It’s Comic-Con weekend! Did you already know that? If so, you might be interested in this week’s release of the official Star rs app, surely timed to release alongside the annual pop culture event. And if not, perhaps the week’s other new freshly updated Android apps will strike your fancy.

For example, Microsoft’s Tossup offers an inventive solution for polling friends, Fleksy’s predictive keyboard dropped its price tag to zero, making it easier than ever to turn nonsensical tapping into actual human language. If it’s games you want, meanwhile, the very clever phabear blends word games with ever-growing fuzzy creatures, while Splendor brings a recent board game smash to mobile for pass–play strategizing.

Star rs

You might be surprised to find that Disney didn’t have an official Star rs app until this week, but it’s true— with the franchise mounting a huge return this year with The Force Awakens (Episode VII), it was high time to build some enthusiasm on Android. ile there’s nothing particularly mind-blowing about the free app, it’s a nice compendium of fan-centric diversions.

For example, you can take a selfie as incess ia alongside Darth Vader, with your face fitting nicely between her hair buns—or mix match with other characters. There’s a soundboard, daily trivia bits, a themed weather report (“It’s like Endor out there”), countdown clocks for the upcoming films, even an augmented reality lightsaber game. It’s a well-executed tie-in that could become even more hy as the movies start hitting theaters.

phabear

From Spry Fox, the maker of free-to-play smash Triple Town, comes a clever new game that blends word puzzlers with adorable cartoon bears. phabear drops a hful of Scrabble-like tiles on a board, as you make words from them, the space-filling bears get larger generate more points. oblem is, each tile only remains usable for a few turns until it turns to stone. 

So you’ll need to prioritize certain letters over others, but as the bears exp, more more new tiles pop up around them, making your task even trickier. phabear is a little hard to explain, but it only takes a few moments for it to make perfect sense, the game really is equally charming smart. And the bears aren’t just window dressing in this free game: they’re also power-ups that can affect your play style strategy.

Tossup

Microsoft keeps bringing more more of its apps to Android, but the company isn’t simply porting over its ndows one favorites—it’s also testing the waters with new interesting concepts. Following releases like Bing Torque cturesque ck Screen, the latest is Tossup, a free app that lets friends colleagues vote on group queries.

Essentially, it’s designed to save you the hassle of a lengthy text or email chain, as someone can create a question, pick set responses or leave it open-ended, then invite friends to participate. The next time you need to pick somewhere to meet for dinner, it might come in hy. Then again, it has a rather limited focus, do you really want to download another app just for that? Guess we’ll see. 

Splendor

Splendor was one of last year’s most celebrated board/card games, earning a nomination for the prestigious Spiel des hres award racking up more than 200,000 copies sold in the meantime. And now it’s available on Android, letting you take the role of a Renaissance-era merchant as you use your wealth influence to… well, amass the most wealth influence, unsurprisingly.

ayable against the A.I. or in a four-player pass–play mode, Splendor ($6.99) finds you building up prestige points while you collect gems structure cards. It looks like a pretty close approximation of the physical version, although the lack of online play is disappointing, at least it has an array of single-player challenge scenarios included for when friends aren’t near. 

Fleksy + GIF Keyboard

Fleksy isn’t new, but for a long time, the keyboard had a price tag attached if you planned to use it beyond the initial trial period. As of this week it’s free, with the company hoping you’ll spend a little cash within to pay for upgrades. censed themes (Frozen! Hunger Games!) are available for a couple bucks apiece, plus you can add various extensions to your keyboard, with extra slots sold for a dollar each.

ckily, anyone who paid for Fleksy in the past gets perks, while all users benefit from the updated navigation enhanced GIF sticker discovery interface. Beyond themes easy access to GIFs, Fleksy’s hook remains its strong prediction engine, which does a very admirable job of figuring out what you meant to type rather than the gibberish you actually entered. Now that it’s free, there’s little reason not to check it out if you’re seeking a new input option.