Category Archives: iPad Entertainment

SketchBook Pro Review

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SketchBook Pro Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: Autodesk Inc.
Price: $8.99
Version: 1.2

Design Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Features Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.67 out of 5 stars

The iPad’s purpose as a writing device is well recognized. There are countless note taking applications, from the inbuilt Notes application right up to Apple’s Pages. However, as a drawing device, the iPad is not as well known, and Apple hasn’t created a drawing application – let alone have one installed by default. AutoDesk took matters into their own hands with SketchBook Pro for iPad.

SketchBook Pro is an intuitive, fully-featured drawing application, suited for both a quick sketch and a more detailed drawing. The interface is impressively clean for the amount of features that it holds, with full precedence being given to your designs at hand rather than the myriad of customizable options that exist. A small circle close to the edge of the device (changing depending on which way you hold your iPad) provides access to an options bar up at the top or side of your screen, as well a number of quick options: erase layer, undo, redo and enter full screen drawing mode again. This menu bar is also accessible by a three finger swipe down.

The menu bar hosts a number of buttons, including both basic and advanced drawing features. The gallery button provides access to your in-built gallery, where you can see all of your saved drawings, as well as e-mail and export them (more on this later). The usual plus and info icons are present too, adding the ability to create a new document and get information on and help using SketchBook. The Brush Editor tool is probably where most users will spend their time aside from drawing. There are over 75 preset brushes, including pens and markers, pencils and objects. Radius and opacity of each brush is customizable, as is colour in a number of different formats – from block colours, RGB colour codes and almost everything in between. The design is simple for the features that it holds – it is clear that thought has been put into where tools should go.

Basic, essential features like which type of shape to draw and a mirrored drawing tool exist, as well as more advanced characteristics like layers, enabling users to have full control of their work, focusing on certain areas as well as the bigger picture. A 2500% zoom capability compliments the layers feature nicely.

In terms of ease of use, a quick understanding of the menu options goes a long way. Once you’ve covered ground to become familiar with the basics of SketchBook, it becomes very quick to just open up and start drawing. An included help guide sees you on your way nicely. Drawing itself is limited only by the powers of your finger! My art teacher always criticized me for the overuse of a ruler, but you quickly feel at home drawing freehand on SketchBook.

The image export options are rich, with the ability to export to photo library as a flattened (single layer) image to iTunes; PSD to iTunes; flattened e-mail and PSD e-mail. Photos can be imported from your Photo Library, and all creations can be duplicated to ensure a fatal error won’t cause a major setback.

I’m impressed with SketchBook. It will stay on my iPad as the drawing tool of choice. It works seamlessly and operates entirely through you, meaning you can do what you want where you want, without limitation. Highly recommended.

[ SketchBook Pro Review is a post from 148Apps ]


iTV Shows HD Review

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iTV Shows HD Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: iSnoop.fr
Price: $1.99
Version: 3.9.0

Design Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Features Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

iTV Shows HD provides a simple, effective way to follow the TV shows that you are interested in. Its content is aggregated from both The TV Database and TVRage to ensure that even the less well known shows are catalogued. The design of iTV Shows is clean and well thought-out, with the screens differing depending on whether you hold your device in landscape or portrait mode. Much like the Notes application, a directory sidebar is constantly visible when viewing iTV Shows in landscape mode, but is only visible in portrait mode when a button is pressed.

Adding a TV show is a really simple process. Click the plus button, enter in the name of the show, tap it, and that’s it. Rather neatly, the search box doesn’t hide as soon as a show has been added – meaning it takes a fraction of the time to add multiple shows. The application did get a little confused, understandably, between differentiations between the ampere sign (&) and the word (and), but this is more a database limitation rather than iTV’s problem.

Once shows are added, the aforementioned directory sidebar comes into play, providing the user with the latest timing information with regards to the show. For example, the application is currently telling me that The Good Wife is restarting in 13 days, September 28, and that the episode number and name is S02E01 (season 2 episode 1) – Taking Control. For shows like In Plain Sight and Curb Your Enthusiasm, the times are marked as TBA, or To Be Announced. Finally, shows like Frasier and The West Wing are marked as Ended, signifying that these shows have no new episodes airing. I’ll leave my personal disappointments aside. Going into more detail, when you tap on a specific show the application offers a wealth of information regarding episode numbers and names, as well a description of the show and full episode history. Each episode history contains its own short synopsis paragraph, taken straight from The TV Database or TVRage.

