It’s the weekend! Obviously, this means you finally have time to stare furtively at your smartphone. Give your app folder a breath of fresh air with these our favourite new apps this week.
Android
Email by Google
Gmail is great, but what if you’ve got an old Yahoo or Hotmail account you need to keep tabs on? Google just rolled out Email, which brings the stock Gmail layout, gestures and organisation features to whichever email account you have. [Free]
Nike+ FuelBand
Finally comes an app that will wirelessly pair your Nike+ FuelBand SE fitness tracker to your Android phone. Track your daily progress to goal, post your accomplishments to your Nike+ online account, and compare your activity levels to your friends, all without having to connect to your computer. [Free]
Sleep Cycle
Getting a restful night’s sleep has a lot to do with how and when you wake up. Sleep Cycle uses your phone’s built-in accelerometer to analyse how you move in your sleep. It figures out when you’re in the shallowest state of sleep and wakes you up then, so you arise rested rather than ruined. This week’s updates fix some bugs and flesh out some neat customisation features. [$2]
iOS
OKDOTHIS
Ever find yourself at a creative loss for inspiration? OKDOTHIS fights that, offering you randomly generated prompts for things to go out and photograph. Once you’ve got your shot, edit it with a whole host of in-app tools and share them with the community of fellow DOTHIS-ers. Go on out there and get inspired! [Free]
Inky Mail
We’re all overwhelmed by floods of emails, and trying to navigate it all on a teeny weeny screen doesn’t help. Inky Mail downloads and analyses your inbox right on your iDevice, auto-categorising messages into groups like Personal, Newsletters, Shipping, etc. One-click buttons for mapping addresses, sending replies and unsubscribing from newsletters make organisation a breeze, and the app syncs to your desktop (Mac or PC) too. [Free]
OverHeard
We’ve all been there, witness to a song, a conversation, or a random moment we wish we’d recorded. Never fear, OverHeard is here! It keeps a rolling log of the last three minutes of whatever the microphone picks up, so that you can go back and record whatever just happened for posterity. There are some goofy sound effects and of course social integration too, so you can share those moments forever and ever. [Free]
Golden Hour
Photographers worship the Golden Hour, when the rising or setting sun is low enough on the horizon to create a perfect soft light. Trouble is, that hour occurs at a different time every day. Golden Hour pops up a morning or evening reminder keyed to sunrise or sunset in your timezone, so you’ll always be ready to shoot some gorgeous photos. It’s a one-trick app, but its one trick is a great one. [Free]
Windows Phone
WildFire News
Keep track of the most popular news items from your favourite sites with WildFire. Follow your favourite sites and get the news you need without having to search it down. [Free]