iOS apps on Android, huge Google Play update, Portal and Half-Life 2! - Google Play Weekl

Shield Got a Bit of a Surprise with Half-Life 2 Release

The Shield tablet got a bit of a surprise recently, as Half-Life 2 was released right alongside it. This is available for $9.99 each on the Shield device, which is a great deal considering its specs. Both games are currently rocking high ratings in the Google Play Store - Portal has a 5.0 rating, while Half-Life 2 has a respectable 4.9.

The recent price drop to $199 makes the Shield seem like an even better option for those looking for a powerful device. It will be interesting to see if these games make it to non-Shield devices in the future, but with the current specs of the Shield, it's definitely looking like a great choice right now.

App Review: Ported App

There's a new app called "Ported App" that allows you to run OEM skin apps on other devices. This app was released by XDA member "App Maker" and is a collection of APKs that allow you to run apps from OEM skinned ROMs, including those from Sony, Samsung, Sign Engine Mod, Nokia, and others. You can run these apps on pretty much any device, making it a great idea for users looking for more options.

However, the app is limited at the moment, with not many apps available to choose from. But, we assume that the list will grow over time as developers continue to support the app. Also, note that you cannot get Ported App in the Google Play Store, and must download it and manually install the APK from XDA Developers.

App Review: Bright Weather

First up this week is an application called "Bright Weather". Developed by the same team behind Beautiful Widgets, Bright Weather is just another weather application with some unique features. You can find weather in your area or around the world, view local forecasts, and radar views. The app also includes a weather almanac, which makes it stand out from other weather apps.

What makes this app nice is its design, which includes new background images daily and more interactive elements than usual. This makes Bright Weather a great choice for those looking for a visually appealing weather app that's free in the Google Play Store right now.

App Review: Make It Rain

Next up is a little time-waster game called "Make It Rain". In this game, you swipe up on a pile of money to make more money and then spend it on other things that will generate even more money. However, there's one catch - the FBI spin wheel, which actually takes away money. The game is a lot of fun in short runs and is definitely something unique.

The game is free to download and play, making it a great option for those looking for a quick fix. While the gameplay may not be incredibly complex, the design and artwork are top-notch, making this app worth checking out if you have $3.99 to spend.

App Review: Monument Valley

Another game that's caught our attention is "Monument Valley". This optical illusion-based puzzle game is both fun to look at and play. The level design in this title is one of a kind, with beautiful artwork and stunning visuals.

The music and gameplay blend seamlessly together, making this app a must-have for fans of puzzle games. While the game may be short, few people seem to regret spending $3.99 on it. If you're looking for a visually stunning puzzle game that's worth checking out, Monument Valley is definitely worth the price tag.

App Review: Per App Modes

Next up is one of the best root apps ever - "Per App Modes". Version 2.0 has been released, which includes bug fixes, performance improvements, a polished up UI, multi-selection support, and many other tweaks to make things better for users who may not be aware.

Per App Modes allows you to set the maximum and minimum CPU speeds on various applications, along with other variables, making it easier to improve performance on heavy games or save battery on less CPU-intensive apps. This app is a must-have for root users looking for more control over their device's behavior. With its current price of $1.99, Per App Modes is definitely worth checking out.

App Review: Grab My Charger

Last but not least, this week we have an application called "Grab My Charger" that's perfect for travelers. The premise of the app is simple - it uses your phone's GPS and alarm to remind you to grab your charger when you leave it behind.

This can be a huge problem for travelers, as leaving your phone charger behind can suck up a lot of time and hassle. Grab My Charger solves this problem by sending you notifications when you plug in or unplug your charger. With its free price tag, this app is definitely worth checking out if you're always forgetting to grab your charger on the go.

Awesome Video Recommendations

If you've got a minute, we've got two awesome video recommendations for you to check out. First up is a Galaxy S5 tips and tricks video that's packed with useful advice and features for making the most of your device. Next up is an unboxing video for a new gaming console, which shows off its sleek design and impressive specs.

