff done anytime — even without an internet connection.
• Add and rearrange slides, format text and shapes, and more.
• Present right from your device.
• Never worry about losing your work — everything is automatically saved as you type.

Email

Android Police coverage: Multiple User Accounts Are Coming To Android: Miles Of Code Is Already In AOSP, And Some Of It Is Quietly Working On Devices Right Now

It took a long, long time, but Google finally gave the stock Email app (i.e. “the one that isn’t Gmail”) the separated, closed-source treatment. It’s only compatible with some Nexus devices for the moment. This official app from the Google Play Store includes a lot of the visual refreshes that have been implemented in Gmail over the last couple of years, plus the biggie: Exchange support. You can add as many IMAP, POP3, and Exchange accounts as you like.

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The Email app is pre-installed on Nexus and select Google Play edition devices. The Email app lets you read and manage email from different accounts all in one place. Got Hotmail? Yahoo Mail? Outlook? No problem—the Email app brings it all together, with the same great experience you get in Gmail.

The Email app also supports:
● IMAP, POP3 and Exchange accounts
● Ability to select which folders to sync
● Quick responses
● Automatically downloading attachments via Wi-Fi

HTC One m7 and Samsung Galaxy S4 Play devices are unable to receive this update

YouTube Creator Studio

Android Police coverage: [New App] YouTube Creator Studio Lets You Manage Your YouTube Channel Remotely, 60FPS Videos And Fan Funding Support Coming Soon

Do you run a YouTube channel? Do you need to know vital numbers like subscribers and views wherever you go? Statistically speaking, no, you don’t. But if you’re one of the tiny minority of YouTube users that makes a living making videos, you’ll love this separate management and analytics app. In addition to taking care of your individual videos, you’ll be able to moderate your comments. Just don’t add “please like and subscribe” to the end of your videos, OK? Cool people don’t do that.

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The official YouTube Creator Studio app makes it faster and easier to manage your channel on the go. Check out your latest stats, respond to comments, and get customized notifications so you can stay connected from anywhere.

Pressy – The Almighty Button!

Android Police coverage: Pressy Units Are Finally Beginning To Ship To Kickstarter Backers, Official Pressy App Now Available In The Play Store

Pressy, the headphone jack-mounted, super-customizable Android button, is finally landing in the mailboxes of Kickstarter backers all over the world. And when they plug it in, they’ll need this little app to make it work. However, it won’t do you any good if you’ve purchased one of the many knock-offs that made it to market before Pressy itself – you’ll have to activate the app via a QR code found in your package. Note: it looks like this thing is having serious issues for a large portion of users, including yours truly.

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Pressy is a tiny Button that connects to your smartphone through the headphone jack and can be customized to automate many of your everyday smartphone actions. Get your Pressy here: www.Pressybutton.com. Things you can do with your Pressy:

1. Toggle your flashlight
2. Call chosen contacts
3. Take quick photos and videos
4. Start voice recording
5. Start navigation
6. Launch any application
7. Change Phone settings
….and much more.

AutomateIt Pressy Plugin

Android Police coverage: [New App] AutomateIt Already Has A Pressy Plugin With Tasker-Like Functionality

And here’s the Pressy plugin for AutomateIt, which is basically Tasker for those Android users who aren’t quite so technical. You’ll still need the official Pressy app to connect the two, but after that, you should be able to activate apps, settings, and combinations thereof with reckless abandon. Again, that’s assuming that you can get that little button to work with your phone in the first place.

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Use your Pressy as a trigger with AutomateIt. Want to make the most of your Pressy? That’s easy. Just use this plugin and connect your Pressy to AutomateIt by using it as a trigger to toggle settings, make calls, send messages, start applications and a lot more… Click here to get your Pressy: http://goo.gl/YUySx2

Oyster – Read Unlimited Books

Android Police coverage: Oyster Launches Its ‘Netflix For Books’ Service On Android, Brings Over 500,000 Titles Along For The Ride

Oyster bills itself as “Netflix for books,” a description that’s pretty apt. The app itself is your standard digital book reader, but the service includes half a million books and unlimited access for $10 a month. Assuming you plan to steadily read 1-2 books every 30 days, and that you normally buy titles at the median price, it’ll pay for itself rather quickly. You can try out the service free for 30 days, but unfortunately, it’s only available in the US.

