Five to Try: otos gets smart unlimited, plus riscope’s easy video streaming

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 29 May 2015

The I/O 2015 developer’s conference is raging right now, which means loads of news announcements have been pouring in— that extends to apps, as well. ’s new otos app leads our picks this week, plus Inbox by Gmail is no longer invite-only, so everyone can give it a shot. so, the company’s great Spotlight Stories short films from the Moto X are now available in a stalone app for other devices, as well.

In the third-party realm, Twitter’s live-streaming video app riscope just hit Android, tailing rival Meerkat by a few weeks, while ra Croft: Relic Run turns the Tomb Raider franchise into an endless runner—with surprisingly solid results. Here are the apps you need to grab this week.

otos

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ether you’ve got six snapshots or 6,000, otos will automatically back them up to the cloud—for free.

Most of the I/O keynote yesterday focused on what’s coming up in Android M, but you don’t have to wait for this one: the new otos app is available now, it splits the one-time + feature off into its own service.

And it’s a big upgrade. th the launch of otos, now offers unlimited storage for your snapshots clips, with the original resolution kept up to 16 megapixels for stills 1080p for videos (anything larger counts against your Drive storage tally). Auto-backup is enabled, as well, plus it’s a smart service: otos will automatically sort your images create tags based on what it sees. So you can search for a location or subject seen in a photo find it automatically. And it has editing tools, too.

If you take a lot of photos videos on your phone aren’t already years deep into another service (like Flickr), it sounds like an ideal way to back up auto-sort your creations in the cloud— save some local storage on your device. 

riscope

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nt to stream a glimpse into your life, or just see what everyone else is doing? Twitter’s riscope is here.

started the month with Meerkat (in beta; the tag has since been removed), now we’re ending it with riscope. They essentially do the same thing: both let you stream out live video with incredible ease via your Twitter account, plus you can pop into others’ streams for a quick window into someone else’s world. The difference is, Meerkat is a scrappy indie, while riscope has been acquired by Twitter. 

In use, they’re not terribly different, although riscope is a bit more polished it’s easier to browse popular streams. And riscope has some pretty notable users: last night, I watched ES’s SportsCenter anchors answer fan questions on the set between commercial breaks. That’s the sort of cool connection that apps like these enable, which is precisely why they’re blowing up.

Inbox by Gmail

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t the algorithms take over: Inbox auto-sorts your messy Gmail contents.

After eight months behind an invite-only fence, ’s Inbox app for Gmail is finally freely available for all. How does Inbox differ from your average email app? ll, it bundles together messages (like promos receipts) automatically, saving you clutter, smartly exps out the emails that matter: you’ll see photos, maps, flight status info right in your inbox.

It’s a significant shake-up of the usual Gmail inbox, as such, it’s decidedly not for everyone—our called it “lousy” back in nuary, although it’s been tweaked enhanced significantly since. Inbox is free, it’s certainly an interesting spin on email management, so you might as well give it a shot.

ra Croft: Relic Run

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Tomb Raider makes the free-to-play runner leap— the production values soar.

Relic Run sees the titular Tomb Raider star cast in an endless runner, which seems a little “me-too” on the surface, but this free-to-play offering has some appeal. It looks a bit like Temple Run, but actually plays more like Subway Surfers, offering three lanes to swipe between as you leap over chasms slide under falling rocks. 

ong the way, Relic Run packs in interesting elements: you’ll run along walls, ride an ATV, blast enemies in shooting gallery segments, all presented with the series’ trademark cinematic flair. In fact, this might be the best-looking runner ever released on Android. It’s tricky, though: obstacles are sometimes tough to spot, especially with lots of quick turns, so you might build frustration more often than momentum. Smart tweaks could make Relic Run great, but it’s still plenty solid for now. 

Spotlight Stories

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Grab Spotlight Stories for Duet (left), at the very least, but Help others are intriguing too.

’s 360-degree Spotlight Stories short films used to be exclusive to the Moto X, but with the launch of a dedicated app, now anyone with a compatible phone (see below) can scope out these interactive clips. It’s launching with the first live-action one: Help, a short by Fast & Furious series director stin n about an alien who crash-ls on earth quickly causes a ruckus. 

But it’s the other clips that steal the show, especially Duet, a stunning feat of h-drawn animation that dems multiple viewings. However, many phones aren’t yet compatible for some reason: my Nexus 5 worked fine, but a Galaxy S6 ge couldn’t even download it ( user reviews mention issues with other devices). so, ndy Day is in the Cardboard app, but where’s the VR support for the rest? Still, if it works on your phone, these free Spotlight Stories are well worth several minutes of your time.