iOS app reviews

Mujjo’s MacBook Sleeve Is That Minimalistic Chic You’ve Been Looking For [Review]

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I bought a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display this summer, and I’m absolutely in love with it. I firmly believe that it’s the best laptop Apple has ever made, and it has totally changed my workflow.

One of the main qualities of the Retina MacBook Pro is its portability. It’s crazy thin. I carry this laptop with me everywhere, and I knew when I bought it that I needed something to help keep it protected.

I’ve been using Mujjo’s wool MacBook sleeve nonstop for the past couple months, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: Spotify, Coverjam Pro, Google+ & More!

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I’m sure you’re already aware by now that Spotify is finally available in the U.S., with over 13 million songs ready to stream on demand. But did you know that to accompany it there’s an awesome iOS app for listening to those millions of songs on the go? Spotify for iPhone is the first app in this week’s must-have roundup.

Coverjam Pro is another great app for music lovers that provides you with awesome slideshows of your favorite bands and artists while your listen to their music. It searches Instagram and Flickr for photos with the appropriate tags and aims to “enhance your listening pleasure.”

Google+ (yes, it finally hit the App Store!) is the official iPhone app to accompany Google’s latest social network, and “makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler,” with access to your Circles, Stream and Huddle.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: 9MM, Pocket RPG, Captain America & More!

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The App Store has seen some awesome game releases in the last 7 days, and our favorites include two huge new titles from Gameloft, a thrilling new racer from the creators of Reckless Racing, and Captain America’s iOS debut. We’ve also got an awesome new dual-stick dungeon-crawling RPG from Crescent Moon Games that’s guaranteed to get you drooling.

Get Music That Matches the Tempo of Your Workout With Cadence.FM [Review]

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Cadence.FM (free) is an excellent iPhone app that compliments your workouts by providing you with a constant streamof music that consistently matches a chosen tempo — it’s your “on-demand personal DJ.”

Its best feature is that all of the music it plays is streamed from the SoundCloud music community and includes the best popular remixes, trance, house, dub-step and club music — so you don’t even need to store tracks locally on your device to use it. Just choose a channel and specify the BPM to which you’d like to work out and Cadence.FM will select the music for you — and it does a great job of it!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: 1-bit Ninja, Pocket Academy, Transformers & More!

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Our roundup of must-have iOS games this week includes 1-bit Ninja — a unique new platformer that boasts retro gameplay in a stylised 2D side-scrolling world, which you can drag into 3D at any time to reveal hidden paths — like no other platform game you’ve ever played.

Also on our list is Pocket Academy, the latest release from Kairosoft, the developers behind Game Dev Story; and the official Transformers game from Electronic Arts.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: iTunes Festival, Starbucks, Photosynth & More!

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The iTunes Festival 2011 is now well under way in London, boasting 31 nights of music from 62 artists including Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Bruno Mars, My Chemical Romance, and many more. If you weren’t lucky enough to bag yourself some tickets, you can still enjoy every show live and on demand with the iTunes Festival London 2011 app for your iOS device — the first of this week’s must-have iOS applications!

We’ve also included the brand new Starbucks app, which boasts Mobile Pay, reward card management and eGifts; and the Photosynth app from Microsoft, which just got an awesome update!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Zookeeper DX, Bunny Shooter, Feevo HD & More!

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This week’s roundup of must-have games kicks off with the Nintendo DS classic Zookeeper — a vivid and engaging puzzle game in which your mission is to capture the animals and become the world’s best zookeeper. There’s more puzzle fun in Feevo HD, which boasts Bejeweled-like match gameplay from the makers of Tetris Online; and Bunny Shooter will be a huge hit with Angry Birds fans thanks to its physics-based bunny assassination with a bow & arrow.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: Audiotap, Songkick Concerts, Discovr Apps & More!

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This week’s roundup of must-have iOS apps features two great new titles for music lovers, which will provide you with instant access to your entire iTunes library wherever you may be, and allow you to find upcoming gigs for all your favorite artists based on the tracks stored on your device. We also have an app that makes discovering new iOS apps & games incredibly quick and simple, and Bungie’s new iPhone companion app for Halo gamers.

Find out more about the apps above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves below!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Dream:scape, 1000 Heroz, Rocket Bunnies & More!

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Now that WWDC is over for another year and we’ve put all the excitement behind us, this coming week is going to be a little dull without something good to keep us entertained. Thankfully, our list must-have games is here to help. This week’s roundup features Dream:scape — the latest eye-popping game to use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine; 1000 Heroz which promises a new adventure every day you play; plus more great titles that are guaranteed to please.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: Evernote Peek, Notefile, Parkbud & More!

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Kicking off this week’s list of must-have iOS apps is a great new iPad 2 title from Evernote called Peek – the first iOS release that uses the Smart Cover to create a quiz game. We have a terrific new note-taking app from Junecloud, the developers behind the highly acclaimed Delivery Status Touch. Plus an app that will ensure you never get hit with a parking fine again, and plenty more.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: Photofon, Ranky, iWork

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From the creators of Echofon – the popular third-party Twitter client – comes Photofon; the easiest way to browse the photos posted in your Twitter timeline. This isn’t just another Twitter client, but rather a photo browser for those who enjoy viewing all of the photos posted by their friends.

