Archive for the ‘iPhone App Reviews’ Category
Posted by davidharfield on November 9, 2010
When Robbie Williams decided to leave the boy band phenomena of the nineties, ‘Take That’, he was regarded as a music industry joke, famously dubbed a ‘fat dancer’ by that sharp wit Noel Gallagher; that was until he released his critically lauded solo album ‘Life Thru a Lens’ and the accolades started falling at his feet. It’s unlikely that he had the ‘Instagram’ iPhone App in mind when he conjured up the album’s title; however, it perfectly sums up the very nature of this handy new App.
‘Instagram’ seems to be a blend of various other Apps and websites, taking the best elements from its peers and producing an App that can become so much more than just a sum of its parts. Essentially, it is a forum by which you can share your daily photographs, updating your profile with your snaps for your followers and friends to ‘Like’ and comment upon. Sound familiar? Yes, well it may seem like the bastard lovechild of Facebook, Flickr, Twitter produced by a heavy night on the sauce, however it is a forum solely dedicated to photographs as opposed to the banal status updates and quasi-intellectual haikus of Facebook and Twitter and it focuses purely on the sharing of photographs rather than the hard sell of Flickr.
By providing users with over a dozen free filters to alter and tweak the way in which your iPhone’s camera captures your picture perfect stills, ‘Instagram’ is a fantastic way for you to share your daily photographs for free. You can even post your location on Foursquare as you update your account with every new photograph, so fans and followers can come and try to match your best shot! Let’s just hope the App developers don’t continue the trend of following Robbie Williams’ album titles as inspiration for their next production…it would only be a matter of time before they got to ‘Rudebox’.
David Harfield
To read the published article, more about iPhone Apps or to purchase ‘Instagram’, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Camera, Instagram, iPhone, iPhone App, iPhone game, photo, Photographs, photos, Robbie Williams, Take That | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on November 9, 2010
Cast your mind back to a few years ago, when the iPhone was in its fledgling years and everybody would crowd around their friends’ screens to watch what is
still arguably the most addictive and gratifying game that has ever blessed our tiny screens: ‘Angry Birds’. Well they’re back. And guess what? They’re still angry.
For those of you who are lucky enough still to discover ‘Angry Birds’, here is a very brief summary of the game: You control a catapult that fires birds of varying shapes, skills and abilities into fragile structures that house gloating pigs who have stolen the birds’ eggs, aiming to destroy these light-trottered thieves and retrieve their eggs. Oh yes, and they also make hilarious noises when in flight. Not the sort of pitch that would go over particularly well at any potential investor meetings, however it is still one of the most downloaded and highly rated games for the iPhone, which is why the news of a Halloween special edition of the game should bring joy and elation to any fan’s ears.
This time the backdrop to the action is a haunted wood, with pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns strewn across the rocks and stones that the pigs have used for shelter. The birds fly through the air with the same yelps and squeals as the original, yet the ambience is given an eerie undertone by the church organ soundtrack playing in the background. Each of the birds has a different skill depending on what colour and size they are, in that when you tap the screen once they are in the air, they either speed up, boomerang back, split into three smaller birds, lay an exploding egg or spontaneously combust.
The premise for the game is very simple, yet it is the game play, the quirkiness and the sheer ridiculousness of it all that will keep any gamer enthralled for hours on end. Let’s hope that every calendar holiday warrants a new special edition; I can only imagine what ‘Angry Birds Christmas’ would entail…furious turkeys?!
David Harfield
To read the published article, more about iPhone Apps or to purchase ‘Angry Birds’, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Angry Birds, Angry birds Halloween, Best Game, Best iPhone Game, computer, Game, Halloween, iPhone, iPhone game, platform game, play | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on November 9, 2010
Did you know that 12% of people dream in black and white? Also, recycling a 3-foot stack of newspaper can save a whole tree! I’ll wager that you weren’t 
aware of the fact that the average office desk, one at which you may be sitting at right now, contains 400 times more bacteria than a toilet!
The reason that I can boast this information is not due to any hypnotherapy studies, being an eco-friendly tree surgeon or an obsessive compulsive desk cleaner, it’s simply down to my daily checking of the iPhone App ‘OMG Facts’, updating my brain with weird wonderful and downright wacky facts on subjects that range from history and politics to sport, media and alternative music.
The information seems to have been collated from various sources, as each fact has a link in it to, say Wikipedia or The New York Times, for you to verify the content and complete any further reading on the subject in hand. However, it’s not all useless tidbits of waffle and fluff that you will find on this App; for every OMG Fact that states that “Justin Bieber can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than 2 minutes,” (along with an accompanying video; I mean, who wouldn’t want to watch that?!), there’s a, “Charles Dickens invented over 13,000 characters in his lifetime!” J.K. Rowling, eat your heart out!
