Call of Mini - Zombies is the first Android port of a Triniti Interactive game, and the company chose well in making their first impressions, bringing us this colorful and action-packed, if somewhat shallow, third-person shooter. Yes, in the end, this is just another shooter with zombies in it, but the charming and unique visuals kind of make up for that fact. It's not a very deep game, but it's packed with content and a perfect way to get your action fix on the go.
There isn't really much story other than, you know, zombie apocalypse, so I'll jump right into the gameplay. Each level is represented by a new day, and each day you get to choose from a few different levels to enjoy, from a junkyard to a church to a parking garage to a burning village, and more. This is strictly an arena shooter, and your only goal is to survive against the waves of undead. The battlefield will usually be littered with pick-ups, from ammo to money, and you'll need every bit you can get to survive. As the days go by, new zombies enter the fold, and you'll need to head into the armory to upgrade your arsenal.
You can either upgrade your old weapons, increasing damage, accuracy, and fire rate, or unlock brand new ones. They start out pretty standard, with machine guns and a chainsaw at your disposal, but before long you'll have rocket launchers, laser swords, and the most crazy world destroying guns imaginable. You can also improve your armor, or buy fun costumes with various perks. If you want to enjoy this mayhem with a friend, you can play cooperative survival or gun each other down in the versus arena over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. You can also play against random people in quick-match. Like I said, there really isn't much to this game, but it's a frantic action title that you can enjoy at any time, kind of like a bloody and violent snack.
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Now that you have been keeping notes and discovering your favorite varietals and vintages, its probably time to visit some local wineries and see how the pros do it. There are plenty of apps for specific wine-growing areas (like Napa/Sonoma in California or Victoria in Australia) but Winerypedia provides real-time distances via GPS to wineries all over the world, or you can simply search for them. Winerypedia contains an ever-expanding database of 5,800 wineries so far across more than 13 countries.
Whats it about? The popular digital wallet and payment service just got a brand new app refresh complete with some useful extra functionality.
Whats it about? Granny Smith, from the makers of Sprinkle, is a fast-paced platformer with some fun physics and dazzling visuals.
Whats it about? Horn is a visually stunning third-person action-adventure. Its appearance on Android follows hot on the heels of the iOS release which topped our iPhone Games of the Week.
With its presence on iOS devices and Windows 7 phones (naturally), it was only a matter of time before Microsofts cloud storage solution emerged on Android. The app works on Android 2.3 and above and allows access to all your files and those shared with you by others. If youve never used the service before, signing-up with SkyDrive will net you 7GB of free storage as Microsoft go after other popular players in the market like Dropbox and Google Drive.
The U.S. Open started on Monday in New York. The official Android app is a great accompaniment for people who need to keep up with all the news when theyre away from the TV or computer. As well as constantly-updated live scores, the app will be streaming live tennis action on Labor Day and during Finals Weekend. We would have loved to have seen live streaming throughout the event, but maybe that will come next year. The app also offers all the usual stuff like news, photos, schedules and video highlights.
Whats it about? Magisto offers a simple and easy way to edit the videos on your Android phone or tablet automatically.
Whats it about? Zite is a free personalized magazine that automatically learns what youre into and gets smarter every time you use it. The app just got a welcome update.
Whats it about? To go alongside the new desktop version (Firefox 15), Mozilla also updated its Android app (also version 15) with some significant extra features.
Top people search company WhitePages is attempting to put an end to the fragmented user experience of switching from app to app to stay connected. They recently launched an Android app called Current Caller ID. It combines social networking with call and text ID into a single free app.
LR: Inspiring apps are innovative, have a clear value for the user, limit barriers to use, and ALSO have a beautiful user interface. Developing an app that is successful with all of these is incredibly difficult. Some apps that we view as innovation leaders are Glympse, Pocket, Flipboard and Instagram.