These videos are definitely worth checking out if you're interested in learning more about your favorite devices or staying up-to-date on the latest tech trends.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello again ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe hindy the Android authority app guy and happy Friday everybody this week we're going to talk about Google Play and PayPal running applications on devices that usually shouldn't be able to run them and a lot of other awesome news so let's get started in our first bit of news this week you can now pay for applications using PayPal this is kind of a huge deal for a long time google has had preferential treatment of their own Google Wallet platform so to see PayPal show up like this is actually kind of surprising for now PayPal is supported in only 12 countries including the US Germany and Canada according to the Android developers blog this is to help make payments more seamless that's not all that's going on along with the PayPal support Google has also added carrier billing and Google Play gift cards to a number of countries worldwide developers in 13 new countries can now sell their apps on the Google Play Store lastly it adds an additional information screen to app pages simplified headers easier to read permissions and more if you want more info on the Tweet UI you should follow this guy on go+ Whose name I won't even pretend to know how to pronounce speaking of new things Plex now supports camera upload okay so here's what this means if you have a Plex pass subscription then Plex will begin to automatically upload your camera roll to your Plex library for future viewing wherever you can use Plex as usual you can turn them off in the settings and set it to upload only when over mobile data or Wi-Fi as you prefer as stated you need to have a Plex pass subscription for this to work oh and as usual there were the boilerplate bug fixes and performance improvements in the update and now for the news that likely got you to click on this video in the first place there's now a way to run iOS apps on Android yes it's true friends dubbed cider the Project's ultimate goal is to allow totally unmodified iOS apps to run on Android here's the short version essentially some science students from Columbia University develop CER which is essentially a compatibility layer that pulls iOS apps into believing that the Android Linux kernel is the xnu kernel that runs on iOS this could have some pretty epic ramification with interests ranging from Individual users to businesses it'll be interesting to find out exactly how Android users get a hold of iOS apps since the Apple App Store isn't the most open place ever it's also worth noting that this is still in the Prototype phase and it's not altogether clear if the project will keep going because it was originally done as a research project personally I hope someone picks it up because this would be awesome this was a Triumph I'm making a note here huge success so portal was released on May 12th as scheduled but owners of nvidia's handheld Android power gaming system got a bit of a surprise because halflife 2 was released right alongside it both are available right now for shield for the not so low price of $9.99 each portal is currently rocking a 5.0 rating in the Google Play Store with halflife 2 earning a respectable 4.9 at this time it'll be interesting to see if these ever make it to non-shield devices but with the recent price dropped to $199 The Shield is looking like a better device all the time now speaking of app that shouldn't be able to run on your device a new app called ported app lets you run OEM skin apps on other devices it's called ported app and it was released by The apply named XDA member App Maker here's how it works the app is actually a collection of apks that allow you to run apps from OEM skinned ROMs included are apps from Sony Samsung sign engine mod Nokia and others and you can run them on pretty much any device the app is a great idea but it is limited for the time being there aren't many apps you can choose from but we assume the list will grow at time it's also worth noting that you cannot get ported app in the Google Play Store you must head to XDA Developers download it and then manually install the APK if you want to try it we'll have a link to it in the written companion so who wants to see some trending applications as usual if you want to check any of these applications out you can find the links in the written companion which is in the video description below first up this week is an application called bright weather and it's done by the same developers who brought us the insanely popular beautiful widgets at its core bright weather is just another weather application you can find weather in your area or around the world view local forecasts view radar and some more unique features like a weather almanac what makes this app nice is the design which includes new background images daily and more interactive elements than usual it's free in the Google Play Store right now if you want to try it out next up is a little time waster game called make it rain in this game you swipe up on a pile of money to make money and then you spend it on other things that make you money every action in this game only serves to make you more money except the FBI spin wheel which actually takes away money it's a lot of fun in short runs and it's definitely something a little different it's also free Monument Valley is an optical illusion based puzzle game that's both fun to look at and fun to play the level design in this title is one of a kind and while the game is pretty short few people seem to be regretting spending the $3.99 the game is going for in the Google Play Store the music gameplay and artwork all seem to seamlessly blend together in a stunning presentation that you can enjoy with your eyes and with your ears if you have $4 to spend check this one out next up is per app modes which is one of the best root apps ever it was updated to version 2.0 which added bug fixes performance improvements a polished up UI multi- selection support and many other smaller UI and performance tweaks to make things better for those who may not know per apppp modes is a root application that lets you set the maximum and minimum CPU speeds on various applications along with other variables this can help improve performance on heavy games save battery on less CPU intensive apps and give you more control over how your device acts it's a $1.99 and if you're a root user you should go give this one look last up this week is an application that's perfect for travelers called grab my charger the premise for this application is simple it uses your phone's GPS and an alarm to make sure you grab your charger when you leave it seems useless for normal folks but if you're traveling leaving your phone charger behind can suck a whole bunch so what you do is set the alarm when you plug in your charger and when you leave without it the app will send you a notification so you can go back and get it it's free for a limited time right now so go check it out once again I'm Joe hendy the Android authority app guy don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and if you want to follow Android authority myself or the rest of our handsome video team and jce broa you can find all of our social media links in the video description below if you're hanging out for a minute we have a couple of Awesome videos for you to watch right over there including a Galaxy S5 tips and tricks video along with my review of XCOM finally don't forget to check out the written companion in the