iPhone4idiots » app review

iPhone4idiots App Review – Dr. Seuss Gertrude McFuzz

hirtme — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:49:22 +0000

With each storybook app I read from Oceanhouse Media, I realize this San Diego based company is in a zone. All their apps are similar, but then the quality is so high that is a good thing. Dr. Seuss, Gertrude McFuzz, $1.99, is a little less colorful than most other storybooks, but has a better moral. Basically, be happy with the way you are and how you look.Like almost all Oceanhouse Media storybooks, this app is for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The book is the story of a little bird named Gertrude McFuzz who is self-conscious because she only has one pathetic tail feature. At the beginning its black and white to make her seem all the more homely. Wanting to be prettier she starts adding colorfull tail features until she has so many she can’t even fly due to the weight. Like all Oceanhouse Media apps there are three modes – read to me, read it myself and auto play. Words pop-up and are spoken when pictures are tapped and the audio and video quality is very professional. The story isn’t quite as long as some others but is a few dollars less expensive as well. For my other children’s storybooks reviews.

iPhone4idiots App Review – WeeMee Avatar Creator

hirtme — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:03:26 +0000

WeeWorld’s WeeMee Avatar Creator, $0.99, is a simple yet robust app that quickly lets you create avatars. Once saved you can then easily add them to your profile in Twitter, Facebook or assign them to the contacts in your iPhone. There are over 300 items to help create your avatar: 44 hairstyles, 92 clothing items, 26 eyeware choices, 78 accessories (food items and tech stuff) and 15 backgrounds. There is a built in address book where you can assign avatars to appear when your contacts call your iPhone. Creating my first avatar took less than five minutes. What do you think? I like the iPhone in my left hand although a beer might be more appropriate in my right. Not sure why that isn’t an accessory option other than maybe WeeWorld or Apple wants it kid friendly. When you choose hair or clothing items there is a paintbucket that appears allowing you to adjust the color. Yes, I admit I have more grey than my avatar is showing. I guess I’m just vain. Once you are done creating the avatar you save it to the gallery where you can then upload it or return and add to it at a later date. I assume WeeWorld will continue to add more items and backgounds in future updates.

iPhone4idiots App Review – MyWi – #1 Reason to Jailbreak

hirtme — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:12:04 +0000

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OK, the title is a little misleading, but for many this is absolutely true. MyWi, $19.99, turns your jailbroken iPhone into a wireless router. The app works with all jailbroken iPhones (3G/3GS/4) and iPad on 3.1.2 or later firmware. You can get MyWi by downloading the RockApp in Cydia. Now the wifi speeds through your iPhone’s 3G connection vary greatly, but they are certainly fast enough to use (I always get at least 100kB/s). To learn more about MyWi, see a video demonstration and enter contest to win one of eight free bumpers. Once you setup your iPhone as a wifi hotspot there is no limit to how many devices that can connect to it. However, there is a WEP password you can (and should) set so other’s don’t jump on your network and start using your data. While I’m on an unlimited plan many of you probably have data caps you can’t go over without paying more. I haven’t noticed any battery drain, but part of that may be due to the vastly superior iPhone 4 battery. I just can’t drain it in a day no matter what I do. So while this is expensive for an app it can easily pay for itself very quickly. Do you really need a 3G iPad (as opposed to wifi only) if you can just use your iPhone for that purpose? Do you pay for internet connections at Starbucks or airports? Do you ever lose your internet connection at home or work? Ever take a trip somewhere and wish you had an internet connection whether in the car or at your hotel or rental? Yes, this is a great reason to jailbreak and like every other awesome jailbroken app, one Apple will one day offer to everyone. Watch the video review below for a speedtest comparison to Comcast cable. Also, I’m giving away eight iPhone bumpers to the first eight people that leave a comment on this video and put “bumper” at the end of their comment. Make sure you are a subscriber as well. Just leave a comment and the color you want. I’ll do my best but there are 4 yellow, two clear, one red and one hot pink. Send me a PM on YouTube with where you want me to ship your bumper.