LR: The two most predominant constraints that we run into are the closed functionality of iOS which limits the services we can offer on that platform and Androids fragmentation which makes it difficult to offer a consistent experience for our user base across devices. As an example, while we would like to provide Current Caller ID for iPhone users, we are unable to because Apple does not allow developer access to the calls and texts of phones, which prevents us from identifying calls as they come in.
Whats it about? Microsofts cloud storage solution finally has a dedicated Android app. It took its time the iOS one emerged late last year, and naturally, its been on Windows phones for a while.
Whats it about? This action-packed role-playing games will see you venture into a 3-D world slaying terrifying beasts and embarking on perilous quests.
So You Think You Know Words is a very different sort of game. What you have to do is guess (and spell) three different words from the letters provided. Now the words are all somewhat related based on the topic or puzzle pack you choose. If needed, you can turn on the hints to reveal a letter in each word or even ask for help via Facebook. The game comes with five different puzzle packs: TV and Movies, Anatomy, Animals, Food, and Synonyms. Within each pack there are close to 100 puzzles. If you were to choose TV and Movies, one puzzle you can chose is Starship Captains. The game will keep track of your progress and indicates more puzzles are coming. A pro version is also available. This is definitely a thinking mans game, plus knowing some trivia does not hurt.
Unolingo is a cool crossword puzzle but has no clues, only letters! Each puzzle is a 10x10 crossword containing up to 25 words in them. Since there are no clues, you need to figure out where the letters go to form the correct words. Now, there are some letters already filled in on the puzzle. If you get stuck, you can hit the hint button. There is also an audit button which will check your answers for you. The game has a nice tips area and a FAQ section to provide some guidance. The game comes with five sections with 30+ puzzles in each, providing plenty of gameplay. Unolingo will keep up with your statistics and does time you. If you enjoy this game, there are more in this series that you can purchase.
Whats it about? With the political convention season underway this election year, the CNN/TIME Convention Floor Pass app offers up the latest insight and analysis.
Whats it about? If you cant fathom the jargon, abbreviations and acronyms youngsters use in their text messages, TextGenie is here to help!
Whats it about? The U.S. Open began yesterday. Heres the official companion app to to the tournament so you can keep up with all the action.
Founded in August of 2008, Airbnb is a huge success. Its now the trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world, covering 26,000 cities in 192 countries. Whats more, it can all be done from your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet. In June, the company reached the landmark of 10 million guest nights booked. With some $120 million in venture capital investment, Airbnb continues to grow from strength to strength, and the app was a welcome addition to our best Android Apps of 2012 so far.
AV: I think this recent wave of location-based social connection apps is fascinating Highlight (iOS) and Circle (iOS), for example. They did a good job, but its incredibly clear that nobody has yet figured out how a mobile device can help facilitate deep, meaningful offline connections in the real world. I believe the potential here is incredible.
AV: It might seem a little obvious, but an incredible amount of constraint in mobile devices comes from battery capacity in developing for mobile devices, there is a constant concern of how much computational power (and therefore, battery power) your app is using. Actions like turning on GPS sensors or running expensive graphical computations can burn a phone out in a matter of hours. Especially when traveling, its a constant engineering struggle to optimize ones work as much as possible to
Whats it about? Mobile devices are distracting, especially when driving. DriveOFF from esure aims to curb this.
Whats it about? With this new adventure game from Gameloft you can create your very own space colony on a mysterious planet!
Whats it about? With the U.S. Open beginning today, why not work on your forehand with this free, fun and frantic tennis game?
The developers over at Triniti Interactive have just released their first Android title, in the form of this iOS port. This is an action packed shooter with an interesting blocky 3-D cartoon art style. On top of the frantic single player, you can enjoy a cooperative and versus mode online with your friends. Add to that the heavy metal soundtrack and more gore than you can shake a dismembered rotting limb at, and you've got a recipe for an awesome action game. Plus it's free, so I definitely recommend this as a dual time/zombie killing outlet.
