Since the creation of the App Store a few months ago, iPhone apps reviews are everywhere. I've always tried not to spend too much time on apps reviews to focus more on interesting news or hacks for the iPhone. From time to time though, we do have apps reviews, and it's mostly the job of dannyswrld.
I've received a few emails and comments from you guys asking what were my favorite iPhone apps so I thought I'd write a post about it. Note that these apps aren't ranked in any specific order.
This morning I received an email from one of our readers, asking me how the iPhone works when traveling internationally.
If I travel to Costa Rica can I use my iPhone there? Do I have to get a special SIM card - or is it like when you go to Europe and it just "works" without doing anything? Also, is it free to e-mail pics using Wi-fi if I am connected there? Gracias!
You don't need a special SIM card to use your iPhone outside of the US. Straight off the plane, your iPhone will work anywhere there is coverage, since AT&T has partnerships with carriers in pretty much every country. Your iPhone will automatically pick up the local carrier and you will be able to receive/make calls, and send text messages. Same for data (Edge or 3G). It will work as well without you having to do anything, assuming that you have Edge or 3G service where you are.
The Costs Of Phone Calls And Text Messages Outside The US
Now be really careful because making calls from outside the US is very expensive. Even more expensive is the use of the data for Internet connection. Depending on where you are in the world, a one minute phone call can cost you between $1 and $5. Text messages are a little more affordable and it will only cost you $0.50 to send a text message. Received text messages are deducted from your monthly domestic data plan.
AT&T has a nice little tool that lets you see how much it will cost you to make calls depending on what countries you're visiting. I suggest you have a look at it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find pricing about international data roaming but I know for sure it is very expensive...
What To Do To Avoid Being Charged Extra
To make sure you don't go over budget, you have several options:
First thing you can do is to put your iPhone in airplane mode. This is not the recommended option as it will pretty much turn your iPhone into an iPod Touch. You will not be able to make/receive calls and you will have no access to the internet whatsoever. This is a solution recommended for people who are paranoid about their iPhone usage abroad and want to make sure they will not spend a dime on extra charges.
My recommendation is to turn off data roaming in your iPhone settings (Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming). It is Off by default but you want to check to make sure you don't get a $4,286 bill next month. Turning data roaming off will pretty much shut down your internet access via Edge and 3G. You will still be able to get internet through wifi if you have it in your hotel for example. My iPhone being jailbroken, I use a great application called BossPrefs that lets me choose individually what I want to turn off.
If you don't want to make calls from abroad and you just want to check your emails and update your Facebook status from time to time, the best thing to do is to look for wifi. Most hotels and airports offer wireless Internet and using your iPhone over wifi won't cost you anything at all. If you have Skype or Fring installed on your iPhone, then use those apps over wifi to make international calls. This is clearly the best way to make cheap calls from abroad.
AT&T International Data And Voice Packages
If you're going to need an international data plan, the best solution is to call AT&T at 800-331-0500 and get an International Data Package which will significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad. The 20 MB package is $24.99 per month, the 50 MB package is $59.99 per month, 100 MB package is $119.99 per month, and the 200 MB package is $199.99 per month. If you're going to use any of these packages, make sure you reset your iPhone data tracker to 0 (Settings>General>Usage>Reset). This will enable you to track your estimated data usage. More information about International Data Packages can be found here.
If you know you will need to make calls from abroad, again, the best solution is to call AT&T at 800-331-0500 and to get the AT&T World Traveler package. This package is only $5.99/month extra and works in over 200 countries. This add-on will get you discounted roaming rates in over 85 of those countries. Click here to see a list of calling rates by country.
I think we took everything into consideration. If in doubt, please call AT&T to talk to a rep and have a clear idea of what you're getting into when using your iPhone abroad.
We already know that the App Store app approval process sometimes doesn't make sense by rejecting applications that seem totally legit. The non-sense also goes about how Apple sometimes approve applications that should never be developed in the first place.
In Apple’s App Store right now is Baby Shaker, a new app which, displays a picture of a baby and plays crying sounds. To make it stop, you have to shake your iPhone really hard, after which the crying will stop and two X’s will be placed over the baby’s eyes — implying, of course, that the baby is dead. I’m not kidding.
According to TechCrunch, "a woman who lost her own son in 2007 after he was shaken to death, brought the app to CNET’s attention. And rightfully so".
Baby Shaker [download link] has to be the most offensive app I've seen so far in the App Store, and I really wonder how someone at Apple could have ever approved this. I'm pretty sure the app won't stay long in the App Store.
