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OfficeSuite Pro is one of the most well known and popular office suite apps for Android. It’s amassed millions of downloads and people seem to be pretty pleased with it. Recently, they released version 7 of their OfficeSuite Pro software and we’re going to show you some of the new features, take a gander at the new UI elements, and everything else you need to know. Of course, if you’d rather watch it than read it, our video is below. If you’d like to see how far OfficeSuite Pro has come since the 5th version, you can find our video for that here.

Oxford Dictionary Support

When it comes to the English language, there are some options as to which dictionary you want to use. There are a lot out there, but arguably one of the most respected is the Oxford English dictionary. Now you can have that dictionary support in OfficeSuite Pro 7. Simply use the menu to navigate to the dictionary list and you can find it there. You can also find it if you open any document, click on a word, and choose the spell check option. It should have an option for the Oxford Dictionary.

The only caveat is that the dictionary costs $49.99 to download. That’s quite a bit for an add-on and costs more than three times as much as the app itself. For a limited time, though, they’re letting the add on go for $4.99, or 90% off. That’s just at the time of this writing and we don’t know how long the promotion will last. So if this is something you want, best to get on it quickly!

Google Search Support

Alongside the Oxford Dictionary add on above, OfficeSuite Pro 7 now gives you the ability to Google Search words right out of a document. Simply click on the word and a little box will pop up. The left icon will take you to the in-app dictionary while the right button will open a web browser and Google Search the word in question. This is an excellent tool if you need to know what a word means quickly or if you just want to Google Search things.

Unlike the Oxford Dictionary add on, this one comes with the app so you don’t have to pay any additional money. Being able to Google Search words right from app can save some people a lot of time and it’s a pretty nifty feature for an office app.

Camera Support

Perhaps one of the most nifty new features is the ability to snap a picture of something and have it plugged into a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation without being required to leave the app. Using the menu, you can open the camera app, snap a quick picture, and it’ll automatically be added to your file. This can be very useful for people who need a visual aid on the fly but don’t have one readily available.

One the picture has been added, they can be moved, re-sized, rotated, and pretty much any other basic manipulation you can think of. Also, as stated, this works for all the various kinds of documents you can create so no matter which function you use the most, it’ll work.

Excel Enhancements

One thing that got a lot of revamping was Excel. There were just so many things added to Excel that we’ve decided to list them all in one spot. OfficeSuite Pro 7 now has a much cleaner Excel UI that also includes font formatting and cell dragging improvements. Perhaps the neatest new feature is the ability to re-arrange Excel spreadsheets. This may not seem like a big deal, but people who regularly use Excel will tell you that those sheets can be organized quite a bit.

Overall, the updates, improvements, and additions offer a much more cogent and reliable Excel experience and maybe the most stable Excel experience on Android.

Other Improvements

There were some other improvements that we didn’t review, but are still worth mentioning. There is now dual screen support, better compatibility with QuickSpell, and some PowerPoint improvements. The PowerPoint improvements include link support and shadow support. When you look at the list as a whole, OfficeSuite Pro 7 has a lot of great refinements, enhancements, and additions. It really helps the experience of the app and makes the whole experience more fluid and natural.

OfficeSuite Pro 7 Summary

OfficeSuite Pro 7 was already a popular and trusted office app for Android. With these improvements, it’s evolved into a more complete experience with fewer rough edges. Really, there are few office apps that can stack up to the features and stability of OfficeSuite Pro 7. You can find the app in the Google Play Store for $15 here. Or, if you prefer, you can give try it out with the free trial found here. If you don’t have an office suite app yet or you just want to find a new one, this is one of the best.

Retro gaming is proving to be big on Android and there are a plethora of games which emphasize 8 bit graphics and retro game play. Here  is a new app that harkens back to the classic Nintendo Duck Hunt game.

The premise is simple… shoot the ducks! The original 80′s game used a  light gun to shoot the ducks, but this implementation uses either the built-in gyroscope or the touch screen.

The controls do take some getting used to, the touch screen mode is quite difficult to master but not impossible. After a few games I was able to shoot the ducks consistently. However the better method is to use the gyroscope. At first I kept trying to tilt my phone (like in a racing game) to do the targeting, but actually you just need to move it. Playing it on a swivel chair is fun!!!

There is also an augmented reality mode which uses the back of a dollar (or a marker which can be downloaded from InfinityK’s website) to create a 3D representation of the hunting ground on any flat surface. It uses the gyroscope for control and you can get closer and further as well as swing around just by moving your phone.

I must say I have had little success with AR games in the past, but this one is an exception. The lock-on to the marker is quick and the AR adds to the fun. There are however a few little niggles. First the game tends to display a “calibrating screen” message in the middle of the game and this does seem to mess with the controls momentarily. Second there are some permanent adverts in the game (but these can be removed by buying the PRO version which costs just over $1). Also the game isn’t supported on devices without a rear camera, so even if I wanted to play it in the simple mode on my Nexus 7, I can’t!

Why not download the free version and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

The post Duck Retro Hunt shoots its way into the Play Store appeared first on Android Authority.

Simple put, there are a lot of live wallpapers out there. You can find anything from simple wallpapers that just change color to ones that look and do crazy things. You can even find live wallpapers that have functionality. Finding the ones you’re looking for can be tough since there are so many. We’ve decided to help out by providing a best live wallpapers for Android list that you can start your search from. As usual, if you’d rather watch it, then we have posted our video at the bottom.

Source url To download Android Pro! Live Wallpaper, click on the source URL.

Androids Pro! Live Wallpapers

First on our list is Androids Pro! live wallpaper. This is a simplistic wallpaper with a lot of customization options. There are a few shapes to choose from and you can make them pretty much any color you want. You can also change the background color or pattern. Once you have the objects and colors picked out, you can change the physics, size, and speed of the objects to your liking. So it’s possible to have a hundred little objects floating around or one giant Andy the Android floating around.

As far as live wallpapers go, Androids Pro! is pretty typical. The free version is the same as the paid version except a few settings are locked. People seem to really like the paid version, however, and it has already amassed a 4.9 rating in the Google Play Store. So if you like Androids, customization, and live wallpapers that aren’t overly complicated, Androids Pro! is one to check out.

Source url To download Christmas Rink Live Wallpaper, click on the source URL.

Christmas Rink Live Wallpapers

Christmas Rink Live Wallpaper is our next app and, admittedly, it’s really only worthy during one time of the year. Due to shopping crazes, that time of year lasts like three months, but who are we to complain? Christmas Rink is a very simple background and one of the more elegant live wallpapers on our list. It features an ice skating rink with a Christmas tree centerpiece that people ice skate around. It’s also interactive, as tapping skaters will make them skate faster.

