Category Archives: Reviews

All the latest app and game reviews for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Apple TV running the iOS operating system.

Facebook Messenger for iPhone

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Facebook Messenger for iPhone

Facebook Messenger for iPhone

Facebook Messenger has been available for a few months now as an iPhone app, more recently available in Ireland. When I first heard about this app, I was dismissive of  yet another Facebook iPhone  app which duplicated a function already available on their official one. So why have Facebook released this application?

I think the idea here is Facebook hope ‘Messenger’ will be a success as a cross-platform communication app, which, given Facebook’s huge user base could be a possible  replacement for expensive SMS messages! Think of it as an emulation of Blackberry Messenger which is a big hit in the US. Facebook Messenger is now available for both Android and iOS, and according to the Facebook help page, it will soon also be available on the Blackberry platform.

Will you use it? If most of your friends are also on Facebook, this app could save you on SMS messages, as you get instant push notifications when a message arrives via Messenger. That is of course assuming you don’t mind Facebook having a copy of your correspondence.

The app alone is pretty basic in functionality, but it seems to do the job of getting the message through. There is a few settings however, one interesting one  includes the ability to turn of notifications for a period of time.  Personally I think Facebook  should spend a little more time on improving the stability and functionality of the current app than present its users with an additional one.

Sadly this app is not iPad friendly, but will load in ‘iPhone mode’ on your iPad – pretty useless  in that aspect. There may be an iPad version on the horizon somewhere, but Facebook are certainly taking their time iPad wise.

If you are a heavy Facebook Messenger, then you will  want to download this one and give it a try.

The application is of course free and available in the Irish and US app store. And at the time of writing this, is number 19 in the ‘top ten free’ apps on the iTunes app store.

Couch to 5K for iPhone

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Couch to 5 K

Couch to 5 K

Couch to 5K is a popular program used to get you from sitting in front of the telly to running 5K in 9 weeks. I have been using couch to 5K app for the iPhone for 8 weeks now, so that says something, I stayed with the program!  My advice – if you are looking to start running? Yes – go for it. Even if you don’t have an iPhone, but it’s better if you do of course, you can still print off this program and do it that way!

The idea is simple, pop in your head phones, open the app and follow the voice cues, or if you prefer the visual instructions on your iPhone, all the while listening to some motivational music via your own iPod playlist. Using the couch to 5K app for the iPhone you start out alternating between walking and running, however by the end of the program you are running all the time and have cut out the walking element, having worked up your tolerance  – you end up surprising yourself by being able to run 5K. This actually does work. Each week has 3 running sessions, so it’s not too much to ask any beginner. I found Monday, Wednesday and Friday worked the best for me, by week 9 day 3, you will have completed the program and able to run 5K!

The idea is to slowly build up your strength and endurance so that your body can get used to running longer distances. If you start off pushing yourself too hard, you risk having your body react negatively, making it harder to stay with the program.

I found the couch to 5K app works best using the voice cues which instruct you when to run and when to walk, also informing you when you are half way through the session. If you want to look at the screen at any stage you have some other information available. The time elapsed, how long to the next (run or walk), how long is remaining and the duration of the entire run. Warmup and cooldown are also included in each run session.  There is also an interface on the app for running a playlist, but I suggest you organise on iTunes before you begin. Included also is a screen with suggested stretches, which are more important that you might think, do some research yourself on this, as the information on the app is limited here.

If you feel like sharing your progress on Facebook or Twitter, you are also prompted at the end of each session. You can configure this from the settings menu (see screenshot below), from here you can ask change voice cues from Female to Male.

If you are someone who is looking to start running and need a little help that will guide you to running 5K then this app is worth the money!

The app costs 2.99 USD in the iPhone appstore.

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Stripe Bag for iPad – chillicase.ie

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Stripe Bag for iPad

Stripe Bag for iPad

Chillicase.ie, an Irish online retailer of iPhone and iPad cases and accessories, have added a new iPad bag to their catalog, and were kind enough to send me one to check out. I’m going on holidays in two weeks and this bag will get the real test then.

I can see this bag being very handy for those who move about a lot and don’t like having their iPad wrapped in  a case, and prefer to have a purpose-built stylish, yet simple bag for their iPad. When I first opened up this Stripe Bag for iPad and looked at it, I thought “my iPad will never fit in this bag, too small, it must be for the iPad 2 (not sure if it holds the iPad 2 by the way).” But in actual fact it fits my iPad 1 very snugly indeed.

The bag itself is not leather, but made of some sort of reflective plastic. Not being a huge fan of leather myself this does not affect me all. Because of this material it does leave the odd finger mark, particularly if you have sweaty fingers. The bag I got is black with a stylish green stripe and green interior, but I understand it also comes with an orange or white stripe.  The top enclosure has two magnets which snap shut securely with your iPad safely  inside.