Here is a video of Baby Shaker in action:
NimbleBit (formerly know as Ian Marsh) who brought us the beloved Scoops and the addicting word game Textropolis, now brings us yet another addicting fun, yet simple game, "Sky Burger".
Sky Burger puts you to work stacking burgers to order! Catch the right ingredients as they fall from the sky, and don’t forget that top bun when you’re done!
Build over 50 unique burger orders that grow taller and taller the more orders you complete. Complete enough orders in a row and build an unlimited SkyBurger!
Earn cash for each burger and get promoted up the Sky Burger corporate ladder. Watch your business grow with each promotion! Look back at your career stats and compare them to the top Sky Burger employees.
Sound like fun huh? It is. You must catch the right ingredients. The more orders you stack correctly, the faster / wilder the game will get! Then in a random order you will get a Sky Burger order. Basically this is a "wild order". You just stack as high as you can. To make things more fun the game also has online stats and scores.
Try This Networks have been kind enough to give us two promo codes for Tap of The Dead [iTunes Link]. Here is a description of the game.
A virus has ransacked New York City. Everyone you know is dead...ish. Play as Connor Frost, a reluctant software engineer turned zombie destroyer. Tap patterns as fast as you can before your hand cramps up, and you become one of the walking dead. You need to get to safety! Pass through familiar New York City sites and you might even run into a few familiar faces.
The question isn't if you can get off Manhattan, but can you do it in style?
FEATURES
*Simple fast paced gameplay - Easy to pickup, difficult to master.
*Auto saves when you quit so you can pick up and play again later exactly where you left off.
*Amazing graphics rarely seen on a phone!
*Over 45 unique levels based on real locations in New York City.
*Short load times. A true pick-up-and-play game for the casual gamer.
*Over 40 different zombies.
*Controls that don't force your fingers to obscure the action!
COMING IN NEXT UPDATE *Survival mode - Unlimited zombies and unlimited time. See how long you can survive against the horde.
*Worldwide Leader Board - Utilizes Try This Network's proprietary network so you not only compete against the rest of the world, but see where the top players are located.
Although we have not played it all other Try This games are great. So we don't see why this could be the exception.
How to Win One Of The 2 Promo Codes:
Leave a comment below with a valid email address. Two random people will be chosen Monday the 20th.
Earlier this week, we talked about the new iPhone 3.0 Beta 3. It didn't take long to iPhone hackers to update an unofficial version of QuickPwn to jailbreak the new beta firmware.
As usual, this QuickPwn is not the official release by the Dev Team and using it might prevent you from ever being able to unlock your iPhone using YellowSn0w.
So far, this jailbreak only works with iPhone 2G, 3G and 1st gen iPod Touch. It's also worth noting that this version of QuickPwn will not install Cydia on your iPhone. Instead, it will install Icy, a Cydia "competitor".
I do not recommend using this jailbreak. As a matter of fact, I don't even recommend installing the 3.0 Beta as it is still a little unstable and will most likely prevent you from unlocking in the near future. That's just my opinion anyways and you are obviously free to do whatever you want.
You can download QuickPwn for 3.0 Beta 3 and read the QuickPwn tutorial for instructions.
Apple has once again shown its inconsistency and its limit on creativity by rejecting the iPhone’s sexy new app Peekababe, as first discussed on Download Squad.
You can check out Peekababe on YouTube, and the only thing you see is that the user can take the clothes off the beautiful models to leave them in their seductive lingerie. You can also save these hot pics for your iPhone’s wallpaper.
Peekababe doesn’t have any kind of nude or pornographic pics. So why did Apple reject it??? An insider commented that Apple rejected the app for claims of excessive sexual content. Oh, so it’s not OK for Peekababe’s models to show some skin and their lingerie, but it’s OK to kill, dismember, and chainsaw a game character on the iPhone?!
A special thanks to Tom for sending this in :)
DigiTimes has an article listing Apple's suppliers for the new iPhone 3.0, expected to ship sometimes in June/July. If you like to gamble on the stock market, I guess it would be the right time to buy some of these stocks...
Finally!! Some good news on the iPhone 3.0 beta. The latest beta (build 7A280F) is actually good. Not only that, but it is also good for the older devices!!! Hang on, let us explain.
For those of you who follow this blog, you already know that me and my fiance are in Costa Rica for a couple weeks. For those of you who don't follow the blog, well, now you know...
Costa Rica is a brautiful country. It's very green, even though it is currently the dry season. Animals here are nothing you are familiar with if like me, you live in the States. The most common animal in Costa Rica is the iguana. They are everywhere. Another animal that you see less often than you hear is the howling monkey.