There aren’t a lot of customizations with this one. You can change the skaters to elves or Santa Claus if you want to. You can also control the snow that falls. However, that’s about it. If you’re not af an of Christmas or if you want something like this year round, the developer of Christmas Rink has a few other live wallpapers depicting other holidays.

Source url To download Device Info Ex Live Wallpaper, click the source URL.

Device Info Ex Live Wallpapers

If you’re a regular watcher and reader of our app lists, then you’ve seen Device Info Ex Live Wallpaper before. It’s a favorite of ours and happens to also be the most functional of the live wallpapers on our list. Instead of just playing some animations and looking pretty, Device Info LWP shows you a variety of stats about your phone. You can view your CPU and RAM usage, storage, temperature, time, and even things like compass and tilt.

You can customize Device Info in a lot of ways. You can change the colors of the background to match whatever theme you’re using. Also, the stat boxes are modular. So you can click and drag them which allows you to arrange the boxes in any order you like. You can also delete categories you don’t want or use. None of the other live wallpapers on this list have the functionality and usefulness of Device Info LWP.

Source url To download Gold Future Interface Live Wallpaper, click the source URL.

Gold Future Interface Live Wallpapers

Gold Future Interface Live Wallpaper is a simple app but it looks glorious. It has a Dues Ex kind of flavor and that cyberpunk look is totally awesome. It features a gold color scheme with a clock, some moving spotlights, and some spinning circles that move when you change home screens. It has a lot going on but it really is a simple live wallpaper.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of customization options. You can change the position of the clock and the clock itself. Other settings include the speed of the animations and where other graphics are placed. However, unlike most of these live wallpapers, you can’t change the color scheme of Gold Future Interface. So if you don’t like gold, you probably won’t like this.

Source url To download Koi Live Wallpaper, click on the source URL.

Koi Live Wallpapers

Of all the live wallpapers on this list, Koi Live Wallpaper is among the most beautiful. It’s essentially a pond where a bunch of Koi fish are swimming around. When you touch the screen, the water will ripple. When you touch the fish, they’ll get scared and swim away, and if you double tap, it’ll drop little blue flakes that the fish will eat. If you’re a fan of nature, then you’ll just love this wallpaper.

There is nothing in this live wallpaper that can’t be customized. You can change how many fish there are and pick their colors individually. The water ripple effect can be controlled. There is a healthy supply of background images to choose from. So if nature, water scenes, and fish are your thing, this is one of the best live wallpapers on the list for you.

Source url To download Snowfall Live Wallpaper, check out the source URL.

Snowfall Live Wallpapers

Snowfall Live Wallpaper has been around so long that it can be considered a classic. It was released during the very first waves of live wallpapers when the feature first became available and it’s still among the most popular and highest rated live wallpapers to date. It features a tree line view with falling snow. It’s a calm live wallpaper for those who don’t like a lot of action going on.

It also happens to have a decent amount of customization options. Our favorite is the feature where you can have it switch from night to day based on what time it is. So it’ll be dark at night and bright during the day. You can also control snow fall, the trees swaying, and a number of other variables. If you want some more color, you can even add aurora borealis. If you’re into the Christmas spirit, you set Santa Claus to fly at random intervals across your screen.

Source url To download Thunderstorm Live Wallpaper, click on the source URL.

Thunderstorm Live Wallpapers

Like Snowfall, Thunderstorm Live Wallpaper was around back when live wallpapers were a new feature. Also, like Snowfall, it continues to be among the highest rated in the Google Play Store. As the name implies, Thunderstorm shows people a thunderstorm on their devices. It’s complete with rain, moving clouds, and lightning strikes. It’s another one of our favorites on the list.

It has a surprising amount of customization options as well. Really, you can make this do whatever you want. One of our favorites is the ability to set off a lightning strike by touching the screen. You can control the intensity of the lightning strikes as well. Perhaps its most unique feature is the ability to change the color of everything. You can do a black sky with red lightning if you want to. Or green lightning on a purple sky. It really is up to you and makes this among the best live wallpapers on the list.

Source url To download Vortex Galaxy Live Wallpaper, click the source URL.

Thunderstorm Live Wallpapers

No really, Vortex Galaxy is probably the most beautiful live wallpaper on this list. It’s a space scene. So if you like space scenes, you can appreciate this live wallpaper even more. When you set it up, it fades in with a myriad of beautiful colors and stars. Then it will pulse and rotate and otherwise just sit there and be pretty. There is little to no interaction, though, so people who like slow wallpapers without a lot of action will enjoy this one.

It also has very few customization options. What few options there are will be barely noticeable if you change them. So with Vortex Galaxy, what you see is pretty much what you get. This is no big deal because it looks very good and because it is very colorful, it can go with a plethora of themes already.

Leaderboard and Wrap Up

If you check out our leader board, you can see how all these apps rank up against one another. We at Android Authority do not have a ranking system. These are simply sorted by how they’re rated in the Google Play Store. So there is no bias by us. This is how the people who use these applications rated them.

Also, an obligatory shout out to the live wallpaper Magic Butts. It didn’t rank high enough to be on the list itself but it was insisted that we include it somewhere. So here is its honorary shout out. If you like jiggling badonkadonks, then you can give Magic Butt a try in the Google Play Store.

Of course, there are hundreds of live wallpapers in the Google Play Store. So it’s very possible that we may have missed one or two. So feel free to leave a comment below with your favorite live wallpapers if you think we missed one. Caring is sharing, is it not?

The post The Best Live Wallpapers for Android appeared first on Android Authority.

So if you somehow haven’t heard, Google Reader is set to be discontinued on July 1st. To put it bluntly, it sucks. While not as many people use Google Reader as there used to be, those of us left that do use it do so religiously. So the hunt begins for a Google Reader replacement and we’d like to help by putting together a list of the best Android Google Reader replacement apps. Word on the internet is that the Google Reader link is no longer available on Google+, but it’s available on every other Google service. So this list may be a temporary solution as Google+ may be getting its own news service. That’s strictly conjecture, but hey, just saying. As usual if you’d rather watch than read, there’s a video posted at the bottom!

Source url To download Feedly from the Google Play Store, click the source link.

Feedly – Google Reader Replacement

We start our Google Reader replacement list with Feedly. The reason is because a whole bunch of people have already chosen Feedly as their replacement. According to some reports, over half a million people have already migrated. Feedly was among the first to offer a solution to the Google Reader replacement problem as they’re developing their own back end service called Normandy. Many of us here at Android Authority are big fans of Mass Effect references.

