iPhone App Reviews

Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite

Michael E. | Mar 10, 2010 Business

User rating: (17 votes, average: 2.47 out of 5)

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There are many reasons why I like Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite and I’ll tell you about them in a moment. First, I have a confession to make.

I own a BlackBerry.  I have for a while now, long before anyone knew what an iPod Touch or iPhone was and probably long after as well.  Why?  Well, although I think my iPod Touch is great for lots of things, writing (something I engage in frequently) is still something I struggle to do on the dang thing.  I can type over 90 wpm (seriously) on a desktop or notebook keyboard, so speed and ease are critical factors.  Plus, I’m just a physical keyboard kinda guy.

Because I’ve owned various incarnations of BlackBerry smartphones (five different models in all), I’m fairly well acquainted with a few other mobile office suite products.  Some are good and some are not so good. Most are not so good at syncing without the umbilical cord (USB) or- in the case of the iPhone or iPod- requiring a wifi connection to a desktop application.  Many of the mobile computing packages out there are getting better, but many still have a ways to go.

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Tags: $9.99

RunKeeper Pro

Eric | Sep 2, 2009 Healthcare & Fitness

User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)

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If you enjoy running and have an iPhone, than you likely have heard of RunKeeper from FitnessKeeper, the GPS assisted training app for runners.   It tracks and uploads training runs to the  RunKeeper website in addition to keeping a history of runs within the app.  An feature packed Free version is extremely popular in the App Store.   The Pro version adds a few key features, but are they worth the $10 upgrade?

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Tags: $9.99, Fitness, gps, Running

AllSport GPS

Eric | Sep 1, 2009 Healthcare & Fitness

User rating: (3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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AllSport GPS is a GPS tracking fitness training app that can track a wide variety of activities including  running,  hiking, cycling and skiing.  It does so with an impressive amount of features and the support of a website that saves all of the activities.   Is this app geared more toward the runner, the  cyclist, or is it truly a jack of all trades?  How do these loads of features fit together for a user experience?  Does this app pull it off and and keep you motivated at the same time?  Read on.

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Tags: $9.99, Cycling, Fitness, gps, Hiking, Running, Skiing, Workout Tracker

GPS Kit

T.J. Brumfield | Jul 15, 2009 Navigation

User rating: (7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)

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The iPhone is far from perfect. But perhaps its greatest appeal is its ability to replace several separate cumbersome and expensive gadgets with one simple device. With Garafa’s GPS Kit, even the most ardent GPS enthusiasts may be able to set aside their dedicated GPS units and reach for their iPhone instead. I took version 3.2 out for a spin, which works well with OS 3.0 on my 3G S.

For those who don’t own dedicated GPS units, you may be wondering if you need anything more than the basic functionality that the iPhone provides out of the box, especially for an app priced at $9.99. The iPhone by default comes with an application which pulls up Google maps. It can find your current location, show you maps around the globe, and provide directions by car, bus or foot.

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Tags: $9.99, gps, Navigation, T. J. Brumfield

F.A.S.T. – Fleet Air Superiority Training

Chris J. | Jun 19, 2009 Games

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

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If the creators of the Ace Combat series had made an app for iPhone, I imagine it would look and play a lot like this one (minus the poetry-laden cut-scenes of course). Forget such real-world issues such as taking off, landing or even limited ammunition, F.A.S.T. is the flight combat game boiled down to its most basic element: dogfighting. F.A.S.T. doesn’t bother with little things like storyline, when the gameplay is this awesome who needs it?

In case you didn’t catch that the first time, yes, the gameplay is awesome. F.A.S.T. is one of the rare games for the iPhone that will have you gritting your teeth and sitting on the edge of your seat as you wave your iPhone in the air like a raving lunatic. Why you ask? When you’re chasing down a missile-lock while you and your foe fly circles around each other, or frantically trying to dodge a missile from the same, the action is pretty intense. And that’s just on a tiny iPhone screen.

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Tags: $9.99, Chris J.