One feature that I’d like to touch on is the ability to mark a show as ’seen’ – which places a red bookmark similar to that on iBooks by that particular episode. Instead of having a red bookmark for every show, only one bookmark is placed, thereby implying that all of the above shows have been watched. This makes sense when you think about it – episodes of TV shows are typically watched in chronological order.

The application was somewhat slow in aggregating content for a TV show, particularly in series with a higher number of seasons. In addition, the lack of broadcasting information – like when and where it’s on – forces a user to look elsewhere. Finally, a push notification wouldn’t go amiss to alert you that one of the shows you watch is about to start, particularly given the fact that this is a paid-for application.

Overall, I am impressed with iTV Shows HD. It feels like a native version of a website like epguides.com, and the ability to mark TV shows as watched is very cool. If future updates satisfy the above, it’ll be worth every penny.

[ iTV Shows HD Review is a post from 148Apps ]


The Pedlar Lady for iPad Review

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The Pedlar Lady for iPad Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: MOVING TALES
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.01
Device Reviewed On: iPad

iPad Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.42 out of 5 stars

I’ve never heard of the old folk tale(s) that The Pedlar Lady originated from, but the notion of reading this story in an enhanced ebook format was an opportunity I could not resist. Since the iPad appeared, the device has been hailed as the harbinger of a new age in publishing, but most of that has been in the form of periodicals and traditional print ebooks like those available for the Kindle and for Apple’s iBook store. A few experimental books have appeared, like Elements or Alice, and these push the boundaries of what books can and should do. The Pedlar Lady is another example of this sort of book app.

I won’t say much about the story of The Pedlar Lady except to say that it has a rustic charm that is fairly irresistible. The story is plainly and simply told, but it carries with it the aura of ancient legend. Credit goes to developer Moving Tales for not trying to make the story more than what it is, and instead focusing on accompanying the story with visuals that are deceptively complex.

The graphics are sophisticated 3D, but the color pallette is kept so limited it allows even these high-tech images to seem old and worn in a way. Color in general is limited to only a few objects (except for two gorgeously rendered traveling scenes that look like moving paintings), so the words take precedence over everything else.

Those selfsame words are wonderfully read by a narrator who affects a convincing and gentle Irish dialect (one version of The Pedlar Lady story originated in Ireland). You can turn off the narration if you wish, but I was charmed by it. Still, it might be interesting to read it aloud yourself, particularly to a young child.

If there’s a weakness to be found with The Pedlar Lady, it’s that it is not as interactive as I had expected. It is very much a moving book – nothing less and nothing more. Touching objects on the screen yields nothing (except occasional mistaken page turns) and the most interactive the app gets is when you turn the iPad from portrait to landscape mode – the narration stops and the letters tumble convincingly across the page.

This is a minor quibble, however, as a book is not the same thing as a game, and interactivity can also interfere with the flow of the story. Accept The Pedlar Lady for what it is – a beautifully conceived and designed childrens book that is bound to charm anyone of any age.


[ The Pedlar Lady for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]


iPad Comics Review: Sin City and 300

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iPad Comics Review: Sin City and 300 is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $9.99 to $14.99
Versions Reviewed: 1.0

iPad Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Dark Horse comics, already a fine purveyor of print and iPhone comics, has decided to dip their toe into the murky waters of iPad comic publishing. The iPad, long hailed as the savior of all things comic book, is the perfect platform for comic book publishing. My case in point? The standalone Frank Miller comic apps, comprising Sin City Volumes 1 and 2, and the Miller/Varley magnum opus, 300. While I’ve tried my hand at single issue comics from Marvel, DC, and iDW, this is the first time I’ve read through what amounts to a Trade Paperback (TPB) on the iPad. The result? Nothing short of brilliant.

