Apps Magazine.pdf

6 8 4 P AP

S W E VI E R

iPHONE, iPAD & ANDROID

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PHONE Is a Google app-powered phone better than iOS?

30 > 9Issue 7 7 30 2045 386005

TOP 50 ANDROID APPS

GOOGLE

No.30ISSN 2045-3868

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126 FREE APPS REVIEWED

Reclaim the music and discover your favourite albums all over again with JAYS Curves and t-JAYS Four for iPhone. The award winning t-JAYS Four comes loaded with a wide range of great features making this one of the most versatile remote earphone products on the market. It’s also been designed to match your iPhone, iPad and iPod perfectly. Dividable cables, two-way wear possibilities and full feature remote are only a few of all the features you get with the t-JAYS Four. Introducing the new JAYS Curves app to make your iPhone and t-JAYS Four perfectly calibrated for the purest possible sound reproduction. Jays Curves is not only an easy-to-use music player, it also provides optimised sound quality through the use of the patented Dirac HD Sound® technology. The user interface is designed for your needs with Volume, Repeat, Shuffle functionality and the HD Sound filter easy at reach.

CURVES New iPhone app for t-JAYS Four earphones

Read more about t-JAYS Four earphones and Curves at www.jays.se

www.superfi.co.uk

WELCOME TO APPS MAGAZINE “Your essential apps guide every issue” The only source you need to stay on top of the coolest and most innovative apps in the ever-expanding world of iPhone, iPad and Android

RECOMMENDED

PAGE 38 CINEBEAT

● iPad+ | Free

PAGE 68 GUILT

● Android | £1.26/$1.99

Social media has been a-buzz lately with a new app called Vine. While this app is from the makers of Twitter, users haven’t been sharing their thoughts in 140 characters, but in videos. Vine allows you to shoot six seconds of video and then share it on Twitter or Vine’s own standalone network. ‘Only six seconds!’ I hear you cry – but a clever touchscreen interface allows you to shoot continuously and frame-by-frame. This has made Vine incredibly popular with stop-motion animators, and in our first look at the app we consider many other potential uses. Sadly, Vine is currently iPhone only, but we still have plenty of apps for iPad and Android users to enjoy, including the Top 50 Android Apps, and a competition to win Marshall headphones.

PAGE 79 PUDDING MONSTERS

● iPhone+ | £0.69/$0.99

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3

CONTENTS

THE BEST APPS THIS MONTH

THE APP REVIEWS FREE

WORK

036 Free alternatives to… Instapaper

066 Pocket Translators

038 Cinebeat

068 Guilt

042 Temple Run 2

070 Murakami Diary

Read web stories in a sleek interface and offline free of charge Make that music video fantasy of yours a reality and grab your 15 seconds of fame Sequels, why does it always have to be sequels?

ENTERTAINMENT

048 Motorsport Apps

Great apps to help you stay informed and enthused on all aspects of motor racing

050 Glitchamaphone

Create a swan song for the deceased online game Glitch with this spin-off music-making app

054 Wombi Detective Educational kids’ app presents the world’s shortest detective story

Essential apps to help you when you get lost in translation

It can be a good thing when it comes to money – the genius app that stops you spending money Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Needing a diary is up to you

GAMES

20

It’s an impossible list to make, but it doesn’t mean we can’t try!

074 The Best World Building games

Never has your device made you feel more powerful – cue the sun and give your subjects a little company

076 Anomaly Korea A second dose of tower defence turned on its head

079 Pudding Monsters More sweet-toothed puzzle solving from the team behind Cut The Rope

EVERYDAY

058 Having a baby with apps

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FREE ALTERNATIVES TO… INSTAPAPER

For when you need more than just a reminder to push…

060 The John Lennon Letters The ‘Imagine’ star’s life in his own inimitable words

064 Falcon Pro

One of the very best Android Twitter clients, with clever integration

4 www.knowyourapps.com

Turn straight to page 92

66 POCKET

TRANSLATORS

My Culinary Encyclopedia

62

Your new kitchen Bible, from a master of the art

RAD Soldiers

44 er, rad

Shoot to kill in a game that is,

Agenda Calendar

71

As close to a paper calendar as you can get on a phone

PAGE 26 APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR 006 Twitter launch Vine video app Six-second videos are the new 140 characters

008 Q&A

App creator Glynn Jones explains how you can instantly share your favourite places with a select circle of friends using Scoopt

009 Social

All your letters, tweets and photos

010 Appcessory t-JAYS Four Earphones

011 Gear Group Test

The best iPhone 5 cases compared

014 Win! Marshall headphones

Five pairs of cans up for grabs from world-leading audio company

016 Apps in Real Life

48

MOTORSPORT APPS

58HAVING A BABY

WITH APPS

Find out how iPads are transforming heathcare

74 THE BEST WORLD BUILDING GAMES

018 How To... Knit

Create a fetching new jumper, or maybe even a case for your device…

PLUS: LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR APPS! 086 Tutorials

Step-by-step guides on getting the most out of your applications

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Head to page 47


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APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR

08 09 10 11 Q&A WE GET THE SCOOP ON SCOOPT

SOCIAL YOUR LETTERS AND TWEETS THIS MONTH

APPCESSORY WE REVIEW t-JAYS’ LATEST HEADPHONES

GEAR GROUP TEST iPHONE 5 CASES

12 14 16 18 GEAR ROUND UP STYLISH ACCESSORIES

COMPETITION MARSHALL HEADPHONES WORTH £100

APPS IN REAL LIFE OTTAWA HOSPITAL

HOW TO LEARN TO KNIT LIKE A PRO WITH APPS

GET EXCITED ABOUT…

CREATE VIDEO LOOPS WITH VINE SIX-SECOND VIDEOS ARE THE NEW 140 CHARACTERS THANKS TO THE NEW APP FROM TWITTER

S

ocial network titan Twitter has forayed into the world of video-sharing with new app Vine. A direct challenger to the likes of Viddy or Socialcam, Vine allows you to shoot short, six-second video loops and share them both on the Vine network and embedded in tweets. By touching the screen to shoot, you can either hold down and film one continuous take or tap the screen to create multiframe stop-animations. While some dismiss vines as glorified GIFs with audio, within hours of the app launching on 25


January, users were creating all sorts of videos, from arty stop-motion animations, developing new internet memes (search #vinecats), or just providing windows into their everyday lives. Significantly, Twitter launched Vine as a separate service rather than integrating it as an additional feature, like they did with photoediting when they acquired Aviary. Vine has its own website, www.vine.co, as well as its own app and a Twitter account is not even required to log-in (though it does make the process slightly

quicker). This distinction makes sense as, though you might be interested in someone’s videos, you might not be interested in what they have to say. Currently Vine is iPhone exclusive with no news of either an iPad or Android version on the way. However, just as the Twitter app is a crossplatform application, we can expect Vine to be more widely available in time.

VINE – MAKE A SCENE ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.0.5

IN TOUCH IMPROVE YOUR TWITTER EXPERIENCE WITH FALCON PRO

64

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF VINE NEWS

Twitter is a major news tool, with users tweeting first hand accounts of global events such as the Arab Spring and Hurricane Sandy. Vine puts the ‘eye’ back into eyewitness, with the prospect of on-the-scene videos posted as the news happens. So far, few media outlets have adopted Vine, but posts from citizen journalists are already springing up, such as this video of a fire in San Francisco.

SHARE A SCENE

SET IT UP

Create a profile with your Twitter login details or a separate account using your email. Once set up, you can view other users’ videos and shoot your own by selecting the camera icon.

SHOOT

Tap the screen in short bursts to create multiple frames, such as when you’re creating stop-motion animation, or tap and hold for one consecutive sixsecond take.

SHARE

Add a caption or searchable hashtag, or a location using foursquare, and then select whether you want to post to Vine, Twitter, Facebook, or all three.

STOP-MOTION ANIMATION

With the ability to pause shots while filming, stop-motion videos have experienced a resurgence on Vine. From apples being eaten a few bites at a time and shoes walking across the room on their own – to more sophisticated scenes involving Lego or claymation, users are exploring their creative side. Making your own six-second film is fun, but be aware that shooting frame-byframe can be time-consuming.

ADVERTISING

With an emphasis on short videos and snappy soundbites, Vine lends itself perfectly to advertising. Red Vines were quick to capitalise on the similar name, and General Electric have been posting videos every day since the launch. But advertising doesn’t just mean big brands – charities have also been quick to harness the platform, with Diabetes UK and the Dogs Trust posting popular videos.

ADULT CONTENT

Vine ran into trouble days after its launch when the developers accidentally selected an x-rated video as their Editor’s Choice, broadcasting it to every user’s feed. Following a media furore Vine responded by censoring certain search terms and upgrading to a 17+ age rating. However, there is no actual way to prevent pornographic videos being uploaded, so this problem is likely to continue to arise.


7

APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR Q&A

GET THE INSIDE SCOOPT App creator

Glynn Jones explains how you can instantly share your favourite places with a select circle of friends using Scoopt

L

ooking for the best pizza in town or perhaps something to do off the beaten track? Scoopt makes it easy to find great places based on recommendations from people you really know. Unlike other apps such as UrbanSpoon, Yelp, TripAdvisor and foursquare, Scoopt is designed for close friends. With recommendations from people you really know, you get opinions you can trust when you are looking for a place to eat, drink, stay or visit, rather than a long list of places from random strangers. Every place is beautifully and automatically illustrated with Instagram photos. Scoopt’s founder, Glynn Jones, has worked in the online tech sector for 17 years, working with such notable brands as Orange, Visa, General Motors, Shell and Microsoft on web projects. Here he answers our questions about what the app offers, how to use it, and, how he is going to make this free app profitable.

SEE OUR FULL REVIEW OF SCOOPT ON PAGE

Who exactly is your ideal Scoopt user? People that really love discovering new experiences both at home and abroad. Scoopt is for people that use the digital world to get the most out of the real world.

47

Was it a particular experience that led to the idea of Scoopt? I was on holiday in the south of France and had an unforgettable restaurant recommendation in a town popular with tourists called Antibes. This restaurant was so good that I wanted to share this treasure, but only with close friends and not spoil the secret by posting it to a travel review site like TripAdvisor. The idea for the Scoopt app was born right there. What gives Scoopt the edge over other travel and leisure reviews apps such as foursquare or TripAdvisor? I’ve just come back from New York, the home of foursquare, and I tried to use it find some good foursquare places to eat. There’s so much data on foursquare – and all from random strangers – that it’s really hard to distinguish what I will like and what I won’t. Switch Scoopt on in New York and you’ll get three or four places within walking distance recommended by people you really know, so just knowing the taste of those friends means you’ll know if this place is right for you. In addition to the Eat, Drink, Shop and Sleep categories, there are the non-commercial Visit and Escape categories. Was it an intentional

decision not to be so consumerfocused with these features? Good question – I can see you’ve understood Scoopt. Not everywhere you want to go is an opportunity to spend. Finding a great walk or a skinny-dipping spot is just as relevant to ‘experience hunters’ as finding a great clothes shop. Recommendations are limited to 140 characters. What advice would you give to a user to make this review worthwhile? Nobody wants to read a long review on small screen so I’d say, just say what you like about your experience in abbreviated English. Describe the thing you liked the most in three words and another three for the way the experience felt. The Scoopt app is entirely free and features no advertising or sponsored recommendations. With apps such as Facebook and Instagram struggling to find ways to monetise their extremely popular products, can you uphold your promise of never having ads? I’ve done quite a bit of consultancy in this area for some of the big names, and all the research tells us what we already know: nobody really wants to see ads on small mobile screens. We’ve got another reason not to show ads on Scoopt, and that is that we can absolutely guarantee that every place you see on Scoopt is a genuine recommendation from a trusted source. We’re also not selling anybody’s data. That’s another horrible thing to do with a great app, and we’ll leave that sort of thing to the uninspired! What’s the next step for Scoopt? Events are really the next step for Scoopt. They obviously present some operational challenges with keeping data fresh and so on, so we’re working out a plan to make sure we get it right before we release this functionality.

GLYNN JONES’ TOP 05 GAMES PATH

Everything about this style social network is brilliant. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.9.3 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.9.3

INSTAGRAM

This photo sharing app is so simple, but so successful. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.4.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v3.4.1


FLIPBOARD

Flipping through this eMagazine is seriously addictive. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.9.8 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.9.22

AIRBNB

This hotel finder sets itself apart with glossy photos. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.5.1 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.0.5

SUMMLY

This news app has such a simple, flat design, it looks like an awful lot like a Windows Phone interface. ● iPad | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.0.2

IN TOUCH

WE ASKED… Got any questions for

What would you say are good Instagram alternatives? Steve, via Twitter

the Apps team?

Hey, I want an app which can collate all my favourite blogs in one place for easy reading on iPhone. What would you say are the best options? Joe Elvin, via Twitter

ABOVE: Pulse News Feedly is worth a mention as this app allows you to organise and add all your favourite sites, and provides a large number of stories from each – this also extends to YouTube channels. Pulse News too is an interesting app that really takes advantage of multitouch gestures so you can scroll through more than one feed at a time for even faster news intake.

Your problem here Joe is that there are probably too many options. The obvious app to mention would be Flipboard, and while this is a great app, it actually is quite restrictive in the stories it shows you from each source. Flipboard does look and feel fantastic, but there are better alternatives out there.

Hi Steve, you’re not the only one whose is looking at photo editing and sharing alternatives given Instagram’s Terms and Condition changes recently. Several apps spring to mind: the first of which is Starmatic. It comes with a cool interface and 26 filters. There’s also a trending tags section as well as a nearby section to see what people locally are posting. Camera Awesome is probably closer to Snapseed in terms of functionality, but it does come with a growing community that is worth looking in to. We would also suggest trying out Snaptime, which has a cool interface and scrolling system for dropping multiple filters on your images before sharing.

Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ ☎ +44 (0)1202 586200 Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk www.knowyourapps.com www.greatdigitalmags.com

Magazine team

Deputy Editor Jack Parsons

[email protected] ☎ 01202 586279

Sub Editor Ben Martin Senior Staff Writer Martyn Landi Photographer James Sheppard Editor in Chief Nick Jones Head of Publishing Aaron Asadi Head of Design Ross Andrews Contributors Stephen Ashby, Adam Barnes, Courtney Bernard, James Burlinson, Ryan Butt, David Crookes, Ryan King, Shaun McGill, Philip Morris, Will Shum, Nick Summers, Gavin Thomas, Sally Jane Thompson

Advertising Digital or printed media packs are available on request. Head of Sales Hang Deretz ☎ 01202 586442 [email protected] Advertising Manager Jennifer Farrell ☎ 01202 586430 [email protected] Senior Account Manager Nick Marrow ☎ 01202 586419 [email protected]

International Apps is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities. Head of International Licensing Cathy Blackman ☎ +44 (0) 1202 586401 [email protected]

Subscriptions Head of Subscriptions Lucy Nash [email protected] To order a subscription to Apps Magazine: ☎ 0844 245 6911 Email: [email protected] 13-issue subscription (UK) – £52.00 13-issue subscription (Europe) – £70.00 13-issue subscription (Rest of world) – £80.00

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CLICK THE LIKE BUTTON

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SEND US AN EMAIL TODAY WITH YOUR THOUGHTS OR FAVOURITE APPS

Circulation Head of Circulation Darren Pearce ☎ 01202 586200

[email protected]

Production

WORD ON APPSPOSURE THE TWEET YOUR PHOTOS, AND THE APPS YOU MADE THEM WITH What have you been saying to us on Twitter?

@wordsrmagic2me One of the best things about Angry Birds Star Wars is that it taught my toddler son a ton about the SW universe

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Printing & Distribution

Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT Distributed in the UK & Eire by Seymour Distribution, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT

@scott_gamer Picked up a copy for the first time. Loved the top 50 free games feature. @dark_angel21244 RouteShoot allows me to share my travelling experiences with my friends and family, they know I am safe and having fun!

Production Director Jane Hawkins ☎ 01202 586200

☎ 0207 429 4000 Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch, Equinox Centre, 18 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 ☎ 61 2 9972 8800 Distributed in Rest of the World by Marketforce, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU

☎ 0203 148 8105 Disclaimer

SNAPSEED

● iPhone+ | Free ● Android | Free

“FROZEN DUCK POND TAKEN WITH 360 PANORAMA” Jam Matthews, via email

DRAWSOMETHING

● iPhone+ | £1.99/$2.99 ● Android | £2.17/$2.99

“I’M QUITE PROUD OF THIS ONE” @JemimaBliss

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. © Imagine Publishing Ltd 2013 ISSN 2045-3868

APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR APPCESSORY

APPCESSORY t-JAYS FOUR EARPHONES www.jays.se

JAYS CURVES

An easy-to-use music player that optimises your headphones. ● iPhone | iOS 5.1 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.0

£89.99/$129.99

DIVIDABLE CABLE

Depending on how you want to use the earphones, you can alter the length of the cable using the extension provided. This means you can have your device on your arm during exercise or in your pocket on the train and never have cable length issues of any kind.

REMOTE

The built-in remote syncs with your iOS device to not only allow for easy control of track choice and volume, but also lets you take and end calls with just the touch of a button.

t-JAYS FOUR EARPHONES COMBINE THESE EARPHONES WITH THE JAYS CURVES APP FOR A TAILOR-MADE LISTENING EXPERIENCE

A

s a set of earphones go, the t-JAYS Four pack a real punch in terms of sound quality and general music experience. The adjustable cable length means you can customise how you use the earphones, whether your music player is strapped to your arm during exercise, or in your pocket as you walk. Download the JAYS Curves app to further personalise your listening experience. The app comes with a smart black interface that gives your music library a fresh look, but the real innovation lies in the app’s ability to get the most of the Four earphones. The app contains an icon that can turn on Dirac HD Sound – something usually reserved for cinemas, music studios and other high-end listening environments. Tap this icon to highlight

it and you can hear the difference as background noise is reduced further, and your music becomes clearer than ever. We could pick out individual layers of audio and instruments that we had never heard before. This feature only works with the Fours, and while you can use the app with other headphones, this feature will not work. It truly is a customisable music experience, and when combined with the Fours you have a heightened listening experience, no matter where you are. The app is simple and offers little else other than this audio boost and a sleek interface, but such is the upgrade to your tracks that you’ll be more than happy with what it provides. The t-JAYS Four are available from Richer Sounds hi-fi specialists and superfi.co.uk.

TWO-WAY WEAR

The earbuds on the t-JAYS Four have been designed in such a way that you can wear them in two different ways – whether it be the traditional straight placement into the ear, or with the cable behind your ear.

05 MORE APPS FOR YOUR MUSIC RDIO

More than 18 million songs to listen to, and you can get the newest releases instantly. ● iPhone+ | Free ● Android | Free

SPOTIFY

Sync with the premium account you have on your laptop or desktop and take all your playlists with you. ● iPhone+ | Free ● Android | Free


TUNEIN RADIO

Live radio shows from more than 70,000 stations as well as more than 2 million podcasts at your fingertips. ● iPhone+ | Free ● Android | Free

DJAY FOR iPHONE

Turn your iPhone into your very own mixing deck as you mix together any two songs from your library. Scratching without the scratches. ● iPhone | £0.69/$0.99

WE7 FREE MUSIC RADIO

Type in the name of an artist you love, and WE7 creates a curated playlist of similar music for you to enjoy. ● iPhone | Free ● Android | Free

IN TOUCH

GEAR GROUP TEST

FANTASTIC iPHONE 5 CASES YOU’LL WANT TO PROTECT THAT EXTRA HALF AN INCH OF iPHONE, AND WE KNOW EXACTLY HOW…

FANTABULOUS LA COVER ALLURE FOR iPHONE 5 CASE: VISION iPHONE 5 COLLECTION Protection mixed with style, the Vision Collection cases are the result of a partnership between Fantabulous and DW & LC Photography. There are twelve designs, with each individual image filling the back cover of the case, and clear sides to create the illusion that the design is on your phone. The polycarbonate casing offers solid protection.

★★★★★ £N/A/$28.00 | Fantabulous | fantabulous.it

Available in both chic black and coloured pinstripes, this 15.5g snap-on back cover offers lightweight, high-quality protection for your new iPhone. The French-designed case covers all four corners of your iPhone, and is easy to snap on and off. Unlike some, rather flimsier covers, the hold is such that it won’t fall off your device. Part of the LA cover Allure range, similar designs are also available for the iPhone 4/4S, iPad, and iPad mini.

★★★★★ £19.95/$N/A | Be.ez | be-ez.com

BOOKBOOK FOR CHEVRON SURVIVOR iPHONE 5 CASE SERIES CUSTOM CASE FOR iPHONE 5 FOR iPHONE 5 Put your money where your mouthpiece is with this protective case and wallet combination. Part of TwelveSouth’s distinctive BookBook collection, the tough leather case is shaped like a pocketsized novella, including a distressed spine (reading ‘BookBook Vol V’). It comes in a choice of two colours: vintage brown and classic black. The inside uses plastic grips to hold your iPhone 5 in place and has four pockets to house credit cards, identification, and folded up cash.

★★★★★ £49.95/$59.99 | TwelveSouth | twelvesouth.com

This range of iPhone cases offers a variety of angular patterned back covers in a hypnotic chevron design. This toughened polycarbonate case provides adequate protection for your device, while leaving easy access to the touchscreen and connection ports, and adequate viewing space for the camera lens. Should you want to remove it – perhaps to alternate between Chevron designs – the cover snaps on and off with ease.

★★★★★ £N/A/$24.99 | Griffin | griffintechnology.com

With silicon blocks to absorb shock and a transparent cover to protect the screen, you can believe the manufacturer’s claim that the Survivor meets military standards. However, it’s not just about security, it’s also about style – as you can customise colours on the Griffin site. With the option to change the colours of the case, the silicone wrap, and the detachable clip in every shade from Pool Blue to Flouro Orange, there are 294 combinations.

★★★★★ £34.99/$49.99 | Griffin | griffintechnology.com


11

APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR GEAR ROUND UP

GEAR ROUNDUP

STYLISH STUFF

THE LATEST TOYS AND ACCESSORIES

01: BLUETOOTH CONTROLLED CAR

Turn any surface into a racetrack with this smart device-controlled Mini Cooper S. We initially had some trouble pairing the car with our iPhone’s Bluetooth settings, but once it was up and running we enjoyed our own mini adventure that stretched to a range of 15 metres. The BeeWi control pad app is free to download, and as well as acting as a touchscreen joystick, it includes difficulty modes ranging from Beginner to Expert.

★★★★★ iOS £49.99/Android £39.99 | BeeWi | bee-wi.com

02: DOCTOR WHO TARDIS SMART SAFE

This is the perfect accessory for any Whovian, as not only does it give fans a fantastic way to show off their love for the show, but also is a cool way to store belongings. The Smart Safe works by turning your smartphone into the key, with a slot on top of the TARDIS into which you place your device. Then just enter your personal passcode and the door will open to reveal storage space. Be warned though, pairing can be temperamental.

★★★★★ £35.99/$N/A | BBC | bbcshop.com


03: POPPY & RED SEA FOLK iPHONE 4S COVER

Irish design firm Kovet set up last year with the aim of creating iPhone 4/4S cases that are both stylish and durable. It makes its protective cases out of TPU, a toughened plastic that is still flexible enough to wrap around your phone with ease. For the case artwork Kovet employed seven members of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland to create an original and brightly coloured collection.

★★★★★ €29.00 | Kovet | kovet.ie

Scream if you want to go

Who decided speed was just for the jetsetters? At Three, we think everyone should feel the rush of wind between their thumbs. So we’re revving up our entire network, adding some extra g-force, without charging a hefty premium. That’s ultrafast, without the ultra pricey.

Our Ultrafast network speeds & coverage vary. You’ll need an Ultrafast ready device. See three.co.uk/network

APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR COMPETITION

COMPETITION

WIN! MARSHALL HEADPHONES TO BE WON

FIVE PAIRS OF CANS UP FOR GRABS FROM WORLD-LEADING AUDIO COMPANY

A

s a company synonymous with build quality and audio excellence, you would only expect the best from Marshall, a company that have been defining sound since the Sixties, and these excellent headphones more than live up to that reputation. Their 20Hz-20kHz frequency and moving-coil dynamic speakers make these headphones a potent force. Whatever you choose to listen to, these Marshall cans will pack a punch and give surprisingly little sound leakage for on-ear phones, which those around you will appreciate. Your ears will appreciate the comfort you get from wearing them too thanks to a soft leather cushion and a sturdy build all around. This special Pitch Black edition of the headphones features a denim headband with excellent stitching and a mixture of matte and shiny finishes on the headphone casing. This all collapses nicely into a compact package for sticking in your bag. It’s a

great combination of design and practicality. It should be clear then at this point that we’re definitely fans of the Major Pitch Black headphones, as well as the rest of the Marshall headphones range – and you will be too if you’re lucky enough to win a pair this issue. To be in with a chance of winning these goodies, you simply need to send us the answer the following question:

What model of Marshall headphones are we giving away? A. WHITE OUT B. PITCH BLACK C. RAINBOW BEAT

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MARSHALL HEADPHONES, SCAN

DON’T HESITATE TO ENTER, SEND YOUR ANSWER TODAY [email protected]

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

To submit your answer, simply email [email protected] with the subject line ‘Marshall Comp’. Please include your full name, age and address. The closing date for entries is 28 March 2013. Please be aware that answers must be submitted to the above email address only. This competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland only. Imagine Publishing has the right to substitute the prize for a similar item of equal or higher value. Employees of Imagine Publishing (including freelancers), their relatives, or any agents are not eligible to enter. The editor’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. Prizes cannot be exchanged for cash. Full terms and conditions are available upon request. From time to time, Imagine Publishing or its agents may send you related material or special offers. If you do not want to receive this, please state it clearly on your competition entry.


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All-you-can-eat data. All the speed. All without paying a hefty premium. Get our ultimate internet experience with the latest smartphones on our Ultrafast network. Switch to Three today, call

0800 358 8478 Visit a 3Store or search online for Ultrafast

Sign up on one of our Ultimate plans for 24 months to get these deals · Ultrafast technology is rolling out across our network now · To enjoy our ultrafast network, you’ll need an ultrafast ready device · The speeds you’ll get will vary by location, coverage, demand and TrafficSense™, which is a system we use to manage data on our network to ensure the best experience possible for the majority of our customers · See Three.co.uk/network for more info

APPS IN REAL LIFE

APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR APPS IN REAL LIFE

THE DOCTOR

Freeing doctors from their desks, iPads are giving them more time with their patients. Dale Potter, senior vicepresident at Ottowa Hospital, talks to Apps Magazine about this healthcare revolution

P

aperwork is often blamed for slowing down lots of things in modern life, and healthcare is one area that suffers heavily, with doctors moving back and forth between orders and lab results on their computers, and visiting patients in their beds. This is something that the Ottawa Hospital in Canada was keen to address. “As I was learning about healthcare, it was a shock to me that services such as internal medicine did not round on the patient at the bedside”, explains Senior Vice President of Strategy and Transformation Dale Potter, who oversaw the introduction of iPads to staff. “Instead, attending physicians would meet with residents in a conference room with printed material and discuss a care plan for each patient. It was not unusual for a patient not to see their attending physician.” This is something that has now completely changed because of the introduction of iPad, and the freedom that comes with it. “We made it policy that each attending physician would see each of their patients at the bedside every day, as all

the information they needed was on the mobile device”, says Potter. “At first, we got some push back because it made rounds longer. That has since gone away however, as the physicians have come to realise they are delivering better, more effective care.” This warming to the product is something that has continued ever since the device was introduced, and this can be seen not only through an unwillingness to be separated from the iPad, but also through new ways physicians are utilising their device. “Only days or weeks after physicians had received their iPads, if they forgot it at home, they would often choose to drive back to get them rather than go through the day without it”, says Potter of the enthusiasm for it. “It also continues to amaze me even three years later to see the innovative ways in which people use the tool that I would never have anticipated. Taking pictures of postsurgical wounds so that the bandage does not have to be removed for the surgeon to inspect is one such example”, he adds, in awe. But what about the patients? How

THE QUICK QUESTIONS… WHICH DO YOU PREFER, iPHONE OR iPAD? Both, it depends on what I’m doing.

ARE YOU A BIG APP SPENDER OR DOWNLOADER? Not at all.

IF YOU WERE SHOWING OFF YOUR DEVICE TO SOMEONE FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHICH APP WOULD YOU USE AND WHY?

Our Clinical Mobile Application so I can show just how it has changed the way we carry out healthcare.

have they taken to seeing their doctors appearing at their bedside tapping away on an iPad? “The patients seem to really like the mobile devices. The physicians are able to engage with their patients more directly by showing them images or lab trend data and explaining it to them”, Potter points out. “Often, physicians will set goals for their patients, for example that they can be discharged if a certain lab result reaches a certain goal.” The introduction of the iPad has been such a success with the hospital that Potter admits they are looking at bringing more devices in to distribute to other staff, saying “the next big step this year is to roll out iPhones or iPad minis to nursing staff”, and with nearly 5,000 staff, that will be quite the deployment. However, the impact of bringing in iOS has been that substantial, with Potter himself saying that it has made a huge difference and that “there is no path back for our hospital”. So, should the smart device revolution continue at its current mercurial pace, meeting your doctor and interacting over an iPad might just become a normal part of healthcare.

DALE’S TOP FIVE APPS iANNOTATE PDF

Annotate and make notes on your files in a range of styles before saving in places like Dropbox or Google Drive. ● iPad | iOS 5.0 | £6.99/$9.99 | v2.4.5 ● Android | OS 2.3 | Free | v1.1.4

MAPS

The iOS-native mapping app comes with navigation and directions, as well as hybrid and full satellite imagery. It had some fair criticism fired its way upon release, but regular updates are working out the many kinks. ● iPad+ | iOS 6.0


iBOOKS

The huge bookstore on your device also allows you to save and read PDF files, which is ideal if you have been emailed information that you need to read on the hoof. Also, you can read eBooks. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.0.2

iMESSAGE

The native text messaging service on iOS includes iMessage. This handy addition means that iOS users can send free text messages to other iOS users with a Wi-Fi connection. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v5.6.2

ANGRY BIRDS SPACE

The iOS gaming mega-hit moved to outer space, letting players take advantage of gravity and orbital physics. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.4.0 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.4.0

In touch

“It continues to amaze me even three years later to see the innovative ways in which people use the tool”


17

APPS ★ PEOPLE ★ GEAR HOW TO…

HOW TO…

LEARN TO KNIT

CREATE A FETCHING NEW JUMPER FOR YOURSELF, OR MAYBE EVEN A CASE FOR YOUR DEVICE…

T

here is seemingly no end to the skills you can learn and the tasks you can perform if you have your iOS or Android device close to hand. It seems that these days even the most unusual skill is within reach, even if it might seem a long way out of your comfort zone. With that in mind we decided to really put the learning and discovery power of apps to the test this month, by attempting to tackle knitting. The art of making woolly wares and an iPhone seem worlds apart but we believe it’s possible, and the app market seem to agree that it is possible to bring them together. With this optimism in mind we hit the search bar in order to find the apps that could help us get started, gain some confidence with needles in hand, and ultimately lead us towards creating that custom iPhone case we’ve always wanted, but probably not…

1 Getting started

2 Long tail casting on

Having no clue where to begin we turned to KnittingHelp Video Reference Reference, which we noticed included a section called Getting Started. After a few watches we started a feel a bit less scared of the needles.

We picked up our needles for the first time to try something called long tail casting on. This only involved one needle, and the video moved at a fair pace so it took some time to pick up. But it was a nice early confidence boost.

3 Knitting on

4 Learn to Knit+

It turned out the long tail cast on was exactly what was needed at this early stage, so we took a look at the knitting on video, which according to the media was a nice place for beginners. However, we found the videos a bit vague, and far too fast paced to keep up with.

We gave up on the lightning paced videos and instead turned to Learn to Knit+ Knit+, a text driven app that actually allowed us to create a slip knot correctly at the first time of asking, something that KnittingHelp had been unable to do despite numerous viewings of the video.

5 Patterns

6 Get Creative

Having tried some of the basics the next step is patterns and designs. For this we turned to SleepyEyes, which has some free designs for scarves and hats – the sort of designs that are encouraged for beginners. Each one comes complete with a step-by-step.

If you’re feeling really ambitious and have taken to this better than we did, then knitCompanion is definitely worth a look, here you can take existing patterns and edit them to your own taste. This might be one for the future though, when the needles are no longer deadly.

Final Thought There is no doubt that you can pick up the basics of knitting by downloading a few apps from the App Store – and we would recommend trying a mixture of video and text, as trying to watch a video and cast on at the same time is a tricky process.