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Named one of TechCrunch’s “Best Apps of 2013” and featured by The New Yorker, CNN, The TODAY Show, and more. Oyster is the best way to read books on your tablet and phone. Download now to start your 30 day free trial and get unlimited access to over 500,000 books—anytime, anywhere.

· Thousands of NYT Bestsellers.
· New books added every week—Pulitzer Prize winners, Oprah’s picks, and more.
· Search and explore titles by genre and personalized recommendations.
· Easily share books, quotes, and activity to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
· Follow friends and explore the libraries of interesting people.
· Unlimited access to a growing library of over 500,000 books.
· Download books for offline reading.
· No commitment, you can cancel anytime.

Slingshot

Android Police coverage: [New App] Facebook Launches Its Own Snapchat Clone Called Slingshot [Update: It’s Live]

This is Facebook’s version of Snapchat, complete with the semi-private function that deletes all messages and photos after they’re viewed. (Insert lewd jokes and suggestions for screenshots here.) There is one twist: recipients will have to send you a return message before they can see your photo. Which seems a little weird – that’s not really how communication works. But you can also send “reaction” messages, so I suppose it all works out.

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Slingshot lets you quickly share moments—little and big—with lots of people at once. It’s a new kind of feed where everyone is a creator. Shoot a photo or video of what you’re up to and sling it to a bunch of friends. They won’t be able to see your shot until they sling something to you. Tap on a shot to react, or simply swipe it away.

•Keep up with friends: To unlock a feed of shots from friends, sling them a shot whenever you have something to share
•Send a quick reply: After unlocking a shot, respond with your reaction
•Enjoy it while it lasts: Once you swipe a shot away, it’ll no longer be viewable
•Get creative: Express yourself with captions and drawings
•Look when you want: View unlocked shots later if you’re busy

PBS KIDS Video

Android Police coverage: PBS Kids, Daily Burn, And Deezer Updated With Chromecast Support

PBS Kids lets your annoying little brood-spawn watch safe and allegedly entertaining TV anywhere, anytime. While it doesn’t have the same level of streaming that a cable app or something like Netflix would, you can still find “more than 1000 videos” from the recent Public Broadcasting lineup, INCLUDING SESAME STREET. F$%^ yeah. You’re more than welcome to use the app on your phone or tablet, and even stream to Chromecast, but only in the United States.

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Watch videos from your favorite PBS KIDS television series anytime, anywhere (in the USA). “PBS KIDS Video” features more than 1,000 videos from over a dozen top PBS KIDS television series, including Curious George, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, Dinosaur Train, SUPER WHY., Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Peg + Cat, Sesame Street and Wild Kratts. The app provides a safe, child-friendly viewing experience for all ages. Kids can easily browse and watch videos at home, on the road, or anywhere with a 3G or WiFi connection.

Terrain Home: Sidebar & Search

Android Police coverage: [New App] Terrain Launcher Promises To Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter

The Terrain launcher has an odd pedigree: it’s developed by a company that’s funded by a special investment from Samsung. That being said, it is interesting: the Sidebar feature has an HTML-powered display that mimics a custom homepage (or, well, Google Now). It’s also got a fairly unique device search function, plus all the usual launcher stuff, though the latter isn’t especially customizable. Right now the beta is only available in the United States.

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Terrain is a smart homescreen for Android that makes your phone simpler and more streamlined by putting everything you care about in one place. Find contacts faster, launch apps faster, and view content faster.

* A Bird’s Eye View with Smart Sidebar — curate all your favorite content (apps, tools, contacts, news, social) to view at a glance or dive in for a deeper look. The sidebar is easy to personalize; just pick the content you want from our free cards library and arrange your cards however you like.
* Find Things Fast with Local Phone Search — quickly find any contact or app on your phone with just a swipe
* Stay Organized with Apps Drawer — we’ve cleaned up the Apps screen so it’s easier to find the app you’re looking for
* Navigate Quickly with Swipe Gestures — swipe right for Sidebar, up for Search, and left for Apps
* No Battery Impact — unlike other smart launchers, Terrain is optimized for efficiency and will not kill your battery

BrightNest – Home Tips & Ideas

Android Police coverage: [New App] BrightNest Offers Customized Suggestions For Home And Garden Upkeep

Do you consider yourself a handyman or a green thumb? Then you don’t need BrightNest. The rest of us could probably use a few hints about keeping our homes and gardens in order, if only so we can do it cheaper and faster. BrightNest offers all this in a surprisingly clean interface, letting you choose which types of tips and scheduled reminders you’d like to receive. Too bad it requires an email or Facebook login, for no particular reason.

