The iPhone App Review : iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad App Reviews

The iPhone App Review : iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad App Reviews

A Present for Milo is a Truly Interactive Story Book

December 16th, 2010

Campbell

Price: $1.99 Score: 10/10 By S. Campbell

Written and illustrated by Mike Austin in conjunction with Ruckus Media Group, A Present for Milo is a new interactive childrens’ storybook for iPad. A charming story about a cat-and-mouse chase, A Present for Milo is suitable for children of all ages.

While the book itself is reasonably short, there is a lot of depth and opportunity for re-readability to be found, as different characters and objects on every page can be tapped to initiate surprise animations – of which there are over 125! These animations make A Present for Milo truly interactive and allow the child to engage more with the story. In many cases, there is more than one animation available for each character, and you can tap to view them all.

A Present for Milo features bright and colorful illustrations throughout and each page is fully narrated, with clear and easy-to-read text that appears in sync with the audio. Moving through the book is easy, and you simply swipe your finger across the screen to move backwards and forwards. A home icon on each page allows you to jump back to the start at any time.

With over 80 tappable objects and characters, A Present for Milo is one of the most interactive children’s books on the app store and a truly fun read for young kids.

A Present for Milo [iTunes Link] is compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Organize Your Memo’s Easily With MomoNote for iOS

December 16th, 2010

Campbell

Price: $4.99 Score: 9/10 By S. Campbell

A universal application for iOS, MomoNote from developer MK HQ is an intuitive and streamlined personal memo application. MomoNote allows you to create simple memos, add pictures and share them via email, Twitter or Facebook.

MomoNote integrates a tagging system so that you can easily organize your memos by keyword. If you make a lot of memos, it’s a good way to categorize – but there’s also a useful search function, which may be a quicker way of finding a specific note.

There is a just the right amount of flexibility in the formatting of your memos, with 4 different font sizes and all the most popular font types available. It’s also straightforward to create a bulleted list with a single tap while writing a note. As this is a note taking app, and not a word processor, you won’t find options to add bold, italics, underline, justify the text or other more advanced features in MomoNote.

Your memos can be easily synced with the MomoNote website, which can be accessed using your Google account. You can edit your memos, as well as create and delete new memos from the MomoNote website itself and sync them back to your iOS device. Unfortunately however, the memos cannot be exported in any other format.

MomoNote also features an integrated calendar and a lock-code to protect your private information.

If you take a lot of short notes and want a powerful, yet simple memo application, then MomoNote comes highly recommended.

MomoNote [iTunes Link] is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Bouncy Disco: Roll Around the Dance Floor

December 15th, 2010

michelleschusterman

Price: $0.99 Score: 8/10 By M. Schusterman

Cute games with simple concepts tend to be my personal favorites. In the case of Bouncy Disco, I think the concept is sound, but the first version of the game has a few minor issues.

Designed by Twisted Shield Interactive, this is an accelerometer game in which you control something – in this case, a ball – by tilting your phone. With colorful graphics and fun bouncy disco music, it was off to a good start.

I read the instructions carefully before playing. You’re in control of a disco ball surrounded by four walls. When a wall lights up in any color except for red, bounce the ball off the wall for ten points. If you bounce off a wall that isn’t lit up, four points are subtracted. And if the wall is red, you’re dead – game over, no exceptions.

Here’s the first problem; in order to pass the first level and unlock the second, you need to score no less than five hundred points. Let’s do the math – fifty bounces, assuming you play perfectly and never hit a non-lit wall (which is tough). And did I mention it’s not just that one wall goes red? Nope, all four do.

Without fail, every time I played the game, the walls turned red after the first three colors. What’s more, they aren’t red briefly. I counted a solid three seconds of red wall (trust me, that’s an eternity when you’re trying to keep that little ball hovering).

When I add up the challenges in the first level alone, – the high score necessary, the fact that all the walls turn red, and the frequency rate of them turning red – it seems like that’s just a bit too much. I think I’d be willing to play the game more often if level one was a big simpler with a lower goal count, with the difficulty increasing more gradually.

However, after an initial first bout of frustration, I was able to improve and get up to the goal. The actual gameplay is great – the disco ball was very responsive to my movements. Bouncy Disco a cute concept, and I’ll bet future updates will be worth checking out.