KNITTING APPS KNITTINGHELP VIDEO REFERENCE A video bible of everything you need to get started, although some of the nuances of knitting are skipped over. ● iPhone | iOS 3.1 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.1

KNITCOMPANION

Complete with an unusual interface, this app allows you to view and edit patterns and really get creative. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.1 | Free | v2.5.1

SLEEPYEYES

A great knitting accessories app that includes plenty of free patterns for you to try out thanks to the step-by-step guides. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.0.3

LEARN TO KNIT+

Essentially a collection of PDFs walking you through the different techniques required to pick up the skill. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0


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FEATURE | BEST APPS EVER

ASK TEN PEOPLE FOR THE 50 BEST APPS EVER AND YOU WILL GET TEN DIFFERENT LISTS, BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TASTES AND USES THEIR DEVICE IN DIFFERENT WAYS FOR DIFFERENT REASONS – THAT DOESN’T MEAN WE CAN’T TRY, THOUGH

T

here are apps, however, that would be on everyone’s list; the game-changers and trend setters that altered the way you look at (and indeed use) your smartphone or tablet on a day-to-day basis. Nonetheless, this was still a difficult list to compile, provoking much debate and suggested alternatives before a final 50 was settled upon. What you will see over the following pages is the definitive list from the App Store and Google Play Store of the very best downloads. They range


from recipe apps to endless runners to interactive books, but each one has something very special about it – something that has made us sit up and pay attention. It may be that the app is a constant fixture in the upper-echelons of the top charts, or it has that piece of functionality or interface that cannot be ignored. Use this list as the basis for your downloading habits and you won’t go far wrong in terms of entertaining yourself, staying productive, and making the most of your device. These then, are the 50 Best Apps Ever…

BEST APPS EVER | FEATURE

RDIO

Sign up for the first time and you get a week’s trial of Rdio Unlimited, placing the millions of songs within the app at your disposal. Rdio allows you to create and add to playlists, as well as go back through your Rdio history and dig out old songs you love. Search manually or use the app’s Featured sections based on what other users as listening to and the latest releases in order to find music you love. ● iPad+ | iOS 3.1.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.0

APPS TO EMBRACE MUSIC HITLANTIS

An extraordinary looking app that places a ‘bubble map’ of new and unsigned music artists in front of the user for them to discover. Toggle the genres you would like to see on your map and listen music samples you find, or simply use the in-app radio station to discover new music. What’s more, it’s all completely free. ● iPad+ | iOS 3.1.2 | Free | v0.9.6 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v0.9.6

GARAGEBAND

Still one of the best show-off apps you can get on your iPhone or iPad, GarageBand’s Smart Instruments can turn anyone into a musical genius within it’s fantastic interface. There is also no escaping that this is a fullyfledged recording and mixing studio that you can take with you anywhere, and that is a powerful tool. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.3

TUNEIN RADIO PRO

Access radio stations across the world directly from your smartphone, with more than 70,000 stations at your fingertips. Use location services to seek out stations close to you, pause shows, listen to podcasts and link to the iTunes store to buy the music you hear. Favourite stations in order to create your very own radio network, whether it be music, news or sport that you want to listen to. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 | v3.3 ● Android | OS 2.1 | £3.14/$4.99 | v6.8

BEAT SNEAK BANDIT

The perfect of example of how to envelope yourself in music without having to go through your music library, Beat Sneak Bandit is a wonderfully unique puzzle game where not only do you have to plot your route through obstacle-laden mazes, but each move is controlled by how well you can tap in time with the smooth jazz soundtrack. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.0.4 ● Android | OS 2.6 | Free | v2.4.9

FIGURE

Without a doubt the coolest music creation app out there, Figure presents users with an enticing and responsive interface that helps you to create your own beats from scratch. This basic principle is of course not unique, but the way in which just a few taps can take you from nothing to fully-fledged and professionalsounding beat in moments is astonishing. Tap on different areas of the screen to change the tone and pitch of your drums, as well as to alter the rhythm, range and scale of your beat. What you’re doing in Figure is actually complex music creation, it just never feels like it, and that is the beauty of the app. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.3

SHAZAM

It’s become one of the most essential apps to have on your smartphone; Shazam identifies almost any song via your smartphone’s microphone before providing you with lyrics, links to more of their music to download, and links to other apps like Rdio.. Then tag your discovery and share it with the world and become part of the huge community. ● iPhone | iOS 5.1 | Free | v5.5.2 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

STAY IN TOUCH FACEBOOK

The official app of the social network heavyweight now supports audio and video messages. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v5.4 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

TWEETBOT FOR TWITTER

Mute users and hashtags to give yourself the bespoke Twitter experience you’ve always wanted. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | £1.99/$2.99 | v2.6.2

WHATSAPP MESSENGER

Free and instant messaging to any other WhatsApp user no matter their device. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.8.7 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.9.1035

GO EXPLORING KAYAK PRO

Your entire holiday planning, booking and travelling taken care of in one easy-to-navigate place. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v24.1.1

GUIDEPAL OFFLINE CITY GUIDES

Save yourself the data charges and don’t get lost thanks to this awesome app. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.1 | £4.99/$6.99 | v1.04 ● Android | OS 2.01 | Free | v1.03

GOOGLE MAPS

The go-to mapping service is all you need when it comes to navigation. Infinitely better than iOS Maps. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.1 | Free | v1.0 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

RIGHT: Discover music from every corner of the world with TuneIn Radio Pro


21


BE CREATIVE WITH APPS PROCREATE

The must-have sketch book for any aspiring artist, Procreate contains 48 brushes, as well as multitouch functionality and a completely stunning highdefinition resolution, so you sketch and draw at a studio level. The app has full Dropbox integration to store your work, and each of the brushes comes with 30 customisations, making it very much the artist’s app. ● iPad | iOS 6.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.7.1

INSTAGRAM

The enormous community doesn’t lie – Instagram is one of the biggest apps out there, and its not that difficult to see why thanks to the cool filters that users can add to their existing or just snapped images. Share, like, and comment on uploads from other users and see the world through sepia-toned eyes without leaving your front room. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.4.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v3.4.1

PINNACLE STUDIO

A genuine challenger to iMovie, in many ways Pinnacle is better than the native Apple software. The interface is smart and simple, with gestures and functionality that makes it easy to drop in and edit your video clips, and none of the messing around that can be found in iMovie. The Storyboard above the main timeline is also a great feature, allowing you to keep track of the order of your clips. ● iPad | iOS 5.1 | £8.99/$12.99 | v2.0.2

SNAPSEED

Now established as the go-to photoediting app across both iOS and Android, Snapseed has gone free and accessible to everyone. Accessible is most definitely the word that sums up the app, with a toolbar full of effects and edits that then combines with smart touch gestures to allow you to choose and then administer your edits effortlessly. Snapseed works because it is a great combination of serious photoediting and more creative lens filters that lean more towards art than straight-up photography, and this gives users the scope to use the app however they wish, and then share photos instantly via social networks and beyond. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.5.1 ● Android | OS 4.0 | Free | v1.4.1

PAPER BY FIFTYTHREE

An expressive and creative friendly notemaking space, Paper is free to download with in-app purchases that give users the chance to buy themed notepads and pens to create in different styles. This is a beautiful blank canvas ready for you to make the most of. ● iPad | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.2.6

SNAPGUIDE

Community, as we have already seen, is a big part of the draw when it comes to apps, and Snapguide is a perfect example of this. The app is a well-designed aggregation app full of clever step-by-step guides on all manner of everyday tasks, as well as a templates for uploading your own cool techniques. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.1.2

GET THE NEWS POCKET

A fantastic free resource that allows you to save articles, videos, and images for later reading. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v4.2.6 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v4.3.4


PULSE NEWS

Takes advantage of multitouch gestures to allow multiple news feed watching simultaneously. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.0.4 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v3.0.6

“SNAPSEED WORKS BECAUSE IT IS A GREAT COMBINATION OF SERIOUS PHOTO-EDITING AND MORE CREATIVE LENS FILTERS”

FLIPBOARD

Quite simply an essential download for any smartphon or tablet user as a way of personalising the news. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.9.8 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.9.20

INSTAPAPER

A clean and clear environment into which you can save all your favourite articles to read at your leisure. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v4.2.7 ● Android | OS 2.3.3 | £1.93/$2.99 | v1.2


KILL TIME WITH APPS INFINITY BLADE 2

The game and franchise that is still held up as the benchmark for the mobile platform, Infinity Blade has become more of a right of passage as a mobile gamer than merely a very good recommendation. Visually, this is still the closest any title has come to matching the console market, and its unique, repetitive gameplay adds to the intrigue. Infinity Blade is centred around constantly improving and levellingup your character, a favourite past time of many a gamer, with each furious, gesture-based battle adding to your experience, XP and cash that can then be used to improve your skills. It’s a greatlooking and addictive circle. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £4.99/$6.99 | v1.3.2

REAL RACING 2 HD

Infinity Blade 2 has already been mentioned as the game that comes the closest to bringing console graphics to a mobile device, but Real Racing 2 HD would give the sword-wielding fighter a run for its money any day. Thanks to the incredible technology of Retina display, this game is simply stunning to look at in iOS’s high-resolution screens. The tilt controls are as smooth and responsive as you would want them to be, and the multiplayer is unrivalled in the racing genre. A vital download. ● iPad | iOS 4.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.13.01 ● Android | Varies | £2.29/$2.99 | Varies

LEFT: Paper by Fifty Three offers a

blank canvas to sketch ideas

ANGRY BIRDS

In many ways this game was Genesis for gaming on iOS and Android as it was the very first title to truly capture the imagination – and has since gone on to spawn various sequels, spin-offs and parodies. The reason is the simple yet addictive nature of this physics-based puzzle game, with a range of birds in your arsenal, and three stars to unlock on each level that will keep you coming back. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v3.0.0 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v3.0.0

BELOW: Real Racing 2 HD is the very real pedal to your iPad or Android device’s metal

TEMPLE RUN

Sometimes the best competition to play against is yourself, and Temple Run is a great example of this, with players constantly trying to improve their reflexes to duck and dodge obstacles in the endless running hit. The joy of Temple Run is the constant determination to get better and go further, with the reward being upgrades and then the chance to score more points. It’s a viscous cycle, but one you need to be a part of. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.6 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.0.8

NETFLIX

Stream your favourite TV shows and movies directly to your device. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.4.4 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.1.1

PLANTS VS ZOMBIES

Unique tower defence with plenty of character, and hordes of zombies. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.9.7 ● Android | Varies | £2.29/$2.99 | Varies

WORDS WITH FRIENDS

Social gaming at its best as you take on players from around the world. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v5.80 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v5.8.0


23


GET ORGANISED WITH APPS CLOUDON

The benefits of this app are simple; it gives iOS and Android users access to Microsoft Office on their device. Not only can you edit existing files, but also create Word, Excel and PowerPoint files from scratch and save them to the cloud for use elsewhere. This is productivity at its best, as you can do your work even when you’re away from your desk. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.0.1 ● Android | OS 3.1 | Free | v3.0.2

CATCH NOTES

The name gives a hint as to what Catch Notes aims to do, which is grab all your ideas and plans and put them in a single place for you to work through. Create to-do lists for individual days or simply add to your ideas list, Catch Notes is your extra mental storage space, but comes with a sleek and easy-to-use interface. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.1.0 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

EVERNOTE

It’s regularly touted as an essential app when it comes to the first downloads for your device, and there is plenty of reason behind it. Evernote allows for syncing across devices and platforms as well as the recording of voice and audio notes. Add images to your notes and connect to social networks seamlessly, saving tweets to your account as well. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.1.2 ● Android | OS 1.6 | Free | v4.5.2

“CLEAR LOOKS AND RUNS AS THOUGH IT WERE AN APPLENATIVE APP”

CLEAR

In a time when to-do and productivity apps have been working ever harder in order to provide something different to stand out in a crowded market, Clear came along and brought wonderful simplicity to proceedings. The minimalistic colour-coded to-do list app has scaled everything back in such a way that many have said Clear looks and runs as though it were an Apple-native app, which is high praise indeed. There are no buttons to deal with here, only gestures to add, delete and check items off of your to-do list. The smart colour-coding system shows priority tasks, which of course you can re-order yourself. ● iPhone+ | iOS 6.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.2

LEFT: The Evernote interface is clean and clear on whatever device you are using RIGHT: Get Microsoft Office on your iOS or Android device with CloudOn

APPS TO ALWAYS HAVE WITH YOU

GOOGLE GOGGLES

One of the most powerful and impressive search apps around, Goggles uses an image you capture as the basis of your search. So a snap of an album cover will do a Google search on the band, and so on. The app also reads bar an QR codes as well as packaging. This is searching on a whole new level, and quicker than ever. ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.9

DROPBOX

Take all your most important files with you wherever you go thanks to the cloud storage of Dropbox. The universal nature of the app means you can upload almost any file type from your desktop, and then be able to access it from your iPhone, iPad or Android device. It’s an effortless process that suddenly makes mobile work an easy prospect. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.0.2 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies


SPLASHTOP 2 – REMOTE DESKTOP

Gain easy remote access to your home desktop, with an update that now makes Splashtop compatible with Windows 8. The app allows you to do pretty much everything you would on your desktop, including full browser access with Flash support, as well as the fun ability play PC or Mac games. This is your desktop brought over onto your tablet. ● iPad | iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v2.2.0.6 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.2.0.9

CAMERA+

Broaden your photo taking and editing horizons with Camera+. With this easyto-use and polished image editing app you can dive into exposure and focus as well as effects and filters that are available in a single tap in order to give your image a new dimension. Finish off with a range of stylish borders before sharing your new work of art through all your social channels. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v3.7.1

WOLFRAMALPHA

A complete and definitive reference guide for your smartphone (and great Star Trek reference), WolframAlpha is bursting with the charts, graphs, figures and stats to answer any question you have. The app will provide you with detailed reports on everything to do with the subject, automatically creating digestible comparisons and figures to give you your answers. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.5.1.3996543 ● Android | OS 2.1 | £1.86/$2.99 | v1.2.0.3888710


LIVE WELL

THE PHOTO COOKBOOK QUICK & EASY

There has been a move in recent times towards making recipe and cookery apps much more desirable through photography, and this couldn’t be more apparent than with The Photo Cookbook. The app is designed to break down the key steps into easy to understand pieces of information, and this is done through clear images of key moments during the preparation and cooking process. This app is also essential because it has plenty of substance to back up all the obvious style, with clear, concise recipes, a huge range of choice when it comes to menu options, as well as themed sections available via in-app purchase. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v6.2

PAPRIKA RECIPE MANAGER

This is the foodie’s dream – no matter your taste or dietary requirements Paprika will have something for you. The app brings together content from more than 190 different sites, with all recipes available with just a single tap of your device. Create and manage a grocery lists based on the dishes you want to try, and sync your recipes across devices thanks to the cloud. ● iPad | iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.7.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £3.11/$4.99 | v1.1.2

ENDOMONDO SPORTS TRACKER

A fantastic combo of social networking and fitness, Endomondo lets you see what your friends are up to, as well as race against their times and comment on each other’s exercises. See if there are any routes nearby and try and beat the time set by the route champion, and post to Facebook and Twitter. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v7.2.0 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

FOODSPOTTING

This is restaurant finding and reviewing with a difference, following the logic that a picture is worth a thousand words, Foodspotting asks users to unload an image of the dishes they eat rather than write some tortured prose about their dinner. This, combined with location services, turns your screen into an tasty-looking prospect, almost as though you’re looking through that stunning bakery window. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.6.3 ● Android | OS 1.6 | Free | v3.8.5

ZOMBIES, RUN!

We all need a little motivation to get exercising sometimes, and Zombies, Run! has a unique method to get you sprinting, as it drops you into an undead apocalypse, where you must outrun the horde chasing you, and use the resources you earn on your route to build up your base when you get home. A brilliant combination of exercise app and RPG. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.5.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £2.79/$3.99 | v1.2.1

BELOW: The interface of The

Photo Cookbook is pure and simple, and makes cooking a dream

FOR THE KIDS THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR MORRIS LESSMORE

Oscar-winning animated short turned into an interactive story –and it’s simply stunning. ● iPad | iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.4

THE LAND OF ME – STORY TIME

The ultimate story book that lets the kids choose the different aspects of the tale they hear. ● iPad | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v0.0.4

STAR WALK

Take your stargazing and wonder to new levels of knowledge with this brilliant AR app. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v6.1

BE A BOOKWORM

CHOPSTICKS NOVEL

Completely redefines digital fiction in one simply stunning app – and our app of the year for 2012. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.0 | £4.99/$6.99 | v1.0

KOBO BOOKS

Not just a digital bookstore, it’s also one packed with social features and reading stats. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.9 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

COMICS

The only digital comic store to have titles from both DC and Marvel in the same place. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.2 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.0.7.9


25

FEATURE | TOP 50 FREE ANDROID

TOP 50 FREE ANDROID APPS

THE BEST FREE APPS FOR YOUR ANDROID SMARTPHONE AND TABLET Google Play is now home to more than 675,000 apps, and many of these are free. We have scoured the market to find the very best apps for your Android smartphone or tablet and whittled this down to a top 50 apps we don’t think you should be without. While our criteria for choosing the top apps was limited to those that were the highest quality and most innovative but with no price tag whatsoever, those that made the final cut represent the many categories of Google Play. We’ve include apps for social networking, photography, shopping, reading, and even


predicting the weather – not to mention a smattering of the greatest games. As this is a feature for Android users, we have made a point to make reference to any wonderful widgets included with the apps or other Android-only special features. Most of the apps included here are completely free, with no strings attached. However, we have included a few freemium downloads that require subscriptions or offer in-app purchases, simply because they are so outstanding in their field it would be a disservice to have left them out.

TOP 50 FREE ANDROID | FEATURE

50 | ANDROIDIFY Do you love Android’s little green mascot? How could you not? Just look at it there, all nonplussed and cute. Create your own droid-style avatar using this app from Google Creative Lab. Stretch it, style it, add a hoody, style its hair, throw on some shades, or even give it a parrot and a pirate hat. Once you’ve personalised your little green simulacrum, share it with your friends, set it as a photo in your contact book, or use it as an avatar. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.1

47 | IMDb Do you love a particular actor and want to explore more of their work? IMDb features impressively detailed information on over 4 million celebrities and over 1.5 million movies and TV shows. Each entry includes a biography, trailers, trivia, and a photo gallery. A major perk is that although you are prompted to log in as a user or with Facebook, not doing so doesn’t inhibit your access to any aspect of the app. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.3 | Free | v3.0.1

44 | AMAZON MP3 Store your memory-munching music collection in the cloud with Amazon MP3. Stream songs to your device or pick and choose to download tracks for offline listening. You can also shop for music from the in-app Amazon store, and all purchases can be saved directly to cyberspace. The free version allows you to import 250 songs, or subscribe to the premium version to support 250,000 songs. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.7.3_2071110 ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.5.1

41 | SKIFTA Turn your Android smartphone into a multimedia server with ease and stream music, photos, and videos to your sound system and TV (if they have the right connectivity). Working wirelessly with all DLNA devices, such as UPnP TVs, PlayStation 3s, Windows 7 PCs, iMacs, and Sonos stereos, Skifta is simple to set up and is perfect for music at house parties or sharing home movies with friends or family.

49 | CALORIE COUNTER – MYFITNESSPAL

48 | WEBMD FOR ANDROID

● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

Need first aid information? Or have you just given up on that and are trying to find your nearest hospital? WebMD can help, with the added bonus that all of the first aid included is available whether you have Wi-Fi access or not – it’d be pretty bad if you were prevented treatment due to poor signal. The Symptom Checker allows you to find possible causes, and the Pill Identification Tool helps you look up medication based on shape, colour and imprint.

● iPhone| iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.7.1

● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v3.4

46 | FOURSQUARE

45 | VIDDY

Part review app, part location-based game, foursquare offers personalised recommendations and special offers based on where you and your friends have been. Share your favourite places and write reviews to earn points and badges for ‘check-ins.’ The ultimate goal is to visit a place more than anyone else and being crowned mayor. Mayorships often come with perks from big name brands.

Videos answer to Instagram, Viddy allows you to apply coloured filters and backing tracks to your home movies. Videos can be shared across YouTube, Facebook, and more, but Viddy also has its own dedicated social network, where you can comment and like other users’ videos. After a sluggish start on iOS, Viddy has committed to Android in a big way, with support for 757 smartphones and tablets in 16 countries.

Lose weight and get in shape with the fastest and easiest-to-use calorie counter for Android. With a database of over 2,000,000 foods, it is easy to keep track of what your eating, especially as the app quickly learns your favourites and includes a bar code reader for when your out shopping. For community support, add friends and easily track each other’s progress.

● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v2012.12.19 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.4.2

43 | EBAY FOR ANDROID Buy, bid or make offers with just a couple of taps using the new and improved eBay for Android app. As well as a streamlined design for quick purchasing, you can get notifications and reminders about items ending, being outbid, outstanding offers for products you’re selling, and more. Check and respond to messages from other eBay sellers wherever you are, track your package shipments on the go, and leave feedback for items you have purchased when you have a few spare minutes. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.1.1.0

“VIDDY VIDDY ALLOWS YOU TO APPLY FILTERS AND BACKING TRACKS TO YOUR HOME MOVIES” MOVIES”

● Android | OS 4.0 | Free | v1.3.2 ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.9.7

42 | WORDPRESS Blogging doesn’t have to be limited to your desktop with this app from the world’s most popular content management system. Create a blog, manage a preexisting WordPress blog (or even a third-party blog) and add new posts, pages, photos and videos while on the go with this mobile dashboard. You can also control your settings, monitor your comments, and track your web traffic stats. ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.2.6 | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.3.1 ● iPad+ iPad+|iOS

● Android | OS 2.6 | Free | v1.57.07 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v0.90.5


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40 | ASTRO FILE MANAGER/ 39 | FLIPBOARD BROWSER

38 | SKYSCANNER – ALL FLIGHTS

Perhaps not the funnest of apps, but certainly one of the most useful, you can find your files with ease and save memory space by using ASTRO File Manager. Gesture controls make it simple: swipe your screen right to access saved searches, Facebook photos, and cloud storage, including SkyDrive and Dropbox. Swipe left for tools, such as an app backup facility, a task killer, and more.

Looking to jet off for a quick getaway? Using your GPS, Skyscanner will instantly find your nearest airport and best ticket price. The search engine uses filters to help refine your travel plans, and sliders allow you to compare prices with ease. Waiting for a flight to come in? The app includes a widget to keep you updated on your home screen.


37 | COMICS This app from Comixology has reinvented comic book reading for the digital era. With its Guided View Technology, you read individual panels one-by-one, solving the problem of squeezing a page onto a smartphone screen. Purchase the latest Marvel and DC comics in-app, with library of 20,000 comics (many of which are entirely free) or use search for comic book stores in your area. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.0.7.9 ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.2

34 | TVCATCHUP Never miss your favourite show again thanks to TVCatchUp. Providing real-time streaming for over 50 Freeview channels to your device, this app also provides listings for what is on now and next. The added social functions mean you can also tweet about what’s on from within the app. One of the most popular apps of 2012, international users should be aware many channels are limited to UK residents only. ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.2.8 ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.51

View your social media feeds in a sleek, easyto-read magazine skin. Flip through pages like you would a copy of Apps, and view your Twitter timeline, Instagram photos and YouTube videos arranged like newspaper articles. You can also use the search engine to jump to the topics you care about and save anything using Instapaper, Pocket and Readability.

● Android | OS 2.2| Free | v1.9.20 ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.9.8

36 | TUNEIN RADIO Listen to some of the most popular music, sports, news and talk radio shows from all over the world on your Android phone or tablet with TuneIn Radio. With over 70,000 stations and roughly 2 million podcasts to enjoy, you can save your favourites to find them later when you have the time to listen. Set a radio alarm to give you a morning wake up call – or just to ensure you don’t miss a show. ● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v6.8 ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.3

33 | MET OFFICE WEATHER APPLICATION

From the UK’s national meteorological service, the Met Office provides some of the most accurate and reliable forecasts for TV, radio, print and online. Getting with the 21st Century, this app puts information right in the palm of your hands. Receive five-day forecasts and severe weather warnings, as well as a range of detailed, interactive maps for daily weather.

● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v1.2.4 ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.1

31 | SKY MAP Sky Map provides a detailed star chart for budding Android astronomers. Hold your smartphone up to the sky to identify the constellations and the planets, or any meteor showers that are scheduled to happen. The Time Travel mode rearranges the stars into the position they would have been on a particular date, so you can see the position of the sun for a future sunset, the moon during the Apollo 11 missions in 1969. ● Android | OS 1.5 | Free | v1.6.4


● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v2.0.2.2 ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.0.4.4

35 | KOBO Kobo makes reading more fun with social reaction. You can earn fun badges for completing objectives, share ideas with others users, and create a profile that tracks all of your reading stats, as well as sharing them with your friends on Facebook. Like the sound of this, but already using another eReader? Kobo allows you to import many books from other ereaders – with the exception of Kindle. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.9

32 | ASTRID TASKS & TO-DO LIST Boost your productivity with todo lists and task reminders from Astrid. Much more effective than tying a knot around your finger, the app lets you add detailed description to your reminders as well as create subtasks and apply widgets to your home screen. Better still, you can share lists with friends, housemates and family and assign tasks to individuals. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v4.5.2 ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.1.7

“HOLD YOUR SMARTPHONE UP TO THE SKY TO IDENTIFY THE CONSTELLATIONS AND THE PLANETS”


30 | GOOGLE CURRENTS

29 | TED

28 | SNAPETTE

View all of your favourite news outlets in this chic image-driven reader. Add websites or view special editions from major publishers – such as Forbes, The Guardian, TechCrunch and PBS – with photo slide shows and videos. Currents also provides bespoke breaking news headlines dependent on which country you are in and translates 44 languages. All stories can be saved for offline use.

TED stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment, Design’, and its conferences have become famous for finding speakers who provide “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world”. The app – recently optimised for Android tablets as well as smartphones – features videos and audio of more than 1,200 talks from people who are eminent in their fields, with fresh new uploads released each week.

If you are a dedicated follower of fashion, keep up with the latest trends using Snapette. Browse photos of what other fashion lovers are buying right now in those sartorial hot spots New York, Paris, and Tokyo. Spot something you like? Read reviews from trendsetters and other shoppers, search for the nearest boutique, and receive alerts when items are on special offer. ● Android | OS 2.2| Free | v3.005

● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v1.1.5

● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.5

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.0.1 ● iPhone+ | iOS 6.0 | Free | v2.0

27 | WAZE SOCIAL GPS TRAFFIC & GAS

This community-driven GPS offers traffic reports from users in your area. By simply driving around with Waze on you’re already contributing real-time information, but you can also manually alert users to traffic jams, accidents, speed cameras and other hazards. Designed for motorists, the app can be controlled with voice commands and offers spoken directions.

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v3.5.3.0 ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v3.5.3

24 | FLICKR Recently redesigned, Flickr offers all of the features of the website for a touchscreen device. Adjust brightness and contrast, reduce red-eye, and crop images to add professional finish, and then share them with the community. Flickr’s USP is that it allows you to curate your images and share the stories behind them with titles and descriptions, as well as interact with others through comments. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.5.1 ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.01.772

22 | ENDOMONDO SPORTS TRACKER This fitness app allows you to monitor your duration, distance, speed, and calories burned when jogging or cycling. However, what sets it apart from others is its massive social network. Interact with other users, compete against their best times, share maps and routes for jogging and workout routines, as well as send pep talks that play while friends are running.

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.8.4

26 | SHOPPER

25 | SEESMIC

Powered by Google, Shopper helps you find information on millions of products. Scan cover art and barcodes or voice and text search for an item you are trying to find, and it will provide you with the location of nearby retailers and compares them with online prices. Every item also comes user reviews, even videos in some cases. With one click you can save items to your shopping list and share with your friends.

The social aggregator exclusively for Android, Seesmic allows you to manage your Facebook and Twitter in an interface designed for your device. Add a widget to your home screen to never miss an update from either social network, and post messages to both services simultaneously. Seesmic also offers a great deal of customisation, such as giving you the option to choose which third-party service you use to post photos and videos.

● Android | OS 2.1| Free | v3.1

● Android | OS 2.1| 2.1 Free | v1.8.6


23 | GOOGLE DRIVE Get a complete office suite with word documents, spreadsheets and presentation programs and store all of your files in the cloud with Google Drive.. Access all of your files wherever you can get an internet connection and share any files with your contacts. You can also control how much access contacts have over documents, so you can send PDFs to clients or collaborate with colleagues on the go. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.1.470.15 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.2.2

21 | CUT THE ROPE FULL FREE


Completely free on Google Play but with the same number of levels that iPhone users pay for, Cut the Rope is an awardwinning puzzle game. The adorable little monster Om Nom is hungry and you have to cut ropes and manipulate other elements to drop candy into his mouth. A mixture of cute, cartoonish graphics, gesture controls and strategic gameplay make this innovative game highly addictive.

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v7.2.0

● Android | OS 1.6 | Free | v2.1


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20 | DROPBOX

19 | VIBER

Say goodbye to USB sticks with Dropbox. Once you’ve installed this app on your desktop, any file you save in the software will appear on all of your computers and devices – whether it is your PC at home, work computer, or mobile Android device. As well as a simple way to transfer files, you can also view docs in-app, and the new timeline features makes it easy to flip through your photos.

Make free calls and send text and photos with Viber. This service operates on Android, iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Phone, making it perfect for cross-platform communication. The Android version allows users to apply their phone’s existing alert tones to Viber messages, adding an extra level of integration. Recently updated, Viber now also offers a Send Location feature that allows users to share maps.

● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.0.2

18 | EVERNOTE Evernote is the ultimate productivity app. Write notes to yourself, create to-do lists and set tasks, as well as record voice reminder, and sync them across all of your devices. To organize this mass of information, you can create multiple notebooks for different subjects. For example, you can create one for home and one for work. What’s more, you can apply tags to notes so that you can search for them with ease. ● Android | OS 1.6| Free | v4.5.4 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.1.2

15 | PINTEREST Are you looking for inspirational images, or have you seen something online you would like to share with others? Pinterest allows you to collect and share interesting images from the web and ‘pin’ them to boards. This is a great way of building up a mood board when you are decorating your house or planning a wedding, or just creating a central directory for your consumer fetishes or LOLcats. ● Android | OS 2.2| Free | v1.1.2 ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.1.1

12 | YOUTUBE For those with Android 4.0, the YouTube app has been massively improved. Reflecting the redesign of the world’s most popular video website some time ago, the app’s new improved user interface has a magazine style and it can precache videos from your favourite channels for viewing later. The remote control function also lets you take control of the YouTube website on your desktop with your smartphone.

● Android | OS 2.0| Free | v2.3.1.59 ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.3.0

17 | GOOGLE TRANSLATE Break through language barriers with Google Translate. As well as translating typed words in 65 languages, you can also take a photo of text and this ingenious app will identify any characters and translate those as well. For a limited number of languages, Conversation Mode will allow you to communicate with another person directly, with speech-to-speech translation preventing the embarrassment of terrible diction. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.5.3 ● iPhone+ | iOS 3.0 | Free | v1.3.1

14 | NETFLIX Stream your favourite TV shows and movies wherever you are with the Netflix app. A subscription to the service is required, but with thousands of titles to choose from it is money well spent. If you’re watching on the go and have to stop all of sudden, perhaps to get off the bus, just shut down Netflix on your phone and resume watching on your desktop with cloud playing. ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.1.1 ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.4.4

11 | KINDLE The official eReader from Amazon, the Kindle app will work on any device, not just a Kindle Fire HD. The app includes a built-in dictionary to look up words instantly, as well as search functions for Google and Wikipedia. The Whispersync technology ensures that when you close the app on your phone, you can reopen the same page on your tablet, complete with any notes and bookmarks you left.

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v4.2.16


● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.1.0.4136

● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.5


16 | POCKET How often do you come across a news article online or on Twitter that you would love to read, if only you had the time? Well with Pocket you can. Any webpage or video, even if found while your using a different app, can be saved and synced across all of your devices for later viewing. Best of all, every article is downloaded, so it is available to read offline – meaning you don’t have to rely on 3G or Wi-Fi. ● Android | OS 2.2| Free | v4.3.4 ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v4.2.6

13 | SOUNDCLOUD From indie podcasters to big name artists, ten hours of music are posted to SoundCloud every minute, making this an almost inexhaustible app for music lovers. Like something and want to share it? Repost it. Want to create something? Record it and share across Facebook and Twitter to your friends and followers. Lockscreen playback is supported and there is a record widget for easy access. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.4.5


10 | CHROME

09 | SNAPSEED

08 | TEMPLE RUN

Incredibly fast and extremely good-looking, Chrome is a complete package. Swipe through unlimited tabs the way you would a fan of cards on your smartphone, or edge to edge to switch on your tablet. The Google-made browser also allows you to sync your custom Chrome settings, such as bookmarks, from your desktop your device so you can continue to surf the web without interruption wherever you are.