This is a great buy and offers a stylish way to carry around your iPad on the go while  also offering protection from the outside elements and at €24.99 with free shipping (for August) on chillicase.ie this bag wont break the bank!

This Stripe Bag gives a great shelter for your iPad to keep it safe and away from scratches, dust, and bumps without losing any stylish points. It is made of premium soft PU material, extremely comfortable to carry. Moreover, it is lined with soft synthetic leather, which provides 100% protection for your beloved iPad.

Pros

  • Simple, yet stylish design.
  • Perfect fit, iPad does not move about in the bag.
  • Magnetic closure.
  • Three colours.

Cons

  • Cannot charge in bag.
[box type="note"]chillicase.ie is an Irish retailer make sure to support them![/box]

WIN

Chillicase.ie have also sent us on some very fancy and colorful iPhone covers for us to share with you. So keep an eye out for a post later this week with details on how you can win these!

Gallery: Stripe Bag for iPad – chillicase.ie

FX Photo Studio for iPhone (and iPad)

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The result of various FX effects

The result of various FX effects

There is a whopping amount of Photo apps, both free and paid available in the app store. Few offer all of the functions available in FX Studio. I’ve counted 194 effects you can apply to photos, in addition to changing colour, brightness, and rotation. This well designed application, has yet to crash, and seems to be able to handle anything I have thrown at it.

You can even apply multiple FX effects to one photo for your own creation. Cropping, rotating, undo, redo, not a problem for this app. Once you have finished editing your application you can share with all these social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr AND Instragram sharing are all built-in to this app, in addition to AirPrint.

Masking is probably the most anticipated feature of FX Photo Studio 4.0. This tool allows users pick an area of the image to which they want to apply filter. Masking studio lets users choose a brush type and supports maximum iPhone 4 image resolution. With close to 200 FX and filters, which can be customized and mixed, masking tool grants iOS photo enthusiasts with almost unlimited creative possibilities.

At less than 2 euro in the app store, this is photo editing app that must be kept in the first page of your iOS apps.

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FX Photo Studio gives you so much more than other apps:

•194 photo effects and filters
•20 Categories
•Intuitive, easy to use interface
•Masking tool (High resolution supported)
•Possibility to mix different effects
•Adjustable parameters for all effects
•Square auto crop option

•Possibility to add effects to favorites or hide unused effects
•Presets – save sequences of effects and apply them on others pictures with just one tap
•Import and Export presets via preset codes

•Multistep Undo and Redo
•Useful editing tools: crop, rotate, adjust gamma, brightness, saturation, etc
•Random filter option
•Take Instant Photo with random effect feature
•High resolution support up to 2592*2592 pixels (for iPhones 4)

•Import images from Facebook, Computer via iTunes (documents), Camera roll
•Integration with Instagram
•Built-in sharing via Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or E-mail
•Built-in printing

Star Trek PADD for iPad – To boldly go where no iPad has gone before!

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Star Trek PADD

Star Trek PADD

As a Star Trek fan, when I first saw the Apple iPad, I immediately thought of the PADD (Personal Access Display Device) which was used by Starfleet as a tablet computer.  So I was delighted when I saw CBS had brought this to life with PADD for iPad. The iPad app emulates the Star Trek PADD interface has various Star Trek sound effects and computer voices that react to your touch.

How here’s the thing, while the app does have a built-in database of various Star Trek characters, ships and so on, it is not a complete collection. Rather than linking to data from a resource like Memory Alpha, the designers have used the StarTrek.com database for its information. This means, this PADD is more of a “nice to have” app than a reference tool. The designers try to make up for the  problem by linking into Twitter and Facebook, which is ok, but not what I would imagine Trek fans would prefer.

It’s not possible to filter down characters  by series, which surprised me, in fact there is almost no filters aside from the main sections. The designers note “The official Star Trek PADD app database does not include all information within the Star Trek Universe. We will continue to update the database as information becomes available.” Again a little surprising as all Star Trek Moves and series have long since ended, aside from the new movie, which we could forgive.

Despite all the above, it is worth having this app if you are a Star Trek fan. It looks very like the displays in Star Trek The Next Generation  and you are bound to have some fun playing around with it, and while it has plenty of potential – don’t expect it to be your ‘go to’ Star Trek reference tool, because it’s nowhere near that.

[box]Star Trek PADD for iPad is 3.99 in Irish app store[/box]

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Perfect your grilling technique with Great Backyard Grilling for iPad

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Great Backyard Grilling

Great Backyard Grilling

It’s summer and hopefully unlike me, you’ve have had a chance to fire up the Backyard Grill. I like Grilling, and it’s not always easy so if your are looking for a companion app to help you perfect your grilling technique take a look at Great Backyard Grilling.

