Monthly Archives: August 2010

When? App Review

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When? App Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: DEVELOPER
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.3

iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.17 out of 5 stars

When? is a simple App with one purpose – it helps you quickly search and add holidays to your iPhone Calendar. Say you have difficultly remembering when Easter isl you needn’t worry because every major holiday by region or country is listed, and, within just a couple taps, automatically added to your Calendar.

For someone who is a self-described Calendar Junkie, I don’t know why I’ve never come across an App like this before. Maybe it’s because I already have a subscription to a Canadian Holidays Google Calendar which automatically gets imported alongside my other Google Calendars into the iPhone App use for this purpose (which is actually not the built-in one at all). So, I’m thinking that the target audience for this app is someone who uses their calendar often, but maybe don’t use an online equivalent and need something like this to simply not have to manually enter important dates.

So that actually leaves quite a lot of users who would benefit from having this App. Actually I quite admire the thought process behind it – having a handy off-line list of events is great, especially if you’re using an iPod Touch, or if you’re one of the rare iPhone users (like myself until the 4’s release) that was not on a Data Plan, this might actually serve a purpose every once in a while – but the ratio is slim.

The App itself is well designed, very organized and easy to use, it imports to the Built-in Calendar App beautifully. If you have your iPhone Cal synced to your Google Cal, and synced back to a different iPhone App for Calendars, it does all seamlessly integrate, so long as you have an wifi or 3G connection. No, the flaw in this App is not its design. It’s it’s usability.

There are a finite number of holidays in a year, and there are an even smaller number of times I need to add those holidays to my Calendar. Paying $0.99 for the privilege of looking this information up offline isn’t really worth it for me. However, if you’re constantly befuddled by holiday schedules, if you are in school, a teacher or otherwise really dependent on knowing and keeping up to date on this sort of information, you may very well find a use for this App.

[ When? App Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Agendus Review

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Agendus Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: IAMBIC
Price: $7.99
Version Reviewed: 2.3
Device Reviewed On: iPhone

iPhone Integration Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Shall we all take a brief moment to remember the glory days of Palm Pilots and Palm OS? Those days may be gone, but there are still apps and developers looking to translate their Palm successes to the iPhone. One of the most recent translations is also one of the biggest from the good old days of Palm: Agendus.

Agendus attempts to pull together all of the disparate elements of the classic PIM into a tidy iPhone package. The app contains a multi-functional calendar with full Google Calendar sync, a task or to-do list creator/editor, and a contact manager. On top of that, Agendus’ home screen also provides a quote of the day, a “This Day in History” factoid and the current weather forecast for your location. The ability to edit and create events and have them sync with your Google Calendars is certainly helpful, but I was most immediately taken with the “extended view” for contacts, which allows you to view your list of contacts with their photos, email addresses and phone numbers present as well. This way, it’s easy to look up a contact and with one click connect to him/her via any of the email addresses or phone numbers you have stored for that person. Shouldn’t this already be possible in the iPhone’s existing contacts app? Agendus certainly has the right idea with this.

Google Calendar sync is quick and seamless – probably one of the fastest syncs I’ve seen yet – and I like how you can view a full year’s calendar on one screen. Small black dots are under any date that has an event scheduled, so it’s easy to see where you’ve already committed yourself and where you have open space on your calendar.

The task list is not particularly impressive, in that it isn’t very different from a hundred other task list apps I’ve seen over the years. However, I give Agendus credit for including a decent and functional one that works with the other parts of this suite.

At first glance, I was very impressed with Agendus. But upon extended use, I discovered several dismaying aspects of the app that simply need to be remedied as quickly as possible. For instance, when I tried to use the visual calendar editor to extend the time of an upcoming meeting, the app created another event concurrent with the one already present. Then, when I tried to delete this new event, it created ANOTHER event. I think I ended up with about four or five events happening at roughly the same time, and I still don’t know how to delete them. Then, I began worrying that those new events had been synced to my Google Calendars, so it really created quite a little dilemma.

Likewise, when I tried to edit an event’s details using the typing function, the keyboard came up but obscured some of the necessary commands and functions I needed. I could never figure out how to reach those commands, so I just gave up. While I understand that this is still a work in progress, and that there are bugs to work out in almost every app, there are two points to consider. One: Agendus is a productivity app. Any app that makes this claim, then hinders productivity by its very design flaws, is difficult to trust. And two: Agendus is expensive (by app store standards, at least). At $7.99, it ought to do what it claims to do with only minor reports of trouble. This, alas, is not the case.

My final concern is with the general look of the app. It certainly does many different things, but it doesn’t look or feel as sophisticated as I think it should. The colors are very muted (dull blues and greens) and the entire presentation feels extremely utilitarian. I understand that a productivity app is all about getting things done, but can’t those same things get done with a little more style. Apple inherently knows this. Agendus still has the look and feel of an earlier Palm app and it’s definitely in need of a look and feel overhaul.

