Google launches Android Experiments to showcase app creativity

If nothing else, it appears that apps are going to make us magicians who can flatten landscapes with a tap on our device screens. This is only seems like a far-fetched idea if you have not seen what the new Android Experiments launched by Google yesterday look like.

The apps feature are not at all new but they are a blueprint of what apps can become.

Android Experiments is a platform to celebrate the creative, experimental Android work of developers everywhere. It is also a way to inspire more developers to get creative with technology and code.

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Unlike developers scattered around the world, working in silos, Android Experiments brings developers together and create collaborations and networks. Android has stressed that at the core of its Material design language was collaboration, designers, engineers, coders, working together to bring it all together.

“This spirit of invention has allowed developers to push the boundaries of mobile development and has helped make Android the go-to platform for creative projects in more places—from phones, to tablets, to watches, and beyond” Android says.

The platform, Android Expriments, has 20 initial experiements that showcase a diverse range of creative apps. Apps like Grove, a creative and relaxing experiment where you explore procedural landscapes and turn them into your own colorful scenery, furthmore, one can choose to flatten or raise a landscape.

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Other apps that are featured in the initial 20 includes Landmarker, Inkspace, Tilt, Selfie x Selfie, Time Mesh, and Muzei, a wallpaper live app built for art enthusiasts that refreshes the home screen each day with famous works of art.

All these apps were built using platforms such as the Android SDK and NDK, Android Wear, the IOIO board, Cinder, Processing, OpenFrameworks and Unity.

Android encourages everyone to make use of the platform, stating that this is open to creators everywhere.

“Whether you’re a student just starting out, or you’ve been at it for a while, and no matter the framework it uses or the device it runs on, Android Experiments is open to everybody” the company says.

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If you want to submit, Android says it is looking for “projects that explore how we interact with our devices, in small and big ways”. The projects will be open source.

The experiments should be compatible with Android 4.4 (KitKat) and higher. They do not have to necessary be compatible with all devices as long as you let Android know of this.

Android says it cannot upload every that has been submitted but it is interested in what creators are making. It also urges that creators should upload material that you own or have a license to use.