Anyone who has used myPhoneDesktop knows that it is a fantastic tool for streamlining your onscreen workflow. Instead of having to type line after line into your phone directly, you can use myPhoneDesktop to type from your computer directly into your phone. It really is fantastic for sending long SMS messages, bringing large amounts of notes with you on the go, typing long addresses for use in Google Maps, or sending batch pictures.
To make things even easier, the team at myPhone Desktop created the Chrome to iPhone extension, allowing users to effortlessly send data from the Google Chrome browser.
The main features of myPhoneDesktop Chrome to iPhone Extension are:
* Utilizes Push Notifications to simplify workflow
* Send selection as plain text
* Recognize and send URL’s in selection
* Recognize and send image URL’s in selection
* Recognize and send phone numbers including Vanity e.g. 1-800-MY-APPLE
* Show a list of Web page elements when selection contains multiple content types (text, images, URL’s) allowing you to choose which information you want to send to iDevice
* Can send large article of up to 40 thousand characters
* Send current Web page URL if nothing is selected on the page
* Send current Google Map location or route without a need to select its URL
* Ability to specify default action to execute on iDevice per each data type
* Support for Multiple accounts and support for multiple iDevices (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch) to allow dealing with multiple devices from the same computer
* Quick switching between accounts
If you are already a user of myPhoneDesktop and use Google Chrome as your browser, simply download the Chrome extension from the extensions site. Enjoy!
Developer: Funky Visions
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPad
iPad Integration Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.8 out of 5 stars
If an app is entertaining but lacks specific goals, does that make it a bad app? Jiggle Balls HD might just be an app whose only real purpose is to be a fun little toy, but as a well-made toy app, there’s certainly nothing wrong with it. The purpose, here, is to play around with physics, even if there’s not really any goal-based gameplay. You are given a screen with your choice of background to unleash a variety of different balls, from generic colored balls to sports balls, all of which you can adjust for size, weight, bounce, and stickiness to the walls. You then just tap on the screen to add the balls to the playing field, and shake, rotate, and twist your iPad to knock the balls around on the screen. Your ultimate goal is entertainment.
Jiggle Balls features great physics work from the underlying physics libraries applied to the game, to make the game feel very good; the ability to customize the physics down to minute properties allows you to really create the kind of experience you want for your time with the app. And it really does take advantage of the iPad’s screen, giving you a lot more room than the iPhone version does to play around with.
Of course, the question about Jiggle Balls HD is just what exactly the point of it is. It’s an app that features balls bouncing around on screen – there’s no ulterior goal to it other than that. There just isn’t much to the app beyond watching the balls bounce around and playing with the properties of them. Some kind of game or competition element (like on the iPhone with the game Jiggle Balls: Spikes) would give the app a lot more value than just as a toy app.
However, despite its seemingly limited utility, Jiggle Balls HD does serve its intended purpose of being a great novelty app and toy that you can play with whenever you feel like just watching the balls bounce around on the screen to let off some frustration, or if you want to show off a silly app to your friends on your iPad.
Developer: Inverted Pear
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
iPad Integration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.67 out of 5 stars
The uses for the iPad are varied, and range from use as a simple media device, an eBook reader, or for interactive games. Sometimes, someone thinks of joining a few of these uses together and we get something that’s new and remarkable. Dracula HD takes this idea and brings the tale of Bram Stoker’s vampiric count to the iPad with style.
Not quite a book, but also not a game, this interactive graphic novel of sorts is a perfect fit for the haunted tale of Count Dracula and the weary traveller visiting his haunted castle in Transylvania. Page by page, the story unfolds (this is obviously an abridged version) along with fantastic art which sets your imagination in motion as you read. Another spellbinding aspect is the background music/effects that accompany each page. Honestly, I’m the type of person that usually likes to read in silence, but since this is more like a visual experience the audio is very welcome, as it is well orchestrated and appropriate!
As you read along, some of the pages are interactive. A glass might shatter if you touch it, the mirror on the wall might move if you lean your iPad left or right. It’s these little touches that really bring the app to life. This is basically the equivalent of a 21st century pop-up book, only better because you’re not going to tear off the little flap that lifts the barn door as on a traditional paper pop up book.
One downside, and this is really a shame, is that the app often does not remember on which page you finished last when you leave it. If you don’t read the whole thing in one sitting, you’ll have to flip back through all of the pages in order to reach the one you were last on. There really should be some sort of bookmarking feature.
The only other disappointment I have with this app is something that is not inherently it’s own fault. Once you’ve read through, experienced the story, graphics, effects and interactive bits, that’s it, there’s little to no replay or reuse value. Unlike a regular book, which you may pick up and read again, read certain chapters of, or use for reference this ‘novelty story’ doesn’t quite work the same way.