I really wanted to like Agendus. I really did. I’m a teacher when I’m not blogging, and I keep all of my daily classroom events on separate Google Calendars. I want and need a way to have perfect access to this information whenever I am away from my computer. Agendus is not the solution I’ve been looking for. In its present state, I can’t see making it my default client for all of my productivity needs. It has great potential, no doubt, but this is one app that should still be in the developer’s workshop.


[ Agendus Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Apple & Google, Enemies or Allies? How FaceTime Plays In

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Apple & Google, Enemies or Allies? How FaceTime Plays In is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Apple strikes with a roundhouse kick the gut! But wait, Google fights right back with an eye gouge and a slap to the face! Apple is stunned but isn’t going to give up that easily. What a fight, what a battle; who is going to win, folks? This is the picture much of the media has painted for us, isn’t it? That Google and Apple have locked horns and are doomed to a winless war for all eternity. That’s not really the case though. Truth is, the war is fought mainly with the media and loyal fans who follow the gossip like it’s a WWE match. Yes, the two companies compete with each other on a couple of levels, but at the same time they work incredibly well and profitably together. Based on some recent news, I believe the two have secretly teamed up again in an effort to bring FaceTime to the mainstream for good.

Ok, here’s what we know:

1) Apple is hosting an event on Wednesday and at the very least they’re probably going to announce a new iPod touch with a front facing camera.

2) iOS 4.1 beta has been out for several weeks and contains an option to make FaceTime calls via e-mail address.

3) Apple from the start has said it plans to make FaceTime an open industry standard, potentially allowing communication with other devices.

4) Google just announced last week the ability to use their Gchat feature for video chats. Gchat, if you’re not familiar with it, runs directly through Gmail and uses other user’s Gmail address to authorize chats.

When you combine the first three together along with the timing of Google’s announcement, it seems just too convent to be just a coincidence. I certainly could be wrong but to me the picture is pretty clear, Apple and Google are going to walk us right into the future and by this time next year, iPhone users and Andriod users will be FaceTiming each other everywhere. Finally the world will be at peace and harmony.

[ Apple & Google, Enemies or Allies? How FaceTime Plays In is a post from 148Apps ]


Master of Alchemy HD for iPad Review

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Master of Alchemy HD for iPad Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: CHILLINGO
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPad

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.56 out of 5 stars

Master of Alchemy HD for the iPad does a lot of things right. Graphically, it’s impressive – not from the amount of pixels or polygons it pushes, but from the creative graphic design of the game. The game design is clever, if derivative, and the challenges are deep. Why is it, then, that the game seems only marginally entertaining?

The setting for Master of Alchemy HD is, of course, the Middle Ages, and you are an apprentice to a master alchemist. You get to choose your character and backstory at the beginning of the game, but this really doesn’t impact the gameplay and seems more like window dressing than anything else. The character designs, however, are beautifully drawn and presented. Your chosen character’s goal is to learn the secrets of transmuting solids into liquids, liquids into gases, gases into solids, and so on and so on. To accomplish this task, you are given several tools and the ability to place them pretty much anywhere on the screen. After a brief and effective tutorial, the game begins.

And this is the point where you figure out that Master of Alchemy HD is like any number of puzzle games that have come before it. You know the type: guide X creatures/items to Y location within a certain time limit. It’s an old mechanic; at least as old as Lemmings. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se, but I was hoping for more than a simple retread of an old idea. Instead, Master of Alchemy is a puzzle game where, yes, you do transmute matter to an extent, but only in service of getting that matter to a predetermined goal point on the “map.”

So, I return to the strong visuals, and especially strong audio, in the game. If you are already predisposed to like puzzle games of this type, you will no doubt be delighted with Master of Alchemy on your iPad, as it executes its puzzles quite well in a remarkable visual and auditory style. In fact, I would argue that it’s one of the best-looking and sounding games in its class. If, however, you are looking for something new and different, something that takes its theme and really uses it to fuel an original concept, this is not the game for you. After all, you can’t get blood from a stone, can you? Even the alchemists couldn’t do that.


[ Master of Alchemy HD for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Squirrel 2 In-Depth Review

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Squirrel 2 In-Depth Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: Axel Peju
Price: $2.99
Version Reviewed: 2.0

iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.08 out of 5 stars

Squirrel for iPhone is a finance management app that lets you manage and check your accounts, transactions, and budgets right from your iPhone. It’s designed to sync with the Mac client of the same name. While you can use it without the Mac application, it’s when you combine the two that Squirrel really shines.