There is something for everyone in the recipes menu from beef, pork and lamb to vegetables and fruit.  Each menu comes with a selection of buttons  making preparation a cinch! You can add a recipe to a menu which you can mail to everyone to let them know the good food they can look forward to!

The feature I love is the ability to create a shopping list for each recipe! Of course your unlikely to bring your iPad to the store, so you can mail the entire list to your iPhone to bring with you!

The layout is straightforward and easy to follow. Each instance a time is referenced you can click on it  and start the built in timer! It’s things like this that make you say wow, the developer spent some time on the design of this app!

The On The House Great Backyard Grilling app will include nearly 50 great grilling recipes with impressive features such as outstanding photography throughout, the ability to add recipes to a “favorites” list, a special menu creation utility, e-mail functions for recipes, shopping lists and menus and menus with dinner invitations. Also included is a timer function for all recipes and powerful flexible shopping list functions that include key ingredient definitions with stunning photographs.

Sadly the video section is empty, the developers are really missing out by leaving this section blank at launch and it seems to be the only thing missing for this useful app. I’ve not fired up my barbecue yet this year, so if anyone feels like giving this app a try please comment on this post and let us know how you got on!

The app costs 2.99 Euro in the Irish app store and 3.99 USD.

Features | Functions 
•All recipes are illustrated
•Ingredient calculator
•Built-in timer for each recipe
•Flexible shopping list functions
•E-mail functions for recipes, shopping list and menu
•Key ingredient definitions and photographs
•State of the art photography

All – inclusive Shopping Tool 
•Shopping list for each recipe
•Quantity calculator
•Customized to add own ingredients or leave out ingredients already at home
•Sorting by grocery store product groups

Belkin flipblade stand for the iPad

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FlipBlade for iPad

We were lucky enough to get our hands on the Belkin FlipBlade stand for the iPad, which apparently will also work with other tablet devices including the iPad 2. The Belkin FlipBlade stand is the first one we have ever used, and for me the first one I have ever tried. And it is a very smooth operator indeed. Perfect for showing off your iPad slide show, or if you like to use your iPad upright.

When you first open the  Belkin FlipBlade and pull back the clasp, the thing slowly opens out to full form.  It works well as a display stand, but can I use my iPad, tapping away at the screen, without the iPad rocking back and forth? Yes, this stand holds on to the iPad very well indeed. There is a rubber seam which does a good job of preventing the iPad from moving about, but also does not grip the iPad so much that you can remove if necessary.

Using a stand with the iPad, is much better concept than I  initially thought, I never considered buying one, but once you have the iPad on the Belkin FlipBlade, you  an eye on can keep an eye on Twitter or other apps while working on a laptop. Or take cooking apps for example, having a stand becomes a necessity to keep the iPad at eye level.

The Belkin FlipBlade is an inexpensive stand that just works and looks pretty good too. The only downside might be that you may have to remove your cover, especially if you have a thick leather one – it might be a inconvenient process.

Many thanks to MobileFun.co.uk for sending us this device for stand for review. Check them out for iPad 2 Accessories

iPad 2 – So what’s new?

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We did not get everything we wanted with the iPad 2, such as a smudge resistant retina  display, but Apple did manage to pack a lot of new goodies and reduce the size of the device in the process. And Apple finally managed to get the ‘white’ colour working, so from day one you can buy it in black and white. Although we find the white takes a little getting used to in terms of  looks. We have taken a quick look below at some of the newness that made us happy about the iPad 2!

Speed

Of course it’s faster – it’s a given right?  As of yet no one seems to know what kind of RAM the iPad 2 has, but it does have a dual 1GHz processor. Apple have said the iPad 2 can process graphics 9 x faster, this and given its smaller size and weight should make it better as a gaming device.

Cameras

Yes indeed… two cameras. As expected the iPad 2 comes with 2 cameras. It will sport a front facing VGA camera which will be used primary for Apples’ video chat program - facetime – which will allow facetime calls iPad to iPhone 4 and to Mac! It will also have a rear camera (720p) for shooting HD video.

Gyroscope

The iPad now has a Gyroscope which will work in the same way as the iPhone. The Gyroscope can be used enhance gaming, interesting but nothing to get over excited about!

Thickness

Being able to reduce the size of the iPad from 13.4mm to 8.8mm is what makes Apple such an amazing company, the new iPad is amazingly thin for the extra functionality you get.

Covers

iPad Cover

iPad Cover

We were following a large number of Twitter users who were at the Apple  iPad event, when Steven Jobs starting talking about these amazing iPad covers, we were in disbelieve that covers were such a big part of their presentation. That aside, these covers do have some interesting functionality, so before you dismiss them like we almost did, head over to Apple.com and watch the video Apple have posted for these covers! Will they work with iPad 1?

We know there are a few more features in the iPad 2, but those are the ones that licked our whistle. iPad 2 will come with iOS 4.3 which has support for  AirPlay, home sharing and hotspot for iPhone 4. Will you be buying it?