With a mixture of tutorials to guide you through every step of the editing process and high-quality editing tools, Snapseed is perfect for both beginners and pros. It has a range of tools, including selective adjust, cropping, and straightening, as well as vintage filters to modify and improve your photos. After you’ve treated your images, share them with friends, family and other circles on Google+.

While the sequel has just been released, the original Temple Run still offers hours of entertainment. Swipe and tilt the screen to collect coins, slide under and jump over obstacles, and always stay out of reach of demonic monkeys. The Android version of Temple Run has the added bonus that you can tweak the sensitivity of your controls, giving you added playability over those playing on iOS devices.




● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.6

06 | ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS

05 | INSTAGRAM

● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v23.0.1271.100

07 | MAPS Never use a paper map or a GPS device ever again thanks to Maps. Powered by Google Maps, you can find all the same services that make the website indispensable, and more. View a mixture of high-quality maps, featuring 3D buildings, aerial satellite images and close up Street View images. The app also offers live traffic information and voice guided, turn-byturn navigation to help you find your way around. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.0

04 | GOOGLE GOGGLES Search with Google using images. Take a photo with your device at a painting, a famous landmark, or a QR code, and Google Googles will recognize it and provide you will relevant links. Harnessing the power of Google Translate and Shopper in a single app, find products online and translate words with a simple tap of your touchscreen. Goggles is so advanced, if you take a picture of your Soduku puzzle, the app will solve it for you! ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.9

“FIND PRODUCTS ONLINE AND TRANSLATE WORDS WITH A SIMPLE TAP OF YOUR TOUCHSCREEN”

Despite its recent PR fiasco over changes to its privacy policy, Instagram remains the trendiest of photo-based social networks. Apply retro filters, borders and effects like tilt-shift to images and instantly transform dull profile pictures into works of art. Like other users’ pictures, add comments, and share your own across all the other major social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, with a simple tap.

In this fusion of two universes, you play an avian adaptation of the Rebel Alliance fighting against the evil Pig Empire. To destroy their bases on multiple worlds, including a Death Star with a snout, you must fling bird versions of Luke Skywalker, Chewy, Han Solo and the rest, at Pigtroopers. The game is only free on Android, though there is a free demo on iOS.




● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.1.0

03 | FACEBOOK The definitive social networking app, Facebook is the easiest way to stay in touch with friends and family on your Android device. Share what is going on in your world with status updates and view their photos and videos in your Timeline. Facebook is now a native app on new Android devices, making it twice fast to load when looking at photos and making your Timeline much faster to launch. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPad+ iPad+|| iOS 4.3 | Free | v5.4

02 | TWITTER The most popular Twitter app on Google Play remains the original, and with good reason. Its clean interface is effortlessly stylish and its simple tap-to-tweet approach makes it easy to microblog on the go. The recent addition of photo editing and filters is only available on the app version, giving Instagram direct competition. With the new update, switching between accounts has also never been simpler. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.6.0 ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v5.2.1

01 | SKYPE Say goodbye to expensive calls with free video chats between users and calls to mobile and landlines lines at lower rates than standard mobile operators. Like many other communication apps, Skype also allows you to send photos, with the added bonus that there is no cap on file size, giving this fun feature a practical use as an alternative to reaching email size limits or paying expensive MMS charges. ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.0.0.6181 | iOS 4.3 | Free | v4.2.2 ● iPad+ iPad+|iOS


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FEATURE | CREATE A GOOGLE PHONE

CREATE A GOOGLE PHONE Get all of the streamlined style and power of Google on your phone

G

oogle is the default search engine for 300 million people, and who can blame them? With its uncluttered style, Google can provide you with all the information you need in a matter of seconds. Extend this streamlined, supercharged power to your mobile device by replacing all the native apps on your

device with Google-produced apps like Chrome instead of Safari or Google Maps instead of Apple Maps. Naturally, many Android phones include these, but users can always improve their home screens with apps like Snapseed and Google Goggles.

IN THE DOCK

Google can replace all of your essential apps 1

2

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4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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GOOGLE+

Have your social life at your fingertips by placing Google+ on the home screen. Handily, it links to a large number of apps for media sharing.

● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v4.2

GMAIL

Manage multiple accounts at once, as well as adding labels that form part of the email notification so you can manage your mail even better. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.0.1

CHROME

Native browsers have a habit of being pretty unspectacular, and when you have Chrome available for free it would be mad not to make this switch. You can log in and load bookmarks from your desktop so you can pick up right where you left off. ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v23


CREATE A GOOGLE PHONE | FEATURE

BEYOND BROWSING Google offers apps for every aspect of your mobile experience

1

2

GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC

5

Shop and listen to tracks effortlessly from within this single app. Play Music also allows users to favourite songs for offline listening. The app also comes with links to Google+ so you can share entire playlists and interact off the back of your musical taste.

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v4.4.811H.526848

SNAPSEED

6

Having been acquired by Google, Snapseed has now gone free and comes with built-in Google+ capabilities for users. For these reasons, and of course the great interface and editing suite, Snapseed needs to be on your Android home screen as your go-to camera app.


GOOGLE SHOPPER

7

YOUTUBE

GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v4.2.16 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.1.0.4136

● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.4.2

3

4

Deserves a place on your home screen solely because of the sheer weight and depth of content that it brings.

Built within a very clean and smart interface, Play Books need be your only destination for literary pleasure .

Sometimes some urgent shopping is required, and this app covers every base to make sure you also shop smart with barcode scanning and price comparisons to ensure you get the best deal.

● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.1 ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.1

GOOGLE GOGGLES

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A hugely impressive search engine that bases your results on an image you snap within the app. So should you want to know more about a piece of art, or identify someone you can’t quite place, Google Goggles can look through the Google database for the answer.


GOOGLE FINANCE

Information-laden app that is a must for any market watcher, with three main tabs showing live market updates, news stories, and a summary of your portfolio’s performance.

9


GOOGLE TRANSLATE

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Such a wonderfully useful tool to have close to hand, Google Translate can spell out phrases in more than 60 languages, as well as translate text in images and from speech.


GOOGLE MAPS

GOOGLE CURRENTS

● Android | Varies | Free | Varies ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.1 | Free | v1.0

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.0.0 ● iPhone+ | iOS 6.0 | Free | v2.0

Unrivalled mapping that provides users with the directions they need, and routes based on transport.

Sign up to various news feeds and see your content delivered seamlessly in a digital magazine style.

GOOGLE CALENDAR

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Not only can you create and edit events and send out instant notifications to attendees, but the app allows you to display events across all your calendars – even non-Google ones.

● Android | OS 4.0.3 | Free | v201212060


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FREE | GROUP TEST

FREE ALTERNATIVES TO… INSTAPAPER MAKE BROWSING THE WEB AND GETTING THE NEWS YOU WANT TO READ AN EXPERIENCE YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR

THE PAID APP INSTAPAPER

Having the entire web at your fingertips on your smartphone or tablet is a wonderful thing. Of course, having the time to actually go through and enjoy all the content you want is another matter. This problem has led to a boom in newsfeed and reader apps that give users the chance to aggregate and bookmark everything they do want to see, so they can skip the stuff they don’t. The leading premium app in its field, Instapaper, does this through a clean and simple interface. Users can save webpages as text-only articles that can be saved for offline viewing, so you can read them anywhere without incurring roaming charges.

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v4.2.7 ● Android | OS 2.3.3 | £1.93/$2.99 | v1.2

THE ALTERNATIVES FLIPBOARD

When it comes to making the news you read a personal experience, few do it as stylishly as Flipboard. The app is in essence a digital magazine, with feeds and sources laid out to imitate a print publication, but everything is catered to you. Socially, you can hook the app up to your social networks and see what your friends are reading. While Flipboard will provide you with news sources when you choose a topic you like, it is also possible to search them out for yourself, and that extends to video content too. When it comes to news and personalisation, Flipboard is the app everyone is trying to replicate.

PULSE

Two key things make Pulse stand out: functionality and sources. While all the apps here boast an impressive range of news sources, Pulse’s support of smaller blogs is a refreshing inclusion. It is also worth noting that unlike Flipboard, Pulse has links with Google Reader, so users can upload their RSS feeds into their Pulse account. Functionality-wise, the multitouch ability of your smartphone screen is put to perfect use; allowing you to swipe through more than one feed at a time, so getting a snapshot of the news is quicker than ever. A great app that is only prevented from winning by the subscription charges.

GOOGLE CURRENTS

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.9.8 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.9.19

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.0.4 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | 3.0.6

● iPad+ | iOS 4.0 | Free | v1.1.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.0.1


With the power of Google on its side, Currents is a very good way of sourcing the latest and trending news stories, which certainly makes the name feel apt. Major news sources are also well catered for as you can streamline websites, leaving just articles and related content. Currents is based around a plain white interface for the most part, and it’s clear that this app is designed to take the franticness and the disorganisation that could characterize web browsing and make it disappear, leaving only the information you’re actually interested in. Doesn’t feel like it has the most to offer feature-wise, but it’s a solid free alternative.

GROUP TEST | FREE

NEWS360

READABILITY

POCKET

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.6.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v2.2.12

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.2.4 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.0.3

● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v4.2.6 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v4.3.4

Following the set-up that has proved successful for internet radio apps, News360 seeks your approval on all the stories it supplies you with in order to learn – and ultimately better cater to – your news needs. This means that the more you use the app, the better the personalisation will become. The single-screen design is great for quick browsing and easy to work with, and links to the original stories in Reader format are also available. There is definitely an emphasis placed on convenience as opposed to style, unlike some of its competitors here. Gets better the more you use it, but doesn’t have enough to upset the heavyweights here.

Readability feels sophisticated – from little touches like the typography, to the simple yet clever interface that is very responsive to user touch and interaction. The app does say it will transform any webpage into the clean white screen that defines the app, and although this isn’t completely true, users will appreciate it when it is possible. This app, along with Pocket, is closest to directly mimicking the functionality of Instapaper, with a Read Later option on every article giving users the chance to create a sculpted reading list for whenever they get around to it. Complete with an in-app browser for complete freedom, Readability is a great replacement.

Arguably gives you more than Instapaper and comes without the price tag; Pocket has an initial set-up process that integrates the app with the Bookmarks setting of your web browser, so users can save pages in a couple of taps. The app then organises everything you save depending on whether its an article, image or video clip. The beauty of Pocket is that you’re not limited to text. The app’s interface is well organised, making everything feel personal and very much in your hands in terms of how the web comes to you. Takes a few moments to set up, but is then a great way to save things you want to read in your own time.


37

FREE | REVIEW

ABOVE: The filters all do a range of things with both the visual and audio of your original footage

ABOVE: When you upload your own videos, you can add captions or descriptions to your clips

CINEBEAT

MAKE THAT MUSIC VIDEO FANTASY OF YOURS A REALITY PROS/CONS ▲ A fun and unique

way to edit video on iOS

▲ Contains an

interface that is joyfully simple to navigate

▼ Lack of a save

feature is very frustrating

▼ The Facebook

link can be temperamental

DOWNLOAD NOW!

It seems that anyone and everyone can make a music video these days; whether you have the potential to be the next sensation or just a viral hit, the line has been blurred between what divides ‘real’ directors and the rest of us mere mortals. Apps like Cinebeat give ordinary iOS users the chance to catch a glimpse of what things might look like if they were to star in a music video, or indeed become the next £1 Fish man. The app takes 15-second clips recorded on your device, and then through a range of filters that would have even the most avid Instagram user weak at the sepiatoned knees, remixes and transforms what you’ve captured into cool musical snippets that you can share with the community and world at large.

INTERVIEW: PRERNA GUPTA Cinebeat’s chief product officer takes us through the app


It may sound like it should be an extensive process, but one of Cinebeat’s best selling points is its accessibility; a simple interface that makes recording and sharing your video a process of potentially no more than three taps. Limiting clips to 15 seconds might feel short when it comes to the ‘starring in a music video’ theory behind the app, but scroll through the Cinebeat feed and you’ll see that creativity is not in short supply when it comes to filling the time span, with everything from funny pet habits to audio status updates being covered in the time frame – all with a punk soundbed and lens flare accompaniment, naturally. Using the app as a social soapbox is something that was most definitely expected by developer Smule, as the app’s interface is very much geared

WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA FOR SUCH AN UNUSUAL APP? We make a lot of music videos here at Smule to demonstrate our music apps, and taken together, these videos have received over 200 million views on YouTube. We have so much fun making music videos, that we felt we needed to share this joy with the rest of the world. So we set out to create an app that allows people to make quirky music videos with just one tap.

towards sharing and interaction with other users. Just spend a few minutes within Cinebeat and you’ll be able to make comparisons to social sharing kings like Flickr. The app gives you the option to sign in using Facebook when you first launch, and each video posted can be favourited and commented on by others. Posts in Cinebeat are certainly more unique than in most other video apps, so interaction feels inevitable. Of course you need to draw the interaction from others by posting something that will catch their attention, and this actually isn’t as hard as you might think. The best way to learn about Cinebeat is to just start recording anything, and even doing this with the seemingly mundane events of your living room can spark enjoyment once given a shot of adrenaline through the filter

WAS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT MADE YOU WANT TO DEVELOP SUCH AN APP? Our mission is to bring the joy of music creation into the lives of millions of people around the world. We hope to make musical self-expression as ubiquitous as other forms of social expression are today. We felt that a music video creation app would be a powerful way to do that.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE LENGTH OF THE VIDEOS?

THE APP DOES A GREAT JOB OF REMIXING YOUR VIDEOS; WAS THAT A DIFFICULT ASPECT TO DEVELOP?

Many of the audio technologies we use will double the length of the video. We felt that videos longer than 30 seconds would generally feel too long to most people, so that brought us down to a 15-second limit. We do get a lot of requests for longer recording length, however, so we will be adding a premium feature in the next release (version 1.0.4), which will allow users to record up to 30 seconds.

Yes, it was quite a challenge. The underlying audio remixing technologies have been developed over several years, and have been used to power Songify and AutoRap. For CineBeat, we added a video component that re-sequences the video based on the audio. This was not an easy task, and required some serious low-level programming work. Fortunately, we have some very talented engineers.

Review | free

HOW TO…

Create cool snippets with cinebeat 01. Select Camera When you’re ready to create your own videos on Cinebeat, you’ll find the camera icon present at the bottom of the right-hand column under the feed. All it takes is one tap and you are ready to go.

Above: The app is full of other users who are sharing their own Cinebeat creations and interacting with other members of the community

“scroll through the Cinebeat feed and you’ll see that creativity is not in short supply” process. Capturing is very easy; with a camera icon in the clean interface’s sidebar, and a timer counting down your 15 seconds as you record. Once completed the list of filters appear at the bottom of the screen as a scroll bar, though do look out for those with a padlock icon as they will require an inapp purchase in order to be accessible. Without them though there is still a great range of things you can do to make your uploads stand out. Most, if not all of the filters apply some interesting lens effects to your footage. Lens flair and aging are both common touches, as well as borders and other vignettes that immediately make the video more visually interesting. A lot of the filters will also play with the levels and indeed the sound of the audio; auto-tuning and remixing to create fun results. This is done automatically when you select a filter to preview, and takes place in around a second, keeping the

smooth user experience that you’ve encountered up to now going. This also means that you can exercise a trybefore-you-buy mentality by previewing various filters on your clip before settling on one you want to use when sharing. On the subject of sharing, however, you will uncover the biggest flaw within Cinebeat in the form, or indeed lack of, a saving space. The app is very black and white when it comes to storing your clips; it says you can’t. If you choose not to share a video then and there, it is lost forever. It’s a frustrating feature but one that shouldn’t hold you back from trying out Cinebeat. You could update your Facebook status, telling the world exactly what you think of it. Just keep it to 15 seconds. Fun to experiment with, but it also has enough creativity to satisfy serious users.

02. Capture Screen The capture screen is very simple to navigate. Icons are kept to a minimum, and a counter helps you get the most from your 15-seconds. There’s also a link to your Camera Roll to upload footage. 03. Apply filters Having recorded your footage, Cinebeat presents you with a host of filters to put a different spin on your original video. Swipe through all the filters on offer, and preview them with a tap.

04. Share with Cinebeat Once you’re happy with what has been created, tap the tick icon to share. This will initially post your video to the Cinebeat community, complete with a caption should you want one.

l iPad+ | iOS 6.0 | Free | v1.0.3

05. Share with friends The video will appear in the Cinebeat newsfeed, and you can share it even further by hitting the share icon on the video, and then selecting your desired destination from the pop-up window.

The community and sharing side is also a big part of Cinebeat; was this always the intention?

What is it about CineBeat that you think makes it so appealing?

How did you decide on the range of filters that were included?

Yes, CineBeat was conceived of from the beginning as a social app. We wanted to enable users to express themselves socially with music videos.

It’s the ability to create a highly polished and fully-edited music video with just one tap. When you select one of the filters, the app automatically selects a musical track, splices and re-sequences the video to fit with the beat of the track, processes the audio input to make it more musical, and adds overlays and colour maps to make the picture prettier.

It was by no means a scientific process. It was an artistic process, involving music tracks composed by musicians, overlays created by video editors, colormaps created by designers, and a bit of algorithmic magic.

Have you been impressed by the level of creativity from your users? It has completely blown us away. Our goal has always been to use technology to enhance creativity among everyday people. CineBeat has done this in really surprising ways. For example, many users have made really engaging music videos with their young children dancing, or dogs doing tricks. CineBeat has also unleashed incredible musical talent. Many of our top videos are of people creating their own music by singing, playing guitar, or piano, which was completely unexpected!

Did you ever expect the sort of response the app has received?

It’s always difficult to know what sort of response to expect, anytime we launch an app, but we have been truly amazed by how engaged and devoted users have been to the app. We have users spending literally hours per day making amazingly creative and expressive videos!

What has the feedback been like so far? Ecstatic! The app has glowing reviews and a 4.5 starrating in iTunes. We already have over 1 million users since launching it last month, and it continues to grow. Our users are very engaged and are starting to build a tight-knit community of music lovers!

Are there plans in place to update the app? Yes, we have a lot of exciting updates coming up, including several new filters. This is just the beginning.


39

free | review

Above: Use the social icons at the bottom to comment, like and favourite images

Above: Scroll through the feed of images and should any catch your eye, you can tap to view fullscreen

500px

Having been the envy of iPhone users for some time, 500px has finally surfaced as a multi-device compatible app. Everything you’ve seen before and loved on the iPad is here pretty much; this is essentially a streamlined version of the coffee-table photography gallery. There have been some teething problems though, with 500px disappearing from the App Store briefly due to age rating issues. Thankfully these have been solved by an update, and the app is up and running once again. There are social features on every image so within a few taps you can find out the photographer and begin to interact with them by following their profile, commenting, liking or favouriting their photos.

Right: View the activity of other 500px users in the smooth interface

The stunning photography gallery comes to iPhone Doing this adds images to your Flow, which is a new feature for 500px on mobile devices and is being premiered for the first time on iPhone. Flow is a personalised feed of all the images that you have interacted with, so you can essentially use it as a storage space for all the photos you find that truly appeal to you. Unfortunately, unlike the iPad version, you don’t have the ability to purchase images that you like. On the iPhone the app is purely a gallery of images. It is also, perhaps to be expected, a very polished and well-designed place to be. There is a drop-down menu of categories to explore, as well as a handy search tool should you want to look for something specific yourself. Tap the icon next to the this list option and you can access the personal settings of the app; a feed of your

own photos as well as your 500px profile. This is an area that might catch some users by surprise; 500px is a very good social arena for interacting with others who share a passion for all manners of photography. The app comes with links to both Twitter and Facebook, and you can log in using either and then sync your contact list to see who else is using 500px. It’s been a long time coming, but finally iPhone users can revel in some of the best photography around without having to switch devices, or just stare lovingly at the screenshots on the App Store. Slick to work with, and essentially an extension of the existing app rather than a new one. l iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.0.2 l Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.3.1.0

download now! Pros/Cons sT he Flow feature

is a nice addition to the mobile photo browsing app

sT he interface is

slick and a breeze to work with

▼ Unable to purchase and download photos in the iPhone version

▼ Beyond Flow there isn’t anything else hugely innovative

Showcase

The five best features of 500px

01 The Grid

Your 500px newsfeed is what you’re greeted by upon opening the app, and all that high-quality photography together is quite a sight.


02 Photos

Scroll through the enormous feed of images, and should any particularly catch your eye, you can tap and see them fullscreen in an instant.

03 Comments

As well as the image on screen, you will notice some social icons at the bottom of the screen. Use these to comment, like and favourite images.

04 Info

You can also access the photo’s information, with technical specifications such as Camera model, Aperture and ISO, as well as its views and likes.

05 Flow

Anything you do interact with is then added to your Flow, which is a great personal area of the app displaying the photos you’ve liked and so on.

REVIEW | FREE

ZIME (BETA)

WHO SAYS iOS OS GETS ALL THE BEST LOOKING APPS?

It’s a bit of an urban myth that because of its harsher approval policy, the sleeker, better-looking apps of this world are more likely to be found on the App Store than on Google Play. This is something that Zime is happy to try and prove wrong, with a unique 3D interface that literally gives new dimensions to your calendar and organisational side. The home screen of the app sees the days both ahead and just passed curve down the screen as though towards you, creating a cool 3D effect against the artistic background image. The interface itself is also very responsive, with accurate taps for users to drop in tasks at specific times, and pinch-gestures to extend the length of the task or event you want to drop in. This can all be done via the drop-down menu and data input, but the gestures method is more than accurate enough. Zime may still be in beta but the app is already impressively functional and feature-filled, with calendar syncing from your Gmail account as well as Facebook, and the ability to prioritise the tasks you drop into your calendar in a separate list. On the subject of tasks, one piece of functionality that did catch our eye is the way users can set different types of tasks. For example, if it is time sensitive then there is a fixed-task option that applies a time and date to the to-do. However, there is also a ‘floating’ option, which is ideal for those less pressing tasks that

LEFT: The 3D-style

interface makes for a new perspective of your calendar, but allows you to see what’s coming up in your schedule

LEFT: You can enter

detailed notes and points regarding your events, and set reminders

DOWNLOAD NOW! can sit on the back-burner for now, but need to be fresh in the mind. Although Zime has to-do and calendar in its extended name, it feels much more like an intuitive, all-round organiser. This is further highlighted by the inclusion of a timeliness chart, where you can keep track of how on-the-ball and on-time you are for certain engagements each month. Each one of your events is logged here, and you can use a scroll bar to

say whether you were early or late in arriving. This data is then used to build a graph you can monitor. Everything in Zime then is geared to making your life a smoother running operation, and it does a great job, while maintaining some very good looks, too. A very promising app in beta, and well worth keeping an eye on. ● Android | OS 4.0 | Free | v1.0.1.9

Pros/Cons ▲ Eye-catching

and engaging compared to a lot of calendar apps

▲ Already has plenty of great features and is still only in beta – amazing!

▼ Some bugs here and there

▼ No option to add

further calendars

SHOWCASE

The five most eye-catching parts of Zime

01 HOME

Zime’s home screen is brilliantly eyecatching. With its cool 3D effect that mimics a physical Rolodex, your calendar has never looked anything like this.

02 GESTURES

The interface is both responsive and intuitive, with taps, swipes and pinches galore to help you create and edit events in your calendar.

03 TASKS

As well as the usual calendar events, you can drop in tasks, and these can be fixed to a specific time and date point or left floating and ongoing.

04 VIEW

Use the pinch gesture to alter the calendar view, zooming out to see a breakdown of your events, or zooming in for more precise event creation.

05 TIMELINESS

As well as the app’s main functions, there is a clever timeliness tool, that is included to help users keep a check on when they have to make appointments.


41

FREE | review

Temple Run 2

ABOVE: There are whole new areas to move through

The Dandy

When you look at the unprecedented success of Temple Run, it’s easy to see why Imangi Studios decided to go back and make another endless runner. This is the game that received 75 million downloads on iOS alone last year, and even spawned a Disney tie-in with Temple Run: Brave. But repeating success is never an easy feat – ‘the difficult second album’, as the expression goes. Temple Run 2 looks to build on the success of the original by keeping the controls, and principle the same – just adding a few new features here and there. The most obvious of which is the dramatic change of setting, which is moved from the jungle to a host of sky-based pathways, as well as the odd mine here and there. The mine forms part of the extended gameplay, where players have to tilt their cart as well as duck in order to avoid blockades. This sequel also now comes with more power-ups and achievements, so you might find your scores being higher to begin with. This isn’t to say the game is easier than the original however, if anything Temple Run 2 is a more difficult game to get the hang of, with the new cart sections to get used to, as well as the curving pathways and slopes that can mess with your perspective just long enough to cause you problems.

Sequels, why does it always have to be sequels?

ABOVE: The Temple Run ABOVE: Be on the lookout sequel takes you from for various power-ups to the jungle into the clouds help boost your score The inescapable issue here though is that we’ve seen it all before – and this time around you can’t get quite as excited about Temple Run. Even though there are some cool new things to enjoy, it’s more of the same. Tries to build on the original but doesn’t do enough to eclipse it’s older sibling. l iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.0.1 l Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.0.1.1

Right: The app’s home screen mimics the panels of the comics

Desperate Dan reinvents himself for the digital era After 75 years of entertaining children, The Dandy comic book has now given up print publishing in favour of digital production. The Dandy app comes with a free sample of what you can expect from the reinvented rag. Starring the likes of Desperate Dan and The Numskulls, tap your way through stories, triggering animated elements and moving between panels. The app also includes range of features for young ones to enjoy. Perhaps most excitingly for fans, you can create an avatar for yourself,

and the most impressive avatars will appear in the background of a future issue. There are also games, including a Bananaman running game and a soundboard full of funny noises. This app promises hours of entertainment, but the in-app system for purchasing issues needs flagging up. Instead of simply paying £1.99 for an issue, you must buy 100 credits, which is worth the same, or 500 for £4.99 to buy the issues of your choice. This is a subtle way of trying to sell you a subscription, which is not objectionable, but without any parental controls your child might accidentally purchase a maximum of 2,500 credits

Above: Create an avatar for yourself and it might appear in the background of a comic strip

Above: The children’s comic has been rebooted for the smartphone era with moving graphics


for £19.99. The app also has some bugs to fix as it occasionally lagged or crashed. The Dandy is set to launch on iOS in the near future. Hopefully this include updates that fix these problems. Great entertainment for kids, but the move to digital has a few kinks to work out. l Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.1.1

Above: Issue Zero offers a free sample of the new format and a teaser for future issues

REVIEW | FREE

BATTLEFRIENDS AT SEA

BIG WIN BASKETBALL

Battleships is truly ubiquitous, so an online version makes a lot of sense. The graphics and sound effects are excellent, but the turn-based nature of the game means it can take a very long time to complete one round, with little action required during each turn. The free version is perfectly playable, but premium gives you a generous amount of credits and removes the ads completely. This is an excellent digital version of the game, but the slow pace can get frustrating. A fun experience that suffers from a general lack of pace, which is unavoidable.

Originality is often lacking in mobile games, with so many developers aiming to emulate the ‘next big thing’, but a mixture of card game and basketball ticks our boxes. You can compete against players online, and much thought is needed to make the perfect play and ultimately win each match. Despite a slow and at times confusing start, you will find yourself eyes down as you battle against your online opponents. It works on almost every level. An unusual mix of card game and sporting simulator that works extremely well.





BITCASA

Bitcasa is a similar service to Dropbox, but claims to offer unlimited space for any Android user. Photos can be uploaded automatically, and you can also save documents, videos and almost anything else you like within an interface that gives you all of the space you could ever need. However, even though the performance was good most of the time in our tests, there was the occasional slow down, and we are struggling to see where the business model will allow for prolonged use. It does offer some decent features though for no financial outlay. A good online solution that has unlimited space and the occasional performance problem. ● Android | OS 2.3 | Free | v1.0.53

ENJOY MEMES

01 REDDIT PICS HD

View thousands of hilarious photos and GIFs in reddit’s image app, with new pictures added every hour. ★★★★★

● iPad+| iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.2.0 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v5.6

02 TUMBLR Manage your account and

post rage comics and LOLcats wherever you are with the official app.

DUELING BLADES FLOCK

ROAMING FORTRESS

Dueling Blades brings together most of the ingredients you need for an immersive gaming experience. You need to think about what you are doing as you battle new opponents, use your skills, and level up when the time is right. The graphics work perfectly for the genre, and the multiplayer system is as good as we have seen elsewhere, but performance can be patchy at times – with the occasional slow-down or frozen screen. Overall, however, it offers much longevity and lets you duel your friends or strangers whenever you want in a beautiful environment. A clever and detailed multiplayer duelling game with sharp graphics that detail stunning scenery.

The idea behind Flock is brilliant, and it works 60 per cent of the time, every time. When you take photos, the app will attempt to share them and automatically recognise who is in the photo using specific data. These photos can then be shared with the participants who can save them to capture their own memories. There is some duplication with Facebook functionality, and the fact that it has to use only Facebook may be seen as a disadvantage by some, but for the task it is supposed to perform, it succeeds and has the potential to be huge. A clever photo sharing app with automatic matching features that work very well. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.5.0

● iPad | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.0

● Android | OS 2.3.3 | Free | v1.0



Describing Roaming Fortress is not easy, but if you can imaging a tower defence game in which your kingdom moves on an animal, with a host of extras thrown in such as different enemy types and gradually increasing waves of opponents – you won’t be far wrong. This tablet game is blessed with lovely graphics and animations, and a genuine sense of growth as you progress. Original and engaging; without just the occasional bug it could be wonderful. Great graphics, much longevity and originality, but with the occasional bug thrown in.

★★★★★ ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.2.4 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v3.2.2

03 MEMATIC Add captions, borders and backgrounds to your own photos and share them with the world to get your own meme trending!

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.1

04 MEME GENERATOR FREE Choose from more than 400 established memes, apply your effects and captions, and import your own images.

★★★★★ ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.855

05 FAIL BOX Receive daily funny fail

photos, share with friends and save favourites for offline viewing.

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v2.3


43

FREE | REVIEW

BBC SPORT SPORTING UK CONTENT FROM AN EXPERT PANEL OF JOURNALISTS

Finally, the BBC has produced a sports app after what seems like forever – and many will be pleased to know that is has, by and large, been worth the wait. While there is not a lot of difference between the app and the mobile web version of BBC Sport, it is extremely comprehensive, representing a host of sport from football to F1 to tennis and cricket. As you would expect, the content is pulled in from the main BBC website. There are some issues: we found it couldn’t connect to the web at times, and when this is the case, you don’t get any content. But when it works, it works a treat. Press the Menu button and you’ll see all of the content you could hope for. Tapping stories calls them up, and they make good use of the screen. A menu runs across the top of each section, letting you see, for example, live scores, results and fixtures. There are tables, leagues, and a healthy dose of sports gossip. The more you play with it, the more content you see. It has depth. The date and time is clearly labelled on every story and there is a good use of images. The app

ABOVE: Stories are ABOVE: Up to date information – and football is particularly well catered for in the app

also has many hyperlinks. Tap on one and it will take you to another story or service, and again this provides the extra winning layers that make this a must-have download for any sports fan.

