AAW Marvel Realm of Champions

Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Welcome to the 359th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the big headlines from the last week:

  • Samsung Pay is undergoing some changes here soon. The worst of them is the removal of Samsung Rewards from a lot of the Samsung Pay app. You won’t get them anymore for general transactions or really from anything else. The only way to earn rewards is through purchases directly from Samsung. Hit the link to learn more. Samsung Pay points were usable for a wide variety of things, like buying themes and other fun stuff.
  • DC Universe is shutting down all movie and TV streaming in January 2021. We knew it was more or less coming but now we’re 100% sure it is. The video streaming stuff is moving to HBO Max over a period of time. Enjoy the remaining stuff while you can because the rest is leaving by January 21st.
  • Google had a massive outage this week. The outage affected YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, and most other Google services. The outage lasted roughly 45 minutes although the effects were felt for a bit longer. Apparently, Google had some issues with its identity management system and it just crashed everything. Hit the link to learn more.
  • Disney+ announced 86.8 million subscribers a little over one year after launch. That’s a pretty big deal. It’s larger than Hulu and most other streaming services except YouTube, Netflix, and (believe it or not), Crunchyroll. Sony also bought Crunchyroll this week so it was a big week for video streaming.
  • The FTC ordered a bunch of big companies to tell them how they use your data. Companies on the block include Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, Discord, WhatsApp, Reddit, Snapchat, Twitter, and more. The purpose is to see how they serve advertisements and how intrusive the data collection is. Hit the link to learn more.

Dragon Brawlers

Price: Free to play

Dragon Brawlers is an online multiplayer game with a brawler premise. You and two other players match up against three other players to duke it out. There are a few game modes as well, including Dragon Soul mode, Bounties mode, and Gem Jam mode. The mechanics are solid and entertaining. It’s very, very similar to Brawl Stars by Supercell. Some of the reviews are fake, but luckily the game is still a good time killer.

Heynote

Price: Free

Heynote is a different type of note taking app. It turns your notes into wallpapers so you can have your to-do list directly on your screen without the need for a widget. Basically, you write a note, set it as your background, and it’s there. You can write over top of your existing wallpaper if you want to as well. It’s a neat premise presented in a unique way. The app is also entirely free as of the time of this writing.

Heynote screenshot

Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Deemo -Reborn-

Price: $1.99 with in-app purchases

Deemo -Reborn- is a remake of one of the most popular early rhythm games on mobile. It tells the story of a girl who meets Deemo who plays the piano alone. The game contains surprisingly good rhythm mechanics, over 60 songs from the first game along with others. There is also a story to follow. It has a few bugs since it’s an early release, but Rayark should fix them rather quickly. The game runs for $1.99 right now (33% off), and the in-app purchase are permanent DLC song packs.

FocusReader

Price: Free / Up to $4.49

FocusReader is a news reader in an era where news readers are harder and harder to find. It supports most aggregators such as Feedly, Inoreader, RSS, Tiny Tiny RSS, and some others. You simply search for the news sources you like and it shows you articles from those sources. The design is clean and Material Design. It’s also quite easy to use. Some other features include a light and dark theme, offline reading support, and various customization settings like font size, line height, line spacing, and more. It’s actually a fairy competent reader overall.

FocusReader screenshot

Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Marvel Realm of Champions

Price: Free to play

Marvel Realm of Champions the latest mobile game with Marvel characters. It’s an online multiplayer game where players choose a hero, level it up, and play with other players. The various roles are themed for the characters, so people with the Hulk are probably ending up with a tank role. The game play is fairly fun and the social aspect makes it enjoyable to play with friends. The game could use a balance update and some optimization for better performance and less battery drain. It has a lot of potential and it’ll likely be a minor hit for a while.

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If we missed any big Android apps or games news, tell us about it in the comments!