If you already have  an iPad have don’t have any need for the cameras and faster processing power, you may feel like giving this iPad refresh a miss! If you were holding off on a tablet device, this is the perfect time to crack open your piggy bank and buy the iPad 2! Don’t forget the iPad 1!  Apple have slashed the price and it is now much more affordable, if not less desirable due to the  Pad 2!

It’s also worth noting one small thing. There are whispers, out there, that we could have an iPad 3 before the end of 2011, something to think about!

iPad 2 Poll

Battleheart for iPad

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Battleheart Game

Battleheart Game

Battleheart is a wonderfully animated RPG game, which will keep you occupied from the time of download to late into the night when your iPad battery gives up!

We have been playing this game for two days and already we are in love with it. From the easy to understand tutorial to getting into the game play, there are hours of fun to be had. You can select various characters to battle  with, we choose four characters including a healer, a witch, a warrier, and a little guy who plays a musical instrument - which inspires the fighters – apparently. This game also works on the iPhone, but we preferred playing on the iPad as you really need the space to work with.

The game requires you to really think on your feet, obviously getting harder as you go on. You need to keep an eye on all your characters and ensure your healer and warriors are doing their jobs. As you progress your characters get special abilities to help with the fighting. If you find a particular character is not paying their way you can change to a different character, but remember to level them up first by replaying lower levels, this makes the harder levels more winnable!

While we do love this game, we did find some negative factors  -  it would have been more interesting perhaps if there was an accompanying story line to follow.  It’s would be nice to know why all these guys are fighting in the first place? Also a number of game crashes at critical battles in Battleheart left us more than a little frustrated - having to start the fight all over again!

We say at 2.99 this is a great buy with hours of gameplay, but if you are looking for a storyline narrative to go with the game, keep searching as you won’t find it in this game!

- Features –
• Easily command your army via simple touch commands.
• Create a unique party from numerous character classes, including stealthy rogues, powerful wizards and stoic knights!
• Customize your heroes via dozens of unique skills – literally hundreds of class and skill combinations!
• Make the most of your party’s skills to control the battlefield – turn your opponents into frogs, stun them with poisons, or simply destroy them with meteor strikes and whirlwinds of steel!
• Over 100 unique items to collect and equip across a 30+ level campaign, complete with epic boss battles!
• Put your custom party to the ultimate test in survival arenas, where rare and unique rewards can be found!
• Incredibly sharp animation and art designed specifically for the Retina Display and iPad!

[box type="download"]2.99 (approx) in the app store Link (opens iTunes)[/box]

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Battleheart for iPad Gallery

RTE News Now for iPad – Still no RTE player app!

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RTE News Now for iPad

RTE News Now for iPad

RTE, the national broadcaster in Ireland, has been keeping a closer eye on new technology than would be expected, such as the iPad.  RTE News Now for the iPhone has been out for some time but last week RTE shocked us slightly by launching an iPad app!

Executive Director of RTÉ Publishing, Múirne Laffan, says, “Building on the success of the RTÉ News Now app for iPhone and Android, the release of our News Now app for iPad continues to meet the needs of our audience for delivering up-to-the-minute, dynamic RTÉ content across a widening range of platforms.”

The app takes advantage of the large screen to place information from it’s main news sections. The use of video in the app makes it a ‘must have’, the implementation is both sleek and useful with integration with social networks Twitter and Facebook!.

We really liked this application, and if you have not yet got it, it’s worth downloading. The app also has access to the live stream from RTE News Now channel which is available on saorview television and online at RTE.ie.

The only question remains! Where is RTE player app?

Press release

RTÉ is today launching a RTÉ News Now application for the iPad, offering quick and easy access to all the most current and popular news stories from RTÉ.

The free-to-download app offers all the latest national and international headlines, top stories, live news bulletins and on-demand video clips and content from the news, sport, business and entertainment world. Specifically optimised for the iPad, this News Now app allows very easy navigation, with each page individually designed on a dual viewing mode so that users can enjoy the content in portrait or landscape orientation.

Clicking on video icons alongside text stories will display the full video on screen and assure users of an in-depth coverage of all their favourite stories.

Podcasts of recent radio news shows can also be accessed while further social media features means that stories can be shared via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Executive Director of RTÉ Publishing, Múirne Laffan, says, “Building on the success of the RTÉ News Now app for iPhone and Android, the release of our News Now app for iPad continues to meet the needs of our audience for delivering up-to-the-minute, dynamic RTÉ content across a widening range of platforms.”

The launch of today’s app for iPad coincides with the announcement that the award-winning RTÉ News Now iPhone app is now available for free globally.

The app was developed by mobile internet services company Digital Reach Group (DRG), which also developed RTÉ’s News Now app for the iPhone. The app is available to download from the itunes store.