It’s been a good week for intriguing new Android apps, but you don’t have to dig through the Play Store to find the heavy hitters: they’re right here in our weekly app release spotlight.
SwiftKey’s experimental Hexy Launcher puts a fresh spin on your home screen, while Layout helps you devise great Instagram collages, and MixRadio is a promising new streaming option. Also, Microsoft is about to ditch its old Office phone experience, launching new beta versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint based on the tablet releases. And although we have just one game this week, it’s a scorcher, as Sunburn! turns a dark premise into a delightful and challenging affair.
SwiftKey’s Greenhouse program—which explores innovative, experimental app ideas—got off to a promising start with Clarity Keyboard, and now Hexy Launcher shows that typing isn’t the company’s only strength. As the name suggests, it’s both a replacement launcher for your phone and it has a thing for hexagons. Essentially, the free app transforms your home screen into a honeycomb-like grid of icons that you can scroll in any direction, and in practice, it acts a lot like the Apple Watch’s interface. However, Hexy Launcher learns which apps you use the most and puts those at the center, making it not only sleek, but also smart. And you can access custom-placed widgets by tapping the orange button at the bottom. Matching its uncomfortable name is a rather unsettling premise: Sunburn! ($3) finds you as the captain of a space crew whose ship has just been blasted to bits. Floating amidst the stars with little hope of rescue or extended survival, you recall the vow to your compatriots: nobody dies alone. And so you round everyone up and jump into the nearest sun. It’s brutal, yet Sunburn! is charming, hilarious, and really fun. You’ll bound between planets in the 50+ stages, attempting to tether everyone (including pets) together before making the ultimate death leap. Later levels add devious hazards and obstacles that may block your well-intentioned group demise, and the amusing quips and great pixel art make this grim-seeming affair rather pleasing.
SwiftKey’s Greenhouse program—which explores innovative, experimental app ideas—got off to a promising start with Clarity Keyboard, and now Hexy Launcher shows that typing isn’t the company’s only strength. As the name suggests, it’s both a replacement launcher for your phone and it has a thing for hexagons. Essentially, the free app transforms your home screen into a honeycomb-like grid of icons that you can scroll in any direction, and in practice, it acts a lot like the Apple Watch’s interface. However, Hexy Launcher learns which apps you use the most and puts those at the center, making it not only sleek, but also smart. And you can access custom-placed widgets by tapping the orange button at the bottom. Matching its uncomfortable name is a rather unsettling premise: Sunburn! ($3) finds you as the captain of a space crew whose ship has just been blasted to bits. Floating amidst the stars with little hope of rescue or extended survival, you recall the vow to your compatriots: nobody dies alone. And so you round everyone up and jump into the nearest sun. It’s brutal, yet Sunburn! is charming, hilarious, and really fun. You’ll bound between planets in the 50+ stages, attempting to tether everyone (including pets) together before making the ultimate death leap. Later levels add devious hazards and obstacles that may block your well-intentioned group demise, and the amusing quips and great pixel art make this grim-seeming affair rather pleasing.
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