The Sims 3

Michael (Admin) | Jun 16, 2009 Games

User rating: (7 votes, average: 4.57 out of 5)

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If you’ve never played The Sims before, it’s a strangely addictive game where your job is to control the lives of little digital people. They’re not sitting ducks like the islanders in Pocket God… instead they live in houses, like normal people. They also have friends, enemies, personalities, jobs, stomachs to fill, and bladders to empty, and you’re responsible for ALL of it!

Veterans of The Sims game franchise know these responsibilities all too well, and if you’re one of those people you’ll be happy to know that Electronic Arts has done a pretty kickass job of translating the Sims world to the iPhone. There are lots of differences between PC Sims and iPhone Sims, the most noticeable change being that you only control one Sim on the iPhone as opposed to an entire family, but the core of the gameplay is definitely there. Your Sim can meet other Sims, talk with them, make out with them, slap them around, pee on the floor… you name it.

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Tags: $9.99, 3D, role-playing, simulation

Update: IM+ 3.0

Michael (Admin) | Jun 11, 2009 Social Networking, Updates

User rating: (9 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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Whoa dude, two updates in one week! This is an important one because when I reviewed IM+ a couple months ago I was grumbling that it didn’t support Skype. Well, now it does. And it supports Twitter. And it can provide your location, although in my brief experiment the accuracy was off by a few miles.

This is still a pretty big update, though, and here’s the official word from SHAPE Services:

The most important additions in IM+ 3.0 paid version are Twitter and Skype Chat. The minor changes include an ability to create own status messages including geo-status with current location.

IM+ 3.0 lite version’s functionality (lite version is coming soon) is also significantly expanded. Besides Twitter, we’ve added the following functions which previously were available in paid version only: Send photo, Send location and Send voice.

* Note: Due to technical reasons the version number in App tore is displayed as 2.2, though it is a major update 3.0.

Kind regards,
SHAPE Services
http://www.shapeservices.com/

IM+ may be pricey but that’s because it does that fancy thing where you can still receive chat messages even when the app isn’t running which dramatically raises its value for the super-wired. However, if you’re too broke to drop $10 on this app you can haul ass to the comment box and try to grab one of the free codes that SHAPE has very kindly provided!

Tags: $9.99, chat

IM+ v2.0

Michael (Admin) | Apr 9, 2009 Social Networking

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

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Not long ago I wrote about how awesome Nimbuzz is because it’s totally free and supports a bunch of different instant messaging platforms. Free apps like Nimbuzz and IM+ Lite provide plenty of chat functionality for very casual users, but maybe you need more than that. Maybe IM is how you stay connected to your office… maybe you’ve got hot gossip that needs spreading… or maybe you’ve just gone off the deep end and insist on being wired 24/7. Whatever your reason for wanting to be “online” even when you’re not running an IM app, IM+ v2.0 is the heavy-duty solution you’re looking for.

This constant availability is accomplished through something called “IM Push”… you can input an email address in the options panel, set “Keep IM services connected on exit” to On… and when you close IM+ you’ll remain signed in on whatever instant messengers you’re using! Go ahead… play games, lock the iPhone, do whatever. If someone tries to message you, IM Push will send you an email with the incoming chat message, and you can reply to the email as if you’re actually using a chat window.

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Tags: $9.99, chat

FlightTrack Pro

Chrisa | Mar 2, 2009 Travel, Utilities, Weather

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

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So – I know the burning question in your mind, fair reader, is where the hell has Chrisa been??  Well, as it turns out, I was traveling.  I travel quite a bit for work (shameless plug – www.sceneexchange.com), but I also got in a leisure trip – I went to the Academy Awards.  Before you ask how I got my no-name behind into the Oscars and get this post COMPLETELY off track, let me just say, if you really want to know, leave me a comment, and I’ll fill you in on all the details.  Oh – and yes, Brad and Angelina ARE that gorgeous in person, thanks for asking.

Being that I travel so much, I thought I’d try out FlightTrack Pro.  I’ve tried a few of the cheap (read: free) flight tracking apps, so I really wanted to see what $9.99 would buy me.  I am notoriously cheap, so I really expected a crapload of features for this kind of price tag.  FlightTrack Pro delivers….99%. 