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Keep your home in great shape without breaking a sweat. BrightNest helps you tackle important tasks with our home tips, personal schedule and helpful reminders. From simple cleaning tricks to interior design ideas, we deliver everything you need to shape up your home and simplify your life. We’ll send you custom-tailored home tips based on your needs and your home’s unique traits (like floor type and countertop material) to help you reach your goals.

 

Garmin viagoâ„¢

Android Police coverage: [New App] Garmin Launches Víago, A GPS App With Offline Navigation, Live Traffic Info, ‘Real’ Directions, And Other IAPs Currently 50% Off

It’s a rare Android user who’s willing to choose anything but Google Maps for navigation – that’s the power of free. But anyone who wants offline access and more advanced features can try Garmin’s option… for quite a lot of money by comparison. IAPs will add in features that aren’t in Google Maps, including 3D buildings, speed limit and speed camera locations, and downloadable regions.

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Navigate with Features You Won’t Find in Free Apps. víago not only provides turn-by-turn navigation, it also provides advanced features such as lane assist that tells you which lane you want to be in for your next turn. There are also photoReal junction views that provide a realistic look at interchanges ahead. Now you can drive with great confidence when approaching complex situations on unfamiliar roads. Browse the map and search for addresses and POIs around the globe.

Sleep Cycle alarm clock

Android Police coverage: [New App] Popular Intelligent Alarm Clock Sleep Cycle Comes To Android

Sleep Cycle has gained quite a following on iOS, and with good reason: it attempts to find your natural sleep cycle and wake you up at the right time to make your night’s sleep effective. The Android version preserves all the app’s features, including detailed statistics and (thank God) a snooze function that can be accessed with a simple shake. This isn’t the only app of its kind on Android, but at two bucks, it’s worth checking out for a night or two.

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Waking up made easy. An intelligent alarm clock that analyzes your sleep and wakes you in the lightest sleep phase – the natural way to wake up feeling rested and relaxed. Sleep Cycle helps millions of people to wake up rested. Sleep cycle is continuously rated as the best smart alarm clock, Sleep Cycle is now the worlds most used intelligent alarm clock. Sleep Cycle monitors your movement during sleep using the extremely sensitive accelerometer in your phone.

Udacity – Learn Programming

Android Police coverage: [New App] Programming Education App Udacity Hits The Play Store With More Courses Than You Can Shake A Multidimensional Array At

I tried programming once. It didn’t take – there’s a reason that very few professional writers are also developers or coders. But Udacity is trying to change that, with a selection of online courses in HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, Java, and more. The app is a free download, but to gain access to its various course materials you’ll need to pay for the service. It comes highly recommended: Google gave it a shout-out at I/O.

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Join our 1.3 million other students today and learn programming and big data to advance your knowledge and career in programming. Udacity courses are taught by industry experts from Facebook, Google, Cloudera and MongoDB. Our classes range from teaching you the very basics of programming, to more advanced courses that help you make sense of data. Enjoy our courses in the comfort of your own home, solve a programming problem at a coffee shop or answer short quizzes in the park. Udacity for Android is the learning experience that fits into your lifestyle.

Path Talk – The New Messenger

Android Police coverage: [New App] Path Unveils New Talk Instant Messenger, Removes Friend Limit, And Acquires TalkTo Place Messaging Service

Path Talk is the messenger plugin for Path, the social network that was so innovative for limiting its users to 50 connections. Then 150. Then it took the limits away. That being said, the Path Talk app includes a couple of unique features: one, all messages are erased after 24 hours. Two, it will let you send media files like music and video (which isn’t a given with alternatives). And three, it has built-in status settings that let other users know you’re driving or low on battery.