RAD SOLDIERS The turn-based strategy game takes on a new lease of life with RAD Soldiers, a game that has you assembling a group of fearless mercenaries and sending them to do battle with alien rockets falling from the sky. As an exclusive iOS title, it is clear the developers have channelled their energies into creating an experience that is not only graphically and sonically polished, but has a quality of gameplay that is right up there with the best console games. It looks and feels amazing. While the game itself can be downloaded for free, if you really want to get anywhere, you need to shell out hard cash – and yet because the game is about mercenaries, this seems rather apt. Poetic, almost. It’s one of the few occasions when you don’t actually mind paying and, besides, there is no hiding the fact that money is at the heart of the matter, so you never feel duped. Cash buys you better weapons, costumes, and the like. But this is all just secondary when it comes to tactical violence – the factor that underpins the whole thing and ensures that it gets off to a bang. A tutorial takes you through your paces early on, and then you can choose to play in multiplayer or single mode and get firing, moving across a series of squares and taking advantage of the six specialists on your team in order to make steady progress.


clearly presented and labelled, and you also get some well shot photos included

Easy to navigate and jammed with news and information, sport fans cannot go without this. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.2.0

BELOW: When you shoot or

SHOOT TO KILL IN A GAME THAT IS, ER, RAD

perform an action, your energy bars are reduced – when gone, the turn ends

When you shoot, move or use a special move, energy is zapped. Use up the lot and your turn ends (unless you decide to end it sooner). This is great when playing alone but even better when going head-to-head with a friend (or stranger). A richly rewarding game that is hugely entertaining, and one you will stick with for a long time. ● iPhone+ | iOS 3.1.3 | Free | v1.0.9

ABOVE: The tutorial is a handy addition

REVIEW | FREE

ABOVE: You can personalise your Pup-e-card with ease

ABOVE: There are lots of dogs to choose RIGHT: You can also donate to the from, each with several photos Guide Dogs charity in-app

PUP-E-CARDS

A VIRTUAL CUDDLY FRIEND AND RAISING AWARENESS IN A SINGLE MESSAGE

Promoting the good work of a charity is always a worthy cause, and Guide Dogs, the organisation that helps partially sighted people in the UK, has produced a way to help do that, while at the same time allowing users to create and send thoughtful eCards. The app is filled with nearly 100 high-quality images of guide dogs and guide dog puppies that can be used on the cover of cards, which users can personalise and send via email or through social networks. The process of creating and sending is very simple, with just a few easy steps to follow in order to create and send your card. You begin by choosing the frame you would like to border your main image, with five to choose from, before the really difficult business begins. This of course is the

choosing of a puppy to grace your cover. They are the stars of this app, and any dog or indeed animal lover might struggle to contain themselves when scrolling through the photos on offer. The amount of choice is impressive, with a minimum of three different photos for each of the dogs featured. There’s then a message screen to personalise your card before choosing one of the sending options of either email, Facebook, or Twitter. It’s all very straightforward, and a nice way to mark a birthday or other occasion with something that’s a bit different. In truth you won’t be blown away by the functionality of the app, but sending a card isn’t the only reason for this app. The menu screen contains details on the charity’s work and a link to donate if you would like to do so. One nice piece

of functionality worth mentioning is the calendar sync, which allows users to upload Facebook birthdays as well as events from their device calendar, and then be reminded of them before sending an eCard. Pup-e-cards won’t be something that you use everyday, and there is definitely a novelty factor here, but your canine loving friends might well appreciate the cards. The real aim here is to boost the profile of a worthy cause, and should your interest be piqued, this is the ideal way for you to get involved. A nice way to raise awareness of a great charity while being productive with remembering birthdays and occasions.

DOWNLOAD NOW! Pros/Cons ▲ An impressive

amount of images on offer

▲ Very simple to

create and send your cards

▼ Limited designs to choose from

▼ Some lag on the preview screen

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.1 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.0.8

HOW TO…

Create your Pup-e-card

01

On the home screen you’ll find ways to sync your calendar with the app, but the top option – Create Pup-e-card – is where you need to be.

02

The first step is to select the frame you would like to border your main image. There are five to choose from, and you scroll down to see them all.

03

Assuming you’ve settled on a frame, you can choose a puppy to be the star of your card, with several images available for each cute little pooch.

04

Once you have made a decision on the cover, you can add a message to the inside of the card. There are seven font colours to choose from, too.

05

Having reached a point where you’re happy with your Pup-e-card you can preview it before going through the sending and sharing process.


45

free | review

Antiques Roadshow

Dash Office

Novation Launchkey

If you need to see how fast your network is running, the amount of data you are using, and how secure your iPhone or iPad really is, then Dash Office is the solution. The fact that it is free makes this even more of an essential download, which you’ll realise when you cycle through the headings at the top, looking at the network, speed, stats and data plan, while the app runs tests. You may be a little apprehensive about the configuration changes needed for your device, and with good reason, but it also offers a web browser faster than Safari if you do. It’s not the sort of app we’d return to time after time, but it has myriad uses.

As simple to play as it is to set up, it appears that no matter what you press, you end up with a great tune to which you can add reverb, feedback, and all manner of other presets. The two octave onscreen keyboard is instantly inviting and, while we would say it is more of an application that’s something to play around with rather than for serious musical use, there’s no reason to think accomplished users wouldn’t get quite a lot of interesting sounds from this. Make yourself one with the music, as almost everything you touch produces some excellent audio effects.

l iPhone+ | iOS 5.1 | Free | v1.0.3 l Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.0.3

l iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.09

l iPad | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.0

wezzoo

TripLingo

Fliptape

HHHHH

It is often said that if you want to know what the weather is, the best thing to do is look out of your window. With Wezzoo, you can look out of other people’s windows, with real-time weather maps from across the world and the ability to add data about your locality too. The app uses a detailed map and allows you to monitor activity and your own meteorological profile. You can search areas and see who has posted most recently. With photographs of areas and the details of each being refreshingly brief, it makes weather fun again. There weren’t too many Brits on Wezzoo when we looked, which we found odd given their obsession with weather.

If there is one thing we hate, it’s being made to open an account. It’s even worse when we just don’t think it is necessary. So it is that TripLingo does just that, and it is a shame when this great translation solution can give you formal, informal, and downright silly phrases from Spanish, French, Mandarin and many other languages. There are language packs that you need to buy to make full use of the app (which makes that registration all the more annoying – no one likes having to make an in-app purchase) but the audio is quality and there is also access to a live translator. Warning to developers: don’t put up barriers – and that’s the same advice in any language.

Before we go any further, you should know that this app needs the premium version of Spotify in order to run. If that’s something you have, let us say that this is a wonderful app, allowing you to not only play Spotify songs, but also to listen to the songs that your friends are blasting in real-time. All you have to do is hook up with those pals and it will then tap into their music activity. It brings a whole new social media dimension to Spotify and it allows you to discover brand new music too. The app is free – and that makes it essential to subscribers in our book. User-friendly and effective, Fliptape is a well-executed idea.

l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.5.1 l Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.5.1

l iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.2.1

l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.0


find the best deals

01 Groupon

Get daily deals for products and events in your area. HHHHH

The fun of Antiques Roadshow is trying to guess the price of the item the experts are looking at. In a great bit of thinking, the BBC has produced this accompanying app that allows you to play along. Open the app when the show is on and then press Play Along. You will now be able to choose one of the four potential values when an item appears on screen. At the end of each episode you will be able to see just how accurate you were. A solid piece of creativity that adds to the programme.

l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.3 l Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v2.2.2572

02 google shopper Scan the barcodes,

packaging or product name of any item for comparison prices near you and online.

HHHHH l iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v3.1 l Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.1

03 eBay for ipad Sell, search, bid, and browse for items in this tabletoptimised edition of the world’s auction house. Receive daily deals from your favourite sellers and view photos in high resolution.

HHHHH l iPad | iOS 4.3 | Free | v2.2.0

04 gumtree

View classified ads for everything from doll houses to house shares. Call, SMS or email sellers with one tap.

HHHHH l iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v2.0.0 l Android | OS 2.3.3 | Free | v1.0.05

05 vouchercloud Get vouchers direct to your device, to use immediately or store for later.


REVIEW | FREE

SPREAKER DJ

BROADCAST YOUR OWN RADIO SHOW FROM YOUR iPAD Share your opinions with a podcast or your favourite tunes with a radio show using the Spreaker DJ recording deck for iPad. While a tutorial for beginners might have been appreciated, this app’s interface mimics a real life recording deck, with which anyone that has a limited knowledge can pick up and record a show in minutes. Queue up two tracks from your iTunes library simultaneously, mix your voice between tracks, or insert one of the ten effects – sadly, lacking cheesy DJ staple, the klaxon. Signing in with either Facebook or a spreaker. com account, you can record podcasts offline or livestream straight to Facebook and Twitter. Your audience can even talk back to you using the integrated real-time chat room. If recording offline, recordings will initially save as drafts before you publish them. However, the app lacks any post-production editing tools, so your only options on hearing a mistake is to either delete it and start again or publish it anyway.

ABOVE: Interact with your listeners with the integrated chat room Don’t mistake this for a tablet version of Spreaker Radio, as they have some very different features. While the iPad app does have additional sound effects and the chat room, the smartphone version has SoundCloud sharing where Spreaker DJ only shares with Facebook

and Twitter. This seems odd for an app that is otherwise of a near professional standard. An impressive portable radio studio, but it could benefit from some editing tools. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.1

SCOOPT

GET REVIEWS OF THE LATEST AND GREATEST THINGS TO DO FROM PEOPLE YOU TRUST

Discover the best shops, restaurants, hotels and more from people you know with Scoopt. Similar to TripAdvisor or Yelp, Scoopt provides you with reviews for a range of services, which can be viewed by category – such as Eat, Sleep, Shop and Escape – or by viewing a map of your nearby area. The vital difference is that reviews don’t just come from anonymous users in the ether, but people you know. Logging in via Facebook, you can find your friends on Scoopt – or invite them to join. If one of your friends is an expert in a subject, such as fashion, film or music, you can mark them as Trusted, and therefore prioritise their recommendations. Adding your own reviews is a simple case of tapping the top bar and scrolling through an impressively detailed database of local amenities. Helpfully, any review you write can be easily edited or deleted, should you change your mind about a place. If you’re not a wordsmith, there is a star rating system and you can also include Instagram photos. A Flipboard for social reviews, the emphasis on photos also gives Scoopt a

ABOVE: Powered by foursquare, Scoopt offers a detailed map of local attractions

ABOVE: Scoopt offers reviews of shops, hotels and restaurants from people you trust

glossy, magazine finish. Uptake of the app is growing, with recommendations posted from near enough all over the world. However, it should be noted that users are clustered around major metropolitan areas, so if you live out of a capital city you will have to convince your friends to join the app to really feel the benefit. A stylish social network, this app will only improve as its user base grows. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.0.4 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.0.6


47

ENTERTAINMENT | GROUP TEST

MOTORSPORT APPS GREAT APPS TO HELP YOU STAY INFORMED AND ENTHUSED ON ALL ASPECTS OF MOTOR RACING AUTOSPORT

F1 2013 NEWS AND INFO PRO

NASCAR RADIO & LIVE RESULTS

Providing extensive coverage of every motorsport, this is a well made accompaniment to the popular website that comes with a sleek interface and some decent features, such as the option to customise your home screen with content. However, once you scratch beneath the fancy bodywork the imperfections start to come thick and fast. The iOS version is prone to crashing when you access the gallery and results sections, it lacks rudimentary features such as the option to share stories, and both versions are starved of updates. For the price, you’re entitled to expect more. Aside from a few decent features there is little here you can’t get for free elsewhere.

After some teething trouble, this pulsating source of F1 news has been redesigned and improved dramatically for its 2013 incarnation. This is particularly evident in the events calendar, which features all of the key preseason testing days right through to the actual races that you can integrate into your device’s calendar. The app also provides live blogs on race days, podcasts and video interviews, and a stacked gallery of images that you can share. Expertly realised and humming with content, this is a recommended download for motorsport fans. The fresh content comes thick and fast and some cool features more than justify the asking price.

Whether you’re a US-based petrol-head or a British NASCAR enthusiast who finds coverage hard to come by, this app is an affordable way to stay in touch with the sport. It covers everything fro the Sprint Cup Series to the Camping World Truck Series, and you can listen to races live (even in the background while using other apps), get the full schedule on hand when you need it, and save all of your favourite stations for quick and easy access when you need them. There’s far more to the app than audio thrills too, as regular news and highlights videos can also be summoned on-demand. A well-made app that allows you to keep one ear on your favourite motorsport.

● iPhone | iOS 3.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.2.1

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | vV1.20

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.4

● Android | OS 1.6 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.0

● Android | OS 2.1 | £0.99/$1.61 | v1.96.103.3197

● Android | OS 2.0 | £0.63/$0.99 | v1.5


GROUP TEST | ENTERTAINMENT

BIKESPORT NEWS

ESPNF1

F1 2013 TIMING APP

If you prefer your motorsport on two wheels then this app covers Moto GP, World Superbikes, British Superbikes and other forms of road racing. It has a very chummy tone and delivers round the clock news and gossip, so you never feel far from the paddock. Also featured is a steadily-swelling video section and a biker’s cornucopia of photos documenting the most significant bikes through the ages. Easy to use and well-maintained – watch it explode into life once the racing season kicks off – this app reduces many of its peers to roadkill and more than justifies its relatively high price. If you’re serious about your bikes then this app will stoke your passion to the extreme.

If you aren’t physically able to watch a race live, then this brilliant free app does an admirable job of making you feel like you are there thanks to live commentary during each race. Other features include up-to-the-minute info on the teams, drivers and circuits, as well as daily news and meaty features that cover all aspects of the sport. With its links to ESPN, users can also enjoy video news updates and analysis, plus captivating photo galleries and push notifications. With an intuitive interface and plenty of ESPNstyle sheen, this is highly recommended for all motor-racing fanatics. Well-laid out and bursting with content, this is a great news app brimming with enthusiasm.

This is the ultimate petrol head toy for F1 racing as it provides over 130 hours of live coverage and is the perfect companion for watching the races live (or staying abreast of events if you can’t get to a TV). Through the app’s magnificent interface you can access live timing and track-positioning, culminating in detailed 3D maps that show all of the drivers zooming around in real-time. As an added bonus in this 2013 edition, you can also get tyre information and Race Control messages beamed straight to your home screen, along with all of the latest F1 news. It may be expensive, but this is the ultimate F1 gadget that no hardcore fan should be without.

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.1


● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £23.99/$33.99 | v5.001

● Android | OS 2.1 | £1.66/$2.99 | v1.00


● Android | OS 2.1 | £23.99/$33.99 | v5.003


49

ENTERTAINMENT | REVIEW

RIGHT: The characters in Glitchamaphone echo the twee graphics of Glitch

ABOVE: Create loops and layer them with an array of instrumental sounds

ABOVE: The musical animals are reminiscent of retro The Rock-afire Explosion band

PROS/CONS

▲ Gesture-controlled grid screen offers deeper level of music manipulation

▲ Includes amusing characters and a range of a instruments to choose from

▼ Cannot export

created music or share online with friends

▼ Even with a

tutorial, it takes a lot of practice to use the app effectively

GLITCHAMAPHONE

CREATE A SWAN SONG FOR THE DECEASED ONLINE GAME GLITCH WITH THIS SPIN-OFF MUSIC-MAKING APP A small corner of the internet was devastated last year when the massive multiplayer online game Glitch was shut down. Glitch was unique in that it offered an immersive world full of quests and adventures, but steered away from player-on-player combat, rather emphasising collaboration and harmony. Players were encouraged to

INTERVIEW: MATT PIERSALL The founder and president of Gl33k takes us through the collaboration with Tiny Speck


work together cooking, growing plants and trees, and building new streets and unlocking new areas of the world map. However, like the reality of so many utopian visions, Glitch was fraught with problems. Only two months after the game launched, on 30 November 2011, Glitch ‘unlaunched’, reverting to beta status as the developers, Tiny Speck Inc, cited issues of accessibility

HOW DID THE CONCEPT OF GLITCHAMAPHONE DEVELOP AND WHEN DID GL33K BECOME INVOLVED? GL33k had created a prototype for a music app and took it to Indiecade International Festival of Independent Games at the end of 2011. Developers Tiny Speck saw the prototype and invited us up to San Francisco for a visit where we hashed out the concept further.

WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE IDEA OF WORKING WITH TINY SPECK? I wanted the opportunity to do something funny and humorous within the Glitch world. Also the fact that Keita Takahashi (Ex-Namco developer and Katamari Damacy creator who joined Tiny Speck in 2011) was part of the team there was really appealing! The art style of Glitch was truly amazing and collaborating with that team seemed like a really good fit.

DOWNLOAD NOW! for new players, and depth of game play for experienced players. Just over a year later, the game announced it was closing down due to not being able to find a wide enough audience. However, as one server closes, another one comes online. Music creation app Glitchamaphone was created by audio designers Gl33k initially as an in-game activity for Glitch, but

AFTER GLITCH SHUT DOWN, WHY DID YOU AND TINY SPECK DECIDE TO PERSEVERE WITH GLITCHAMAPHONE AND ADAPT IT FOR iPAD? The Glitchamaphone was done more or less. There were some MMO tie-ins as well as sharing options, but it seemed to me that the product was too cool not to release.

THE GRID INTERFACE IS VERY INNOVATIVE, HOW WAS THE IDEA CONCEIVED OR WAS IT IMPORTED FROM YOUR COSMIC DJ PROJECT? I can’t take too much credit for the grid interface because it’s very similar to sequencing an 808 or 909 drum machine. The big difference is that you see everything at one time which I find much more useful. There are all kinds of interesting ways to sequence music that people create in Reaktor and Max/MSP all the time. What we did

Review | Entertainment

HOW TO…

Make Music 01 Choose a backing track Select a backing track before you start making your own music. To help you make up your mind, each has a description and a preview.

Above:

Grid mode is based on an 808 drum machine

with the close of the MMO, has been produced as a spin-off solely for iPad. The graphics reflect the twee aesthetic of Glitch, with an interface built around five musical animals on a stage to control to loop tracks. After choosing from one of three background tracks, select an animal and a bar will appear above their heads. This is tap mode: tap out a beat on the panels on the bar and the music-playing avatar will then repeat this on a loop. If you want to experiment with what sounds you can create, select Practice from the bottom right of the tap bar and you can jam all you like, but the avatar won’t loop it until you switch Practice off again. Many music creation apps – especially ones with such a child-friendly and cute interface – would end here. However, Glitchamaphone allows you to go deeper into the music and be more precise in the sounds you create using the grid mode. Select this option and a grid of squares will fill the screen. Tap these on and off to perfect the placement of your music in more detail, even using pinchzoom gestures to adjust the volume of each square. Head back to tap mode and you can layer new beats on top of this, or select from one of the four other avatars to add melody. Tapping the plus or minus sign hanging from the top of the stage

allows you to add a new measure to your music. Dragging the pedestals the avatars stand on up or down will increase or decrease the volume of their instrument. Holding your finger over an avatar will allow you to delete them from the track or change what instrument they are playing, such as swapping a banjo for an electric guitar. While musical novices will require more time than others to wrap their hands around this innovative musicmaking system, through trial and error you can create your own unique, multilayered sound. However, this is where Glitchamaphone falls down. Whereas the app was originally planned to integrate with Glitch, users were supposed to be able to upload their creations to the game for others to share and remix. However, now the game is gone, Glitchamaphone exists in a vacuum and there is no way to export your creations - not even just the option to share videos to social media to show off. Without this, a question hangs over the app as to what it is really for, but it offers worthwhile distraction, with creativity wrapped in a cute interface. This app offers a digital memento for Glitch fans, and innovative music looping entertainment for new users.

02 Set the stage Tap a pedestal to add one or more players. Each hand-drawn player has a different instrument, including drums, guitar, bass, and percussion, even (god forbid) a keytar.

03 Tap it out Select a player and tap out a jam on the panelled bar that appears. The avatar will then loop this beat over and over again. Use grid mode to perfect your sound.

04 final editing Tapping the controls icon in the bottom right reveals further options, including adjusting the backing track, adjusting the tempo and turning the metronome on and off.

l iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.0

at Gl33k was simply distil it down into something that anyone could understand – hopefully!

heaven but in many ways I hope the Glitchamaphone stands on it’s own.

It has been said Glitchamaphone was intended to integrate with Glitch, allowing users to upload their creations to the game for others to share and remix. Will a similar multiplayer option eventually be introduced to Glitchamaphone?

What else can we expect from Gl33k in 2013?

This is true. It was originally planned to integrate with Glitch and all kinds of ideas were being thrown around. The most obvious one was the ability to share your songs on your Glitch user page but other concepts were being strongly considered - theme music for your house, user created music blocks, etc. We are basing support on sales of the app which have been relatively light (that happens when you don’t heavily promote your product). Maybe it feels a little weird to promote it since Glitch is in internet

Gl33k will be shipping and supporting Cosmic DJ in 2013 (www.facebook.com/CosmicDjGame). We are extremely excited about this product and are excited about seeing this in the hands of people. Cosmic DJ is a more ‘gamified’ musical creation experience. I feel this helps users who aren’t musicians to understand the flow of musical creation a bit better. Essentially we step users through the process of creating an album that will live on SoundCloud that they can later actually go listen to.

In your day to day life, are you a person that downloads many apps? I have entirely too many apps!

05 Save your sound The menu option in the top-right allows you to save your current track, start over, or browse already saved tracks. It’s also where your completed tracks are stored.

what is the app that you would use to show off your device to your friends? I show all kinds of apps to my friends, but I’m really into an app called Clear right now. It is a nice and elegant to-do list app.

What other apps would make your Top 5? First off I would have to say Canabalt – the original endless runner. It’s full of style and has a significant game feel. Then there’s Stitcher, which is an excellent way to keep up with podcasts. Flipboard is an incredible app that enables you to read blogs like magazines. Dungeon Raid is an excellent match three game with swords and monsters instead of jewels. For a more practical app, Taxi Magic is great. When you’re visiting the Bay Area where I’m based, this is the absolute best way to hail a cab


51

Entertainment | review

Above: Users have the choice of either capturing by hand or by placing their device on the floor

Above: There are on-screen guides that highlight areas as points of reference to stitch with

Cycloramic

Above: Use the vibration settings on your iPhone to see your device rotated automatically

RIGHT: You can control the number of rotations by tapping the stop button

Sit and swivel genius, or just an iPhone gimmick?

One of the most attractive things about an iOS or Android app is when you see it do or provide something that is genuinely unique. Add in that it physically does something to your smartphone and you have a pretty good recipe for a product that can be a great party piece – as well as useful. Cycloramic is exactly that app; it uses the vibrations in your iPhone to rotate your device and capture a panoramic video or photo. By using the vibrate settings within your phone, its means you can capture hands-free – perfect for placing your iPhone in the centre of the table at a wedding. It’s wonderfully useful and clever at the same time, and you can’t help but crack a smile when using it.

When it comes to performance, a lot depends on the surface on which you place your device, with the movement very sensitive to uneven surfaces, but on the whole a polished desk surface was good enough for stable results. The developers recommend smooth surfaces like glass and marble too, so the next time you find yourself in a stunning piazza or square, this app should be your first port of call. Cycloramic is very much a ‘for show’ app, and as such the interface is minimal, with only three main icons on screen; to alternate between hand-captured or vibration-based panoramas, the settings menu and a viewer to see your complete 360 views. You can also jump between video and photo capturing in a tap. The fact that you have the option to

work in either still or video is a big bonus, and suddenly makes Cycloramic a real contender as one of your main photography apps. Yes, there is an element of the gimmicky about the way in which your iPhone’s vibrations are used to create movement, but there is also genuine usefulness here too. Once you’ve used it, and got the hang of it, there is no escaping the fact it is a fantastic panoramic photo app that might just find its way into your regular use whenever you find yourself somewhere that deserves the 360 degree treatment. Not to be instantly discounted as a gimmick, the presence of photo capturing as well as video makes this app a gem. l iPhone | iOS 6.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.0

download now! Pros/Cons sU nlike anything

else you will find on the App Store

sT akes human error out of capturing panorama

▼ Not the full

package until photo capturing is added

▼ Very reliant on

a good surface in order to work properly

Alternatively…

Five more apps to give you panoramas

01 Photosynth

Capture and stitch impressive panoramic images using a series of images you take using the in-app grid. l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.1.5


02 360 Panorama

Create 360 degree images easily, and save them to the cloud. l iPhone+ | iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v4.3.1 l Android | OS 2.3 | £0.62/$0.99 | v1.0

03 DMD Panorama

This app allow for vertical paning and has an online community. l iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v2.6 l Android | OS 2.3 | Free | v2.0.3

AutoStitch 04 Panorama

It stitches together a number of images, but lets you choose the ordering and placement. l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v5.31

05 PANO

Produces images up to 24mp, and has a guide to line up shots. l iPhone | iOS 3.1 | £1.49/$1.99 | v4.5 l Android | OS 2.3 | £1.87/$3.06 | v1.1.0

REVIEW | ENTERTAINMENT

SNEAK

HUSH NOW, AND YOU MIGHT JUST CATCH A GLIMPSE OF A MONSTER

We always love to see iOS devices implemented into life in new and exciting ways, and while the idea of your iPhone as a playmate for your children is not a new idea, the way Sneak goes about it most definitely is. This game evokes memories of the old playground game What’s the time Mr Wolf? where the aim is to sneak up on someone. Here, players must stay silent, and having laid bait on screen, sneak up on the unsuspecting monsters that appear, and tap the screen in order to grab a picture of them. Should noise levels get too high, the monster will stop you and run away – ruining your chances of gaining the photo and the stars that will unlock more bait and beasties. There are five types of bait and monster to unlock, with increasing levels of difficulty to keep you on your tip-toes and sneaking towards your device, no matter your age. This app might not be the most in-depth or visually stunning download on the App Store, but it is the perfect time-killer for a rainy Saturday if the kids are short of something to do for an hour. There is great fun in how it has been conceived and presented, this is no strings entertainment,

ABOVE: The first thing players have to do is select

the bait they want to use to entice in the monsters

and the kids will love it, without there being too much chance of damage to your device. Simple and fun, this is a great and unique way to spend some time with the kids and keep them entertained. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v0.0.3

AMELIA AND TERROR OF THE NIGHT THE PERFECT BEDTIME STORY FOR THE iPAD-SAVVY YOUNGSTER

Introducing the iPad to your own children can be an interesting and difficult process. The chances are the little scamps will take the touchscreen aspect a little too literally and tap the life out of your precious screen. Amelia and Terror of the Night seems to have contemplated this idea, as this interactive storybook is covered with touch points. Each page comes with a huge amount of objects and characters that users can bring to life in a tap. Each screen has marked areas that reveal hidden characters and objects, and the user’s desire to explore is only heightened by the dangled carrot of looking for hidden stars, that if successfully collected, can unlock an extra scene. Combine all this interactivity with tilt controls and you have an iPad app that is brimming with life. Of course, it is also greatly helped by an engaging story and beautiful artwork. There is no doubt that the story of Amelia and her friends’ quest into the forest will charm you and your children, and keep them occupied as they discover the hidden mini games and hunt stars. Moving through the interactive pages, you realise that this is the benchmark apps should

ABOVE: The artwork is fantastic and makes the story all the more enjoyable all be aiming for – an engrossing story that is supported by smart animation and extra fun and games that help immerse the users in the world that is being presented to them.

Introduce this to your child’s bedtime for instant popularity. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.1.0


53

ENTERTAINMENT | REVIEW

WOMBI DETECTIVE

EDUCATIONAL KIDS’ APP PRESENTS THE WORLD’S SHORTEST DETECTIVE STORY

While an undeniably charming diversion, there’s little chance that any kid is going to play this for long, and when you see how much is being charged for this overly short mini-game then it’s hard to argue for a purchase. Something must be working for Wombi, though, because it has many of these short format games available in its extensive app range. With Wombi Detective, you are invited to solve the case of a missing item. Games are randomly generated (from a small pool of variables) each time, so the lack of options or game saves does

have the advantage of increasing the immersion factor. The graphics are lovely too, with bright colours and dynamic animations evoking a fun but polished environment. Gameplay itself is 100 per cent intuitive, with players prompted to interact with what they can see. In this sense, it works well as an educational game. The challenge for younger users is working out how to progress, whether by completing guided object hunts, making associations, or simply lifting a ringing phone. Characters with a nonsensical Sims-style dialogue, a cutesy hard-boiled detective theme and a light, jazzy

soundtrack all come together to make it a wellcrafted micro-narrative. However, there’s no real difficulty at any stage of the game, and once you’ve spent a couple of minutes finishing it – yes, a couple of minutes – then you’ll realise that there’s no replayability, no matter how nice the concept is. With as much effort put into the content of this game as the style, it could have been a real winner.

ABOVE: Each mini-game is intuitive enough for kids

ABOVE: The vector artwork is appealing enough to

ABOVE: With no written dialogue or instructions, it’s

to work out easily

soften the overly short games

ARCHOS VIDEO PLAYER TABLET MAKER ARCHOS RELEASES HARDWARE-ACCELERATED VIDEO PLAYER

Archos certainly knows its hardware, and the video player that ships out with its tablets has now been made available to all Android device owners. At £3.99/$4.99 it’s certainly an expensive app, but boasting fully hardwareaccelerated decoding alongside a well-featured UI, perhaps it is compelling enough to overcome this high price tag. The player itself has all the standard features – navigation buttons around the scrub bar and an in-video volume slider – but also a well-thoughtout menu bar. Tap on the screen to bring up the app furniture and access a brightness control (assuming you’re not set to auto), a bookmark placer, screen rotation options and then the subtitle track selector. This is one of the best features of the player – connecting directly to multiple subtitle repositories, you can download subtitles for any language in a matter of seconds without leaving the app. All videos can be browsed either by folder or through the library infrastructure, and any new files will automatically be updated to include movie, series and episode information from IMDb. Visually, the app is geared more towards a carousel view on tablets, though it is functional enough on a smartphone. Another key selling


point of Archos is the fact that it can handle videos from remote shared folders and UPnP, as well as those on your device, making it a perfect home media centre solution. Able to handle all common video formats and access content in local networks – it’s an expensive but powerful home media app. ● Android | OS 4.0.3 | £3.99/$4.99 | v7.1.3

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.0.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £2.29/$2.99 | v1.0

a hugely visual experience

BELOW: IMDb information on the series and episode being played can be accessed

Review | Entertainment

Conan Vol. 1

The number of comic books and graphic novels that are available on iOS is nothing short of incredible, but there is a good reason for why the format works so well for this kind of thing. The screen, particularly that of the iPad, was made for this kind of detailed visual, and Conan is not only a gripping yarn but pleasing on the eye too. Navigating through the app is simple and requires only a few deft finger swipes to have you moving along at your own pace. We would have liked it to embrace the format’s potential more, but it doesn’t. It’s an old-school way of translating graphic novels to iOS, and a bit pricey.

Creativium

Idlezoo’s A-Z of Curious Creatures

Creativity is the name of the game here, and you could easily lose a child in this virtual world for hours. It lets a youngster create their own worlds and stage plays by allowing them to explore their surroundings. There are no cast iron rules as such, which allows for a freedom of play that ensures they can express their own personality, all the while they drag and drop elements such as the characters and watch them colourfully animate against a bright backdrop. It is a great app for parent-child interaction, as you can discuss the story as you go along. Beautiful paper theatre that’s so easy to use, children as young as two can play.

Learning the alphabet takes on a new lease of life with Idlezoo. Tap an alphabet letter and it will bring up a creature together with a daft voice reading out a short passage. This helps kids familiarise themselves with words and sounds. The graphics are cute but bizarre, and some of the creatures are quite advanced in name like the echidna. Then again, having the likes of Fifi the French poodle beats the usual cats and dogs of similar apps Quirky to the hilt, but if the aim is to teach children how to read, then it definitely helps.

l iPad | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0.1

l iPad | iOS 5.1 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0

l iPhone+ | iOS 3.0 | £5.49/$7.99 | v1.0

go deeper into television

01 mrs brown’s boys app

Play a game starring Mammy and have her parrot your words. HHHHH

l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0 l Android | iOS 2.2 | £0.99/$1.60 | v1.0

02 facejacker Earn rewards every time you watch the show.

Leo Lion Band The best apps for children are those full of interactive elements, and this has them by the bucket-load. Take control of a group of animal musicians as they play one of three songs. Different animals can be added by flicking them up from the bottom carousel, and double-tapping on a band member brings their instrument to the fore. It allows you to explain the basics of music and the various instruments. Music can also be sped up and slowed down. The limitations on the number of songs, despite what you can do with them, can grate after a while. Fun for kids, though potentially a bit repetitive.

UP: My name is Dug Although it takes a little while to get going, this charming animated tale, packed full of interactive elements is fun, sweet, and perfect for little ones. Stories can be read aloud through the speakers or you can choose to read it along with your child. There are wonderful original voices from the Disney movie and fantastic visuals that will no doubt enthrall readers of all ages. There are loads of things to click, and while the story can be a little on the edge in places, it’s gentle enough to leave alone with a child. Discover more about the world of Dug with a complete story and excellent production values.

l iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0

iMPC The versatility of the iPad knows no bounds, and for this price what you are getting is an excellent media production centre. With more than 1,200 samples and 50 editable programs – as well as the ability to sample from the iPad mic or your music library, plus a line-in – you can begin to see just how powerful iMPC is. Easy to use and intuitive, there is no doubting the complexity of the compositions you can get from this as the editing package makes light work of the audio. The results can be sent to SoundCloud or other social media. Create a beat with the greatest of ease and bring in samples from a variety of sources. l iPhone | iOS 5.1

l iPad | iOS 5.1 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0

| £4.99/$6.99 | v1.0

HHHHH l iPhone | iOS 3.2 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.1

03 the colbert report’s the word Laugh along with America’s greatest political satirist.

HHHHH l iPhone | iOS 4.2 | £1.49/$2.99 | v2.9 l Android | OS 1.6 | Free | v1.2.1

04 the cool wall Rate over 350 cars in this Top Gear app.