Granted, the art and stories in question are among the finest in the field. The black and white work in Sin City is superb and detailed, and the story just short of genius. Volume 1, The Hard Goodbye, follows Marv, a hard bitten criminal with a taste for amazingly beautiful woman, top shelf alcohol, and the sleazy side of the city, as he searches for the mysterious killer of his one night stand. In Volume 2, A Dame To Kill For, we see some of the events from Volume 1 from a different prequel perspective.

300, for those of you living in a box the past 12 years, is a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae and the events leading up to it from the perspective of Leonidas of Sparta. The artwork is a full color extravaganza with Miller’s trademark pen and ink style, painted by Lynn Varley, Miller’s wife at the time. It’s a brutal yet gorgeous retelling of the ancient story, and full worth every moment spent with it.

To buy these books in a bookstore, you’re looking at ten to fifteen dollars more than Dark Horse is asking for the digital versions. That’s a significant savings, and you can tell yourself that it saved some trees. The app itself is fairly basic; a tap on the right advances a page while a tap on the left moves back a page. Settings are limited to setting the page transition animation to Fade, Slide or None, and you can control the brightness from int he app as well, a welcome addition for bedtime readers with partners. At the bottom of the screen, there is a scrollbar and a page counter to navigate quickly and accurately. The app will display the last page you were reading when launched, as well.

That may sound under-featured, but for comics reading, it’s really fantastic. The more transparent the interface, the better, allowing the iPad to get out of the way and letting the works of art shine through. It might be a nice addition, especially for the price, to add a “page flip” option, to mimic the turning of pages, but it’s not a deal breaker.

The one niggling issue I have? No manual zoom. I suppose I’ve gotten used to the many other comic apps I’ve used on the iPad, but I miss the ability to pinch out and look more closely at the artwork or dialogue. It’s a small issue, but real enough in the comic book reading app world. You can re-orient the iPad and the comic will shrink or grow, but it’s still a “read it the way they want you” experience. As I said, though, it won’t keep me from recommending these. For such a great savings over the print versions, these are a must have for any comic book reader or Frank Miller fan, and a wonderful way to show off your iPad’s glorious screen and resolution, of course.

$9.99

Frank Miller’s Sin City v2: A Dame To Kill For

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-07-23 :: Category: Books

$14.99

Frank Miller’s 300

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-07-23 :: Category: Books

[ iPad Comics Review: Sin City and 300 is a post from 148Apps ]


Movies Now HD Review

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Movies Now HD Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: KODU
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 2.1
Device Reviewed On: iPad

iPhone Integration Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.33 out of 5 stars

There are moments when the choices app developers make absolutely boggle my mind. Take Movies Now HD, a new universal app for both the iPhone and iPad. There’s nothing wrong with the app, per se; it does what it says it will do. It locates movie theaters near where you live, provides showtimes, plot synopses and movie trailers. If you want to buy movie tickets, you can using your movietickets.com account, provided a theater near you honors the service. The trouble is, Movies Now HD costs $1.99, and there are several other, much better, options that do the same thing and more for free.

The main screen of Movies Now HD provides four primary options: Box Office, which shows top grossing, newly released and currently playing films, Upcoming, which shows exactly what it says it shows, Theaters, which provides a Google map of nearby theaters, and Tickets, which shows any tickets you have purchased for upcoming films. You can also add films to a wish list, which seems sort of odd, as it’s only a holding area for movies you are interested in seeing. It might be interesting if you could share your wish list – like Amazon – and others could gift tickets to you through the app. Alas, Movies Now HD doesn’t do that.

It would be great if I could list all of the new and exciting features that Movies Now HD brings to movie apps, but as it stands it’s a marginally acceptable app and nothing more. I can’t *ding* it too harshly on the rating scale that we use, but the bottom line is that you should avoid this app and spend your money elsewhere. If you want easy access to movie trailers, showtimes, tickets and more I recommend the much better Flixter. Trust me on this one.

[ Movies Now HD Review is a post from 148Apps ]


iFontMaker for iPad Review

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iFontMaker for iPad Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: The 2TTF\
Price: $7.99
Version: 1.1

iPad Integration Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

I dabble in graphics design and webcomics, so when I got the opportunity to play with 2TTF.com’s do-it-yourself iFontMaker app, I leapt at the opportunity. The promise of crafting my own handwriting fonts directly on the iPad was too juicy an opportunity for me to pass up. Fortunately, iFontMaker delivers on its promise. Anyone will be able create a Mac and PC compatible handwriting font with iFontMaker; and who among us hasn’t wanted to do that?

