Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Welcome to the 407th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:
- There is a promising PS2 emulator for Android in alpha testing right now. It’s exciting because most of the existing ones are either controversial or not ready for public consumption. AetherSX2, by comparison, is taking its time, following the rules, and has a lot going for it. Hit the link to learn more.
- Google Messages is getting an update that may fix a long-standing problem. Currently, when an iMessage person reacts to a message, it shows up in a text. After the update, it’ll show up as a real reaction. It’s a minor thing, but an irritating one for people in group chats with iPhone users.
- We asked our readers if they preferred streaming devices or the apps on their smart TV. As it turns out, the answer isn’t as definitive as we expected. Roughly 40% of our readers prefer streaming devices like the Chromecast while nearly 35% of our readers prefer their smart TV apps. The rest said they liked both.
- Google Cloud had an outage this week and it affected several apps. The list includes Snapchat, Spotify, Discord, Nest, Fitbit, and many other websites. The outage lasted a couple of hours before it was fully fixed. The outage was only partial, though, because a lot of people didn’t experience any noticeable problems.
- Google launched a Fortnite Task Force after Epic Games decided to self-publish instead of using the Play Store. The task force was responsible for pointing out security flaws and disclosing it to the media without giving Epic Games a ton of time to fix the issue. It’s yet another wrinkle in the long fight the two companies are having.
Tales of Luminaria
Price: Free to play
Tales of Luminaria is a new action RPG that takes place in the Tales series universe. It boasts a roster of 21 characters, a long story, decent gameplay mechanics, and more. The only real quirky part of the game is the controls, where you can lose your enemies pretty easily and the game only plays in portrait mode. If you can get passed that, the rest of the game is actually quite nice even if it’s a free to play title.
Document Reader
Price: Free / $9.49
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Document Reader is a simple app that lets you view office documents. It supports common file types such as the ones from Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. There is also support for PDF files as well. That’s about all it does and it does all of these things pretty well. You can get most of the same functionality from other office apps like Google Drive or Microsoft Office, but sometimes it’s helpful to have a viewer to see stuff without needing to load a whole other app.
Football Manager 2022 Mobile
Price: $9.99 with in-app purchases
Football Manager 2022 Mobile is the latest in the popular Football Manager franchise from SEGA. The game has more than 60 leagues across 25 countries so you can start your journey from just about anywhere. The game play mostly like its 2021 counterpart but with a few extras in terms of scouting, an injury center, and some of the gameplay mechanics. It seems like this game needs a couple of rounds of optimization and balancing, but it should wind up being one of the better soccer sims of 2021.
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
SyncUP Kids is a new app from T-Mobile. The app lets parents stay connected to their kids with the use of a smartwatch. The smartwatch part is pretty simple. Kids can text and call people at their parent’s discretion. The watch also transmits a GPS location so parents always know where their kids are. The watch also has a step counter, an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, and a camera. The app serves mostly to control the watch and see the data the watch sends back. We haven’t tested the watch, but it may be something to look into for parents.
Eternal Saga: Region Tactics
Price: Free to play
Eternal Saga is a strategy RPG with a bit more emphasis on the strategy part. Players have access to three races of troops and can mix-and-match the ones they like to create an army of their design. The armies then do battle in various missions. The gameplay is backed up with a story to play through, a PvP mode, and several battle modes. It has its flaws as do all new games, but with a little TLC, this one should end up as a decent overall game.
If we missed any big Android app or game releases, tell us about it in the comments.
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