It’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
This time, we review Action Hero, AutoStitch Panorama, Battleship, BDD • Büro Destruct Designer, Blackjack 21, Dropbox, Moodagent, Polyhedra, Run!, and Type Drawing.
AutoStitch Panorama: Stunning automated panorama-creation tool. Fast, pretty accurate and easy to use. 5/5 $2.99 https://is.gd/bbktP
Action Hero: Simplified Run! crossed with Express Raider. Entertaining but fleeting. 3/5 Free https://is.gd/bbmFn
Battleship: Board-game conversion. A little buggy/battery-hungry, but entertaining & has several modes. 3/5 $1.99 https://is.gd/bjVvO
BDD • Büro Destruct Designer: Art toy. Creates artwork using circles, squares and simple rules. 3/5 $1.99 https://is.gd/bbkWK
Blackjack 21: Decent blackjack game using real-life gestures and nice, clear graphics. 3/5 $1.99 https://is.gd/bblRW
Dropbox: Well-judged client for popular sync service. Good preview capabilities & optional offline save per file 4/5 Free https://is.gd/bbm9K
Moodagent: Automatic playlists based on ‘mood’ sliders. Not always accurate, but frequently interesting. 3/5 Free https://is.gd/bbkMQ
Polyhedra: Best press-to-fill physics game for Apple handhelds. Nice visuals/audio. Sandbox is a nice touch. 3/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/bblke
Run!: Canabalt – style, but + fun, humour, variety, and the ability to karate-kick leaping sharks in the head! 4/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/bblNk
Type Drawing: Entertaining and intriguing but ultimately limited ‘drawing with words’ sketching app. 3/5 $1.99 https://is.gd/bbkn2
Some good games this week. Polyhedra is the best press-to-fill physics game I’ve found, offering sedate music, lovely graphics, and variety due to levels with different shapes and a built-in sandbox. Two games follow the Canabalt formula: Action Hero and Run! Both lack the style of Canabalt but end up being more fun, particularly Run!, which is especially bonkers throughout. There aren’t many other games where a guy happily pulls out his trusty bazooka to blow up meteors, punches zombies in the face, and karate-kicks sharks in the head! It’s not quite up there with the Flight Controls and Orbitals of the App Store, but it’s close—and at a buck it’s a steal.
The best app this week has to be AutoStitch, though. Erfon reviewed this back in March, but if anything I think he under-rated it. It only costs a few bucks but manages to outperform some pro-level software, and its ease of use makes the app near-magical. Just take some photos, select them, wait a bit, and you’ve got a panorama. Even if your photos are taken in a restricted space, the app fares well, producing a kind of fish-eye panorama. Apps like this show that while iPhones aren’t yet creative powerhouses to rival desktop Macs, they’re nonetheless perfect for quickfire single-task creative apps.
For a daily dose of mini iPhone app and game reviews, follow iPhoneTiny on Twitter, or visit iPhoneTiny.com.
