Alphabear (App)

Title: Alphabear

Developers: Spry Fox

Official Page

Alphabear is available for Android phones and iOS devices.



STEPH SAID

Rating: 

Review:

Alphabear gives a new twist to puzzle word games. You have to create words with the small number of letters you have available. Each letter you use is one space where bears can grow, giving you points and power ups. Each letter you don't use gets a number from its countdown subtracted. Once a letter reaches zero, it turns to stone and a bear can't grow in its place. You also get cute, squared bears on each level. You can use them later to give you boosts. 

It is simple, yet challenging and addicting. Having a small amount of random letters to choose from makes you think hard for clever ways to use most of the letters in one go.  The timed version is even harder. So, you are exercising your brain without even realizing it. As an added bonus Alphabear has beautiful graphics and an easy to understand interface.

The only thing I don't enjoy is the currency to play games. You have to use honey to enter a game, but even if you have the full amount of honey you can have at one time, you'll only be able to play two games in one go. Then, you'll have to wait for the honey to fill up again. Which means that when I want to play, I can't, and when I can, I don't remember to. You can always buy more honey with real cash, of course. 

iPhone apps - Secret Folder Apps

Secret Folder Apps

*These reviews were made based on the free version of the app which have a limit of photos and videos you can store.*

It happens all the time. One person’s phone or iPod gets "borrowed" by another friend and many crazy posts appear on Facebook. During those precious minutes that the phone wasn’t in possession of the owner, the friend could have looked through pictures, videos or documents. And even though those are our friends, there are some things we like to keep to ourselves. That’s where a secret folder app comes in handy. These apps are, basically, a folder, protected by a password, where you can store videos, pictures, documents, contacts and other things. There are many out there, however, most have the same huge fault: their icon includes an image of a lock. What’s the point in having a secret if you’re going to be screaming "I have a secret!" at the top of your lungs? Fortunately, there are a few apps that have a discreet icon and, coincidentally, those are the apps that offer the most features. I chose the best two because one has what the other lacks, and vice versa. The one best suited for you will depend on why you want the secret folder app.

HiDisk

As other apps of the same style HiDisk lets you use a full password or a dot pattern to protect pictures, videos and notes. It has the ability to create a decoy password that leads to a completely different secret folder and it has a Q&A to help you when you forget your password. HiDisk lets you transfer you data via bluetooth, usb and Wi-Fi.

The features that make this app stand out are the ability to create folders and sub-folders, and the ability to create .zip files from within the app. The latter is very useful when sharing multiple, say, pictures, through e-mail. Also, this app lets you create, edit and share .txt documents and record audio notes.

Though the icon you see has a keyhole, once the app is installed the icon will look like this:

KYMS

With KYMS you can save pictures, videos and notes, which can be organized in different folders. These can be transferred through usb and Wi-Fi. This app also has a double password protection. For iPhone user the app includes an additional feature: the Panic Gesture, that let's you log out of the app by covering the phone with your hand.

What makes this app stand out is its ability to go unnoticed and its online browser. Though the promo icon for this app is pretty obvious, the icon that appears on your screen once you have the app installed, looks discreet. To make it even better, when someone opens the app they will see a fully functioning calculator. On top of that, the online browser keeps an independent history from Safari's, and has a downloader. 



Both are great apps to save private media and information. In the end, the app that will work for you will depend on whether you want to save your own pictures and information, or whether you want to browse for new ones. Having both apps is, definitely, the best option.

Middle Manager of Justice (iPhone App)

Title: Middle Manager of Justice

Developers: Double Fine Productions, Inc.

Category: Games

Rating: 9+ for frequent/intense cartoon or fantasy violence 

To get this app you may go to its Official Website or to iTunes directly.

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

Middle Manager of Justice is an entertaining, interesting and original game in which you are the Manager in charge of a superheroes' office. Your task, should you decide to accept it, is to train superheroes and keep the city free of trouble, while at the same time, gather information about the evil plans of the villiains. Every successful battle against evil gives you some money that you may use to buy power-ups or to upgrade your office. You can, also, buy and upgrade rooms for the heroes to train, recover their strengh, earn money or learn new abilities. 

You have to know that all this battling and heroing is in a very relaxed, silly and comedic way; this game is not an epic, action-packed RPG. You can decide to be just a clerical manager and send the heroes to battle on their own or, you may accompany and help them. The fights are kind of like turn-based, and heroes fight on their own. If you accompany the heroes your task, as the manager, is to tell them when to use special abilities or power ups, which are necessary in particularly difficult battles. Also, heroes have to save people from fires and stop busses about to crash. In these instances the Manager have to watch always, so, be sure to send the right guy for the job.

