iPhone App Reviews

iPhone 3GS oleophobic = fantastic

Swain Valasek | Jun 29, 2009 News & Editorials

User rating: (6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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What seemed a total gimmic when first announced has proven itself to be the real deal.  After putting the 3GS through its paces for about a week now and the 3G still fresh in my mind, there’s no doubt Apple’s new ‘oil-fearing’  coating on the 3GS is a marvel.  I had to always carry around a quality microfiber cloth to truly get my 3G screen clean (which I had a screen protector on) as anything else really didn’t do much but move the smudges around to other parts of the screen.  In contrast, the 3GS (with no screen protector) not only just stays cleaner longer in general but a wipe on the shirt or pants actually does clean it up nicely…impressive!

Tags: iPhone news, Swain Valasek

Archon

Swain Valasek | Jun 27, 2009 Games

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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Archon from React Games is a faithful remake of the absolutely iconic 1983 8-bit classic from that bygone era when Atari and Commodore computers were bonafide ’high end’ gaming machines.  I played Archon and Archon II obsessively on my beloved Commodore 64 and the reward today is vivid memories of solidly trouncing my friends that’s simply priceless…truly the Golden Age of game design back in the old 80′s.  Archon’s foundation is the ancient game of Chess but really it takes the concept into some wild space far beyond.  In fact, Archon is so cool, another of its influences was the scene from Star Wars where R2-D2 and Chewie are playing a holographic chess-like battle game on the Falcon and what kid didn’t just love that scene back in ’77???

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Tags: $3.99, remake, retro, Swain Valasek

AT&T Navigator

Eric | Jun 27, 2009 Navigation, Travel

User rating: (9 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)

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AT&T Navigator is one of the first apps to fill a HUGE gap in the iPhone’s app catalog: Turn by Turn GPS navigation. This app, which is “powered by Telenav“, is one of the first apps that I know of that does not bill directly through the iTunes App Store. Instead, the monthly charge of $9.99 will appear on your AT&T bill.

Voice guided turn by turn directions are finally here!  No more hitting the “next” arrow on the Maps app while you rear-end the car in front of you.  So what is the deal with this app?  Does it deliver?  What is the experience like?  Are the directions solid?  What about the business listing database?  Real-time traffic?  How can you use this as a GPS device without multitasking (background running apps)?   Read on for the full review.

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Tags: $9.99 / month, gps, GPS Directions, Navagation, turn by turn

Q&F: DoGood

Chrisa | Jun 27, 2009 Lifestyle, Quick & Free, Social Networking

User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)

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Ah, to be young and full of hope.  I remember being like that, before I got cynical and exhausted.

But three young college grads in Michigan are still hopeful, and they’ve created DoGood, their first iPhone app under their collective moniker of Mobil33t LLC.  Now, normally on a free app, I’d give you a few sentences about it and go on with my weekend.  But DoGood has inspired me to put in a bit more effort in the hopes that a few more of you will try out the app and be motivated to pay it forward, so to speak. 

The app is pretty simple.  Every day there is a suggested “do good” task, like thanking a teacher, or use less water.  If you need some inspiration to do the “do good,” read short posts from others around the world who have done it.  If you do it, great!  Share how it made you feel or what you did, and get a running tally of all the “do goods” you do.  You can even post them to your twitter account, automatically.

It’s a simple idea, but it does reinforce the notion of one small gesture a day making a difference in the world.  And, with it right there in the palm of my hand, staring me in the face, I have to admit, I felt a little guilty if I didn’t at least try to do the daily “do good.” 

If I had to make one suggestion to the Wolverines, I’d have some way to screen the feedback.  Some of it was downright raunchy (see the comments on the ‘do something you love’ DoGood), from losers who think it’s a joke.  I’d definitely rethink your “appropriate for 4+” rating until you have this filter in place. 

Other than that, bravo, my fine young chaps.  I hope you change the world, one iPhone user at a time.

