148Apps Main |
- Facemood Released: Tells You What Mood Your Friends Are In
- The Witcher: Versus Review
- Raiding Company Review
- San Francisco: DK Top 10 Review
- Week Calendar Review
- Mysteriez, a new Hidden Object Game
- TtV Camera Review
- Get Ahead of Your Book Club with Group Reads
- Files Connect Review
- Glu Mobile Takes Aim At Your Wallet With Another Freemium Game, Contract Killer
| Facemood Released: Tells You What Mood Your Friends Are In Posted: 28 Mar 2011 01:04 PM PDT
Facemood – in case you can’t guess from its name – is a Facebook themed app. The app tells you the current mood of your friends. It works by using a unique algorithm to analyze your friend’s status updates. Facemood takes several variables into account during its process, including keywords, sentence structure and punctuation. The mood is then represented by simple graphical icons, measuring the happiness and calmness of the user. Moods range from depressed to ecstatic depending on the score returned by the algorithm. “The app allows you to browse all your friends as well as those which you have added to a Favourites list which automatically updates and directly shows their mood in a graphical manner,” the company said in an e-mail to 148Apps. I think the idea is interesting, but it kind of reminds me of MySpace’s mood settings, which users can specify themselves. Still, it’s an idea that’s altogether quite different from that. I’m curious to see how well the algorithm works – and, more specifically, if it actually works accurately. Frimby has not set an exact release date for Facemood, but it sounds like it will be available on the iTunes App Store fairly soon. The studio has one other app on the App Store already, SongStumblr, which released last year.  Facemood :)iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $0.99 Released: 2011-03-27 :: Category: Social Networking [ Facemood Released: Tells You What Mood Your Friends Are In is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Facemood :) |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2011 12:04 PM PDT  The Witcher: Versus ReviewBy Bonnie Eisenman on March 28th, 2011Our Rating:    :: SIMPLE BUT FUNiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad The Witcher: Versus might not have a storyline like its epic RPG namesake, but it’s a fun, simple dueling game. It’s good for short bursts of entertainment, even if it lacks depth.
Developer: Chillingo Price: $0.99 Version Reviewed: 1.0 Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.56 out of 5 stars
The game requires an always-on Internet connection, because it revolves entirely around competing against other players in one-on-one matchups. First, you must select your class: Sorceress, Witcher, or Frightener. Sorceresses wield magic, Witchers use swords and “signs,” and Frighteners…well, Frighteners are giant insect-like monsters that stab at things. Regardless of class, each character has access to three types of attacks (Strong, Magic, and Fast). As you play the game and gain experience, you unlock new skills in all three categories. To start a battle, head to the Arena and accept or initiate a challenge. Then, you queue up a number of offensive and defensive moves, one for each turn. (How many turns there are depends on your level.) What type do you think this mysterious Witcher will use? Is it too risky to queue up too many Strong moves, in case your opponent suspects you favor that type? This is where all the strategy, such as it is, comes in. Finally, you submit this move queue. Once your opponent does the same, you watch the battle. Each turn, each character carries out their offensive and defensive instruction, and whoever has the most health at the end wins. This requires some strategy, but mostly depends on luck. As you increase your level, however, your skills become more complex, so strategy plays a larger role, but in the beginning it feels like the victor is determined by a dice-roll. As a whole, the game works well. Since you can play users of the browser-based version too, there are plenty of people online. Also, in-app purchases are an option. I won’t comment on the cost, but I don’t think they significantly unbalance the game. (You can buy experience boosters, for example.) You don’t need to buy them to enjoy the game or advance. On another note, one annoying thing is that the in-game text always refers to your character as “him.” Not only am I most decidedly not male, but neither was my Sorceress, thank you very much. And I think Frighteners are its. The Witcher: Versus is a fun game that uses the Witcher IP mostly for recognition and theme. There’s no story, and the duels are rather simple; even so, that simplicity makes it an easy way to get a few minutes’ entertainment. As a Witcher fan, I would have liked a more significant tie-in with the game world, but even so The Witcher: Versus is, if not a must-have, certainly a fun way to spend some time. [ The Witcher: Versus Review is a post from 148Apps ]  The Witcher: VersusiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-24 :: Category: Games / Role Playing :: SIMPLE BUT FUNRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: The Witcher: Versus |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2011 11:04 AM PDT  Raiding Company ReviewBy Timothy Smith on March 28th, 2011Our Rating: :: MUMMY MUNNYiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Dive into a world of tombs and loot, but beware of the mummies.
