Tag Archives: iphone apps

Tamagotchi comes back to L.i.f.e. on iOS.

Posted by isenze on

Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.

I never had a Tamagotchi, so my memory of them is a bit fuzzy. I’ve never had an Android device, either, so I couldn’t refresh my memory when the Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. app was released on that platform last month. More than 600,000 downloads later, Namco Bandai and Sync Beatz Entertainment have brought the “behavior and parenting” game to iOS.

Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. recreates the classic Tamagotchi that became a sensation when introduced in 1997, which means:

The iOS App … offers players two distinctive Tamagotchi experiences to enjoy. “TOY” mode replicates the 16-bit black and white character pixels and all the familiar behavior and parenting tools of the original, while “APP” mode presents an updated version that adds color, higher resolution and allows fans to collect the virtual pets, as well as a “Rock, Paper, Scissors” mini-game for fans to play with their pets to increase their overall happiness. Several additional elements will also be featured in this App, including the ability for owners to link with Facebook friends to share their pet-raising experience as well as music that has been incorporated into the game.

And yet, it’s not just an app, it’s an initiative.

Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. (Love Is Fun Everywhere) is now an entire brand initiative, which began with its Website launch in November and the establishment of the “Hometown Heroes” program, where fans can nominate someone making a measurable difference in their community. Carole Pearson and The Dawg Squad, a non-profit animal rescue group she runs, was recently announced as the inaugural winner of the Hometown Heroes program and received a $5,000 contribution to her organization. The next winner will be selected at the end of April, and nominations can now be made at tamagotchilife.com/heroes.

Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. is a free, ad-supported universal app, but you can shut off ads forever via a $0.99 in-app purchase.

For more information (Webisodes! Trends! Girls with funky nail polish!), visit tamagotchilife.com. For the game, head on into the iTunes App Store.

Source: AppleTell.

Appidemic: My Dashboard for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

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My Dashboard for iOS—the latest universal app from Red Knight Interactive—takes a lot of its cues from the widget heavy Android phones we all love to hate by bringing completely customisable in-app home screens to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It allows us to see our Facebook and Twitter accounts side by side on one screen with our RSS feeds on the next.

What is it?

With My Dashboard on the iPhone and iPod touch, we are given a maximum of nine screens to customize. Due to the limited space of the iPhone screen (comparatively speaking), we are limited to two panels (“widgets”) per page, which can be quite frustrating for the heaviest of media junkies, but understandable given the size limitations. On the iPad, we are limited to six pages. However, due to the larger screen size and the ability to split the panels into as little as an 8th of the screen in any funky combination you can think of, the app just feels more functional and even exciting.

How does it work?

The panels that run natively within My Dashboard are quite limited at this time, but Red Knight Interactive has plans to expand the list; they’ve even included a “recommend a panel” button to allow us to make suggestions.

At the time of this writing the included panels are:

  • RSS feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Music
  • Calendar
  • Time
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • Photos
  • YouTube
  • Weather
  • Custom

The custom panel is a terrific addition as it has a whole variety of options preloaded and ready to use. The major google services, social networks, Wikipedia and Reddit all make appearances as preloaded options, or, as the title of the panel suggests, you can edit the settings of the custom panel to display any URL you wish, which is a nice touch.

The only problem with this, though, is that as the panel is not optimized for the website you choose, what you get is essentially exactly what you would get if you visited the URL in safari. This isn’t a major problem but if you have it placed as a half or quarter screen panel it can become quite cumbersome to navigate. As of this writing there is no way to navigate back within a custom panel. The workaround I have used involves using the settings (top left corner of the panel) to not save my position, instead refreshing the custom panel each time I need to return. I have been told by Red Knight Interactive that they will be adding back and forward buttons in the next update.

Custom panels at work

Custom panels aren’t the only part of the app plagued by minor problems however, even some of the optimized panels experience some minor frustrating inconsistencies. The Facebook panel allows you to like statuses and view comments, but will not allow you to comment. Likewise, the Instagram panel will not allow you to comment on your friends pictures or even see the caption/comments. Swiping down to refresh any of the apps works as intended but leaves you in the place you were, forcing you to scroll up to see the refreshed content. Particularly frustrating for me is the YouTube panel, which after watching a video always returns you to the top of your feed regardless of your prior position.

The iPad and iPhone/iPod versions of the app sport entirely different edit modes for your home pages, the iPhone version being a mostly gesture based edit mode which feels more natural, and the iPad version being accessed via buttons in the app. All trivial annoyances on their own, but when viewed as a whole they become the one downside to using My Dashboard as a primary app for these functions.

Is it contagious?

The concept is a fantastic one, not too dissimilar to flipboard but withenough unique flourishes (the inclusion of a music player, weather, calendar and alarm clock panel chief amongst them) to warrant a download if you are the kind of person who needs all of your information collected in one space. The experience does vary depending on which device you are using, but overall it is a great premise that just needs a little spit shine to meet its potential.

Apart from the minor annoyances mentioned above, as an iPhone app it works well, as an iPad app it really shines.