How does it deliver?  It’s really easy to track your travel.  This version of the app is integrated with TripIt, an extremely handy and free feature where you email your itinerary to TripIt, and your flights automatically show up and are tracked in FlightTrack Pro.  By far, the coolest feature there is.  When I book a flight, all the airline websites let me email a copy to a bunch of addresses – I just type in the TripIt address, and it shows up in the app.  There’s also integrated weather for your destination(s), email itineraries directly from the application, and it supports both domestic and international flights.  Very, very, cool.   It even has a fun feature where, if you’re super bored or not traveling this week, you can shake your iPhone and get a random flight.

But, even this cool of an app has a drawback.  There’s a nice feature that lets you see a map of exactly where a flight is in the air, but unless you’re on one of the very few airlines that has Wi-Fi in route, you can’t see any maps.   Seems a bit pointless, unless you’re an administrative assistant or secretary.  And, since my admin assistant is a thumbless canine (I’ll wait while you process that………), not that useful for her.  But, honestly, that’s the only drawback – if you want to call it that – that this application has.  

If you travel a lot, go and get this application now.  Seriously – stop reading this post and download it.  Now.  If I’m telling you it’s worth ten bucks, trust me, it really is.  If you aren’t a road warrior, there is a lighter version, FlightTrack, for $4.99.  Not as feature rich, of course, but worth it if you travel a few times a year.

Tags: $9.99, Travel

Take A Note and Docs

Lee | Feb 18, 2009 Productivity

User rating: (31 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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I like productivity applications that do what they say they are going to do. I also am really impressed when the developer takes the extra steps to add appealing design elements. That being noted, here are two related apps by the same developer you may want to consider.

Take A Note

Take a Note by Readdle is a very handsome application. The design is attractive from the moment you load it. The opening splash screen shows you a nice leather front cover that digitally represents a notebook. This sets a very positive and motivating stage for note taking.

Take a Note allows you to capture four types of notes: text, audio, photo and drawings. For each note type, you get a multi-tabbed page. One tab for where the actual note resides. A second tab for your comments regarding that note. A third tab to categorize (or tag) your note. Each note is date and time stamped in the upper right corner and you are limited to one tag per category.

I have to make some special comments about the photo note. Photo notes have a wonderful, scrapbook appeal where there is a place holder piece of paper “taped” into the notepage with masking tape on the edges. Once you snap your photo or take a photo from your photo album it is put into this placeholder page. It fits so nicely, the photo looks like it was truly “taped” onto the page. Clicking on the photo brings it full screen where you can see all the details of the photo. This is a great example of the design element I mentioned at the beginning of this review; very thoughtful.

You have full control over your folder structure. You can be as minimalist as you like or as numerous, however, at this time, there is no embedded folder structure. The developers state they are working on this for a future release. Another nice touch, especially when you start to develop a large amount of notes, is the search feature. It will allow you to search for keywords that either reside in the title of the note or within the content of the note. This is really nice, very powerful, and another thoughtful touch.

Some additional controls:

- Font size: as small as 14 or as big as 48

- Five available fonts: Helvetica, Times New Roman, Courier, Marker Felt and Zapfino

- Alphabetical note sorting

- Volume boosting, and

- Optional password locking (side note: this is a universal password lock. It would be nice if you could control this feature setting for individual notes)

The icing on the cake for this application is the Wifi syncing capability with your lap or desktop computer. This feature allows you to take your notes back and forth. It comes in two flavors, a shared disk mounted on your mac (or PC) or via a WebDAV client called Cyberduck. I tried both. They each worked without a hitch. I think I will stick with the Cyberduck client as it has fewer needed steps and a few more capabilities.

I’ve tried a few note applications in the past. This is by far the most attractive I’ve seen from the standpoint of looks alone. It’s handsome and makes you feel good to keep your notes in it. If you like physical notebooks, this is a strong digital equivalent. Functionally, Take A Note it is also very capable. The ability to capture text, photo, audio and drawing notes makes it useable and practical in many settings.

I can be very hard on productivity applications. I need them to be quickly responsive, intuitive, helpful, almost invisible. If I have to think to use it, it’s in the way. Take A Note by Readdle passed all of my requirements. It actually earned a spot on my Productivity page on my iPhone. I am impressed. I think you will be too.