video description below for all of the download links as always thanks for watching everybody and have a wonderful day nhello again ladies and gentlemen I'm Joe hindy the Android authority app guy and happy Friday everybody this week we're going to talk about Google Play and PayPal running applications on devices that usually shouldn't be able to run them and a lot of other awesome news so let's get started in our first bit of news this week you can now pay for applications using PayPal this is kind of a huge deal for a long time google has had preferential treatment of their own Google Wallet platform so to see PayPal show up like this is actually kind of surprising for now PayPal is supported in only 12 countries including the US Germany and Canada according to the Android developers blog this is to help make payments more seamless that's not all that's going on along with the PayPal support Google has also added carrier billing and Google Play gift cards to a number of countries worldwide developers in 13 new countries can now sell their apps on the Google Play Store lastly it adds an additional information screen to app pages simplified headers easier to read permissions and more if you want more info on the Tweet UI you should follow this guy on go+ Whose name I won't even pretend to know how to pronounce speaking of new things Plex now supports camera upload okay so here's what this means if you have a Plex pass subscription then Plex will begin to automatically upload your camera roll to your Plex library for future viewing wherever you can use Plex as usual you can turn them off in the settings and set it to upload only when over mobile data or Wi-Fi as you prefer as stated you need to have a Plex pass subscription for this to work oh and as usual there were the boilerplate bug fixes and performance improvements in the update and now for the news that likely got you to click on this video in the first place there's now a way to run iOS apps on Android yes it's true friends dubbed cider the Project's ultimate goal is to allow totally unmodified iOS apps to run on Android here's the short version essentially some science students from Columbia University develop CER which is essentially a compatibility layer that pulls iOS apps into believing that the Android Linux kernel is the xnu kernel that runs on iOS this could have some pretty epic ramification with interests ranging from Individual users to businesses it'll be interesting to find out exactly how Android users get a hold of iOS apps since the Apple App Store isn't the most open place ever it's also worth noting that this is still in the Prototype phase and it's not altogether clear if the project will keep going because it was originally done as a research project personally I hope someone picks it up because this would be awesome this was a Triumph I'm making a note here huge success so portal was released on May 12th as scheduled but owners of nvidia's handheld Android power gaming system got a bit of a surprise because halflife 2 was released right alongside it both are available right now for shield for the not so low price of $9.99 each portal is currently rocking a 5.0 rating in the Google Play Store with halflife 2 earning a respectable 4.9 at this time it'll be interesting to see if these ever make it to non-shield devices but with the recent price dropped to $199 The Shield is looking like a better device all the time now speaking of app that shouldn't be able to run on your device a new app called ported app lets you run OEM skin apps on other devices it's called ported app and it was released by The apply named XDA member App Maker here's how it works the app is actually a collection of apks that allow you to run apps from OEM skinned ROMs included are apps from Sony Samsung sign engine mod Nokia and others and you can run them on pretty much any device the app is a great idea but it is limited for the time being there aren't many apps you can choose from but we assume the list will grow at time it's also worth noting that you cannot get ported app in the Google Play Store you must head to XDA Developers download it and then manually install the APK if you want to try it we'll have a link to it in the written companion so who wants to see some trending applications as usual if you want to check any of these applications out you can find the links in the written companion which is in the video description below first up this week is an application called bright weather and it's done by the same developers who brought us the insanely popular beautiful widgets at its core bright weather is just another weather application you can find weather in your area or around the world view local forecasts view radar and some more unique features like a weather almanac what makes this app nice is the design which includes new background images daily and more interactive elements than usual it's free in the Google Play Store right now if you want to try it out next up is a little time waster game called make it rain in this game you swipe up on a pile of money to make money and then you spend it on other things that make you money every action in this game only serves to make you more money except the FBI spin wheel which actually takes away money it's a lot of fun in short runs and it's definitely something a little different it's also free Monument Valley is an optical illusion based puzzle game that's both fun to look at and fun to play the level design in this title is one of a kind and while the game is pretty short few people seem to be regretting spending the $3.99 the game is going for in the Google Play Store the music gameplay and artwork all seem to seamlessly blend together in a stunning presentation that you can enjoy with your eyes and with your ears if you have $4 to spend check this one out next up is per app modes which is one of the best root apps ever it was updated to version 2.0 which added bug fixes performance improvements a polished up UI multi- selection support and many other smaller UI and performance tweaks to make things better for those who may not know per apppp modes is a root application that lets you set the maximum and minimum CPU speeds on various applications along with other variables this can help improve performance on heavy games save battery on less CPU intensive apps and give you more control over how your device acts it's a $1.99 and if you're a root user you should go give this one look last up this week is an application that's perfect for travelers called grab my charger the premise for this application is simple it uses your phone's GPS and an alarm to make sure you grab your charger when you leave it seems useless for normal folks but if you're traveling leaving your phone charger behind can suck a whole bunch so what you do is set the alarm when you plug in your charger and when you leave without it the app will send you a notification so you can go back and get it it's free for a limited time right now so go check it out once again I'm Joe hendy the Android authority app guy don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and if you want to follow Android authority myself or the rest of our handsome video team and jce broa you can find all of our social media links in the video description below if you're hanging out for a minute we have a couple of Awesome videos for you to watch right over there including a Galaxy S5 tips and tricks video along with my review of XCOM finally don't forget to check out the written companion in the video description below for all of the download links as always thanks for watching everybody and have a wonderful day n\n"