APPS
Adobe Photoshop Mix (Free)
This is partly for fun, and partly for pro designers: an app to edit and share your mobile photographs, but also to transfer them to the Photoshop CC software on your main computer for further work if needed. It ties in to Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscription.
www.adobe.com/products/mix.html
Kamcord - Game Screen Recorder (Free)
Dash Radio (Free)
Getting out into the app stores ahead of Apple’s new streaming music service, Dash Radio wants to reinvent, well, radio. It’s a collection of more than 60 stations programmed by DJs (Snoop Dogg included), with the promise of no ads.Read our recent interview for more details.
dashradio.com/
Flipd - Remove Distractions (Free)
Flipd is an Android app for people with no self-control (i.e. the majority of smartphone owners) when it comes to using their device. It’s a productivity aid that literally locks your phone so you can concentrate on something else for a while.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flipd.appLumo Lift (Free)
Released in beta, this is a “digital posture coach” that also tracks your activity – you’ll need its companion gadget strapped to your clothing – with the ability to vibrate to warn you not to slump like a less-grumpy schoolteacher.
Popcorn Buzz (Free)
APUS Browser (Free)
The big selling point for this new web browser is its tiny footprint on your device: it’s just 0.6MB in size. Maker APUS is claiming that it’s not just small though: it’s pretty nippy too. It’s most useful if you’re on a cheaper smartphone and a slow connection, although Opera Mini is a tough rival there.
https://www.apus.com/
Ramadan Legacy (Free)
Webmaker Beta (Free)
Finally, something interesting from Firefox maker Mozilla: a tool that “transforms web users into web makers”, whether they’re creating photo galleries, scrapbooks or memes. Yes, this kind of stuff is handled by no end of other social apps, but the goal here is to make something more open.
GAMES
Tiki Taka Soccer (Free + IAP)
There’s a lot of buzz building around You Must Build a Boat, and justifiably so: it’s brilliant. A sequel to the fun 10000000, yes it does involve building a boat – but also battling monsters, recruiting a crew and wielding magic by matching tiles – with no in-app purchases in sight.
https://www.google.com/tikitakasoccer/
Hitman: Sniper (£3.99 + IAP)
Saga? Yes, this is the latest from Candy Crush publisher King, and as the rest of its title implies, this is a word game. Your job is to link letter-tiles to make words as you work through more than 100 levels – with the familiar system of boosters and in-app purchases for when you get stuck.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.king.alphabettysaga&hl=en_GBFinal Fantasy Tactics (£10.49)
Glu Mobile has had a huge hit with its Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game, but now it’s turning its attention to another aspect of Hollywood: killer robots from the future. This tie-in to the new Terminator film is an entertaining, guns-blazing third-person shooter.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.glu.t5&hl=enRobbery Bob 2: Double Trouble (£1.99 + IAP)
In an app store awash with Candy Crush and Clash of Clans clones, developers taking inspiration from older arcade hits can feel fresh. That’s certainly the case for Brickies: a neat reworking of the classic Breakout / Arkanoid formula, as you smash bricks with a paddle and ball.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noodlecake.brickies