As an app, Feedly looks very good. It’s got a polished interface with a variety of views that will make anyone feel at home. There is a card view for people who like to look at pictures, a magazine style view, and a list view for those pros who like to view a lot of content very quickly. Also, there are a couple of themes, it’s free in the Google Play Store, and come July 1st, it’ll still be running. All great things going for Feedly.

Source url To download Google Currents from the Google Play Store, click the source link.

Google Currents – the unofficial Google Reader replacement

If you’re trying to stick with Google built applications when replacing Google Reader, then Google Currents is the unofficial Google Reader replacement. This really didn’t make a lot of people very happy at first, but depending on what you use RSS readers for, Google Currents could actually be a pretty decent replacement. By that, we mean if you’re one of those types that uses RSS to find something fun to read while waiting for an appointment, Google Currents could be for you. If you’re one of those people who blaze through content quickly, you may want to find another alternative.

Google Currents has a very nice interface, but it’s definitely geared for the casual reader. You can swipe left and right to change feeds and up and down to scroll articles. That’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s very simple and quick. However, as stated, getting through a lot of content really fast takes a lot of time. Also, as mentioned above, Google+ has been estranged from Google Reader specifically, so Google may not be going with Google Currents as its main news source. Again, though, that’s just conjecture right now.

Source url To download Flipboard from the Google Play Store, click the source link.

Flipboard – the Google Reader replacement for casual users

If you are a casual reader, there are few readers better than the popular Flipboard. It features a magazine style layout with large pictures, big text, and an ease of use that many readers on this list don’t share. When Google Reader goes dark, Flipboard will still be around so switching over now and getting used to it means come July 1st, you won’t have to worry about Google Reader replacement.

Getting around the app is pretty simple. Pretty much everything is controlled with up and down swipes and screen taps. Swipe up and down to view feeds, then select a feed and swipe up and down to view articles. Click and article and read. For those who like to chew through content in their RSS apps, Flipboard will be frustrating as it takes a lot of swipes to get anywhere. The casual reader, though, should really enjoy the polished interface.

Source url To download gReader Pro from Google Play, click the source link.

gReader Pro – the Google Reader replacement for pros

So far our list has been dominated by beautiful applications that, while gorgeous, aren’t great for pros who like to get through a lot of content quickly. gReader Pro is nothing like that. It features a much more traditional interface for an RSS app and one that much more closely resembles Google Reader itself. In their app description, gReader Pro throws their bid into the pile for Google Reader replacement as they plan on continuing service after July 1st.

As stated, the interface is simple and traditional. It features list views, a much more minimalist app structure, and getting through a lot of content very quickly is very simple. So if you’re a blogger who is looking for the big stories going on or just someone who likes knowing everything that’s happening, gReader Pro could be the best replacement.

In addition to being simple to use, gReader Pro also has a variety of settings to customize your experience. There are a few themes, a few different ways to set things up, and it really tries to make their users feel at home. The casual user may balk at the simplicity of the app and it’s lack of flash, but the pros will feel right at home once Google Reader kicks the digital bucket.

Source url To download News360 from the Google Play Store, check the source link.

News360 – a different kind of Google Reader replacement

So far, most of the apps on this list more or less perform the same task. You select some RSS feeds, then shuffle through them every day looking for news. News360 differs in this area. While there are some feeds available and you can select your areas of interest (i.e. Technology, Android, Sports, Cooking, etc), News360 actually takes a different approach. When you use News360, you have an option to like and dislike articles that it shows you. Based on which feeds you choose to read and what you like and don’t like, News360 adjusts the content to your liking. This makes News360 the most unique Google Reader replacement app on this list.

Using it is very simple. You load the app, swipe left and right to view new stories, and click to read the article. Inside the article, you can actually select different blogs that covered the same stuff. So if you’re reading an article from The Verge, there may be an option to read Ars Technica’s write up of the same event. This is great for article comparisons and seeing more than one point of view on a topic. Due to manually built feeds taking a total backseat in News360, this will appeal to the casual reader more. Still, it’s a really cool concept.

Source url To download Press Reader from Google Play, click on the source link.

Press Reader – the Google Reader replacement app aimed at everyone

Press Reader is kind of like a mix between Feedly and gReader Pro. It has a little flash to it to appease the casual reader who wants to read their news on something that looks good. However, it also has it’s content well laid out for the pro who wants to fly through content quickly. It isn’t the highest rated app on the list, but for people who want a little of column A and a little of column B, Press can be a decent Google Reader replacement.

Press has a simple enough UI. You start with a categories list followed by a feeds grid. Where it starts to get interesting is when you select a feed you get a list of articles. Select an article and a page slides in where the article appears. You can read it and there are two buttons in the bottom that let you go back and forth between articles. Then you swipe the page away to go back to the list. So it’s a little flashy but still functional. However, it definitely has that jack of all trades, master of none quality that may chase people to other Google Reader replacements.

Source url To download Taptu from the Google Play Store, click the source link.

Taptu – A better looking Google Reader replacement

The last two apps on our list, which is Taptu and Pulse, have a very similar layout and it’s wildly different from the other Google Reader replacement apps. The first we’ll talk about, Taptu, has the advantage of being a very good looking application and a very functional one. Taptu does focus more on the flashy side of RSS reading rather than the functional side.

In the unique layout, users select feeds as they would any normal RSS app. The feeds are listed vertically and the articles are listed horizontally. So you scroll up or down to find the feed you want. You can then scroll left and right to view content from that feed. What makes Taptu truly fun is the ability to merge feeds. So if you wanted to merge, say the popular hockey blogs Puck Daddy and Down Goes Brown into a single NHL feed to save space, you could do that. Of course, the most important feature, is that Taptu remains alive after Google Reader dies in a few months.

Source url To download Pulse from Google Play, check out the source URL.

Pulse Reader – the Google Reader replacement Steve Jobs would recommend

Yes, you read that right. There was a point when Steve Jobs once recommended Pulse to everyone as an RSS reader. Even though we’re not always fans of iPhones around these parts, a recommendation from the guy who saved Apple is worth looking into. As it turns out, Pulse is not only Apple approved, but it’ll also outlive Google Reader. It features an interface similar to Taptu’s but a little more flashy. At it’s core, it’s the same vertical feed list with the horizontal article scrolling.

The good news is that Google Reader content is very easy to port in. Once it’s in, it becomes Pulse content so when Google Reader bets the digital farm, Pulse will have your content waiting for you. The bad news is that there are some serious limitations to this app. During testing, I maxed out my Technology category and had to create a category with the brilliant and original name of Technology 2. So if you’re a pro user with a whole bunch of content, you’ll either have to make multiple categories to house the same type of news or find a different Google Reader replacement. For the casual user, though, Pulse should work really well.

