Why trust GreenbotGot big plans for the weekend? If not, try strapping into ’s Expeditions app. Thanks to a new update, now you can explore many of the world’s most dazzling sights on your own in VR, instead of needing another nearby user to act as the leader.
It’s one of this week’s big ay Store picks, along with the Nintendo Switch Online app, which lets system owners interact with friends enable voice chat in today’s new Switch release, Splatoon 2. Elsewhere, yton’s Mystery urney is a fun Android puzzle adventure, ’s Motion Stills lets you create GIFs with ease, Adobe’s latest ghtroom update revamps the photo editing interface to make it more approachable. Clear some space check out these apps!
Expeditions
o needs a travel buddy? Go solo!
Expeditions grew out of the company’s Cardboard VR initiative, allowing teachers to guide their classrooms through interactive explorations of the world’s great sights. st year, released the app outside of the educational setting, but you still had to have a local person serve as a leader for others to follow. Now that limitation has been eased.
The original approach is still there, but thanks to a new update that is rolling out right now, you can also embark on solo Expeditions without the need for a pal or secondary device. Expeditions includes more than 600 different adventures, the option to virtually travel alone makes it better for home usage—or even homework from school. It works with both Cardboard Daydream viewers, if you don’t see the updated version in the ay Store just yet, then it should l on your phone within the next couple of days.
Nintendo Switch Online
Today’s release of Splatoon 2 makes use of the Switch app.
Online has never been Nintendo’s strongest suit, whether it’s awkward storefronts, or arcane limitations on interactions connections with other players, but the company is trying to change all of that with its new Switch console. rt of that attempt just launched this week with the debut of the Nintendo Switch Online app, which will serve as an Android hub for keeping tabs on Switch friends, managing invitations, even hling voice chat.
Unfortunately, in a very Nintendo-like fashion, it’s a bit of a fumbled start. For now, Nintendo Switch Online only works with Splatoon 2, the multiplayer-centric, paint-blasting shooter that releases today, the big complaint is that you must have the screen on app open for voice chat to work. If your phone screen turns off or you briefly switch to another app, say goodbye to your session.
Hopefully that’s a limitation that is addressed very soon, as Switch fans are rolling their eyes the world over right about now. More games will support the Nintendo Switch Online app in time, more online features will also be added to the Switch. t’s hope the app improves, as well.
yton’s Mystery urney
It’s a charming, colorful puzzle adventure.
ile not quite the massive icon that Mario is, ofessor yton has been one of the most reliable stars on Nintendo’s hheld systems over the last decade. And now his puzzle-solving franchise has made the leap to mobile with an all-new entry. yton’s Mystery urney: Katrielle the Millionaires’ Conspiracy ($16) is both a full-fledged sequel to the past games an ideal entry point, as it stars the professor’s daughter on the hunt for her missing dad.
Katrielle sets up shop in ndon as a private detective, you’ll put her enviable skills to use solving crimes seeking out curiosities—the first of which involves a talking dog a missing clock h on Big . True, $16 is a lot for an Android game, but yton’s Mystery urney features great production values, brainy puzzles to solve, a pretty meaty adventure to unravel. It’s also the same game that’s coming to Nintendo 3DS later this year at a higher price, so when you look at it that way, it’s actually a deal.
Motion Stills
Make quick GIFs—at regular speed or super sped-up.
For the last year, Motion Stills has been one of those weird anomalies in ’s mobile lineup: an app only available for iOS, not Android. That was mostly out of necessity, as Motion Stills was designed to complement Apple’s ve otos—but now that it has been reworked exped, it’s finally available in the ay Store.
Essentially, Motion Stills is a dead-simple GIF maker, letting you capture a quick bit of video footage instantly turn it into a shareable, looping clip. Motion Stills lightly stabilizes your footage, too, plus you can use the fast-forward feature to capture longer stretches of video speed it up to keep your GIF brief. You also can combine clips to make longer videos, up to a minute in total. It’s effective easy to use, with no complications or fuss.
Adobe otoshop ghtroom
ghtroom’s new Android look makes it easier to tweak your shots.
Adobe’s ghtroom has long been the go-to pick for pro-level photo editing enhancement, that’s true on desktop as well as mobile— now the Android experience has gotten a significant update. ghtroom had lagged behind on the iOS version for a while, but now this week’s update is meant to deliver a “natural, native” Android experience.
Functionally, it’s not dramatically different, but the revised interface makes it easier to find the tools you need swap between them for speedy, slick edits. ghtroom can play friendly with RAformat photos, too. You can access the basic features for free, but a paid Creative Cloud membership is needed for more advanced features, such as accessing your stash of photos from another device using additional Adobe apps alongside ghtroom.