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Talk is a new messenger from Path available for Android and iPhone. Replace SMS and Facebook with Path Talk to message friends, family, and groups for free. Off the Record: Messages you send in Path Talk are automatically erased from our servers 24 hours after you send them, so you can now be yourself in conversations.Ambient Status: Path Talk can automatically tell your friends when you’re in transit, in the neighborhood, or even low on battery so your availability is always understood.

Inside.com

Inside.com is kind of like Reddit, without the laissez faire democracy of a vote system (or militant atheists, Men’s Rights activists, or cat GIFs). The service purports to summarize and curate the best journalism on the web and spread it into easy-to-use subsections. Of course, whether or not it’s useful to you will depend on what news topics you’re interested in, and which sources you trust. That said, the interface looks good, and the tools for following and reading news are quite flexible.

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Inside is a real-time mobile news app, designed to be the most efficient way to stay informed. Each day, Inside delivers hundreds of the world’s most important and fascinating stories, all selected and written by our team of talented news curators. Our curators write concise and fact-filled “updates” to give you what you need to know while on the go. We only link to the most relevant and original sources with the best reporting, and weed out the overwhelming noise in the news space.

 

Rheti Beta

Rheti Beta calls itself an “app creator,” and technically that’s true – just don’t imagine that you can use it to create the next Facebook or Flappy Bird. Using a series of WYSIWIG templates, Rheti will allow you to import feeds from Facebook, Google Docs, YouTube, and Parse, then lay them out on simple pre-made designs or one that you create “from scratch.” It’s sort of the app version of Tumblr or Squarespace; useful, so long as you know the limitations.

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Rheti is an app you can use to create your own beautiful and highly functional apps within minutes, using only touch commands. Rheti apps are great for organizations, businesses, events, and community projects, as well as for users who just want to do cool things with their phones. With Rheti, you can:

• Create custom designs / interfaces or use templates
• Add features and buttons wherever you want in an app
• Connect features to make unique functionalities
• Connect your app with feeds coming from Google Docs, Parse, even Facebook
• Build, preview and share your app / features instantly
• Make real native apps- faster, smoother, better than HTML5
• Share your own templates with everyone
• Build whenever and wherever you go.

Polarbear (Beta)

POST ALL THE THINGS. Polarbear (all one word) allows you to post a single, identical message to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger, LinkedIn, App.net, and more. (But not Google+, because Google is a bit of an old woman when it comes to its social API.) Messages that are longer than the allowed length on Twitter and App.net will automatically be split into multiple posts.

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Polarbear lets you post messages to multiple social networks and blogs at once. It’s easy to use, fast and beautiful. Supported services: Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Tumblr, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, Webhooks and App.net

• Share menu integration – Easily share links and text from the browser and other apps to Polarbear.
• Fast startup time and instant writing
• Supports posting in Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Greek
• Set text direction (left to right / right to left)
• Switch between HD and SD mode
• Supports landscape and portrait mode
• Character counter for Twitter and App.net

Textalyzer

If you’re the kind of person who wants to know exactly how many texts you send per day, the answers are 1) too many and 2) why? But to each their own, and for those who feel the need to break down their communications habits into quantifiable statistics, there’s Textalyzer. It will tell you who you texted, how often, how long each individual message was, how long it took them to get back to you, and even how many emoticons you used. You weirdo.

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Ever wondered which of your friends replies to your texts fastest? Textalyzer provides statistics about your conversations so you can see that, as well as:

• Average text length per conversation
• Number of texts you sent/received from a recipient
• Number of emoticons used
• Average time you and your friend take to respond
• Number of times you/recipient started a conversation
• And many more features

ActivityPal

We’ve seen a lot of these “get people together” apps, but this one has a unique hook: it’s based around mutual interests rather than pure scheduling. Of course, at its core it’s just another free chat application with some specialized status stuff thrown on top, plus a social-style feed and calendar function. Your friends will also need to be using ActivityPal to get the scheduling benefits, so… yeah, I’ll stick with Hangouts and text messages, thanks.

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ActivityPal is an activity based mobile messaging application that lets you connect with your contacts and their friends, and plan an activity based around mutual interests. ActivityPal uses your Mobile or WiFi connection (when available) to connect with friends and family. NO HIDDEN COST: Once you and your friends download the application, you can use it to Plan Activities between your friends, send messages, and chat as much as you want. Send a million messages a day to your friends for free. ActivityPal uses your Internet connection: Mobile or Wi-Fi when available.