Wrap Up

As you can see from the leader board, some of these apps are better than others. If you’re wondering what our rating system is, keep guessing because we don’t have one. These apps were ranked based on their overall rating in the Google Play Store. So this is how the people who use these apps every day have rated them. We’d also like to give a honorary mention to Pocket. Pocket is an application that saves articles from most of these RSS feeds for offline reading. It doesn’t aggregate news on it’s own, but it seems to be working on just about all these apps so it’s worth mentioning. You can find it in the Google Play Store here.

It’s an unhappy time that Google Reader is leaving. Some people never got into Google Reader and didn’t use it. Some used it religiously. Even some of our writers and editors here at Android Authority used Google Reader to help find great content to bring to you guys, our readers. However, it’s about that time to spend a few final days with Google Reader and find a replacement.

As always, if there’s a great Google Reader replacement that we missed, feel free to leave a comment below telling us about it. Also, there is a very high probability that more Google Reader applications will continue to run after the service goes dark and just hasn’t announced it yet. So if your favorite reader happens to be on that list and it’s not on ours then, again, feel free to drop a comment and let us know.

The post The Best Google Reader replacement apps for Android appeared first on Android Authority.

If you’re unfamiliar with The Croods, it’s a movie that’s due out in theaters on March 22, 2013 from the well known and widely respected animation studio Dreamworks. It features a few big stars, including Nicolas Cage, Cloris Leachman, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds. As a collaborative effort, Dreamworks worked with Rovio Entertainment to turn The Croods into an Android game. Is it work playing? Well read on to find out. If you’re more of a watcher than a reader, our video review is posted at the bottom.

The Croods Game Play

If you’ve played a Facebook flash game in your lifetime, then you can probably play The Croods without a problem. Like Facebook flash games, you are set on a big screen where you can perform a myriad of tasks. In terms of premise, you’ll be capturing wild animals, taming them, raising them, and feeding them. Feeding them will earn you items that you can use to progress through the game and you can also use them to feed other animals.

In addition to that, you will be completing chores assigned to you by Gran, the local old person. These tasks don’t include anything difficult. You’ll be adding or removing scenery like trees, capturing animals, collecting items, and performing other menial tasks. In exchange you’ll get gold coins and experience. If you’re bogged down on items, you can hand them off to Ugga. Ugga will make you soup that you can use to upgrade your animals. It’s also a good way to grind for gold coins.

It doesn’t take nearly as long to explain as it takes to perform. All these things will keep gamers very busy as things tend to move pretty quickly. At least during the beginning of the game. However, if you look closely, there is a pattern to the game. It’s capturing and feeding animals and completing tasks assigned by Gran.

One thing we didn’t like about The Croods is that it’s a freemium game. So there are in app purchases where you can buy more crystal and gold coins. This is fine if you don’t mind spending a few extra bucks. For more serious gamers, this will be irritating as the game intentionally bottlenecks these resources to motivate people to buy them. You can play the game without spending any real money, but after a point there will be copious amounts of grinding for coins and crystals. This is an aspect we were very disappointed in.

The Croods Graphics and Sound

If you were hoping The Croods would impress you in these areas, you can forget it. The soundtrack is uninspired but it does what it’s supposed to, which is fill the silence space in the background. There are sound clips for various tasks and the characters will interact with one another occasionally.

The graphics in The Croods is about on par with most Facebook flash games. This is both good and bad. It’s good because those games are typically played on computers and this is an Android game. It’s bad because those graphics aren’t overly impressive. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good, but they just don’t impress. You will not have any problems identifying characters and associating them with their characters in the movie.

The Croods Overall

The game play for The Croods has a lot of potential to be extremely addictive. While no one likes the tedious grind of collecting items and leveling up, The Croods tries to push the pace on this so there is always something to do. In most cases, they succeed but there are still some tasks that take awhile. A plus to this, though, is that you will receive notifications for the game outside of the game. So when something is done building your animals need fed, you can receive notifications for it. So you don’t actually have to play in the game to still be playing.

At the end of the day, though, it depends on what kind of gamer you are. More serious gamers are not fans of the freemium premise and they won’t appreciate having gold and crystals (the main resources used for building things) bottlenecked to such a degree that they have to grind just to have enough. On the other hand, fans of games like Farmville 2 or Cafe World will feel right at home with The Croods as it features many similar mechanics to those games. By the time we were doing reviewing, we couldn’t really tell if we were playing a Rovio game or a Zynga game.

Wrap Up

If this looks like something you’re interested in, you can click the source link below to download it from the Google Play Store. It’s free to play, even if many of the elements in-game can be bought. We were able to see the charm in the game, especially if you’re excited about seeing the movie. However, we couldn’t get passed the fact that it looks and plays like a Zynga game on Facebook. So, once again, if you’re into that kind of stuff, then The Croods is right up your alley. If you don’t like those kinds of games, you could do your blood pressure a favor and steer clear.

The post The Croods – The full Android app review appeared first on Android Authority.

When most people think of music streaming, they think of services like Spotify, Pandora, or Grooveshark. These streaming services have been going for awhile and have built up quite the user base. So is there room for another streaming service? We think there is and apparently so did doubleTwist. With already successful Android music player, doubleTwist has taken that music player and added a new streaming service called Magic Radio. While the doubleTwist music player app is free, using Magic Service will cost you $3.99 per month. Here is our full review!

Moving around Magic Radio

Getting to Magic Radio can be confusing if you’ve never done before. This is mainly because Magic Radio is not a standalone application. Rather, it’s a feature in an already existing application by doubleTwist. Their already popular music application is free to download in the Google Play Store. Once you get it, open it up, and then select Magic Radio at the bottom. You can start with a 7 day free trial, but once that’s over it’ll cost you $3.99 per month to keep using the service.  Paying for Magic Radio was easy enough as you can do it with your Google account like any other in-app purchase.

Once you’re in Magic Radio, it’s time to set up your services. There are three stations that come with Magic Radio. The first is called Music You Like and it may be pretty worthless to start out with. You’ll need to add some stations first and then Music You Like will play a hodgepodge of music based on what stations you listen to. The second is called Music You Discover. This station will play music that’s similar to the music you have in your stations to help you discover new bands that you may like based on the stuff you already like. The Hot Artists station is pretty self explanatory, as it’ll play music by the highest selling artists right now.

To set up your own stations, click the plus button at the top right of the app. You can set up a radio station one of three ways. You can search for a word, artists, song, or album that you want your station to revolve around and create one that way. You can also select a certain mood, like happy or angry, and the station will play happy or angry music. Lastly, you can choose by genre. So if you want something like Rock or Hip-Hop, you can find it. Magic Radio has some pretty ridiculous genres as well, like Pagan Black Metal and Hi Nrg.

