I generally don’t accessorize my iPhone or iPad too much – I usually find one option that works, and stick with it for the long haul (or at least until I upgrade the device). What I get usually focuses on the essentials – protections, storage, charging, etc. So here is the list of accessories from 2011.

Apple USB Power Adapter with Sync Cable

One of the most important accessories that I have is a device charger. I don’t like having to plug/unplug everything all the time, so I have a charger set-up at home, one for my daughter’s iPod, one in my suitcase – basically to charge wherever I may find myself. While there are lots of options, I have gone for the basic Apple USB Power Adapter with Sync Cable. It is small, lightweight, and the inclusion of the sync cable allows me to plug the iPad or iPhone into the computer if needed.

• $14.95 – iMore Store

XtremeMac Dual Charging Base

As my families iDevice inventory grows , I didn’t want to simply keep adding more Apple USB Chargers, so I bought a Dual Charging Base for both mine and my wife’s iPhone. Now, when we are home, we can just dock our iPhone in the base and let it charge (leaving the Apple USB plug free for one of our iPads or my daughter’s iPod). It is easy to use, unobtrusive, and even allows for one of the iPhones to be synced to the computer. Since we now use our iPhones to connect to a Bluetooth Phone system (just started in 2012) it also means that our iPhones don’t run out of charge while at home and in used for regular phone calls.

• $24.09 - Amazon link

SwitchEasy Trim

I spent a fair length of time looking for the right case for my iPhone 4S. This was my first white iPhone, and I wanted to “show it off” to people, so I didn’t want a case that covered it up. I wanted some protection, but I also don’t like large, bulky cases, so I eventually settled on the iPhone Trim case from SwithEasy. SwitchEasy makes a lot of different case styles, many unique and eye catching (I used to have a Capsule Rebel for my iPhone 3GS). With the Trim, I have a nice translucent backing, and easy to grip border, and a nice design that accentuates the iPhone. One of the great features with the SwitchEasy cases is that they come with little “add-ons”. The SwitchEasy Trim included two dock adapters, little “plugs” to put in th ports to prevent dust buildup, two screen protectors, and a video stand. Most of the SwitchEasy cases come with similar add-ons.

• $19.99 - Amazon link

iHome iP9 Dual Alarm Clock Radio

I first saw something similar to this in a hotel room, and I almost immediately ordered one of these for myself. This iPod dock allows you to use your iPhone (or iPod) for your wake-up alarms in the morning. It has a dual alarm system, and is quite customizable (including options like a weekend or weekday only alarm). When you also use the free iHome app that is associated with it, you can adjust a wide range of features – including wake up volume, snooze time, and even go beyond having two alarms. It’s great to be able to choose songs to be woken up to, rather than having random radio music (or worse, the alarm buzzer!). Plus, it lets you charge your iPhone overnight, so you wake up with a nice, fully charge battery (and the dock adapter from my SwitchEasy case fits right in!)

• $84.95 - Amazon link

CTCstore Black Wave Premium Crystal TPU iPad Case

For my iPad, I tried a variety of cases before I ended up settling on this TPU skin case. I looked at various folio style cases, but ultimately I was looking for something that would provide some scratch protection, but mostly not add too much bulk. The TPU silicon case is perfect for holding the iPad (it provides a somewhat rubberized grip), but it doesn’t add any bulk or heft, making it just as easy to carry the iPad as if it were case-less. Since my iPad travels a lot and gets used in the field, this is an ideal case for me. Plus, they are relatively cheap and will last for some time (mine is going on two years).

• $5.20 - Amazon link

iGobee Foldable Kickstand

With the iPad, I wanted a versatile stand to use, but since I got the iPad for portability, I also wanted one that would be easy to transport. I initially had purchased an Apple iPad charging dock, but I found I wanted more versatility, and the ability to view the iPad in landscape mode. The iGobee Foldable Kickstand meets all these requirements. You can select a wide variety of screen angles, and with the fold-out stands, you can just rest the iPad in either portrait or landscape mode (unlike the Apple charging stand). Combined with the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, you can basically use it as a monitor stand for a laptop computer. Plus, since you are just resting the iPad in place, it can also be used with other devices (iPad 2, Macbooks, or any future tablets). It collapses into a small, easily portable single unit that I can just toss in a carry-on bag or suitcase.

• $15.89 - Amazon link

Narrowing down the list of my most used apps is a huge undertaking! There are apps that I may use intensively for long periods of time, then not use so much at all. What I tried to do was identify the apps there were used on an almost daily basis, even if they were ones that I didn't use for a long period of time each day. This is perhaps best exemplified by my first choice...

My-Cast Weather Radar

There are a long of weather apps out there (in fact, working on reviews of a couple more!) but My-Cast seems to have the perfect mix of ease of use, simplicity, and providing enough information. It has an "iPhone-like feel" to it, in it's layout and presentation. It has intuitive controls to change between (for example) short of verbose forecast. With My-Cast weather, I find I can get a quick, easy to understand forecast, description of severe weather events, and even radar and map displays. I have other apps that I use for more detailed information when needed, but My-Cast is the app that I check on a daily basis to find out what it going on weather wise.

• $3.99 for iPhone - App Store link

Air Sharing

I use a lot of different online storage systems and email accounts. Air Sharing lets me manage them all together. I can see what it in dropbox, and then move it to Box.net. I can check an attachment I have on my exchange email account, and open it up and read it. The versatility of the app is its strongest feature. No, I can edit documents, but I can print them with air print or email them from withing the app. Air Sharing is a great far-reaching document and storage management tool. (This was almost going to be Goodreader, but that requires a separate app for both the iPad and the iPhone, while Air Sharing is a universal binary).

• $2.99 for iPhone - App Store link
• $3.99 for iPad - App Store link
• $4.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link

Hanging with Friends

I wanted to choose a game to put in here. I mostly play casual games (think Angry Birds, Where's my Water, Tower Defense, Temple Run, Doodle God, Fruit Ninja, etc), many of which I may get into a "groove" and play for days on end. I ended up choosing Hanging with Friend, by the makers of Words with Friends. Hanging with Friends is a Hangman style game that you play...well...with friends! While I also play Words with Friends, I have found that Hanging with Friends is probably the casual game I check on a regular basis - seeing if my opponent guessed my word, or trying to guess a word myself. While I enjoy Words with Friends, I find that Hanging with Friends is a little more low key - I don't spend as much time trying to figure out the perfect word to play. It's a great and fun way to play a word game that might be a little less stressful (for me at least!)

• $1.99 for iPhone - App Store link

MLB.com At Bat 11

I have both the iPhone and the iPad version on the app, and during the baseball season I was using these on a daily basis. As a huge baseball fan, I loved the local radio broadcast feature, and following the game live with Gameday was almost as good as watching it on TV. Even in the off season, I have found that the app gets checked on a regular basis - for news, transaction updates, and anything that might be going on during the Hot Stove season. Unfortunately you have to purchase the app each season, AND they don't make a universal binary, but for any baseball fan it is a must have. And the good news is that each year it has been released, it has had new and improved features, so I hope to see even more improvements in 2012!

• $0.99 for iPhone - App Store link
• $0.99 for iPad - App Store link

Facebook

Yes, I use Twitter (and Tweetbot is my go-to app). Yes, I use Google+, and use the app for that. But Facebook is the "social network" that I probably check, and make updates too, most frequently. As such, the Facebook app for the iPhone is the app that gets the most use. And now with the Facebook app for the iPad available, I will probably start using that one as well. This may change in 2012, I may start using Twitter or Google+ more, but for now, for me, Facebook is still the king (although I do sometime use Quick Status to update both my Twitter and Facebook accounts at the same time!).

• Free for iPhone and iPad - App Store link

In addition to being an iPhone/iPad enthusiast, I am a full time biology professor at the University of Texas Pan-American. Since I first purchased my iPhone in 2008, and my iPad in 2010, I have found them to be indispensible tools that I use almost on a daily basis. Some of the apps are the routine built in apps (calendar, contacts, etc) while others are specialty apps that I used for a specific task. As a faculty member, I divide my activities into one of three categories - teaching, research, and service, and I use these two devices in each arena.

Teaching

I teach a few different courses, and I am lucky enough that the General Biology text I use can be purchased through the iPad app Inkling. I encourage students to purchase it this way, and I also have a copy myself.

Using an ebook version like this allows for more interaction with the material - both through animations, videos, but also interactive tools. I can easily whip out my iPad when I am discussing a topic with a student to show them the material, which is much easier than flipping through the actual textbook. On a beneficial side note, the students are much more likely to bring the iPad to class than to lug around a heavy text book.

On a more mundane front, I use the Calendar to keep track of weekly advising meetings, when I schedule tests and quizzes, and even how much longer I have until Thanksgiving break! Trust me, the absent minded professor is many time a very real stereotype - without the Calendar I would probably forget half of my student appointments!

The iPad and iPhone also allow for more rapid response to student questions by email or by blackboard. I have also in the past used the iPad to show multimedia demonstrations and videos I may have, rather than try to load them on to a pen drive. The iPhone also allows for me to take pictures of my students in the lab or in the field, which I can hopefully use to entice future students to take some of my courses!

Research

When I where my research hat, I use my iPhone and iPad are equally valuable. I take them with me to conference, rather than lugging around a big notebook computer. That way, I can practice my presentation in the hotel using Keynote or Documents to Go.

I can keep up to date on email (nothing like coming home to an inbox with 300+ new mail messages). And when I am feeling a little lonely, I can use FaceTime to chat with my wife and daughter at home.

When I am doing research in the field, I use my iPhone as a GPS device, to track where my field sites are, but also to take pictures on the field locations. I use the voice memo recording all the time to record notes to myself about experiments and research ideas.

In many cases, timing for an experiment can be critical - rather than buy various digital timer, I simply use the built in timer on my iPhone to make sure I remember to proceed with a certain step of an experiment at a specific time.

Service

Service is the bane of almost every faculty member. We usually love research, most of us enjoy teaching, but no one likes service to the university. But we all have to participate in committees and administrative tasks. I find that bringing my iPad to meetings is an easy and efficient method to record notes - the built in keyboard works very well, and I can usually take my notes for meetings as fast as I could writing by hand.

In the event that I need to write something manually, I have to notebook apps - PhatPad and PenUltimate, that I use for drawing figures or jotting down little memos.

And if it is a large boring meeting, there is nothing like sitting in the back and playing a little Angry Birds to pass the time. And again, the Calendar is great to make sure I don't forget all these meetings that I need to go to - especially with Siri, so she can tell me on a daily basis what I need to do.

In addition, I can download any documents or PDF's that we will be looking at and simply view them on the iPad with my GoodReader app, saving paper and making it easier to carry mounds of paperwork around! For example, I am the parliamentarian for one committee, so I can make sure to always carry around a copy of Robert's Rules of Order!

Miscellaneous

Our school has also developed an iPhone app that we can use to access any of the proprietary university systems - Oracle for business system and Blackboard for teaching and student interaction. That means I am not limited to using a university computer to log in to authorize a purchase order, plan a trip to a national conference, or post grades online for students.

I have also found myself using Siri for reminders more and more - especially location based reminders. I find I may remember something I need to do while driving home. In the past, I would forget it many times before I got home, but with Siri I can just set up a location reminder to do something when I get to work, or before I leave work. It works great - I probably have about 2 or 3 Siri reminders going off every day!

The iPhone and iPad make many routine tasks easy, and make many time consuming tasks painless. They both enhance productivity, allow me more time to interact with students and engage in research. The thing I like the best is that they just make everything easier - scheduling meetings, remembering to buy cricket food, taking notes at meetings, or helping a student studying genetics.

Temple Run is a fun, easy to play 3D “runner” game. You goal – to run…that’s all, run away. Think of it like this – you are Indiana Jones, you have just stolen the idol from the temple, and now, instead of being chased by natives, you are being chased by hairy monkey.

That is the game in a nutshell. Using simple controls, you try to keep your character running as long as possible. You start off on the temple wall, but eventually can move to a stone wall, a swamp walk way, and back and forth between all three areas (I don’t know if anything else comes along, I haven’t made it that far yet).

As you run, you have to dodge obstacles – trees roots, gaps in the wall, fire traps, large trees, etc. To dodge, you either can jump over something (by swiping up), slide under something (by swiping down), or run on the left or right side of the screen (by tilting the iPhone left or right). Simple, right? Eventually you may have to turn a corner, and you do this by swiping either left or right.

It sounds simple, but it is surprisingly difficult. And surprisingly addictive. I have found myself saying “just one more time…I know I can get farther”. The route changes each time, so don’t rely on memorizing the pattern, you just have to take it as it comes. You can pick up coins along the way, and use those coins to buy various power up that will then later appear in future games – such as magnets to attract more coins, invulnerability so you don’t have to jump over chasms, and a free life in case you die. If you are really impatient, you can also purchase coins with an in-app purchase.

