Football, cornhole, leap frog and horse shoes. Sound like a Sunday in the Midwest? No – it’s Toss! for the iPhone, a recently-released suite of games by Apptagious. This all-in-one app consists of four games with the same basic premise – you use the iPhone’s accelerometer to mimic “toss”ing, and your goal in all of the games is to throw something to hit a target. Apptagious has definitely demonstrated the iPhone’s capabilities in this game, much like WiiSports demonstrated what the WiiMote could do. However, the game’s charm is ephemeral, and the app doesn’t offer very much depth. → Read More
It feels like just yesterday that Microsoft had blessed the internet with its new search engine, Bing, and today we mobile addicts have access to this service on our phones. If you head over to m.bing.com on your handheld, you’ll find yourself on a lite version of this Bing’s titan service. So does this compete with the Google’s mobile service? Not just yet, and it seems that Microsoft has omitted all those fancy features that has made Bing a near-overnight success. I borrowed TechCrunch’s unique search results test to throw it through the mobile engine, here are the (disappointing) results: → Read More
Bombarded with dozens of news sources and code-heavy web sites, mobile news browsing seems to be a daunting task at best. Even on Wi-Fi, some of the most powerful mobile phones take their sweet time rendering. Searching for a solid application that can handle aggregation of popular and trusted news sources can be just as tedious as actually reading news on a mobile phone. Tedium, however, may have come to an end for us Android users with the release of Handmark‘s Express News. With 10,000-50,000 downloads, Express News has maintained a 4.5/5 score to an often-critical crowd. With all the buzz on this product, we figured it was time to give it a run. → Read More
When I was a kid, I loved going to arcades and playing shooting games. Something about wielding a fake, plastic gun and mindlessly blasting away at aliens, dinosaurs, or zombies was truly exhilarating. Of course, as time went on, I became a more somber and critical gamer–I wanted “realism” and thought it was ridiculous I could kill 500 enemies without getting hit once myself. The wildly successful Deer Hunter franchise capitalizes on that sensibility in older gamers by offering a more realistic hunting experience. After years of developing the series for countless feature phones, Glu has finally brought Deer Hunter to the iPhone with Deer Hunter 3D. → Read More
The GPS Navigation system has become a utility that is essential to travel, whether it be daily commute or cross country excursion. Once seen a luxury, this now-necessity has been a sweeping success all around the globe, allowing the world’s atlases right at your fingertip with near surgical precision in tracking and guidance. TeleNav, established veteran of the GPS marketplace, has really taken the time to make a fully functioning turn-by-turn system for the Android platform. Availability is currently limited to the G1, though we assume they’ll branch out to other devices as Android grows. → Read More
For whatever reason, I can’t stop playing the iPhone version of EA’s Need for Speed Undercover, which is why it’s taken me this long to review it. I can’t say that I’ve ever been a big fan of the console series, but EA nailed it on the head with the handheld port. Everything about this game from the graphics to the cut scenes to the handling of cars is outstanding – but the game isn’t perfect. It’s fun, sure, but it has its hang ups.
The storyline seemed straight out of The Fast and The Furious. At least, I guess it was; I typically jumped ahead during the dialogue and video cut scenes, because that’s just what I do. However, I sat through enough of them to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. In short, you’re an undercover agent looking to infiltrate and bust a car-stealing ring in LA. Like I said, The Fast and The Furious.
Each of the 20 cars handles about the same. Of course, there’s only so much you can do with an accelerometer-based platform, so don’t expect Gran Turismo-like controls. Controls are simple and that’s a testament to how well EA built this game. To steer left or right, you need only tilt your iPhone/iPod Touch accordingly. For an extra bit of speed during a race simply swipe up with one finger for a boost of nitrous oxide. → Read More
Quick Version: Very few developers have pushed out games for the iPhone that are AAA titles, but even fewer developers have produced AAA iPhone titles their first time around. 2XL happens to be one of them and it’s no surprise that Supercross is one of the best selling titles for the iPhone and iPod Touch. They’ve managed to translate their console and PC experience that dates back to 1994 over to the iPhone platform without overdoing it like others have, and just keeping things simple. → Read More
As of last Tuesday (04/14/2009, for you number people), AT&T released its Samsung Propel Pro WinMo 6.1-based slider phone to the masses. Having received my tester unit a bit earlier, I’ve been putting the device through its paces for just about a week now. My initial gut reaction after charging and powering the ‘Pro on was “ok, I’ve got to ignore the unholiness that is WinMo 6.1 Standard OS and focus on the device itself.” In that regard, this thing ain’t half bad. → Read More
A lot of folks have been declaring the iPhone as a worthy eBook reader and to them, I say, “Go take a long walk off a short pier.” No, it does not compare to the Kindle or Sony eReader or anything else. It’s tiny, harsh on the eyes and just plain sucks. With that being said, let’s check out ScrollMotion’s Daniel X: Alient Hunter, a graphic novel by James Patterson. I may be averse to regular books on the iPhone, but graphic novels aka comics are a different story. They’re quick reads and the artwork is generally good. Danny X is a fine story and I won’t go into detail on that because the synopsis on iTunes does an excellent job without giving anything away, but it’s a good read. But it’s not all peaches and cream. I have a major issue with Daniel X. → Read More
Last May, Yahoo acquired a startup called Inquisitor which offers a search plug-in for all the major browsers. Today, Inquisitor is available as an iPhone app and it shows how certain features, such as Yahoo’s Search Assist, really shine on a mobile device where you want to keep your typing to a minimum.