Ranky is a great application for app developers, marketeers, and those who want to keep track of App Store games and applications. It provides you with an overview of how well your selected titles are performing and their position in the App Store’s charts.

Apple’s iWork office suite for iOS has just made its way to the iPhone and the iPod touch, and just like its iPad counterpart, you won’t find an office experience as good as this from anywhere else. For getting things done on the move, nothing compares to iWork.

Find out more about thus week’s must-haves below!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: Touchgrind BMX, The Heist, Siege Hero & More!

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Illusion Labs – the team behind the hugely successful Touchgrind skateboarding game – have taken everything that made their first hit such a success and used it to create Touchgrind BMX. Put the skateboard to one side and become a BMX pro – performing spectacular tricks in beautifully crafted locations all over the world.

The Heist is currently famous for its overwhelming popularity that has helped it knock Angry Birds off the top spot of the App Store’s paid chart. Featuring a collection of mind-bending puzzles that you must solve in order to get your hands on the valuable prize inside the vault.

Siege Hero boasts gameplay similar to Angry Birds, in that you must destroy a group of enemies protected by glass, rocks and timber. However, instead of taking aim at a group of ugly pigs, vikings are your enemies, and rocks replace the birds as your ammo.

Find out more about the games above and check out the rest of the week’s must-haves – including Back to the Future: Episode 3 and To-Fu: The Trials of Chi – below!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: eBuddy XMS, Apple Store, Opera Mini & More!

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Already famous for its excellent Pro Messenger IM application, eBuddy has taken real-time messaging to the next level with eBuddy XMS – a free, real-time messenger that enabled you to chat with text, pictures, emoticons and more. It features a highly-polished user interface and an experience guaranteed to give apps like WhatsApp and PingChat! some real competition.

In addition to the recent launch of ‘Apple Store 2.0′, the Apple Store application for iPhone also got a much-needed revamp. The latest version of the app works internationally and boasts some great new features.

Opera Mini has been the iPhone browser of choice for many since it launched, promising to be the fastest, most cost-efficient web-browsing experience for your iOS device today. Its recent update made it a universal application delivering all its Opera goodness to the iPad, which impressed Cult of Mac’s Giles Turnball in his recent review.

Find out more about the applications above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves – including Contacts Journal and Aelios Weather – below!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: PhotoForge2, Foodish, Zootool & More!

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This week’s roundup of must-have iOS applications begins with the second edition of PhotoForge – the popular photo manipulation tool for iOS. Completely rebuilt from the ground up, PhotoForge2 promises to be a breakthrough for image editing on the go, with unparalleled tools and amazing effects to transform your photos into masterpieces.

Foodish is a new application that claims to make dining and drinking twice as much fun (is that even possible?), by providing a quick and easy way for you to keep a record of your diet, but in a way that’s fun and enjoyable rather that dull and tedious like traditional diet tracking applications. It makes it simple for you to see how healthy or how dreadfully unhealthy (like mine) your diet is.

Zootool is a great little tool that makes bookmarking, organizing and sharing your favorite images, videos, documents and links from all over the web incredibly effortless.

Find out more about the application above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves – including Audibly and eBay Motors – below!

Tuned for iPhone Hits All the Right Notes – A Must-Have for Music Quiz Fans [Review]

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Tuned is an innovative new game for the iPhone that offers music lovers an endless number of entertaining music quizzes from just about every genre there is. The unique thing about this game is that it takes its music from the song previews in the iTunes store’s top charts, so even if you don’t have a single track of your own stored on your device, you can still enjoy the quizzes.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: IM+ Pro, TweetyPop, Adobe Photoshop Touch & More!

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At the top of this week’s list of must-have iOS applications is one of our favorite instant messaging tools: IM+ Pro. It has already featured in our list of the ‘Best iOS Apps for Instant Messaging‘, but the introduction of its new Neighbors service meant we couldn’t help but shout about it again.

TweetyPop is a super new Twitter application from TapFactory that allows you to view and interact with your tweets in a unique new way. It throws away the chronological list you get with every other Twitter client and delivers a 3 dimensional Twitter space.

Adobe first announced its first three Photoshop Touch applications at Photoshop World back in March, and they’re now available to download from the App Store. Color Lava, Eazel and Nav are all designed for the iPad and aim to enhance your desktop Photoshop experience with the help of a touch-based device.

Find out more about the applications above and check out OmniOutliner – this week’s final must-have – after the break.

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Games: First Touch Soccer, Spider Jack, Frisbee Forever & More!

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Kicking off this week’s selection of must-have iOS games is a brand new soccer game from X2 Games – the team behind the award-winning X2 Soccer titles. First Touch Soccer promises to be the true next-generation of soccer on iOS, offering the “most complete, realistic and addictive soccer sim available.”

Spider Jack is the latest puzzle release from Chillingo and I’m betting this game will be the next iOS game craze. Inspired by Cut the Rope, this game features a similar gameplay mechanic and all the ingredients needed to be a fantastic iOS puzzler.