But the heart of this game is... running.

As enjoyable and addictive as the game is (and trust me, it is both), I still wanted more. I wished there was a two player mode – maybe racing against each other. It would be sort of funning to occasionally see someone else running in a different direction as you are doing the same! More scenes and locations would be fun as well. I don’t know if there is a final “winning” point in the game (do you make it to a get-away plane or something) but I would like to think I am trying to reach a goal rather than just blindly running.

The good

• Fun game that quickly gets challenging
• Interesting 3rd person perspective
• Easy controls

The bad

• Despite the addictive nature, I wish it had more!

The conclusion

All in all, Temple Run is a completely enjoyable, easy to learn and play, addictive game. I think anyone would have fun playing it – the key would be stopping rather than telling yourself “I can get farther next time!”. The game is free, so I strongly recommend giving it a try.

Free - Download now

The iPad can do many things. One of the things I am most excited about it acting as an electronic comic book reader. Marvel, DC, and many other publishers currently have their own comic book apps out there (of course, they still charge cover price AND charge cover price for back issues, despite the fact that production costs are decreased…but that’s a diatribe for another day), and many of those apps have some nice features. But I am talking about apps that let you read your OWN comic book collection (I don’t want to have to buy comics again from a company when I have an original).

Now, to get your own collection into electronic format, you need a scanner, and store the comics as a specified format. CBZ and CBR are most common, but some readers also accept ZIP, RAR, PDF, and other file types. I am lucky in that I have some comics that were given to me in CBZ and CBR format, so I am using those for these evaluations. There are also many places to download comics in the appropriate format. I also have the X-Men archives in PDF format, so if the reader supports those I will utilize that as well. There are also various websites that may have files available for download (especially out of print, public domain comics).

For this comparison, I will be looking at ease of use, appearance, features and settings, and overall “experience”. To load comics, you can do it through the iTunes file sharing, but a few also allow for online access and downloads. Some of them even allow you to load comics on DropBox (or something similar) and access them that way. To the best of my knowledge, there are no apps that allow for streaming comics (which would be nice for people with HUGE collections!) – you still need to manually download the comics if they are online.

I have reviewed three apps on the iPad Apps Forum: Comic Zeal, ComicGlass, and Comic Book Reader. If you have one you want me to take a look at, please post on that thread.

To see how each fared, and to find out which one is my favorite, click on through to the iPad Apps Forum Comic Book Reader Smackdown!

(Ndrive Navigation for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

NDrive USA [$32.99 - iTunes link] is a new GPS app which features turn by turn direction, entering the already crowded marketplace. NDrive prides itself on a simple interface, and when looking at the map, that is readily apparent. The map itself has little of the clutter that some of the other apps have – no different colors for different land types, no buildings popping in, no markers for POIs, etc. Just you, the map, and the route. Some people may prefer this approach, others may not. I will point out that in some locations, you do have 3D buildings appear – certainly not in Edinburg TX, however.

The primary menu of NDrive is also focused on simplicity – four buttons, one for mapping, one for settings, one to “find” something (address, POI, etc), and one for “My NDrive”. This is one of the best things about NDrive. The buttons are easy to hit, easy to use, a key feature in any GPS app.

My Ndrive lets you create and store itineraries, define your home location, and other user focused activities. Once you get into some of the detail menus, however, the simplicity seems to vanish. In the settings menu, you have a lot of options of the screen, requiring you to really focus on adjusting things (often with a small plus or minus button to adjust the settings). This detracts somewhat from the great menu buttons in the original screen.

Like many of the recent apps, NDrive loads the maps onto the phone so no data connection is required. The maps themselves are multitouch active, so the commands you have learned (such as pinch and zoom) still work. The keyboard when typing directions is their own, and it is not qwerty. This may not be a problem for some, but for people who are getting used to the iPhone keyboard, it may prove difficult to adjust.

While using the app, the routes it suggested in town were reasonable, and the ETA’s seemed pretty reasonable as well. It did recognize Terlingua, TX (my mystery small town) so the maps seems pretty accurate. It also had my home street, which (being new) some maps are missing. The turn by turn directions didn’t say the street names or anything, simply giving distance and the direction of the turn. While driving, there is a lot of information on the screen – ETA, miles till the turn, distance left, speed. I liked having my GPS app display this information, although I also like being able to adjust it on my own, something that is not possible in NDrive. The map did occasionally stutter a little bit, but this only happened a couple of times during use.

In my mind, however, the main benefit of NDrive is the price. Many of the major GPS apps (which are also downloadable maps, not pay per use/month) are around the $70 to $100 price range. At $32.99, this is by far one of the cheaper apps. Give the features that it does have for this price, it is almost a no brainer for people who have been holding off on some of the more expensive apps because of the price.

On a side note, I was very happy to see that included with the "calculate alternative" you can choose to avoid or block certain roads. This is a great feature, especially if you simply don't like driving on a certain stretch of road, and I wish more apps utilized this.

Conclusion

All in all, while NDrive seemed to lack a lot of the bells and whistles that some of the other maps have (such as lane assist) the simple interface, cheap price, and inclusion of some key features (like speed limit warnings) really make it shine. Some drawbacks include the second layer of menu options (especially in settings) which don’t make it easy to make changes quickly, but the main menu is a thing of beauty for GPS apps. At $32.99, the price is great compared to others, and that is one of the primary reasons for the four star rating. If you are looking for a lot of bells and whistle, you may want to look elsewhere, but if you want a reliable, usable GPS turn by turn app without breaking the bank, look at NDrive. Four out of five stars.

Pros:

• Competitive price
• Great menu
• Simplicity in action

Cons:

• Settings menu is difficult
• Lacking some features found in more expensive apps

TiPb Review Rating

(Labyrinth 2 for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Labyrinth was one of the first games that I saw to come out for the iPhone. I never downloaded it (beyond the free version) but when Labyrinth 2 [$4.99 - iTunes link] came out, I thought I would give it a try. And boy, am I glad I did.

Labyrinth 2 takes the classic Labyrinth and builds a complex game from a simple concept. For those unfamiliar with the original ORIGINAL labyrinth, it was a wooden board with a couple of dials on either side. These dials would tilt the board, and your goal was to move a marble from the start of the maze, or labyrinth, to the end. My father actually had the original! The original iPhone version was basically the same thing, except tilting the iPhone was how you moved the balls. This new version adds some new levels and twists on to that concept.

First off, in addition to the “classic” style, you now have various obstacles that can hinder your movement – lasers, doors, canons, pinball bumpers, and more. These all make the mazes much more difficult to maneuver. You also have some mazes that are now “metal” style rather than the classic wood – it’s okay, but I prefer the wooden style.

The new obstacles add a whole new level of game play – no longer is winning just a question of how subtle or precise you can be when tilting you iPhone. Different mazes now almost have a puzzle-like feel to them, as you try to figure out how to get from one end to the other (still with the subtle movement of tilting the iPhone).

In addition, there is now multiplayer via wifi or Bluetooth. In multiplayer, you are racing on the same levels to the hole, first one there wins. Unfortunately there is no online/internet multiplayer yet, but hopefully soon!

So you have finished the game, and want more? You can download user created levels, or create your own! Unfortunately the level creator is on a computer only (not on the iPhone itself? C’mon!). To create your own levels, you are given a unique username and password on the iPhone, then go to the website and get cracking. You can create individual levels, level packs, whatever you want. Have a great idea for a level when playing the game – go make it! Levels can be downloaded by anyone and then are rated by the general populace. My daughter has more fun creating levels (although she then insists I play them, and some of hers are literally impossible!). You can choose specific levels to download, or choose the most downloaded, search for a specific user ID, new levels, highest rated, etc.

The 3D graphics of the game are nice, but in an attempt to make the game appear 3D, they may have gone a little overboard. When you tilt the iPhone (and thus, the game) the maze walls shift a little bit as it you are no looking from a different angle. The shifting is not perfectly smooth on my iPhone (although it is close), so it looks computer generated rather than actually looking at a three dimensional wall. It’s a nice touch to add, but I am not sure if I think it helps the game at all.

Conclusion

All in all, this is a really fun game. For $4.99, this game is a must purchase. Between the potentially unlimited content, the ability to create your own levels, the multiplayer options, and the added features, this game has a huge bang for the buck! The few minor features that I didn’t like (the 3D rendering of the maze, the lack of an ability to create levels on the iPhone) don’t detract from the game to any great degree. Four and a half out of five stars.

Pros:

• Multiple game modes
• Create your own levels
• Download other levels
• Multiplayer!

Cons:

• Odd attempt at 3D make me dizzy
• Level editor is internet only

TiPb Review Rating

(Grinchmas for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Grinchmas [$1.99 - iTunes link] is a Christmas themed game designed by Oceanhorse Media. In the game, you get to choose if you play “Merry Grinch” or “Mean Grinch”. With the mean Grinch, you goal is to throw snowballs at the houses which are playing too much music (and thus bothering you). With the merry Grinch, you through presents at the houses (of matching color) trying to spread Christmas joy.

The games themselves are suitable for all ages, and my daughter had some fun trying them out. However, they do take a little bit of skill – hitting the houses with either the snowballs or the presents depends on your aim as well as the speed at which you throw (swipe your finger). Faster swiping means throwing the item farther (at the distant houses). It takes a little bit of practice to get it down pat.

Unfortunately, that’s where the game ends. The merry Grinch game is based on how many packages you can throw in a certain time limit. The mean Grinch game is based on how many houses you can silence (how long you can last) before your patience wears out. As such, both games are similar to each other. It would be nice to see a couple of different KINDS of games between the two options. In addition, while there is a nice soundtrack (or rather, music and sound effects), there is nothing else enticing. I would have loved to see some cut scenes (maybe from the TV special), some spoken lines to the TV special, some sort of bonus features (maybe Max appears, maybe some houses are worth more, etc). As it is, playing the game a few times is fun, but the novelty wears off rather quickly. The simplicity of the games is both good (easy to pick up) and it’s downfall (gets boring relatively fast).

Conclusion

All in all, the game is nice holiday themed fun, and if you have kids they may enjoy playing the Grinch. For $1.99, the price isn’t too bad, but don’t expect something you will be able to play for a long time, or something that has a high replay level. The game might help you get in the Christmas mood, but if you are looking for a detailed, complex, or long lasting game you will probably end up with a mean Grinch face. Three and a half out of five stars.

Pros:

• Fun, Christmas themed games
• Suitable for all ages
• Requires some skill when aiming

Cons:

• Games get a little boring
• No “special levels” or bonus plays
• The two games are not fundamentally different

TiPb Review Rating

(iXpenseit Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

iXpenseit [$4.99 - iTunes link] for iPhone and iPod touch is a budget tracking app that has recently appeared on the iPhone commercials. It allows a user to track monthly and daily spending, breaking items down into categories, as well as allowing the user to see overall spending.

You start the app by entering various budget amounts for different categories. The default allows for a $1,000 monthly budget for all spending. You can also break down the budget into different categories: $200 for food, $50 for entertainment, $100 for auto, etc. This allows you to track overall spending as well as spending within each of the categories. (Interestingly, they have a specific budget for iTunes!!)

Once you have the budget set, you then simply start by inputting an entry everytime you spend some money. Went to the movies? Put it $10 for entertainment. Paid a $50 water bill? Put it in for utilities. Simply tap the "new" button on the main screen to input a new expense. Chose the category (like auto), subcategory (like gasoline), the amount, date, how it was paid (cash, debit card, etc), and the vendor. You can even include a little note for yourself.

As you spend money, you can track it with the "report" option. You can get a report on overall spending, or within a specific category. You can see reports as a bar graph, pie chart, a written summary. You can even export the data if you like! On the main home screen there is a "battery meter" showing your overall budget - you can see how much you have left, how much you have been spending per day, and so forth.

You have the option of searching for an item as well. Can't remember how much you last cable bill was? Search for it, and you can see if your bill has somehow drastically increased (gotta stop watching those pay-per-view UFC matches!!). Or you can just browse through the calendar for the date the payment was made.

Various settings allow for different levels of detail in the budget, using a passcode, editing the various categories and sub-categories, and even importing data from a CSV file (via a wifi connection from your computer). You even have icons for the different types of expenses, so you can look easily and identify the kind of expense.

Conclusion

All in all, iXpenseit is a full featured budget tracking program. In some ways, it is almost too full featured. It you simply want to track spending, this app may be overkill. But if you want a detailed breakdown of where you money goes each month, I think this is the app for you. At $4.99, (make sure to list it in the iTunes category!) the price is reasonable for the number of features that is included. Because of the breadth of features that are offered, I give this app four and a half out of five stars, but make sure to spend the time to learn how to use it to the fullest!