Readdle Docs

Readdle Docs is a nice tool for keeping documents accessible either on your iPhone or via access to the cloud. I have a MobileMe account, so I was able to quickly and easily access my iDisk and the files I have stored there. Sweet! I also took the time to sign up for Readdle’s free storage space (512MB) under the AppStore plan (They have pay-to-use plans too for larger storage needs). This too was quick and easy. There is a companion application that you can download to your laptop or desktop (called Readdle Up). It is free. It allows you to load files directly from your desk into the storage by drag-and-drop. No fuss, no complications. Nice! I haven’t jumped on the Box.net service, but Readdle does support it, as well as any other WebDAV access service.

All of the standard Microsoft Office, PDF, TXT, RTF etc. are supported. I could not load up and access iWork files (I particulary tried to load a Numbers document). I also, for grins, loaded up a mindmapping file (NovaMind), it could not read this, though I really didn’t think that it would. They were, however, accessible when I converted them to PDF documents. In fairness to the developers, every file type they listed as accessible was indeed accessible. It would be nice if they could include iWork file types, though.

You can access the web via the internal browser (this includes portrait and landscape orientation). I had been meaning to thumb through a forty-one page PDF document on the web, so I took the opportunity to open it through the browser. After looking around, I was then able to just download the document to my iPhone; portable goodness. Inside the settings page on the app, there is a nice “device storage info” bar that keeps track of how much storage you have remaining. Good! No worries about guessing if I’m bumping up against the limit. Docs automatically picked up all my photos that I am carrying on my iPhone. I didn’t particularly want this and was able to easily turn that feature off. Also, you can email files to your accounts or share them with friends/co-workers. Another nice touch.

This is a useful tool. The layout is intuitive and functional. I am hopeful that someday it will allow iWork files to be loaded and ultimately they will eventually allow on-board editing capabilities (Aren’t we so demanding regarding our applications (smile)). At the end of the day, I like Readdle Docs. It works for me.

Tags: $4.99, $9.99, File Sharing, notes, Productivity

Gameloft Triple Threat: Brothers in Arms, Ferrari GT Evolution, Hero of Sparta

Splash Jackson | Jan 4, 2009 Games

User rating: (9 votes, average: 3.78 out of 5)

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UPDATE: Ferrari GT Evolution is on sale for $5.99 so be sure to get it if you haven’t done so already!

Unless you’re new to the iPhone gaming thing or you’ve been living under a rock the past year, chances are you’ve heard of Gameloft and their console-quality-like games that they distribute. If you haven’t downloaded anything from them yet, here are three games you should pick up or at least consider. I say “consider” because each game comes with a $9.99 price tag; however, once you experience any of these titles, you’ll see that these games are worth the price of admission.

Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes is one of those games that you just can’t believe is on the iPhone. From the opening video to the gameplay itself, Brothers in Arms (BIA) is an excellent iPhone achievement!

BIA has you taking the role as Thompson; a young soldier dedicated to protecting our country while trying to get the job done pronto in order to get home before his wife starts fraternizing with the other hard-bodied soldiers that haven’t been deployed yet. As you embark upon your heroic journey, BIA does an excellent job of setting the “war” tone with its menus, sounds, and visuals. There’s also a good amount of options in order to tweak controls, sound levels, and motion sensors to make the game playable the way that best suits you.

It’s best to start the game with the ol’ tutorial round, just to get squared away with the control schemes that are available. Now, this is the area that may be keeping BIA from that fifth orange star in the ratings: controls. When you first jump into the actual gameplay, you may struggle at first with control/character movement and orientation. What’s difficult for a lot of people is the ability to adapt to new ways (ie. from physical controls to touch controls). However, Gameloft offers a solution to this by incorporating several control schematics. My best advice is to play through the tutorial round testing each control option and finding one that best suits your gaming style. Once you actually find your niche, the game is a GO soldier!