The next time that you are on your lunch break at work, (which, one would hope, you will be eating at a cafe rather than a toilet, or worse, your office desk!), instead of killing time by playing a silly iPhone game, why not feed your brain with a smattering of strange and interesting facts with which you can amuse, entertain and disgust your friends!
To read the published article, more about iPhone Apps or to purchase ‘OMG Facts’, click here.
David Harfield
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: interesting facts, iPhone, iPhone App, iPhone game, iPhoneAppCafe, OMG, OMG Facts | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010
There are many reasons why you shouldn’t get a personal trainer. Leaving aside the rock-hard abs and toned biceps that would all be yours if only you could
By logging your progress as you go, iFitness can show you detailed graphs of workout data that are great reference points for moving forward. Also, each exercise comes with a video demonstration…your very own virtual trainer!
find the motivation to work for them, imagine having someone who is a professional fitness expert scrutinizing your body as you pound away on a sweaty treadmill, or texting you with a guilt trip message just before you head out for a boozy dinner to remind you that the chocolate torte that you have been craving all week will only be a moment on your lips, but a lifetime of podgy, confidence shattering ridicule and shame. Oh, and they cost about a million pounds per hour.
Well, with the iFitness App you can now enjoy all the benefits of a personal trainer without the constant pressure or the exorbitant price tag. iFitness is the ultimate exercise App, with a detailed list of exercises for each area of the body, complete with a detailed diagram of the human body to match your work out to whatever muscle group it is that you want to improve. It also offers a comprehensive list of routines and programs to match your targets; for example, the ‘Basketball Conditioning Routine’ shows the budding hoop star the best exercises to work on at certain points in the season to optimize their body for the courts. There are also more regular routines, such as the ‘Swimmer’, ‘Runner’ and Soccer Programs along with routines that will help you lose weight, build your abs or even define your glutes!
The routines can be done anywhere from training with free weights and aerobic exercises in the comfort of your own home, to which machines to use at the gym; there is even a ‘Business Travel Workout’ that uses office chairs as props for those of you who don’t want your workaholic lifestyle to prevent you from getting a polished set of guns to show off beneath your suit!
With a personalized log of all your workouts, as well as other extras such as a BMI Calculator and Weight Monitor, the iFitness App really is the future for anyone who is even slightly serious about healthy living and exercise…and if you do want that extra slice of dessert at dinner, then your iPhone won’t judge you.
David Harfield
To read the published article, or purchase ‘iFitness’, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Body, Health, iFitness, iPhone, iPhone App, iPhoneAppCafe, iPhoneAppCafe.com, lifestyle, Muscles, personal trainer, sport, Workout | 1 Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010
This is only one of many film and TV quote Apps; ‘Bond quotes’ is a necessary accessory to any geeky party, as is the highly popular ‘Alan Partridge’ App…“A-ha!”
We’ve all been there. You’re sitting at a friend’s dinner party drinking post-meal coffees and the discussion turns to films. Everybody is out to impress, so obviously the standard French and Japanese classics are churned out, along with ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Raging Bull’ and that one about a young Che Guevara, yet you are just itching to shout out your favourite film of all time, but fear the ensuing ridicule at the mere mentioning of such a lowbrow film as ‘Anchorman’.
Well, here’s what to do. See which guest is most likely to be a kindred spirit in your adoration for one of the stupidest, funniest quotable film of all time and subtly slide your iPhone across the table, with a nod and a wink to test the water. They will undoubtedly press one of the many ‘quote buttons’ and the sound of Brian Fantana waxing lyrical about his ‘Sex Panther’ aftershave, “60% of the time, it works every time,” will slice through the pretentious waffle like a knife through cheese.
For those of you who haven’t seen ‘Anchorman’, this is a veritable ‘best of’, with a selection of the funniest quotes from the film; if it tickles you in away, then I suggest renting the movie so you can see what all the fuss is about. This App won’t change your life, but it will make future social gatherings a lot funnier, as you entertain and annoy your friends by giggling at the ‘Anchorman’ back catalogue; pretty soon you won’t even need to go to dinner parties, you can just stay in and click away with your new set of virtual friends!
For the price of a packet of crisps, you can have Brick Tamland invite you to a pants party, time and time again. Now that’s good value for money.
