Android app feast: The it’s-almost-Thanksgiving edition

Welcome to Friday and yet another edition of Ars Technica’s Android app round-up. We know how much you love to cut your teeth on new software.

Thanksgiving is just a few days away (in the US, at least) so be sure to eat sparingly to prepare your stomach for all the wonderful food you’re going to consume. This would also be a good time to prepare your Android handset as well by queuing it up with a selection of games and apps to keep you occupied during the holiday weekend. Here are a few to help you get started:

Wreck it Ralph, $0.99

The launch of Wreck It Ralph, the mobile app, coincides with the recent release of the Disney animated feature of the same name. The movie follows the tale of an arcade game villain who decides to turn around his fate and instead be the protagonist. There are a plethora of references to classic 8- and 16-bit games in the movie, and the mobile app follows suit with "throwback" minigames.

The app feature three minigames including Fix-it Felix Jr., where you guide Felix to fix the windows that Ralph has wrecked in an old school Donkey Kong-style setup; Sweet Climber, which follows the same game mechanics as the popular mobile game Doodle Jump; and Hero’s Duty, an adorable shooter where you blast away cy-bugs.

The games are easy to pick up and drop, and the cast of characters featured within the app are sure to delight. For only a dollar, Wreck It Ralph’s mobile app is worth the multiple new games it will bring your device.

Expedia, Free

This week Expedia updated its mobile apps on both iOS and Android to include flight bookings, better hotel listings, and exclusive deals for its customers. You can check the prices on flights to various airports—even the smaller ones that only service one or two commercial airliners, as well as international ones. The visuals for the hotel listings are thorough too; you can take a quick virtual tour of the room you might want to sleep in before you book it. And every time you start up the app, a new set of deals crops up to help encourage you to finally book that spontaneous weekend trip.

So if your family is driving you nuts this holiday weekend, remember: you have a smartphone, and you can use it to book a hotel or a flight back with only a few taps of a finger.

Pocket Yoga, $2.99

OK. We get that the word "yoga" in the title of this app might be a little scary. Doing yoga for the first time can seem intimidating, but all of that stretching and contortion is really good for the body. After a huge, sleep-inducing Thanksgiving meal it might actually be a good idea to do a couple of simple yoga stretches to help with digestion and keep the blood flowing.

Pocket Yoga lets users choose between three different yoga practices, difficulty levels, and duration times. Classes are as short as half an hour or as long as an hour, and the virtual instructor verbally walks you through every pose while providing an accurate representation of how the pose should look. You can also choose to do individual poses at your own pace, as well as add your own music to the "classes" to listen to as you flow.

Pocket Yoga is the cheapest way to try yoga without investing too much time, energy, or money in studio classes. Take your Android tablet or smartphone into a private room and try your hand at some of the poses. You might be surprised at what you can do.

...Or you can have another helping of Pumpkin Pie. That’s probably what the majority of us Arsians will do, anyway.