Welcome to the 249th Android Apps Weekly! Here are the big headlines from the last week:
Instagram is launching a new video service. IGTV will put a focus on portrait mode video and longer form content. Videos have a 60 minute limit and creators can do whatever they want to do. This is obviously to compete with other video services like YouTube and Facebook’s video platform. The portrait mode video is likely to keep things in tune with the rest of the app. We’ll see how it turns out.
Pokemon Quest is available for pre-registration on Google Play right now. The launch date is June 28th. Thus, we don’t have a long time to wait. The game is by Game Freak, the same developers of the main Pokemon games on the Nintendo 3DS platform. This is their first foray into the mobile landscape. It’s not a normal Pokemon game. It has simple controls and mobile style game play. However, it should be relatively popular anyway.
YouTube Music officially launched in the U.S. and 16 other countries this week. We also now have some final numbers in terms of prices. YouTube Music is $9.99 per month, although new subscribers get three months for free. This also marks the official re-branding of YouTube Red to YouTube Premium. It still has a long way to go before it competes with bigger services like Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music and others. This is a semi-decent start, though.
Tinder’s owner, Match, swiped left on Hinge this week. Jokes are funny. Anyway, the dating service giant purchased a 51% stake in Hinge, making it the majority owner. With it, Match now owns over 45 dating services. That’s a bit of a monopoly. In any case, Hinge uses the old school profile system instead of the swipe system. Reports show that Bumble is the only major dating service left not owned by Match.
Facebook is adding video ads to Facebook Messenger soon. The announcement stated that ads would roll out gradually and thoughtfully. However, considering that video ads are the least enjoyed ad platform next to pop-up ads, the idea that any of this is thoughtful is a little bit laughable. In any case, Facebook wants to monetize your private messages, something it has tried in the past with static advertising. We’re not all that comfortable with ads in our personal messaging space, but it is what it is.
10 best podcast apps for Android
Podcasts seem to be making a return as a main source of information gathering in the age of the Internet. It's a great way to listen to experts talk about the topics you care about …
15 best simulation games for AndroidSimulation games are one of the most expansive and popular game genres the world over. It's also one of the most popular on mobile because the controls work very well on touch screens. They're easy …
If we missed any big Android apps or games news, tell us about it in the comments!
source: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-apps-weekly-249-879167/
date: Sat, 23 Jun 2018 15:59:05 +0000
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