This game is both beautiful and entertaining: its visual are original and colorful, and the heroes are witty and silly at the same time. If there is something that I don't like about this game is that there is not enough. Once you have all ten heroes fully upgraded and your office is fully upgraded too, there is not much to do. Or at least there is no reason to keep playing: heroes don't have to train or to earn money to upgrade the office. The only thing you can do is keep the city happy, but, to what end? Hopefully, this will be fixed with future updates.

iPhone Apps - Manga Readers

iPhone Apps - Manga Readers

I decided to download some free manga readers to decide which one is the best. Most of them are not worth it, either because their database is too small or because they have ads right on top of the menu. I selected the top two because one has what the other one lacks and vice versa. From these, the one that’s best for you will depend on your internet connection and how fast you read.

Manga BDR Lite

iTunes Preview Page for the free version

iTunes Preview Page for the paid version

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

*You must be at least 17 years old to download this app.*

Rating:

Review:

This app has a built in browser in which you look for the manga online. It automatically opens in MangaFox, which has most mangas available. If the manga you want is not in that page you will have to look for the manga somewhere else. Once you find the manga you’re looking for, you add it to the reading queue and start downloading it. You can read in portrait and landscape mode. You can also export the chapters you have downloaded in .cbz format.

The problem is that with the free version you may only have five chapters per manga downloaded at any given time. If you have a constant internet connection, this shouldn't be a problem as you can download chapters one through five, read 1, delete it and put chapter six to download while reading chapter two, and so on.  However if you do not have a constant internet connection, then you may be left hanging.

If you really love mangas and are willing to spend some money, the paid version of this app is worth it. Besides being able to download as many chapters as you want, you can also import the mangas that you have in your computer.

Manga reader

View it on iTunes

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or late

Rating:

Review:

This one is a manga database. They have many titles, including the most famous mangas right now, and are constantly updating them, adding new chapters. Once a new chapter of a manga you have marked as favorite is available, you receive a notification.

In this reader you may download as many chapters as you want from as many mangas as you want. The problem with this one is that you can only read in portrait position; no landscape. I'm kind of blind, so for me this means zooming in and out every page. It gets annoying because I have to zoom in to read the text, but then I have to zoom out to be able to look at the whole picture.

Also, the chapters you download are not organized. All of the chapters you download will be in a list in order of download. Meaning you could have many mixed mangas in the list. Thus, once you have downloaded the chapters you want to read, you will have to look for them in the downloads list. (If you have an Internet connection you may go to the manga’s page and open the chapter from there.)However, if you don’t have a constant connection, this is the best reader for you. As you can download the whole manga at once and, then, read it when you have the time.

Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. (iPhone App)

Title: Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.

Developers: NamcoBandai Games Inc.

Category: Games

Rating: 4+

To download this app you can visit its Official Page or its iTunes Preview Page.

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

The Tamagotchis are back! I was just thinking about them a few days ago; about how, when I was a kid, everybody used to have at least one (they were all the rage in the 90’s) and was also wondering if they were still on sale somewhere. I got my answer yesterday when I was looking through the top free apps in iTunes.

The Tamagotchis are the original virtual pets: little animals that you have to raise, feed, heal, play with, clean after and discipline. Overall, there is not much you can do each time use the app. Once the Tamagotchi’s needs are satisfied you don’t need to do anything else. So, it just requires a few minutes of your time, each day.

This app is everything the original Tamagotchis were, and more. You can play the classic or the modern version. The Classic gameplay is exactly like the original Tamagotchi: you use buttons to move through the menu and choose the option you want.

The modern version is more touch-screen oriented: you just have to touch the icon of the option you want. Also, it features Tamagotchis in color and a new mini-game to increase the Tamagotchi’s happiness.

I am really happy to have fond this app. It brings back so many memories and feelings. 

Awesome Note + To Do/ Calendar

Title: Awesome Note + To Do/ Calendar

Developers: BRID

Category: Productivity

Cost: $3.99 

Rated: 4+

For a visual description of all of this app's features you may visit BRID's webpage. To buy this app, you may visit its iTunes Preview Page.

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

Being a college student I have many things to remember: homework, tests, due dates, reunions, etc. I also need to remember birthdays, dinners with friends, convention dates and more. To be able to see everything at the same time I bought a calendar board and put it on my wall. I would write with different colors: blue for college stuff, green for personal stuff, black for free days, red for birthdays etc.  Just by looking at the calendar I would know what I had for that week without having to actually read it. However the big flaw of my plan was that I couldn’t bring the calendar with me. I did have a regular agenda but I would have to skim through pages to find what I was looking for. Awesome notes + To Do/Calendar came to save the day!