Pros

• Nice interface
• Easy way to track spending and budget

Cons

• None, except maybe too detailed.

TiPb Review Rating

(Settlers of Catan Forum Review by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Settlers of Catan [$4.99 - iTunes link] for the iPhone. The long awaited game has made it's debut...so how does it stack up?

Well, first off, for Settlers fans (like myself) who have been eagerly awaiting the game, it's great to finally see it. This style of game lends itself to the iPhone IMO, and I am very happy to see on the quintessential "nerd" games on the iPhone. But having said that, this game is not a home run. It's better than nothing, but there are some areas where I find that game lacking.

For a quick review (for anyone who doesn't know what Settlers of Catan is, is a strategy board game where you goal is to amass a certain amount of points by building cities, roads, trading with colleagues, and using the games resources to your advantage. The game combines both skill and luck, and can be quite engrossing. I have played the online version (Java Settlers of Catan Ladder) many times, so I am sort of using that as my basis for comparison.

The games graphics are very nice. The board has a nice visual appeal, all the features of the game (the cards, resources, even the robber!) are rendered very nicely. However, it almost seems to much emphasis is placed on the visual elements, and the game play itself (both in terms of the iPhone speed, as well as the ease of accessing controls) seems very slow to me. You can control settings to turn animation off (for example) but it doesn't seem to impact the overall game speed.

When it is your turn, the game uses a hexagonal grid system for your player controls - but this means that you have to navigate a couple of menus to get to some more common controls and features (like building a road). These controls are not customizable, so you can't put frequently used features in the front. I would like to see some sort of shortcut system or method of speeding up access to some controls.

The game AI is interesting. I am still figuring out if the AI strategies that are employed are good - but I guess that means that they aren't horrendously bad! Each computer player has different strategies, so playing against different opponents will result in different kinds of games.

One of the key features of the game is trading. I am not sure what causes an opponent to accept or reject a trade, but I haven't gotten any of my suggested trades accepted....ever. Maybe I am always asking for too much, but it seems as if when I am offering a lot, someone would accept a trade I am suggesting!

There is an indirect multiplayer mode - multiple people using the same iPhone. This is okay, if you have some friends sitting around and have the inclination to pass the iPhone around. There are no options for playing over bluetooth, wifi, or the internet - hopefully at least the latter will be added in some future update.

You do have the option of modifying some game settings, such as victory points needed to win. A variety of other options (which I have never heard of) can be set - things like friendly robber, resource bonus, stacked dice, etc. There also is a nice tutorial for people who don't know how to play. I would love to see the ability to set up different kinds of maps, and i hope to see some of the expansion sets available as well!

Conclusion

All in all, it's great to see Settler's of Catan make its way to the iPhone. While the game comes off as very polished, there are some areas I could see some improvement - most notably in speed of game play and the ability of wifi or internet multiplayer. It still is fun, however, and will remain on my iPhone for the foreseeable future. At $4.99, it's not as cheap as some games, but for people who have been waiting for a while, the price is probably not a concern.

Pros

• Well, it's Settlers of Catan!
• Nice graphics
• Multiplayer by "hotseat"
• Can modify game settings

Cons

• Slow gameplay
• No wifi/bluetooth/internet play
• Tedious to get to some of the controls

TiPb Review Rating

(Card Ninja Forum Review. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Card Ninja - just the name conjures up interesting ideas as to what the iPhone (and iPod touch) game might be. As it turns out, the ideas may not be that far from the truth.

In Card Ninja, you are simply "flicking cards" to the appropriate goal post, based on color, pattern, or some combination of those. The flick motion is simple enough, using the same kind of flick that you do to scroll through your contact list. The cards are all set out in the middle of the screen, with goal posts are various locations (the harder the level, the more goal posts you have!). The goal is to flick them correctly (not just slide them over, you lose points for that), and keep you card count higher than the minimum number to advance to the next level. If your card count drops, the game is over.

The game is fun, and the flicking cards can be fun. I found after continued play, however, that my fingers started to get a little sore. So perhaps long term play is not a good idea - I would limit yourself to an hour at a time.

The game play, while not complicated, is engaging, and trying to speed up your reaction time (seeing the card, deciding where to flick it) can be a significant challenge. I found myself getting flustered a few times and that would just make the game worse - one mistake seems to compound on top of another. Adding in things like wild cards just makes it reach another level of difficulty.

Unfortunately there is no multiplayer. I can envision a great multiplayer version, with people flicking cards at each other trying to beat your opponent. You can compare high scores online, but there is nothing like a head to head competition to get the blood boiling...or bring out the ninja in you. They have updated the game in the past, so perhaps that would be coming out in a future version. There also is a free version to try before you buy, so give it a shot.

Conclusion

All in all, Card Ninja is an entertaining, unique kind of game that can pass away the time - if you have the reaction time and finger strength for it. The game is engaging and the upper levels can be a challenge. While there is no multiplayer, for $.99 it is a fun game to try, and I give it four out of five stars.

Pros:

• Interesting game idea
• Easy to learn and start playing

Cons:

• No multiplayer
• Finger gets sore

TiPb Review Rating

(iGo My Way 2009 – North America For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

iGo My Way [$79.99 - iTunes link] is the fourth turn-by-turn app I have reviewed. As with the other three, I have used the app around town as well as planning for a long trip (the same trip I have taken with the others). It generally suggested very reasonable routes, it had the vast majority of POI’s that I was looking for (in fact, I don’t recall a single instance where I couldn’t find something). So how did it compare in the long distance travel?

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code for this app.

Let me start off by saying that I found the interface a little difficult at time. When you start, there is a screen with three main buttons and a map. Tapping the map at the top brings you to your current route and directions. The other three buttons are destination (to program a route), my route (for details on your current route), and settings. Maybe it is just me, but at times I found the layout a little less that intuitive. If I wanted to alter my route, for example, I kept going into “destination” instead of “my route”. While I am sure I would have eventually learned the different buttons, it didn’t strike me as the most obvious layout.

To program a route, you can go into desintation. From there you can select an address, a point of interest, a location on a map, of a list of favorites. In addition, you have your route history at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, there was no contact integration. I did find the interface for choosing a destination based on address to be very straightforward – you choose the state, city, street, etc. At any point you can go back and change any of the options. The POI database was very complete (as complete as any of the other apps I have seen), and choosing a point of interest was another straightforward process.

Once your route is calculated (based on preferences), you can make changes like selecting various route alternative. It includes shortest, economical, easiest, and fastest. One really nice feature is that it shows you the distance and the driving time for each of these, and you can select back and forth to see how they look on the map. I wish the display map had more details instead of just a red line showing your route – city names, highway names, or things like that would be appreciated. One nitpick – I had a default “shortest route” option selected. But when I compared with other routes, sometimes the fastest route was listed as many as 10 miles shorter than the shortest route (see the image below). Ummm…need to work on those routing programs!!

You can also choose to look at places around the destination, where it will give you a list of POI near your planned destination. Lastly, you can change any of your route settings (such as vehicle from car to taxi, bicycle, bus, etc). You can choose different preferences (avoid toll roads, avoid ferries) at this point as well. At any time, you can come back to the “my route” screen to get these options again.

Unfortunately, there were limited options to preview or browse your route. You couldn’t do anything aside from viewing a simple over view map – no listed directions, no detailed summary, nothing like that. There was an option to preview the trip, but it would simply plan an animation of your route – not something you had a lot of control over. You didn’t have any option of travelling “via” a specific road, highway, or city, so you couldn’t plan a multiple itinerary trip.

The settings button allows you to change default settings – sounds and warnings, regional settings, etc. Many of these are things that you only need to access once, but the settings also included the default routing options (route type, avoid/use highways, avoid tolls, etc).

When actually driving, I found the iGo app very good. The maps that are displayed are very detailed, to the point of telling you at times when you may need to switch lanes for an upcoming turn. The app (in general) avoids giving you specific distance estimates, instead telling you that you have “more than 50 miles to go” or “turn in more than 1 mile”. I found this to be beneficial sometimes (like when I am just starting a new leg) but at times I wish they gave me more detailed distance (like when I have five miles or less until a turn). Because there is no way to preview the direction in advance, you also can’t look ahead to see what you will do after the specific leg of the trip. You had limited option for data to display on the map – you could choose from distance left, time left, or ETA (or all three). There was supposed to be an option for an audible speeding warning, but I never heard anything so it was not very effective.

My biggest complaint with the app was starting it up. Multiple times, at least 70% of the time, the app seemed to “freeze” when starting. If I rebooted my iPhone and went right into iGo, I had no problems. But if I ran another app, ANY other app first (voice memo, iPod, anything), the app would freeze and not load about 70% of the time. I don’t know if this is a problem with my iPhone (it is jailbroken) or with the app itself. Right now I don’t seem to be having that issue – but it happened enough times, on multiple days to make it a major concern. I did get around this by installing backgrounder and having the app run in the background. Then, when I wanted to go back into the app, it was already running so I had no problems.

The app also seemed to lose the GPS signal more than any other GPS app I have. It usually found it again within a minute or so, but that didn’t happen to any other GPS app I have tested. The ETA’s seemed to be off for longer distances – at one point it said I had about 70 miles left, and the trip would take about 2.5 hours. Unlike some of the other apps, the screen blank was disabled, meaning the app stayed on even without me doing anything (which I think is good). And like some others, this app could be viewed in landscape mode (a big plus!).

Conclusion

All in all, while I felt the user interface was a little less polished than some others, the quality of the maps, the good POI database, and the options for trip planning were nice pluses for this app. However, the problems with the app starting up prevent me from giving it a high rating. This may be due to my iPhone, and thus may not be an issue everyone else is going to experience, so take that into consideration. But if I can’t even get into an app to run it, pluses (like good maps, nice options) and minuses (no contact integration, shortest route isn’t always the shortest) take a back seat. At $79.99, this is a pricey app, so caution should be used before purchasing (check others to see if they had the same startup issues). As it is, I give it three out of five stars – if I didn’t have the startup problems, I would probably give it three and a half or four stars out of five. (I welcome and will post any comments from the app programmers in response to this review)

Pros

• Very detailed maps
• Great side by side comparison of routing options
• Good POI database

Cons

• No “travel via” option
• Some problems with starting the app
• Route options aren’t logical
• Limited trip overview options

TiPb Review Rating

(Goviko Navigator for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Gokivo [$4.99 - iTunes link] is the next GPS application in the increasingly long list of iPhone GPS turn-by-turn apps. First off, when I started the app, I got a little confused because it looks almost exactly like Google Maps (in fact, it may literally be the same). But the interface expands beyond Google Maps. When you put in a term for searching, you get an expanded list of options - including using local Yahoo lists, categories, your contact list, etc.

To use the app, you simply choose your destination (either as an address, contact book entry, local business, etc). From there you can choose to "Bo Navigate" (which is the Gokivo app). Warning - don't choose "directions" - this is the Google map directions. I had a slight problem once where I went into "directions" and actually got into Google Maps, and I couldn't get back to the Gokivo app. There are no settings initially to choose route types or preferences - those can be adjusted later.

The directions provided seems pretty straightforward. It didn't have some of the features that the other apps has (like speeding warning) but it did have traffic warnings. You can also view standard options like ETA, distance to arrival, etc. The POI database appears to be based on local Yahoo data, so it is pretty robust. I put in some obscure locations and it was still able to find them with relative ease. The choice of routes was pretty standard, no real problems or anything, although as with all the apps the ETA was slightly longer than I have seen in reality.

You can review your directions before you take the trip, either in a list form or in a simulated trip form. It does have text to speech, so it reads the road names for you (a feature that I think is great). Because the maps are (seemingly) based on Google maps, there is little footprint on your iPhone. So you do need to have a phone (or internet?) connection to use the app - the maps aren't stored on the device. You can also play your music while in the app.

The app use is very nice - the voice is clear, the directions are announced in plenty of time before the actual turn, and the map itself is easy to read. There wasn't any option I could find to add an interim destination, but all destinations are saved in recents, so you can easily reroute yourself if you change your plans. The maps are very clean - not a lot of clutter making them very easy to read while using the app.

So let's discuss the pricing plan, which has it's plusses and minuses. The price is only $4.99, and this gives you 30 days of access. However, unlike the AT&T Navigator, you don't automatically get rebilled for a new month. You can choose to purchase a new month, or you can wait until you need it again, then purchase a new month. Each month that is purchased is $9.99 [Gokivo has announced this will soon drop to $4.99 -- Rene]. This is, IMO, better than the automatic billing of AT&T Navigator, but ultimately I still prefer to have an upfront cost and not be billed every month. But if you would be using a GPS app sporadically, this may be an ideal solution for you - provided you will have phone coverage where you are going.