Listening to some music with Magic Radio

Once you get a station set up, listening to it is as easy as clicking on the station. In our experience, the station stayed pretty true to the music the station was based on. We didn’t get any sad music on our happy station, and we didn’t get any Britney Spears on our Social Distortion station (thank goodness). The only caveat is that, like most streaming services, you have a song skip limit. For Magic Radio, it is 6 songs per hour. So if your station plays a particularly long stretch of music you don’t want to listen to, you may have to suffer until the next hour starts sometimes.

On the bottom of the play screen are the play and skip buttons. There seems to be a skip backward button, but it was grayed out the entire time we’ve used Magic Radio so far. On the bottom left is a button that will take you to a menu screen where you can buy the song you’re currently listening to should you want it or ban it from your station permanently. It also shows the equalizer and Tune Station settings. The equalizer is a premium add-on and costs extra money. The Tune Station settings are pretty nifty, though. You can use the settings to determine whether your station plays faster or slower songs and dictate how close your station sticks to the artist it’s based on. The bottom right button takes you to a list of songs that were played on that station so you can go back and find a song you liked.

Social Networking and other feaures with Magic Radio

Of course, no modern mobile application is without social media sharing capabilities. Magic Radio is no different. You can share to Twitter and Facebook along with pretty much any other social media site you can think of. It can be shared via email and Google Drive. When you share what you’re listening to, the links take people to an online card of the song where people can choose to buy it, watch the music video if applicable, and find out other info. Sadly, it won’t actually play the song.

A couple of miscellaneous features we found were some improved lock screen controls and a method to create new stations based on songs playing on a current station. The lock screen settings are nice because it actually comes up above your whole lock screen. From there you have your standard music controls and the ability to unlock the phone from there. If there’s a song you particularly loved on one of your stations and want to make a new station based on that artist or song, you can click the bottom left button where you can select the band or the song and Magic Radio will create a new station.

Final Thoughts on Magic Radio

Overall, Magic Radio by doubleTwist feels like a complete music streaming service. There is nothing difficult or confusing about the application, it has all the features you’d find in an app like Pandora, it has a gigantic library, and it even did fairly well when searching for obscure artists. For $4 a month, this is definitely a service worth owning if you’re into music streaming on your phone. Of course, if you have your own massive library and don’t use streaming very often, the $4 a month can feel like a rip off. This is definitely for people who depend more on apps like Pandora than their own personal collection for music.

Magic Radio isn’t all sunshine and puppy dogs though. There were a couple of things we didn’t like about the app. The first, as mentioned above, is the song skip limit. When a station plays a string of bad songs, you can end up stuck listening to it because of the song skip limit. The only other thing we weren’t fond of is that there isn’t a free version of this. Even if it were ad supported, a free version of this would’ve been nice to see. However, doubleTwist stuck with a full, premium-only service with Magic Radio.

If you want to give Magic Radio a try, just grab the doubleTwist app from the Google Play Store, open it, and give it a whirl. We’d love to hear what you guys thought of it too, so feel free to leave a comment with your own experience with Magic Radio. Also, don’t forget to check out Android Authority’s Google+ page for the March 14th episode of Android Authority On Air to watch a live interview with doubleTwist Chief Creative Officer Sebastiaan de With.

The post Magic Radio by doubleTwist – Full Review appeared first on Android Authority.

One of the most popular camera and photo sharing apps for Android is Instagram — downloaded more than a million times in less than a day when it was launched in April last year. Already a big hit on iOS, Instagram for Android has created a huge ripple among Android users.

Although the app sports simple controls and settings, many users still scratch their heads in wonder as to how the app works and what wonders it can provide.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to use Instagram on Android. It is very easy to set up and it won’t take you long to realize how much of a joy it is to use.

Feel free to skip the post for now, if you like, and jump to our video tutorial at the end of this post.

Setting up an Instagram account

If you haven’t installed the app yet, download Instagram from the Google Play Store for free.

If you already have an Instagram account, just sign in to your account and start using the app. If you need to create a new account, here are the steps:

1. Run Instagram.
2. On the starting page, choose whether to register or sign in.  Skip the next steps if you already have an account.
3. Select Register to create a new account.
4. Designate a username and password that will become your login details the next time you access Instagram. You may also specify a display image.
5. Provide your name and email address to complete your profile. Or, tap Use Your Facebook Info to use your Facebook info to fill out the remaining fields.



6. Tap the Register button to create your account.
7. On the next page, choose whether to search for Instagram accounts of your contacts or Facebook friends. You can skip this step and manually search for your friends’ accounts later.
8. Instagram suggests users that you can follow. Tap on the Follow button to follow users that catch your fancy — or you can skip this for later. You will be seeing posts from the users you follow.



9. Tap on Done to finish setting up your account.

You now have an Instagram account!  You will be taken to the Home tab where a stream of images from you and from your followed users will appear.

Main screen buttons

Aside from the stream of pictures on the Home tab, you’ll see five buttons at the screen’s bottom. What are they and what are they for?

Home button

The first button is the Home button and takes you home whenever you get lost anywhere in the Instagram app or whenever you just want to start over from the beginning. The Home tab displays photos from the people you follow, as well as your own published photos.

Explore button

Tap the second button to see the Explore tab where a bunch of awesome photos recently shared by random users are displayed. From there, you can follow other users, especially when photos shared are interesting to you. You can also search for users here by tapping the Search button (magnifying glass icon) and typing in the username or name on the search bar. You can also search for photos with specific tags.

Camera button

The third button is the heart of Instagram. It opens the Instagram Camera so you can take a photo or select a photo from your gallery, and, thereafter apply filters/effects before sharing the photo to the rest of the world.

News button

Although not shaped like a newspaper, the fourth button opens the News tab, which shows news from the users you follow and of course, notifications from your own account. Interactions made by the people you follow will appear under the Following tab. Friend requests and other interactions related to you are all found under the You tab.

Profile button

You won’t miss this button at the rightmost part, shaped like a calling card. Tapping this button opens your Profile page, which shows your profile, stats, and your photos.  This page is also where you can edit your profile, including changing your profile picture, changing your password, and even changing your username and display name.

Posting on Instagram

To start enjoying the wonders of Instagram, you need to take a photo first or select an existing one from your albums. It doesn’t even end there. You may want to apply filters that complement your awesome photo and then, share it simultaneously to other social platforms.  Here’s how all of that happens:

1. Tap on the Camera button to start taking photos. If you want to switch between front and back cameras, just tap the small camera icon at the upper-right.
2. Use the tap-to-focus feature to focus on your subject. Only some phones support this feature. Just tap on the screen until the marker turns green.
3. To capture a photo, tap the camera shutter. Or, If you want to use a photo from your gallery, press the Gallery button right beside the camera shutter button. Choose a photo from the gallery and tap on it.