iPhone4idiots App Review – Dr. Seuss Oh, the Places You’ll Go

hirtme — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:31:28 +0000

Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, $3.99, is just another quality release from Oceanhouse Media. If you’ve read some of my other children’s storybooks reviews you know I’m a big fan of Oceanhouse Media. They are clearly the leader in kids storybooks. That said, I didn’t like this one quite as much Dr. Seuss ABC or The Lorax, but that has more to do with the story itself and not the quality of presentation of the app. It’s just like the others. This app is available for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The book is the story of a little person in a yellow suit who makes his way through the world. He comes across a number of situations – some good, some bad, some scary etc. Like all Oceanhouse Media apps there are three modes – read to me, read it myself and auto play. Words pop-up and are spoken when pictures are tapped and the audio and video quality is very professional. The story is quite long. I, along with my five year old prefer the read to me mode. It’s a nice way to say goodnight. With Kindergarten starting in August I have a feeling I’ll be using read to myself mode a lot more.

iPhone4idiots App Review – iChatr – Pulled From App Store

hirtme — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:23:54 +0000

iChatr, a free app from SKJM, LLC, is basically Chatroulette for your iPhone. I’ve been reviewing it the past week and today it got pulled from the App Store. Because you need the front facing camera it is or was only for iPhone 4 users. I spent 30 minutes on it last night and I must say its pretty entertaining for a sausage fest. I probably looked through or chatted with over 30 people and not one was a single female. There were some couples (including me as I had my wife beside me) but that was it. Anyway, for a brief description of the freaks and few normal people I talked to and why it got removed for the App Store. Launch the app and you get a split screen with you on top and the person you are chatting with on bottom. You need headphones to hear and that’s it. The picture and sound quality are quite good. The only thing that takes a minute to get used to is the 3 second audio delay. Just like Chatroulette you are bound to see a penis or two with many liking to touch themselves. You also get quite a few people that show their forehead or the ceiling or floor. I suspect this is people who don’t like rejection. Remember the person on the other end can swipe to switch to the next channel as well. I showed my face for awhile which generally got hung up on and wife’s for a while that the guys were more interested in talking to. One guy said he wanted to punch me in the face. Another was smoking out of his bong. My favorite was a guy in Philly with crazy hair that was drinking a 40 ounce and had a handgun. Yes, iChatr is full of fun. There were a few “normal” people and couples we spoke briefly with as well. They are from Atlanta, Baltimore, Rhode Island and two from California. So if there is nothing on the boob tube and you can handle the nudity and freaks then iChatr is an entertaining time suck.
I just read a few days ago that Chatroulette has added a local feature. This is a great idea and one I would think iChatr would add soon (iPhone’s have GPS in them so how hard can it be?). The only thing better than talking to freaks around the globe is talking to freaks in your neighborhood! Now unless you already downloaded this app you may never get the chance. SKJM stated, “The iChatr application has currently been removed from the App Store due to reports of a number of users exposing themselves during the random video chat sessions.” What’s a little odd to me is that Apple didn’t anticipate this before they let iChatr in the App Store in the first place. All they had to do was spend 15 minutes on Chatroulette and they were sure to see some genitals. Since there is no way to prevent this I don’t see a random video app reappearing in the App Store anytime soon.

iPhone4idiots App Review – Bowmaster

hirtme — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:46:49 +0000

Bowmaster, iOccam, $0.99, is quite entertaining! It reminds me of a carnival game where you have the toy gun and shoot and knock over the ducks! In the iPhone app you challenge different players to an archery contest where you shoot at animal targets. A great shot knocks them over while an average hit requires a second arrow to finish the target off. To shoot the bow you place two fingers on the touchscreen and spread them apart to pull the bow back. I use either both thumbs or one thumb and one pointer finger. Lift either finger off the screen to shoot the arrow. In the picture above you can see how the tip of my arrow is aimed at a deer target off in the distance. Hitting the target is not too difficult once you get the hang of it. That may be why the first half dozen times I’ve played Bowmaster I’ve found it quite fun.