Conclusion

All in all, I think Gokivo is a strong competitor in the GPS turn-by-turn market, giving it's variation on the monthly pricing scheme. I still don't like the fact you need to have a data connection, and I found the menus to be a little difficult to use while in the car (unlike the apps that have very large, easy to hit "buttons"). But for people who will only sporadically use a GPS app, this might be a top solution. Combined with their use of Yahoo for a POI database, it holds its own in the market. For a $9.99 initial price (for one month, too bad they don't give you two months or something to start!), I give it four out of five stars.

Pros

• Text to speech
• Simple interface
• Pay as you go
• In app song control
• Uses Yahoo for POI

Cons

• Pay as you go
• Buttons for in car use not intuitive
• Need to have data connection (maps no on device)

TiPb Review Rating

(Sygic MobileMaps US for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

In the turn by turn wars, Sygic has entered the fray with their Mobile Maps US. They also have versions for a number of other countries. Like all turn by turn apps, this one allows you to create navigation routes, utilize points of interest (POI), and assists in the actual driving of the route by giving you turn-by-turn directions. So how does it compare? Read on to find out.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code for this app.

First thing I want to say is I love the interface. Probably this was my favorite of all four apps I have tested so far. The buttons are clear and large, meaning they are easy to read and easy to selection. The options make sense (such as “route”, “settings”, “navigate to”). I never found myself trying to figure out what button I needed to hit.

The routing overview options are great – you can see the instructions, see the route as images, see a summary, see a demo of the route, and even show a large map with your route. Likewise, when choosing a navigation point, there are a number of clear options – point on a map, GPS position, city center, address, POI, etc. Unfortunately there is no integration with your iPhone contacts – something that I would consider almost essential for any turn by turn GPS app.

When creating a route, you have some nice options I haven’t seen in some of the other apps. You can choose shortest and fastest (pretty standard), but you can also choose economical, pedestrian, and bicycle. Unfortunately you need to choose these in the settings, and can’t adjust them on a trip by trip basis. You do have the option of requesting an “alternate route” once your route is created, but it will still use your existing preferences. You can also choose to add an intermediate point (travel via…) if you want to go by a specific city or town. You can also choose to avoid an upcoming segment (the next mile, the next ½ mile, etc). Unfortunately, you can’t do this in advance to avoid a specific segment of the trip, it only avoids the next immediate segment. Lastly, you can choose to avoid traffic delays, but I am not sure if this downloads actual traffic data, or bases it on travelling through a city center (or historical traffic data). I tried it a couple of times, but didn’t find any change in my planned route.

When driving, you can have a speed warning option turned on, that will warn you when you are going over a speed limit by a user-defined amount. There is supposed to be an audible warning, but I never heard one. In addition, the speed limits seemed somewhat variable – sometimes they were accurate, sometimes they were wrong, and sometimes they were missing. You have the option of defining some of the data that appears on the screen – ETA, distance remaining, speed, time remaining, etc. I like this a lot because it enables everyone to choose what information they would find most valuable. The driving interface is nice, pretty standard with views like “night time view”, and it can be viewed in landscape mode as well. The turn by turn directions are good, although it doesn’t read the street names (it does read highway route numbers, though). The voice also includes little qualifiers like “turn immediately” if you need to make a quick turn following another turn. I find information like this helpful when driving. You can also see the POI on the map as you are driving (and can choose which icons you are able to see). Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyway within the app to disable the screen off function, so my screen kept turning off as I was driving.

So those are some of the good features about the Sygic app. Unfortunately, there were two really big flaws that were glaring. The first is when it comes to routing options – the routing options make no sense. Just like the other apps, I used this app to plan a route from Edinburg, TX to Terlingua, TX. A trip that I know is about 600 miles. I choose the shortest route, and it had me driving up THROUGH San Antonio – adding about 100 miles to the trip. I tried to hit “find alternate route”, and it took me up through Fort Worth…adding another 150 miles to the trip. So if I followed these directions, a 600 mile trip would have turned into a 700 or 850 mile trip. It was only after driving for about an hour on what I knew was the shortest route (or at least a shorter route) that the app finally gave me the instructions I wanted (which was calculated out to be shorter than the 700 miles it had suggested originally).

In addition, if you go off route, rather than trying to calculate a new route based on your current location, it seems to try to only get you BACK on to the previous route. So this app was telling me, at various times, to take a u-turn, drive back another 15 miles to the point where I went off the planned route, then continue from there. If I cancelled that route and created another one, that’s when it would then give me the best route from my current location.

Lastly, the maps seem very out of date. One of the first things I noticed was that the map for my home town didn’t have my street on it. Now, my street is fairly new (within the past 5 years) so maybe that was a simple mistake. But when I was planning my trip to Terlingua, TX, Terlingua didn’t even come up as a town in Texas! So in addition to missing roads, the app is missing whole towns. This may not be a factor if you are living in a large metropolitan area, but if could be a concern if you are living somewhere less developed (or travelling somewhere like that).

Driving around town I had no problems with this app. It seemed to have most of the POI that I was looking for (although the database was a little bit lacking). It also generally suggested reasonable routes to take (even if they weren’t the exact same ones I would have suggested). The real problems with this app came with the long distance travel.

Conclusion

All in all, there are many things I like about this app, but in the end the two glaring problems prevented me from giving it a strong recommendation. This app may be fine if you live and travel only in large, well known areas. But if you plan to go to smaller towns or visit newer roads, you will have a hard time using this app. These facts, combined with a few other flaws (lack of contact integration, poor route planning) leads me to reduce the rating, despite the great user interface and some nice features and options I haven’t seen on other TBT apps. For $39.99 [on sale, typically $59.99], I would expect to get accurate maps and better routing instructions. Three out of five stars. (I welcome and will post any comments from the app programmers in response to this review)

UPDATE

I just received an email from Sygic - contact integration and text to speech (reading road names) are going to be in the next update.

text-to-speech, i.e. voice guidance announcing the name of the next street or road in North America, Australia and New Zealand, the ability to choose addresses straight from iPhone contacts and navigate to them, smooth fading out of the music playback before the voice instructions, enhanced GPS lock, smoother position display when moving on the route. Also, the navigation will automatically resume after completion of phone call, without the need to tap the ‚Accept' button anymore.

Pros:

• Includes nice routing options
• Can avoid upcoming route segments
• Nice interface and customization options

Cons

• No contact integration
• Maps out of date
• Sometimes route choices are questionable

TiPb Review Rating

(Co-Pilot Live 8 for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

With CoPilot Live North America [$34.99 - iTunes link] The march of GPS Turn-by-turn apps continued. (See the App Review master list, above, for reviews of AT&T Navigator, Navigon Mobile Navigator, iGo My Way, and Sygic Mobile Maps). In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code to review this app.

GPS Turn-by-turn apps all want to achieve the same goal - become the ultimate navigation assistant to help you when you are driving. So far the apps I have reviewed have had strong points and some weak points - each having some features that are nice, but no one app dominating the competition. CoPilot Live falls right in, with some compelling features but also lacking some features to put it over the top.

Let's start with the interface. I love it. In my mind, a GPS TBT app should be easy to use and operate - large button, easy to read screen, easy to program, etc. For the most part, CoPilot live does a great job. When using the menu, the buttons are large and easy to read (and hit). The features are clearly outlined, and there is a systematic approach to the layout (I had very little hunting around trying to find a specific feature). Having said that, some of the buttons were a little small - including the button to get to the menu. Like some of the other apps, when typing in an address or name, this app would try to anticipate what you wanted, providing a list of matching names. I find this type of interface very helpful, as I don't have to type out the entire name myself.

This app did have contact integration. One interesting thing about the contacts - not all of them were listed. I think it only lists contacts that have an actual address - which makes sense, if you think about it. The five or six I checked matched that criteria, but I didn't check all the missing contacts. If that is accurate, I say kudos to CoPilot Live for including this feature which makes sense, but is missing from other apps!

The POI interests can be viewed while traveling, and entered as a destination as well. Like Navigon, the POI database seemed a little sparse - it didn't have the school I work for listed as a POI, and it is the tenth largest University in Texas (or something like that). Hopefully this will be something that can be added to in future updates.

I liked the use of the app as well. It was quick to pick up a signal, and I didn't lose it once. You can choose POI to be displayed. There is supposedly a feature for lane assistance, but I couldn't get it to work - possibly due to the fact I live in the outskirts of civilization here in Texas. WHen you have a map created, there were also options to choose an alternate route, and the option to avoid certain segments of your trip! Something I have been looking for in the other apps. Unfortunately, I tried it out, and it didn't seem to make any different in the trip plans (the route was still listed as the same). It's possible that I needed to actually REACH that road to avoid it, but I am not sure (especially since I asked to avoid a 163 mile segment of highway...I would have thought it would recalculate a large portion of a trip in that case). Unfortunately, there is no option to indicate a preferred road.

There are a number of live features that are supposed to be added - including weather (where you are, or your destination), traffic, and friends (which I assume finds contacts in the area?). However, the traffic and friends options were greyed out. The traffic is listed as being a premium extra that you have to pay for in future updates. The weather worked very well.

Another nice feature that I have only seen sporadically is the ability to add stops during your trip. You can even optimize them and plan for rest locations. While driving, you have various settings you can tweak - including when the app will warn you about an upcoming turn, how the map is viewed (2D, 3D, or 2D with next turn). You have preview options of seeing the whole trip, running a simulation of the trip, seeing an itinerary, or even going through the trip turn by turn. Nice options there. The screen itself also allows for two displays - you can have things like speed, ETA, distance left, etc. I didn't see any option for speed limit warning, although other reviews have mentioned them. I might be blind, or it might be limited to other maps (UK or Europe, for example).

The biggest issue I had with CoPilot live was the choice of routes. Again, for small, everyday routes, the directions seemed very accurate. If the road was listed (there were a few times where newer roads weren't on the map - my home street was not listed for planning directions), the route was very straightforward. However, for longer routes, I had some problems. You can choose between a quickest, shortest, and economical routes (with specifications for avoiding tolls roads and similar options). Now, I plugged in the same trip I have been doing for all the apps - Edinburg, TX to Terlingua, TX. About 600 miles as I drive it. The shortest route came up with the standart shortest route (by miles) at about 590 miles. However, the quickest route had me going about 100 miles out of my way, up to San Antonio. And the ETA's for both of the trips was, well, insanely wrong. The trip has taken between between 10 and 12 hours. The estimated travel time for the quickest route (690 miles) was 18 hours. For the shortest route (590 miles) it was over 20 hours. Now, I could understand if it was driving back roads the whole time, but we are talking about driving on highways with a 70 or 75 mph speed limit!

As I previously said, I tried to "tweak" my route by indicating sections of the road to avoid (hoping that it would get me a route that I have taken in the past), but the map didn't appear to change - despite the fact I said I wanted to detour around 163 miles of highway. Maybe some of these issues are due to the fact I am not trying it out in a big metropolitan area, and if you live in an area like that you won't have any of the problems. But ultimately the app is supposed to be for anywhere in North America, so I should still be able to use it here, out in the middle of no where.

Conclusion

All in all, this app had some very strong points and some areas that clearly needed work. The interface and some of the options were absolutely great, but ultimately it is about driving and the routes. As such, given that it estimated a trip I know only take about 10 hours as a 18 to 20 hour trip, I can't help but question the accuracy of it's route choices for long distance trips. Some of the features (like road detours) didn't seem to have any obvious effect on the routes and maps, but it could be that the effect would only be obvious when I got to that segment of the trip. At $34.99, the app is far from the most expensive, and for that money it delivered a reasonable GPS experience. But until the routing issues are fixed, I can only give it three and a half out of five stars.

Pros:

• Great interface
• good integration with contacts

Cons:

• POI database is lacking
• Some features appear to be disabled or don't work
• Trip time estimation is way off

TiPb Review Rating

(Bookworm for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

I have said it before, I will take it again, I am not a huge fan or word games. But occasionally one will come along that captures my attention. Bookworm [$2.99 - iTunes link] is just such a game.

The premise is simple - you are presented with a field of letter tiles. You need to go through spelling words with connecting tiles. As words are spelled, those tiles vanish, and new tiles fall from the top to replace them. Throw in features like bonus works, green tiles (for more points), red tiles (that "burn" through the others to the bottom) and you have the game Bookworm.

You progress through each level, getting points for spelling longer and more difficult words. As you go, you can collected various accomplishments (words types, such as body parts). There are two modes of play - classic (just a never ending puzzle) and timed (where fire blocks appear and start burning as time progresses). Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer option although to be honest with you I am not sure how it would be incorporated.