Tags: Lifestyle, Q&F, social networking

Q&F: Free Stuff App

Chrisa | Jun 27, 2009 Quick & Free, Random Freebies

User rating: (5 votes, average: 2.40 out of 5)

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You know those annoying pop-up ads that you had to get a pop-up blocker to eliminate, and those stupid quizzes that make you say “no” to a zillion free offers for magazines and tanning cream before you can get to the quiz?

Well some bozo put them all into an iPhone application called Free Stuff App. 

If you like being bombarded with this kind of crap, great – this is the app for you.  If you’re like the other 99.999% of us, stay away; stay FAR away. 

I can’t believe I’ve wasted this much time reviewing this.

Tags: freebies, Q&F

Bionic Surfer

Swain Valasek | Jun 26, 2009 Games

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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The backstory is that for the last 6 months aliens from the parallel dimension known as ‘kaon space’ have been invading Earth and several other ‘offworld’ human colonies, apparently locking onto the free energy signatures of kaon crystals we’ve been using (for what purpose you don’t yet know).  You take the role of Bionic Surfer, who wakes up with a bad case of who/what/where and a mysterious figure known only as ‘The General’ inhabiting his subconscious and directing him to save humanity.

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Tags: $0.99, platformer, Swain Valasek

iShot Machine

Michael (Admin) | Jun 26, 2009 Lifestyle

User rating: (4 votes, average: 2.50 out of 5)

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Ok drinkers, I’ve got a confession to make: I haven’t given this app a full run-through. I’m in the middle of moving and I’ve got a million things to do, but it’s Friday and if there was ever a time to give away an app like iShot Machine today’s the day! iShot Machine is a slot machine that can spit out a ton of shot recipes, so if you enjoy abusing your liver you should give this app a good look.

Oasys Mobile, makers of the legendary Hooters Calendar Girls Crazy Eights, had a bunch of codes they wanted to share with you guys and was I really gonna stand in the way of their generosity? Duh! Absolutely not, not in a million years.

In lieu of a full review, though, I will offer these first impressions:

• This app has a lot of crazy shots you’ve probably never heard of… or maybe I’m just too old to be shouting at bartenders “gimme a Well Greased Dwarf!”
• iShot Machine has some great functionality such as adding shots to a favs list, lots of browsing options and shot searches, the all-important random shots, and you can even specify certain types of booze & mixers to include or exclude
• This app claims to have over 3000 different shots to choose from and just by looking at the number of available tequila shots I totally believe it
• Oasys Mobile takes app development seriously even when they’re just trying to get you liquored up

Even though my trial of iShot Machine has been pretty short so far, I think I’d feel pretty comfortable recommending it to one of my alcoholic friends who hasn’t needed an intervention (yet). With several hundred apps under my iPhone belt I believe I know a good app when I see one, and if you happen to miss out on the codes Oasys has provided then just go buy it for $2. Trust me, if you’re a true barfly this app will come in handy!

Gotta love a developer with a sense of humor!

Tags: $1.99, mature

Colorful Aquarium

Michael (Admin) | Jun 25, 2009 Entertainment

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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Do you like colorful fish? Are you too poor to buy an aquarium and too lazy to clean it? Then Colorful Aquarium is for you! Well, maybe.

If I could say one nice thing about lianxing Zhu’s app, it would be that it has pretty good graphics! It really does. The water at the top of the aquarium looks great, the fish look cool and they swim around and occasionally dart here and there, and if you shake your iPhone the plants will sway back and forth. Well done.

Ok, I’ll say another nice thing about this app… the interface for adding objects (fish and plants) is decent. Swipe your finger up to pull the fish menu out of the bottom of the screen, swipe down to pull the plants out of the top. Very simple, and the little “help” animations are good, too.

But that’s it! I’m out of nice things to say because there’s nothing else going on in this app. Add plants. Add fish. Yawn.