It is literally Awesome. It has everything you could think of in one app; I won’t disclose every one of its features because they’re many. But I will tell you about my favorites.

This app lets you write notes, to-dos, handwritten notes, journal entries and more, and for each one you can assign a special reminder, either before the event or at the beginning of it. You can also make special “anniversary” notes (which may be repeated every year) for birthdays, anniversaries or special dates and when you click on the note it will tell you how many days until that date. All of these notes can be divided into different folders, each with a different icon and color. Which brings me to my favorite part: the calendar.

*Image taken from bridworks.com

When you bring up the calendar, you can see every note and task in the date it’s assigned and, since you can divide the notes into different colored folders, you get an easy-to-understand, visual arrangement of your activities. This app’s array of features is what sets it apart from other agendas and makes it a must have for everybody. 

Happy Street (iPhone App)

Title: Happy Street

Developers: Godzilab

Category: Games

Cost: Freemium

Rated: 4+

For more information, and to download this app, go to its iTunes Preview Page.

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

Happy Street is literally the cutest, most colorful game I’ve had in my iPod. The cheerful, intriguing characters and the simplicity of the game make it entertaining.

In this game you have a street and you have to fill it with houses, shops and decorations. Each house has a different set of personalized animal tenants: from pirates to cowboys to robots. Each house comes with an accompanying set of shops to buy separately: the pirates like to buy in the bazaar, the cowboys in the saloon and the robots in the watchmaker’s. And with a birthday cake you can change the characters’ appearance.

However, Happy Street doesn’t have a full background story that keeps developing throughout the game, but it constantly gives you quests to fulfill, which develop a small standalone story.

It can be played offline! (Having an iPod instead of an iPhone makes this a big deal for me.) Nonetheless, having an internet connection when you play will give you an opportunity to accelerate your progress, and to enjoy certain parts of the game only available online. The former may be achieved by asking your Game Center friends – who also play Happy Streets— to help you by sending you stuff. Need a rope to finish a quest but don’t have the materials? Ask a friend to send you one! The latter involves visiting these friends I mentioned and constructing a Hotel so your friends’ characters may visit your street. Also, to get the daily bonus you need to be connected to the internet. These are not necessary to enjoy the game but will surely help.

What I liked the most about it (besides the availability of offline playing), is how easy you can obtain Flooz, the premium currency. Generally, freemium games give you a gem or two once you reach the next level, and that’s it. In Happy Street you will win Flooz when you reach the next level, you will get at least one in the daily bonus, you can get up to three Flooz a day by visiting your friends, you will get one almost every time you finish a quest and you can get some more in certain mini-games. One day I made 17 Flooz! So to buy the premium houses and shops you don’t need to invest money, only time. Nevertheless, this game is so beautiful, unique, original and easy to play that I will spend a few bucks in it, just for the sake of supporting the developers.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Title: The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Developers: Electronic Arts

Category: Freemium, Games

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Rating: Rated 12+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes, Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

For more information and to download the app go to its iTunes Preview Page.

STEPH SAID

Rating: 

Review:

This has become my favorite game app. If you like The Simpsons, you will this app too. The game starts with Homer playing with his MyPad at work. He was so focused on the game that he didn’t notice a red alert and, consequently, did nothing about it. There was a nuclear explosion and everything was wiped out Springfield: every house, every shop, every tree. Your task is to rebuild Springfield.

What is great about this game is that it looks like the series. Every house and store looks exactly as it does in the cartoon. Also, as you keep leveling up and adding houses and stores, more characters arrive at your Springfield. You can hear the characters talk and you can give them specific tasks that go in hand with their personalities and hobbies. For example, you can make Lisa study, babysit Flander’s kids or play the Sax; while Apu can either work endless shifts in the Kwik-E-Mart, feed the octuplets or pray to Ganesh.

Something that I love about the characters is their constant breaking of the fourth wall. They talk about the game they’re in and about the player. I find it hilarious.

Even though the app is free, you can pay real money to buy in-game currency: Donuts. The Donuts are used to buy special things or places or to speed up a process. They are useful but expensive. The good news is you don’t need Donuts to play the game. You will earn some donuts when you level up or when or complete certain tasks, but I don’t think there will be a lot of Donuts to earn.

