iOS/Android
Just a “preview” for now, this is Microsoft’s flagship email software made mobile, with a slick app that gives Gmail and other rivals a run for their money. It works with many of those rivals too: Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Apple iCloud accounts.
iOS
If you spend a lot of time watching vloggers, comedy skits and music on YouTube, Vessel is worth a look. It’s signing up creators to offer “early access” to their new videos, with an easy-to-use app to browse what’s new in your feed.
iOS/Android
Dubsmash is a big hit among younger smartphone users. You choose a famous quote or clip, mime along to it, then send the video to friends – including via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. A novelty, maybe, but popular.
iPad
This app has a very specific audience: blind and partially sighted people. It’s a way to create and share Braille notes, with an inventive user interface based on detecting where your fingertips are, and matching their position with the keys.
iOS (£2.29)
There’s a lot of buzz about children learning coding. Robot School is one of the apps trying to help. For age seven and up, it introduces coding logic across 45 levels of accessible, robot-guided puzzling.
iOS/Android
Interested in virtual reality but don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds on a headset? Verse is an app showcasing VR films that can be used alone, or with a DIY “Google Cardboard” device. The films, from creator Chris Milk, are beautiful and thought-provoking.
Android
Liftshare has been around for a while as a website, but not as an app. It’s a network of 400,000 people sharing lifts across the UK. Just stick out a virtual thumb to see if anyone has a spare seat to get there.
iOS/Android
Thanks to the likes of Facebook and Instagram, many people don’t bother printing their smartphone photos any more. 36pics aims to reverse that trend: an easy way to choose 36 pictures and order prints to be delivered.
iOS
Twitter’s Vine app has become a fertile community of people making six-second videos. Now there’s a version for kids, minus the swearing and twerking in favour of child-friendly animal and animation clips.
iOS/Android
It’s been on Android for a while, but the clever notifications-synching app is now on iOS too. It pushes smartphone alerts to your computer, making it a cinch to ping files and links from one to the other.
GAMING APPS
iOS/Android (Both Freemium)
Can anyone challenge Football Manager Handheld as the best mobile football management game? Top Eleven is the best effort yet, blending transfers and tactics in a social game where you take on other players around the world.
iOS (£2.29) /Android (£1.99)
What’s a Gunbrick? Simple: “A gun one side, a shield on the other”. It’s the cube-shaped protagonist in this inventive, original platform-puzzler. Your job is to roll, jump and shoot your way through the carefully crafted levels. Brilliant fun.
iOS/Android (Both Freemium)
Huge in the Americas, with 100 million players, and now available in the UK, Trivia Crack is a turn-based trivia quiz where you test your knowledge against friends and strangers. It’s this year’s Draw Something – a fun social mobile craze.
iOS (£3.99) /Android (£3.29)
Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time show’s latest app has creativity galore. It involves sketching your own levels on-screen or on paper, and turning them into a game featuring favourite characters – or just browsing those made by others.
iOS/Android (Both £1.49 + IAP)
Flockers is the spawn of two famous game franchises: its developer Team 17 made the Worms games, while its gameplay will remind you of Lemmings. Here, it’s sheep that you’re guiding to safety through an array of dangerous levels. Full of charm.
iOS/Android (Both £10.99)
Square Enix has been updating a swath of its famous console roleplaying games for smartphones and tablets, with Dragon Quest V the latest. It’s a meaty challenge for RPG fans, whether you have nostalgic pangs for the original or are new to the series.
iOS/Android (Both Freemium)
A Scrabble-esque game that has been an enduring hit on mobile devices now has this version, which can be played alone. Making words with letter tiles is still the key, but this time it’s more of a digital word-search in format.
iOS (£3.99 + IAP) /Android (£0.63 + IAP)
Newly released for Android, this second world war air-combat game has all the mid-air thrills and spills you could hope for. It also offers spiffing graphics and online multiplayer modes to dogfight over the internet.
iOS (Freemium)
Sitting somewhere between Mario Kart and Wipeout, this racing game is a colourful mix of speed, stunts and great big missiles. Vehicles vary from buggies to trucks, and while in-app purchases are used, they’re not pushed too aggressively.
iOS/Android (Both Freemium)
This piratical adventure has been a hit from Scandinavia to Singapore, but has finally touched land in the UK. It’s a fun slice of ocean-bound empire building, as you raid friends’ islands and upgrade your own base to become a pirate king.
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