The Innovative Phone Apps That are Changing the Game
Almost everyone in the developed world has their mobile phone on or near them at all times. The technology has become a core part of everyday life, moving from merely being a method of communication to the centre of our profession, a means of accessing media, knowledge, and entertainment all in one.
The space has evolved rapidly over the last decade, and now it seems that there is a mobile solution for close to everything in the form of an app on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Many of the apps take the form of free-to-play games or simple apps like calculators or alarm clocks, but there is also a wide range of innovative phone apps which are completely changing the way that we interact with our world and how we go about our everyday lives.
There’s an app for everything, but it’s the truly innovative apps which manage to stand out as great additions to our mobile home screens. These are some of the most game-changing apps to have been released in recent times.
Complete cross-play from mobile
‘Fortnite’ Season Eight, Week Seven Challenges Guide https://t.co/g12BXMYEa2 pic.twitter.com/mM6Sr0dHA4
— Variety Gaming (@Variety_Gaming) April 11, 2019
Mobile gaming has long been seen as the lesser form of the art, with most mobile games being free-to-play, tap and go creations which use waiting tactics and multiplayer functions to coerce their players into making microtransactions.
While the quality of mobile gaming is improving, and the remote sector became the largest piece of the global games revenue pie this year, there was still very little to be able to compare it to other more traditional forms of gaming; but then came Fortnite.
As if helping to forge a genre of gaming and taking it into the stratosphere in terms of its popularity and revenue wasn’t enough, Epic Games created the mobile app for Fortnite which allowed for complete cross-platform play for its users. Players can log-in and play in the same game as others on their Xbox Ones, PlayStation 4s, Nintendo Switch, Android, or Apple device.
The cross-play is a social feature, meaning that instead of players of all platforms being put together through matchmaking – which may give an unfair advantage given that consoles come with controllers and mobiles rely on touchscreen analogues – allowing players to jump into games with friends whenever they want.
It’s a truly innovative creation which is changing the way that we see gaming, blurring the lines between mobile and console gaming. It’s certainly a feature that future game developers will attempt to recreate.
Using the phone’s special features
Another huge step in the world of mobile gaming has been the ability to use the phone’s capabilities to make playing games more like playing the physical version. When playing the likes of board games, table games, and machines games on mobile, a lot of the immersive experience can be lost in the disjointed nature of simply tapping a screen.
So, Coral created its specialised Spin Casino app, as shown by Oddschecker, which uses far more controls to make games more enjoyable to those who sign-up, grab the bonus, and fancy playing one of their table games. As your smartphone can react to tilting, the Spin Casino app integrated tilting as a control setting as a means of placing bets and controlling table actions in its casino games.
The most innovative feature, however, comes when playing the classic game of roulette. Roulette hasn’t changed much since the 1800s, so bringing in a new way to play certainly appeals to its fans, with the Spin Casino app featuring unique spin controls, using a flick of the finger to spin the wheel.
As online casino games don’t feature as much hands-on play as the likes of console games, to make them more interactive through the controls of a mobile phone gives them a huge boost and separates the Spin Casino app from the rest.
The smartest camera app ever
Never feel awkward not knowing what that dish is. See and search with Google lens on Nokia 8.1 Get yours at https://t.co/Ly2Sxcdyn5. pic.twitter.com/iioKiHd8Yb
— Nokia Mobile India (@NokiamobileIN) March 25, 2019
It has been theorised by science fiction writers that at some point in the future, we’ll be able to use technology through glasses and cameras to identify and get information about anything we view. Google is making that sci-fi fantasy a reality with Google Lens.
Many different Android devices currently boast the Google Lens software built in, including the LG 7 ThinQ and, of course, the Google Pixel 2. The app itself can read and understand any information held within your saved images, including Wi-Fi passwords, names, places, and then it offers ways for you to use the acquired information. For example, if you take a picture of a lizard that you don’t know the name of, Google Lens will automatically identify it.
SimpleC
Not all innovative apps have to be a revelation to the industry that they concern: innovative apps can be simple in the idea and the functionality and yet change the way that we go about our everyday lives.
SimpleC is an incredibly simple app through-and-through, as it’s designed to be. It has been created to help people to ‘age in place’, which means to improve the health and independence of ageing individuals, caregivers, and care providers.
Through the use of customised tasks, notifications, and reminders to eat, hydrate, exercise, and take medication, SimpleC hopes to alleviate some of the challenges of behavioural, chronic, and cognitive health conditions. The app also reports the user’s usage to family members and healthcare services to add another level of support.
Mobile apps have proven to be very useful in the world of healthcare, with many enabling people to get the help and advice that they need from home. SimpleC uses what many may see as basic functions, but has adapted them in a way that greatly helps people get the help that they need.
There are many great apps in the mountainous app stores, but these stand out as innovative apps that are changing the way that we perform day-to-day activities.