It’s Friday Sunday and it’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
Under review this week: Diorama, Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble, Darkness, Nag-O-Meter Deluxe, Glypha, Rugby Zone, Otakukous and EPSN ScoreCenter. As always, all id.gd links are to the relevant App Store page.
I get all tingly when a manufacturer offers up a gadget with cool features and out-of-the-box design; but then it’s a huge bummer when the gadget’s features don’t live up to expectations. Worse is when those exotic features end up being a hindrance compared with tried-and-tested ones.
And that’s exactly the case with the Jabra BT650s HALO stereo Bluetooth headset.
Full review after the jump.
Have a question? Aardvark Mobile is a great iPhone app that will find a real person to answer it – usually within minutes. It is a wonderfully useful app and has the potential to be an iPhone mainstay for years to come.
Aardvark Mobile is the latest addition to Aardvark: a social question and answer service that emerged from its beta phase earlier this year. Before Aardvark Mobile, users could only communicate with Aardvark through IM or email. The upshot of this was that if you needed a question answered from your iPhone, you had to go through your email or instant messaging app. In most circumstances you were better off finding an answer on your own using Google – even on an iPhone 2G.
But now Aardvark Mobile makes using Aardvark with an iPhone a cinch. So easy in fact, it makes Googling questions from your iPhone seem cumbersome and antiquated.
Three’s a crowd… unless the three in question are the latest bags from hip Australian bag maker Crumpler.
Branching out from its original line of messenger bags, Crumpler now offers, amongst others, the Salary Sacrifice (a laptop rucksack), the School Hymn (a laptop clutch case) and the Barney Rustle Blanket (a messenger bag). The names are weird, but the bags aren’t.
Hit the jump for full reviews of all three.
The latest release into the already crowded market of iPod/iPhone holders is the StandHear Travel Stand & Headphone Splitter from Agent 18.
The compact, fold-out case allows you to support your iPod/iPhone at four different viewing angles, leaving your hands free to do whatever they might need to be doing whilst watching your favorite movie or reviewing por… er, important documents.
Finally, the team at Dropbox have released a native iPhone app. And it’s pretty awesome.
What it is: A simple puzzle platformer in which you play Jeremiah the Frog, a cheerful fellow trying to escape Satan’s curse by turning floor squares red and green with his hops — all to the music of brilliant indie rock outsider Daniel Johnston.
Why it’s cool: Didn’t you read the description? Ah, well. The play control is smooth and easy to pick up, the graphics are beautiful and cartoony, and the soundtrack is amazing. I’ve only been playing for five minutes, but I’ve already heard “Some Time Spent in Heaven.” Better still, Jeremiah is based on a mural Johnston painted in Austin, Texas, who cheerfully declares “Hi, How Are You?” to people on the campus of the University of Texas. But it’s a good game whether you know that or not.
Where to get it: On the App Store, of course. Link. It’s only 99 cents for a limited time.
Via FingerGaming
When a gadget has a doppelganger, the differences between the two are automatically thrown into sharp relief. Because Seagate’s DockStar runs on Pogoplug technology and uses the Pogoplug interface, our review of Cloud Engine’s Pogoplug a few weeks back pretty much covers the DockStar completely.
The DockStar performs the same exact function as the Pogoplug: it’s an instant, easy-to-use internet connection for any hard drive. Transfer files to a USB thumb drive or portable drive, plug it into the DockStar, then access the files from anywhere on the Internet. But there are three differences between the two products — one of them a big catch.
Hit the jump for the full skinny.
It’s Friday and it’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
Under review this week: Arkanoid, FlipTime 2.0, Shockwave, Squareball and Monster Pinball.
I’m going to climb out on a limb here and suggest that most people don’t use their headphones to dig trenches or compute the rotational velocity of Jupiter. No, headphones are for sound reproduction. Shure’s new SRH440 Professional Studio Headphones do nothing more or less than that, do it very well, and at the bargain price of about $100.
Full review after the jump.
If you haven’t encountered Reevoo before, go and take a poke around it now. It’s a UK-oriented customer reviews site that’s managed to aggregate an impressively large database of real comments from real people about real products.
And the iPhone version of the site is incredibly useful when you’re out at the shops trying to track down the best product at the best price.
Among the many dozens (hundreds?) of companies in the cottage industry that makes cases and other protective doo dads for your iPhone, Totonto-based Gelaskins probably produces the most arresting and beautiful of them all.
