Looking for some new apps but don’t have time to go through our longer roundups from the past month? No worries, we’re back with a whole month’s worth of apps boiled down into five picks guaranteed to improve your catalog. Not all the great apps of the month could fit on our list, so we’ll follow up with some honorable mentions. Without further ado, let’s get started.
DialApp
DialApp is a dialer replacement that retains some semblance of its stock counterpart, while seeking to drastically improve performance by guessing who you want to call, and making your call log infinitely smarter.
The general idea behind DialApp is context-awareness. The app will learn from your habits based on time, location, and calendar info, presenting a shortlist of contacts you probably want to talk to at a given time and place.
The app isn’t quite perfect yet, but it’s free and shows plenty of promise. Check it out below.
Space Colony Live Wallpaper
I’m generally not excited by live wallpapers. The live wallpapers that I feel take full advantage of the feature to deliver something awesome are few and far between. Space Colony by Maxelus, though, is an exceptional entry in the history of LWPs, delivering gorgeous, enthralling visuals and enough dynamic elements and functions to keep it interesting. We could add screenshots below, but they really don’t do the wallpaper justice. Instead, watch the demo video of version 1.0.
Space Colony will cost you about $ 2.00, but if you’ve ever even wondered what your device would look like as a futuristic alien metropolis, it’s well worth the money.
Vine
Vine was a hotly-anticipated app for Android, there’s no doubt about that. The Twitter-linked microvideo sharing service opened up its doors to Android users last month and hasn’t looked back.
Though competitor Instagram stepped up the video-sharing game in a major way with the announcement of video support, “Cinema,” and longer videos, Vine has stayed strong, pushing out updates at breakneck speed and adding great features like a quick capture widget, new capture tools, discovery-boosting video channels, and the ability to “Revine” (think retweet/repin/etc) videos.
With a simple interface, established community, and the promise of even more rapid updates to come, Vine is still a winner despite very strong competition from Instagram. After all, micro-video sharing isn’t a zero-sum game.
Google Keyboard
Under the mantra “typing, just easier,” Google released the stock Android keyboard to the Play Store last month. Besides being a great keyboard alternative, its introduction was important enough to warrant a spot on our list for a couple of reasons.
First, it’s another app (like Calendar) that has been separated out from core Android, now able to get updates right from the Play Store. A feature like Gesture Type, which was baked into Jelly Bean 4.2, could be introduced at any time via a simple Play Store update now that the keyboard is freely available.
Second, this gives users of non-AOSP devices easier access to Android’s stock keyboard, which by most accounts is a good thing.
If you’re looking for a free keyboard replacement with pretty good suggestions, gesture functionality, and a simple aesthetic. You’ve probably already found Google Keyboard. Just in case you haven’t, there’s a widget below.
CPU-Z
Rounding out our top five is an app for power users – CPU-Z. As you might guess from the name, the app monitors your CPU. That’s not all, though. Within CPU-Z’s dead-simple interface is information about your device’s SoC, System, Battery, and Sensors, providing an extremely detailed look at the state of your device, right down to battery temperature and magnetic field sensor state.
The app’s concept is super simple, and CPU-Z won’t allow you to adjust clock speed or actually change the device’s hardware settings, but it requires no special permissions, and gives an excellent look at device hardware, for free.
Honorable Mention
Not every app from June could fit on our list – there were a ton more that are definitely worth your attention. For that reason, we’ve got a few “honorably mentions” you should have a look at.
Final Thoughts
Utilitarian, social, or otherwise, June provided a ton of great apps to check out. Not all of them made it onto our list, but if there’s one you think should be in our next roundup, let us know! If none of the apps above hit the spot, just wait for our semi-weekly longer roundups for a more complete look at the very best apps (and games).
http://dblnews.com/Android Apps
Roundup: Our Top Five Favorite New Apps From June 2013
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