Bouncy Disco [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.2 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Own an iPad? Take Notes? You Need Notability

December 15th, 2010

Campbell

Price: $4.99 Score: 9/10 By S. Campbell

If you own an iPad then you know how basic the native Notes app is. While it may suffice for jotting down the odd piece of information or reminder, if you require a serious note-taking app for school or work then Notability is just what you need.

Developed by Ginger Labs, Notability makes note taking simple – and that’s its greatest feature. The interface is easy to understand and uncluttered, yet functional at the same time. There are ample ways to customize the text with three font styles, three font sizes, 15 font colors and your standard B, I, U functions. You can insert images, figures or web clips with a tap and the text automatically wraps around the inserted object.

The figures feature is a basic drawing app in its own right, and allows the user to sketch out simple drawings, say from a whiteboard or during a lecture for example, using free-draw, straight lines, squares, circles and other shapes. Once you’ve added shapes to your figure it’s easy to manage and move the shapes or even add a text label.

Audio recording is integrated into Notability, so that you can record as you type – you can even tap a word to hear what was said when you typed it. Once you’ve finished your note, you can organize it in the note library, adding note name and subject for easy categorization. Your notes aren’t confined to Notability however, and you can export your files easily via Dropbox.

Ticking all the boxes for interface, ease of use and functionality, Notability is my new iPad go-to notetaking app.

Notability [iTunes Link] is compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Check NBA Stats With Fantasy Freak Basketball

December 14th, 2010

michelleschusterman

Price: $1.99 Score: 9/10 By M. Schusterman

Whether big money is on the line or it’s all just in good fun, fantasy basketball enthusiasts can have a hell of a time keeping up with all of their players and the latest news. Fantasy Freak Basketball, an app designed by eContek, aims to help you out by providing you with news specific to your players.

As soon as you open the app, links and summaries (along with attributions) to the latest basketball news begin scrolling slowly up the screen. Tap “Settings” to customize that news and start adding your fantasy players. Rather than choosing your players or searching by team or last name, you simply type them into the field and click “Add.” My only concern here was that a misspelling would lead to missing information on those players, but when I intentionally butchered the spelling of Shaquille O’Neal, articles about him immediately began to pop up anyway.

You can delete players anytime and add up to fourteen at a time. Tap “Back” to return to the main scrolling screen, and all of the article titles and links will be those featuring the latest on one of your fourteen players, every time you open the app. The articles are pulled from a number of major sites, including ESPN, CBC, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Fox Sports.

Tap “Schedule” to check out upcoming games. Here was my only (very small) issue with the app. It simply opens the schedule on ESPN’s NBA page, although it does not take you out of the app and into Safari. However, because it’s a website layout (landscape), as opposed to a phone layout (portrait), it would be easier to navigate if we could rotate the app into landscape position.

That being said, the app fulfills its main purpose – keeping you up to date on the players that matter to you – very nicely. For two dollars, I’d recommend this for any fantasy basketball fan.

Fantasy Freak Basketball [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.

Attack Kumquat HD is an Addictive Physics-Based Puzzler

December 13th, 2010

Campbell

Price: $3.99 Score: 9/10 By S. Campbell

Developed by Broadsword Games, Attack Kumquat HD is a clever and challenging physics-based puzzle game for iPhone and iPad.

At first glance, Attack Kumquat looks like another Angry Birds clone – and there are certainly some similarities. There are three ‘worlds’ to unlock (Arctic, Jungle and Grand Canyon) and a 3 star rating to achieve on each level. The levels themselves have a similar feel, at least to begin with, with little orange kumquats trapped in ice structures that need to be broken with a projectile (in this case, a steel ball). That said – Attack Kumquat is so much more, and is a unique and well-executed game in its own right.

As the developer states at the beginning of the first level, “the aim of the game is to squash kumquats”. The difficulty lies in guiding the metal ball from its starting position to your target(s). In each level you are given a varying number of ‘pickups’ – items such as bombs, trampolines, scaffolds, cannons, rope, scissors and magnets – that must be manipulated in order to direct the metal ball across the map.

The further you get into the game, the more Attack Kumquat turns into an elaborate game of Mouse Trap, with increasingly complex and precise positioning of pieces required to meet your objective. It becomes a game of trial and error to solve the inherent puzzle in each level, requiring some active thinking to work your way through.

The visuals are bright, clear and colorful and the music basic, but cheerful. The real killer here is the gameplay, and with 54 levels (and more planned for future updates), there’s a good few hours of quality puzzle challenges to keep you occupied!

Attack Kumquat HD [iTunes Link] is compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.