Setting Up: Squirrel’s Structure
Squirrel operates using three basic elements—accounts, budgets, and transactions. Accounts are rather self-explanatory. You can create accounts representing checking or savings accounts, credit cards, or even cash. Transactions are labelled with a date and a short description, and show what you’ve spent your money on; budgets let you see whether or not your spending is in line with your goals.

To start using Squirrel, you’ll need to make a few accounts and assign them starting balances. Easy as pie.

Sort that Data
Supplementing those structures are tags and categories. You can have as many categories or tags as you like. The difference? Each transaction can only be in one category, but can have multiple tags.

The point of all this classification is twofold. First, it lets you create budgets within the app. For example, you can set a monthly food budget, or a one-time budget for textbooks (gulp, that’s my problem). Budgets can be created on a yearly, semi-yearly, quarterly, monthly, or one-time basis. From within the iPhone app, you can only create budgets for categories; however, the Squirrel application for Mac supports advanced budgets that adhere to rules (i.e., all transactions that are tagged “x” and are not in category “y”).

Secondly, if you’re using the Mac app, Squirrel will display a pie graph depicting the distribution of your spending. If you’re spending way more on fun than on necessities, you’ll be able to tell at a moment’s glance.

You cannot, however, view categories and tags from within the app—they’re displayed under each transaction, but you can’t say, “show me all transactions in the food category,” for example.

Daily Use
All well and good, but how easy is it to use Squirrel every day? I’ll admit that meticulously keeping track of my spending is annoying, but…well, it’s kind of unavoidable. Unfortunately, it takes a lot (six, to be exact) taps to enter a transaction in Squirrel. You must select the proper account, hit the plus sign, enter the amount, enter a description, and then move on to another screen where you can change other properties. It would be easier if there wasn’t a weird lag at the amount screen as well.

Still, it’s not too bad. Squirrel doesn’t have too many features, but keeps clutter down, and if you’re willing to spend a minute entering data after each purchase it’s a great way to organize your data. The Mac application sync works splendidly (same-named objects result in duplicates rather than risk overwriting data, which I love) and you can even set it to do so automatically. Bravo!

Other assorted features: the ability to set a four-digit passcode (not terribly secure, but still better than nothing), multi-currency support, iOS 4 features like Retina display optimization and multitasking, and autocomplete for categories and tags.

Final Thoughts
Squirrel is a fairly robust finance management app with some great features like live updating budgets, multiple account support, flawless Mac sync, and categories and tags. There are still a few things I don’t like, such as the time it takes to add transactions (my dream: photographing receipts! or just a simpler interface) and the fact that without the Mac application, you can’t take advantage of Squirrel’s full capabilities. However, the app looks great, runs smoothly, and does a good job of keeping your spending organized.

My final verdict: if you’re a Mac user, Squirrel is probably worth having. $24.90 for the desktop version isn’t bad, and the mobile-desktop synchronization is a great system. If you’re using Windows, however, the stripped-down app probably isn’t worth it. Smart budgets, pie graphs, web integration with your online accounts: for these, you’ll need Squirrel for Mac.

[ Squirrel 2 In-Depth Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Coastal Super-Combat Review

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Coastal Super-Combat Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: Triniti Interactive
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 2.99 out of 5 stars

Coastal Super-Combat is my vote for the easiest game of 2010. The award doesn’t necessarily mean that Coastal Super-Combat is a bad game, it’s just way (as in waaaaaaaaaaaaay) too easy.

The game is quite simple, giving you a gun scope that you move around with your finger, and then a button to fire your weapon. You get some other weapons that you can use too, but I never had to use them in my time playing.

After each level you are given a certain amount of money to buy new guns and ammo. I personally chose to buy every other gun on the list, and my strategy worked just fine. You can also spend money upgrading your base defense, but like the alternative weapons, I never saw a real need.

Once you’ve upgraded your gun and all, each level will take about 45 seconds to complete, leaving you with about a minute or two of fluff animation between each level. Getting through the entire game in one night really isn’t much of a challenge, assuming you can persevere through the games easiness.

All hope is not lost though, and with a few simple upgrades, Coastal Super-Combat could be a real winner. The game already has some great graphics (although they do look a bit Fieldrunners-like, but that’s another matter) and concept, so the big things are already taken care of.

First, there needs to be a much wider variety of units. There needs to be an abundance of land and air units, and there desperately needs to be some longer ranged units that can strike from farther out. The units also need to be much tougher, unless you hit them in a weak spot, like the head or gas tank. Maybe the game needs to get down to hitting tires and legs to slow units down; the whole aiming system needs to be much more challenging. I’d also like to see some defense help options, such as D-Day-like defensive bunkers, barbed fences, and landmines.

I think that with some love, Coastal Super-Combat could be a really nice game, but in its current form it’s a bit too easy to recommend to most. If you simply like shooting things and winning, you’ll probably get your money’s worth, but if you are asking for a challenge, look elsewhere.