When you start typing a search in Inquisitor, a list of suggested keywords automatically appears below (just as it does on Yahoo’s regular search engine on the Web). The more letters you type, the more refined the suggestions become, allowing you to select one before completing the word in the search box. Results are presented in large, easy-to-read gray boxes, with favicons and two lines worth of text. Abbreviated news results from two sources appear at the very top if they are available, and can be clicked through to see only news results. → Read More
While there may still be a lot of confusion surrounding the future of AOL, that didn’t stop the folks in Northern Virginia from recently overhauling their popular AIM instant messaging app for iPhone (and iPod touch). Available in two tasty flavors, free (“AIM Free”) and paid (“AIM Paid”), AIM 2.0 for iPhone now provides SMS notifications, has location-aware services, and supports multiple accounts (among other updates). It appears as though all of the application updates have been included in both the free and paid versions, with the major (and obvious) difference being the inclusion of ads in the buddy list of the AIM Free app. → Read More
Among the millions of apps being released hourly in the App store, there truly are apps worth buying, and those that not worth wasting a glance at. iShoot ($2.99) is one of the best and brightest among its craptastic peers. One of many turn based tank fighting games, iShoot has proved its worthiness by sky rocketing into the #1 spot almost overnight, with his iShoot lite following close behind with the #1 spot in free apps. Creator Ethan Nicholas has recently enjoyed so much success from iShoot that he quit his day job in order to further his app-development career. → Read More
The floors in my house are incredibly cold this time of year. Being a resident of East Texas, I’m sure there are those who’d hem and haw about how I don’t know what cold is, but I made the unfortunate choice to take up residence in a sixty-year-old house with hardwood floors, and there are days when I consider opening my front door and selling tickets to what could with a minimal amount of labor be transformed into the world’s first residential ice rink. This, combined with the fact that I’m terribly lazy, makes me accept any tool which allows me to keep my feet off my frigid floor with open arms. In short, I am the person Hoofien had in mind when they designed Snatch. The concept behind Snatch is simple: the iPhone is basically one big touchpad, so why not put it to work as one? There are two components to the app – a free server, available from Hoofien’s site, and the client, which is the bit you’ll shell out $7.99 for in the App Store. After configuring the server, which is as painless as it could possibly be (just set up a name and password for the session), simply connect your iPhone to your home’s wireless network, input the session data, and away you go. The primary screen looks just like a notebook’s touchpad: a right and left mouse button and a big area for cursor control. There’s also a screen that’s dedicated entirely to scrolling, so there’s no need to worry about fat-fingering a scrollbar along the side of the main touchpad area. A third screen reveals a keyboard, as well as the remote section, which is where Snatch really shines. Snatch allows you to configure up to four separate remote controls to manipulate any program with keymapped functions. You can pick the size, placement, labels, and even colors of as many buttons as you can cram onto the iPhone’s screen. I have remotes set up for VLC and iTunes: combined with an HTPC connected to the TV in the living room, I have all the functionality of a full-featured, dedicated remote for each program, for a full $105 less than Microsoft’s overpriced monstrosity, with a touchpad and tiny keyboard to boot should I get the itch to surf the web from the comfort of the cushions. And, since there’s no IR receiver to fiddle → Read More
It was only a few days ago that we tore into the 20 dollar IM+ application for being overpriced, buggy, and lacking anything that justified that 20 dollar price tag. At the tail-end of that review, we expressed our hopes that an IM app done right would come along soon. Enter Meebo for Android, brought to you by the same people behind the awesome browser-based IM application of the same name. It’s got a clean interface, is dead simple to use, and best of all: it’s FREE. Game over, IM+. → Read More
IM+ is an application created by ShapeServices, which aims to replace the instant messaging application that comes out of the box with Android. Hoping that there were some differences between the 7-day trial and the paid version, we bit the bullet and plopped down the 20 dollars (well, $19.95) on this app to see how it really is, so you wouldn’t have to. The verdict? Save your cash. → Read More
So we return to the Palm Treo Pro, a $549 unlocked Windows Mobile Treo aimed squarely at the business set. It’s been about a week and I’ve used this guy off and on. It kept a nice charge – two days, for the most part, without much data use – and fit nicely in the pocket. But is it the Treo of which we all incessantly dream? Is it the Treo that will bring us closer to world peace and better burritos on the East Coast? Is this the Treo for you? Yes, it is the Treo for you if you are a business professional forced to use Windows Mobile and you travel quite a bit and hardware price is no object. This is also the Treo for you if you’re buying a few cellphones for the CEO and the CFO and you want them to be productive without having to change your Windows-based IT and communications infrastructure. If you are neither of those people, think of the Treo Pro as a vision of Palm’s future. The Treo Pro is one of Palm’s most attractive Treos to date. Gone is the lumpen plastic of the Centro and the low-gloss ho-hummery of the 800w. Whereas the Centro and the 800w took design cues from the lower end of the market, Treo tapped HTC to design this new looker and for good reason. The RIM, in a general, sense, was eating their enterprise lunch and the Centro was doing just fine. So we have the Treo Pro. As its name implies, this isn’t for amateurs. Because it’s unlocked and unsubsidized you’d better have a damn good reason for going Windows Mobile. This could mean IT departments buying in bulk for their executives or a mobile professional who wants a messaging phone but still likes ActiveSync. Europe loves them some Windows Mobile, so their unlocked model is a good move. The US market, sadly, looks at expensive phones and then looks elsewhere. The Blackberry Curve didn’t get where it is on its good looks. Read more… → Read More
