AppFreak - All about iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch apps - The iPhone isn't the greatest thing ever but I like mine

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Commenting on apps, apps and apps. Perhaps some other geek related interesting stuff.

Sharing with the world great iPhone and iPod Touch apps with in depth reviews, screenshot galleries, user interfaces, App Store Trends and of course, some freebies and giveaways every now and then.

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Gameloft prepping N.O.V.A for the iPad: Drops price

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Posted 1 minute ago

Insider view: Oliver Miao on EA and AppStore microtransactions

via flickr.com
Oliver Miao noticed that the reviews on Pocket God loved the free weekly content, so his studio thought they'd develop weekly content for free, and then create exclusive content to sell separately as microtransactions.
via tuaw.com

This is from a post over at TUAW from Mike Schramm reporting from the Game Developers Conference. I enjoyed reading how Miao's studio proposed monetising alternatives to giant EA and what their reasons were to reject it. An interesting and well written article if you like to read about the AppStore economy.

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Posted 5 hours ago

The SECRETS of the Apple iPad Ad (Oscar 2010)

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Posted 1 day ago

Surviving never felt this good - Tilt to Live reviewed

Being an AppFreak like me has its highs and lows. I get to review all sort of apps and games, but only a handful deserve a instant five star rating. This game has a number of elements that have made an app successful in the past: A self explanatory catchy name, use of iPhone accelerometer, dead simple gameplay and some retro feel to it. It took me some minutes to set it to my own taste and now I recognise I haven't been this addicted to a game like this for the last weeks.

Tilt to Live [iTunes Link]  by One Man Left is a 2D survival game where you have to avoid being touched by the enemies as long you can to avoid, inevitably, death. The game is controlled by tilting the device, using the built-in accelerometer to indicate where to move. Tilt to Live doesn't use the touch controls during the gameplay, meaning that you can't fire up a weapon, for example. However, you can collect power-ups and weapons to resist the constant attacks from the enemy.

The game arena is limited to the iPhone screen size, so you won't need to scroll over to see parts of the scenario. If you direct your arrow to the edge of the screen, it will bump into it like an unbreakable wall. Having a full view of the action allows to separate the iPhone from the body, situating it farther than usual two-thumb controlled games. The developer has taken care to offer different tilting options, including a custom one. It took me some time to find the good one for me: The custom gave the best results. 

Tilt to Live has a frenetic game mechanic, as you would have assumed from its name. Enemies in from of red dots will appear in the screen to slowly wake up and star harassing you. They're really naughty. As the game progresses, the screen will be filled with red dots, that will join they efforts and evolve into a bigger and faster enemy. I found this a very good part of the game since the new enemies are very well thought out, wacky and fun. The pace and progressing stress level is good. You can see in the video below how the red dots create huge arrows or even transform into the old school Pong game.

The weapons offered are varied and add incredible value to the game strategy. Only after you learn how to use them and combine their effects you can start earning points on your kill score.  The most complex strategies will be awarded by the game, earning you bonuses and higher scores. At the early stages I like to be followed by many red dots to blast them with the red weapon. In higher levels I like to wait for the red dots to create a compact shape and shoot them with the purple wave. In desperate situations I use the freezing weapon to paralise enemies around me and them blast them and scape to a safer area. 

via youtube.com available in HD

On a lower note are some small characteristics of early app versions. The game doesn't include any other game mode, leaving you to tilt to survive only. I wonder how a free play mode could be. The graphic aspect is just correct and will not wow you with it's in-game effects. The animations are fine: Simplicity makes games playable. I have the feeling that everything was kept to a minimum to avoid cluttering the whole thing. The music does get repetitive. Why not accessing the iPod library? The game cries for a story or a plot that would have added to the experience. Where only left with the loading screen messages (make sure you check them out.

Tilt to Live is a quick thinking tilt game really really fun to play. I love the fact that the game controls have been super-simplified. It leaves me with the wonderful sensation of accelerating tilting the iPhone. Definitely recommended for any hardcore or casual iPhone gamer.

via youtube.com available in HD
                           

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Posted 2 days ago

Coathangr, the twitter for fashionistas

via youtube.com

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Posted 2 days ago

Are you obsessed with your iPhone?

via huffingtonpost.com @HuffPostTech

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Posted 2 days ago

Space Invaders Infinity

via youtube.com

A great game and music evolution

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Posted 2 days ago

Instapaper Pro, one of my iPhone basics

One of the apps that I have first downloaded to test and that has now found a place on my homescreen. In my daily iPhone use I send emails, text friends, tweet, read my rss, and… now I can read websites that I kept for later with Instapaper Pro [iTunes Link]. 
It is amazing how the Instapaper service has changed the way I work. I use the Safari bookmarklet save websites to read later, on Tweetie 2 to load websites faster and what I enjoy most: To read long articles with time without the Google Reader rush of skimming through the 1,632 new items. The service is integrated in some iPhone apps like the mentioned Tweetie 2 or Reeder, allowing you to save content within the app. There is a full list with the 22 apps that support the service at the moment. Instapaper [Free] and Instapaper Pro iTunes Link] do the reading part, accessing your Instapaper list and displaying it in your preferred way to read it.
I also should mention that developer Marco Arment started Instapaper as a side project and the early app was a pure 1.0 version. However, the service growth and new features added made having the app worthwhile. 
"It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don’t read anymore."
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc

When the app is launched, it will start synching the latest bookmarks to your iPhone, which will require registering with the free Instapaper service. Access web pages organised in folders (you can edit them directly in the main menu), Starred items and your Archive. The web pages will be displayed on a list, and tapping on them will load a simplified version of it. Text and images are preserved there if you chose to keep them in the first place. The new rendered item will have the URL address on top, really useful to organise your sources, and a link to the original version. There's the option to use the in-app browser to load a full or text version. Once you tap on it, Instapaper will need 3G or WiFI to render the full version.
The latest update in the Pro version makes reading Instapaper quite a pleasant experience for commuters on the go like me. I can choose to have a standard white background or to use the dark interface when I read something when I'm in bed. I can also choose to have auto-tilt enabled, a sort of auto cue for reading, or perhaps I want to have pages (No imitation of the Classics effect here…. yet. The pages slip without any fancy gimmick). I can also look up words on Wikionary and share it with friends on social networks and Tumblr. If for some reason you don't like the default Helvetica font, you can change it to Georgia and Verdana, change font size and increase margins. 
Version 2.2 introduces a new icon much better designed than the previous one, adding texture, some volume, and most noticeably, a vertical two column text view and the prominent I for Instapaper. 

via youtube.com available in HD

There are alternative apps+services like Read It Later that do the same thing, but I just happened to bump into this one first. I'm happy with the app, that I bought after trying for free. The developer keeps updating, not only the app, but refining the service to make a better experience. I envision a day where Instapaper could be available in every productivity app and a much more dynamic website. Instapaper is recommended to the few people that love reading (according to Jobs) and anyone that needs to access information quickly.
   

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Posted 3 days ago

Te hiero mucho (Historia del amante guisante)

via youtube.com

From Spanish band Love of Lesbian

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Posted 4 days ago

Hi! I'm AppFreak

AppFreak is a nerdy monster who writes about iPhone and iPod Touch apps. His tweets, videos and blog posts can be easily be recognised for his irreverence. Now those interested in his app reviews will remember this purple fluffy ball is the biggest app freak out there.

AppFreak imagined by Aaron Miller

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Posted 4 days ago