Developer: Tuokio Inc. Price: $2.99 Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars If there is one genre that has remained stable since the introduction of iOS, it would have to be the dual stick shooter. Just move your character, shoot, and stay alive. Dual stick shooters aren’t new to the scene, but they have managed to stay popular due to their simple learning curve and addictive gameplay. The problem is too many developers try to copy and paste the same old formula in an attempt to gain some fast cash. Tuokio, the developer of Raiding Company, has added a few unique twists to their take on the genre that help the game stand out. It isn’t a perfect game, but it is a great start.
The single player mode works like you would expect any dual stick shooter to work. Defeat a wave of enemies while collecting money to power up your weapons and repeat. I was a little sad that there aren’t any customization options for the characters, but each character plays differently and it’s noticeable. I found that I preferred the lady with the minigun and the robot with the phasers. Each character has three levels of weapon upgrades, but I would like to see more. It isn’t hard to max out your character, and their aren’t any additional power-ups. On occasion enemies will drop a slab of avian leg that you can use for healing, but that’s pretty much the extent of in game items.
Raiding Company is a fun addition to the dual stick shooter genre, but it lacks substantial content. There are some good ideas in the game, and I think it will get a lot better if the developers continue to support it. It is worth the entry fee if you plan on playing with 2 to 4 players, but there are better single player experiences out there. If more characters, items, and higher level power-ups are added to Raiding Company, then it could get pretty epic. [ Raiding Company Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Raiding CompanyiPad Only App - Designed for the iPad Buy Now: $2.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-09 :: Category: Games / Action :: MUMMY MUNNYRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Raiding Company |
| San Francisco: DK Top 10 Review Posted: 28 Mar 2011 10:04 AM PDT  San Francisco: DK Top 10 ReviewBy Phillip Levin on March 28th, 2011Our Rating: :: A GREAT RESOURCEiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad An impressive digital tour guide to San Francisco.
Developer: Dorling Kindersley Price: $6.99 Version Reviewed: 1.1 Device Reviewed On: iPhone iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.83 out of 5 stars
San Francisco: DK Top 10 is a travel guide built around dozens of top 10 lists, covering the city's best restaurants, hotels, shops and things to do. The introductory screen itself breaks down the San Francisco experience into categories like San Francisco Highlights, Things to See & Do, Area by Area and Practicalities. When you click on any of these, you'll discover top 10 lists pertaining to that category. For instance, under San Francisco Highlights, you'll find a tour of the city's highlights, providing information on iconic destinations, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Warf, Alcatraz, Chinatown and more. Click on any of these, and you'll find a top 10 lists with information covering that location. There are also top 10 lists that break down the city's best dining, hotels and many other categories.
If you're one of those undecided travelers who can't figure out what you want to do, there's the useful "Inspire Me" feature, which randomly suggests something for you to do based on what category you choose. And with the Favorites option, you can keep track of everything you like, for future use. This is an impressive app, but it does have some areas that could do with improvement. Many of the hotels and restaurants, for instance, lack pricing information, which is inconvenient. Further, there's no legend for the map's icons, making the process of learning the map more complicated than it should be. These issues aside, San Francisco: DK Top 10 is an impressive resource and tool for anyone planning to visit San Francisco. I wish I had something like this the first couple of times I traveled to the city. In fact, next time I do, I'll certainly make use of the app. [ San Francisco: DK Top 10 Review is a post from 148Apps ]  San Francisco: DK Top 10iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $6.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-21 :: Category: Travel :: A GREAT RESOURCERead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: San Francisco: DK Top 10 |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2011 09:04 AM PDT  Week Calendar ReviewBy Chantelle Joy Duxbury on March 28th, 2011Our Rating: iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Trying out yet another Calendar app, right?
Developer: Utilitap Price: $1.99 Version: 2.0 iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4.17 out of 5 stars I am almost always on the prowl for a better, faster, more useful and organized Calendar App. I’ve tried probably close to a dozen in the last two years, and I’ve probably become a bit picky. This is why it was such a pleasure to find Week Calendar, and realize that I completely understand why it’s getting rave reviews and five-star ratings in the iTunes App Store. It’s one of the simplest but most functional calendar apps I’ve ever used.
Obviously that’s not all. You can still see your schedule as a list, or a daily, monthly, or even yearly view. What impressed me quite a bit with this app is how well it mimics the iOS default calendar application design, but improves on it in very functional ways. Like, for example, in the Month View, showing as many dots as there are events, and showing them in each calendars colors. So simple, but so useful! I could go on and on about the customization and settings options, but at this point it’s pretty standard calendar stuff. Being able to set up your default views, event posting details, and calendar or event colors. However I will mention that I love that it includes the ability to search your schedule. Such a useful feature, that should always be included in Calendars. If you’re as obsessed with keeping yourself organized as I am, and you’ve tried other calendar apps and haven’t found them to be quite right, I strongly suggest checking out Week Calendar. It’s a fantastic price point for such a clean, useful, and functional app. [ Week Calendar Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Week CalendariPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $1.99 Our Rating: Released: 2010-07-29 :: Category: Productivity :: Read Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Week Calendar |
| Mysteriez, a new Hidden Object Game Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:30 AM PDT Absolutist Ltd is perhaps best well known for the fantastically popular game iBubble Shooter Pro. However as a game developer for multiple platforms, they announced this week a new Hidden Object game for the iPod, iPhone and iPad called Mysteriez.