One of the biggest driving factors in this game is the graphics. The environments that you encounter are nothing short of stunning! The gameplay really gives you a sense of war-like combat; add to that impressive sound effects overlaying a dramatic and patriotic soundtrack and you have a winner! I mean, you can really get into this game (especially with good quality headphones), and I’m talking roll-around-the-house-and-hide-behind-furniture army style antics here. It’s a blast!

Does the game hold some longevity? I guess it depends on whether or not you like to replay missions or if you retry it on the difficult setting (that is, if you’re a wuss like me that starts every game on “normal”). BIA gives you 3 campaigns: Normandy, Tunis, and Ardennes, all of which have various missions to complete before moving on to the next. I think a big selling point in replay value for a game like this is the chance you get to fire high-powered weapons and the joy of smashing non-assimilating enemy lives with an army tank.

If you are looking for an army-styled combat game to kill some time and some Nazis, then look no further; Brothers in Arms has just what you need.

Ferrari GT: Evolution is the type of game that makes me despise my pathetic existence. The game itself is extremely beautiful and a blast to play, but it constantly reminds me that I’m probably not going to own one of these heavenly creations anytime soon ( I blame the recession, not my lack of work skills). Nonetheless, if it’s a high-speed racer you’re looking for, Ferrari GT: Evolution has you covered.

Ferrari GT exceeds Gameloft’s previous racing title, Urban Asphalt, in every way. The graphics, sounds, gameplay, sense of speed … EVERYTHING has been improved like 200% from the previous title.

Getting started, you are given an F430 to race around in: now, if that doesn’t tell you what kind of game you’re playing when you start out with a car that exceeds 195 MPH, then I just don’t know what to tell you! As you launch your “career” of racing expensive Ferrari’s around with reckless abandon, you are given various tasks to help you earn Credits so you can buy more expensive Ferrari’s. What really REALLY tells you the type of game you are playing are the missions. For instance, my favorite task was driving around town at top speeds, picking up hovering roses for a friend that was late for an engagement and hadn’t bought a gift … I guess when you’re rich, you gotta find some way to kill time! Nonetheless, all the shallow endevours that you are given outside of just a “normal” race help make Ferrari GT that much more enjoyable to play as you compete against rivals and help out friends. There’s even a multi-player racing mode to show off your mad skills to your friends.

When I first started racing in this game, I made the idiotic comment, “Where’s the NoS?” FRIGGIN’ IDIOT! These are Ferrari’s! Who needs NoS!?!? And for that matter, who needs tuner upgrades? Yep, Ferrari GT eliminates the tuner section to this racing series. Personally, I like not having to tune my car; I’d rather just buy a speed demon and race. If I want to tune a car to go faster, I’ll go tune my own car in real life. When it comes to gaming, I just want to race. Some die-hard racers may not like this, but if you think about it, how much special tuning does a Ferrari really need anyway? Hell, in this game, you’re rich; go buy a faster Ferrari!

Gameplay is very satisfying, especially drifting! Much like Gameloft did in Urban Asphalt with the controls, you have several steering options to choose from to suit your racing needs. You can use an on-screen steering wheel, use screen taps, or use the accelerometer to guide your beast. What’s good in Ferrari is that you can actually fine tune the sensitivity of steering. On top of that, you are able to utilize (or not utilize) adaptive steering, auto accelerate, electronic stability program, anti-lock braking system, traction control, and ceramic brakes. Very nice!

Now, the debate has been, “Ferrari GT or Fastlane Street Racing?” And really, when you look at each racing game for what it is, you really have two different type of racers; Ferrari GT more arcade style racing, Fastlane more a “realistic” racer as they call it. In my opinion … well let me put it this way: Ferrari and Fastlane sit side-by-side on my screen, and I always opt for Ferrari over Fastlane nine times out of ten. To me, it’s a more enjoyable racer overall, and it’s one I’m sure you will enjoy if you haven’t had the opportunity to do so already.

Holy Zeus Greek God of Thunder this game is … EPIC! Talk about a game you can really sink your teeth into! Hero of Sparta delivers on gameplay, visuals, sounds … the whole package! You take the role of King Argos, a Spartan on a mission to … well, pass some time, cause let’s face it, with so much manhood and strength like Argos, he’s already nailed all the babes in every town and probably owns a sizable amount of land that he acquired from killing hoards of men. I mean, what’s left but to defy the gods themselves, collect some ancient and legendary weapons and tools, and help some half-naked floating chick with evil looking glowing eyes that, dare-I-say, reminds you of your mother-in-law (and just when you thought she was hot too).