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Tags: $2.99, strictly visual

Wordulous

Michael (Admin) | Jun 25, 2009 Games

User rating: (9 votes, average: 4.22 out of 5)

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PACKER! Yeah, that’s a word. Your mom is built like a big hairy meat packer. See? Now take those letters and see how many more words can you make that have at least 3 letters. 20? 30? Not! More like 56. Sure, some of the words are weird and you’ve never heard of them, but thanks to dictionaries like SOWPODS and TWL (both of which Wordulous can use) most true word nerds are used to bizarre game vocabulary.

99Games made WordsWorth last year which was a solid word tile game, and now they’re back with Wordulous which challenges you to find every possible word combo you can before the clock runs out. If you’re thinking gee this sounds familiar it’s probably because you’re a Facebook junkie and you’re hooked on a very similar anagram game that can be played over there, and if that’s the case then… uh… good! That means you’re already a fan of Wordulous.

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Tags: $.99, words

iPhone 3G S is now ’3GS’

Swain Valasek | Jun 24, 2009 News & Editorials

User rating: (No Ratings Yet)

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Trivial?  You bet!  However, everything’s done for a reason in Apple-land.  Not officially stated on their site but you’ll notice everything has been quietly changed to reflect the new naming scheme, for example the 3GS product page. Makes sense to me really, never did see any logic in the 3G<space>S gimmic.  Of course, people will continue be confused by the ’3G’ tag anyway, wondering if it means ’3rd generation’ or ’3G cellular technology’ (it’s the latter).

Tags: iPhone news, Swain Valasek

Q&F: MyGovernment

Chris J. | Jun 24, 2009 Quick & Free, Reference

User rating: (3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

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Here are two quick questions to help you decide if you should download this app: Are you an American citizen? Do you vote? If you answered yes to these two questions then you have every reason to download this app immediately. MyGovernment is all about keeping you informed on what is happening in the government and giving you the tools to make your voice heard.

As far as I can tell there is no partisan bias in this app to speak of, unless you find any in the news articles that the app may link to. This app simply gives you the straight story on what’s going on in Congress. It also give you the tools to contact your local representative or state senator so you can make your voice heard. That’s what Democracy is all about right?

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Tags: Chris J., free

Pub Trivia

Chrisa | Jun 23, 2009 Entertainment, Games

User rating: (4 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)

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I’m back!  D’ya miss me?  I missed you!  No, really – I did, I’m not just saying it. 

I would have been back sooner if it wasn’t for the completely mindless waste of time that I’ve been sucked in to – yeah, ok, Mafia Wars (shout out to my amazing and ever-expanding crew) – but also, Pub Trivia by GeoTeam Games. 

My mind is a vast wasteland of useless trivia, thanks to my 11th grade history teacher, who started each day with a trivia question.  It stuck with me, and I have been a fan of random bits of information ever since.  For example, did you know that Nepal is the only country in the world whose flag is NOT rectangular?  Why do I need to know that?

Pub Trivia is an outlet for the flotsam and jetsam running around in my brain.   It works just like Buzztime, the bar trivia game you may have played at your local drinking establishment.  Log in with a user name and location and join in the fun, answering trivia questions.  Each question has four possible answers and, as times ticks by, possible answers are eliminated.  But so are points.  Score 150 if you get the answer right before an option is eliminated, 100 if one possible is eliminated, 50 if two, and zero if three.  Of course, if you guess wrong, you lose points. 

Pub Trivia will even assign you to a team, based on your geographical location, to compete against other trivia buffs online at the same time.  Teams, obviously, fare better than individuals in overall scoring domination.  Once a game of 10 trivia questions is concluded, the app shows you the score board, where you place as an individual player, where your team places, and where you placed as a team contributor. 

Overall, a fun little app for a tiny little price.  Plunk down your cash and watch your time get sucked into a vortex.  Enjoy!

Tags: $0.99, Entertainment, trivia