Category: Business
Cost: Free
Download: My Dashboard

Source:AppleTell.

Manage NFL playoff bracket pools with PocketBracket.

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PcoketBracket for NFL PlayoffsBecause I know that at least some tech geeks out there are fully aware the NFL playoffs begin this weekend (and because I want AppleTell to be searchable for terms such as NFL playoffs, wild card and Super Bowl), I thought I’d let you know about PocketBracket: Pro Football Playoffs, which was released today by Pure Concepts.

PocketBracket allows users to create unlimited NFL playoff brackets and organize pools that are automatically scored and ranked. No interest in any of the remaining teams? Get in a pool, and suddenly it all matters again.

PocketBracket eliminates the hassle of managing your paper brackets. Completing your bracket is simple with the touch interface. PocketBracket also has a “SmartPick” feature to automatically advance your picks. Once the tournament starts, your bracket is scored and ranked after each game.

Also follow the NFL playoff games with scores and stats updates. And with PocketBracket’s “GameTalk”, you can cheer on your team and talk smack during the games.

In addition to managing your pools, PocketBracket makes it easy to set them up. The app automatically loads the 2013 NFL Playoffs bracket, and you can you can invite anyone to join your pool from within the app via email, iMessage, Facebook, or Twitter in one tap.

PocketBracket is available now for iPhone and iPod touch for $0.99. Also, GO SEAHAWKS!

Source: AppleTell.

GoTranslate for Google Translate for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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It happens all the time; you wake up with just your iPhone and a treasure map, a dead body in the bathtub and a 9mm pistol with the serial numbers filed off. Suddenly, you realize you’re in a foreign country and you have no idea how to ask “Where can I find the library?” Now, granted, you could use the mobile version of Google Translate, but what if someone built a better front-end for that, one that let you share, save, and listen to the words and phrases you needed to translate?

Oops! Cops are coming up the stairs faster than you can say “Please bring me a yellow pencil!”

What is it?

Gotranslate for Google Translate

GoTranslate is an optimized front-end for Google Translate. You type in the words or phrase you want to translate, and it quickly converts them to or from over 66 languages, complete with diacritical marks.

How does it work?

You type, copy/paste, or dictate the text you want in the top of two text boxes, selecting the language that it’s in. If if you don’t know that, there’s also an Auto Detect function that’ll do its best to guess what you’ve put there. After you’re done dropping words in, just hit “done” and the app will translate it for you. It’s beyond simple.

Once you’ve got your translation, you can copy it to the clipboard, or share it from within the app using email, iMessage, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. You can also listen to a synthesized reading of the translated phrase, but this is by far the weakest link; rather than the mellifluous tones of Siri or any number of other computer voices, GoTranslate sounds like the computer that challenged Matthew Broderick to a game of Global Thermonuclear War. The audio function is also limited in that the text must be less than 100 bytes (that’s bytes) in size, eliminating all but the most rudimentary phrases.

Then I realized, I could turn on the iPhone’s VoiceOver function and override this limitation by using Siri as Text to Speech. I’m not sure how accurate Siri sounded in Icelandic, but it was a darn sight better than the error message saying the text couldn’t be read at all.

Is it contagious?

I’ve used GoTranslate with some of my foreign friends, and based on the fact that they’re still speaking to me, I assume that the translation was accurate and/or funny. Its greatest strength is in copying and pasting text, so if you find yourself needing to translate languages from the web while mobile, it’s a great improvement over the mobile version of Google Translate, which is positively primitive.

Another use while travelling would be to use the dictate function to allow a conversation where you translate what you’re trying to say, let the other person read it, then reverse the process. I’m not entirely sure how useful it is to learn how to read another language, and as for learning how to speak another one, forget it.

But despite the text-to-speech limitations, the sharing and history-storing features make GoTranslate a versatile app. At three bucks, though, it’s designed for people who need those features, and need them fast, rather than someone who just wants to learn how to swear in Finnish, Basque, and Haitian Creole.

Category: Translation
Seller: Lightroom Apps
Cost: $2.99
Buy: GoTranslate for Google Translate

Source : AppleTell.

Apple brings gifting back to the App Store.

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Apple has brought back the option for an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch user to buy an application in the App Store app and give it away as a gift. The option to “gift app” was built into the iOS App Store App in iOS 5, but disappeared when iOS 6 was released a few months ago.

One nice little feature included in the iOS 6 App Store is that any apps you “gift” to other users can now be scheduled for delivery at a later date (up to 90 days). If you have an iOS application you would like to give during the holidays, you are now going to be able to schedule it so the recipient can get it right on Christmas day.

Source: AppleTell.

Starbucks app updated to support iPhone 5.

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Starbucks App

The coffee chain Starbucks has released a new update to their iOS app, adding support for iPhone 5′s taller display. The update also includes new sounds effects that will notify users when a star is added to your Starbucks Reward Program, and it fixes a few bugs.

The updated Starbucks App is available in Apple’s App Store for iPhone and iPod touch.

