With 19 million new app downloads under the belt in the December quarter, Google Play Store was ahead of Apple’s App Store by 145%, claims market researcher App Annie. However, the App Store turned out to be more profitable and generated twice the revenue of the Play Store during the same period. The higher number of downloads has more to do with market share than popularity. According to Statcounter’s data for the December quarter, about 73.54% of smartphones are running on Android OS, while iOS’s market share is at 19.91%.
Here are the latest apps and games you can download right away.
Gmail Go is the latest addition to the Go family of apps which will be available on regular smartphones as well.
Gmail Go
Free
Android
Google’s building an ecosystem of Lite apps for Android Go smartphones which would use up less resources and load faster. Gmail Go is the latest addition to the Go family of apps which will be available on regular smartphones as well. The only requirement is that the smartphone runs Android 8.1. While it retains the layout of the original app for users’ convenience, they have optimised it so it will take up just 24MB of space to install, which is less than half of what the original Gmail app requires.
Ultimate Privacy and Security Solution can prevent apps from spying on each other, can detect and stop malicious background activity, offers a security firewall and keeps track of apps and their activities to ensure no permissions are being violated after they are installed.
Ultimate Privacy and Security Solution
Rs50 (Rs50 per month)
Android
US-based security company Redmorph has released its mobile security app for users in India. It is not a typical anti-virus app and brings a lot more to the table. It can prevent apps from spying on each other, can detect and stop malicious background activity such as cryptojacking, offers a security firewall and keeps track of apps and their activities to ensure no permissions are being violated after they are installed.
Cake web browser opens the webpage of the top 10 results and then arranges them in a horizontal scroll.
Cake Web Browser
Free
Android
This is a refreshing mobile browser which uses sideways scrolling to browse through webpages on smartphones. Instead of showing the top results of a search as links in the vertical column, Cake web browser opens the webpage of the top 10 results and then arranges them in a horizontal scroll. While users read one page, the rest of the pages are loaded in the background so they are available by the time users gets to them.
Keep Solid Sign
Free ($6.66 per month)
Android
KeepSolid Sign allows users to remotely sign a document with a stylus or finger. Users can import any documents from Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud Drive and Evernote on the app, sign and share them back without having to go through the tedious process of printing the documents and scanning the signed copy. The app developer KeepSolid Inc. claims it protects all documents with random keys and 256-bit AES+RSA encryption combination, which makes intercepting any of the documents hard.
Nwsty
Free
Android
Developed by Instance A, Nwsty delivers the crux of the most important headlines of the day to users who do not have the time or patience to read the whole news story. What makes the app viable for serious users is the option to read full articles with a single tap. Users can access the top stories of the day in the app’s calendar section. The app is free to use and also doesn’t distract users with advertisements.
Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition
Free
Android, iOS
Square Enix is trying out new things for the mobile variant of Final Fantasy series to make them as exciting as the console variant. Instead of reproducing console-level graphics, the developer has given the Final Fantasy XV for mobile a whole new spin. The game looks more cartoonish yet takes up 5GB of space, while player movement and actions can be controlled through tap and swipe gestures. The gameplay is still the same—players get to explore the open world and take on enemies over 10 missions, called chapters. While the first chapter is free, the rest can be unlocked by paying $20.
-k2QE--621x414@LiveMint.jpg "The Supreme Court, while delivering the Cauvery verdict, put supply of drinking water on a ‘higher pedestal’, allocated an additional 4.75 tmcft to Bengaluru to meet the drinking water and domestic requirements of the ‘global city’. Photo: Mint")