Frisbee Forever is a whole new way to play frisbee and the only official frisbee game for iOS. It boasts super crisp 3D graphics and a frisbee experience like no other!

Find out more about the games above and check out Pulse: Volume One – this week’s final must-have – after the break!

This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: Comic Life, Notificant, Planetary & More!

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At the top of this week’s list of must-have iOS apps is the awesome comic creation tool that previously came bundled with Intel Macs. Comic Life from plasq allows you to use the photos in your iPad’s camera roll to create your own comic masterpieces.

Notificant is a brilliant new productivity app that makes is fast and simple to create reminders for the things you’d usually forget. Choose to have notifications alert you on your iPhone, as well as any of your other iOS or Mac devices.

Exploring your music collection has never been as stunning as it is with Planetary – a free iPad app that has climbed rapidly to the top of the free app charts. Fly through a 3D universe dynamically created by information about the recording artists you love.

Find out more about the applications above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves – including Cadence.fm and 4oD Catch Up – after the break!

‘Tweetbot’ for iPhone Deserves its Release Day Hype [Review]

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One of the most anticipated Twitter clients for the iPhone finally hit the App Store yesterday, and I was staggered by the attention it received within its first few hours – I can’t remember the last time an iOS application launched with that kind exposure – especially not a Twitter client.

From Tapbots – the creators of Convertbot, Pastebot and WeightbotTweetbot promises to be a full-featured Twitter client with a lot of personality; boasting a meticulously crafted user interface, smart gestures, and customizable navigation.

Tweetbot’s launch is big news today – it’s all over Twitter and many publications are dubbing the application a Twitter for iPhone killer. But is it as good as the release day hype would have you believe? Find out in our review after the break!

‘Honk’ Will Save You From Another Pricey Parking Ticket [Must-Have App]

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Honk for iPhone

Honk($0.99) iPhone – Navigation

If you’ve ever returned to your car to find that you’ve earned yourself a whopping great fine for running over on the meter, or parking too long in the same spot, Honk is here to help! Simply swipe the virtual parking meter to record how much time you’ve got to park and Honk will ensure you’re reminded when it’s nearly time to move your car. The app icon on your home screen will even display how much time you’ve got left minute-by-minute, so it’s easy to see at a quick glance. You can even use to Honk to remind yourself of where you parked by making handwritten notes, taking photos, and using your GPS location.

‘AirMusic’ Streams Your Tunes to PS3, Xbox, PC [Must-Have App]

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AirMusic($0.99) iPhone – Utilities

AirMusic is a superb application for streaming your music over Wi-Fi to your PS3, Xbox 360, or PC, and allows you to wirelessly listen to your tunes through your TV without using an AppleTV. Its incredibly easy setup means your music is there the moment you want it – just ensure all of your devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, start AirMusic, then navigate to your music library on your console or PC and your tunes will be there – it couldn’t be easier.

Although I use an AppleTV in our living room, I downloaded this application for use with a PS3 in another room and so far I can’t fault it. The only downside to AirMusic is that it won’t play older iTunes purchases that are protected by DRM, but I’m yet to find a way of playing DRM-protected tunes on my PS3 without putting them onto a CD first. AirMusic setup takes literally a few minutes, streaming is effortless, and the quality is great. If you’re looking for a way to share your iPod library with your Xbox, PS3, or PC, I recommend you give AirMusic a go!

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This Week’s Must-Have iOS Apps: Tap DJ, Wunderlist HD & Text Writer

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Not many DJ applications for iOS devices quite deliver the experience you get from using this week’s first must-have app – Tap DJ. Its bucket-load of features, together with its brilliantly designed and incredibly intuitive user interface, make it the ultimate pocket DJ application.

Another of our favorites is Wunderlist a beautifully elegant task manager that’s been around for a short while on the iPhone, and now it’s available in all its HD glory on the iPad

Writing on your iOS device can sometimes be a painful experience, especially if you don’t have a good text editor. Fortunately, our third must-have application is just that. Text Editor is a wonderfully effortless, yet incredibly useful text editor that will go a long way to ensuring that writing on your iOS device isn’t so bad.

Find out more about the applications above and our forth must-have – Oscar Backstage Pass after the break!

This Week’s Must Have iOS Games: Tiny Wings, Volcano Escape & Zombie Runaway

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This week’s roundup of must-have iOS games features what I think could be the next iPhone craze; Tiny Wings is a simple one-button arcade game based on a dream of flying, and another huge App Store success that will be sure to hang around for a while at the top of the paid charts, just like Angry Birds or Doodle Jump.

Volcano Escape is another of our favorites a terrific platformer that provides level after level of action-packed entertainment, which, together with its crazy characters and explosive weaponry, makes it one of the greatest games of its genre.

Zombies are quite the stars within the App Store – some of the most popular iOS games feature the living dead. Our third must-have game this week, and another to add to the list of zombie successes, is Zombie Runawaya brilliant run-as-far-as-you-can game that’s a little different to the rest.

Find out more about the games above after the break!