4. If you choose a photo from the gallery, you will need to crop the image to fit the standard Instagram size. You’ll see a resizeable crop box that you can move around on your image. Tap the Ok button to crop the image. You don’t need to crop photos taken using the built-in Instagram Camera.
5. After taking a photo or selecting a photo from the gallery, you will be taken to the editing screen. Here, you can use the following buttons at the top:
   • Border – adds or removes a border on your photo
   • Blur – shaped like a droplet and adds either a circular or linear tilt-shift
   • Lux – adds brightness and vibrance to your photo
   • Rotate – rotates your photo clockwise
   • Next Icon – press this if you are done editing your photo
6. If you want, apply a photo filter by selecting one from the bottom. The selected filter will instantly be applied on the photo preview. If you don’t want to apply any filter, choose Normal.  Instagram currently has 20 built-in photo filters.  Here are some samples:







7. After applying a filter, tap the Next button (double arrows pointing to the right).
8. Add a caption to your photo. You can use hashtags on your caption. Photos that bear the same hashtags will be grouped together, making the search for a particular photo easier.



9. Instagram also allows you to add your photos to a photo map before publishing and sharing them. Adding a photo to Photo Map will require you to provide the location where the photo is taken using Foursquare’s registered locations. You can also add your location if it is not on the list. Photos added on the Photo Map will be presented in map view, corresponding to the places where your photos were taken.
10. Tap the name of the social networking sites that you want to share the photo to.
11. You will be asked to login to that particular site. Providing your login details once will link your account to Instagram. You won’t need to re-enter your login details the next time you want to share your photo.
12. If you’re done logging in, press the green check mark at the top. This will publish your photo not only to Instagram but also to the sites you’ve specified.

Editing your Photo Map

Use prudence and caution when adding photos to your Photo Map; this feature divulges your whereabouts. If there are photos taken in locations that should remain private and you accidentally added them to your Photo Map, worry not. You can edit the photos that show up on your Photo Map.  Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to your Profile page.
2. Tap the Photo Map button.
3. In Photo Map, press the Menu button (represented by a three-dot icon).
4. Tap Edit.



5. Tap on the stack of photos and a popup list of options appear. Tap on Edit.
6. Tap on the photos you want to omit from Photo Map. Once you tap on a photo, the photo will be grayed out, signaling that it won’t appear in Photo Map.
7. Tap Done once you’re done editing your Photo Map photos.

Sharing photos

You can also share your Instagram photo to other apps installed on your device. You can do this by pressing the three-dot icon found below your published photo on the Home screen or on your Profile page. Press Share and the photo will be shared to the app you specified. Some apps will only allow you to share the URL of the photo but some, like Google+, will share the whole photo itself.

Following users

Following fellow Instagrammers can be done in several ways. Following users make their photos appear on your Home tab and you’ll also be notified about interactions they may have on Instagram.

Searching for users to follow

1. Go to the Profile page.
2. Tap the magnifying glass. This is the Search button.
3. Type in your friend’s Instagram username to search for that user’s profile.  If you don’t know the username, you can try searching for your contact’s name instead.
4. Once your friend’s profile link appears on the list, tap on it to open the user’s Profile page.
5. Tap the Follow button to start following your friend’s account.

Finding users via the Explore tab

1. From the Home tab, tap the Explore button to open the Explore page.
2. The Search button will also be available. You can use it to search for a particular name or username.
3. There will also be thumbnails of photos from random users. If you find an interesting photo and want to follow the user who uploaded it, tap on the photo to open the publisher’s profile.  You will then be taken to the photo’s page.
4. Open the photo owner’s Profile page by tapping on the username or the user’s display image.
5. From the user’s Profile page, tap on the Follow button to start following the user.

Finding more friends

1. Go to your Profile page.
2. Tap the Options button represented by three square dots.
3. Tap on Find Friends from the menu.
4. The next menu will provide options for you to find friends from your contact list, Facebook, and suggested users.  A link to the Search page is also available here.

Interacting with Instagram photos

See an awesome photo on your Home tab and want tell the author how great it is?  How do you do it? There are actually two ways to do so — by liking the photo and/or by leaving a comment.

Showing some photo lovin’

Liking Instagram photos can be done in two ways. The ordinary way is through pressing the heart button below the photo. Tap on the heart button until it turns red.

The not-so-ordinary way of liking an Instagram photo is through double-tapping on the photo. A heart icon will quickly appear on the photo, signaling that you’ve successfully liked the photo. If you accidentally liked a photo, you can unlike it by pressing heart button again.

Leaving a comment

There are times when liking a photo is just not enough. Why not throw in a comment instead? Leaving a comment for an Instagram photo is simple.  Just tap on the speech bubble icon found beside the heart icon and type away.

Deleting a Comment

Be extra careful when leaving comments because you cannot edit them. The only thing you can do is to delete the comment completely.  You can delete comments that you own.  But, you can’t delete comments left by other users for a photo that isn’t yours.  However, if you are the owner of the post or photo, you can delete any comment for it.

You can delete your comment by pressing the speech bubble icon then tapping on the Edit button at the upper-right corner. Tap on the “X” mark beside your comment, then tap the red Delete button that appears.

Dealing with the nasty on Instagram

Instagram encourages its users to be responsible service users. If you see inappropriate content or a certain user has been spamming you, you have the option to report these to Instagram and authorized agents will immediately take action.

Reporting inappropriate photos

If you find a photo appalling or deem it inappropriate for circulation on Instagram, you can report the photo as inappropriate. Under the photo is the three-dot button.  Tap on it to bring out the Report as Inappropriate button.  Tap on the button and select a reason why you are reporting the photo as inappropriate.  You will receive confirmation upon successfully reporting the photo.

Reporting abuse or spam

If you are getting annoying spam and/or abusive comments, you can report them to Instagram.  Here’s how to go about it:

1. Tap the Comments button (represented by a speech bubble icon) under a photo to open the comments page for that photo.
2. Tap on the red exclamation mark beside the comment that you want to report as spam or abusive.
3. Select Report Abuse from the popup dialog.
4. Select the reason why you are reporting the comment (i.e., spam/scam or abusive content).
5. You will get a floating notification that your report has been submitted.

Blocking users

If you don’t want a particular user to follow you on Instagram, you can block the user entirely so that she or he can’t find you in search results and follow you.