HHHHH l iPhone | iOS 3.1 | £0.69/$0.99 | v3.2

05 south park avatar creator Love the distinctive style of

South Park? Create your own character with this app.

HHHHH l iPhone+ | iOS 3.1.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.0.2


55

1

GreatDigitalMags.com

2

Filter titles by your favourite store

Visit the website

3 Purchase in-store, 4 download & enjoy! Choose a digital magazine or book

EVERYDAY | GROUP TEST

HAVING A BABY WITH APPS FOR WHEN YOU NEED MORE THAN JUST A REMINDER TO PUSH…

iBIRTH PREGNANCY APP

CONTRACTION MASTER

Tap the large pink button in the centre of the screen when contractions begin, and tap it again when they stop – the app then calculates the duration of the contractions. It also tracks your previous contractions and instantly works out the length between them, so you can give accurate information when the doctor asks. The optional Hospital Alert function is extremely useful: once contractions last a preset length of time, the app will automatically telephone your doctor – or whichever contact you would prefer. More than just a stopwatch. A highly effective tool, however it’s quite expensive given its simplicity.

Receive weekly diagrams of the foetus’s transformation into a little person with Baby Bump Pregnancy Pro. You can also set reminders for doctor appointments, keep a diary of the mother’s mood and cravings, and track weight gain and waist size. A useful range of forums where future parents can chat and share photos, as well as community support for issues such as infertility and miscarriages, is provided. There is also a shop for baby accessories, and a 25,000-strong database of children’s names, just in case you’re having trouble deciding. Track your baby’s development and share your problems.

● iPhone | iOS 4.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v2.4.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.0

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v3.0.2 ● Android | OS 2.1 | £1.28/$1.99 | v1.0

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v6.1.0 ● Android | OS 1.6 | £2.49/$3.99 | v4.0.3

This detailed app offers tips ranging from what to pack in your overnight bag and the benefits of hospital and home births, to practical advice on epidurals and C-sections, all explained in simple, bullet-pointed lists. iBirth also includes 21 short videos of the most comfortable birthing positions, a timer that records a history of your contraction duration and occurrence, and a prenatal nutritional guide. The guide deserves special mention for including required vitamin doses for both adult and teenage mothers, and for both vegetarians and omnivores. A solid mix of tips and tools to see you through your pregnancy.


BABY BUMP PREGNANCY PRO

GROUP TEST | EVERYDAY

OBSTETRICS: OB WHEEL + MEDICAL PRAMOMETER KNOCKED APP Ideal for when the baby finally arrives, this This light-hearted app is ideal for those REFERENCE TOOL app is designed to help you lose the that have just conceived and are curious to This reference tool is designed for doctors, midwives and medical students, but might be of interest to prospective parents. The OB Wheel will estimate your due date based on either your last period or date of ultrasound, and recommends what screening tests you can expect depending on the foetus’s age. While the medical terminology makes this app quite a dry read, the interface deserves special mention for its intuitive gesture-based controls. A reference for medical students and a guide for parents to better understand the process.

pregnancy weight without having to hire a babysitter. Pramometer tracks your speed and distance as you push your pram around using GPS, and then tells you how many calories you have burned – a pedometer for perambulation, if you will. The app factors in your weight, height, age, your baby’s weight, and even your pram make and model to give you an accurate reading. However, it doesn’t account for the weight of all the nappies and toys you will be pushing around as well. This simple stroller pedometer is an addictive way to lose the baby weight.

see what they might look like once they reach full term, or just those that have always wondered what male pregnancy might look like. Simply point your camera at the parent-to-be, line them up with the position markers, tap, and the photo booth app will add nine month’s-worth of baby weight. You can adjust the breast and belly size as you see fit for added effect, and then share via Twitter, Facebook and email. The bathroom pregnancy test loading screen is an amusing extra. Purely for entertainment purposes, it will amuse and mortify many prospective parents.

● iPad+ | iOS 6.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v2.0.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.24/$1.99 | v3.01

● iPad | iOS 3.2 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.0

WHAT’S KICKIN’

BABY CONNECT (ACTIVITY LOGGER)

PREGNANCY+

● iPhone | iOS 3.1.3| £0.69/$0.99 | v1.2 ● Android | OS 1.6 | £0.62/$0.99 | v1.0

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 | v2.13 ● Android | OS 2.1 | £3.09/$4.99 | v2.2.2

● iPhone | iOS 4.1 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.3 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.0.3

Designed to track foetal movements in utero; set the 60-minute countdown timer and tap the movement and kicking icons each time the mother feels something. The app will then keep a history of all previous kicks and movements and log the date they occurred. While the baby movement illustration offers a nice nod to artist Keith Haring, for the most part the interface is extremely disappointing. Aesthetic minimalism can look quite stylish, but this just looks cheap and half-finished. Equally, beyond the description on iTunes, there is no guide on how to use the app. A classic case of a good idea poorly executed; the design really lets this app down.

This incredibly detailed app allows you to log every aspect of your baby’s life, from due date to potty training. Record a broad range of details, such as medical history and mood, to the date when it reaches milestones such as smiling, sitting up and talking. This info can then be analysed with graphs and a timeline, and synced across devices for other caregivers to view. Very impressive, though some of the functions, such as the photo gallery, GPS location tracker and in-app links to email, Twitter and Facebook, seemed a little like overkill. Bountiful options give this app longevity and value for money.

Pregnancy++ is as impressively focused on the mother as it is the child, offering a timeline of both the baby and mother’s physical development over the course of the weeks, and tips on how to cope. Other tools include creating a birth plan, counting kicks and contractions, a name database, and exportable lists of items you will need for the baby’s room and for the hospital bag. Perhaps the most professional-quality app in this group test, this app looks great with sharp graphics and photos. An original mother-centric approach to pregnancy apps, offering daily tips and updates.


59

Everyday | review

ABOVE: Each letter comes with a transcript and a commentary to place it within a historical context

above: The app version features ten more letters than the print edition

The John Lennon Letters The ‘Imagine’ star’s life in his own words Pros/Cons

sA dditional ten

letters exclusive to the app

s Extremely

thorough and well presented

▼ No portrait

optimisation

▼ Letters only offer one half of a conversation

download now!

“It’s a thousand pages, give or take a few/I’ll be writing more in a week or two/I can make it longer if you like the style.” Thus go the lyrics of The Beatles song Paperback Writer, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1966, about a tabloid journalist who dreams of being a successful novelist. Taken on their own, these lyrics could just as easily describe The John Lennon Letters. While there may not be a thousand of them, and sadly the man won’t be writing any more, the app does include 78 letters, postcards, notes, missives and illustrations from every era of his life. An innovative interface allows you to enjoy the eclectic collection. The letters and memorandums of the Imagine singer were gathered together by long-time Beatles biographer Hunter Davies. With a blessing from Yoko Ono in 2010, Davies began a herculean task, collecting copies of letters from friends and family of the star, as well as appealing for them on the internet and contacting private collectors. Finally, he has arranged and annotated the complete work as a narrative of Lennon’s life. At least, this is how the print version of The John Lennon Letters works. The iOS version, which features 78 letters –


ten more than the hardback version – is much more flexible, and the collection can be arranged in several different ways. If you want a straightforward timeline of The Fab Four’s rise to fame and the eggman’s solo career, this is available, but it is also possible to view the letters by Recipients or Theme, or view them all together in a mosaic (for a more in-depth look at these options see the boxout on the opposite page.)

No matter how you view the collection, double-tapping on a letter enlarges it so you can view it up close. Lennon’s handwriting varies in quality, and some of it is quite illegible, but by clicking the ‘i’ button at the bottom of the screen you will be given a transcript of what each letter says and a commentary from Davies to put it in context. Alternatively, tapping on the highlighter button reveals additional

Review | Everyday

HOW TO…

View the collection 01 Chronologically See all of the letters displayed on a timeline, from a thank you note written in 1951, through to an autographed novel signed just days before his untimely assassination in 1980.

02 By Pen Pals View his letters by their recipients, such as friends and family. The main menu also includes a Cast List, with short biographies detailing some of Lennon’s correspondents.

ABOVE: The John Lennon Letters app has been officially endorsed by the musician’s widow Yoko Ono, who provides a foreword

03 By Theme

“An innovative interface allows you to enjoy the collection” annotations explaining names and addresses mentioned in the letters. Tapping the speaker icon will also provide an audio reading from actor Christopher Eccleston. No documenting of Lennon’s life would be complete without music, and tapping the musical note in the bottom right of each letter plays a sample of The Beatles or Lennon’s solo work, with a link to iTunes should you want to buy it. While the app’s interface is very clever, it misses one trick. The app is only optimised for landscape mode – ideal for viewing some of the postcards and illustrations, but seems ill thought out as the majority of the letters are written from top to bottom, which lends itself to portrait mode. Instead a lot of scrolling down the page is needed,

especially when some of the in-depth correspondences are two pages long. While this is a great app for any John Lennon fans, users should be aware that there are few Beatle-on-Beatle conversations, and what is there mostly consist of postcards to Ringo Starr during the Yoko Years, for the obvious reason that when the band were touring the world they were all together. Equally, while the letters’ commentaries provide context for each one, it is a shame we only get to hear one half of the conversation and don’t get to read any of the responses. A fascinating account of the Beatle in his own words, with interactive features.

The Themes section divides the collection up between interesting and esoteric titles such as Anger/Remorse, Creativity, and Spirituality – perfect for dipping in and out of.

04 All at Once View the eclectic mixture of letters, postcards, photos and drawings as a single spread that can be navigated in all directions by dragging across the screen.

05 With Commentary Tapping the i will provide a transcript of Lennon’s handwriting and a commentary from Beatles biographer Hunter Davies. The Highlight tool also reveals notes.

l iPad+ | iOS 5.1 | £5.99/$8.99 | v1.00

Alternatively…

Discover music history through apps

01 Graphic Elvis

Comics based on The King, with handwritten notes and more. l iPad+ | iOS 4.2 | £6.99/$9.99 | v1.0.0 l Android | OS 2.0.1 | £6.24/$9.99 | v1.0.1

02 The Beatles Story

The history of The Fab Four, as told through pictures and sound (and questionable facial artwork). l iPad+ | iOS 5.1 | Free | v1.4

Hendrix: The On the Way to 03 JimiComplete Experience 04 Woodstock Watch documentaries, sample songs, and receive alerts when you’re near landmarks. l iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.2

Interactive timeline featuring photos and videos from the iconic music festival. l iPad | iOS 4.2 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.2

05 History of Rock

The definitive guide to rock from 1950 to present day with YouTube and iTunes integration. l iPad | iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v2.1


61

Everyday | review

Above: Users are able to email or

iMessage themselves ingredient lists for that trip to the shops

Above: The app contains a glossary of

ingredients, with each entry containing a fully-interactive 360-degree image

My Culinary Encyclopedia Your new kitchen Bible, from a master of the art Bringing your iPad into the kitchen is something that more and more of us are inclined to do, thanks to the increasing functionality of what started out as simple recipe apps. These days they do much more in order to get noticed; hands-free page navigation, for example. This is perfectly typified by My Culinary Encyclopedia, which is, in essence, a digital version of Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse’s no doubt extensive notebook, the sort of thing any budding or wannabe chef would be aching to get hold of. In terms of content this app is hugely impressive, with five key areas that are seamlessly linked together, ranging from a produce section, which is essentially a glossary of ingredients, working up to

exquisite dishes that come complete with full recipes and preparation guides. The interface is clean and modern, and the functionality has a similar polish to it, with the links between sections providing valuable information as you need it, rather than expecting you to trawl the app looking for it. Tap on a dish and a short description appears, providing more details, and a swipe left then pulls in the ingredient list, which has a Share option so you can email or message the list to yourself for a trip to the shops later. Another swipe and you have a step-by-step guide on how to create the dish in question. There’s a smaller black window, which shows you which section of the text you’re currently looking at, and this is interactive so

you can scroll down faster. Within the enlarged text on the left that takes you through each step, key words, ingredients and processes are highlighted, and this again points to interactivity. Tap one of the terms, and you get the aforementioned hi-res image and description of an ingredient, an instructional video of a process, or a definition of a culinary term from the glossary. All of these sections are available to be browsed individually, but the real joy and experience comes from using them together as one to make the ultimate reference guide when in the kitchen. Does a very good job of making a huge amount of info feel incredibly accessible. l iPad | iOS 6.0 | £23.99/$33.99 | v1.0.1

download now! Pros/Cons sT his is culinary

heaven for anyone who wants to improve their skills in the kitchen

sF antastic balance

of masses of content and being able to find and use it

▼ Hard to work out

the functionality of the Chef’s Office section

▼ Some of the

recipes might be a bit too bold for the average kitchen

Showcase

Five ways My Culinary Encyclopedia can change how you work in the kitchen

01 Images

My Culinary Encyclopedia is driven by some fantastic imagery that not only gets the taste buds tingling, but in some cases is also fully interactive.


02 Recipes

Each dish comes with a fantastic amount of detail in the recipe, including links to technical videos and a glossary of terms you may not understand.

03 Videos

Learn and improve all manner of cooking methods thanks to the Basics and Techniques sections of the app, which are both full of short video guides.

04 Organise

Add notes to different steps of recipes and email or message entire ingredient lists so you don’t forget anything when you head to the shops.

05 Personalise

Add your favourite recipes to your own book section of the app, where you can upload images and entire guides on how to make your own specialities.

REVIEW | EVERYDAY

DCOVERY

A BEAUTIFUL LOOKING TRAVEL APP WITH SOME UNIQUE FEATURES BUILT IN

Dcovery is designed to let you create a travel guide that is perfect for your particular needs. The idea is clever and the implementation is largely splendid, with some wonderful graphical elements included to add some personality. The system can work by simply searching for places within the app, or by downloading a desktop bookmarklet that will let you save items from the web for inclusion into your account. You then synchronise, and these items will be loaded onto the iPhone. Like many read-it-later services, the process should be swift and efficient, but we found ourselves struggling at times to get the bookmarklet to recognise particular places and some entries. For example, we chose Toronto and then added Canada as the country it was located in, but it came back as unrecognised. The system may need some tuning up in areas, but elsewhere the experience is fantastic. When you create a collection for a city and give your book a cover, it will be used in the background of the app, a nice touch, and the overall presentation in every area offers the perfect blend of clarity and graphical sweetness to make you want to use the app. With some changes to the

ABOVE: You can save ABOVE: Each location multiple entries for each includes travel city you view, with lots directions, which are of data included available with one tap curation element of the service, Dcovery will become a near-perfect city guide app for anyone who travels often. Until then, it may prove troublesome at times. The ideas and interface of Dcovery are brilliant, but the mechanism and data need some fine-tuning. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.0.1

THE MATH TREE

ADD AND SUBTRACT WITH THIS CHILDFRIENDLY APP

ABOVE: The

interface and graphical elements are as good as we have seen anywhere

The iPad has been something of a revelation when it comes to education, with thousands of specifically-designed apps now available to help children learn. If you’ve got a child who’s learning to add, subtract, or just count, The Math Tree could be perfect for you. The app has an incredibly simple premise – there are items, usually fruit or birds, in a tree, and your child is instructed to add or subtract items to come up with an answer to the sum. The app allows them to physically pull the items out of the tree, or drag them into it, and then tap each one to hear it counted out loud before choosing an answer from four possible options. Get it wrong and a voice informs them whether the number they chose was too high or too low, and they can choose again. The app does a great job of offering positive reinforcement, rewarding a right answer with a medal. When you’ve completed a level, these medals will be converted into a trophy. It provides the child with a constant sense of success, while offering them all the tools they need to learn. There are no other buttons on-screen, so you know that your child won’t accidentally quit to the menu screen, and we didn’t experience any bugs or crashes at all, which may make children frustrated. Well designed and fun. A well designed app that makes learning fun and simple – well worth downloading for young counters. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0


63

EVERYDAY | REVIEW

FIELD TRIP

BELOW: In some areas the amount of information on offer is limited

A BEAUTIFULLY-PRESENTED EDUCATIONAL APP THAT HIGHLIGHTS HIDDEN GEMS TO FIND WHILE YOU’RE OUT AND ABOUT

There are two things that set Field Trip apart from other apps. One is that it offers you a guide to unusual and often hidden objects or buildings around you, and the other is the presentation and the interactive way it works. The idea is that as you walk around, facts will pop up on your screen in the form of cards, and the relevant information can be spoken to you if you are wearing headphones. As you can imagine, this will be very useful and potentially educational in areas where a lot of unusual facts are on hand, and it is like having a tour guide with you all of the time to increase your knowledge of the world around you. Your location is automatically monitored as you travel, and you need do nothing but let the app do the work for you. The quality of the information supplied is also exceptionally good with hi-res photos aligned with text that is neither long-winded nor too

complex for most people to understand quickly as they move around. The main concern we have with Field Trip is that the number of results that pop up can be limited in many places due to the nature of the information on offer. This is understandable at this early stage, but it does mean that user

experience may be very different for each individual at present. A potentially top-drawer app with lots of uses, but the data on offer needs increasing to make it a fully-viable solution. ● Android | OS 2.3 | Free | v1.07

FALCON PRO

ONE OF THE VERY BEST ANDROID TWITTER CLIENTS, WITH CLEVER INTEGRATION FEATURES Twitter is a hugely popular social network, and with good reason. It manages to combine the simplicity of short tweets that are designed to transmit information in seconds, with the ability to post links to images, websites and videos for others to enjoy. This works well most of the time, but can mean much jumping between services as you check out the media that your friends have posted; YouTube for videos, various dedicated image services for photos, and the web browser for websites. After a while the Twitter experience can feel fragmented and difficult to use, but this is where Falcon Pro changes everything for the better. It includes a YouTube player that works within the app, an internal image viewer that expands the tweets to show the image below the text, and full Instapaper integration alongside an internal browser. The fact that the presentation makes the text within each tweet stand out above everything else helps even further and as such we struggled to find fault in any area. Twitter can be a bit of a


ABOVE: All of your Twitter history is available via one handy menu beast to tame if you are following a large number of people, but this app does everything it can to bring all of the media features under one roof and it succeeds with aplomb. Twitter will feel completely different within Falcon Pro, but in this case that is a very good thing.

ABOVE: The inline image viewer enhances the overall presentation of your timeline An exceptional Twitter client that takes most of the social networking stress away. ● Android | OS 2.2 | £0.64/$0.99 | v1.6.2a

REVIEW | EVERYDAY

ZOMBIES, RUN! 5K TRAINING

FACEBOOK PAGES TAPATALK MANAGER FORUM APP

If you find workout apps to be soulless and mechanical then Zombies, Run! is a breath of fresh air – or a pungent whiff of rotting flesh. The app immerses you in a post-apocalyptic world in which you are training not just to get fit, but to survive. You’re given missions to complete and your workout routines are based around the distances you need to cover to complete the missions set for you. Utterly brilliant. An engrossing and clever workout app.

If you have set up and are an active administrator for Facebook pages then this app cuts straight through the chaff. After logging into your account, you can flick through your pages effortlessly, post new updates and photos straight from your device, respond to comments and feedback, and receive notifications. The advantage of this app is that it saves you from getting bogged down with messages and comments on your regular account and treats your pages as separate entities. A useful client for keeping track of pages you administrate.

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0.2

● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.1 ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.6.1

Tapatalk makes browsing forums on your Android device a far less cumbersome process. The app is tailor-made for over 35,000 of the world’s most popular forums, which can be easily searched and added to your favourites, and it provides easy perusal through an effortless interface. The only drawback is that it may not allow you to access certain forums – so you have to work fast in Google’s ‘refund’ window. Do everything in a fraction of the time a web browser would take. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.16 ● Android | OS 2.0 | £1.99/$2.99 | v2.4.11

FIND LOST THINGS

01 LOOKOUT SECURITY This freemium app will encrypt your lost phone and provide a GPS signal to find it. ★★★★★

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.1 | Free | v1.9.3 ● Android | Varies | Free | Varies

02 MY THINGS FINDER Track your possessions with this location-based inventory. Set priority reminders for important items.

★★★★★

POPSICOLOR If you want to make your photos look like washed-out watercolours, this is money well spent. Unlike most other photo-enhancement apps, there is no masking, rubbing or other intricate interaction required, you simply select a colour scheme and ta-da – the effects are rendered. It’s a fun way to put fresh slants on your tired-looking snaps and a good way to break your photos down into clearly-defined shades. However, we feel that its features are too slight and its appeal too niche in comparison with what’s out there. Pretty, but compared with other photo-enhancement apps you don’t get much for your money. ● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.0

PRESS: GOOGLE READER

LONDON – A CITY THROUGH TIME

Google Reader is very efficient and able to bring together a huge variety of news sources in one place, but the standard presentation is not ideal when trying to navigate hundreds of articles. Press is designed to make the article presentation clearer and to ensure that the text and images are as cleanly laid out as possible. Merely changing the look may not sound like much, but if you read a lot of articles it makes a massive difference to every aspect of the experience.

Truth be told, few apps still have the ability to ‘wow’ an audience, but this app ‘wows’ like cold Cristal. Serving up a breathtakingly advanced portrait of London, users can revisit past events through a scrollable timeline, explore points of interest (that stretch into the thousands) on a map, enjoy audio tours and read up on all of the key architecture and significant people who have lived there throughout the centuries. It’s flawlessly presented and a rich source of facts. An essential pocket guide that teaches you far more than an open-top bus tour ever will.

Perfect for saving, collecting and reading news articles. ● Android | OS 4.0 | £1.22/$1.95 | v1.0.2

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99 | v1.1

● iPad+ | iOS 3.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0

03 COBRA TAG This app works with Cobra

brand Bluetooth key rings so you can easily scan for your lost items fitted with a tag.

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.1 | Free | v1.3 ● Android | iOS 2.1 | | Free | vBAC11272012

04 FIND MY THINGS Ever hidden something so

well you can’t find it? Create lists to record where you put things so you never forget.

★★★★★ ● iPhone | iOS 5.1 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.00

05 SNIFFER - LOST AND Post FOUND BOARD your item on this global noticeboard dedicated to finding lost property.

★★★★★ ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v15


65

WORK | GROUP TEST

POCKET TRANSLATORS ESSENTIAL APPS TO HELP YOU WHEN YOU GET LOST IN TRANSLATION 7-IN-1 OFFLINE TRANSLATOR WITH VOICE

VOCRE TRANSLATE – VOICE AND TEXT TRANSLATOR

If you’re away on business and wish to avoid incurring sky-high data roaming costs on foreign soil by getting phrases translated on your phone then this app is perfect. Its USP is that it can operate offline without the need for a Wi-Fi or 3G connection – although the downside to this, if there is one, is that it can only manage seven languages (mainly European). The app also features voice output (to help with your pronunciation) and an intuitive interface that makes translating text a quick and easy process. A good translation app that helps keep your (unforeseen) travel costs down.

If you want to cut out the fuss of typing text into your device to be translated, then this is one of many apps that allows you to use your voice. The simple interface lets you select the language going into the app (yours) and the language translated – then you simply tap the Start Conversation button and say what you want. Within seconds you will be able to both hear and see the translation, making it a quick and relatively natural way to converse. Over 30 languages are supported, so you should find what you need. Supreme voice recognition and translation facilities delivered in a super-slick interface.

The supported 50 languages may fall bellow many other translation apps, but TransZilla’s interface is clean, easy and quick to use. The app also comes powered by iSpeech to provide text-to-speed in many different languages to help you get the phrasing correct on your translated text – although some way to adjust the speed would have been a welcome addition as the audio is blurted out perhaps a little too quickly for many to pick up in a single hearing. Options to share translations and quickly copy text for use in other apps are also present. A speedy and reliable translation tool with features that other apps charge a lot more for.

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.0.13

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.2.5696

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.4.1

● Android | OS 2.3 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.19

● Android | OS 2.1 | £1.89/$2.99 | v1.0.873

● Android | OS 2.1 | £0.63/$0.99 | v1.9.7


TRANSZILLA TRANSLATOR PRO

GROUP TEST | WORK

TALKING TRANSLATOR

WORD LENS

TEXTGRABBER + TRANSLATOR

There is no typing involved with this app – you simply select your language out of 50, tap the Speak button, and record what you want to translate verbally on the microphone screen. It’s slightly hit-and-miss as to whether the app picks up every word correctly, which could lead to awkward moments of you stood in a foreign land uttering the same phrase repeatedly into your device; and then you will have to make in-app purchases to get more than five daily translations on iOS. But it’s certainly a quicker and more direct means of translation, and the interface is lovely. It can struggle with regional accents and isn’t totally seamless, but it’s generally pretty good.

Although this app won’t provide the ammunition to help you converse in a foreign tongue, it will make anything visual like signs or menus instantly understandable. Using your camera, this clever AR app takes the text that is displayed on screen, translates it in realtime, and then layers it over the top of where the original text was. Slightly clunky at times, there is plenty of room for the translations to become more seamless and, at present, it only covers five languages to translate – all of which you have to pay extra for – but it’s definitely a crowd-pleaser. Cool it may be, but the cost casts a large shadow over the app’s actual practical uses.

If your line of work requires you to translate text into English or from English to another language, then this app is designed to help. You simply take a picture of a page or block of text, crop it to size, and then command the app to read it for you. When the converted page is returned, you then check and edit it before choosing a language to translate it into, which it will do in seconds. The only downside is that you have to get the framing and the lighting of the text just right for it to be recognised, or you will have garbled nonsense returned. A very useful text translation tool, but the wrong conditions can make it temperamental.

● Android | OS 2.2 | £2.56/$3.99 | v1.3.9.7

● Android | OS 2.3.3 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.2.4

● iPhone | iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v2.6

● iPhone+ | iOS 3.0 | Free | v1.4


● Android | OS 2.2 | £3.11/$4.99 | v1.0.4.0

TS 10LANGS TRANSLATOR

ONLINE-TRANSLATOR PLUS

TRANSLATOR WITH SPEECH

Bizarrely, this app proudly shouts the fact that it supports ten languages, which is considerably less than other apps featured here – yet it’s more than double the price. What you get is text-to-speech translations in native voices (you type what you want and the app translates and speaks it), a database of more than 300,000 easily-accessible phrases across 12 categories, and a few extra quirks in the form of a Phrase of the Day and the option to store your favourite phrases. It’s very good, but we are scratching our heads to try and justify the price. Packed with features, but there’s not enough here to warrant the sky-high price.

Sticking strictly to text conversion, with no text-to-speech and a bland, no frills interface, there doesn’t appear to be a lot here to justify the high price. But scratch a little deeper and a couple of genuinely good features come to the fore. The first is an offline phrasebook that comes with an impressive database of translations, for a wide range of topics, in a wide range of languages, which you’ll always have to hand for emergencies. The second is a 50-strong history of translations – so you can stockpile what you think you’ll need translated to use later. The price is perhaps a little too high, but it does offer a couple of genuinely good features.

What’s good about this app is that everything you type is automatically converted into text-to-speech. So if you aren’t confident about pronouncing the text yourself, the app will do it for you instantaneously. Another cool feature is the way it stores previous translations, so you can prepare a set in advance and access them later without the risk of incurring expensive data roaming charges. A bubbly interface and its ease of use also make this a worthwhile download. By providing some genuinely original and useful features, this comes highly recommended.

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £10.49/$14.99 | v1.3.6

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.8

● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.86

● Android | OS 2.1 | £8.30/$12.99 | v1.19

● Android | OS 2.1 | £2.41/$3.99 | v1.0.44



67

work | review

Above: You can share your expense reports via various services

Guilt

Right: Text is used to indicate your spending habits alongside graphs and numbers

It can be a good thing when it comes to money Pros/Cons

sE xceptionally clean display and easy to understand navigation

s The guilt trick

really works in making you think about your expenditure

Guilt makes it very easy to keep track of everything you spend with a smartphone, and quickly note down new entries as you make them. This offers the advantage of not only saving you time, but ensuring that you do not miss crucial entries which can affect your balance at the end of the month. There are many

▼ Would benefit

from more advanced features for some users

▼ More exporting

formats would be useful to share among devices

download now! right: Inspirational phrases are dotted throughout the app and some are quite humorous


expense managers available for Android that can do all that we have described, but the majority miss one very important aspect of money management, which is the emotions that spending money brings. That may sound odd, but it is very easy to make a purchase and keep a note of it, and thus fool yourself into believing that you are managing your money. The problem here is that you are merely making a list which will have no positive effect on your finances at all unless you spend lots of time looking at reports and working out exactly where your money has gone. Many apps allow for this kind of analysis and are capable of producing detailed graphs and reports to study at your leisure, but the process is time consuming and ultimately quite a boring one to undertake. Guilt is an expense manager that includes many of the features you would normally expect to see in such an app, but with a crucial difference. As the name suggests, it is designed to play on your emotions to help you figure out where your money is going and, more crucially, why you are spending on particular items. Every person has an emotional response when spending money and there are triggers that can cause them. It is not always the amount of money spent, but the object in question and

the reason you are spending it. £350 on an electricity bill is a lot of money, but is also necessary. £10 in the coffee shop is a luxury that you probably don’t need, and thus you may feel more guilty in that instance. As you add new entries to Guilt, you have to also choose how guilty you felt at the time. There are five guilt values, colour-coded ranging from green all the way to red to indicate your feelings at the time of purchase. Your choices not only show up in the list of individual items, but are also categorised in the reports section to show exactly how much you spent and the appropriate levels of guilt. This may sound like a novelty, but guilt when spending comes from buying things you do not need, and the reports clearly show which expenditure in particular made you feel guilty, and which items were unnecessary. Chances are that you will be able to quickly assess how to tweak your spending and make your list of transactions and the associated reports more green than red, which will benefit you financially in the long run.

“the reports clearly show how much you have spent”

Review | work LEFT: The reports

are colour-coded to highlight unnecessary spending immediately

HOW TO… Use the reporting features 01 Tap the icon From the main screen, tap the reporting icon at the top, which is represented by three descending lines. You will be presented with a weekly view of your personal expenses.

02 The past month Tapping Month at the top will accumulate your expenditure for the current month to give a better idea of how much money you are wasting. Study the results carefully.

03 The whole year The best indicator of where your money is going will come from the yearly report, which builds into a more accurate record as time passes and the app is used more.

04 The overview

All of the above is housed in a clean interface that makes the relatively boring process of managing expenses less dull, and every single navigation feature feels natural and efficient to use. The only potential criticism we could level at Guilt is that it could include more features in the reporting and exporting areas for those that need them, but that would be splitting hairs because it excels in every other area. The emotional twist is fantastic and ultimately everything

about the app is above average. Whether you need more advanced functionality or not, Guilt still offers a pleasing experience that is likely to help you manage your money more effectively than a traditional expense manager. It’s time to experience some guilt. An original expense manager with a clever emotional twist that really does work.

Tap the people icon at the top to view a more detailed report on your expenditure. It even shows in plain English what the level of guilt you most frequently attain is.

05 The summary Tap the sharing icon at the top, and then choose your method. A simple sentence will be sent that will act as a reminder of how you should feel about your manic spending.

l Android | OS 4.0 | £1.26/$1.99 | v1.2.3

Alternatively…

Five other expense managers to check out

01 Expense Manager

A more traditional app, including some very advanced features housed within a slightly dated interface. l Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v3.0.3

02 My Budget Book

A highly flexible expense manager with many features. l iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.3 l Android | OS 2.1 | £1.59/$2.59 | v3.7

03 anMoney PRO Finance 04 PocketMoney A powerful cheque book and budgeting app with interesting specs. l Android | Varies | £9.99/$14.93 | Varies

Bank account and expense management in a simple interface. l iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 | v4.1 l Android | OS 1.6 | £3.10/$4.99 | v2.0.5

05 My Wallet+

Clean interface with a range of formats. l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0950 l Android | OS 2.2 | £2.39/$3.00 | v1.0


69

WORK | REVIEW

ABOVE: You can spread your love of

Murakami through social media links in the diary

ABOVE: The elegant, simple look of the

diary is one of its strengths, mirroring the light feel of Murakami’s writing

MURAKAMI DIARY

PAIN IS INEVITABLE. SUFFERING IS OPTIONAL. NEEDING A DIARY IS UP TO YOU If the phrase Norwegian Wood conjures sounds of Mersey beat or Scandinavian forests, rather than taking you back to Sixties Tokyo and tales of awkward love, you’re not the target audience for this. The point being that fans of Japanese author Haruki Murakami are the only ones who are going to appreciate what separates Murakami Diary from a standard, run-of-the-mill calendar that you can attach tasks to, because it is themed around the writer’s works. Absolutely everything here has been designed with the Murakami fan in mind. The aesthetic has the same minimal motifs that have adorned the book covers of his Western releases,

and Murakami passages are found on the majority of days throughout the year (though not on each day, oddly enough). These passages have been plucked from all of his works, including Kafka on the Shore, Dance Dance Dance and 1Q84, and those who are unfamiliar with the author will also be pleased to find links to his books, should any passage prove particularly eye-catching. Some short stories can be found on other days, while extra designs also punctuate further days on the calendar. Some days are left blank altogether, which helps contribute to the fresh, light, and clean look of the diary itself. Is it worth picking up if you haven’t read Murakami’s novels? Only if you don’t already have a diary app of some

kind, because there’s nothing here beyond a fan service that pushes Murakami Diary above the competition. The passages here are simply too light to give a full-bodied introduction to the author’s work, which is at its best when Murakami has room to set the atmosphere and mood. Condensed to bite-size chunks, Murakami Diary offers an interesting window into his world, but not one that really conveys the genius of his work. And beyond that? It’s just a diary. A nice-looking diary, sure, but just a diary. No more, no less. For fans, the touches make it a great diary, but for everyone else, it’s too light of an introduction. ● iPad | iOS 5.1 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.4

Pros/Cons ▲ Lovely themed

look for the diary

▲ Murakami fans will love the quotes

▼ Too light to serve

as introduction to revered author

▼ There are cheaper alternatives

DOWNLOAD NOW!

