First-ever 'Google Play Awards' Honors these 10 Apps for Outstanding Achievements

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 23 May 2016

A total of 50 apps and games across 10 different award categories were nominated for the inaugural Google Play Awards by a panel of experts on the Google Play team, experts who based their choices on criteria emphasizing app quality, innovation, and having a launch or major update in the last 12 months.

During a special ceremony at I/O 2016, Google’s annual developer conference, Google presented the winners of the first-ever Google Play Awards. These are the 10 apps and games that Google recognized for their outstanding achievements.

Houzz – Winner of the 'Best App' category



"The new way to decorate your home" – that is the tagline chosen for Houzz, a platform for home remodeling and design that gives you everything you need to improve, renovate, or redecorate your home: millions of photos to inspire and give you design ideas, a handy means of finding professionals, a large community that’s always ready to offer helpful advices, and a shop with tons of curated products.

Perhaps the most useful feature that Houzz has to offer is "View in My Room," which uses your device's camera to let you see how products will look in your room.

The Houzz home decoration and improvement app is free. You can get it from Google Play, Amazon, and Apple’s App Store.


Thinkrolls 2 – Winner of the 'Best Families' category



Meant for kids 3 to 9 years old, this logic puzzler features increasingly challenging puzzles, 32 hilarious super smart characters, and 270 challenging levels (half of which are easy levels meant for ages 3 to 5 and the other half are hard levels meant for ages 5 to 9).

"This clever game of logic keeps kids on their toes as they use properties of matter and basic physics to make their Thinkrolls not only roll, but float, glide and teleport through a series of themed chapters. Each gradually introduces a new scientific concept in an accessible, easy to understand way. As kids explore and master, through trial and error, how to navigate the twists, turns and many pitfalls, they gain confidence in their deductive reasoning and ability to problem solve," says the game’s description on Google Play.

Avokiddo’s Thinkrolls 2 is available for purchase on Google Play, Amazon and Apple’s App Store.


Clash Royale – Winner of the 'Best Game' category



Created by Supercell, the guys behind the immensely popular Clash of Clans, Clash Royale is a real-time multiplayer game that asks you to battle players from around the world, in real-time, using a series of strategic cards. Collect and upgrade dozens of cards featuring your favorite Clash troops, spells and defenses, as well as the Royales: Princes, Knights, Baby Dragons and more.

Clash Royale is a free game that offers in-app purchases. Get it for Android from Google Play and for iOS from Apple’s App Store.


Robinhood – Winner of the 'Best Use of Material Design' category



Robinhood is a stock trading app that you can use to buy and sell stocks, view market data in real-time, and build a personalized stock watchlist. This isn’t the first time that this app gets the recognition it deserves. Google named it as one of the best apps of 2015 and Apple named it a runner-up for the 2015 iPhone App of the Year award.

Robinhood is available for free on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.


Table Tennis Touch – Winner of the 'Best Use of Google Play Game Services' category



Play this game in career mode and rise through the ranks, try the mini game challenges, or play against someone else in local or online real-time multiplayer. The game has realistic physics, stunning graphics, intuitive swipe controls, realistic high speed gameplay, and more to offer.

Table Tennis Touch is available for purchase on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.


World Around Me – Winner of the 'Early Adopter' category



Want to discover places around your current location? With this app you can find restaurants, shops, museums, ATMs, bus stations, and other useful places around you.

World Around Me is available as a paid Pro version and as a free Lite version. Get it for Android on Google Play and for iOS on Apple’s App Store.


Pokémon Shuffle Mobile – Winner of the 'Go Global' category



Battle against wild Pokémon by lining up three or more Pokémon vertically or horizontally. There’s not much more to say about this puzzle game, except perhaps that it is free, with in-app purchases.

Get Pokémon Shuffle Mobile from Google Play and from Apple’s App Store.


NYT VR – Winner of the 'Most Innovative' category



With this Virtual Reality (VR) app, the New York Times takes storytelling to the next level and puts you at the center of the story. Use the app with a Google Cardboard viewer and go inside the news.

NYT VR is available for free on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.


Alphabear – Winner of the 'Standout Indie' category



The goal in this word puzzle game is to spell words by selecting letters on a grid. Bears appear when you use letters that are adjacent to each other. The more letters you use, the bigger the bear gets, and the more points you earn!

This isn’t the first time that Google honors Alphabear. Back in December, it was featured on Google’s Top 3 Indie Games of 2015.

Alphabear is a free game that offers in-app purchases. Get it for Android from Google Play and for iOS from Apple’s App Store.


Hopper – Winner of the 'Standout Startup' category



Hopper analyzes billions of flight prices to predict how they will change. Based on that prediction, it sends you a push notification when your flight is cheapest. Thanks to Hopper, you could save up to 40% on your next flight.

Hopper is available for free on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.


Google Play Awards 2016 – All the Winners



Google set up a special section on Google Play for the winners of the first-ever Google Play Awards. You can check it out by clicking this link. If one of the winning apps is missing, it means it is not available in your region.


In related news...

I remind you that in all, 50 apps were nominated for the inaugural Google Play Awards. The 10 that scored a win are listed above. The 40 that did not score a win are presented here.



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