Making Your Font

iFontmaker has a single, straightforward interface with a few adjustable options. It’s very clean, very simple to figure out, and, as it turns out, very black. This threw me off for a second, as most of us are used to looking at a font most often as black text on white background. I’m not sure why they chose to do it this way; it may be a graphic design thing. It doesn’t hinder the functionality of the app.

Making a font from your own writing is pretty straightforward. Each letter has to be written individually, in large size (the entry field takes up most of the iPad screen). The screen provides guides for you so that you can provide a consistency of size and baseline; if you don’t want the guides, they can be turned off. You can also control the pen tip to achieve rounded, squared, or chiseled tip; and line width for bolder or finer fonts. This isn’t a lot of variety, but it allows you to find a line that looks good in your handwriting. I preferred the square “pencil” tip, and I recommend choosing a finer line than the default 5 pt. Don’t go too fine, though; the line may look big on the screen, but could become hard to read when shrunk down to 12 point type.

You must enter each letter, number, and character one at a time. For my review, I tried this with both my finger and a Pogo Stylus. I preferred the stylus for finer handwriting control, but even a finger works fine. Being able to write directly onto the screen is great for making a handwriting font, and the large screen size means you can get a decent line even with your fingertip.

The 2TTF website promises that you can make your own font in about five minutes, and that’s true. It took me about 5 minutes to create a decent set of 95 standard characters. The app gives you the option to do more than 400 characters, however, including another 96 Latin characters (many of them accented letters), 256 extended characters, and two Japanese font sets. It’s great that they don’t limit the fonts to a basic character set, and it real adds to the app’s international appeal.

Generating Your Font

Once you’ve entered all your characters, creating a usable font is pretty simple. You just upload it via WiFi to 2TTF.com–you don’t even need an account name or password–and the website sends you a passkey. Within a minute, the font is ready, and anyone with the URL and passkey can download your creation for free.

The fonts work, too. I imported both of my fonts into a Windows PC without a single issue. I tried them out in both Microsoft Word 2007 and an older version of Adobe Photoshop CS; they functioned without issue, the same as all my other TTFs. They didn’t necessarily look great, but then, my handwriting rarely does.

Long-Term Value?

So, should you buy iFontMaker? Ultimately, the question boils down to: how badly do you want a font based on your own handwriting? The app delivers what it promises, a font based on your handwriting for the relatively low price of $7.99. Getting a personal handwriting font created online generally costs $10 to $20, and with those services you don’t get to go back and create another one, or fix the one you have, or let your six-year-old make a font. So iFontMaker is definitely a value for what it does.

Once you’ve perfected your personal font, however, there’s really not much reason to keep iFontMaker on your iPad. It lacks any drafting type tools, so there’s no way to create straight lines, elegant curves, or the next Helvetica. Sure, some graphic designer types, or those artists on YouTube drawing phenomenal portraits on the iPad with their fingers, might be able to suss more out of this app (2TTF.com features a few). But for most of us, this is a finite process: complete your personal font, transfer it to your desktop or laptop, and then delete iFontmaker from your device.

Conclusion

I commend the 2TTF for putting out such a neat app that allows many of us to do something that we’ve always wanted to do, in a way that makes use of the unique iPad interface. I hope that they create a more robust font creation tool out of iFontMaker in the future. In the meantime, though, it’s a fun experience for anyone interested in a novelty handwriting app, and even though it’s of finite use, it’s still a couple of bucks cheaper and more flexible than online font creation services.

[ iFontMaker for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]


TWiTPad Review

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

Developer: Shiftkey Software
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.01
Device Reviewed On: iPad

iPad Integration Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.42 out of 5 stars

First things first: TWiTPad is NOT the latest, greatest Twitter client for the iPad (do we need another one of those anyway?). Rather, it’s the official application for accessing Leo Laporte’s TWiT.TV netcasts, chat rooms and broadcasting calendar. If you’re a fan of any of Leo Laporte’s shows, chances are you’ll find something worthwhile about TWiTPad.