There is an area which keeps track of your stats, but unfortunately, it is limited to the highest score. I wish it also kept track of things like the longest word. You also have your library to see different types of words (like the previously mentioned body parts) you have found. The word library does add something of a long term goal to the game, as you can try to collect as many words as possible in the various libraries. One nice thing to see was that the game saves you progress, even if you exit.

All in all, if someone is a big fan of word game, they probably will enjoy this. As I said, even though I am not a big fan, I still found it fun. However, I found the game a little limiting. With only two play modes, both based on the same play time, I am not sure if I feel I could play the game long term. But for people who like games like Muddle and Scrabble may feel differently. At $2.99, the game is not that pricey and could easily be worth the expense.

Pros:

• Challenging word game
• Easy to play

Cons:

• No multiplayer
• Limited game modes

TiPb Review Rating

(Hurricane for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Hurricane [$3.99 - iTunes link] is a hurricane tracking app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Back when I lived in Florida, hurricanes were a yearly concern. Now that I am in Texas, they don’t play such a prominent role but they are still something to think about. Hurricane is an app designed to try to take away some of that concern.

I have actually had this app for well over 4 months, but I wanted to wait till the middle of hurricane season so I could see it in action. And let me say, the app generally performs very well. The app starts off with a screen where you can select Atlantic or Pacific hurricanes, and then gives you a list of the active storms as well as completed storms. When you click on a storm, you can look at the radar loop, projected path, tracking map, satellite images, and bulletins. All of this allows you to try to keep on top of these potentially devastating storms.

In addition, you can look a historical storms (from last year going back to 1851) and specific data feeds (like satellite images) from a variety of sources. For people with little hurricane experience, you can also see how hurricanes are rated on the Saffir-Simpson scale. While it certainly isn’t necessary, it would be nice to have some sort of hurricane checklist included (what to do, or not do, when one hits, for example).

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t provide any customization options. You can specify your location and only look at storms that may hit you. You can’t mark a storm as a “favorite” to keep close tabs on it. You don’t get push notifications when a storm status changes (or a new alert is released). These are all kinds of features that would put this app into an elite category. In addition, there is no ability to sort or search the historical data. I can’t look for all historical Cat 5 storms that have him Florida, for example. If I am curious about how frequently a specific area has been hit, I can’t only include storm that hit Texas. The historical data is nice, but in the present form it is a little unwieldy unless you know exactly what you are looking for.

Conclusion

As hurricane tracking apps go, this is a nicely designed app, giving you a lot of the pertinent and critical information. If you live in a hurricane prone area, it could certainly be worth the $3.99 price. However, the app is missing some features that would move it into a premium app category (which, I should note, I haven’t seen in other hurricane apps as well).

(In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code for this app.)

Pros

• Up to date hurricane tracking and projections
• Detailed data regarding hurricanes
• Historical data included

Cons

• No to choose “favorites”
• No push notifications
• No location based data
• No search or sort feature for historical data

TiPb Review Rating

(Navigon Mobile Navigator for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

MobileNavigator North America [$69.99 - iTunes link], by Navigon, is the second GPS TBT app I examined. This one requires you to download all the maps in advance (1.5 GB for the US version, 1.67 for the European version) so make sure you have space on your iPhone. The advantage of this is that you can get GPS directions even if you do not have an AT&T signal. In addition, the actual “routing” process seems a little faster since it is not downloading directions OTA.

The map interface is very clean and flows very well, clearly showing direction and the upcoming street name. Unfortunately since the app doesn’t read the street name, you need to continually look at the app to see where to turn in areas when there are lots of streets next to each other. One nice feature is you can see POI on the map itself – not just a little dot or something, but an actual icon for the POI. When driving by a McDonalds, you can see the golden arches on the map. If the POI doesn’t have an logo, it just shows a general icon (gas station, food, etc).

To create a route, you can choose a variety of options in the route profile. These include fastest route, optimum (I believe for driving in cities), shortest, and scenic. You can also choose type of vehicle (including pedestrial), allow/avoid highways, toll roads, ferries, resident only streets, and HOV lates. I like the inclusion of a scenic route, although I am not sure the parameters. Will it take you ½ hour out of the way to see a nice waterfall? What about an hour?

Creating a route is very easy. The app has large buttons to press, and takes you through the step by step process (first state, then city, then street, etc). You can also choose to “take me home” where it will take you to your programmed home destination. At the bottom you can choose to select recent location, search your contacts, or select a favorite location.

Unfortunately you can’t specify roads that you prefer or want to avoid (like if you want to go a specific route, or travel by a specific town). In addition, sometimes the route choices seem…well…preposterous. When driving home yesterday, at one point the optimum route told me a certain way to go and get home by 8:07pm. The “shortest” route told me a similar route and got home by 8:08pm. The “fastest route” had me going to Corpus Christi, back down on a highway, and then backtracking – and getting home at 8:56pm. It made absolutely no sense what so ever.

When starting on the trip, I found the ETA to be generally reasonably accurate. An 11 hour, 630 mile trip was predicted initially as 12 hours. When looking at the map, you can tap the screen to see an overhead view, and also get a map summary. Unfortunately, there is no way to get a turn by turn summary of the whole trip.

Within the trip you have a lot of options. You have a speed option. The app comes with speed limits built in, which were accurate at least 90% of the time. You can program if you want the app to warn you if you are speeding (5 mph over, 10mph over, etc). Obviously you can’t rely on it, but it is a nice feature to have. In addition, you have the option of creating interim destination – basically a multi stop trip. This is one way to finagle choosing a specific route – just choose a city as an interim destination that is on the road you want to take! The app then tracks both trips, in terms of ETA and miles to go. You can also add a POI along the route (although I am not sure how far “off route” it searches – ½ mile? 1 mile?). You have a night map option and can also change your route profile (fastest to scenic, for example).

Searching for POIs is easy as well. First choose the location (nearby, a specific city, or statewide). You can preprogram three “auto” categories for quick searches as well – I chose gas, hotels, and food. Like other apps, you can’t define your search radius for “nearby”, but it looks to be about 5 miles or so. The POI library is somewhat lacking, however. While I can understand it for some out of the way hotels, there were some times that a McDonalds (or something similar) was mislabeled on the maps or couldn’t be found with a POI.

All in all, I found this to be a solid app, with lots of nice features added in. While the route choice was at times baffling, for the most part I had little to quibble about. The built in speeding warning is a nice feature to have, although you can’t rely on it because it is not always 100% accurate. The POI library was lacking somewhat, and I wasn’t really sure if I was missing some possible POIs along the way because of that. At $69 (on sale, normally $99) the app is not expensive, but still cheaper in the long run than a monthly fee system. Four out of five stars.

Pros:

• Easy POI lookup
• Maps on device
• Nice graphics and interface
• Lots of options for customizing
• Speed limit warnings!

Cons:

• POI database is lacking
• Doesn’t read street names
• Some routes are wildly inaccurate

TiPb Review Rating

(AT&T Navigator for iPhone Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

AT&T Navigator [Free with subscription - iTunes link] is the AT&T branded version of Telenav, GPS Turn-By-Turn software provided by AT&T. It is free to download, but requires a $10 monthly subscription paid through your AT&T bill. It also provides maps OTA (over-the-air), downloading any maps and data as needed through the AT&T network. This is both beneficial (takes up less space on the iPhone) and detrimental (can’t use if you have no signal).

In general, the app provided solid directions. For the local stuff, it generally gave the same directions that I have “learned” over time to use. For the long distance route, it gave me a path that someone else had recommended but was different from the Google Maps suggested route. When creating a route, you can either choose a destination to drive to (based on recent locations, address, find a business, airport, etc), or you can search for a POI. Searching for a POI on interest is a little cumbersome. First you choose the category, then the sub category (no problem so far). It then begins the search. The cumbersome issue is if you want to change the search parameters (change from “nearby” to a specific town). Before the search finishes, you need to tap the “where” option, and choose current location, recent places, address, etc. The cumbersome aspect is that the search begins even if you don’t want to search your current area. In addition, you can’t define the current area, so I am not sure if you are searching a 5 mile radius or a 30 mile radius (probably closer to the latter than the former). When searching for a nearby gas station once, I got “no results found” even though I knew there was one 30 miles away. I wanted to know if there was one closer (since I was almost on empty) and the search POI didn’t help at all.

Unfortunately, there is no contact integration for directions. You can cut and paste an address from your contact book, but it will require some additional work on your part. From what I hear, contact integration is going to be included shortly.

As for the routes, I generally had no problem with them. One really nice feature is that it reads the street name, so I don’t need to look at the app to determine what street is my turn. I had some small quibbles about the actual route choices in some cases (in one case, I got off the highway, drove about 20 miles in little back roads at 20 mph, including one dirt road with chickens on it…then got back on the 70mph highway I had just recently left). There are no options to include an interim stop, or to show a preference to avoid (or drive on) a specific road. You can choose the general (fastest, traffic optimized, shortest) for route type, but can also choose to prefer highways or streets. When creating a route, it checks the traffic. This is great for short trips, but I am not sure if it continually checks traffic (which would make more sense for longer trips).

After the route is created, there are great options for an “overview” of your trip. You can get a route summary (turn by turn) or a map summary (showing the whole route). This is great just to look over what you are doing, or if you want to see what the next three turns are going to be (if you like to look ahead, like I do).

One side note with a pet peeve. Why is it that when I get directions for a return route, I don’t simply get my directions in reverse? One would think that is I had the fastest route going one way then the reverse would be the fastest to get back!

The time estimates were generally spot on for short trips, but got more and more off base for longer trips. For my long excursion (630 miles) it had initially predicted 16 or 17 hours, when in reality it took about 11 hours. As I got closer, I found exiting the app and the restarting (and re-routing the directions) increased the accuracy (when I was about 60 miles away, it still said it would take three hours. I exited, started again, and then it said 1.2 hours). Speaking on exiting, because the app is OTA, if you exit you need to re-download the maps. There is no ability to “cache” or save directions once they have been created. In addition, when I exited and went back it, sometimes it would ask me if I wanted to resume the previous trip (still downloading new maps) and sometimes it would simply “forget” that I was in the middle of a trip. Not sure why.

The POI library was very strong (although it still didn’t find the Brownsville Zoo, even when I was 1 mile away!). It had a wide variety of “hits” when searching for any given POI, and this was a solid plus for the app. Even in an out of the area location like Terlingua, TX, it had a reasonable list of hotel accommodations (all three of them) and eating locations. My biggest issue with the POI is that you can’t define a search radius, but this seems to be common on most apps.

All in all this is a solid TBT GPS app. It provides accurate maps and a great library of POIs, and it picked up a GPS signal very quickly. The biggest issues I had were the occasional route choice and what to do if I didn’t have an AT&T signal. Lack of contact integration is a big minus IMO, but it makes up for that slightly by including traffic and reading the street names. If you don’t mind a monthly subscription, and live in an area where you don’t need to worry about an AT&T signal, this app would probably suit your needs perfectly. Four out of five stars.

Pros:

• Solid library of POI’s
• Street names read out loud
• Includes traffic updates
• Great trip overview options

Cons:

• Needs an AT&T signal
• Searching outside of local area can be cumbersome
• No contacts integration

TiPb Review Rating

(Star Defense Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

StarDefense is a twist of the tower defense game genre, something I first experienced online. Star Defense takes it to a new level, using a rotating sphere as the game board - representing a planet that is trying to repel Alien invasions.

Overview

As the defender, you start up trying to place towers along the alien path to prevent the aliens from reaching the colonists. You weapons are five types of towers (two are locked initially) - slow, fire, gun, electric, and super gun. Each tower can be upgraded (at a cost) three times, improving their ability to inflict damage.

Opposing your are alien hordes, ranging from scouts to mollusks to...well...other disgusting things that should probably not be described. Some of the invaders have special abilities (flying, extra fast, resistant to a type of damage) that you need to consider when planning your strategy.

And yes, there is strategy. I found that out very quickly. You can't just start placing towers willy nilly. Well, you can, and maybe at the easy level, you will survive, but if you move to medium and difficult it won't work.

Compared to other tower defense game, I felt this one excelled in the scenery and the game board. Using the 3D sphere adds a unique element to the game play, and really forces you to move around to keep track of the whole board. Where it falls a little short is the tower units. I wish there were more units, or that upgrading how more of an effects (faster fire rate, for example). Additional unit types (some sort of explosive tower, or more radius type attacks) would be really beneficial.

Also, the games "story" mode only goes through 7 planets. If you defeat those, you are finished with the galaxy. NGMoco has indicated you will be able to purchase additional galaxies though in app purchases, but I really hope they aren't going to be milking up for another $4 for three more planets. This concern is not limited just to this app - I worry that in app purcahses will initially be really abused by the various developers, trying to milk as much money as they can.