Pocket Avatars

Android Police coverage: [New App] Intel Releases Pocket Avatars, A Video Chat App With Face Tracking Technology That No One Will Use

This is a video chat app that lets you replace your boring human face with a variety of cartoons. You might use it once, then leave it on your phone for six weeks before uninstalling it and never thinking about it again. It’s made by Intel, for some reason. That’s about it.

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Pocket Avatars by Intel® is a new chat app that utilizes sophisticated face & head tracking algorithms and voice capture technology to render your expressions & voice onto an array of fun-loving avatars. Send Pocket Avatar messages app to app, via text or email or post them on your favorite social media site.

• Dozens of fun & quirky avatars ready for download now with more arriving regularly
• Record & send avatar & text messages for free
• Send messages to friends via text, email or social media if they don’t have the app or even know about the app yet
• Auto sync your address book to find other Pocket Avatars users
• Invite, accept or block contacts. You’re in control.

GlassesOff

Glasses Off purports to improve your non-aided vision with a series of tools and game-style activities. Now, staring at a screen can’t actually undo the damage to your eyes, but the app claims to improve the vision processing center of your brain. Whether or not it works, I really can’t say… but I can say that I’m not willing to pay the somewhat insane recurring IAP charges for continual usage.

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Practically anyone can use GlassesOff to improve near vision sharpness by improving the image processing function of the brain. Still, the brain’s ability to compensate for poor image quality captured by the eyes is not infinite. As a result, some people will be able to completely eliminate their dependency on reading glasses by enhancing their brain’s image processing function, while others may eliminate this dependency only when reading short texts or in a well-lit environment.

MatchCut Music Video Editor

You want to create your own music video, but you’re being cruelly held back by your complete lack of editing hardware, musical skill, and technical knowledge. Fear not, gentle user – after all, that doesn’t stop people on Instagram from calling themselves “photographers.” MatchCut will generate a music video for you from your own clips and free music. What’s that, you don’t even have your own video? NO PROBLEM, the service will give you some! Then you can share it incessantly on the internal MatchCut social network. Congratulations, you’re a music video editor. 

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MatchCut is the fastest music video editor for Android, giving you a stunning new way to make and share videos with friends. With MatchCut, you can make professionally edited movies from start to finish in less than 30 seconds.

Creating videos with MatchCut is very easy:
1. Record videos and or select previously filmed clips.
2. Choose your favorite song from hundreds of popular free and fully licensed music tracks
3. Watch as MatchCut’s video editor automatically edits your videos perfectly timed with the music.
4. Share with friends

Unread Count

Android Police coverage: [New App] Chris Lacy Releases Unread Count App For The New Action Launcher v2.1

Action Launcher is one of the more popular non-standard Android homescreen alternatives. This app lets you add unread notifications for icons, specifically for Gmail, SMS, the dialer app, and the calendar. It won’t work with other launchers, and it’s currently in beta, but at least it’s a free add-on.

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Unread Count enables Action Launcher Pro users to display unread badges for certain apps like Gmail, SMS, Phone and Calendar. Please be aware this feature is currently in beta.Note: Unread Count is a background application. You will not see a shortcut for it in Action Launcher or any other launcher.

Square Order

Android Police coverage: Square Order For Android Leaves Beta, Presumably Will Be Better At Letting You Buy Stuff, Still Only In SF And NYC

Square, best known for their easy credit card swipers, is expanding into a few broader markets. The new Square Order app lets you select and pay for meals in participating cafes and restaurants, all without touching a menu or your wallet. Strangely the app is designed to be used for in-restaurant ordering as well as take-out. Too bad the service is only live in New York and San Francisco at the moment.

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Square Order is the easiest way to order from restaurants and cafes – available in SF and NYC. Choose the items you want and they will be ready when you arrive.

