AppZilla 2 is one of those jack-of-all-trades apps, squeezing 120 little mini-apps into one place.
Tap it, and it grinds open with a dramatic kzzzzzzrrr-tang sound. Inside, you see a springboard-within-a-springboard, with pages of apps to mess around with.
There’s all kinds of stuff in there. Camera apps, sounds apps, word apps, joke apps, utilities apps. You name it, it’s probably inside AppZilla. A bargain, right?
Here’s the thing, though: in the time it takes you to hit the AppZilla icon, wait for AppZilla to do its kzzzzzzrrr-tang thing, flick to the AppZilla mini app that you want (assuming you can remember where it is), and open it – well, you might as well have just used a standard app. You’d probably have got to it quicker.
AppZilla’s offerings are somewhat variable. Some are so simple you might find yourself wondering if you’ve missed something. The Bug Zapper, for example: is it really just a glowing blue thing that makes bzzzt noises? Yes.
Other apps are frustratingly cumbersome to use. Face FX lets you tweak photos of people’s faces, but rather than simply touching and swiping, as you can with most similar apps, you have to use a drop-down menu to select the effect you want, move the target to the right position, and hit the “Apply” button. It requires too many taps, and sucks the fun out of making your loved ones look dumb.
That’s not to say there’s nothing useful inside AppZilla. There are some useful widgets: virtual dice, a metronome, a moon phase calculator, stuff like that. But a lot of them can be found elsewhere on your iDevice, on the internet, or on the App Store.
Let’s face it: for a dollar, you’ve not got a lot to lose. And if your kids are pestering you for apps that do even one of the things inside AppZilla, it might make sense to get it for them. You might be better off working out the one or two functions you really need, and spending a dollar or so on apps that do just those things.
[xrr rating=50%]
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
19 responses to “You Can Get 120 Apps Inside One! But Do You Need To? [Review]”
Yo, Dawg!
I have this but never use it, its too hard to find what ur looking for. I also like a having a dedicated app that specializes in its purpose like dictionary.com for my dictionary app.
Yo I heard you like apps, so I put apps in ur app so you can use apps with ur app.
Why would anyone want something like that? If they can afford to sell it so cheaply, chances are the quality is probably not very good.
Is this like a taco, within a taco? #southpark
“Appception” for 1 dollar.
Don’t want.
More like a taco within a taco WITHIN a taco.
Hmm, I was excited when I saw you reviewed AppZilla. But, disappointed when I read it’s not a totally fair review. First, the “kzzzzzzrrr-tang thing” only happens the first time you load the app… on later runs it opens immediately to your last position. Secondly, there’s an intuitive way to reorder mini-apps to your liking and let’s not forget “favorite” tagging to tag your favorite mini-apps for instant start. Plus Iris? Seriously, that’s the coolest piece of tech I’ve ever seen come out of the app store in terms of color customization. Sure wish you had given AppZilla a few proper pats on the back. :)
It’s true I’m a fan, but to each his own, right? AppZilla 2 was awarded a 9.6 in terms of quality in April’s edition of Rolling Stone Magazine as well as high marks for “bang for the buck”… and literally … IT”S A BUCK!
Cheers…
Hi Sammy – that’s not my experience. The “kzzzzzzzr-tang” noise happens every time I open the app.
And I agree with your point about it costing only a buck. That’s why I wrote “Let’s face it: for a dollar, you’ve not got a lot to lose.”
Oh you know what, I just realized that I’m on a multitasking enabled iOS (v4.2 to be exact on an iPhone 4). If you are on an older OS or a phone that doesn’t support multitasking like the 3G… I bet that’s what you get – the opening animation every time. The app has to reopen every time! Good catch and yeah that would be slightly annoying. Did you know you can disable the whole opening animation in the options? True story… that’s what I do anyway because once you see it you’ve seen it.
I just think there so much to cover in this app that it’s almost impossible to write a review with decent coverage. Keep up the good work and look forward to your next review. :)