In addition to the "story" mode, they also have a challenge mode, where the goal is to simply survive as long as possible in various planetary landscapes.

There is a push notification option, which I can be combined with the "plus" option to post your scores online, and issue online challenges. I haven't registered for this yet, but it looks like an interesting way to play. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as you are directly playing agasint someone, instead you are basically just comparing scores. Still, a fun way to play!

Conclusion

All in all, this is a fun twist to the tower defense genre. I wish there were more tower options, or that upgrades did more to the towers (increase radius of fire, blast radius, etc), but the unique 3D landscape really adds a lot. I found myself twisting the globe around all over the place trying to figure out where to place towers. At $5.99, the game isn't cheap, and it looks like they will be using the in-app purchase to have the user purchase more "galaxies" to play with. But if you like tower defense games, this one is very well done, and worth the price. Four out of five stars.

Pros

• Cool use of three dimensional map
• Nice way to move up in levels (and go to new planets)
• Commendations!

Cons

• Only 5 towers types, with three upgrades
• No two player interaction (just a challenge)

TiPb Review Rating

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a promo code for StarDefense.

[Star Defense is available for $5.99 via the iTunes App Store]

(Peggle Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

With all the talk recently about Peggle, I was surprised that it hasn't been reviewed (although it did get a "quick app" and a pick of the week) so I thought I would download and give it a try. And, well, Peggle has managed to crack my "regular game rotation" that currently consists of only a few other games.

Let me start by saying that as Peggle loads, they took a page from The Sims and actually make you want to read the loading messages.

Peggle is a game based on skill and luck, similar to Pachinko. Your goal is to shoot balls into a pachinko-style board with "pegs", trying to remove all the orange pegs and blocks within a certain number of shots. You can have various power up abilities, lucky shots or skill shots increase your score, and you can earn extra balls by "saving" your ball as it falls or by scoring a certain number of points within a shot. The enjoyment on Peggle comes from two main factors in my mind - the various power up abilities and the variety of boards.

If you start playing in adventure mode, you are led through the game by ten "masters", each of whom has a different power up ability. As they guide you through the game, they teach you the details and the best ways to use their abilities. Once you finish with them, you go back through the same levels with the option of choosing the power up ability you want for each board.

The second biggest positive from the game is the variety of boards. You start off with a simple pachinko style board, but they gradually become more and more complex - with bumpers, with moving parts, with time warps, etc. Each level has specific characteristics that make it challenging, so no two levels will be played the same way. As your progress through the adventure mode, you get various trophies to add to your collection (I am currently running through them the second time in "Master" mode).

There are other game modes as well. Quick play lets you choose a level to play by itself. Challenge mode lets you play a specific levle with a specific challenge (beat a certain number of points, more orange pegs than normal, etc). And dual mode is a two play battle where you play on the same board against either the computer or a friend. Unfortunately, the dual mode is a "pass the iPhone" multiplayer so you can't play via wifi. I was also hoping to see a direct battle where you are both shooting balls at the same time (and can interfere with each other) but that doesn't happen.

Let me just add, when you finish a level, they play Ode to Joy. There nothing quite like having that blast from your iPhone to actually make you feel like you have accomplished something! The game can be replayed multiple time because the placement of the orange pegs (as well as the various power-up and other pegs) are randomized so your strategy can vary even when replaying the same level!

Conclusion

All in all, this is really a great game. Aside from the few minor wishes I had for multiplayer, I could find nothing wrong with this game, and it has "earned" a spot on my permanent rotation of games. At $4.99, the price isn't cheap, but it is well worth it for a game that can be played over and over.

Pros:

• Good puzzle/arcade game
• Involves strategy and luck
• Lots of replay-ability
• Has a two player mode
• Multiple play modes

Cons

• Two player mode is only "pass the iPhone", no wifi

TiPb Review Rating

[Peggle is available for $4.99 via the iTunes App Store]

(100 Sounds Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

This is going to be a fairly short review. 100 sounds is just what you would think it is: hundreds of various sounds effects to play on your iPhone (more than 100!). They are organized alphabetically by name, and to hear a sound, you simply tap the name of the sound.

There are various settings you can adjust – having a sound repeat, having a time delay, and utilizing the shake to replay a sound or choose a random sound effect. The sounds themselves are varied – ranging from things like airplace, air raid sirens, and clapping to more abstract sounds like “correct”, down, “ouch”, or ditty. Some of the sounds are clear and concise, some are a little more difficult to comprehend. The previously mentioned “ouch” for example, sounded like someone with a helium voice saying ouch in 1/10th of a second!

This app was billed as being fun for kids, but one of the problems I found was that unless the kid can read (which my daughter can’t do yet), there is no way to identify the sounds. Having some sort of icon or image associated with the sounds would be much more fun for kids. Also, some of the sounds could be stretched out somewhat. A sound effect that lasts less than one second (in some cases) seems sort of pointless to me.

It would also be cool to be able to view categories out sounds – animals, human, speech, machine, abstract, etc. That might help clarify some of the more random sounds effect – for example, is the “fabulous” effect – is that someone saying “fabulous”, or is it some musical effect that is supposed to denote “fabulous”. (It turns out it is the former, but that isn’t always the case).

The quality of the sounds are very good, although some of them were a little short (as I mentioned before). For the most point, I could make out what the sounds was supposed to be very easily. One nice feature that they are offering is that they will email you a ringtone of 5 sounds effects if you like. This is nice, since some of these could make cool ringtones (I don’t know why Apple won’t let an app make a ringtone!)

The last feature that I think would be really cool would allow a user to program their own sound track. Create a routine of sound effects (which effects, how long, et) that you could start and it would play over a certain length of time.

The breadth of sound effects included in this app are nice – much better than the previous sound effects app I downloaded. But there are a few “tweaks” that could be utilized to make the app better organized and more enjoyable. It is my hope that eventually 100 sounds will continue to add effects, even ones that may seem redundant so you can have more than one option for each type.

Pros:

• Nice array of sound effects available

Cons:

• More organization options,
• images for kids would be nice

(Note: the developer responds in the forum thread)

All in all, the sounds effects app does exactly what it claims to be – a repository of sounds effects. Some of them are fun, some of them are a little random, but there is a nice library available. There could be better organization, or since it is listed as a kids app it could have better identification for kids, but for general use this is a nicely designed app. At $.99, the price is not prohibitive and if you wanted to create your own sound track, this app can help you out.

TiPb Review Rating

[100 Sounds is available for $0.99 via the iTunes App Store]

(Photogene Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Photogene is an iPhone "touch up" utlity that can be used to touch up or enhance photos you take with your iPhone.

First, what Photogene isn't. It isn't simply a series of filters that you can apply to photos. There are lots of apps out there that can apply a huge range of filters (oil painting, cartoon, black and white, sepia, posterize, etc). I have reviewed a couple of them. This app does have a few filters, but it is more about touching up photos (fine-tuning them, if you will) rather than simply applying a filter to make it "art".

When you start the app, you can choose to take a new photo, edit an existing phot, or continue a previous session. This last option is particularly nice, it means the app "remembers" where you were and what you were doing. If you get interrupted, you don't need to start over. One cool little thing is when you start the app, a "tip of the week" appears about taking photos with the iPhone. Normally I don't like tips that appear like this, but I like it here because the tip is specific to using the iPhone camera (not just a general photography tip).

I was using a general photo of some mosquito cages when testing this app. The touch up features include a crop option, rotate option, three filters, color adjust, symbols, and frames. When you finish with your editing, you can save the photo or start over (take a new photo or edit a new photo). There is an undo button to undo the last edit, but there isn't a complete "reset" button to undo all adjustments. I would like to see that in a future release. So let's talk about the touch up features.

With the crop feature, you can choose to crop it with a specific ratio (3:4, 9:16, etc). The area that will be cropped appears highlighted on the picture, and you can resize it or move it around. One nice thing is that as your resizing the crop, you can see the pixel size that the new image will be - very useful. You can't do a free-form crop however.

The rotate allows you to rotate the picture by 90% or flip the picture on an axis. If your image is at an angle, you can also do some slight angle adjustments to make it level.

The app comes with three filters - sharpen, pencil, and effect (which includes sepia, night vision, or infrared (heat vision). With sharpen and pencil, you can adjust the level of effect as well. Pencil is sort of cool, making your picture look like a pencil drawing. But as I said, this app isn't about having 30 filters - it is mostly about touching up photos to make them as nice as possible.

Next we move onto color adjustment. Here, you can see the color histogram and either adjust it manually or automatically for the best color image. You can also adjust the exposure, contrast, saturation, color temperature, as the actual RGB levels. These are, in my opinion, the best features of this app because this is the area that really helps you touch up a picture to optimal quality.

You can add symbols like stars, word ballons (with text), arrows - about 13 symbols in all. These aren't anything really that help the picture, but they can make a picture a little more entertaining.

Lastly, you can add a frame - ranging from a "blurred" frame that doesn't have a distinct edge to more tradition picture frames to a stamp border or photo album "taped on the corners" frame. There are about 15 frames in all to choose from.

Working on a couple sample pictures, I was able to make some nice adjustments and really make some of the pictures shine. You are still working within the limitation of the iPhone camera, so pictures that are outdoors or in bright light are going to be the best, but you can really enhance some pictures that you might have throught were lost. The features like frames and symbols aren't really that necessary, and I would have preferred more filters instead of having those, but they can be fun to add to some pictures.

Pros:

• Touch up iPhone pictures to make them shine

Cons:

• Some features don't really add anything,
• no ability to completely reset a picture

All in all, this is a good, all around photo touch up tool for the iPhone. Rather than just rely on applying filters, you can make some manual adjustments to thingsl ike saturation and exposure to try to bring out the best in your pictures. Some of the effects don't really add anything to the picture quality, but they might be fun to include in some pictures. There is no way to remove all the touchups at one, however - you have to reset each feature individually. But the color adjust can really make a picture shine. The app is $2.99, so the price is great if you use the iPhone camera a lot. Four and a half out of five stars.

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=309327900&mt=8">Photogene is available for $2.99 via the iTunes App Store]

(MLB At Bat 2009 Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Okay, I admit it, I am a die hard baseball fan. One of the first apps I bought last year was MLB At Bat, and when I heard it was coming out again, after a brief period of annoyance, I decided to purchase it again.

On a side note, I expect to see many more subscription based or "partial" purchase based apps with the new pricing methods in the app store. I don't think it bodes well.

But anyway, I decided to get the app when I saw that this year it included the MLB Audio - radio broadcasts of the games. As a bonus, you get to choose the stream to listen to!

So how does it stack up?

I must say, very well.

When you start the app, you are presented with a screen showing the days games. The current score and inning are listed, and if you click on a game, you get a short highlight summary at the bottom of the screen (how many outs, who is pitching and batting, on base, etc). You can scroll through the various games. When a game is highlighted, you can click on "audio" and choose from either of the teams radio stream to listen to the game. Unfortunately, you can't have it in the background (curse you iPhone) so you need to stay in the application in order to listen to the stream. If you click the blue arrow, you are taken to what I call the "game" menu.

The game menu is broken down into a variety of screens. The first one, gameday, shows you the current batter, pitch by pitch (with location) action of what is going on. You can also see the fielding situation (including dimensions for each stadium), the box score, the game summary, and of course video highlights (just like last year) by selecting the various tabs at the bottom. The video highlights are supposed to be better quality this year, but I always look at them when I am connected via wifi, so I have no problem with the quality. I wish they had more highlights to choose from (it seems that they are moslty focused on big hits). The video is not HD quality or like watching a movie, but it certainly is okay to watch for a ten-second highlight.

Back on the main screen, there is an additional button for "extras". With Extras, you can look at additional MLB videos (like "A look at the ballparks of the last decade" and fantasy updates"). You can also look at the up to date standings, legal information, or be taken to the MLB.com website in safari. I wish they have other information like leaderboards, player stats, matchup information. It is all available at MLB.com, but I would think it would be easy to have it in the app itself (especially since if you leave the app, the audio stream is lost).

Out of curiosity, I tried watching the game-day play by play, watching a game on TV, and listening on the radio, just to see how it synced up. The radio had the longest lab, the TV was the fastest, but evne then it was only about one pitch behind.

Pros:

• Audio!
• Gameday effects are nice,
• lots of options for "in game" status

Cons:

• Lacking some basic statistical information,
• some video highlights seem to be sparse (for some teams)

Conclusion

All in all, for baseball fans on the road, this is almost a must-have app. The price ($9.99) is not cheap, but it is very reasonable compared to what they charge for Gameday audio online. I wish they have video highlights for every half inning or so, rather than just having (at times) one or two per game. I also wish they have more reference and statistical information. But this is a great app for following a team when you are on the road - just make sure you have your car charger! Most of the stuff I found lacking were things that don't really detract from the app, but rather things that would put the app over the top.