ALTERNATIVELY…

Diary apps that aren’t so niche

01 DAY ONE - JOURNAL

Expensive but comprehensive, having just about every diary option you could think of, plus plenty that you won’t have done. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.9.2


02 FANTASTICAL

For those who are used to iCal on Mac, this calendar-based diary makes for the easiest transition from big screen to small. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.0.4

03 FITNESS BUDDY

For the fitnessminded among you, this diary’s slant towards health is ideal. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v2.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.26/$1.99 | v1.2

04 MY SECRET DIARY

Designed to be fun, although it can look garish – the best thing about this app is that it performs basic diary functions well for free. ● iPad+ | iOS 3.2 | Free | v2.0.2

05 MOMENTO

Quite dense in comparison to the other apps, it doesn’t have an iPad release and has fallen slightly behind the competition. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v2.3.9

REVIEW | WORK

AGENDA CALENDAR AS CLOSE TO A PAPER CALENDAR AS YOU CAN GET ON A PHONE

ABOVE: Even the usually busy annual screen looks crisp in Agenda Calendar

Whether you have a busy schedule or a lifestyle that only requires the occasional entry, you still want to be able to look at your calendar and glean the required information without any fuss. Agenda Calendar is designed to do just that, and to recreate the traditional paper diary as closely as possible on a smartphone screen. There are five main views, which may sound like a lot, but a simple swipe across the screen will take you to them and chances are you will only use three of them each day. The use of purely black text on a white background aids the viewing process, and also makes entering new items easier. When you set up a new entry, you can include a description, location, contacts ,and choose to have it repeated and how the alerts will work – so it is by no means lacking in features for those who need to enter new items often. However, some may see the lack of visual variety as a disadvantage when dealing with many different categories. For most people, Agenda Calendar, brings something new to the calendaring party, and that is an interface that will work on every smartphone and also for the vast majority of users. Sometimes less is more, and in this case it proves that lots of

BELOW: You can add multiple events and reminders to each new entry you create

BELOW: Every entry for the day ahead is available with one quick glance of the interface

colourful screen elements are not necessary to keep yourself organised. A functional and exceptionally clean calendar app that brings the data to the forefront with consummate ease. ● Android | OS 4.0 | £1.23/$1.99 | v1.0.2 ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.1 | £1.49/$1.99 | v3.1.4

KNOWMYTEAM PRO MANAGE YOUR TEAM AND THEIR TASKS FROM YOUR TOUCHSCREEN

If you’re a manager of a team at your office, KnowMyTeam Pro might be the answer to all your prayers. The app aims to help you organise your team, with a matrix that allows you to set responsibilities for each member and set tasks that your teams can complete. The app doesn’t give much of an introduction on its first opening, and we found ourselves slightly at a loss for the first few minutes. However, the example matrices will help you learn how the app works before you start your own. Inputting data can take a little time, simply because of the drop-down menus for adding information. However, you will only need to add information once and it will be saved. Add your teams and give them each a colour, then add members to each team. Next you will need to add processes or sections for tasks to fall into. These form a grid, with intersecting areas of the grid helping to show who is doing what. Tap these areas and you can add badges depending on the team member’s role. We would have liked to be able to resize column widths, and a few more options, such as alerts for when tasks needed to be completed. There’s a

RIGHT: You can create a

new matrix using the button in the top-left corner, and give it a name and notes

free version available that’s almost identical, so it’s worth trying before you dive in to the paid app – but as an organisational tool it’s very usable. A pleasantly usable app that needs a couple of extra features before it is perfect for organising teams. ● iPad | iOS 5.0 | £6.99/$9.99 | v1.0.1


71

work | review

Report Monster Probox

manage your contacts

01 BENTO

Organise your contacts and manage projects with this database app. HHHHH

I Can Be Motivated

This app has a multitude of different uses and could prove beneficial to a wide range of professionals. The best feature is its ability to capture photo-based notes – you simply take a picture using your iPhone’s camera, which you can then annotate and fire back to the central office (via Dropbox, Evernote or email) for scrutiny. As such it is very useful for insurance claims, design and field scoping, or for just creating easy-to-follow task instructions. Each report can be saved in multiple file types and you can even insert maps and Street View images. An essential digital field book that gorges on information that can be relayed to others effortlessly.

Probox is an online service that allows professionals to easily and securely access, share, and sync files from anywhere and at any time, on any device. If you are an existing customer (you can try it out for free over a 30-day period), then the freemium app lets you access your account through your Android device. You can upload and download files from the shared team folders, store items in your own personal space, and keep all of your content in sync with every other user that is linked to your account. It is quick and easy to use, and very, very reliable. Unexciting as an app, but it provides a useful portal into your Probox account.

If you need to be artificially motivated to do something then it’s something you don’t want to do. So, what this app provides is mind-training for a series of things that one wouldn’t harbour natural enthusiasm for – such as exercise and getting up early. The mind-training takes the form of MP3 recordings of an eerie Uri Gelleresque voice, and apart from a fairly pointless intro session, each one thereafter costs cash to download in-app. Call us sceptics, but we’re not convinced any are worth the money. We didn’t feel uplifted or motivated after using this – just a little freaked out.

l iPhone | iOS 5.0 | Free | v1.1

l Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.3

l iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.0

Workshare Mobile

ClientMap

Always Be On Time

l iPhone | iOS 6.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.2.2

02 camcard business card reader Scan business cards and

save them in a database.

HHHHH l iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v3.2.0.0 l Android | OS 2.0 | £7.99/$11.99 | v3.2.0

03 my contacts backup pro Store your clients’ contacts remotely so you never end up losing them.

HHHHH l iPhone+ | iOS 3.1.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.4

04 smart merge duplicate contacts Remove duplicates and highlight missing details.

HHHHH l iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.3

05 contacts delete Delete certain contacts en

masse by selecting criteria.

HHHHH l iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.1.2


This is the mobile portal through which existing Workshare customers can access, upload, and sync content with fellow members. It boasts Microsoft and Nokia in its customer base, largely thanks to its secure 128-bit SSL encryption methods. The interface is well laid out, easy to navigate, and provides rapid syncing with all desktop and mobile apps, so your files and all related comments are always with you. Like Probox it’s not free, but the free app provides a useful means of getting more for your money. A polished and easy to use app for a professional and reliable cloudsharing service.

Map out the locations of your business’s customers and save them for easy reference. It doesn’t rely on information gleaned from your address book, but it is capable of batch processing any lists of addresses you copy and paste into it, providing a detailed overview of your customer base via iOS Maps. Although it works adequately enough, the best features are yet to come with a forthcoming update (such as iCloud, Dropbox, and Evernote support, the option to import CSV files, and the colour-coding of pins), so rest assured it is improving fast. A cool app for geeky bosses that provides a visual overview of customer locations.


l iPad | iOS 6.0 | £5.99/$8.99 | v1.0

If you need an app to break down every little task needed to get you out of the door, to be at a certain event, at a particular time, then chances are you wouldn’t find the time to use an app like this anyway. What this is good for is helping you quantify the time it takes to do daily chores and business, so you’re not kidding yourself that your morning routines are a leisurely plod. You can also set up alerts for when you need to have certain things done by. In practice, just entering all of the required info was a big enough turn off for us. l iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0

It’s a jungle out there. Swing through it

Directory

TM

The definitive review listings for iPad, iPhone and Android apps

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY


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GAMES | GROUP TEST

THE BEST WORLD BUILDING GAMES

NEVER HAS YOUR DEVICE MADE YOU FEEL MORE POWERFUL – CUE THE SUN AND GIVE YOUR SUBJECTS A LITTLE COMPANY POCKET GOD

DUNGEON VILLAGE

TIME BUILDERS

● iPhone | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.47 ● Android | OS 2.0 | £0.62/$0.99 | v1.4.1

● iPad+ | iOS 3.2 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.0.1 ● Android | OS 1.6 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.0.7

● iPad | iOS 4.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0.1 ● Android | OS 2.0.1 | £1.49/$2.99 | v1.1.5811

TOWNSMEN PREMIUM

MEGACITY HD

MINECRAFT – POCKET EDITION

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.2.0 ● Android | OS 2.1 | £1.93/$2.59 | v1.2.2

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.66 ● Android | OS 2.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.63

● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £4.99/$6.99 | v0.5.0 ● Android | Varies | £4.99/$6.99 | Varies

Pocket God puts the fate of an entire island population in your hands. In fact, the game gives you almost too much power and not enough direction, as you are left with little in the way of instruction as to what you should be doing. The idea is experimentation and putting your godly powers to the test, but it feels as if you’ve been left to your own devices a little too much. A good-looking and fun game, but one that does seem to lack a little bit of direction.

Townsmen Premium is very much one for the patient gamer looking for a challenge. Visually it’s impressive, and the complexity means it requires plenty of time and thought to delicately balance finances and resources, as well as keep production moving. It may take some time to get into, but there is also a sandbox mode should you wish to hone your skills. It requires some perseverance, but stick with Townsmen and you’ll find it hard to put down.


The colourful art draws you in, but the unique ‘halfway house’ gameplay will keep you there. The aim is to create the best possible town for passing knights and adventurers. Build the right buildings and stock them with weapons to draw in more, and in return they will slay beasts. There are quests to lead and events to hold. A great RPG, as well as fun world builder. An interesting combination that will catch the eye of many gamers.

A town creation puzzle game where you must meet the desires of your residents without alienating their needs. Your tile system is a delicate place, with each new building giving or taking away points. Points mean more space to build. The queuing process makes you plan ahead, so strategy is a huge part of this game, which fuses puzzles with world building effortlessly. A highly enjoyable hybrid.

Build prehistoric huts in exchange for meat, which can then be used for trading – creating an economy. The way you manage and extend these resources is the central point of the game, as your environment changes, and buildings upgrade. There is more focus here on management than others, which arguably makes for a more rewarding experience. Despite the cartoon visuals and light-hearted nature, this is a surprisingly strategic game.

The indie sandbox game that allows you to build your own world block by block has made a very smooth port to mobile. Being first person and with no goals, the game is left entirely down to you. There’s a sandbox mode, or a survival mode where you use the tools to stay alive. This is world building from a human level, as opposed to playing god. In terms of freedom and exploration, this is the best around.

GROUP TEST | GAMES


75

Games | review

Above: The alien machines are more ruthless than ever, so expect to find yourself juggling your vehicle formation from time to time

Above: The same basic gameplay lives on from the first game, in that you decide on vehicles and plan a route through enemy territory

Anomaly Korea

download now!

A second dose of tower defence turned on its head Pros/Cons

sT he visuals have moved on leaps and bounds

s The increased

reliance on strategic thinking makes for an immersive experience

▼ At 12 missions the campaign is quite short

▼ The Art of War

mode might be a bit too difficult for casual gamers

The rise of mobile gaming has served as the perfect platform for a new breed of tower defence games. When Anomaly came along in summer 2011, it set out to change the genre by turning it on its head. Suddenly, players were on the offensive rather than sussing ways to keep enemies out, and thus Anomaly Warzone Earth was a huge success. In fact it can be argued that the original was such a success, no one has really dared take on Anomaly. So we’ve had to wait for Chillingo and 11 bit studios to complete the sequel, and thankfully it seems to have been worthwhile.

Interview: Pawel Miechowski

Anomaly Korea will be instantly familiar in gameplay terms to anyone who went near the original, with the same top-down and two-tiered view that sees players jumping between a tactical screen where you plan routes and organise your units, and the battle map where the action unfolds. One of the things users will immediately note is different is the improvement of the visuals. Since the first Anomaly we’ve had two new iPads and the introduction of Retina display, so new things to look out for are cloud cover, better explosions, and stunning details, right down to road markings and debris.

In gameplay terms very little has changed, was it a case of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’? Yes, I guess in this case we wanted to improve the mechanics rather than to revolutionise it with radical changes. But I need to point out that the accent was moved from tactical game into a more action-arcade game, while keeping the basic rules similar with some new twists. The feedback we had before and after releasing the game was very good indeed.

What made you settle on Korea as the setting?

The senior writer at 11 bit studios fills us in on Anomaly Korea


There were several reasons. Business-wise we simply wanted to catch attention of gamers from Korea as it’s a huge mobile gaming market. But actually before the decision was made the art director at 11 bit (Przemek Marszal) was researching photos from different world locations and he picked Korea as a place with very

This time around the battle against the alien machines has jumped to the Far East, as the name suggests, and there is conflict to deal with in downtown Seoul and beyond. It’s the second arguably unusual setting for Anomaly – the first game taking place in Baghdad – and Korea brings a similar freshness to proceedings; the unfamiliarity adding to the tension that runs through each level. Another noticeable step up from the first game is the increased emphasis on tactics. The enemy is smarter and more ruthless (complete with several new, deadly towers) and so users have to make similar steps forward. Several levels

interesting architecture: modern buildings and Korean-style pagodas. And the team liked the idea enough to start the development of Anomaly Korea game.

The setting for both games has been slightly unorthodox, why did you explore these locations? At the start of design process of both games we were looking for places having original yet recognisable architecture. One goal was to create places that look good and you can instantly get where the action takes place, so we have mosques and Arabic-like houses in Baghdad in Anomaly Warzone Earth, and pagodas or skyscrapers of Seoul-like city in Anomaly Korea. Both settings tell you it’s the Earth. Even more – they tell you about actual cities so you easily get what the simple story’s about. But anyway, in the first place we were looking for locations that have good-looking and original architecture.

Review | games

Showcase

The five best new things 01 New Setting After the first game unfolded in the unusual setting of Baghdad, Anomaly Korea continues the trend with cities and areas around the land of the morning calm.

02 New Abilities

Above: There are a range of cool settings across Korea to move through, and the Retina display makes for an impressive visual experience within Anomaly Korea see you having to return the signature tactical map mid-level in order to alter or extend your route, as circumstances change and new areas open up. Users are also challenged to make better use of the abilities that are dropped in by air support, with certain levels placing you out of range for long periods, meaning you have to ration your repair, rapid fire, smokescreen and air support special abilities. All this takes place within the central campaign mode of the game, but another very pleasing addition to the game that takes place outside of this arena, is a series of heavily tactical missions where you must negotiate heavily fortified enemy areas with limited resources and vehicles, instead relying on tactics to get you through. They serve as a good way to improve your in-game decision-making and ability rationing that becomes vital as you reach the latter levels of the campaign. Be warned though, this mode is anything but easy, and it will take several attempts just to pass the first mission. Luckily, more trials are unlocked as you

complete campaign missions, so players can try their hand at the various trials in your own order. In all the key areas it seems that Anomaly has taken a step forward. The soundtrack is fantastically paced alongside the gameplay, and there are new vehicles to deploy against a new range of enemy towers. Crucially though, everything that was great about the original is still here; the route planning at the start of each level and suitable vehicle selection, as well as the frantic nature of warfare once you start working your way through enemy territory. Add in the better visuals, meaner and larger range of enemies, as well as more tactically challenging levels involving time limits, artillery ranges and lack of air support, and you have pretty much the perfect upgrade on what was a fantastic original outing in iOS gaming. The original was a new take on a genre; this game takes it to a new level.

There is a now a Boost ability, which allows players to increase the their vehicles’ rate of fire. It makes blasting a path through the enemy territory slightly easier.

03 New Wheels Be on the lookout for new vehicles to help you complete each level. The highlight is arguably the Horangi tank, which you have access to from mission 4 onwards.

04 New Enemies As we’ve already noted things have stepped up in this sequel, and that includes the new enemies you will encounter. Look out for Flamers and Energisers that block your path.

l iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.02 l Android | OS 2.2 | £2.79/$3.99 | v1.0

Art Of War is a brand new feature. Can you explain it to us? This is a pack of levels set up in Anomaly tower-attack or tower offense mechanics but they’re more like puzzles where you need to find some unique solution for each level – be that timing of deploying power-ups or one key tactic. For this reason there are no difficulty levels like in regular campaign because those levels are about finding the trick that makes those levels easier to beat.

Did you always plan to make a sequel to Anomaly Warzone Earth? Not really, but the game commercially is doing really well and there were more and more people saying something like “I wouldn’t mind getting more of that.” Seriously, we had great feedback and support from fans, so not so long after the release we decided to

05 Art Of War These special side missions are more like challenges to test out your tactical nous, by asking you to complete levels with limited abilities and no extra vehicles available.

create a new Anomaly game and partnered with Chillingo again to publish it.

people on the crew. Now we will pay more attention to the tools development.

Did you learn anything from the development process of the first game that you put into practice here?

How close do you think mobile gaming is getting to console standard now?

Some processes are a bit faster as we learn more and get more experience, but the biggest change was related to the fact that mobile devices are getting more powerful and incredibly fast. So we learned how to optimise graphics to keep the frame-rate fluent and add more effects like particles, dynamic lights and stuff like that. Those are actually rendering techniques we’re now better at. Also, the painful lesson was that we used simple scripting heavily to create specific gameplay events, and we did the same in Anomaly Korea. It would be a lot easier to have tools for that, but we did not have enough

Really close. I mean serious console gaming is actually coming to mobiles nowadays. We have more and more powerful devices and the revolution goes pretty fast. I believe soon we’re going to see mobile devices with GPUs strong enough to display console-like graphics. And the base of hardcore gamers on mobile market grows like crazy. Those people demand the console standard as casual games do not need that powerful devices.

Can we expect more Anomaly games in the future? Yes and the sequel will bring a lot of new stuff to the gameplay. I hope to share some information about it soon.


77

GAMES | REVIEW

THE GREAT FUSION

THIRD PERSON ADVENTURE PACKED WITH INVENTIVE PUZZLES

The traditional point and click adventure genre has found a new home on mobile devices, so it only stands to reason that there should be hundreds upon thousands of choices to make for fans of the genre. The Great Fusion is a unique addition to this bustling arena of app gaming, crafting a wonderful story about the future of copyright protection, as the hero discovers an ancient copy of the classic arcade game Pong.

ABOVE: The puzzles are inventive, but you have to find a specific conversation

It’s filled with clever references and amusing characters and, for a point and click adventure game, that’s often the element that’s hardest to master. The art style of the game resembles a hand-painted watercolour, and the individuality of the many NPCs you’ll talk to means there’s always someone new to speak with. Unfortunately the translation to English has not followed this quality, with many of the jokes and conversations tarred slightly by a number of awkward misspellings. It does mean that many of the jokes are lost on a universal audience, with some of the humour lost in translation. Yet this is only a minor concern; the biggest problem lies with the design of the puzzles. On one side they’re an inventive bunch, seeing you set up plausible – if not unusual – solutions to a variety of dilemmas. However, they’re often so reliant on conversations that you’re forced

to traipse across the (surprisingly) vast world to trigger the necessary reactions. The result is an overuse of the in-game mobile phone, which can be used to provide clues – and outright solutions – to any of the current tasks you face. It’s a shame that the inventiveness of these puzzles are wasted on such simple issues. This aside, there’s still plenty to enjoy in The Great Fusion. The story itself – though poorly told – is fairly original and spliced with pop culture references. Fans of the genre won’t find themselves overly impressed with what is available here, but there’s enough quality to at least ensure a few bus rides’ worth of enjoyment. Flawed, but an original point and click adventure worth playing all the same. ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.21/$1.95 | v1.3.1 ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.3

Pros/Cons ▲ Wonderful art

style with unique characters and puzzles

▲ Clever puzzles

reliant on piecing bits together

▼ Poor English

translation can spoil some of the humour

▼ Puzzles can

sometimes rely too much on an unexpected conversation

DOWNLOAD NOW!

ABOVE: The English translation lacks

the punch that some of the humour could otherwise have

ABOVE: It’s funny to think that a game

ABOVE: It’s a seedy world that you’ll be thrust into, which makes the characters all the more interesting

of Pong could cause so much trouble for our cast of characters

ALTERNATIVELY…

Here’s some point and click adventure games you simply have to try…

DEAD: 01 WALKING THE GAME

An adventure game that’s as much about the choices you make as the puzzles you solve. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.2


SWORD: 02 BROKEN DIRECTOR’S CUT

A highly influential adventure game. ● iPhone | iOS 3.1.3 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.9 ● Android | Varies | £2.99/$3.99 | Varies

03 MACHINARIUM

A tiny robot up against some pretty tough challenges. ● iPad | iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.6

04 SIMON THE SORCERER 05 HECTOR: EP2 There’s a bevy of LucasArts adventure games to pick from, but Simon the Sorcerer is one of the best. ● iPhone+ | iOS 2.2 | £1.49/$1.99 | v2.4

It’s Hector’s dark humour that appeals to its fans, but its originality is unparalleled. ● iPhone | iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.0

REVIEW | GAMES

PUDDING MONSTERS

MORE SWEET-TOOTHED PUZZLE SOLVING FROM THE TEAM BEHIND CUT THE ROPE

Having previously charmed us with candy-loving monster Om Nom in Cut The Rope, ZeptoLab are back with another dessert-themed extraterrestrial puzzle game in Pudding Monsters. Once again the game is thick with charm and cute visuals that will capture the imagination over the first few levels, which are very straightforward as the game goes about introducing you to the strategies needed in order to succeed. The basic premise of the app is to stick together all of your pudding monsters in each level using swipe gestures. There are star squares within the grid that you must aim to finish on, with three in each level – thus determining just how successful you’ve been in negotiating the layout,

much in the style of Cut The Rope. It sounds simple enough, but without another monster or barrier in its path your monsters fly off the table and out of the game – an automatic level fail. There is a range of characters with special abilities you can use to help complete each level, with green slime monsters that leave a sticky trail to prevent your puddings from leaving the grid in play in some levels. As the levels progress there are numerous other objects that are introduced to the gameplay, a healthy mixture that can both help and hinder you depending on how you apply them. The real joy here is the gameplay itself, with all of the puzzles being solvable within a few moves, but not necessarily gaining all of the stars on offer. On plenty of occasions players will find themselves going

back to re-do and hopefully improve on their result in a level, in order to unlock the next world. Of course, this isn’t a new or unique idea, with the already mentioned heavyweights of Angry Birds and Cut The Rope having made huge success off the back of identical set-ups. Yet, you are happy to forgive Pudding Monsters for a lack of originality in this area because of the uniqueness of the characters and the world in which it is set. Seeing your giant pudding monsters come together, and the wacky characters that occupy this world, make this latest puzzler a definite hit. A familiar structure that is bulked out by a cool and puzzling world. ● iPhone | OS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0 ● Android | OS 1.6 | Free | v1.0.2

Pros/Cons ▲ A very pleasing

gaming experience thanks to its difficulty curve

▲ Visually great

with engaging characters

▼ Some in-app

purchases to look out for

▼ The level structure is far from original

DOWNLOAD NOW!

LEFT: Completing a three-star round is a joyous occasion

ABOVE: The aim is to connect all of monsters to create one creature

ABOVE: Slime monsters stop your

ABOVE: Finish on the stars in

monsters sliding away

order to collect them all

SHOWCASE

Five creatures and tools you’ll meet in Pudding Monsters

01 NORMAL

Get used to seeing these two-eyed guys. The little red monsters are what you will spend the large majority of the game trying your hardest to stick together.

02 GREEN SLIME

These ectoplasmic beasties come in very handy when you don’t have any barriers to brace your movement, as their trails stop the movement of monsters.

03 SLEEPERS

These monsters are great, because not only do they act as barriers, but once you bump into them they awaken as monsters for more star collecting.

04 TWINS

Rather unusual monsters to work with, these purple creatures all move in the same direction, so keep them all safe before trying anything radical.

05 SPRINGS

Use these coiled red barriers to bounce a monster back a single square. This means you can better position yourself on the grid to complete your monster.


79

GAMES | REVIEW

APO SNOW

APO Snow promises much, and in most areas it delivers an exhilarating 3D experience of snowboarding over difficult landscapes, with many prizes on offer. The fact you can play it one-handed is a bonus, but there were occasions where we felt that we were not completely in control. It’s a difficult genre to get right on a mobile device, and perhaps a bit too ambitious. But that’s not to say that we didn’t have fun with the gameplay, which had us coming back for more and more.

A highly ambitious snowboarding game that ticks most of the right boxes for us. ● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 | v1.0.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.23/$1.99 | v1.0.4

EXZEUS 2

ExZeus 2 is a truly polarising game – you will either love it or hate it. The graphics and animations are quite impressive, but the frame rate can feel jerky at times, which lessens the experience a little. Also, in the initial stages you may wonder what exactly is going on, but as you progress you start to realise what is required to win, and the game starts to feel more immersive. It is an ambitious title that at times feels a little too big for a smartphone, but it definitely has merit, and is very much an enjoyable gaming experience. A console game in the palm of your hand, with some caveats regarding gameplay. ● Android | Varies | £2.57/$3.99 | Varies

OVERLIGHT ALPHA

Some games are perfectly suited to and OverLight - Alpha is one of them. Despite presenting highly colourful graphics and arcade-quality sounds, at its heart is a game that will keep you frantically tapping the screen as you try to intersect the lasers to destroy the blocks. It takes a little time to get used to, but once you are there the fun will really begin. As a time waster it works perfectly, but is also suited to long nights in as you desperately try to beat your high score. A thrilling and addictive puzzle game that will keep you returning. ● Android | OS 2.2 | £0.79/$0.99 | v0.3.5a

PLAY WITH PIXELS

01 SUPERBROTHERS: SWORD & SWORCERY

Offering both style and story, solve musical mysteries in this 8-bit fantasy adventure. ★★★★★

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.07 ● Android | OS 2.3 | £2.25/$4.99 | v1.0.12

02 PIXEL PEOPLE Splice together clones to

PITFALL!

PITFALL! is a game that some consider to be legendary, and tampering with a classic is always a risky move. However, in this game the title has been brought up to date to be more playable than ever. With gloriously detailed yet clean graphics and a genuine sense of speed, you now get to avoid dangers and pick up bonuses in more style than ever. Curiously, it still manages to retain the charm of the original, but within an environment perfectly suited to today’s devices. A classic just got even better! PITFALL! has been recreated perfectly for the modern mobile era. ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | Free | v1.2 ● Android | OS 2.3.3 | Free | v1.2.323.3740


SPACE ACE

Space Ace offers a near perfect retro gaming experience that you will enjoy if you have played such titles in the past. The visuals and audio are fantastic and there is a frantic edge to every part of the gameplay, with continual replaying of scenes until you make the right moves to progress. The game takes up a lot of memory, but it is worth it because the experience will likely be unlike any other game you have loaded on your device. It offers a truly compelling experience for every Android user. Throwback fun has never felt so frantic, loud, and fast. ● iPhone+ | iOS 2.2.1 | £2.99/$4.99 | v3.1.4 ● Android | OS 1.6 | £3.99/$4.99 | v1.040

THE PYRAPLEX

Kairosoft makes a lot of games that are similar in their intentions, and The PyraPlex is no different. You have to build pyramids and create a community that can trade with other civilisations, and thus expand your reach within the wider game. It takes some thought to understand the best strategy, but there are lots of helpful hints and the way the interface is laid out helps you to quickly progress through the game. It is hugely addictive and will sap away your spare time, but is perhaps too similar to some other games.

An addictive and cleanly laid out strategy title that would benefit from more originality. ● Android | OS 2.2 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.0.4

create new people in this retro graphic town builder.

★★★★★ ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | Free| v1.0

03 CANABALT Jump across rooftops and escape the city in this grayscale endless runner.

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 3.1.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.7

04 GRAND PRIX STORY Manage your racing, acquire

racers, and race tracks in this pixelated racing simulator.

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 3.1 | £2.49/$3.99| v1.1.0 ● Android | OS 1.6 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.1.5

05 PIXEL TWIST Rotate a cloud of pixels until it they line up and form an image, from a strawberry to the Mona Lisa.

★★★★★ ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.1

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GAMES | REVIEW

HUNDREDS …AND THOUSANDS?

It seems like a pointless idea. Make the grey circles increase in size by touching them until the cumulative size of the circles is 100. If they overlap while growing in size, the level ends and you have to restart. The first few levels make you wonder how Hundreds will keep your interest, because it’s easy, it’s hollow and it feels a little pointless. Then the challenge escalates in ways you don’t expect as more and more mechanics drift in to complicate things. Circles start moving around, circles move along dotted lines and need to be knocked off course to have room to grow. Some circles only grow at the same time as others, and bubbles blocking the way need to be popped. Across its hundred (of course) levels, it’s amazing how Hundreds comes up with new ways to challenge without ever alienating you. It never veers far from the original idea – grow circles until the level is clear – and yet it finds so many ways to riff on that idea, you find yourself grinning at the deviousness of the developers as much as you do your own ability to solve the puzzles created for you. Perhaps the best thing about Hundreds is how it’s a game that everyone can enjoy, thanks to

LEFT: It seems deceptively easy to begin with, but the challenge soon cranks up its clean presentation, simple idea and easy-toplay factor. Although you’re unlikely to revisit it once complete, it becomes a real challenge in its later stages, so finishing Hundreds is a significant achievement in itself. Brilliant fun. An engrossing challenge of both your finger dexterity and grey matter – this is a game that everyone can enjoy. ● iPad+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99 | v1.2.1

ABOVE: Adding to the aesthetic are mysterious phrases that unravel between rounds

REPULZE

LEFT, THEN RIGHT, THEN LEFT, THEN RIGHT, THEN CRASH The good news is that Repulze is a racing game that doesn’t use the ever-awkward tilt-to-steer mechanic, so well meaning in thought but often so poorly executed. The bad news is Repulze is a racing game that lumbers you with an equally awkward alternative in its place. Oh. Similar to a stripped-down version of the PlayStation classic Wipeout, Repulze is a futuristic racer anchored around its coloured gates. Hit three red gates in a row and you gain a turbo boost. Then you have to hit three green gates in a

row for another turbo boost. Hitting the opposite colour slows you down, so in addition to zigzagging through the course, you have to hit the gates to keep your speed up. This is a fine idea in theory, as racing titles don’t need complicated metagames to be engaging, but the handling ensures Repulze never gets going. It’s far too twitchy, leaving you overcompensating for steering, pinging off walls and almost scared to turn when you’re vaguely facing the right way, lest the whole sorry exercise repeats itself. It conveys a nice sense of speed should you hit enough gates

and start chaining boosts together, but this just magnifies the twitchier handling, which becomes more of a problem as your speed increases. What makes this more of a shame is that Repulze looks the part, and has slick presentation that fits its futuristic sci-fi aesthetic. It’s just a shame that once you hit the track, it quickly veers off course and never quite recovers. It may look lovely but the handling on this racer is just too repulzive for it to get top marks.

ABOVE: Crashing sees your craft rewind at the expense of the time taken to do so

ABOVE: Hit three red gates and you then switch to green polarity, and vice versa

ABOVE: When Repulze hits higher speeds, the visuals look much nicer


● iPad+ | iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0.1

REVIEW | GAMES

CATCH THE ARK

COGNITILE

Games where you cascade down a river or road while moving left and right to avoid any nasties or to collect anything desirable are ten-a-penny on the App Store. This one riffs on Noah’s Ark, and sees you collecting a variety of animals en route to safety. The visuals are brilliantly vivid and there are loads of coins to collect, but we found that, although it was fun, it didn’t really add much to the genre. That said, it is one of the best endless runners out there – it just needs a few extra incentives to keep going. A game that revives a genre to a small degree, but is in danger of drowning due to familiarity.