Source: AppleTell.

Best apps to show off your new iPhone 5.

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Best apps to show off your new iPhone 5

After picking up your brand new iPhone 5, you probably immediately noticed that many of your favorite apps didn’t take advantage of the iPhone 5′s nice big screen. While this is a disappointment, don’t fret, because a countless number of apps are being updated daily with optimizations for the new screen. But in the meantime, take a look at some of our favorite iPhone apps that have offered support for the new iPhone 5 since its release.

Tweetbot

Tweetbot has been one of our favorite Twitter apps since its release, and the already awesome experience is better than ever on the iPhone 5′s bigger screen. Since the iPhone 5 has a taller screen, you are able to see at least one additional tweet making the entire Twitter experience with Tweetbot extra enjoyable and inviting.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a gorgeous app, but on the smaller screen of the previous iPhone models, the UI felt a little cramped. Well, Pinterest has definitely benefited from a taller, vs wider, screen. It’s a joy to scroll though all the pins and view the gorgeous photos on the iPhone 5′s vibrant display. You can also quickly scroll down your feeds without a single hiccup. If you’re a recovering Pinterest addict, you may just have a relapse once you experience the Pinterest app on your new iPhone 5.

Flipboard

Flipboard for iPhone is your own personal magazine featuring the articles and social feeds you care about most. On the iPhone 5, this magazine is just stunning. First of all, each page now displays six full squares, and second — they’re gorgeous. Since Flipboard is a very image-heavy app, the extra vibrance and contrast in the iPhone 5′s screen really makes Flipboard look amazing. Your friends will be in total awe when they see Flipboard on your new iPhone 5.

Weather 2x

Any app that provides information will definitely benefit from the iPhone 5′s larger screen and Weather 2x is no exception, especially since it’s paired with beautiful imagery. Weather 2x is seriously one of the most beautiful weather apps I’ve ever laid my eyes on. It displays basic weather information over a beautiful photograph and with a simple tap, you can see even more. Sliding the screen up will reveal a 5 day forecast, sliding to the left will reveal an hourly forecast, and sliding to the right will let you choose the location. Beautiful app — for real.

Pocket

Pocket is a very popular “read later” service that lets you save articles that you find on the web, social networks, apps, and more. On the iPhone, Pocket displays your available articles in a list with a thumbnail featuring the articles’ main image. Everything about Pocket benefits from the iPhone 5′ taller screen. The list is longer, the photos are more beautiful, and more of each article can be read at once.

Agenda Calendar

Agenda Calendar has been my favorite calendar app on the iPhone for quite some time now and my love for it has only grown with the iPhone 5. With the taller screen, I can now see my entire work week at once when in the week view. When adding an event with the keyboard in use, I can still see plenty information on the the remaining portion of the screen. If you’ve ever considered ditching Apple’s built-in Calendar app, definitely take a look at Agenda.

iBooks

iBooks is a great app for showing off your new iPhone 5 not only because you can read more of your books at once, but because iBooks has always been notorious for being a bit laggy and lacking in the performance department. On the iPhone 5, iBooks shows off the speed of the new A6 chip. Your books load onto your bookshelf must quicker and you can quickly flip through pages without skipping a beat.

Byword

I’ve never been a big fan of writing apps on the iPhone simply because of the cramped feeling on the small screen. The keyboard would take up so much of the screen that I would only be able to see a sentence or two at a time while I typed. Well, now that the iPhone 5 has a taller display, they keyboard takes up a smaller percentage of the screen allowing me to see more of what I’ve written. And what’s the best writing app for iPhone? Well that’s easy — Byword!

iPhoto

We’ve already mentioned several times that the iPhone 5′s display is phenomenal for photos, but it doesn’t hurt to say it again. When you take photos with your iPhone 5, you will be dying to edit them to perfection to share them with the world — that’s where iPhoto comes in. iPhoto is an excellent photo editing app for the iPhone that is robust, yet easy to use. And since it’s optimized for the iPhone 5′s larger screen, you’ll be able to see more of your photo at once while you edit. This is always a plus.

iMovie

The iPhone 5 has a larger display, a display with a 16:9 aspect ratio to be exact. What a coincidence, that’s the standard ratio for HD movies! Not only is watching videos on your iPhone a wonderful experience, but so is editing them. Since Apple optimized iMovie for the iPhone 5′s larger screen, the editing tools take up a smaller percentage of the screen letting you see more of the movie you’re creating.

Launch Center Pro

The Home screen isn’t the only thing that benefits from the iPhone 5′s extra row of icons — Launch Center Pro does as well. While the Home screen lets add another 4 apps, Launch Center Pro lets you add an extra row of actions. That means everything from launching your password manager right into a search for the oft-used login, or adding something right into your favorite task manager, or texting that someone special, or just toggling your screen brightness no longer have to fight as viciously as they used to for screen real-estate. Now 15 of them can get along just fine, all at once, all on the same screen. It’s 1/5th more action for your iPhone 5.

Source: iMore.