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[MLB At Bat 2009 is available via the iTunes App Store]

Flight Control Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Ever want to be a flight controller? The most stressful job (so I hear) ever? Well, if you want the fun, but don't want the stress, Flight Control is the game for you.

With Flight Control, you play a flight controller who needs to guide planes in for a safe landing. You have two runways (red and yellow) and one helicopter pad (blue). As planes fly in, they are either red or yellow, indicating which runway they need to land on (helicopters can only land on the pad). Your job is to guide the planes to the appropriate runway while avoiding in-air collisions.

Sounds easy, right? Sure it is...when there are only one or two planes coming in at a time. But as time progresses, more and more planes enter the playing field, increasing the risk of close calls and collisions.

The process of guiding a plane is very simple. Simply tap the plane, and slide you finger along the path you want the plane to take. As you are creating the path, it appears as a dotted line. When you lift you finger, the planes path is "set", and it starts to follow it. Need to adjust a path? Just tap the plane and slide your finger to create a new path. Not sure you know where you want the plane to go? Draw it flying in circles or a big loop, and then come back to it later. Don't forget about a plane though! If a plane finished it's path and hasn't landed, it just keeps flying straight (pilots are sort of dumb like that).

This game is really sort of cool, and there aren't any other games out there like it. The controls are very easy, making good use of the touch screen. The game warns your of potential collisions and incoming aircraft (which are offscreen so you can't see them). As with most games, I wish there were some sort of multiplayer or competitive option, but the game can get pretty hectic on it's own. The game's difficulty increases quickly - one or two planes on the screen is fine, but with 5 or 6 planes it can be very difficult to keep track of them all.

I would love to see some different "airport" options - different layouts of runways and helicopter pads, so you could choose which airport you wanted. This would also be a good way to allow different difficulty levels. But the included airport is fun. The stats page gives you a nice rundown of your performance, including your average score, the most planes on the screen at one time, you highest score, etc.

Pros:

• New game concept,
• easy game play

Cons:

• No multiple airports

Conclusion

All in all, this is a fun little game. It takes the iPhone and brings a new game concept to it (at least a concept I haven't seen before). The game design is perfect for the iPhone. At $.99 (current grand opening sale) the game is a must try. The normal price is probably going to be $2.99, and even at that price it is worth it.

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[Flight Control is available via the iTunes App Store]

Pre-School Pals and My Beagle Kiddies' Corner Forum Reviews by cjvitek. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Pre-School Pals

You remember those old flip books where you could mix and match the head, body, and legs from various animals and such? Well, preschool pals with Henry and Hailey takes this idea and turns it in to an app for kids on the iPhone.

When playing this app, the first thing you can do is go through and look at the various "preschool pals" as they are supposed to appear. They include things like a fireman, policeman, robot, ballerina, etc. You can look at each image, and hit the play button to have each one say something (just a sentence or two). Keep reading Pre-School Pals Forum Review...

My Beagle

My Beagle is a "create a dog" app aimed at young kids. The concept of this app is simple - you can create a picture of a dog with various...accessories (for lack of a better word) from a wide list of options. Starting the app is simple - you simply click on the play button and get brought to a blank slate with a generic beagle image. From there, using the dial on the left, you can choose various accessories or attributes - collars, food bowls, background, eye shape, etc. You get to design a beagle to your liking.

When creating your masterpiece, you choose each of the categories of accessory, and then can choose from different images by sliding a button left or right to show the options. For example, with background images, you can choose from some butterflies, some birds, some trees, etc. The wide variety of options means that there are plenty of ways to create a unique masterpiece on your iPhone. Keep reading My Beagle Forum Review...

[Ed: iProRecorder is Currently on sale for $1.99 in the iTunes App Store - Rene]

iProRecorder Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

Recorder apps are a popular sub-group of apps, and each of them seems to offer a slight variation on the same overall theme. Depending on what you are looking for in a recording apps (ease of use, a large number of features, online synching, etc) different recording apps are going to be good or bad. iProRecorder is an app the focuses more on features that speed of use, but the features is has are quite nice.

When you first start the app, you are presented with the recording page. To record a memo, you hit the small red record button in the middle of the page. For people (like myself) who want to have an large, easy to hit button, the relative small size of this button may be difficult to get used to.

iProRecorder offers a large array of features when recording a memo - including timed recording, appending on to the end of a recording, different playback speeds, different recording qualities, volume boosting for low volume recordings, categorizing recordings, etc. In fact, there are really too many features to go into detail in this review - suffice to say there are lots of options to customize any recording you make.

Once you make a recording, you can classify it in a category, edit the title, add a photo to the description, and sending the recording via email. In addition, there is a wifi sync option to download recordings to your computer. One interesting thing that is available - you can hide specific memos from web sharing. This means you can select a specific memo, have someone else access it on their computer, and hide all your other memos so the person can't download them. I couldn't find any option to automatically "hide all" or "reveal all" so you need to go through memo by memo to access this feature.

The voice quality of the recorder is very nice. I like the option of choosing between different recording qualities. Bad quality for just a short quick memo, good quality for something I may want to post for my students to listen to. I also really like the timed recording option - you can set the timer to record for a specific length of time. I find this particularly useful for long recordings (like a lecture), because I will often forget to stop the recording once the lecture is over. You can also enable a quick 3 second countdown to recording so that you can start a memo and thant put the iPhone down (without getting a big "clunk" on the recording).

The app comes with a detailed guide that goes over each of the various settings, which is useful because some of them may not be that intuitive. I wish more apps came with instructions like this. One thing you can do from every screen in the app is access the recording button (the microphone) to start a new recording. This is especially nice, because I have found it is easy to "get lost" in the screens on many apps, something that this apps tries to avoid.

The features this recorder offers are very nice, and they allow you to adjust a wide range of settings. You can't edit a recording once it is made (it would be nice to be able to cut out or crop a recording) but that might be asking too much. If you are looking for a full featured recording app with good sound quality, this app may fit the bill. On the other hand, if you just want something to be able to record a quick memo - this app may not be focused on ease or speed of use.

Pros:

• Good quality,
• lots of features,
• wifi sync

Cons:

• Record button is a little small

Conclusion

All in all, this is a great recording app for managing your recordings, and has some nifty features for sharing recording, as well as modification when you initially make your recording. However, for people who just want to record a quick note, it might be too much. For people that are looking for a more detailed, "business" type recorder, this fits the bill pretty well. At $1.99, the price isn't bad (although it may be going back up to $4.99)

Forum Review Rating

[iPodRecorder is available via the iTunes App Store]

School of Rock Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

School of Rock (hypothetically based on the movie of the same name) is an app that tries to teach you the ins and outs of music. You progress through a series of "schools" - school of drums, school of guitar, school of keyboard, etc.

Overview

Each of the schools tries to teach you about the specifics of that type of instrument. In each school you progress through a series of excercises, first testing you ability to recognize various cords or note combinations, then testing your ability to play back a series of notes or music (or timing of your playing). Eventually you move on to answer some trivia questions. Going through these trials, you gather points based on your performance. As you accumulate enough points, you unlock the various other schools (you starts with drums, school of bass is the most advanced).

The program also features a "jam" session in the playground, where you can play along with songs inlcluded in the app, or songs from your iTunes library. Unfortunately, you can only play percussion instruments in the jam session - I would have liked to see the ability to play strings, keyboard, or the bass with them. One cool feature is that you can record your jam session, and then listen to it in playback.

I really liked the tutorial features in this game. Rather than just giving you instructions, each help section (for each school and for the playground) provides a short video detailing how to play in each category. I like the video tutorials, it really helps to clarify some things. However, the game assumes a lot of knowledge already. It throws you in the deep in when it comes to trying to recognize cords, for example. There is no information on how to recognize cords or distinguish them from one another, so it was mostly guess work. The trivia also seems rather random, without some knowledge of music and the music industry, I found myself guessing at most of the trivia questions.

It would be nice if you could have difficulty settings, allowing you to choose what difficulty or background you have in music. That way, you could really tailor the program to your ability.

Pros:

Nice inclusion of the jam session, some of the instruments can be fun to play

Cons:

Doesn't "teach" you enough, limited instruments in the jam session

Conclusion

All in all, I have mixed feelings about this app. I think it is well designed and can be fun, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. I was looking for something that would both teach me about music as well as enable me to play along and "jam" to some music. The app offers a little of both of those, but not to the degree that I was looking for. In addition, it seems to assume that you have a lot of prior knowledge about music, instruments, and the music industry. It was fun, but the best feature was the jam session (playing percussion along with my iTunes songs). It is currently only $.99, so it could be worth picking up if it sounds interesting. I give it three and a half out of five stars, mostly because I felt it was a little too difficult for my music background and I was guessing a lot during the various schools.

TiPb Forum Review Rating:

[School of Rock is available via the iTunes App Store]

eMees Avatar Creator Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!

I have a Wii, and one of the most enjoyable things (surprisingly) that I do with the system is created the Miis. And now, Mii creation comes to the iPhone!

eMees is a tool to create avatars for the iPhone. Once you create an avatar, you can save it to your photo roll, and you can even assign it to one of your contacts as their photo! As someone who doesn’t have any photos associated with contacts, this is a nice feature to have!

The concept behind eMees is the same idea as creating a Mii on the Wii. You choose various features – like head shape, hair pattern, eyes, lips, eyebrows, etc) to combine into a face. You can also adjust the color, and for some items (like nose, eyes, eyebrows) you can adjust the size, orientation, and horizontal or vertical position. Combine these features and you have a lot of flexability in creating an avatar, and as you practice and get more talented, you can get quite good at creating avatars that start to look like the intended target!

One additional feature this program has is called the pose option. You can take you avatar and put them into one of three pre-determined posed (sledding, skateboarding, or typing). Unfortunately those are the only poses that are offered – hopefully more will be included in future updated.

I had one major issue with this program. The primary issue was the speed. The interface is very slow….very veryslow. It takes a while to load, and then it takes a long time to flip between the various avatar options as well. In fact, the delay almost makes the program unusable in my opinion. The delay is especially pronounced when you are flipping between the various options for each facial feature – the different hair styles for example, or the different eye glass options.

The only other concerns I had with this app is a minor one – the difficulty of using an avatar outside of the app. I would have thought that when you save an avatar, you would have the option of saving it as a contact photo, or in your photo roll. But when you save it, it enters the eMees gallery. From there, you then need to select it again tothen save it as a contact photo. It seems like the additional step of requiring you to save it first in the eMees gallery is not needed.

You also don’t have any option within the app to email an avatar to anything – you need to save it as a photo, then go out, look at the photo, and then email it to someone.

Pros:

• Fun way to design avatars for your contacts

Cons:

• Limited poses,
• program is much too slow,
• using avatars in contacts is needlessly convoluted

Conclusion

All in all, this is a pretty well designed program. The options to create the avatars are rather full featured, and the ability to use the avatars as a contact ID is great. However, the program is much, much to slow and I got frustrated many times while trying to use it because of the lag. The price is currently $.99, down from $2.99, so you may want to jump on it now, and hope future updates improve the speed problems. As the lag really impacts the usability of the program, I am giving the app only three out of five stars. If future updates improve the speed issues, than it will really be worthwhile application.

Forum Review Rating

[Monopoly is available from the iTunes App Store.]

Monopoly - Here and Now Edition Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Monopoly is a classic game, and it was just a matter of time until it appeared on the iPhone. I remember playing this in the summers with my sister when we were out of school. We would get games that lasted months as we would finally run out of money in the bank!

So finally Monopoly comes to the iPhone! The game is visually appealing, and is based on the Monopoly: Here and Now version with updated locations, dollars amount, and random cards. There is a lot of animation in the game, including rolling the dice, moving the pieces, and various cut scenes while running the app. That graphics are nicely done, and there was only a little stutter now and then with the animation sequences.

The game can be played over wifi, but internet play is not yet available. You can, however, play with multiplayer on the same iPhone. When creating a new game, you can set various game options, including some standard variations on the rules like landing on Go gives you a double paycheck, or all tax money goes to free parking. You choose a token for yourself (new, updated tokens), the difficulty level, and the number of players, and go ahead and start.

The in-game controls are fairly easy to use, but they can get a little cumbersome. I prefer that the controls are easily laid out, however, instead of being hidden or confusing. It is relatively easy to scan the board, scroll through the various title deeds to see who owns what. You are presented with action "tiles" at the bottom of the screen that enable all your actions - including purchase property, manage properties, buy houses, and trade.

I was pleased to see that setting up a trade is pretty straighforward, as is building houses and hotels. You can also change the house rules during the game if you like.

