The Best Android Apps & Games: May 2014

Google-Play-Store

Its the end of another month and like always, we bring to you a round-up of the best apps and games released on the Play Store during the last month. This month top apps include a news app that made a teenager a millionaire, a way to share your secret with the world and more.

So, what are you waiting for? Scroll below to find out the best and popular apps and games released on the Play Store last month that everyone is currently glued to.

Yahoo Digest

Yahoo-News-Digest

Yahoo News Digest, which was originally developed by a teenager before Yahoo purchased it for him, takes regular news stories and summarizes them so that you can catch-up with all the latest happenings from around the world in as little time as possible. It does this by pulling news from multiple sources and then breaking them down into “atoms”, which includes images, videos, maps, quotes and more.

The app was launched on the iOS App Store nearly four months back and finally made its way to the Play Store at the beginning of last month.

Download: Yahoo Digest

Bright Weather

Bright Weather comes from the developer of LevelSup Studio, the developers of Beautiful Widgets and Plume, and is yet another weather app. It has a very minimalistic design and yet manages to provide users with a plethora of information including the 24 hours weather forecast, six-days weather forecast, the sunrise and sunset time and more. The app also allows users to take a picture and share it with Bright Weather users, which also automatically acts as the background image of the app.

bright_weather

If you are a fan of minimalistic weather apps, Bright Weather is among the best out there. The app is completely free to use but comes with advertisements, which can be removed via an IAP (In-app Purchase) of $3.99.

Download: Bright Weather (Free)

Peek

Peek-Notifications

Earlier this year, the Paranoid Android team introduced Peek — a nifty new feature that automatically displays all your notifications when you pick up your phone after a period of inactivity. Until last month, the only way to get your hands on the feature was to install the Paranoid Android ROM itself on your device.

However, sometime towards the middle of May, the original developer of Peek himself released a standalone version of Peek on the Play Store, bringing this feature to all Android 4.4 devices. In fact, the app contains more customization options than in the ROM itself. If you don’t mind a little hit to your battery life, definitely make sure to check out Peek.

Download: Peek ($3.99)

Secret

We all have deep, dark secrets and its time we share it with the world anonymously via Secret. The app’s premise is simple — It allows you to post your secrets for others to read and comment on, and also informs you when one of your friends posts a secret. The app does not reveal your or anyone’s identity in any way, so be rest assured that your secret is safe.

secret_android_app

Sharing your secrets on Secret is the trend right now and you definitely don’t want to miss it.

Download: Secret (Free)

Sunrise Calendar

Last month, we finally saw a great Google Calendar replacement land on the Play Store in the form of Today Calendar. This month another beautifully designed and a very popular iOS calendar app — Sunrise Calendar — has made its way to the Play Store.

https://youtu.be/CpzvypJz9mU

The calendar features a very clean and clutter-free UI and supports Google Calendar as well as iCloud. The developers have also launched a companion web-app to go along with their Android app.

The only bummer with the app is that it has a poll-based refresh interval to pull all your events from Google Calendar, which means that any changes you make in Google Calendar will not instantly reflect in the app.

Download: Sunrise Calendar (Free)

Portal & Half Life 2

If you are a gamer, the above titles won’t need any kind of introduction to you. Made by Valve, they are among the highly rated PC games out there with winners of many awards and had set a new benchmark in the FPS gaming category when they were initially released.

Sadly, the games have been launched exclusively for Nvidia’s Shield handheld gaming console, which is a bummer. On the plus side, Valve has optimized the games to take advantage of the Shield’s gamepad and the power it packs under its hood.

If there is one game you must download from this list, it has to be either Portal or Half Life 2, provided you own an Nvidia Shield.

Download: Half Life 2 ($9.99), Portal ($9.99)

Monument Valley

Monument-Valley

Monument Valley was released for iOS back in April and finally made its debut on Android last month. It is easily among the most beautiful games released this year and requires the user to manipulate a glorious architecture to guide the princess to safety.

The game boasts of some stunning visuals and an excellent and unique gameplay making it a must-have. The only downside? It has a pretty short gameplay time but then you can always replay the game if you like.

Download: Monument Valley ($3.99)

Trials Frontier

Trials_Frontier

Trials Frontier comes from the studios of Ubisoft and is the expansion of the hugely popular Trials franchise. Like all the Trials game before it, Trials Frontier requires users to cross obstacles and explore their surroundings in their motorcycle. While the initial levels are pretty easy, the difficulty levels starts rocketing upwards as you progress.

The game has excellent physics and even supports multiplayer gameplay, allowing users to challenge their friends and race against their ghosts. The best part? The game is completely free to download and play, though it does feature IAPs to unlock new bikes and levels.

Download: Trials Frontier (Free)

Which is your favorite app and game from the above list? Did we miss anything? Drop in a comment and let us know!