1. Choose
Find what you want from your favorite local businesses or discover something new.

2. Order
Pay and tip right from your phone.

3. Pick Up
Get a notification when your order is ready, then grab and go.

Nike+ FuelBand

Android Police coverage: Nike Releases FuelBand App For Android; Pigs Fly, Still Can’t Put Their Flaps Toward NikeFuel

As Ned Flanders might say: “Well I’ll be gosh-darned.” Nike has brazenly ignored Android and denied the platform access to its popular Nike+ FuelBand fitness tracker for more than two years, spurred by a “lack of Bluetooth LE devices” (and probably a close relationship with Apple). Now we finally get a real FuelBand app… a few months after the company fired most of the team responsible for the hardware and software. Please, people, buy a FitBit or wait for Android Wear.

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Nike+ FuelBand is the smart, simple and fun way to get more active by measuring your everyday activity and turning it into NikeFuel. Your Nike+ FuelBand wirelessly connects to your app, allowing you to see your progress on your mobile device and get the motivation you need to get moving.

• View your progress against your goal broken down by day, week, or month.
• Save all your information directly to your Nike+ profile online.
• Customize your device display, change the time and update your Daily Goal – straight from the app.
• Track NikeFuel and intensity for specific activities with Nike+ Sessions.
• Stay active by enabling Move Reminders in your Device Settings that encourage you to Win the Hour.
• Compete for the top slot on your Friend leaderboard.
• Stay constantly connected to your app with Bluetooth 4.0.

Cardboard

Android Police coverage: [New App] Google Wants You To Build A MacGyver Version Of The Oculus Rift Out Of Cardboard And Stick Your Phone In It

Google I/O attendees were given access to Google’s amazing virtual reality headset… which just happened to be made out of cardboard. (You can build your own if you want, and if you happen to have exactly the right kind of lenses.) This is a tech demo, breaking various Oculus Rift-style 3D visuals into two separate views, like a hobo ViewMaster. Slide your phone into the cardboard visor, look through the lenses, and marvel at the future of virtual reality.

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Cardboard puts virtual reality on your smartphone. Try a variety of immersive demos on Android, and get inspired to build your own using the VR Toolkit at http://j.mp/1k8jEkW.

• Earth: Fly where your fancy takes you on Google Earth.
• Tour Guide: Visit Versailles with a local guide.
• YouTube: Watch popular YouTube videos on a massive screen.
• Exhibit: Examine cultural artifacts from every angle.
• Photo Sphere: Look around the photo spheres you’ve captured.
• Street Vue: Drive through Paris on a summer day.
• Windy Day: Follow the story (and the hat) in this interactive animated short from Spotlight Stories.

To fully enjoy this app you’ll need a Cardboard viewer. You can make your own using the instructions at http://j.mp/1k8jEkW.

Cyanogen Gallery

Android Police coverage: [New Apps] Cyanogen Inc. Releases Theme Showcase For CM 11 Devices And Gallery Next (OnePlus One Only For Now)

Cyanogen seems Hell-bent on replacing all the boring bits of AOSP code with their own fancy versions, not unlike Google themselves. The “official” Cyanogen gallery app will tie in to your cloud storage accounts for Google Drive, Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa, and it will throw them all onto a bigger screen via a handy Chromecast… but only if you’re one of the few, the proud, the OnePlus One owners. Hopefully that will change at some point.

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With so many ways to store photos, keeping track of them all can get frustrating. Gallery is your new place to manage images and video regardless of their location. Whether it was just taken or sitting on a server, your memories are always available. Add your cloud storage accounts to Gallery to view, share, and edit in one place. No need to sort your vacation photos – Gallery uses photo and video metadata to create smart folders around location and time.

Cyanogen Theme Showcase

And here’s a gallery of featured themes for the CyanogenMod theme engine (and any ROM that’s implemented it), also inexplicably limited to the OnePlus One. The app lets you pick and choose between visual styles, icon packs, boot animations, et cetera, mixing in different elements from different themes if you like.

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Your phone should reflect who you are. Unlock a new level of personalization with Cyanogen’s theme showcase. Quickly find and install new themes to suit your style. Combine styles, icons, fonts, sounds, boot animations and wallpapers from different themes to create your own unique look. Most mobile skins only touch the surface. CyanogenMod themes affect every layer of your device so you can enjoy them on your homescreen, in apps, and throughout your system.