David Harfield
To read the published article, or purchase ‘Anchorman Soundboard’, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Anchorman, Anchorman quotes, Film quotes, iPhone, iPhone App, Ron Burgandy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010
There are some musicians who will never have to pick up a song book, or read a note of music, having been blessed with perfect pitch at birth and can
The ‘Random Tab’ button is an excellent way to try out songs that you would never usually consider learning. Also, the Auto Scroll function allows you to play the tabs continuously, without pausing to drag down the page.
therefore unleash a flawless rendition of any song within minutes of first hearing it. Then there are the other 99.999% of us, who actually have to learn our favourite songs the old-fashioned way. However, trawling through second-hand music books or deciphering the scribbles that your mate’s older brother jotted down for you isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, and let’s face it, hardly rock and roll.
Well, ‘Ultimate Guitar Tabs’ provides iPhone users with the chance to learn any song of their choosing, simply by logging on to their database and browsing the collection of guitar, bass and drum tablature as well as chords and lyrics for over 300,000 songs! You can use the Advanced Search tool to specify which instrument it is that you want to use, which part of the song it is that takes your fancy, as well as the difficulty level of the piece and its tuning.
Another cool feature is the Tab Pack option, which gives the user a set of pre-grouped tabs that come under a specific genre and skill level; so, if you want to be a punk rocker in the morning then you can whizz through The Ramones back catalogue, then chill out with some lazy blues in the afternoon before finishing the night off by shredding through a classic Metal Tab Pack.
Purists may scoff at the easy accessibility of it all and declare that unless you’re hunched over a gramophone, tortuously working the notes out one by one, then it ‘ain’t proper music’…feel free to silence them with a deafening display of your ever-growing repertoire before filling all of the spare time that you have saved learning songs the fun way with some good old rock and roll fun!
David Harfield
To read the published article, or purchase ‘Ultimate Guitar Tabs’, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Guitar, Guitar Tabs, iPhone, iPhone App, Music, Tablature, Tabs, Tunes, Ultimate Guitar Tabs | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on October 15, 2010
Postcards will only accept payments via Paypal, so make sure that you have your username and password ready. Also, if you are sending your postcard from another country, (not Wales), then avoid costly roaming charges by finding free Wi-Fi.
Going on a trip? Maybe it’s a well-deserved cruise around the Atlantic, a tour of the Pyramids or perhaps a recession-friendly mini break to a caravan in Wales…well, wherever you plan on travelling you can make your friends and relatives jealous by sending them a custom made postcard using photos of your adventures as you go.
The new ‘Postcards’ App can be downloaded for free and allows users to select images from either their phone’s library or take a new snap there and then, before flipping the image over and scrawling a personal message on the reverse of the e-postcard. The image is then sent to eCards, who will dispatch your postcard to whichever of your friends’ postal addresses that you have given them, all for the very reasonable sum of £0.99p, so long as you are holidaying in this country, (£1.49 for anywhere else in the world.)
This takes the hassle out of choosing a cheesy, ‘Wish You Were Here’-style postcard from a newspaper vendor, then finding a different shop to buy stamps, before walking across to the other end of town to find a postbox, only to notice that you have misspelled the name on the message and you have to start all over again.
A very simple, incredibly useful App that will save you time and bother when you are supposed to be relaxing and enjoying yourself…think of all of your friends’ faces turning a greener shade of envy as they open their postbox to find another picture of you kicking back in the Welsh caravan.
David Harfield
To read the published article, or purchase ‘Postcards’, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: iPhone, iPhone App, iPhoneAppCafe, iPhoneAppCafe.com, Postcards | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on September 15, 2010
You know how it goes. You’ve got five minutes to kill while you wait for a delayed tube, (depending on whether Bob Crow has gone all m
ilitant again…you
It may take you a while to realize why some orbs grow bigger than others…if you fire an orb into the centre of the screen, away from the walls and other orbs, it will be bigger and easier to destroy!
could be waiting a lot longer), and your hand slips to your iPhone. Unable to update your friends with a witty Facebook comment about your plans to commandeer a Boris bike and ‘go green our asses’, you need something to fill the internet-less void of the Underground. One word. Orbital.
Lots of iPhone Apps claim to be the ‘ultimate addiction’, a sort of digital heroin that no amount of Blackberry-induced cold turkey can cure you of, however, Orbital is the real deal. Set to a Kraftwerk-esque soundtrack, players are transported into the futuristic world of Orbital, where you are offered three choices, ‘Pure’, ‘Gravity’ and ‘Supernova’; while these may sound like something Liam Gallagher would use to describe his latest clothing line, they are actually the gaming modes in which you play.
It may take you a while to realize why some orbs grow bigger than others…if you fire an orb into the centre of the screen, away from the walls and other orbs, it will be bigger and easier to destroy!