Remember Simon Says? If you want a memory game, then that pales into insignificance compared to the challenge on offer here. The game is about remembering the route that you need to take through a jungle temple to grab ancient treasure. A view of what is about to happen comes first, and then you have to remember what this vision gave you. It’s not as easy as it sounds and you will find yourself in tricky situations numerous times in this fresh and fun game that gets increasingly difficult. If there was ever a game designed to improve your cognitive functions, it is this.

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.3 ● Android | OS 2.2 | Free | v1.4d

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013

This mobile version the premier management game does not disappoint. It’s amazing in that it takes the key ingredients from the PC version and boils them down into a small-form, you play in up-to-date leagues, buy and sell players (which are accompanied by photos), and watch matches unfold live. There are in-app purchases for stadium expansions or a youth academy, and while they cost, they do add to the overall experience. Once again the developer has pulled a blinder. What a result. ● Android | OS 2.2 | £6.99/$9.99 | v4.0.1 ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £6.99/$9.99 | v4.01

GO APE

01 BANANA KONG

Run, jump, bounce and swing on vines through this platformer using single-finger swipe controls. ★★★★★

● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.0.4

02 TEMPLE RUN 2 Escape the giant ape in this second instalment of the endless running franchise.

★★★★★

PIXEL DEFENDERS SWING KING PUZZLE

TIME SURFER

When you take a match-three game and add combat, you get something else entirely. There’s a blank slate onto which objects are assigned, and when three are together, they form as one and you get points. But then you have to form fighting units to prevent invaders and protect VIPs, and creating matches empowers you. There is a darkness in terms of the look and feel of the game, but it’s also amazingly authentic in its 8-bit pixel appearance.

The intro in this latest game by app stalwarts Chillingo takes forever to finish and you can’t stop it from running which didn’t leave a great taste in the mouth but when you get going on the 92 levels of this physics-based game, then you begin to see the quality ooze out. The game has you collecting stars which float around the stage but getting started can be hard with little indication of how you actually get going. However, when you get into the swing (ahem) of it, the game becomes addictive, and the characters are become loveable.

Easy it ain’t and, as you power through you hit upon some very challenging later levels.

Not as intuitive as Angry Birds or Cut The Rope, but it has the same level of depth when you get going.

Challenging and very replayable, Time Surfer isn’t wholly original, but it is intense

● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.1.0

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.1

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.1

Time Surfer looks like a throwback to a time of pixelated simplicity. The art, colours, and chirpy tunes mask a leap-and-glide game of immense proportions. However, it’s one where you can avoid death with a rewind button (hence the time surfer) and ensure that a bad jump is rectified. There is an element of Braid, in the sense where the time travel is crucial for certain parts of the game where a power-up is impossible to grab going forward but easy going in reverse. In a lot of respects, it is as hard as the games of old too.

● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | Free | v1.0.1 ● Android | OS 2.1 | Free | v1.0.1.1

03 SUPER MONKEY BALL Tilt 2: your SAKURA EDITION screen to steer your monkey around 125 mazes in the Far East.

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 3.2 | £0.69/ $0.99 | v1.0.2 ● Android | OS 2.1 | £0.72/$0.99 | v1.2

04 BABY MONKEY A platformer as addictive as it is cute, ride a monkey backwards on a pig.

★★★★★ ● iPhone+ | iOS 4.2 | £0.69/$0.99 | v1.3.5

05 BLOONS TD5 Colourful, Retina display

simian tower defence game.

★★★★★ ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | £1.99/ $2.99 | v1.2 ● Android | OS 2.3 | £1.80/ $2.99 | v1.0


83

GAMES | REVIEW

HEROES AND CASTLES In Heroes And Castles you play a hero defending a castle. No surprises there. It initially seems like a third-person shooter that has you patrolling outside your castle gates fending off the undead (with virtual analog pads to move and

ONE MAN VERSUS AN ENTIRE HORDE

aim). Fortunately, it becomes more interesting as real-time strategy and tower defence elements are sprinkled into the mix. You can buy soldiers who seek out and attack enemies, and buy castle upgrades, such as defence towers that fire arrows at incoming

LEFT: Peons are cheap, but useful as fodder to stop enemies attacking your castle

BELOW: The further you venture from your castle wall, the more vulnerable you are

hordes. The challenge comes from balancing what you buy to deal with the threat to your castle versus the money you have, while keeping your hero alive on the battlefield. It’s clumsier controlling your character than it needs to be, especially as the difficulty cranks up and the pace increases – and this is the main problem with Heroes And Castles. Your hero is crucial to holding back the horde and the controls make the action more haphazard and frustrating than it should for this type of game. You’ll keep coming back, however. As is common with games of this nature, the longterm play comes with the slow drip feed of new units and upgrades, and this is where Heroes And Castles gets the balance just right. It’s not much of a looker graphics-wise and it’s needlessly awkward, but it’s almost impossible to resist the lure of new units and buildings and seeing what new enemies Heroes And Castles will throw at you. It’s needlessly annoying at times, but still incredibly good fun and more addictive than it has any right to be. Just get past the awkward controls and there’s an engrossing and unique strategy game lying at its core. ● iPad+ | iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 | v2.0

RIVEN

RIGHT: One of the first puzzles you encounter and it’s harder than it looks

DOES IT HOLD UP 16 YEARS AFTER RELEASE?

Calming, soothing, settling and relaxing. Riven is a tricky point-andclick adventure that doubles up as a picturesque holiday, a leisurely puzzle game played at your own pace. There’s almost no context given when you’re dropping into a pretty cliff-side town, nor are you forced into any laborious tutorials. You tap to move between pictures and eventually, exploration leads to a puzzle game unfurling as you begin to understand the world around you. The more you understand, the more difficult you realise Riven truly is. Puzzles obstruct progress and Riven is an abstract creature, preferring to leave its obstacles shrouded in a thin veil of ambiguity rather than spelling things out for you. One of the first doors you encounter is locked with gold beetles embedded on the wall, which open up to reveal small pictures of deities. What do you do? Gaming veterans will recognise Riven because it was originally released for PC way back in 1997 on five compact discs (yes, five), which is obviously no such concern for iOS players. That alone makes Riven worth revisiting, but also tapping the screen feels more intuitive than a mouse and keyboard, especially when you’re


BELOW: Although almost the entire game is made of still images, it’s gorgeous to look at

stuck and begin tapping the screen out of hope rather than expectation. Even so, Riven does show some signs of its age. The constant jumping between pictures can make exploration confusing, and it’s sometimes a little too tricky for its own good. But even in

2013 there’s nothing like it, matching a sedate, calming atmosphere with a good brain workout. Soothing and relaxing exploration game with some tricky puzzles at its core. ● iPad | iOS 4.3 | £3.99/$5.99 | v1.0.16

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PROBLEMSOLVING ADVICE AND TUTORIALS TO EDUCATE YOU ON THE INNER WORKINGS OF YOUR DEVICES

• iPhone

APPLY PROFESSIONAL EFFECTS TO PHOTOS IN PIXLR EXPRESS PLUS Transform your images with Autodesk’s brilliant new photo editor

O

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDES

086 APPLY PROFESSIONAL EFFECTS TO PHOTOS IN PIXLR EXPRESS PLUS ● iPhone Get creative with the multifaceted image editor.

088 CONTROL YOUR DESKTOP WITH ACTIONS FOR iPAD ● iPad Change the way you interact with your desktop machines.

090 GET TO GRIPS WITH REDDIT SYNC PRO

● Android Fully interact with the Reddit community while on the go.

nce upon a time, digital photography was a highly niche market for those that could afford to get their hands on a digital SLR camera or similar. Editing those snaps was even more of a forbidding task – users put off by expensive highbrow packages like Photoshop. How times have changed. With the advent of high-quality camera sensors on smartphones, anyone can class themselves as a photographer of note, and those devices provide a brilliant platform to make adjustments, add effects, and share your favourite images. Pixlr Express PLUS, from the revered developer Autodesk, is the latest in a line of fun photo editing suites, and it’s one of our favourites too.

To start with, you get the choice of choosing to edit a photo from your Camera Roll or to take a fresh snap to play around with. Once that decision is made, you’re presented with a detailed set of menus guaranteed to transform your image – from something banal to something beautiful, or even bonkers. Want to make a simple adjustment like correcting red-eye or making teeth appear whiter? That’s no problem here. Want more serious alterations to your image? Change colour balances, hues and saturation at will. You also get to play around with eye-catching effects and overlays, as well as adding neat and professionallooking borders with ease. This tutorial will give you a helping hand in bringing your images to life.

INSIDE THE ADJUSTMENT MENU

>A more detailed look at some of the transformations you can make 1 Crop

An essential tool for making any photo stand out. Easily get rid of any unwanted space, or even change the image’s dimensions with a single tap.

2 Color Splash

An option guaranteed to dramatically alter an image. Use the multi-coloured Tint slider to litter your picture with eye-catching splashes of bright colour.

3 Colour fixes

The Color tab allows you to make impressive changes to hue, saturation and lightness. Alterations are implemented via an intuitive slider system.

4 Red eye

A common problem when flashes are used, but easily fixed by Pixlr Express PLUS. Tap on any troublesome eyes and watch the red pupil magically disappear.


Tip

Pixlr Express Plus

Get experimental

Edits are previewed live on screen, so you can make a sound judgement before confirming. Just hit the Reset option if you’re not convinced.

1

2

Pixlr Express Plus

>Make edits and share your favourite images

1 Choose option

Pixlr Express Plus lets you pick a photo from your Camera Roll or take a fresh one through your device’s camera. Either way, allow the permission requests and select an image to edit.

2 Features galore

That image will open ready for Pixlr’s magic wand. The options at the bottom are plentiful. Explore the menus to see which adjustments, effects, overlays, and borders suit your image.

3 Quick fix

3

4

Sometimes you just want the app to do the work for you. Pixlr Express PLUS is powerful enough. In the Adjustment tab, you’ll find an Auto Fix option that does just that: fixes any glaring issues.

4 Adding an effect

We thought our image would look great with the Vintage effect applied to it. Go to Effect>Vintage and select from the horizontal list of options. We chose Carl and liked it enough to favourite it.

5 Final flourishes

We chose to ignore the Overlay tab and concentrated on giving our newly vintage image a border. Select and experiment with the available options until you find something that fits perfectly.

6 Share

5

6

Now it’s time to show off. Tap Share in the topright, select a file size, and then choose where to send it to. You can email it, upload it to a social network or save it to your iPhone’s Camera Roll.

About the app…

Pixlr Express Plus Make professional photo adjustments in the blink of an eye


Autodesk is well known for building expansive 3D desktop programs, so it’s no surprise to see Pixlr Express Plus packing a serious punch when it comes to the depth of what you can achieve. As the app’s title suggests, edits are lightning quick no matter what device you use. The app caters for most needs, from those looking to make minor adjustments to those looking for a bleached overlay. We think you’ll struggle to find an app like it, and that’s saying something when the competition is so fierce. One of the best photo editing apps available in the App Store right now.


87

TUTORIALS • iPad

CONTROL YOUR DESKTOP APPS WITH ACTIONS FOR iPAD Actions for iPad gives you the potential to change the way you interact with your desktop machines…

T

he iPad has a wide variety of uses, but have you ever thought to pair it with a desktop machine and use it as a remote control? Actions for iPad is an app that lets you do just that. Of all the clients we found on the App Store, this was by far the best. Easy to set up (if pairing your computer with an external device sounds complicated, fear not), highly customisable and well implemented – Actions for iPad is an impressive solution. Once you’ve made that initial connection between your two devices, they will automatically detect each other every time you turn them on and they’re connected to the same network. It’s a nice touch that leaves you free to crack straight on with using the app itself. Actions is not a VNC app that lets you project your desktop onto your iPad, but instead enables you to set a series of ‘actions’, like keyboard shortcuts to customisable tiles on your tablet. Actions can be everyday tasks like launching an app, downloading mail or copy and pasting, or they could be more advanced tasks from the app’s built-in preset options. Navigation is highly intuitive, while the design is eyecatching to say the least. In this tutorial, we’re going to show you how to set up Actions for iPad with a Mac, but the process works just as well with a Windows machine. With this guide you’ll be customising your own set of shortcuts in no time. All you need is both devices to be connected to the same network and everything should be grand.

1

1 DOWNLOAD SERVER

To get your hands on the server, download the necessary file from getactionsapp.com. Once finished, drag the file to your Mac’s Applications folder and double-click to open it.

4

“XXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXX XX XX XXXXXXXXXX XX XX XXXXXX” 4 START EXPLORING Actions has a wide variety of shortcuts ready to use. They’re all nicely laid out in a tile system reminiscent of Windows 8. Press on a tile to see the command spring to life on your Mac.

7

About the app…

ACTIONS FOR iPAD Use your iPad as desktop remote control

● iPad | iOS 4.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.0.1

This app had all the potential to make the pairing process a difficult one, but it has been implemented well enough to ensure the learning curve associated with the app is minimal. Once you’ve made changes to the customised options, you’ll soon get a user experience suited to your needs. Will you use the app a lot? We’re not so sure. Actions for iPad provides a novelty value, but it needs a few extra features to really make it useful. A great idea that could change how you interact with your desktop


7 CREATE SHORTCUT Hit the Create tab. Use the options available

to customise your tile. Give your shortcut a memorable name and select a Target app from the menu. Press the tick in the top-right to confirm.

Tip

Watch your battery levels

Connecting with your Mac is obviously a powerhungry task and our levels dropped dramatically. You’ll want to have your battery charged up to enjoy Actions for a sustained period of time.

2

Actions for ipad

3

2 Your iPad’s turn

3 Network connections

The server is now in your Mac’s toolbar, ready to pair with your iPad. Open up Actions for iPad and hit the Finder button in the top-left corner to start the search for your Mac.

5

As long as your devices are connected to the same network, your Mac’s name will appear after you tap on the mini computer screen. Enter the four-digit code that appears.

6

5 Get info Here we’ve tapped on Get info. Automatically, whichever

6 Edit

The beauty of Actions lies in what you can customise. Hit the pen icon in the top-right and you can delete shortcuts, change their positions and most importantly, create new ones.

app you’re using will have its Get info panel appear. No more fiddling around with a keyboard. Hit the Close window tile when you’re done.

8

9

8 Launch iTunes

As we made iTunes our target app in step 7, tapping the new tile will instantly launch the iTunes application on your Mac. You’ll be mightily impressed by how quickly commands work.

9 Using presets We’re sure you can come up with a host of new shortcuts. If you need a bit of inspiration though, those apps that are compatible have a series of presets you can access via the Load menu.


89

TUTORIALS • Android

GET TO GRIPS WITH REDDIT SYNC PRO

Experience reddit’s features and fully interact with the community on the go

R

eddit sync pro has been designed to let you interact with reddit on every single level. You can use it to simply view the latest content, or to save subreddits for reading when offline during the daily commute, or even those occasions when you know that a good signal is unlikely. However, you can also create content and add it to reddit in a few simple steps, which gives you an indication of how powerful this app really is. In this tutorial we will explain the main features of the app, how to create your own subreddits, and how to vote as you would on the desktop interface. Indeed, in many ways reddit sync pro offers a much cleaner interface than the main website and you may find that you actually prefer the mobile experience due to its efficiency and clarity. If you spend some time with the app and move around the various interface areas you could probably understand how it all works, especially if you already use reddit often, but a little help never hurts and with luck we should be able to assist you in getting up and running very quickly. This solution will change the way you use reddit forever, and potentially make you a much more active poster than before. You can now create anywhere and at anytime.

A CLEAN AND PRACTICAL INTERFACE

>reddit sync pro in detail 1 Offline reading

If you find a post that you want to read later or for when you have no connection, tap the star to save it for offline reading.

About the app…

REDDIT SYNC PRO THE BEST FEATURES OF REDDIT ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUR ANDROID PHONE

● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.25/$1.99 | v7.7.4

2 Your vote counts

Voting could not be easier with reddit sync pro. Tap the up and down arrows to express your preference when reading a post.

3 The main screen

Tapping this area takes you back to the main screen where you can create subreddits, add new content or simply browse new posts.

4 Up to date

At any time you can tap this icon to sync the latest content from reddit. When you need a reddit fix it is only one tap away.

READ OUR REVIEW OF REDDIT SYNC PRO IN ISSUE

27


Reddit sync pro is designed to let you read the latest reddit posts, add your own subreddits, and synchronise your favourite content and subreddits for reading when offline. It cleans up the main desktop site perfectly for the smaller screen and offers many extras such as Google Drive support, and has been carefully created to bring the best of reddit to the mobile world. There are few downsides to this app because it really does succeed in making reddit truly mobile. Reddit sync pro has a bounty of features and benefits.

“IN MANY WAYS REDDIT SYNC PRO OFFERS A MUCH CLEANER INTERFACE THAN THE MAIN WEBSITE”

Tip

reddit sync pro

It’s too big!

Reddit is a popular service with unbelievable amounts of content. Don’t expect to be able to view everything and try to limit yourself to enjoying the content displayed.

1

2

3

4

5

6

reddit sync pro >Understand reddit sync pro 1 Logging in

2 Multiple content types

3 Add some content

4 Add new subreddits

5 The handy bar

6 Use the settings

Before you do anything else you need to log in. Tap the top left-hand arrow and look for the Login option in the drop down menu. Select it and enter your username and password.

Adding new subreddits is easy. From the main screen, tap + and enter a name. It will be listed on the main page for accessing whenever.

You will now be presented with a screen showing the front page. Tap the top-middle icon to see a list of submission options. Choose the one you want to use and select it.

In a post, tap the triangle to bring up a shortcuts bar; the star will save the document for offline reading. Vote using up or down arrows here.

Now fill in the various fields. Photos can be grabbed from the Camera Roll and when done, tap the send icon at the top-right to complete the process and upload it.

Spend some time tweaking the settings until the viewing experience works exactly how you want it to. Tap the top-left icon to access.


91

200 GREATEST APPS EVER THE VERY BEST iOS & ANDROID APPS

BOOKS

This minimal action game recently launched on Android. Escape the ever shrinking hexagons in this game from the ingenious Terry Cavendish. Don’t be put off by the fact the easiest level is marked Hard, the game concept is simple to understand and quickly becomes addictive. The music by Chipzel also deserves special mention. ● iPhone+ | OS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.2 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.99/$2.99 | v1.0.2

WHY WE LOVE… WOLFRAM ALPHA Compared to the all-knowing computer in Star Trek, Wolfram Alpha has been 25 years in the making and can answer almost any question. Not just another Wikipedia clone, Wolfram Alpha offers expert knowledge in everything from mathematics to mythology.

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 | v1.5.1 ● Android | OS 2.2 | £1.86/$2.99 | v1.2.0.3

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE APP?

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YOUR FAVOURITE APPS

@Knowyourapps

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/AppsMagazine

SEND US AN EMAIL TODAY WITH YOUR FAVOURITE APPS

[email protected]


EDUCATION

ENTERTAINMENT

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

iPad

iPad

Animated graphic novel about basketball in the year 2172 from Hollywood artist Ryan Woodward.

Scan business cards for easy storage and import contact details directly into your address book.

● iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 ● OS 2.0 | £1.90/$2.99

View hi-res, rotating images of every element on the periodic table.

Use all those tools in exactly the same way on your iPad as you would on a real canvas, mixing your paints with great results.

iPad

iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Children’s story read aloud by author Michael Morpurgo, plus musical performance and a historical timeline of WWI.

Create documents, spreadsheets and presentations and view PDFs on the go.

● iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99

● iOS 5.0 | £10.49/$14.99 ● OS 3.0 | £14.71/$19.99

This augmented reality app lets you explore the stars, planets and constellations in the night sky in real-time.

Remotely access music and videos from your desktop, and enjoy content from Plex’s many channels.

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

Android

iPad

Pinpoint all the major cities of the world and learn their locations with this addictive geography game.

Paints, inks and abstract shapes are available, so you can achieve the effect you’re looking for.

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH 01

WAR HORSE

KOOKY

WHY WE LOVE… SUPERHEXAGON

BUSINESS

Illustrated children’s story and impressive stop-motion feature film about a little pink bear that’s lost in the woods.

CAMCARD

QUICK OFFICE PRO HD

POCKETCLOUD REMOTE DESKTOP PRO

Gain remote access to your desktop from your device.

THE ELEMENTS: A VISUAL EXPLORATION

● iOS 5.1 | £9.99/$13.99

STAR WALK

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99

MAP MASTER

ARTRAGE

● iOS 4.0 | £4.99/$6.99

PLEX

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

PROCREATE

● iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99

● iOS 5.0 | £10.49/$14.99 ● OS 2.1 | £9.35/$14.99

● OS 1.6 | £1.40/$1.65

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

iPhone/iPad

iPhone

iPad

iPhone/iPad

In this novel experience you are given bits of people’s lives as you weave the story together in your own mind.

Speak into this app and have your words translated into 40 languages, either spoken back to you or sent as a message.

● iOS 4.0 | £4.99/$6.99

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

Learn about the work of five great painters, including Van Gogh and Monet, and then experiment with their style.

In this game you literally have to sneak up on your phone from a distance to capture photos of the shy monsters.

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

Create a stunning CV with this step-bystep app that creates a polished final product that can be easily exported.

Includes a full set of sketching tools in a streamlined and intuitive user interface.

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

View the pyramids and temples of Giza in stunning 3D and examine the treasures that were once inside them.

● iOS 5.1 | £9.99/$13.99

● iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99 ● OS 2.2 | £1.22/$1.99

iPad

iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad

Discover T.S Eliot’s epic and revolutionary poem, view interactive notes, and watch related videos.

Visualise seating plans, schedule, meetings, save notes and record audio for taking minutes in this business app.

Takes you deep into the human body, with video content and annotated graphics. A fine app on the iPad.

● iOS 5.0 | £1.99/$3.99

● iOS 4.0 | £4.99/$6.99

Watch the world go by with this unique app that lets you view thousands of public video cameras in real-time.

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/Android

Interactive illustrations and music bring the macabre magic of Edgar Allen Poe’s haunting poetry to life.

All-in-one scanner, JotNot can be used to scan text files, business cards, bills and more using your smart device.

Prank your friends and family with classic phrases from the cult TV show.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.49/$3.99

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

A broad approach to the history of the world, combining science, culture and politics in a handy timeline.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 3.0 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 1.6 | £0.60/$0.99

iPad

iPad

iPad

Android

Pick and choose the plot lines of stories in this interactive children’s app.

Gain remote access to either your Mac or Windows desktop from your iPad.

Explore 600 million years of evolution with a fossil timeline and multimedia treatments that explain the science.

● iOS 4.0 | £4.99/$6.99

● iOS 4.3 | £9.99/$13.99

The ultimate virtual pet, Tom will repeat what you say and you can also dress him up and customise his appearance.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPad

Sci-fi comic series about an elderly couple who invest in a radical rejuvination therapy with unexpected results.

Share your portfolio with clients instantly in this impressive app, and even access it without a web connection.

Discover alien worlds outside of our solar system with this immersive app.

● iOS 4.0 | £6.99/$9.99

The infamous streaming service comes to iOS, sharing media from your desktop to your device. Supports AirPlay.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPad

This magical children's story encourages kids to use their imaginations to ward off bullies.

Ensure people get feedback, direction and encouragement with this stylish project management app.

This educational game is a fun way to master the Pythagorean Theorem with great graphics and examples.

Very realistic effects in this app, with textured oil paint, virtual pressure sensitivity, and smudge blending.

CHOPSTICKS NOVEL

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR MORRIS LESSMORE

Breathtaking visuals and a heartwarming story. Essential reading.

THE WASTE LAND

● iOS 4.2 | £9.99/$13.99

iPOE

THE LAND OF ME: STORY TIME

● iOS 4.0 | Free

UPGRADE SOUL

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

DANDELION

● iOS 5.1 | £2.49/$3.99

SAYHI TRANSLATE

CV EXPRESS

MEETING MINUTES

JOTNOT SCANNER PRO

SPLASHTOP 2 REMOTE DESKTOP

SHOWCASE APP

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

PROOF

● iOS 5.1 | £2.49/ $3.99

PLAYART BY TAPOOK

● iOS 4.2 | £2.49/$3.99

PYRAMIDS 3D

DK THE HUMAN BODY APP

LITTLEBIGHISTORY

NHM EVOLUTION

JOURNEY TO THE EXOPLANETS

PYTHAGORAS THE GAME

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

SNEAK

● iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99

SKETCHBOOK MOBILE

iSPYCAMERAS

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99

FONEJACKER

TALKING TOM CAT 2

● OS 2.1 | £0.62/$0.99 iPhone/iPad

VLC STREAMER

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

ART SET

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

TOP 200 | GREATEST APPS EVER

FINANCE

FOOD & DRINK

GAMES

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad

The price you pay for this app is fully justified, thanks to its superior functionality and the useful tips it divulges.

Step-by-step photo recipes, plus extra kitchen tips such as how to sharpen knives.

● iOS 3.1 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 3.1.2 | £4.99/$6.99 ● OS 2.0 | £2.49/$3.99

Hand-painted scenery, evolving landscapes and a reactive narration creates a one-of-a-kind game.

iPhone/Android

iPhone

Track your earnings and expenses with this app, and transfer money between accounts.

Its superb recipes, detailed videos and excellent expert advice make it a great app for cooks of all skill levels.

POCKETMONEY

MY BUDGET BOOK

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 2.1 | £1.59/$2.59

JAMIE’S 20 MINUTE MEALS BASTION

GREAT BRITISH CHEFS

● iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99

HEALTH iPhone/ Android

ENDOMONDO SPORTS TRACKER PRO

A mix of fitness tracking and social networking.

LIFESTYLE

MEDICAL

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

Plan everything, from your big day’s budget, to the colour scheme and the seating plan with this detailed wedding app.

View rotatable 3D images from Gray’s Anatomy of select organs or regions of the body.

● iOS 4.2 | £6.99/$9.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 ● OS Varies | £1.60/$2.49

WEDDING PLANNER FOR iPAD

VISUAL ANATOMY

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99 ● OS Varies | £2.99/$4.99

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/ Android

iPhone

iPhone/iPad

Run to stay alive in a world infested with zombies in this immersive AR workout.

Type in a URL and select a date, then discover how websites used to look with this web history time machine.

Gentle songs and ambient sounds set to child-friendly graphics will soothe your baby off to sleep.

NEED FOR SPEED MOST WANTED

Hi-res, high-octane street racer.

● iOS 4.0| £2.99/$4.99 ● OS 1.6 | £3.73/$5.08

ZOMBIES, RUN!

● iOS 5.0 | £5.49/$7.99 ● OS 2.2 | £2.79/$3.99

TIME BACKER

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99

LULLABY!

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

iPad

iPhone

iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/ Android

iPhone/iPad

iPad

This is one of the best finance managers around, with easy-to-use functions.

An absolute must for all foodies, this app features mouthwatering full screen photos and some clever features.

A mesmerising puzzle game that has you cutting ropes to feed candy to a gremlin.

● iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99

Record your life with this magazinelike app for your memories, ideas, and photos. Share online or keep private.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 3.2 | £2.49/$3.99 ● OS 2.3 | £0.62/$0.99

Simply hold your thumb over the camera lense to monitor your heart rate.

This dissection of the human skeleton goes into incredible detail with plenty of room for adding your own notes.

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone

iPhone/iPad

Epic dogfights in this airborne adventure with console-quality multiplayer options.

One of many fantastic health apps from 3D4Medical, this breaks away from most by focusing on fitness.

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

Minimalist, gesturedriven alarm clock and stopwatch that will launch your favourite apps for when you wake up.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

MONEYWIZ – PERSONAL FINANCE FOR iPAD

STOCKTOUCH

StockTouch gives you the top 100 companies, but what’s truly amazing is the colourful interface.

● iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99

iPhone/iPad

DEBT MANAGER

OTTOLENGHI

CUT THE ROPE HD

HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING SKY GAMBLERS: AIR The app is perfect for SUPREMACY

any level of cooking experience and can teach you some great new skills in the kitchen.

● iOS 4.3 | £6.99/$9.99 iPhone/iPad

THE PHOTO COOKBOOK – QUICK & EASY

ANGRY BIRDS SPACE

A revolution in physics gaming, this game breaths new life into the franchise.

Clean, simple interface allows you to visualise your debt, organise your incomings and outgoings, and pay it off.

With images of every ingredient and step to each recipe, it couldn’t be easier to follow.

● iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 2.2 | £0.69/$0.99

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad


Compatible with Excel, Google Docs and Open Office – manage all of your finances on the go with this app.

Videos show you how to select your ingredients, and make your own rice and sushi in this detailed Japanese cooking app.

Devilish difficulty and a simple design combine in this addictive puzzle game.

● iOS 4.0 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 ● OS 2.2 | £1.99/$2.99

iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

Control the criminal underworld in this epic game.

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99

iSPREADSHEET

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99

BILLS FOR iPAD

Keep track of your in-comings and outgoings with this app that filters for paid, planned, and overdue payments.

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 Android

MONEY TAB

Update your expenses in real time with this tracking app with stylish Holo-design. View stats and export to MS Office.

TEACH ME SUSHI

LOOK & COOK – ISRAELI CHEF MEIR ADONI

SUPER HEXAGON

GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY

CARDIOGRAPH

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 ● OS 1.5 | Free

iMUSCLE - iPAD EDITION

GORILLA WORKOUT

START BY TACK

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 Android

● iOS 4.3 | £10.49/$14.99

COMPLETE RELAXATION GUIDED MEDITATION

Relax with these comforting words set to ambient music.

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 iPhone

HD WIDGETS

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

An app worth having, but one you hope you never have to use. It stores your emergency contacts in one place.

● OS 2.2 | £1.49/$1.99

● iOS 3.1 | £0.69/$0.99

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPad

iPhone/iPad

Military-grade work out app that requires no fitness equipment beyond your device.

This app starring Sir Paul Smith follows the history of bicycle design.

● iOS 5.1 | £6.99/$9.99

Aimed at medical students but suitable for general interest, this app features six tests to revise how the body works.

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPad

Unique icons in a range of colours and styles, including animal fur and pastel sweets for your device.

Includes five different ways to explore the musculo-skeletal system and a pop quiz.

Android

iPhone/Android

Reduce stress and see your breathing patterns displayed in colourful graphics.

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 2.3 | £0.62/$0.99

YOU ARE YOUR OWN GYM

● iOS 5.0 | £1.99/$2.99 ● OS 2.2 | £1.25/$1.99

ALL-IN YOGA

Use voice activation to control this recipe app for hands free tablet use.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 ● OS 2.3 | £3.74/$4.99

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

GREEN KITCHEN - HEALTHY BEAT SNEAK BANDIT VEGETARIAN RECIPES Part puzzle, part

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

SKELETON SYSTEM PRO III

Customise your home screen with these stunning widgets for current time, weather forecasts and other utilities.

A real-life workout video game for men and women. Complete levels as you get fit.

Including over 300 poses with photo, video and audio guides. You can also create your own workout routines.

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

DAY ONE JOURNAL

● iOS 4.2 | £0.69/$0.99

CALORIE COUNTER PRO

ICONS PRO

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

SPB SHELL 3D

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY 2

● iOS 3.0 | £0.69/$0.99

MUSCLE & BONE ANATOMY 3D

● iOS 5.1 | £4.99/$6.99

BREATHING ZONE

Stylish interface and inspiring recipes prove healthy eating doesn’t need to be bland or boring.

stealth, all rhythm action. Tap your screen to the beat of the music to navigate levels.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.49/$3.99 ● OS 2.1 | £2.47/$3.99

Get smooth, rotating 3D effects for your home screen, smart folders, panels and other assorted widgets.

● OS 2.1 | £9.45/$14.95

● iOS 3.2 | £2.49/$3.99 ● OS 2.1 | £1.25/$1.99

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPad

iPad

Simply point and click to find the lowest price on the same or similar products from top online retailers with this app.

Recipe app for those with specific dietary needs, such as gluten and soy allergies, and fans of the Paleo ‘caveman diet’.

Create your own world, block by block.

● iOS 4.3 | £4.99/$6.99 ● OS Varies | £4.99/$6.99

Plan your work out in this stylish app and receive motivation from the voice coach.

Create decorative cards in-app with hints and tips from Martha herself.

Life-like depictions of the heart and circulatory system that can be rotated 360o to appreciate its complexity.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad

Compare mortgages side-by-side, work out what the true price would be, and manage your payments with this finance app.

Import and organise your favourite online recipes so they are all in one place and easy to find when you want them.

Visually-stunning open world fantasy adventure with intuitive gesture controls.

This app is packed with photo, video and audio tutorials to help you reach your peak level of fitness. Also includes yoga.

Aspiring novelist? My Writing Desk for iPad is your space to express yourself in a clean, distraction-free environment.

Keep a digital diary of your family’s shots, vaccinations, medicines, illnesses and more.