Head to the user’s Profile page and tap on the Options button on the upper right corner.  From the popup window, select either to block the user or to report the user for spam.

To unblock a user that you blocked previously, repeat the same steps, but tap “Unblock user” from the popup.

Profile management and privacy

If, for some reason, you want to change your profile photo, name, username, password, and other information, Instagram allows you to freely do so. You can also set your account’s privacy by preventing others from following you without authorization; you can also set your photos to private.

Changing profile photo

1. From the Home tab, tap on the Profile button to open your profile.
2. Tap on your display image or avatar.  Or, tap the Options button (at the upper-right) and select Change Profile Picture from the menu.
3. Choose one of the following options from the popup dialog:
   • Remove Current Photo — does what it says
   • Take Photo — opens the Camera app so you can take a photo and set it as your display image
   • Choose from Library — opens the Gallery app so you can choose a photo to set as display image
   • Import from Facebook/Twitter — fetches your Facebook/Twitter profile photo and sets it as your Instagram profile photo

Changing user data, password, etc.

1. From the Home tab, tap on the Profile button to open your profile.
2. Tap on the Edit your profile link.
3. On the Edit Profile page, you can edit the various text fields for the following:
   • Display name — The name shown on your profile page
   • Login name — The username that you use for logging in
   • Website — Your website; this is optional.
   • Bio / description — Short self-description
   • Email — Email address associated with your Instagram account.
   • Phone number — Your telephone number; this is optional.
   • Sex — Your biological sex; this is optional.
4. If you need to change your password, you can also do so on the Edit Profile page.  Just tap the Change Password option, type in your current password, enter a new password, retype your new password to confirm, and then tap Save.

Hiding photos from non-friends

If you don’t want strangers to snoop around your photos, you can set your photos to private.  When Photo Privacy is enabled, new followers will need to be authorized by you before they can follow you and view your photos.  Here’s how to set your photos to private:

1. Go to the Profile tab.
2. Tap the Options button (three square dots) to open the Options page.
3. Tap Photo Privacy.
4. Toggle the check mark for “Photos are private.”

Your photos will now be visible only to people whom you authorize to follow you. The next time someone wants to follow you, you will be prompted to grant her or him approval.

Clearing search history

Earlier versions of Instagram for Android didn’t have a dedicated option for clearing
search history.  But, this important function arrived a few updates ago.   In the past, you’d have to log out and then back in just to clear your search history.  But, in recent versions, you’d only need to go to your Profile page, tap the
Options button, and select Clear Search History from the menu. Next time you use the search function, you won’t
see a list of your previously searched usernames or tags.

Logging Out of Instagram

Instagram newbies realize that the log out button is not very accessible but not hard to access either.  You won’t find it on the Home tab.  It’s neatly tucked away in the Options menu on the Profile tab.

To log out of Instagram, open the Profile tab.  Tap the Options button (three dots).  Tap Log Out from the menu.  Confirm that you want to log out.

Video Tutorial

Watch our video tutorial about how to use Instagram for Android:

Conclusion

Instagram is easy to use and easy to love because of its simplicity and function. After setting up an Instagram account and sharing your very first photo, you may find yourself using the app more often than not, especially when you have a lot of friends who also use the app. The charm of Instagram lies in its simplicity and its ability to make photo sharing more interesting and fun than it already is.

What’s your say? Does Instagram tickle your fancy and nudge the inner photographer in you? What filter is your favorite? Let us know your experiences with this most talked about and most preferred photo sharing and social networking app in Android by leaving a comment below.

The post How to use Instagram on Android appeared first on Android Authority.

This week on Android Authority On Air, we held a live Q&A session with Tony MacDonell from Teknision, the company behind Chameleon launcher. If you recall, Chameleon launcher debuted last August for tablets only. Yesterday for the first time, Chameleon launcher became available for smartphones. Along with the addition of smartphone support, Chameleon launcher got a slight name change to simply Chameleon 2. Besides phone support, the latest version added folder and linked folder support, widgets have been completely overhauled, the context based home screen philosophy has slightly changed, and there’s been some performance and stability enhancements. But, don’t take our word for it. Just listen to Tony from Teknision, he discusses with us every new feature from inside and out.

The vast majority (probably 50 minutes) of the show was dedicated to Chameleon and Tony sure likes to talk. We’re not complaining one bit, it was a great show. We did manage to squeeze in a few minutes or so of Android news from the past week. The Verizon Galaxy Nexus received a substantial leak, Android 4.2.2 which can be downloaded directly from Google’s severs, so you know this is legit. The Motorola RAZR and RAZR MAXX got debloated with their long, overdue Android Jelly Bean OTA update.

For patent wars, Judge Koh reverses course, orders new trial on $450 million of Apple’s $1.05 billion ‘win’.  Koh wants the new trial to wait until after the appeals.  It’s increasingly clear that the appeal is likely to overturn a lot of Koh’s decisions. Microsoft to pay $750 million fine to EU for browser choice snafu. Big name companies like Qualcomm and Ericsson file comments with FTC opposing recent Google settlement as damaging to the industry.

We even managed to squeeze in a giveaway teaser.

Miss the show? Tune in or watch below:

 SoundCloud |Stitcher |iTunes | Miro | RSS

The post Android Authority On Air – Episode 54 – Chameleon Launcher 2 Live Q&A appeared first on Android Authority.

Just in time for SXSW this year, a Valley-based startup has launched MessageMe, which is an instant messaging app for Android and iOS platforms. We might be tempted to say it’s yet another instant messaging app for mobile devices, trying to carve its share from under Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Viber and the like. But I’ve taken MessageMe for a spin, and I can say I like the app, which lives up to its promises.

In gist, here are some of the things I like about MessageMe:

• Doodles – kids love ‘em. The artist (or prankster) in you might, too.
• Fast, lightweight – won’t eat up all your phone’s resources just sitting idle.
• Simultaneous logins – you can run it on several devices at the same time, be it Android or iOS based

MessageMe promises to be a simple app that focuses on context. Just like popular regional messaging apps like Japan’s LINE and South Korean Kakao Talk, MessageMe offers rich multimedia content, such as pictures, videos, songs and audio recordings. But what makes it more fun is its inclusion of Doodles — that small applet that lets you pass around sketches either to a single correspondent or a group of friends. You can even doodle on existing pictures – perfect for adding that mustache or glasses to your unwitting subject.

MessageMe was built by a team of experienced social media app developers, led by Arjun Sethi, who is a veteran of Tapjoy and about.me, among other startup companies. I did a quick interview with Arjun — over MessageMe, of course — where I got to pick his brains on his opinions about the supposedly crowded IM space, developing for iOS vs. Android, and their business model.