The AI seemed pretty good, I was mostly testing it at the medium difficulty setting. When you start a game, there is a nice help section that leads you through the game the first few times you try something. I couldn't find any way to turn off the help, so I got the help tutorial each time I played a game. This got a little annoying. It would also be nice to be able to turn off animations in order to speed the game up a little bit.

One thing I wish they had was the ability to choose your game board. With all the variations of Monopoly out there (Simpsons, Star Wars, Classic, etc) it would be nice to have various "skins" that you could apply.

Also, the "auction" rules seem a little odd. You are presented with a turn by turn auction, with each player taking turns to place bids. I don't know why they didn't implement a real auction for unpurchased properties (or even better, have an potential in-house rule to disable the auction).

Pros:

• Nice customization options with the "house rules",
• easy to play

Cons:

-Only one "skin", - no ability to turn off help or animation

Conclusion

All in all, this is a nicely designed game, that is pretty straightforward and easy to play. The various options and settings are nice. It's fun to play as well, and is currently on sale for $4.99.

Forum Review Rating

[Monopoly is available from the iTunes App Store.]

Topple Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Game time! Topple is a quick, tower building game that is theoretically simple yet surprisingly addictive.

The goal of Topple is simple - build a tower to a goal line without having it fall down.

Sounds simple enough...especially in the first few levels when you have pieces that look like they belong in Tetris. However, as the levels progress, the pieces get more and more complex - including small octagonal pieces, pieces that have triangular sides, etc. Added is the fact that as your progress, the "base" upon which you build your tower is no longer flat, and the goal line is farther away.

Well, suffice to say, I found myself yelling at my iPhone a few times..."No, no, lean this way, no, don't fall!!......$%@#$". I got a few strange looks.

The game's graphics are nice, nothing too complex. The different pieces have faces on them, and respond to being moves and rotated. The sound is a simple background music which fits nicely, along with popping sounds when placing the pieces. It would have been fun to hear the pieces grunt or groan when they are being moved or are in the tower, but it doesn't detract from that game itself.

The controls are simple. You tap and slide a piece to move it. To rotate, you tap and hold, using another finger to "spin" the piece into the correct orientation. One thing I found out the hard way is that it does make use of the accelerometer - tilting the iPhone will tilt the tower (which can help, or hinder your cause).

The game play itself is one of two modes. There is a "levels" mode, where you progress through levels that get more and more difficult (I have yet to make it past level 6, although I have a new strategy I am going to try tonight.) There are nine levels listed - I am not sure if there are more levels, since as I said, I am currently stuck on level 6.

There is also a free play mode, where you just try to build a tower as tall as you can. There is a training tutorial mode as well, to help cover the basics of game play. The tutorial mode is nice because it is interactive; you aren't just reading or watching a video.

On the main menu, there is an option to "challenge" someone - basically send them an email with your high score and challenging them to beat it. I am not sure how I feel about this. Basically, they are trying to get you to be a commercial - tell others about the game. But there is no real reason to tell others - you can't directly compare scores, you can't go head to head, so what's the point?

A multiplayer mode is something that would push this game over the top. I can imagine going head to head against someone, watching their tower go up as your tower starts to fall. Or playing a turn based game, with each person putting one block on and then letting the other person go. Unfortunately there is no multiplayer option - something that I think is far too common in many of the games. Common - with 10 million iPhones in the US alone, surely multiplayer games are the way to go!!

You can keep track of your various achievements, such as the "Barely Award" or the "Flat Trick". Other achievements are hidden until you can unlock them - just a little incentive to try to play more and more.

Pros:

• Fun,
• addictive,
• easy to learn and play

Cons:

• No multiplayer

Conclusion

All in all, this is a fun game, which is now free (why does that always seem to happen to apps I buy?!?). It is easy to learn, easy to play, and hard to put down - a great combination. If it had a multiplayer mode, I would give it 5 stars, but instead I am giving it four and a half out of five (plus the attempt to get you to advertise for them annoyed me a little bit).

Forum Review Rating

[Topple is available from the iTunes App Store.]

AllRecipes.com DinnerSpinner by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Hey, let's use Urban Spoon to pick a restaurant to go to.

Nah, I want to cook tonight. Let's use DinnerSpinner!

DinnerSpinner is an app based on the same idea as Urban Spoon. It let's you spin (or shake the iPhone) to choose various criteria to match recipes. You can match recipes based on three categories: dish type (main course, bread, cookies, dessert, etc), ingredients (beef, chocolate, fruit, legumes, etc), and preparation time (less than 20 minutes, slow cooker, over an hour, etc). Based on the criteria you "spin" (or select manually) you will get a variety of matching recipes to look through.

Now, before I go any further, yes, sometimes you may get something like "slow cooking cookies made with beef" - and you won't get any matches.

So once you get your matches (in my example, I am using desserts with fruit in 45 minutes or less) you then hit the button to see your recipe matches. In my example, I got 45 matching recipes. You are taken to a page that shows the recipe name, the reviews (presumably from Allrecipes.com), who submitted the recipe, and a quick, two or three sentence description of the recipe. It also shows a picture of the recipe, which can be nice. To go to the next option, just swipe the screen.

Note, recipes are not exclusive. In my example, I got many recipes that were cookies, even though I had chosen dessert (not cookies) as the dish type. I also got recipes that included chocolate as a ingredient - so recipes are cross listed, which is nice to know.

If you see a recipe you like, you can choose to send it to someone via email (with the share button). You can also click on the "view recipe/reviews" to see the recipe or read the reviews. I like the fact they have various reviews of the recipe - you can read what other people thought about it.

The recipe itself includes a list of ingredients, the "summary" you read when scanning the recipes, how many servings and how long it takes, and the directions for cooking. Since the recipes are submitted by people, my guess is that the quality of directions may vary somewhat. You also get the nutritional information, and the "file" ends with some of the reviews of the recipe. If you want to read more that the first ten reviews, or you want to browse more recipes, there is a button at the bottom of the page to go to Allrecipes.com directly.

Please note, you are accessing the internet when using this app, so you need to have a data connection - the recipes are not downloaded onto your phone until you look at it. I am not sure how many recipes are found at AllRecipes.com, but in what I thought was an obscure category (bread made with veggies in 45 minutes or less) I found 20 recipes, so my guess is there are a fair number of options.

Some problems with the app. First of all, you can't "lock in" a category. If you want to cook dinner, for example, you might want to lock in "main course" as the dish type. Or if you have a pound of ground beef, you might want to lock in "beef" as an ingredient.

Also, you can't choose multiple items within a category. For example, you can't look at main courses made with fish or pork, it is only one or the other. Lastly, there is no way to simply browse through all the recipes (either in all groups, or within a category - browsing all pork recipes, for example). IMO, these are pretty important things for a cook book or recipe bank to allow. The concept of "spinning" is fun to play with, but a really useful cookbook should allow these various changes.

Pros:

• Fun way to approach a cookbook,
• lots of recipes available

Cons:

• No ability to limit options or to choose multiple options

All in all, I think this is sort of a fun app to use. It adds a little variety and fun to choosing a recipe to use, although I really think being able to "lock" a category is essential. There are a wide range of choices for the categories, so you can be very specific (if you want) about what you want to cook. This app is free, so if it is something you think you might want to try, give it a shot!

Forum Review Rating

[AllRecipes.com DinnerSpinner is available from the iTunes App Store.]

App Sniper Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

Okay, I have never used a sniping service on Ebay, but I hear they are very popular. So when I saw this AppSniper program, I thought I would give it a look see.

And my first impression was...interesting.

The AppSniper program is designed to track prices of applications that you are interested in, but that cost too much. You get to input a "desired" price, and if/when the app reaches that price, you are notified.

First things first, this does NOT run in the background, so you will not received a notification that the app has reached the snipe price unless you run the program and allow it to sync with the servers. Repeat, you won't be notified while going about your normal iPhone activities.

That is a serious limitation, but it is not unique to AppSniper. No programs are allowed to run in the background, so there is no point in crying over spilled milk.

When you start the app sniper program, it syncrhonizes any updates (on apps or prices) with your iPhone from it's servers. That way you are guaranteed to have the most recent prices and apps listed.

The AppSniper program has 4 screens - an "on sale" screen", a "new programs" screen, your appsnipe list, and the configuration screen. You select a screen by tapping an icon at the bottom of the screen. The icons at the bottom of the screen also display a notification of how many apps are either newly on sale, new, or meet your snipe criteria.

The on-sale screen let's you see the various apps that have gone down in price over the last 2 days (divided up by 24 hours, 1 day ago, and 2 days ago). When you see an app of interest on the list, you can click on it to read the app summary. You can choose to purchase the app right away, or you can choose to add it to your app snipe list (more on the list later).

The second screen is a "new apps" screen - or apps that have appeared within the last 24 hours. Just like the sale apps, you can choose to purchase the new apps right away, or add them to your snipe list.

The third screen is the snipe list, and this is where it gets interesting. When a program is added to the snipe list, you can set a price at which you would purchase the program - the snipe price. It can be any incremental value all the way down to free. If an app meets your target price on the snipe list, the price and "buy" button is highlighted green. If the current price is still to high, it is red.

When you click on the "buy" button, it takes you to the appstore page with that program. You can then choose to purchase or not. To add an app directly to the snipe list, you simply click the "+" button, then start typing the app name. This will go through the entire app list linking any apps that match the name you are typing. Once you find the app, you can select it, add it to the list (selecting your snipe price).

The last screen is options/configuration screen. It allows you to turn on/off the use of 3G/Edge (the default is off, so it only uses wifi). You can also turn off the icons in the app lists (faster loading), change your currency, and filter through the various genre of apps (for example, turning off books if you never want to download an ebook).

This program is great, however there are some problems with it (both big and small). The first problem is that you can only have 32 apps on your snipe list. Maybe 32 is plenty for most people, but there are many more apps that I am interested in purchasing. If there is some sort of system limit of 32 apps, it would be nice to be able just to create a "list of interest" (not actual sniping list) that includes apps you might be interested in purchasing at some future date - maybe with an indication as to the most recent price change (down or up). Some sort of log of the apps purchased and downloaded would also be great.

The second issue is that if you click on the buy button within the snipe list, the app is not removed from your snipe list. After you purchase the app, you still have to go back and manually delete it from your list! Some sort of automatic deletion (or at least asking you the next time you start the app if you want to remove app XXXX) would be beneficial.

The third issue I have with this app is that there is no ability to manually sync with the server. This is a minor issue, since the chance are that syncing when you start the program is sufficient, but it would be nice to have the option of syncing manually.

The biggest problem I had, however, was the method of searching for apps. It is great that the apps with reduced prices and any new apps are listed separately, but there is no further way to refine searches. It would be great to include the top ten downloads or the top ten apps in each category. The filters to exclude apps does not work when searching the app store. I turned on various filters, and still had apps within those categories listed. I even went so far as to turn on ALL the filters (excluding all apps)...but my search list still included all apps in the app store. The filters DID exclude various apps from the "on sale" and "new app" lists, but that was it. Without a better way to refine or organize searches for apps, this program is not as beneficial as I would have hoped. I would love to be able to simply browse the various categories without looking for a specific app, in case I see something that interests me (and thus want to purchase it or add it to my snipe list). Right now, that is not an option.

Another problem with the snipe list - if a program is on your snipe list at a certain price, you don't have the option of buying it even if it goes does in price (but doesn't reach your snipe). In fact, you can't even see if it has decreased from the original price offering at all!

Lastly, it would be nice to have a notification number on the App icon on the iPhone home screen. True, it isn't going to change since the program doesn't run in the background, but it would be nice to be reminded that I have 3 (or 4, 5, or however many) apps that currently meet my snipe criteria.

Pros:

• Good idea,
• nice interface to monitor app prices

Cons:

• Search methods need lots of work,
• only can list 32 apps,
• many minor tweaks to the application needed

Conclusion

All in all, I think this is a great idea for a program, and as it currently stands, it certainly has its strong points. As the app points out, it could easily save you the purchase price if you are able to purchase one or two apps cheaper than they are currently priced. Given the limitation of the iPhone (no background services) which is no fault of the app, this app does it's job reasonably well. However, it is lacking in some areas which prevent it from getting a very high rating. The search mechanism is limiting, and there is no automatical removal of apps when you purchase them. At $1.99, the app is certainly not overpriced, and I think it could be useful to many people. But the flaws it has (some of which are rather major, IMO) prevent it from getting a very high rating.

Forum Review Rating

[Pocket Tunes Radio is available from the iTunes App Store.]

Update

Some of my issues have been addressed in an update to the app (like the limit of 32 apps on the snipe list, and the inability to purcahse apps even if they don't meet your snipe price).