● OS 2.2 | £0.69/$0.99

BAKODO

● iOS 4.0 | Free

MORTGAGE MENTOR

● iOS 4.0 | £1.49/$1.99

● iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99

NOM NOM PALEO

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99

MY RECIPE BOOK

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

● iOS 3.1.3 | £1.99/$2.99

MINECRAFT POCKET EDITON

HORN

● iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99 ● OS 4.0 | £5.07/$6.99

Eat healthier with this meal planning and tracking app.

CYCLEPEDIA - ICONIC BICYCLE DESIGNS

RUNTASTIC PUSHUPS PRO

● iOS 6.0 | £1.49/$1.99 ● OS 2.2 | £0.79/$0.99

FITNESS FOR iPAD

● iOS 4.1 | £0.69/$0.99

MARTHA STEWART CRAFT STUDIO FOR iPAD

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

MY WRITING DESK

● iOS 3.1 | £0.69/$0.99

HEART PRO III

● iOS 5.0 | £6.99/$9.99

FAMILY ILLNESS + SHOT TRACKER

● iOS 3.1.3 | £1.49/$1.99


93

200 GREATEST APPS EVER THE VERY BEST iOS APPS FROM EVERY CATEGORY IN THE APP STORE

WHAT’S HOT? iPOE 2

Recently updated with The Raven, don’t miss this collection of interactive spooky stories. ● iOS 5.1 | £1.99/$2.99

FACEBOOK POKE

The Poke returns and it has its own app! Poke Facebook friends with photos, images and videos. ● iOS 5.1 | Free

ZOMBIES, RUN! 5K TRAINING Get in shape by running for your life from zombie hordes. ● OS 2.2 | £0.69/$0.99

VJAY

Add a musical soundtrack to your videos as you record. ● iOS 5.1 | £1.99/$2.99

THE ORCHESTRA

Explore the world of classical music with this feature-rich guide to every orchestral instrument. ● iOS 6.0 | £9.99/$13.99



YOUR FAVOURITE APPS

@Knowyourapps


/AppsMagazine


[email protected]


MUSIC

NAVIGATION

NEWS

PHOTO & VIDEO

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

With a multitude of instruments, plus multitrack recording, this is a magical music box that anyone can enjoy.

View near real-time air traffic maps that let you track the paths of aircraft above you.

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 4.2 | £4.99/$6.99 ● OS 1.6 | £3.00/$2.99

Newspaper skin for reading your favourite new media news sites in an old-fashioned, but intuitive interface.

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

The final piece in the iLife puzzle for iOS, iPhoto comes with an astonishing suite of editing tools to tweak images.

● iOS 6.0 | £2.99/$4.99

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

Android

iPad/Android

Make music in minutes with this easy-to-use interface. Export results to iTunes Audio Sharing.

Join the world’s biggest treasure hunt by becoming a Geocacher. It’s great fun.

● iOS 4.0 | £6.99/$9.99 ● OS 2.2.1 | £6.99/$9.99

Edit images on the go with a range of touch control tools using this essential software.

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

Easily sync your favourite subreddits for later offline viewing in this clean, easy-touse Holo interface.

● OS 2.2 | £1.25/$2.00

● iOS 5.0 | £6.99/$9.99 ● OS 3.1 | £6.99/$9.99

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Take tracks from your iTunes library and start mixing them together on this fully featured turntablist app.

Crowdsourced maps with offline functionality to save on data costs.

Access your Google Reader subscriptions in a newspaper-like interface. Top articles can be starred and shared online.

Great on the iPhone and iPad, this moviemaking app allows you to capture, edit and share footage anytime.

iPad


iPad

iPhone/ Android

Explore three centuries of classical music with this interactive mix of music and video content.

Download more than 7,000 maps from around the world for offline use on your device.

Create time-lapse and stop-motion videos with this sleek app with adjustable frame rate.

● iOS 6.0 | £9.99/$13.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99 ● OS 2.3 | Free

Toggle easily between original news sites and an elegant magazine reader, and save articles for offline use.

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

● iOS 5.0 | Free ● OS 1.6 | £1.99/$1.99

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone

iPad

iPhone/iPad

Ideal for the mountains, view 3D maps and aerial images, and plan your route.

Learn to speed read while taking in the news headlines. Set the pace words appear one at a time to train yourself.

Create a comic book starring your friends and family by applying speech bubbles and borders to images.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPad

Android

Hum a tune or sing a lyric and SoundHound will give you the full name of the song and artist.

Maps work offline, however online use also includes Google, Wikipedia and Yelp searches.

Reddit redesigned for a large touchscreen; includes increased interactivity.

The fastest camera on Android, this app will take ten shots per second and offers a range of filters for your images.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

View guitar tabs, create lists of your favourites, and view chord diagrams.

Augmented reality navigator and compass that lets you track your location and work out bearings in real-time.

Save feature articles blogs posts for later offline reading and enjoy in this paper-like reader.

● iOS 4.0 | £2.49/$3.99

● iOS 4.0 | £2.49/$3.99 ● OS 2.1 | £1.93/$2.99

Transform your photos into colourful works of art with picture editing and painting app.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

Android

iPhone/iPad

Record live airplay, set up a radio alarm clock on your iPhone or iPad, and AirPlay radio stations to other devices.

Provides geographical details for highland, hilltop and mountain walks across United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

This client for Google Reader offers a customisable interface, as well as the option to have articles read to you.

Simply pan the camera left to right while taking photos and watch as they are stitched together seamlessly.

Android

iPad

Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

Wirelessly sync your Android device with your desktop iTunes so you can enjoy your music on your smartphone.

All-in-one compass, GPS, map, zoom camera (photo and movie), range finder, and twoaxis inclinometer for iPad.

Apply paper texture and cartoon effects to your photos and real-time video shooting.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.49/$3.99

Simply swipe through this clearly laid out app to read articles offline with ease. Double-tap images to zoom in.

● OS 4.0 | £1.22/$1.99

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 2.1 | £1.19/$1.99

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Import all of your Google Maps data, including starred places and web history, to Apple Maps.

Download and listen to your favourite podcasts directly from your iOS device without the need to sync with iTunes.

Edit your photos with an impressive set of tools. The app even handles RAW images, if you have space for the file size.

GARAGEBAND

FIGURE

DJAY

● iOS 4.3 | £13.99/$19.99

THE ORCHESTRA

REACTABLE MOBILE

Create music with this clever app that includes synthesisers, samples and oscillators.

● iOS 4.0 | £6.99/$9.99 ● OS 2.2 | £7.99/$9.99

SOUNDHOUND ∞

● iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99 ● OS Varies | £3.99/$5.99

ULTIMATE GUITAR TABS

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 ● OS 1.6 | £1.86/$2.99

OOTUNES RADIO

● iOS 3.0 | £2.99/$4.99

iTUNES TO ANDROID SYNC

● OS 1.6 | £1.27/$1.99

VINYL THE REAL RECORD PLAYER

Add authentic crackle to your digitised music and watch as your album art ‘discolours’ with time.

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

PLANE FINDER

GEOCACHING

GPS NAVIGATION 2 SATNAV BY SKOOBLER (UK/ROI)

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

CITY MAPS 2GO

MAPS 3D - GPS TRACKS FOR HIKE, BIKE, SKI & OUTDOOR

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99

COPILOT LIVE PREMIUM

● iOS 4.3 | £24.99/$35.99 ● OS 2.1 | £24.99/$16.99

SPYGLASS

HILL LISTS

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

THEODOLITE HD

MY PLACES FOR GOOGLE MAPS

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99

PULP

REDDIT SYNC PRO

NEWSIFY RSS READER

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

LONGFORM

READ QUICK

● iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99

ALIEN BLUE FOR iPAD REDDIT CLIENT

● iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99

INSTAPAPER

gREADER PRO

● OS 2.1 | £3.19/$4.99

PRESS (GOOGLE READER)

DOWNCAST

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

iPHOTO

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

iMOVIE

● iOS 6.0 | £2.99/$4.99

LAPSE IT - TIME LAPSE PRO

HALFTONE

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

CAMERA ZOOM FX

● OS 1.6 | £1.79/$2.99

PHOTOVIVA

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 ● OS 2.1 | £3.19/$4.99

360 PANORAMA

● iOS 4.0 | £0.69/$0.99

PAPER CAMERA

SNAPSEED

● iOS 5.0 | Free

TOP 200 | GREATEST APPS EVER

PRODUCTIVITY iPhone/iPad

NUMBERS

REFERENCE iPad

BRIAN COX’S WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE

SOCIAL iPad

TWEETBOT — A TWITTER CLIENT WITH PERSONALITY FOR iPAD

SPORTS iPhone/iPad/Android

F1 2013 TIMING APP CP

TRAVEL

WEATHER iPad

iPad

AELIOS WEATHER

FLIGHT+ FOR iPAD

Whether you’re taking a flight or keeping track of your friends and family, Flight+ is one of the best apps around.

There are plenty of weather apps around, but this is one of the best we’ve ever used, and we would highly recommend it.

● iOS 4.2 | £3.99/$5.99

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Android

Make friends and have lively group conversations with this video chatroom app – or remain silent and just watch.

Pennant displays stats in a brilliantly animated way, and one that is simultaneously cool and traditional in feel.

Book a room, track a flight or rent a car and view maps of hundreds of airport terminals with this all-encompassing app.

Create your own weather station with customisable features, beautiful graphics and a range of widgets.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

This versatile app allows you to create, edit and view documents, and create attractive, customised pages.

Find essential information that is well-presented and easy to use in this clever app.

Manage your dream eleven with the leading fantasy football app.

Get live departure and arrival times for trains and download timetables for offline viewing.

● iOS 5.1 | £6.99/$9.99

● iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 ● OS 2.1 | £1.86/$2.99

Includes extras for Twitter, such as dictated tweets, scheduled posting and more.

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 1.6 | £0.70/$0.99

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 ● OS 1.5 | £2.99/$4.99

Vivid, real-time animated radar images of weather across the United States, with storm alerts and bookmarks.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/ Android

message new people near you or around the world

View maps and track your position on golf courses across the world with this GPS app.

A combination of lifestyle and travel tips in a stylish magazine interface covering cosmopolitan cities.

Get seven day forecasts and radar imagery of the USA and much of Europe.

● iOS 4.3 | £2.49/$3.99

● iOS 5.0 | £2.49/$3.99 ● OS 1.6 | £2.49/$3.99 iPhone/ Android

This spreadsheet was designed for your touchscreen, allowing you to calculate figures and create graphs with ease.

With wonderful images, animations and video content, it’s a must-have for any stargazer.

● iOS 5.1 | £6.99/$9.99

● iOS 5.0 | £4.99/$6.99

● iOS 5.0 | £1.99/$2.99

● iOS 4.3 | £23.99/£33.99 ● OS 2.1 | £23.99/£33.99

iPhone

Android

iPhone/iPad

This purely gesturebased app has one of the most innovative and intuitive interfaces of any app around.

Based on satellite imagery, view the Earth displayed at any time, in any location. Also works as a live wallpaper.

iPhone/iPad

CLEAR

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

PAGES

GRAFIO – DIAGRAMS & IDEAS

For a little brainstorming session at work you can’t go wrong with Grafio.

TERRATIME

● OS 2.0 | £1.99/$2.99

WOLFRAMALPHA

Tweetbot is perfect for heavy Twitter users on iPad.

TINYCHAT

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

TWEETCASTER PRO

● iOS 4.3 | £2.99/$4.99 ● OS 1.6 | £3.07/$4.99

DICTIONARY.COM – SKOUT+ DICTIONARY & THESAURUS Create and manage a profile and instant – HD IPAD An amazing resource to have available on the iPad.

The live map tracks every race, with detailed profiles for both cars and drivers.

TOPPS PENNANT

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

FANTASY PREMIER LEAGUE 2012/13

GOLFSHOT: GOLF GPS

KAYAK PRO

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

MYTRAINS

CITY GUIDES

● iOS 5.0 | £5.99/$8.99

● iOS 4.2 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 4.3 | £6.99/$9.99 ● OS 1.6 | £6.21/$9.99

● iOS 4.3 | £20.99/$29.99 ● OS 2.2 | £18.57/$29.99

Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/ Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

The innovative keyboard learns the words you use for more accurate auto-correction and predictive text.

This exquisite app brings the night sky to your device with all major planets and constellations displayed.

Forget SMS, this app allows you to send messages and pictures with no extra cost.

All the latest footy news and transfer gossip in one app with notifications for your favourite team.

The interactive bucket list offers photo-laden travel features of dream global getaways.

SWIFTKEY 3 KEYBOARD

REDSHIFT – ASTRONOMY

WHATSAPP MESSENGER

● iOS 3.1.2 | £7.99/$10.99

● iOS 3.1 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 2.1 | Free

iPad

iPhone/iPad

Android

Endlessly large canvas for simple sketching that you can export as PDFs.

Interactive 3D globe for children, beautifully rendered with details of all the countries of the world.

● iOS 5.0 | £13.99/$19.99

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Elegant sketching app, also allows you to import photos to trace over and record your sketching for playback.

Browse Wikipedia using this excellent reader, which offers great formatting and customisation options.

iPhone/iPad Create a world-class presentation with this top app with a range of impressive themes and customisable features.

● OS 2.1 | £2.99/$3.99

SYNCSPACE: INFINITE SHARED WHITEBOARD

SKETCHTIME

● iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99

KEYNOTE

● iOS 5.1 | £6.99/$9.99

FOOTBALL RUMOURS 2

1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE

WEATHER LIVE

● OS 2.3.3 | £0.61/£0.99

NOAA RADAR PRO

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

WEATHERPRO

FIZZ WEATHER

A slick UI with a wealth of useful data, you get weather info for over 58,000 cities.

● iOS 4.0 | £2.49/$3.99

● iOS 3.2 | £0.69/$0.99 ● OS 2.2| £0.99/$1.62

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Manage your social networks in one place and view your Facebook and Twitter accounts in one timeline.

Improve your team’s performance with video analysis and draw directly onto images.

● OS 2.1 | £1.89/$2.99

● iOS 6.0 | £2.99/$4.99 ● OS 2.1 | £3.09/$4.99

A list-making app specially designed for your holiday packing, with a detailed pre-departure to-do list with over 100 tasks.

Simple and accurate 7-day forecast for UK tidal time. Scroll through hundreds of locations on the British coastline.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

Android

iPad

Find out when someone unfollows you on the photosharing site.

Record and review your swing in slo-mo, compare it with that of the tour pros, and get feedback on improving it.

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

A retro weather app with beautifullydesigned dials and gauges that appear in stunning Retina display

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

Keep track of your position using GPS or switch to offline maps when out of mobile signal range.

● OS Varies | £6.99/$9.99

● iOS 4.0 | £6.99/$9.99

Android

iPad

iPhone

iPhone/iPad


View all of human history on a colourcoded timeline and tap for detailed descriptions of specific events.

Designed to use your iPad’s touch functionality to manage your blog. Drop media into your posts with ease.

Create winning football strategies with this animated playbook app.

Discover great adventures around the world, then create your own wish list of places you want to visit.

Visualisation of real-time space weather affecting our solar system.

● iOS 4.0 | £1.49/$1.99

● iOS 4.0 | £1.99/$2.99

● iOS 4.0 | £1.49/$1.99 ● OS Varies | Free

BAREFOOT WORLD ATLAS

ARTICLES

● iOS 5.1 | £2.99/$4.99

WORLD HISTORY

● OS 2.2 | £2.53/$3.50

SEESMIC PRO

MY FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM

BLOGSY FOR iPAD

● iOS 5.0 | £2.99/$4.99

● iOS 4.1 | £0.69/£0.99

COACH’S EYE

SWINGREADER GOLF HD

THE MASTER TACTICIAN MOBILE PRO

PACKING PRO

● iOS 5.0 | £1.99/$2.99

BACKCOUNTRY NAVIGATOR PRO GPS

SULLIVAN’S LIST

TIDE TIMES

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

PEEPOMETER

SPACE WX

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Pad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPad

Write a list and sync it between devices so that you and your flatmates can all keep track of who’s buying what.

Clear, accurate and occasionally witty definitions, and detailed thesaurus.

● iOS 4.3 | £6.99/$9.99 ● OS 2.2 | £6.13/$9.99

Multipurpose playbook includes features for a variety of sports, from soccer to hockey to roller derby.

Turn your device into a radar dish and see what air traffic looks like in real-time.

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99

View all of your social networks in one place with StatNut and display them in a simple, colour-coded interface.

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.49/$1.99

● iOS 4.3 | £1.99/$2.99 ● OS 2.2 | £1.99/$2.99

View animated hourly and weekly weather forecasts for up to nine different places around the world simultaneously.

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

Explore 2,000 years of one of the world’s greatest cities with articles, photos and video.

Keep your username, followers, and direct messages, but delete all of your tweets with this social network spring clean app.

The rules to 74 major sports from golf to Greco-Roman wrestling, with illustrations.

Use Google Maps’ Street View and your device’s GPS to create an intuitive map that responds to your movements.

Charming animated weather illustrations belie the useful functionality of this five-day forecast app.

GROCERY LIST

REAL MEMO PRO HANDWRITING

Freeform draw and write notes when you in a hurry. Tilting will create a new note.

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

CHAMBERS DELUXE

LONDON - A CITY THROUGH TIME

● iOS 4.3 | £9.99/ $13.99

STATNUT

TWEETICIDE

● iOS 5.0 | £1.49/$1.99

COACHNOTE

CURLY’S POCKET GUIDE TO SPORT

● iOS 4.3 | £0.69/$0.99

FLIGHTRADAR24 PRO

LIVE STREET VIEW

● iOS 5.0 | £0.69/$0.99

MAGICAL WEATHER

● iOS 4.0 | £1.49/$1.99

WEATHER DOODLE

● iOS 3.2 | £0.69/$0.99


95

BOOKS

iPhone/iPad/Android

For functionality and design we would take Kobo every time. Free books and cool reading stats.

One of the most powerful education tools around, with full university courses available directly on your device.

Track your accounts and bills all in one place, with the abilty to set budgets thrown in as well.

phenomenon is one of the best free downloads you can make.

● iOS 3.1

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.1

Town building games and gem matching are two separate and popular genres among mobile gamers. Triple Town combines the two, challenging players to match resources in order to build a settlement in the space while avoiding bears.

● iPhone+ | iOS 5.0 | v3.0.2

A collage of images behind which users discover new music. ● iPad | iOS 3.2 | v1.04

PULSE NEWS FOR IPHONE

Multitouch gestures mean you can scroll several feeds at once. ● iPhone | iOS 4.3 | v3.0.4

SNAPSEED

One of, if not the best photo editing suite on Google Play. ● Android | OS 4.0 | v1.4.1



YOUR FAVOURITE APPS

@Knowyourapps


/AppsMagazine


[email protected]


● iOS 5.0

POCKET EXPENSE TEMPLE RUN The free running PERSONAL FINANCE

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

Apple’s own native book store comes with iCloud features, as well as the ability to change reading settings to suit you.

A library of over 3,000 videos to help users learn pretty much anything they want, no matter what their interests.

Bloomberg is a must for City traders and anyone interested in the stock market.

● iOS 5.1

● iOS 4.0 ● OS 1.6

A real challenger to Temple Run, this endless platformer has one touch controls.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/Android

iPad

Android

Essentially a portal to read over 12,000 comics, and over 500 of them are free.

Everything NASA in one place, including news on missions and stunning imagery.

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.1

● iOS 5.0 ● OS 2.1

Monitor your spending and ultimately save money thanks to the charts, graphs and stats that are provided here.

● iOS 5.0

The Angry Birds franchise collides with Star Wars, complete with lightsabers and the force to help you.

● OS 2.2

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

A great app for book recommendations, Goodreads also has wishlists and social links.

As well as a class timetable and planner, you can add contacts, get notifications, and back up data.

Send money between accounts using just a mobile number, from your device.

● iOS 5.0

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.2

Gem-matching and settlement management have been neatly fused together.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

Regular programming with remarkable speakers and lectures for free via this app.

Check your current balance, view your account, and send money via 16 currencies.

Such a fantastic looking game for a free download – just try to survive a zombie onslaught.

● iOS 5.0

COMICS

GOODREADS

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 1.5

iPhone/Android

AUDIOBOOKS FROM AUDIBLE

Part of the Amazon family, so you have plenty of choice.

● iOS 4.2.1 ● OS Varies

● Android | Varies | Varies

FREE FAVOURITES AWEDITORIUM

iTUNES U

iPhone/iPad

iBOOKS

WHY WE LOVE… TRIPLE TOWN

GAMES

iPhone/iPad

● iOS 5.0 ● OS Varies

PRICELESS APPS FOR iOS AND ANDROID THAT DON’T COST YOU A THING

FINANCE

iPhone/iPad

KOBO

FANTASTIC FREE APPS

EDUCATION

iPhone/iPad/Android

BUSINESS

KHAN ACADEMY

NASA APP

CRAFTSY

TED

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.1

ENTERTAINMENT

BLOOMBERG

SPENDING TRACKER

BARCLAYS PINGIT

PAYPAL

● iOS 4.2 ● OS 2.2

JETPACK JOYRIDE

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.2

ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS

TRIPLE TOWN


DEAD TRIGGER


FOOD & DRINK

HEALTH

iPhone/iPad

iPhone

iPhone/Android

Remotely access your desktop PC or Mac, so you can take your business along wherever you should be going.

So much more than an extension of the iPlayer catch-up serivce, with a great interface and plenty of content.

An essential destination for when you want something great to eat.

● iOS 5.0

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 1.6


iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

Cloud storage so you can save and access all your key files across all your devices.

Keep up with your favourite shows anywhere; just sign in with your Sky ID.

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.2

Your ultimate kitchen companion, Whisk helps you order ingredients and portion sizes.

● iOS 4.0 ● OS 2.2

Your ultimate calorie guide with a massive database as well as exercises and social links.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/Android

A very clever workbased network where users across a team can delegate tasks.

Give your home videos some epic Hollywood effects with this brilliant free app for your iOS device.

LOGMEIN

● iOS 4.3

BOX


PODIO

● iOS 5.0 ● OS 2.2

iPLAYER RADIO

SKY GO

ACTION MOVIE FX

FOODSPOTTING

WHISK

EPICURIOUS RECIPES & SHOPPING LIST

An absolute must for culinary masters and budding chefs alike.

iPhone/Android

ENDOMONDO SPORTS TRACKER

Endomondo is the most social fitness experience you’ll get.

CALORIE COUNTER


NIKE+ RUNNING

This app requires a pair of Nike shoes that have an insert for the Nike+ sensor.

● iOS 5.0

● iOS 4.0 ● OS 1.5

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

This handy app lets you to connect to iTunes wirelessly and play music and movies on your Mac or PC.

The app that’s perfect for any level of experience, from oven wizards to toast burners.

check symptoms and conditions, but you can also get drug information.

● iOS 3.0

● iOS 4.3

● iOS 3.0 ● OS 2.1

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/Android

This app instantly translates the spoken word into text. Send notes and reminders to yourself, and so much more.

Cross device viewing thanks to the cloud. An absolute must for subscribers to the service.

Find a table and book it in just a few taps, whether it be a lastminute plan or planning ahead.

Post you concern and a qualified quack will respond with a diagnosis fairly swiftly.

iPhone/Android

JAMES CAAN BUSINESS SECRETS

Find out about hiring staff, raising money, and more in this app.

● iOS 4.0 ● OS 2.1

DRAGON DICTATION

● iOS 4.0

REMOTE

NETFLIX

● iOS 5.0 ● OS 2.2

● iOS 4.0 ● OS 2.3.3

HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING WEBMD ESSENTIALS Not only can you

TOPTABLE

● iOS 5.0 ● OS 2.1

HEALTHTAP

● iOS 4.3 ● OS 2.2

top 100 | Fantastic Free Apps LIFESTYLE

MUSIC

NEWS

PRODUCTIVITY

SOCIAL

TRAVEL

iPhone/Android

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

With voice, bar code and cover image search available, this app will find what you need.

Quite literally a wall of sound for users to interact with, as each ‘brick’ hosts an artist, their music, and cool photos.

It’s not only one of the best news apps around; it’s also great fun to use on your device.

The official app of the social network heavyweight to share your thoughts and more.

l iOS 3.2

l iOS 4.2 l OS 2.2

Create a note on your device and save it to the cloud, where it can be picked up and edited.

l iOS 5.0 l OS 1.6

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.1

iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

This app is not only great to keep up with your shopping, but also a wonderful place to browse for bargains.

Build customised playlists from millions of tracks and share them with the world .

With cloud syncing you can create your lists and share your tasks across devices.

The ultimate social networking tool has regular updates. Easy to use, and fairly foolproof.

This excellent app even goes beyond the booking phase to give you tips for on your trip.

l iOS 4.0

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.1

Bring together a huge number of personalised RSS feeds on one screen.

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

Searching and sharing on Fancy is all about becoming a curator of cool.

A cool combination of calendar and music discovery, with each new day bringing with it a new artist for you to enjoy.

Pocket lets you save any article, image or video you find online and read it later.

This growing community is a great way to discover new things, and a hell of a timesink.

This is one of those definitive apps, giving you access to pretty much anywhere on the globe.

l iOS 5.0

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.2

Essentially giving you Microsoft Office on your device, completely free for all.

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.2

l iOS 4.3 l OS Varies

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad

This is a handy app to use in an unfamiliar place when you need to find local amenities.

An extraordinary app, Shazam can identify songs by listening to them for a few seconds.

This app allows you to watch live news feeds over Wi-Fi, so you can always stay current.

A wonderfully character-filled sketching and creative app where users can purchase other themed tools.

A simple and satisfying interface that Facebook and Twitter can only dream about.

l iOS 5.0

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.1

Google Shopper

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.1

eBay for iPad

fancy

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.2

AroundMe

l iOS 4.2 l OS 2.2 iPhone

snapguide

This communitydriven guidebook is a wonderful resource. Browse its many topics and get all sorts of handy tips.

l iOS 4.3

Aweditorium

Spotify

Band Of the Day

Shazam

Flipboard

Pulse News For iPhone

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.2

pocket

BBC News

Wunderlist

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.2

CloudOn

l iOS 5.0 l OS 3.1

Paper by fiftythree

Twitter

Hailo

Sets the standard and changes the way people order taxis on iOS or Android.

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.2

Facebook


Pinterest

Path

Kayak Mobile

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.1

Google Earth

TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants

Find hotel and restaurant reviews, cheap flights, and virtual tours all for free.


l iOS 3.1.3 l OS Varies

iPhone/iPad

iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone

This cloud of music bubbles is one of the most creative ways to discover new music.

Watch live streams from the TV station in the palm of your hands. Feature-rich, brimming with content and totally free.

Access your images, documents or any other type of digital file you like, anywhere.

Bring your loved ones closer to you, no matter where they are with the video calls of Skype.

You can download full city guides, plus maps, for over 60 of the most exciting destinations on the planet.

Hitlantis

l iOS 3.1.2 l OS 2.2

MEDICAL

Sky News for iPad

l iOS 4.2

NAVIGATION iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

This app tests your vision through a series of exams, and includes an optician finder.

Back on iOS and still the undisputed king of the mapping world. This app is all you need.

The native app is gone on iOS, but this free replacement is actually much better.

Google Maps

Dropbox


PHOTO & VIDEO

iPhone/iPad/Android

Vision Test

Evernote

iPhone/Android

Youtube

skype

l iOS 4.3 l OS 2.1

REFERENCE iPhone/Android

Scribd - The Word’s largest online library All the reference books you’ll need, available offline.

l iOS 3.1

Guidepal city guides

l iOS 4.0

SPORTS

WEATHER

iPhone

iPhone/iPad/Android

The dedicated app for the official site, users can set persona settings to adjust the news they see first.

Fill your screen with some great themes to accompany your weather forecast.

l iOS 5.0

l iOS 4.0 l OS 2.2

BBC Sport

weatherwise

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.2

l iOS 3.0 l OS 2.2

iPhone

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPad

iPhone

A large body of reference material laid out in such a way that it can be used to access specific symptoms in seconds.

A quite brilliant example of just how engrossing and stunning navigation apps can really be on iOS.

Give your images an impressive boost with the range of filters and editing tools on offer in this app.

Translate to and from 64 languages, speech from 17 languages, and listen in 24.

l iOS 5.0

l iOS 3.0 l OS 2.1

The Sky Sports channels on your device, as well as some impressive in-game stat screens and graphics.

A solid and professionallyproduced app, this is free and therefore a musthave anywhere in the world.

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone/iPad/Android

iPhone

iPhone

Comes with data visualisation and stats so you can track the whole family, and medication.

Waze is a social app for drivers, letting users share info on incidents and delays.

This app has quite simply become the go-to image editing app across all devices.

l iOS 4.0

For the amount of info at your fingertips, this app is a must for every sports fan – and it won’t cost you a penny.

You never need to aimlessly trawl the coastlines looking for the big waves again, thanks to this free app.

l iOS 5.0

l iOS 5.0 l OS 4.0

The place to go with your burning questions, with the community providing answers

iPhone

iPhone

iPad

iPhone

iPhone/iPad

iPad

This app streams high-quality sports content so you can watch the hottest action live from around the world.

Forecasting with a difference as this app is truly social, allowing users to share their climate and what they’re doing in it.

l iOS 4.0 l OS 1.1


iPhone

Assistance

l iOS 4.0

Blood Pressure Monitor

uHear

Recce - New York

l iOS 5.0

Waze social GPS & traffic

BuddyTraffic

Camera Awesome

Snapseed

The Guardian Eyewitness

google translate

Quora

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.2

Wikipanion

Sky Sports for ipad

l iOS 5.0

Yahoo! Sportacular

l iOS 4.0

Eurosport Player

The Weather Channel

l iOS 5.0

Surf Report

l iOS 2.2.1

Weathermob

As hearing loss usually happens over a period of time, uHear is a good app for monitoring your hearing.

Access more than 7,000 maps from around the world, and download them to your iPad or iPhone for use offline.

Offers amazing images from around the world, covering current events.

An amazing resource to have available on the iPhone, with Wikipedia ar your disposal on your iPhone in this client.

l iOS 4.3

l iOS 4.0

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/Android

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

iPhone/iPad

With a wide range of cool filters and a great community you can create amazing photos.

Everything you could wish to know about the sky above you is in this very handy reference app. Keep looking up.

Another great official app with comprehensive highlights and news from the Major League Soccer season.

Share real-time forecasts so you can see the latest weather from around the world, thanks to other users.

l iOS 2.2.1

Prognosis: Your Diagnosis

Uses case studies for better diagnosis in patients by doctors.

l iOS 5.0 l OS 2.2

l iOS 4.3

Navfree GPS live UK & ROI

With voice-guided directions and no data connection needed, this is a great app.

l iOS 4.3

l iOS 4.0

Instagram

l iOS 4.0 l OS 2.2

Sky Map

l iOS 4.3

l iOS 5.0

MLS Matchday 2012

l iOS 5.0

wezzoo

l iOS 4.3


97

Make p p A this app There is pretty much an in for everything already th we on m ch existence, but ea ke ar t for expose a gap in the m tionary… something really revolu

“DON’T-DOIST LEAVES YOU FREE TO WHAT YOU LOVE – NOTHING”

Empty bins. Buy food for tonight. Workout in the gym.

GESTURE CONTROLS The app is fantastically intuitive, ideal for the work shy. Swipe left over a task to generate the tips and ideas on how to avoid this task. Swipe right to then check off your list.

Walk the dog. THE LIST Create a list of all your potential chores or parts of your routine that you would like to avoid today, and Don’t-Doist will use it’s intelligent database to create the perfect and logical excuses you need.

• Delete emails • Ignore emails • Don’t view emails

Reply to emails.

Pay the bills. Wash my clothes.

EXCUSES In order to find you the perfect way out, Don’t-Doist uses not only location services, but also web searches, and a knowledge database to rival that of Siri in order to give you all the reasoning you’ll ever need.

Hang out washing. SHARE Should have a friend in peril when it comes to chores around the house, users can share their own used solutions to the in-app community so others can take advantage and buy themselves some ‘me time’.

Don’t-Doist

Your helpful guide to everything you don’t want to do, and the perfect excuses in order to avoid it should someone want you to help out around the house The pitch: Do you long for those lazy Sundays when you could just lay on the sofa without a care in the world? Are you running out of excuses for not fixing that faulty tap in the bathroom? Then you need Don’t-Doist, your iOS and Android companion that will give you tips and excuses to avoid those annoying tasks. The app works in all walks of life; if you’re looking for a way out of going to the gym, Don’t-Doist might point out that it’s raining outside or that you felt under the weather last Thursday. Don’t-Doist leaves you free to what you love – absolutely nothing.

98 Issue 31 of

is on sale 27 March 2013

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