The basic crux of Orbital is very simple. You control a swaying cannon that shoots out an ‘orb’ every time that you touch the screen; the orb then bounces around the screen leaving technicolour stars in its wake before it explodes somewhere in space, expanding until it hits another orb or a wall. You can destroy the orbs by firing other orbs directly into them, but woe betide you if you cross the imaginatively named ‘death line’ at the bottom of the screen, as your game will implode before your very eyes. Each gaming mode offers different tweaks to the original (‘Pure’) format, and you have the option to play your friend in multiplayer mode or go online and challenge other Orbital fanatics. Ok, so it’s a little more complicated than, say, Minesweeper, but a hell of a lot more fun.
To summarize, think pinball meets Space Invaders, with a Daft Punk voiceover. All of a sudden you will feel a greater sense of understanding for tube strikes.
David Harfield
To read the published review or purchase Orbital, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Blackberry, Bob Crow, Daft Punk, gaming iPhone App, iPhone, iPhone game, iPhoneAppCafe, iPhoneAppCafe.com, Kraftwerk, London, Orbital, Tube Strikes | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on September 15, 2010
I know what you’re thinking: £7.99 for an iPhone App?! Don’t you know that the country is in a deep state of economic crisis and that is more than most
Be wary about dining on the weekend; many restaurants only offer the discount from Monday to Thursday. Also, for a limited time only, ‘Capital Eats’ is offering a free ‘taster’, which is a 30% version of the original App…something to whet your appetite!
people spend on their daily food intake?! Well, before you start grumbling about yuppie media types with more money than sense, take a second to read about an App that will actually save you huge amounts of money in the future.
That’s right, the heavy price tag on ‘Capital Eats’ actually serves as an investment, one that you can make back when you first use the App. If you live in or around London, chances are that you are going to want to sample the many culinary delights that its bars and restaurants have to offer. However, the menu prices are often on the high side and this can put many people off the pleasure of dining out, (yes, yes, especially in a recession!)
‘Capital Eats’ provides restaurant-goers the chance to never again pay full price for a meal in London, with customers’ iPhone’s acting as a digital voucher for hundreds of bars and restaurants. It uses Google Maps to show directions to your nearest participating restaurant, with a description of each venue, a price guide and previous customers’ reviews and comments, offering you other’s experiences and opinions of the food and ambience before you go.
The discounts often range from 30-50% off the food bill, for parties of up to 6 people per iPhone. This allows canny customers to dine out at cheaper eateries on a shoestring budget, or the more extravagant diners to enjoy some of the higher priced restaurants that London has to offer at a cut-price rate. A perfect way to wipe away those recession blues with a full stomach…not to mention a fuller wallet!
David Harfield
To read the published review or purchase Capital Eats, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: Capital Eats, Capital Eats App, discount, eat out in London, free meal, gaming iPhone App, iPhone, iPhone game, iPhoneAppCafe, iPhoneAppCafe.com, London | Leave a Comment »
Posted by davidharfield on September 15, 2010
Has completing ‘Angry Birds’ left a fun-shaped whole in your life? Do you yearn for the bone crunching, blood spilling rush of fighting bad guys while on the
By toggling the screen setting in ‘Menu’, you can choose from either a full screen setting, or a shrunken screen, allowing better game play as you can focus on the characters more than your thumbs!
commute to work? Well, look no further as SEGA have released the pinnacle of all hit-em-up games, ‘Streets of Rage’, for all of those twenty and thirty somethings to relive those joyous, childhood hours sat in front of the computer screen…and this time there’s no one shouting at you to do your homework!
That’s right, now you can join Adam, Axel and Blaze on their quest to rid the streets of wrongdoers using any means at their disposal; you can fight ninjas, street hoods, knife juggling carnies and fire-breathing fat men, using punches, high kicks, grapples, and a wide array of weapons and if it all gets a little too much, tap the A-button to call for police back up in the form of a handy flamethrower.
The game play is fantastic, with the helpful option of shrinking the screen, so as not to obscure your view of the action with your lightening-quick thumbs, and, just like the original, it is nearly impossible to complete! Each level ends with a ‘boss’ to eliminate and they get progressively harder as the game goes on. The real fun lies in selecting your character each time you start a new game, seeing as each of them has different pros and cons that make the same levels seem different.
A real hit for anybody looking to pass the time between meetings, classes or long journeys, ‘Streets of Rage’ is an affordable and safer alternative to becoming a street walking vigilante.
David Harfield
To read the published review or purchase Streets of Rage, click here.
Posted in iPhone App Reviews | Tagged: fighting, games, gaming iPhone App, iPhone, iPhoneAppCafe, iPhoneAppCafe.com, Review, SEGA, Streets of Rage | Leave a Comment »
ilitant again…you