Seriously though, get this game! If you need an adventure that will captivate your senses while making you cry, “Holy crap this is so cool,” then Hero of Sparta is just what the gods ordered. Unlike BIA and Ferrari, Hero of Sparta (HOS) doesn’t give you much customizing freedom, but you really don’t need it. I couldn’t imagine a better way to control the character and fight with him than with the nicely implemented joypad and buttons. Gameplay is smooth like butter! Since there is no need for any accelerometer movement, this is one of those games you can cuddle up in bed with (if that’s what you do with games; personally, I’m a man’s man, playing HOS while eating a turkey leg off the grill). The learning curve of the game controls is relatively short too; so you will find yourself immersed more in the story than getting accustomed to the gameplay.

So what is the gameplay like? Visually stunning! The graphics of the characters and items hit the bar, but what really stands out is the intense and captivating beauty of the mythical worlds that you encounter! The camera zooms in and out depending on whether you are in battle or running across a bridge. Most of the time, this is done well in order to show the visual surroundings. The only thing that can be a trifle difficult is being zoomed out too far when you are engaged in a hoard of monsters. However, this game being a button-masher and all, you probably will get through just fine hacking and slashing your way to victory!

Speaking of controls, you are given two buttons to use: attack and block. If you read the help section (which I’m guessing hardly no one does), you will actually discover fighting combos to help you bash in enemy skulls on your journey. After figuring this out like 3 rounds in, I was more aptly prepared to go monster smashing with some cinematic flair. I didn’t find myself using the block button too often; only when I needed it with combos or to unleash my weapon’s special move. The saying goes, “the best defense is a strong offense.”

Hero of Sparta is sure to give you some good hours of button mashing, monster slashing excitement on top of a visual thrill ride. In terms of replay value … again, that’s up to you if you are the type to take the journey to the next difficulty level. Either way, you’re sure to enjoy this one!

Tags: $9.99, brothers in arms, ferrari gt, gameloft, hero of sparta, hour of heroes

Trip Cubby Mileage Log

Michael (Admin) | Oct 7, 2008 Finance

User rating: (17 votes, average: 3.06 out of 5)

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Trip Cubby • Mileage Log may not be the sexiest app in the App Store, but if you spend a lot of time driving billable miles for work or plan to deduct your travel expenses at tax time it’ll probably get you hot the first time you use it.

Trip Cubby’s purpose is to log your road trips and every related penny that you plan to put on your expense report. You can classify your trips as Business, Charity, Medical, or Other, specify how much you get reimbursed for each mile, and add in a total for additional expenses if needed.

The first time you use App Cubby’s brainchild you’ll need to put in your vehicle’s mileage and set your expense defaults, but after that it’s all pretty automatic. When you finish a trip and input your ending mileage, that number gets remembered the next time you start a new trip. Time and date are also entered for you automatically when you start the trip and finish it by putting in the end mileage.

This app will work for casual users, but it’s clearly designed for heavy-duty drivers who put a lot of wear & tear on their personal vehicles in service to The Man. How heavy-duty, you ask? It features basic and advanced search! And you can tag your trips with keywords. If you have enough trips logged that you need advanced search, you’re spending a pretty serious amount of time in your car.

What, that’s not heavy-duty enough? How about exporting your trips to an Excel file? Yeah it does that, too.

I can’t say that I personally would pay $9.99 for this app because I only put about 5,000 miles a year on my ride, but if I was driving regularly for work and wanted to make sure I get back every cent the company owes me, I’d get this app in a heartbeat. The price might seem steep compared to most apps, but if you drive enough that you need it chances are it’ll pay for itself in due time. Plus, if you kiss enough ass with the accounting department, you might even be able to expense Trip Cubby’s cost. Go on, stick it to The Man! He won’t miss 10 bucks.

Tags: $9.99