The month of July 2019 is coming to an end, meaning we get to reflect on 10 of our favorite new and/or updated Android apps to hit the Play Store during the month. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Firefox Preview is an experimental Firefox browser for Android that features new features not available in the main Firefox app. It’s built mostly for early adapters and developers but it’s really for anyone who wants to test new features and help improve the browser by reporting bugs and glitches.
Some cool features include dark and light themes, ad blocking and tracking protection to help keep your browsing private. It’s also reportedly up to twice as fast as other versions of Firefox, which is a reason in itself to install this app.
Shoelace by Area 120 is a new social media app from Google but it’s a little bit different than Google+. The app is only available in the New York City area and currently invite-only.
What it does is aims to help people find things to do with people who share your interests. You can browse handpicked activities or add your own to a map. As you can see, I haven’t tested this app personally but I wanted to see if this app would do something you would be interested in. Also, I wanted to get the word out so you can sign up to try and get an invite and test the app out for yourself.
Just in keep in mind that it’s not available in most markets right now.
Dr Mario World is Nintendo’s latest mobile game and it’s a lot like Tetris but with Dr. Mario aesthetics. Your goal is to match capsules with viruses to get them cleared. All you have to do is match 3 objects of the same color vertically or horizontally to clear them.
What makes this game difficult is the time aspect as each puzzling configuration of viruses must be cleared in a certain timeframe. I wouldn’t say this game is as fun as Super Mario Run but it certainly could be if you’re into Tetris and similar puzzle games. But best of all, the game is free unlike Super Mario Run.
Enlight Pixaloop is a photo editing app that helps you create moving photos. All it takes is a few taps to make your photos move and become animated like a GIF. You can replace bland skies with colorful sunsets and animated clouds and controls things like animation speed, direction, and style. It will definitely take some fine tuning to get the best results and will depend on the photos that are being edited. But you can get some really cool results that are worth sharing on social media.
Fluent Forever is a language learning app similar to Duolingo in that it helps you learn and stay fluent with language. What’s different though is that it doesn’t focus on bite-sized lessons. Instead, it immediately gets you correctly pronouncing and hearing the sounds of your target language. Then, it efficiently has you learn the most frequently used words and push them into your long-term memory.
Finally, it has you naturally build sentences using words you know and practice your speech to fluency. Flashcards and repetition are really big with this app but I wanted to include it on the list because I think that learning a second language is extremely valuable.
Cessabit is a neat puzzle game with really unique illustrations that give you clues to help solve your objectives. It’s a really calm and relaxing game with nature sounds and beautiful art environments. There’s no time limit to complete levels so it’s a great game just to play if you want to relax.
Ceri Launcher is a new app that is still in development but offers a bunch of features that really may make you switch from your default launcher. Right when you boot up this app, you have the option to show all your apps or just your favorites on your home screen. Then you can select between 3 or 4 honeycombed icon rows. I like the 3 rows because I like the slightly bigger app icons. But that’s just me. From there, you can select 1 of 4 clock widgets that are baked into the launcher and you can choose a background.
What’s cool about this launcher is that it’s really great for OLED displays as it supports a true dark mode and it features a simple black wallpaper to help conserve battery life if you want to go down that route.
As for navigation, a swipe down would get you to search for apps and content. A long press on an app will reveal additional options and the Ceri Launcher icon will open up more settings specific to the Ceri app. If you like what you see, I highly recommend checking out Ceri Launcher.
DoodleLens is a fun augmented reality drawing app that turns your flat 2D drawings into interactive, animated 3D AR characters, scenes, and stories. So basically, you just draw something, copy it with a camera, paste it back to reality and record your video. Then you’re done. You can share it with whoever you like.
The results are about as good as your drawings and how long you spend fine tuning your animations in the app. As you can see, I didn’t do a very good job.
Mubert is a very interesting music streaming application. What’s unique about it is that it generates music for you using algorithms to create personalized music that’s just for you. You use the interface to tune the music based off genre or an activity. Then, you help guide it by giving it a like or dislike. Also, you can change the intensity of the music using the slider.
The music is endless with no pauses, intros or outros, ads-- it could be great for a party situation or for studying music.
The biggest downside I think is the annual subscription cost of $70, which is very expensive. But there is a 7-day free trial to see if you like it.
Human: Fall Flat is a quirky multiplayer physics puzzle platformer. You play as a wobbly human who keeps tripping about surreal places filled with puzzles where he is yet to find the exit. Your goal is to explore and try to find the exit. It’s that simple. You can walk, jump, grab, climb, or carry anything. There are 10 open-ended levels full of puzzles to try out.
You can customize your character and play with up to 4 other people. It’s a fun and funny game for sure.
With that last one, those are 10 of our favorite Android apps to hit the Play Store during the month of July 2019.