Howling monkeys are little monkeys that kinda look cute when you see them laying down on the branch of a tree but God knows how annoying they are at night.
So Tina and I are staying in nice little cabins in Manuel Antonio. The cabins are pretty much on the beach, a few trees surrounding us. In brief, it's a paradisiac place.
The problem comes at night when the monkeys start howling. It is such a lound noise that it will wake you up. Howler monkeys are actually considered the loudest land animal. Tina is a real positive person. She always see the good side of things. So when the monkeys started howling in the middle of the night, she said to me I should embrace the howling instead of just going nuts as I was.
Freaking out on things is just the way I operate. I am working on it but I still have much progress to make... So it's about 3am and the monkeys are howling like crazy. I am in the room, looking throught the window trying to figure out where they are. It's dark out so I can't see anything. I am so freaking pissed at these monkeys that prevent me from having a good night sleep after such an exhausting surfing day.
Then all the sudden, I have a brilliant idea. I grab my iPhone and launch the most annoying app known to man: Sound Grenade. It annoys everyone I know in less than 10 seconds, so maybe it's gonna work on these monkeys.
Right on!!! I started the annoying sound right in the middle of a howl and the monkey stopped right away. I then opened the door to get closer to them and I heard 2 or 3 of them moving from tree to tree. Mission accomplished! The monkeys moved to another area. I could still hear them but they were very far away and the sound was much more bearable. I went back to sleep and had a peaceful night.
It's a very stupid story but I am so glad I had this the Sound Grenade app with me.
Do you have any story about how an iPhone app saved your butt? If so, share it with us in the comments :)
Hey everyone, I wanted to write a quick post to let you know why the blog hasn't been updated for quite a while. Me and my fiance are in Costa Rica for a couple weeks and the internet connection is very limited here. Today is actually the first time I found a reliable internet connection that can get me on Gmail in less than 10 minutes... Yeahh!!!
So, for those who care, we have started a blog called Traveling Puffins where we try to tell some of our travel stories. We're in Costa Rica for the wedding of my friend Michael, but most importantly, we're here for surfing!
The water is warm, the waves are good, and the beer is cold ;)
I really want to apologize for my lack of posting but I'm sure you understand the situation.
I checked my RSS feed reader and I have 774 articles in there I haven't read yet... I'll have some serious catch up to do when I get back...
Alright friends, time to go back.
Pura vida!
Since the App Store was launched there have been many pinball games for the iPhone. I'm pleased that someone finally made a good one that's not too complicated or confusing. IUGO presents Freeballin'. Freeballin' [iTunes Link] is a pinball game for iPhone that keeps the classic feel of pinball by using touch controls only. It has three modes (as said in the app description) :
• Score Attack Aim high in points to become the Freeballin’ King! Careful, balls are scarce.
• Time Attack Speed towards the targeted point value in a race against time.
• Adventure Challenge Enjoy a fulfilling journey of pinball exploration and adventure. Earn tokens, collect artifacts and rule the world of Freeballin’!
The game also features 4 themes to play in (though I would call them worlds because each are rather diferent and are not small). I made a quick overview in Photoshop so you get an idea of the themes (click to enlarge). But the levels go deeper back, it's just hard to take screenshots with my new case:
The themes are Tiki Trouble, Monsteropolis, Dreams & Nightmares, and Neometric. Each is quite different and entertaining.
The part of the game that is the most fun is that each theme / table has various missions to complete, making the game much more fun and giving it more of an objective. These missions also increase your score. Missions have you hit certain bumpers, go to or into certain areas, and interact with the theme.
Another thing that makes the game great is the quality of the content. Both the graphics and the audio of the game are well made and polished. I'm amazed, especially at the graphics. The game also features global score boards, giving players more of a motive to play and be constantly improving their scores.
As you can see I've been having quite some fun with the app :) . I don't really have a complain other than a few bugs lying around here and there. Luckily an update fixing those and optimizing performance has been submitted to Apple. So bye bye bugs.
My experience with it has been rather nice. The polish on the audio and graphics keep you going, and all the missions (believe me there are quite a few) keep me entertained and away from getting bored. Plus I get to compete with people on the global score board.
Overall I highly recommend the app, especially since it is in a special introductory price of $1.99 (the price will go up soon!!!). I think anyone who has been looking for a good pinball game should take a look at this. And if the screenshots appeal to you take advantage! I believe this is the best pinball game available for the iPhone.
****Note on Updates****
There's a small problem for those who do not have their language on the iPhone set to English. I believe it does not display the text. The fix for this is also included in the update that has been submitted to Apple for review.