The game gives you the option of signing into Origin. I strongly recommend this for many reasons. First, your progress will be saved online and can be accesses through any iOS device. If your iPod dies (like it happened to mine), you can rest assured that you game is safe and you’ll be able to play it again from where you left of. Also, when you sign up for Origin you receive two donuts, and you’ll receive five donuts when you first invite a friend. Which leads me to the third reason, you can add “friends” and visit their Springfields and earn money and experience while you’re at it. I wrote “friends” because sometimes you don’t even have to know the person. If you read the app’s reviews on iTunes you’ll see many players giving their username and asking to add them. And you can, and may, add them. That way you both will have another friend to visit. So, if you don’t know anyone that plays this game, or even if you do, you can these people.

You can also add me if you wish: smpm22.

iPhone Apps - Color Splash (Free)

iPhone Apps - Color Splash

Knowing that you can add color splash for free in Photobucket (you can read the tutorial on Online Tech Tips), I decided to find the best free app to Color Splash my pictures directly from my iPod. This is something fairly easy to do that can be done for free in a computer, so, I was not going to pay to be able to do it on my iPod. Thus, I downloaded the most popular free apps. Most of them offer Color Splash for free but there are premium versions of these apps that have more effects and features. I used the picture in my About Me page and colored the same thing (my watch) with all the apps, to be able to see the difference. 

In general, some apps wouldn’t even let me use my pictures (Colors Pro HD); with the free version you could only use a default picture. With others I could upload my own photos, but their controls leave much to be desired. For example, in Color Effects and Dash of Color you can't control the brush size; with TouchOfColor Free you can't actually do anything properly; in ColorUp Lite, when you zoom, the app becomes unresponsive; with ColorBlast! Lite you can only undo unce (otherwise is a nice app); with iQuickSplash - Splash Colors! you have to select the region you want with color and then the app edits it, if you don't like it, you have to go back and edit the region you have selected; and in Paint FX Free you can do the opposite: paint the picture gray and leave untouched the part of the photo you want to have color, but once something is gray, you can't easily bring it back to its original color.

In the end the best app turned out to be Illusion Hand Free. Unfortunately, this app uses OpenGL ES 2.0 and is not supported by every iPod or iPhone. That’s why I will also review the second best app: Photo Splash.

Illusion Hand Free

iTunes Preview Page

Requirements (written by The Developers): "Illusion Hand Free uses OpenGL ES 2.0 technology which is only supported on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. Unfortunately iPhone 3G and other earlier models are NOT supported. It's the hardware limitation. Sorry for the inconvenience!"

Rating: 

Review:

I fell so in love with this app, I’m thinking about buying the premium version! I still haven’t because I don’t know if I’ll use it often. If I do I’ll post a review.

Illusion Hand Free does what it is supposed to and more. It has some options and controls I wasn’t expecting but found myself missing while I was trying the other apps.

The first app that I tried had a button to move the photo. With Illusion Hand Free you need to use two fingers to move the picture around. At first I didn’t like this because I would use one finger to move the picture and ended up coloring it. It took me some time to adjust, but after I did I saw the brilliance behind it. If you have a button to move the photo you have to click the menu, click the button, move the picture, click the menu again, unselect the button and then you can keep coloring. With Illusion Hand Free you are coloring, use two fingers to move the picture and keep coloring.

Illusion Hand Free also has a brush picker. This allows to choose the size and saturation of the brush and it gives you the opportunity to choose between sharp or blurred edges.

But, what makes this app different is that it has a “CSI lamp (to see what you paint in red light)” and the ability to “Take a snapshot as a draft (to be modified later)”. The lamp is useful when what you’re coloring that has something light, dark or of the same color, right next to it. When the lamp is on what you have in color will turn red and you’ll be able to see if you have painted outside of the borders. This feature was a nice surprised and turned out to be super useful. In the photo I was editing my watch has a shiny surface that reflected my skin color. At first I wasn’t sure where my arm ended and the watch began. This feature helped me a lot.

The snapshot feature is great because you can save what you have done up until that point and finish later.

All of these features are divided between a top and a bottom menu. This menus can be hidden by touching the picture one time.

This app also give you the opportunity to choose the resolution in which you want the photo to be saved and to share your creations from within the app with Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. I haven’t tried this last feature because I don’t like sharing my passwords anywhere.

Photo Splash

iTunes Preview Page

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Rating: 

Review:

This is a really good app; it has the basics features to do what it says. You can choose the brush size, undo and share to Instagram and Facebook or through email. In this app two fingers are needed to move the picture.

Something that this app has, that Illusion Hand Free doesn’t, is the ability to edit pictures from you Facebook albums.

However, this app lacks the "CSI Lamp" and "Snapshot" features and has advertisements. It has an ad banner bellow the top menu. Also, the menus and the ad banner cannot be hidden.

This is a good app, it does what it’s supposed too. But it doesn’t excel at it.