iPhone4idiots App Review – Ms. PAC-MAN

hirtme — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:30:41 +0000

Ms. PAC-MAN, Namco Networks America Inc. $4.99, is one of the most popular games in arcade history! Who doesn’t remember dropping quarters into that machine or maybe you were playing the dual Ms. PAC-MAN Galaga machine. Either way, this app will take you back as it looks and sounds the same.
PAC-MAN just had its 30th anniversary in May! Wow, am I getting old. I remember playing a version on my Atari. Anyway, the best part of iPhone app version of the game is that it has three control modes. Accelerometer where you tilt your iPhone to move around, D-Pad where you touch a directional pad (up, down, left or right) or swipe mode. Personally I find swipe or accelerometer modes the easiest. In D-Pad mode I seem to mistime my taps and miss turns too often. Whatever mode you choose the game looks and sounds exactly like the arcade. Tomorrow I’m gonna see if my almost six year old will like this game or if its too old school to be cool?

iPhone4idiots App Review – Eye Illusions

hirtme — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:44:57 +0000

Eye Illusions, Apalon $0.99, is a fun little app that shows how your eyes can play tricks on you. Well, I guess its your mind that’s really fooling you espeically those with simple ones like me. The app includes color tricks and tests, appearing and disappearing objects, impossible objects and strange lines. There are numerous pictures and new ones are added frequently. The illusions are sorted into six categories: weird lines, motion ilusions, impossible objects, appearing objects, hidden objects and color tests. You can also view recent additions, popular illusions, or pictures that you’ve designated as Favorites. Many of the images seemed to be something I saw years ago in a psychology class. Look at the image on the right. Do you see a bunny or a duck? Taping the information button in the upper right corner will help you figure out what you should be seeing. In the image above I needed the hint that the image also spelled the word liar in cursive. I just didn’t see it. I guess that means I’m an honest Abe????

iPhone4idiots App Review – Mad O Ball 3D

hirtme — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:23:32 +0000

Mad O Ball 3D, Tommaso Lintrami $3.99, is a marble racing game that is quite stunning. The game features four different 3D worlds and 32 tracks. While similar to the popular Super Monkey Ball, I find this to be more polished and arcade like. Games like this are what has lead Nintendo to comment that Apple is its competitor of the future. You control your marble with the iPhone’s accelerometer and touch screen. Just tilt your iPhone right to move right. The more you tilt the faster you go and you tap to jump over objects or holes in the track. Like most iPhone games these days you can challenge friends on Facebook and Twitter or compete on global leader boards through OpenFeint. The 32 tracks are mostly slick looking and quite challenging. The music and sound effects also fit in nicely. In addition to normal tracks there are police chases, high jumps, carousels and parking lots. While you get to preview each track its a little confusing knowing when turns are approaching and which way they will be due to the length of many of the tracks. However, you do get a little pop-up to warn you to slow down as turns, objects or holes are near. You’ll want to slow down as rolling off the track happens quite often. Luckily most tracks have check points so you don’t have to start at the very beginning. While $3.99 is a little pricy for an iPhone app game, there is a free lite version for you to try out to see if you like it.

iPhone4idiots App Review – iGun Pro

hirtme — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:45:50 +0000

Despite living in the South I am not a fan of guns (or Nascar or fishing for that matter). Nevertheless, I thought I’d review iGun Pro, David Holtkamp $0.99, after seeing some funny YouTube videos using ths app. The app is fairly simple and actually kind of fun as there are plenty of friends and strangers I’d love to shoot in a typical day. When you launch the app you are taken to screen with just under 20 guns pictured. Tap on a gun to select it and you are taken to the shooting screen. Depending on your choice you either slide to cock and then tap to shoot or just tap to fire. Options for shooting include unlimited ammo, smoke, fire when shaken and vibrate. The most fun is to have the vibrate on to fire when you shake your iPhone at other cars or possibly your children? The sounds are pretty slick and as you can see in the picture above the guns expel the shell caseings as well. About the only thing missing from the app is a revolver that you can spin to play Russian Roulette with. I know, there is a seperate free app for that and its a nice one to play drinking games with assuming you and your friends are well adjusted.