Actually, just saying they produce protective devices for the iPhone is selling the company way short since they adapt fine art from a deep roster of global artists working in a broad range of styles, putting photo quality prints on thin, but tough, scratch-resistant polymer with a patented 3M adhesive, allowing you to personalize and protect everything from iPhone to the full range of Apple iPods and laptops.
The iPhone covers go for about $15, while iPod protection runs a little less and laptop protective art will set you back about $30. Not that Apple’s industrial design isn’t beautiful itself, but all the Gelaskins art is distinctive – and any of it is guaranteed to make your device stand out from the crowd.
Hit the jump for a gallery of 10 of the newest designs that we think are among the coolest.
It’s Friday and it’s time for a weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac.
This week, I review Smart Maps – Brussels, Who’s Buying, Tasks – Tick If Off, Pac-Man Remix, FortuneBall, Mr.AahH!! Lite, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, A Quest of Knights Onrush, Power Toppler, and CrunchUrl.
Even though there is something awkward and unattractive about laptop bags, I seem drawn to them over and over. I guess it’s because when it comes to carrying a laptop, they do the job. I have been through several at this stage, but never liked any of them. But finally I have found a bag that changes the message — Hellolulu’s Messenger Bag.
The $120 Hellolulu messenger is the ultimate laptop bag. There is nothing cumbersome about this bag.
What is it? It’s one of my all-time favourite Menu Bar apps, and was recently updated to work with Snow Leopard. I’m delighted to have just re-installed it after a spell of trying to live without it.
The app is called I Love Stars, and I prefer it over ever other iTunes helper I’ve tried. And I’ve tried quite a few.
Kirikae, a free jailbreak app switcher/launcher for the iPhone, is yet another forbidden app that shows exactly how simple power features can drastically improve the iPhone user experience. With two clicks of the home button you can switch between apps while automatically backgrounding the app you leave. Kirikae was initially released on September 7, and the recent update (version svn.r49) adds more great features to an already killer app switcher.
What is it? It’s Notational Velocity, one of the best and yet most overlooked note apps for OS X. You should download it immediately.
Why it’s cool Because if you want to store text notes, many hundreds or thousands of them, and then be able to search through them at lighting speed, there is no faster or simpler way of doing it.
Unfortunately, Audio-Technica’s $220, noise-cancelling beauties have turned me into a complete twit. They’ve caused me to belt out John Legend’s “If You’re Out There” while in line at the local Starbucks; and they make make me look like Lando Calrissian’s crony in The Empire Strikes Back
I don’t care. They’re so good, I’m probably never taking them off.
It’s Friday and it’s time for our weekly digest of tiny iPhone reviews, courtesy of iPhoneTiny.com, with some extra commentary exclusive to Cult of Mac. Except this article didn’t show up last week, due to me ending up in Belgium, so this time it’s a one-off, extra-special iPhone Fortnightly Digest!
APPS OF THE WEEK
TonePad Pro: Addictive grid-based musical toy. Many editing/sharing options. Ringtone exports a tad distorted. 5/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/36AZt
FlipTime: Cute clock/calendar akin to old-style airport/train station boards. Lsc. & portrait modes. No alarm. 4/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/2NJnC
Terminator: Death Valley 1: So-so ‘humanoid killer robots’ vs contemporary ‘human cannon fodder’ comic. Nice UI. 2/5 Free https://is.gd/2JTvQ
Remix David Bowie – Space Oddity: Simple but limited multitrack ‘mixing’ of a famous Bowie track. 3/5 $1.99 https://is.gd/2LtRo
Adrenaline: 32 basic, quickfire ‘blitz’ games. Sometimes fun but would benefit from much shorter level times. 3/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/2Qryw
Leaves: Tranquil leaves-based toy. Slightly iffy 3D and physics, but calming, and fun for a short time. 2/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/30cmL
Score-Em: Virtual scorecard app with varied graphics and relevant audio. Works fine, but throwaway in nature. 2/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/32bBx
Gem Ninja: Mindless prod-based tile-match game. OK for a free time-waster, but not worth paying for. 2/5 Free https://is.gd/32cQy
Looptastic Electro Edition Lite: Loop remix tool. Fantastic UI, varied audio stems, and ten loops to play with. 4/5 Free https://is.gd/34Hp2
StarTime: Vibrant, bold Star Trek-like clock. Optional random sounds & can run iPod music in background. 3/5 $0.99 https://is.gd/39xOi
Since this column didn’t happen last week, it’s only fair to highlight FlipTime, which would have been ‘app of the week’ last week. It’s one of those apps that shows you don’t need something that’s all-singing and all-dancing to make an impression. Instead, charm sometimes goes a long way. All FlipTime does is show the time and date, sporting a visual appearance like those old-fashioned flip boards you’d see at railway stations and airports. Sounds are optional and the numerals are bold enough to see at a distance. Aesthetically, it’s also the nicest iPhone clock I’ve seen.