There are several in-app upgrades available at $0.99 for additional theme level packs, for those seeking additional levels. Mysteriez is currently available on the iTunes App Store, and is noted for an upgrade to fix a couple known issues very soon.  [ Mysteriez, a new Hidden Object Game is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: iBubble Shooter Pro, Mysteriez |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2011 08:04 AM PDT  TtV Camera ReviewBy Chantelle Joy Duxbury on March 28th, 2011Our Rating: :: SIMPLY GREATiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad TtV or “Through the Viewfinder” lets you see how your photos will look with effects before you snap your pics.
Developer: Taplayer Price: $0.99 iPhone Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars You’re probably thinking to yourself, does the iPhone really need yet another effects-driven photography app? Well, when it’s one with a such a unique feature as TtV (or Through the Viewfinder as it’s also known) offers, you’ll probably agree with me when I say, “heck yes!”
The app itself is very simple and snappy, you’re not going to get any social networking, emailing or MMS option from within the app. All it does, and all it needs to do, is offer you a way to take photos – and it works! Usually I am a big fan of additional settings and features to be able to customize my photos to the extreme, but TtV has helped me realize that I don’t necessarily need lots of bells and whistles to have a fully functional and useful photo effects app. In fact, I think the simplicity of it will perhaps appeal to newcomers to the genre. Most people simply take pictures with only the on-board iOS camera app. TtV offers the same simplicity and ease of use as that built in app does. All of the 10 effect options save your photos in the classic vintage square style, and offer varying degrees of editing with effects, ‘noise’ and contrast changes. You can choose full colour, black & white or sepia tone for your pictures. Since you’re seeing what your photo will look like with the effect instantly, you can make any changes to the style before you take your photo. Clicking the shutter button saves the picture to your Camera Roll, and you have the option to view your Camera Roll (or any of your albums) from within the app, to check that the pictures turned out just right. The only major downfall of TtV is that it doesn’t auto-rotate pictures. The app is set up landscape-style so all of your pictures may come out sideways – of course, unless you take them portrait, but then the app is sideways as you use it. You see it can get confusing. I’d also like to see them add zoom support. Hopefully they’ll implement an update for these issues soon. In the meantime this is a brilliant app at just the right price. I highly recommend it for all photography buffs. [ TtV Camera Review is a post from 148Apps ]  TtV CameraiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $0.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-17 :: Category: Photography :: SIMPLY GREATRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: TtV Camera |
| Get Ahead of Your Book Club with Group Reads Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:30 AM PDT
Featuring a multitude of functionalities, such as the ability to take notes before your weekly meeting, keeping track of notes for the group, or even recording an interactive log of your upcoming meeting dates, this is the kind of tool that should be in every reader’s arsenal. After all, $1.99 is just a small cost for going from the team slacker to the head of the class!  group readsiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad Buy Now: $1.99 Released: 2010-10-22 :: Category: Books [ Get Ahead of Your Book Club with Group Reads is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: group reads |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:04 AM PDT  Files Connect ReviewBy Chantelle Joy Duxbury on March 28th, 2011Our Rating: :: USEFUL BUT PRICEYiPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad A robust and useful file sharing app to be used with Windows, Linux or Mac simply, and easily. Includes Dropbox and other online storage syncing options.
Developer: Antecea Inc Price: $7.99 iPhone Integration Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Overall Rating: 3.33 out of 5 stars If you’re looking for a robust file sharing app that goes beyond simple cloud syncing, you should definitely look into Files Connect. It offers a host of file sharing options for both the Mac and PC and gives you a more business oriented environment to host, connect and share with any computer on your network or your online storage accounts.