Parrot Flower Power (Beta)

Android Police coverage: [New App] Parrot Flower Power Beta Will Keep Your Plants Happy And Alive

The Flower Power is a connected flower pot. It’s made by the same people who make Bluetooth headsets and flying camera drones – now there’s a company with a diverse portfolio. The Android app will allow owners to check in on the health of their plants remotely, seeing data for soil humidity, light levels, and ambient temperature. The app also includes a database of 6000 plants and ideal care instructions for each. You’ll need Android 4.4 and Bluetooth Low Energy to use the app on most devices.

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With Parrot Flower Power, anyone can have a green thumb. Download the Parrot Flower Power App on your Smartphone or Tablet. The application connects your Flower Power to the Parrot Cloud (via 3G/4G or Wi-Fi) where the data is analyzed. After the data is analyzed, you receive an alert in real time when one of your plants has special water, fertilizer, light or temperature needs. Follow the changes in your garden directly or simply consult Parrot’s vast but easy to use database.

Android TV Remote Control

Android Police coverage: [New App] The Smartphone Remote Control App For Android TV Is Already On The Play Store

Here’s the official Android-based remote for Android TV (which is to say that it will run on your Android phone or tablet). Since most people won’t be able to get their hands on an Android-powered set-top box or TV set for a few months at least, this is almost exclusively for developers, and those who were lucky enough to get Android TV swag at Google I/O. (Direct your jealous glances at Artem, Liam, and Cody.)

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Use your Android phone or tablet as an Android TV remote. Easily switch between two modes – d-pad or touchpad – to navigate content and play games on your compatible Android TV device. Tap the mic button to start a voice search, or use the keyboard to input text on Android TV. To get started, connect your Android phone or tablet to the same network as your Android TV device. Currently works with: ADT-1 Developer Kit

Google Cast Receiver

Android Police coverage: [New App] The Smartphone Remote Control App For Android TV Is Already On The Play Store

This is the app that will let Android TV pretend that it’s a Chromecast, and enable all the streaming goodness you get from Google’s $35 marvel. It’s only for update purposes, since it will be pre-installed on all official Android TV hardware. In case you’re wondering, no, you can’t install it on your phone.

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Google Cast is a technology that enables multi-screen experiences and lets a user send and control content like video from a small computing device like a phone, tablet, or laptop to a large display device like a television. This app includes Google Cast receiver for Android TV platform. Available and pre-installed only on Google approved Android TV devices.

Hexoskin

Hexoskin is an electronic vest designed for training and tracking for serious athletes, or at least, athletes serious enough to spend $400 on an electric shirt. The hardware tracks your heartbeat, breathing, movement, steps, and calories burned. Connect it to your phone, and you can see all that data in real time, plus record it for later. This might also be useful for professional coaches or physical therapists.

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Hexoskin app is designed for your Hexoskin Smart Shirt for sport and sleep tracking. Get your training stats and track your activities. Be aware of your body metrics: know more, live better.

Hexoskin tracks:

• Cardiac activity
• Breathing activity
• Movement intensity
• Step and Cadence
• Calories

WTF App(s) Of The Week

Yo

You may have noticed a distinct lack of coverage of the Yo app on Android Police, despite the fact that less discerning websites have been running stories and editorials on it. Here, expressed in full in the perfect medium of animated GIF, is our position on Yo:

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The simplest & most efficient communication tool in the world. Yo is a single-tap zero character communication tool. Yo is everything and anything, it all depends on you, the recipient and the time of the Yo.

Wanna say “good morning”? just Yo.
Wanna say “Baby I’m thinking about you”? – Yo.
“I’ve finished my meeting, come by my office” – Yo.
“Are you up?” – Yo.
The possibilities are endless.

We don’t want your email, Facebook, there is no search, no nothing. just Yo. Open the app, tap Yo, that’s it. It’s that simple. Yo.

Know A Worthy New App? Let Us Know!

If you have an application in mind for the next issue of the roundup, feel free to send us an email and let us know.

Important: there are 2 requirements in order for the app to be considered, listed below.

• the app’s launch date has to be no longer than 2 weeks ago
• it has to be original, ground-breaking, well-reviewed, interesting, fun, etc – the cream of the crop

Now, if and only if the above requirements have been satisfied, fire up an email to this address: [email protected].

1 sponsored placement per week is available (your app would be featured at the top and marked as sponsored) – please contact us for details.