With that being said, I still think that this app is worthwhile, and I hope that there are more Interactive Graphic Novels and suchlike in the future of the iPad.
Developer: Matt Rix
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.15
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.45 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.05 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.19 out of 5 stars
Trainyard express is a spartan (as in bare bones, not Greek) puzzle game with a simple task to boot. The simple goal is to get a few trains from their departure point to their ending point without crashing them or breaking the dreaded color rules.
The first few levels are incredibly easy, easing you into the monster challenge that will soon come. All you have to do from the get-go is to get the blue train out of the blue departure point and into the blue terminal. As you progress through the game, you have to deal with switching tracks, color blending, timed collision blending, and obstructions. The extremely shallow learning curve for the first bunch of levels gets incredibly steep once you get to Quebec (the levels are all named after Canadian provinces).
As for the details, the game is pretty bare bones, with just a black background, a grid overlay, and some simple track graphics. Any additional graphics though would be unwanted because it would just make the game more difficult.
Trainyard Express certainly isn’t for everyone, but I don’t think the developer intended it to be that way. There really aren’t any graphics or sound to speak of, and there are no exciting action sequences to go through. There is also no time limit and no lives, so there’s no need to hurry.
Overall, it’s about as exciting as doing a Sudoku puzzle, which for some (including myself) is the perfect way to spend a bit of free time. If you like slow paced puzzlers that will actually give you a good challenge, Trainyard Express is a good buy.
For a bit of back story, Trainyard Express is technically the free version of the original game, Trainyard. In Matt Rix’s promo email, he writes that, “I prefer to think of it as a “prequel” rather than a ‘lite’ game, because it’s WAY bigger than most lite games. I spent a lot of time creating 60 brand-new puzzles just for it, so it can really be considered a full game on its own.” If you do in fact enjoy playing Trainyard Express, don’t hesitate to pick up Trainyard too. It’s not free, but it’s always good to support good devs.
Developer: Cat-in-a-Box Games
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 3G, iPad
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.31 out of 5 stars
Blue Defense: Second Wave is a shining example of two things. The first is what happens when a developer has a concept for an action game built from the ground up for the platform it’s supposed to be on, and the wherewithal to make the game as good as its concept should be. The second is when a developer is able to revisit and address the issues of a game in a sequel to the point where the original feels almost antiquated by comparison. This is an action game meant for iOS, and as a sequel to the original Blue Defense, this is a massive success. The game has you trying to defend a large blue planet from invading red and green enemies that like to attack from all sides, with your only tools of survival being a neverending stream of bullets and a huge limited use enemy obliterating cannon.
The game provides a Classic mode for you to play as long as you can survive, with randomly generated enemy waves, as well as new Gauntlet and Level Select modes that have you fighting specific enemy waves if you just want to enjoy a shorter play session. The tilt controls are a great fit for the iPhone and even handle well on the iPad, and the game pausing to warn you when your device is too flat helps to make things a lot easier. The touch controls are also very functional, and provide a great way to multitask on the enemy hordes, or as an alternative to tilt controls altogether. And of course, the game is a great fit of an action game on iOS, feeling like it belongs on this platform, like it was made for this system. Whiile the game is built to support Retina displays and the iPad, the game suffers from no performance hits even on the iPhone 3G, and considering the sheer number of enemies that can be on one screen at a time, it is nothing short of a miracle.
The only problem with the controls is that they can make the game awkward to play in public, especially if you’re rotating the iPad around like a madman, and the touch controls can be kind of cramped on the iPhone when trying to fire at multiple targets. While the game handles multiple orientations in a much smoother way than the original did, the GUI is constantly set for portrait upright position no matter what relative orientation your device might be in. As well, support for a service like OpenFeint or Game Center would be great, as the game uses a proprietary high score list.
It’s just hard to come up with a list of complaints about this game, because of how well made it is. Blue Defense: Second Wave is original, intense, addictive, and most of all, fun. Fan of action games on iOS deserve to give this game a shot.
Anyone who has used myPhoneDesktop knows that it is a fantastic tool for streamlining your onscreen workflow. Instead of having to type line after line into your phone directly, you can use myPhoneDesktop to type from your computer directly into your phone. It really is fantastic for sending long SMS messages, bringing large amounts of notes with you on the go, typing long addresses for use in Google Maps, or sending batch pictures.
:: NICHE APP
The first few levels are incredibly easy, easing you into the monster challenge that will soon come. All you have to do from the get-go is to get the blue train out of the blue departure point and into the blue terminal. As you progress through the game, you have to deal with switching tracks, color blending, timed collision blending, and obstructions. The extremely shallow learning curve for the first bunch of levels gets incredibly steep once you get to Quebec (the levels are all named after Canadian provinces).
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