It’s only slightly less easy to use it to sync files from your Dropbox, MobileMe iDisk, Box.net, FTP, and others, but this feature is quite useful. While most people don’t necessarily need connectivity to all of these services, for those who have multiple it is definitely a time-saver to have one app though which you can save and sync. Check out the full capabilities for connectivity on the iTunes page – because this is where the app really shines. However, even with these great syncing tools, a measure of a good file sharing and organizing app is how it handles the files and how to use them once they’re on the iPhone. iOS is notorious for difficulties in utilizing individual files. Luckily from within this app you can watch video or listen to audio from anywhere you’re connected to. While this is a wonderfully useful and great feature, data users beware – unless you’re connected to Wifi, this could run slowly. As with any file syncing app, you’ll also want to keep an eye on how much you’re using it over 3G, since your data plan may get slammed with traffic. You also have the option to open each file in your preferred app that will recognize the file type, ie: PDF Reader, Alternate Music Player. Sadly, you cannot open audio or video files in your iPod. A word of warning: this app does not support multitasking. This will affect any ongoing transfers, as well as the in-app media player for music and video if you want to switch apps. Also, it’s missing one of my own personal most requested options, which is batch-uploading from device to network/cloud. Each file will need to be selected and uploaded individually. Not a great way to transfer your vacation photos, if you ask me. In the end I think this app is geared towards business users, offering a bit of stability and ease of use. It offers more features and sync destination options than other file syncing apps available at the moment. However, I’m not entirely convinced it’s worth $7.99. Seems a bit high to me, I’d rather it were more around the $5 mark. [ Files Connect Review is a post from 148Apps ]  Files ConnectUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Buy Now: $7.99 Our Rating: Released: 2011-03-16 :: Category: Productivity :: USEFUL BUT PRICEYRead Our Full Review >> Apps mentioned in this post: Files Connect |
| Glu Mobile Takes Aim At Your Wallet With Another Freemium Game, Contract Killer Posted: 28 Mar 2011 06:04 AM PDT
The game features 17 Story mode missions, as well as an unlimited number of Random Missions across 5 locales for theoretically endless replay value as you level up your character and buy new weapons and ammo to use on missions. Obviously, there’s in-game currency that is used to help generate revenue, and similar to Gun Bros., there are 2 different forms of currency you can purchase to help you in your assassination attempts. You can buy in-game money ranging from $1.99 for $12,000 of in-game money to $49.99 for $350,000 of in-game money. You can also buy credits, ranging from $1.99 for 30 Credits, to $49.99 for 950 Credits. This is a similar model to how Gun Bros. worked, and Glu is likely hoping for similar success with this model for Contract Killer. Contract Killer also comes with Game Center support for leaderboards and achievements, and is a universal app for the iPad as well. Glu have released plenty of traditional paid apps on the App Store, but appear to be embracing the freemium model between this, Gun Bros., Deer Hunter Challenge, and World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend. It will be interesting to see if they continue to embrace the traditional paid model for their other future releases, or if they follow the ngmoco:) model of just releasing freemium apps, or if they do something similar to Gameloft’s freemium model, by continuing the traditional paid app model, but offering free downloads, and offering to unlock the full app via in-app purchase. Check out a trailer and screens of the game below, available now.  Contract KillerUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad Buy Now: FREE Released: 2011-03-24 :: Category: Games / Action [ Glu Mobile Takes Aim At Your Wallet With Another Freemium Game, Contract Killer is a post from 148Apps ] Apps mentioned in this post: Contract Killer |
The Witcher: Versus is a simple title that, while marketed under the Witcher name, has very little to do with the RPG other than borrowing some names and graphics. But that’s okay, because The Witcher: Versus is nevertheless an entertaining, if simple, rock-paper-scissors style dueling game.
Week Calendar excels at showing your entire weekly schedule on one page, and with a clean user interface and design. It’s got a built-in detector if you’re trying to zoom in or out, to ensure that you don’t accidentally change the view so that you’ve got less than the full week in front of you at once. Each of your items are clearly marked, and to see detail you simply click on the item to get a pop-up of the important notes. No more going into and out of an activity every time you want to know slightly more information. This alone should be the reason you get this app, it’s probably cut about 50% of your clicks if you’re using another calendar app.
Offered as a free universal app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, there are five artistic levels included, in which you need to find the numbers 1-40 hidden within the vintage-style picture levels. Each level features stylized borders which enable you to keep track of the numbers you’ve found or are still searching for. The added difficultly of a 5 minute time limitation per level will keep you challenged. Additional points can be awarded for speed, or deducted for inaccuracy in your searching. The app also features thematic music.
Boasting of 10 different camera styles which are apparently based on actual vintage cameras, you can see your subjects as they’ll appear in your photos with the effects in real-time before you even snap your pic. 
The first and probably most utilized feature is the ability to set up your iPhone as a wireless network drive, instantly. Literally no configuration is required (though there are options in the setting should you wish to configure), so long as the app is running and you’re on the same home network, your PC or Mac can connect to transfer your files with ease. Saving and syncing documents, photos, videos, etc onto your iPhone is really the easiest and most useful feature of this app when referring to it as a network drive. 
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