At the end of the year, Google traditionally sums up the results, presenting the rating of the most interesting games and applications on Google Play. The list is relatively small, each category contains only 5 items.
Applications
Face changer 2
A fun application that allows you to edit faces. There are many 'transformation' effects, background images, stickers, decals and more.
Application page on Google Play
Lumyer – Photo & Selfie Editor
This program will easily add dynamics and emotions to any, even not the most successful picture. A real find for selfie lovers.
Application page on Google Play
Castbox – Podcast Radio Music
Podcast and radio app, one of the best in its class. At the moment, the catalog contains more than 340 thousand podcasts and 70 thousand radio stations in more than three dozen languages. Among the features – a convenient catalog, subscription and offline playback functions, support for playlists, easy export and import of data from different sources.
Application page on Google Play
Emoji Keyboard Pro
A keyboard with a bunch of different emojis and an additional set of bonuses in the form of the ability to change the font, support for themes and a predictive text input system.
Application page on Google Play
MSQRD
Another program for selfie fans, though this time we are talking not about photos, but about video shooting. MSQRD allows you to 'put on' a virtual mask on a person's face, add a couple of new objects to the frame, or add some fashionable special effect to the video sequence.
Application page on Google Play
Games
Pokémon GO
The most sensational mobile game of 2016 hardly needs any special introduction. For those who, by some miracle, missed all the hype related to the game, here is a link to its review.
Is Pokemon GO Game of the Year?
As far as I understand, in Russia it is still not officially available, but nobody bothers to download the apk file from third-party sources.
Application page on Google Play
Clash royale
A new game from the creators of the famous Clash of Clans. Nice graphics, dynamic gameplay and as a necessary evil – the F2P model.
Application page on Google Play
Traffic Rider
According to the creators, this game has taken the endless motorcycle racing genre to a whole new level. Features include a career mode, nearly three dozen motorcycles, improved graphics and first-person view.
Application page on Google Play
slither.io
Who would have thought that the reincarnation of 'Snake' could be so successful? A lot of players on the same field, simple rules and surprisingly addictive gameplay.
Slither.io: the reincarnation of the 'Snake'
Application page on Google Play
Dream League Soccer
A new version of the game Dream League Soccer. Hire real FIFPr certified superstars, build your own stadium and take part in the Dream League Online World Championship.
Application page on Google Play
Movies, books, music
In addition, the official Google blog contains a list of the most popular movies, TV series, books and songs. In my opinion, it is not of particular interest. First, not all sections of Google Play are still available outside of the US. Second, the Google store is still far from the most convenient place to buy books or watch movies.
If you wish, you can read the full rating by clicking on this link.
Instead of an afterword
Every year the capabilities of smartphones are growing more and more, many things that seemed simply impossible a few years ago are no longer surprising. But they are used more for simple games and entertainment, where the main thing is the momentary 'wow-effect'. As an example, you can take the same augmented reality technologies that allow you to 'finish painting' virtual objects over a real picture. In theory, this is an extremely interesting and promising thing, about which hundreds of interesting video concepts have been shot and thousands of articles have been written. And in practice, this is primarily Pokemon GO and various video and selfie editors.
The flip side of technical progress is its speed. Software developers simply do not keep up with the capabilities of hardware, many grandiose plans remain on paper, and technologies become obsolete even before they manage to reveal even half of their potential. I would like to believe that next year all participants in this insane race will take a short pause and clearly demonstrate to us that the power of modern iron can be used not only for editing selfies, but augmented and virtual reality – not only for catching virtual Pokemon.