This game is rather hard to describe, so I'm going to just use the developers words to start. It's a "line drawing action strategy top down shooter hybrid," and that's a fairly apt description. Developer 10tons is also responsible for Azkend and Sparkle, and while they haven't brought the original Boom Brigade to Android, the sequel is far superior anyway. It's packed with content, from unlockables and different game modes to the substantial campaign mode. You can also choose to play in real time, or pause the action for a more tactical approach. This game gets crazy, and is worth a playthrough.
This is an odd little title which encompasses everything that made retro arcade games great. It's got solid pixel art and exciting warbled sound effects, and is based on a simple and abstract idea, delivering a purely skill-based adventure. Your simple goal is to patrol the surface of Mars across several levels with two difficulties and an endless mode. As you drive along, you'll have to jump over craters or boulders and shoot the numerous alien ships that will be harassing you. It's a free game with somewhat obnoxious ads, but you can pay to get rid of those. Arcade fans should definitely look into this one.
Whats it about? Pandoras personalized music radio service preceded the smartphone app explosion, but its still going strong as its latest update demonstrates.
Whats it about? Eternity Warriors 2 from Glu Mobile is a dungeon-crawling action game with stunning graphics and online cooperative multiplayer.
Whats it about? The official app from the hugely popular social network received yet another update.
The official Dunkin Donuts app has all the perks youd expect, with a payments option, store locator and menu. Rivaling Starbucks for customer loyalty, the app turns your phone into a payment card, which is scanned during checkout. You can manage and reload your DD Card from the app as well, see updates from DDs Twitter account and receive local offers. There is also an option to send gift cards to friends via text message, email or Facebook, which theyll receive in the form of a DD Card all their own.
Known for free group video calls, ooVoo rolled out a game-changing update to its Android app this week. You can now view four separate video streams concurrently while chatting, enabling you to share more videos with friends without interrupting your chat sessions. Its similar to Google Hangouts, and has also become a clever way to watch programming that isnt easily accessible (think Breaking Bad for Dish Network customers). Additional integration with Google services means you can now see missed OoVoo calls directly in your contact list, receive push notifications and access the app via a home screen widget.
Whats it about? TravelerComm allows people to share their travel experiences with friends.
Whats it about? Pebble Universe is a cute physics/puzzler that will test how good your timing skills really are.
Whats it about? The official app from Yahoo!s hugely popular photo-sharing service.
AirDroid launchedon Android towards the end of November, 2011. This notable app not only found its way into our Apps of the Week, it also appeared in our list of Best Android Apps of 2011. AirDroid lets you access the content and apps on your Android device directly over Wi-Fi from a web browser. There are no extra hoops to jump through, or additional software to install.
APPO: What apps (outside of those that you develop) inspire you the most and why?
C: AirDroid is still in its very early stage and there are no business model yet - no paid version and no ads. The team is backed by well known VC and we have lots of patience. We are quite optimistic that a sustainable business model will follow if we can keep the growth rate and maintain the current high user satisfaction level.
Whats it about? BIG Launcher is a home screen replacement for the visually impaired or elderly. Its designed for readability and ease of use.
Whats it about? Echoer is a simple way to share the things you experience around you.
Lets start with the perks of the Pinterest Android app. The best feature, and one thats exclusive to the mobile app, is the ability to create pins from your Android devices camera. Once you log-in youll see an option right at the top to Create a Pin, where youre given two options: you can take a photo with your device camera, or upload one from your gallery. This makes it easier to combine your real world experiences with your Pinterest boards, as you can pin locations, store items and more. I even hope to see a barcode scanner incorporated into this feature one day, as it could automatically pull in product details and operate more like the Pin It browser button.
Whats lacking with the Pinterest app is the ability to select which board your new pin goes to, or the ability to create a pin via URL, which is where most pins come from. Even on the mobile-optimized web version of Pinterest, adding a pin via URL isnt an option. While its cumbersome to manually enter a URL on a mobile device, itd be nice to have the option (I know how to copy a link), especially since Pinterest doesnt offer a workaround for pinning directly from your mobile browser.