The basic functions of TWiTPad are extremely simple. In fact, to quote Steve Jobs, the first time you open the app it “Just Works!” Once opened, the app immediately begins streaming whatever Leo and Friends have going at the moment. Sometimes this is a live show like Net@Night, MacBreak Weekly or This Week in Tech. In spite of the volume of content that Leo broadcasts every day, there’s still a good chance that there is nothing live on the air when you choose to open TWiTPad. Rather than go off the air entirely, previously recorded episodes are streamed, so you get content 24/7.

If you’re interested in a particular show, TWiTPad features easy access to the TWiT Google Calendar feed, adjusted for your time zone, so you can figure out the best time to tune in and watch everyone live.

The final major piece of the TWiTPad is the integrated IRC channel chatroom. Again, provided there is a live show going on, this gives you the opportunity to potentially interact with Leo and his guests or just chat with other viewers/listeners with similar interests. The chat and video settings are optimized from the moment you open the app.

As is the case with many iPad apps, the only real difference between portrait and landscape views is the amount of data displayed on the screen. Portrait mode only shows the video stream and one other component (calendar or chatroom), while landscape mode shows all three. Nothing surprising there.

While TWiTPad does a good enough job, there are still some tweaks and features that could really make this app shine. The overall appearance of the app is very utilitarian – a sort of blue steel theme, complete with rivets – and the option to at least change themes would be nice to have. Users can also access a web browser from within TWiTPad (a helpful touch that pulls up the TWiT.TV website and allows browsing while listening), but clicking on TWiT.TV video links for previously recorded shows does nothing. It would be nice if clicking the video link for last week’s This Week in Tech stopped the live TWiT stream and downloaded/played the older show.

These are small complaints, however. For $0.99, this is a must-have app for anyone who is a Leo Laporte fan.

[ TWiTPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]


EW’s The Must List Review

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EW’s The Must List Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Developer: TIME INC.
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPad

iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.22 out of 5 stars

IMG_0012I have a confession to make.  I love Entertainment Weekly.  I know, I know…there are more intellectually stimulating mags out there, and EW can occasionally hover a bit too close to the terrifying US Weekly and/or People magazine territory, but when it comes to learning about new books, movies, TV shows and more, it’s my go-to rag.

So, when an EW-branded iPad app showed up prominently displayed in the app store, I had to download it and give it a spin.  True to my fixation with EW, I was not disappointed.

At first glance, the EW Must List app seems incredibly limited.  Basically, it takes the two page Must List spread (which catalogues the latest music, book, film and, yes, app, “must-haves” for the week) and translates it to the iPad screen.  Seems sort of ho-hum, doesn’t it?  Fortunately, the developers of the app have harnessed theIMG_0015 power of the iPad display and used it to create a compelling product.  Yes, it looks just like the print version of the Must List (and it might even look a little better.  The iPad is just screaming for high color, dynamic content like this), but clicking on any of the items not only pulls up the blurb written by EW, but also links to, say, movie trailers, song samples, an artist’s Twitter feed or Facebook page, or purchase points like Amazon or the iTunes store.  While writing this review, I even looked at some past lists and quickly pulled up the latest info on the Scott Pilgrim movie, including the hyperactive trailer.  For a pop culture junkie, this is pretty close to nirvana.

As a final treat, users are allowed to add any item to their own Must List, an action accompanied by an animated star spritely hopping into the menu.  While this is just a simple variation on the classic wish list, a la Amazon, it helps generate further enthusiasm for the content while making users come back for more each week.

There’s no doubt that this is a simple and straightforward app, yet there are features I’d like to see in the future updates to the app.  Probably the first and foremost is some sort of social aspect.  It would be great to be able to see friends’ must lists, and even purchase items for them directly from the app. And while the Must List is a weekly tradition in the Entertainment Weekly print magazine, a twice a week Must List would not be a bad thing.  A week is too long to wait for the next Must!

If you always want to know about the next big thing a little bit ahead of the curve, EW’s Must List is a must have for your iPad.

[ EW’s The Must List Review is a post from 148Apps ]