Is the market for mobile messaging apps already saturated?

Basically, Arjun says he doesn’t believe the mobile messaging app space is saturated, especially in North America, South America and Europe. While bigger competitors like Facebook Messenger theoretically have a captured audience (1 billion users on Facebo0k), MessageMe competes on a couple of advantages: speed and context. Meanwhile, in Asia, the likes of WeChat (300 million users), LINE (100 million) and Kakao Talk (70 million) are dominant, although MessageMe still has something unique to offer.

MessageMe promises to be lightweight and not eat up too much of your smartphone’s resources, which can be very important in maintaining a smooth user experience. But the app’s more important focus is context. “Our team’s core principle is to adhere to the media in which people communicate, and bringing those contexts more naturally into a 1:1 or group conversation.”

This is done by incorporating sensory elements, which is accomplished by the user linking YouTube videos or music tracks, adding photos, sending voice clips and exchanging doodles. Again, the focus is on context.

iOS vs. Android: the developer’s perspective

Developing for Android and iOS each has their own nuances, Arjun admits. “We had to tailor our design and development not just for the platforms, but for the type of devices customers would use and the carriers under which they would operate. Android has more ‘hedge’ cases. iOS is a bit more straightforward because it has many standards and policies laid out.” In a way, building for iOS might be easier, given that you are only writing code for a limited set of devices. On Android, you have to consider a wider variety of screen sizes, processing capability and the like.

MessageMe doesn’t currently have a business model yet, although the company is venture-funded. Arjun admits that the “focused on customer experience and growth at this time.” It’s sure that they won’ be running advertisement on the platform any time in the future. And while BlackBerry ad Windows platforms are being considered in future builds, right now the’re sticking with Android and iOS. “We’ll decide over time as we work on the customer experience on iOS and Android.”

Stickers, mobile payments

However, there are currently greyed-out “stickers” and “money” buttons, which means MessageMe might soon let users exchange free and premium stickers. These are quite popular in some markets like Asia, where IM services earn millions of dollars per month from stickers and premium games. And if you’ve heard about BlackBerry opening its BBM Money in some markets, an IM-based payment system might be a game changer in doing small transactions like splitting the bill, paying at the checkout counter or paying for freelance services.

MessageMe connects with friends through Facebook authorization, and friends can also be added through either email address or a unique PIN that the app will generate for each user. The app is a free download from the Google Play Store (and also the iTunes App Store for iOS devices). You can also head on to msg.me and click the “download app” link, which leads you to either iTunes or Google Play downloads, depending on your device.

The post MessageMe: more than just another instant messaging app? appeared first on Android Authority.

Welcome to our first week of our best paid apps of the week list. Our goal here at Android Authority is to find the best paid apps every week, make a list, and help everybody find the best new stuff to try out. We’ll do a brief review to let you guys know how the apps work and our initial impressions on them. Then, if you want to try them, the links will be at the bottom. Also, if you’ don’t want to read it, you can watch in our weekly video, also posted at the bottom. With that said, let’s get started!

Unity Launcher

In case you’ve been living with your head in a ditch, you’ve no doubt heard that Ubuntu is working on a mobile OS. It’s very, very early and most things don’t work yet, but if they get it to be even mostly as good as their videos look, it will be impressive. So why wait to try out the features? Unity Launcher is currently available in the Google Play Store for $1.99.

The premise of Unity Launcher is simple, to emulate the side bar launcher. It’s quite easy to use as well. Users install the app and slide to the right from the edge of the screen. The launcher will pop up and you can select whatever app you want to launch. You can also customize it and put whatever apps you want in the launcher. The best part? You can open it while in any application. Full screen, camera, phone, Google Play Store, whatever you want. It opens everywhere and makes it easy to switch apps. If you’re a frequent app switcher, then this paid app is highly recommended.

Cars & Guns

This fun little racer takes place in a world of cardboard. That’s not a joke, all the roads, landscapes, cars, textures, and everything else carries look of cardboard. As stated in the intro of the app, this is intentional and gives a somewhat unique, if a little bland, graphic experience. You can find it in the Google Play Store for $1.00.

Cars & Guns features very simple controls. There is a forward, backward, left, and right button. So controlling the cars around the various apps is pretty easy to do. In game, you’ll go on scavenger hunts for items, race against AI players, and do time trials on levels. After each, you’ll earn money which you can use to buy various things. If you’re into racing games, this is a paid app worth checking out.

Second Grade Learning

We likely won’t put a lot of educational apps intended for younger kids very often, but if we can find good ones, we definitely will. This is a great little game app that is geared toward teaching kids various things. Frankly, based on how people type on the internet these days, there are a few adults I know who could benefit from parts of this app as well. You can find this paid app in the Google Play Store for $.99.

In the game, kids and dumb adults can learn and practice a myriad of subjects. Words and grammar, math and money, and a few others will help your second grader read at a third grade level. There isn’t a story and once you start a game, they don’t end unless you manually end them yourself. However, if you got a kid and you need to keep him or her busy for a few minutes, this will help keep them occupied. It’ll also help them practice the basics. That’s a win-win!

Slingshot Racer

Slingshot Racer takes the racing concept and adds a unique detail to it. Instead of using buttons or tilting your device to steer, you’ll tap the screen and slingshot around corners. It’s easy to learn, but hard to do well. You can find this paid app in the Google Play Store for $.99.
As stated, the game play is rather simple. As you approach a turn, you tap and hold the screen to launch a tether at a tower. It latches on and slingshots you around corners. If you get it late and hold the outside of the track, it’ll slow you down. Should take the inside of the track, it’ll help boost your speed a little bit and get ahead. The early levels are pretty easy to play but as the game progresses, levels get much harder to win. The graphics aren’t bad either. If you’re a racing fan and want something a little different, then this is worth at least trying out for the standard 15 minute refund period to see if you like it.

Best Paid Apps of the Week – Pick of the Week

It was a tough one, because it’s always hard to gauge value on paid apps. Especially when comparing games to regular paid apps. However, our pick of the week is Unity Launcher. It’s two bucks in the Google Play Store and it seems really simplistic. However, it’s one of those applications that you won’t realize you’ll use it until you get used to using it. Being able to open any app anywhere can shave a few seconds off of any user action. Over the course of weeks, you’ll be saving minutes of your life going back to the home screen, opening the app drawer, finding the app, and opening it. Just open the side bar, find the app, and open it.

Looking to give these paid apps a try? Check out the widgets above and the video link below. Also, if there is a recently released paid app or game you’d like to see on this list, leave us a comment and let us know!

The post Best Paid Android Apps of the Week: February 24 – March 2 appeared first on Android Authority.