TonePad Pro is this week’s favourite. It’s been described as iPhone musical crack elsewhere, and it does have a certain addictive quality about it. Again, it’s a simple app—this time, you toggle grid spaces to play notes in an ever-repeating loop. However, this time it’s the attention to detail that wins through, the developer having provided plenty of options for editing, saving and sharing your creations. The Pro version is ad-free and enables you to email ringtones that can then be dropped into iTunes and synchronised with your iPhone. But if you don’t care about ringtones and ads, the free version of TonePad is just as good.
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Apple’s new fifth-generation iPod nano, now with a video camera, is a perfect pearl of 21st-century technology. It’s a lovely piece of electronic jewelry that does almost everything except dispense pints of beer.
It can record video, play movies, store weeks’ worth of music, wake you in the morning, remind you of a dental appointment, record how many steps you walked to work, and how long it took you. It remembers all your contacts, records voice memos, stores your shopping lists and plays a bunch of games that are controlled by tipping and tilting the beautiful little device.
It’s easy to get complacent about Apple’s iPods, new ones come out so often. They’ve got to be 3D holographic auto-mastubators to get anyone’s attention. But take a step back, and it’s pretty astonishing how much advanced technology is stuffed into such a tiny device, and how beautifully it’s done.
When i was younger I worked as a house painter and had a great JVC boombox that blasted punk tunes to everyone’s annoyance.
That’s why I like Altec Lansing’s new $300 Mix iMT800, a ghettoblaster for the iPhone age.
The Mix Boombox is loud and obnoxious, like a boombox should be. It mixes old school block-rockin’ beats with new school digital connectivity. It easily fills a room with sound and can piss off the neighbors, even in the daytime.
The Pogoplug from CloudEngines looks like a boring power adapter, but it’s a fantastic little gizmo that turns any USB hard drive into your own little cloud server accessible over the Internet.
Just stick a router and USB hard drive into the $99 Pogoplug, plug it into the wall and baboom — instant cloud. Which means I can dump my important files and media onto a drive, and as long as I’m online, I can access those files, anywhere, anytime.
Hit the jump for the full review.
Duracell’s cheap and cheerful little rechargeable battery pack is “perfect,” Gizmodo says in a nice little review of the new gadget.
Just released, Duracell’s $20 Instant Charger is good for about half a charge of an iPhone, or a full charge of an iPod nano.
“Duracell’s Instant Charger is a perfectly executed little gadget,” Gizmodo says.
The site has seen plenty of pricey chargers with all the bells and whistles, which are usually superfluous. Gizmodo is charmed by the Instant Charger’s purity: it’s basically a rechargeable litium ion battery hooked to a USB port, and that’s it.
You plug in your own charging cables, so it’s good for iPhones, iPods, digital cameras, Bluetooth headsets and any other gadget that comes with a USB cable.
The Instant Charger ‘s bigger brother, the $50 Powerhouse Charger, stores enough juice to charge an iPhone 3G 1.2 times, or an iPod nano 4 times, Giz says. But it isn’t as compelling as the Instant Charger, which is perfectly simple and cheap.
Way way back in the mists of ancient history, I owned a Palm device, and I loved the little fella.
One of my favourite apps for the Palm was AvantGo (now defunct) – a huge database of free newspaper and magazine content that the device would download every time you synced the Palm with your desktop computer.
I used to spend long train journeys catching up with news from the BBC, Wired, and a bunch of other publications. Most of it was full text, there were no ads (not that I can remember, anyway – this was a long time ago now), it was fast and quick and easy. Superb.
This week I noticed Time magazine’s new app, and started poking around elsewhere in the news section of the App Store. In particular, I wanted to see what the UK media were up to.
