So, the first ever google play awards were held on Thursday this week. A sum of 50 apps was nominated, categorized in 10 different awards list. Best Apps Of The Year is then selected from top 50 android apps .The nominated apps were selected and characterized on the basis of design, innovation, and quality.
Google had already announced the nominees back in April, like Clash Royale, Alto’s adventure, Dubsmash etc.
Let’s take a look at who won.
BEST GAME: Clash Royale
https://youtu.be/skHbLHkS5LE
Clash Royale is a new game by Supercell, yes you heard it right. It is made by the developers of top grossing game Clash of Clans. And like the previous game, it’s a real-time multiplayer game.
The game features your same favorite Clash characters, collect and upgrades dozens of cards like Clash of clans troops, spells, buildings and much more. The objectives are pretty much similar, Fight and win a battle, conquer trophies, you can also create your own clan or rather choose to join your friend’s clan.
BEST USE OF MATERIAL DESIGN: Robinhood – Free Stock Trading
Free stock trading. Stop paying up to $10 for every trade. Robinhood for Android is a free download that allows people to buy and sell stocks for free. View market data in real-time, build a personalized watch list and place trades with a few taps.
Material design can be found in over a million Android apps now. but Robinhood wasn’t praised for giving commoners access to free stock trading. In its place, Google awarded the Robinhood team for its design prowess.
BEST USE OF GOOGLE PLAY GAME SERVICES: Table Tennis Touch
If you like table tennis, you’ll love Table Tennis Touch. Stunning graphics, intuitive swipe controls, realistic high-speed gameplay and multiple game modes have made Table Tennis Touch the world’s #1 table tennis game.
STANDOUT STARTUP: Hopper
Don’t let the cute bunny on the app’s icon fool you, Hopper is rather brutal to airlines.
Use Hopper to save up to 40% on your next flight. The app analyzes billions of flight prices daily to predict how prices will change and sends you a push notification when your flight is cheapest so that you never miss a deal. Booking in the Hopper app is fast and easy.
Download Hopper for free now to see why millions of travelers are using the app when booking flights.
STANDOUT INDIE: Alphabear
https://youtu.be/TH9zaicbt9o
The developers at Spry Fox have done a great job creating Alphabear. achieving success as an independent developer is a rough process.
Alphabear is an original word puzzle game by Spry Fox, the developer of the award-winning game Triple Town. In Alphabear, you spell words by selecting letters on a grid. When you use letters that are adjacent to each other, bears appear! The more letters you use, the bigger the bear gets, and the more points you earn!
MOST INNOVATIVE: Nyt VR
VR was a hot topic this year at I/O with Android’s upcoming Daydream feature.
Every day, we bring the world to our readers. With NYT VR, we bring our readers to the world. Through virtual reality, The New York Times puts you at the center of the stories that only we can tell: stories reported by a staff of award-winning journalists all told through an immersive video experience. The limits of our storytelling capabilities now stretch further than we ever before imagined, and we are excited to experiment with this new form of journalism.
GO GLOBAL: Pokémon Shuffle Mobile
According to google, what’s more, global than Pokémon?
A whole new puzzle game where you solve puzzles to battle Pokémon. Pokémon Shuffle Mobile is a puzzle game where you line up three or more Pokémon vertically or horizontally to battle against wild Pokémon. You can play it casually, but battling, collecting, and leveling up Pokémon can also provide hours of fun.
EARLY ADOPTER: World Around Me
World Around Me is a unique way to find useful places around you – such as restaurants, ATMs, shops, bus/metro stations and more. WAM uses your phone’s camera to give you a completely new way of exploring a place, anywhere in the world.
When you point the phone’s camera in any direction, then you will see overlays of virtual signboards onto the camera view in that direction. Augmented Reality is thus used to enhance the view of your surroundings. This helps you navigate intuitively to places of your interest, using your phone’s camera.
BEST FAMILIES APP: Thinkrolls 2
Thinkrolls 2 is an enlightening logic puzzler for kids aged 3-9. This much-anticipated follow-up to our award-winning app Thinkrolls is molding the next generation of scientific geniuses and will have the whole family enthralled.
Completing the puzzles requires juggling multiple possibilities, but by thoughtfully combining elements and planning moves well in advance, players keep their Thinkrolls happily rolling along.
BEST APP: Houzz
Taking top honors is Houzz, which I think is pronounced “house.” Unlike other home decoration and improvement apps, Houzz gives your ideas and puts you in touch with the contractors or designers directly within the app.
Houzz has everything you need to improve your home. Be inspired by over nine million high-resolution photos of home interiors and exteriors that you can browse through by style, room, and location, and then save and share. Connect with over one million active home improvement professionals, from architects and interior designers to builders and more, who can make your dream home a reality; and discover thousands of products to complete your projects.