[ Coastal Super-Combat Review is a post from 148Apps ]


Tumblie

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Tumblie is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Description

iPhone 4 Ready – With HD Graphics for Retina Display!

Watch gameplay footage here:

Tumblie is a fun and addictive puzzle / skill game. The object is to get your star to the stage without it falling off the side by getting the tower of shapes to break just right. You can use your points to ‘buy’ new stars, backgrounds and new shapes.

Try to collect them all!

An HD version is also available for the iPad! Just search for Tumble HD!


KaleidoBalls – iPhone App Review

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KaleidoBalls – iPhone App Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Post image for KaleidoBalls – iPhone App Review

KaleidoBalls – © 2010 Croesus-Mode, Inc.

Version 1.0

$0.99

kaleidoballsicon 150x150 KaleidoBalls iPhone App Review

In the vast sea of apps in the App Store, it is often the most simple apps that are the most fun and get the most use. I’m always on the look out for something simple to play with, that doesn’t take too much thought, but is fun to goof around with, while watching TV or something.

Developer Croesus-Mode has released an app called KaleidoBalls. You can create color balls by touching the screen and  dragging your finger across screen to create more color balls and animations. Ball color is based on screen position and varies as screen is touched multiple times. The balls are animated in the order they are created, and keep repeating, to get a kaleidoscope effect.

PhotoToMac Mikes iPhone 4 58 150x150 KaleidoBalls iPhone App Review
PhotoToMac Mikes iPhone 4 59 150x150 KaleidoBalls iPhone App Review
PhotoToMac Mikes iPhone 4 60 150x150 KaleidoBalls iPhone App Review

You shake the device to clear the screen and start over. Tap to add dots, swipe to make swirls, or whatever you want. Check out our video to see it in action.

KaleidoBalls is available in the App Store now, for $0.99. Go get it now!

KaleidoBalls

TwitterPicJune20107 150x150 KaleidoBalls iPhone App Review

written by Mike McKinnon

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© 2010, iPhone and iPad app reviews. All rights reserved. An expedite fee may have been paid for some reviews. We work diligently to ensure that this does not affect the content of the review and strive to keep the journalistic integrity intact. All reviews are the personal opinion of the reviewer.

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Two Upcoming Games – ‘Cut the Rope’ and ‘Lost Company’

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Two Upcoming Games – ‘Cut the Rope’ and ‘Lost Company’ is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Cut the Rope – Already drawing comparisons to the incredibly popular Angry Birds [99¢/Lite/HD], Cut the Rope is a new physics puzzle game developed by Zeptolab and being published by Chillingo. In the game, you're tasked with feeding candy to a hungry little creature named Om Nom. For whatever reason, the candy is tied up by ropes, and you must cut each rope strategically in order to let it swing and fall (or sometimes rise) into Om Nom's mouth. Hazards like spikes and spiders look to make feeding Om Nom even more difficult than just swinging the candy to his mouth, and bubbles can grab a hold of your candy and cause it to float away.

This game trailer gives a glimpse of the gameplay on offer in Cut the Rope:

There will be 100 levels in Cut the Rope, and each will be able to be played through quickly, but all the stars on each level must be collected if you intend to get the best score. Much like Angry Birds, it will be easy to keep retrying a level until you've achieved perfection. Expect a similar three star scoring system, as well as Chillingo's Crystal service for achievement and leaderboard tracking. You can join in on the discussion of the game in our forums, and expect Cut the Rope to be hitting the App Store in the coming weeks.

Lost Company – Announced at the beginning of July, Lost Company is a new tactical turn-based strategy game from developer Tome Studios. It's an online multiplayer focused game, with a single player element that is designed to teach you how to play the game before battling it out online. The style is reminiscent of Team Fortress 2 meets Final Fantasy Tactics, and the art and character design is looking very nice so far. You'll choose a team of five from the available unit types, which include a sniper, flamethrower, engineer, melee expert, and more. Winning matches unlocks new weapons, perks, and abilities for your units as you evolve and level up your persistent online profile. Matches will take place on various terrains that feature high grounds, half cover points, water, bridges, and other elements that add to the strategy of play.

This short video shows some of the tactics necessary in dealing with the terrain, and other gameplay videos can be found on the Tome Studios YouTube page:

One of the coolest things about Lost Company is that game data will be stored on the server side. The game will be universal for iPhone and iPad, and available on Mac OSX as well. So, if you start a game on your iPhone, you can then pick up in the same game where you left off later on your iPad or Mac. Lost Company is shooting for an October beta, with release to follow sometime thereafter. Once the server is up and running, you will be able to log in and create an account even before the game is available, earning an undisclosed in-game bonus for doing so. The developer is actively discussing the game with members in our forums, so be sure to check out the thread for a ton of concept art as well as details on how to log into the server when it goes live.