Review

FTC Takes Care of Fraudulent App Store Reviews. Sort of

Guest Author ∙ Updated February 6, 2016

One of my pet peeves is the current state of how apps in the App Store get their review grades. As you probably know the system as it stands is simply set up to allow anyone to write about and rank an application as many times as they like. Nothing had been done to prevent fraud in the sense of app developers writing multiple high ball reviews, until now, kind of.

The Federal Trade Commissions office has satisfied a complaint against a California based PR group called Reverb Communications. It turns out that the company who have worked with several developers were having their employees posing as actual users, and having them write up glorified reviews of different applications...

Review: Case-Mate Gelli Checkmate for iPad

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 25, 2016

I don't like cases. I really don't, especially on Apple products where the design and the look and feel are a big part of the experience. However, I've been changing my mind about cases over the past week after I received the Case-Mate Gelli Checkmate case for iPad.

Although I've never wanted to stick my iPhone into a case, I feel it's a bit different with the iPad. Unlike my iPhone, the iPad is big, doesn't fit in my pocket, and goes around many hands. For these reasons, I felt my iPad was actually much more vulnerable than my iPhone was so I decided to give it some protection.

The Case-Mate Gelli comes in 3 translucent colors and gives your iPad case a funky design that will definitely set it apart from the rest. I got mine in grey which actually is more "clear" than "grey". You can also get it in a flashy green or blue, but these colors are definitely too much for me.

Not only do I like the look of the Gelli but I also like the feel of it. It feels really good in my hands as the thermoplastic material used gives me more grip and prevents my iPad from sliding off my hands or off my legs, depending on my position.

It's very simple to put on, and once on, it obviously gives you easy access to every port or button. The case goes all the way to the front of the iPad to cover just about a millimeter past the bezel. This way, even if the iPad falls flat on the screen, it will be protected, that is assuming the ground would be completely flat of course.

I feel a little let down that Case-Mate didn't throw in a free screen protector in the box. That's no big deal though, we will use the InvisibleShield for iPad.

Pros:

Perfect for every day usage Light Stylish, elegant Not "bulky" Feels good in your hands Adds grip Provides great protection Relatively inexpensive ($36.95)

Cons:

Not a heavy duty case Doesn't come with a screen protector

Is the Case-Mate Gelli a heavy duty case for iPad? No, it's not. It is however a light and stylish case that will do a great job at protecting your iPad in average every day usage. The Gelli completely sold me on iPad cases and I'm glad I now have it to protect my iPad from those awful scratches I would get from putting it on the coffee table.

I'm still not sure I would want it for my iPhone because I don't feel my iPhone needs protection. However, my fiancee Tina will be getting the Case-Mate Gelli for iPhone 4 as soon as she gets her white iPhone. She's much less careful with her devices than I am and will need something like this to protect her iPhone.

At $36.95 from our iPhone Store, the Case-Mate Gelli case for iPad is a product I highly recommend. You can order the Case-Mate Gelli here.

iPhone 4 Reviews

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

Surprisingly, Apple didn't send me an iPhone 4 to review this year. I had to wait for the one I had pre-ordered, which I just received a few minutes ago. It seems I'm not the only tech blogger not having received a review version of the iPhone 4. The big loser at this game: Gizmodo, which let me remind you, had leaked all the details of the new iPhone 4 and was thus left out of receiving an iPhone 4 to review a few days ago.

A few other tech blogs and newspapers did receive their iPhone 4 review unit, and you know what? Most of the iPhone 4 reviews are pretty positive. I guess if Apple deemed me important enough to send me a free iPhone to review days before the rest of the world can get it, I might feel compelled to giving a somewhat positive review to the device as well.

Sarcasm apart, there has been 6 official reviews of the iPhone 4 published since yesterday, and yes, they're all pretty good. My favorite might be Engadget's review which I think was the most comprehensive.

I won't be doing a formal review of the iPhone 4. I will however give you my impressions in a few days, once I have played with it enough to make informed comments and remarks.

Here are 6 iPhone 4 reviews worth a look:

Engadget BGR Boing Boing Wall Street Journal NY Times USA Today

Don't read these reviews if you're still waiting for your iPhone 4. They'll make you want it even more!

Street Fighter IV Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 27, 2018

If you are in your 30s, you may remember the popular arcade game "Street Fighter II." I remember literally watching hours of people playing the game. (I rarely played the game; I mostly sucked but I wanted to save money). And now, you can get the latest version of the game right on your iPhone with Street Fighter IV [iTunes link] for $9.99.

Immediately, hardcore SF fans will see that there are only eight characters to choose from. In the normal SF IV game, there is a total of 19 playable characters. SF IV Producer Takeshi Tazuka says there are less characters because of the limited amount of CPU memory in the iPhone, 256MB of RAM for the 3GS and 128MB for the 3G.

Otherwise, this game really kicks (no pun intended). As far as onscreen controls go, this is one of the better ones. If you didn't like touch controls before, this will not change your mind but it is more than adequate. Here's a list of buttons: punch, kick, special attack and focus attack. The touch joystick is on the left. These are transparent on the screen and do cover up the players a little, but it hasn't affected my enjoyment of the game.

I have a 3G and the game is so memory-intensive that I do experience crashes. 3GS and newer iPod Touch owners will probably do better.

For those who are new to the game, there is a dojo that will help you to learn the moves. There is also a free-sparring mode and a training room mode to help you perfect your combos and special attacks.

Other features include Bluetooth support for iPhone head-to-head combat and the ability to save your best games.

I'd say at $9.99 this game is a steal. Some may want to wait for a price drop, but SF fans should get this one immediately.

SBSettings Actually Makes Your iPhone Better?

Cody Lee ∙ March 8, 2010

When the iPhone initially launched in 2007, the much anticipated iPhone OS required an arsenal of jailbroken apps to perform even the mildest tasks such as MMS and video recording. But through product refreshes and several software updates, that list of apps is shrinking and the iPhone OS is now considered among the industries top mobile platforms.

Now that functions such as copy/paste and video recording are available in the stock OS, jailbroken applications like Clippy and Cycorder are no longer necessities. Now I know your thinking, "So what are you saying Cody, I no longer 'need' to jailbreak my iPhone?" Not even close.

As long as Apple continues to disable users from customizing their springboard backgrounds and their icons, and of course forcing them to remain with AT&T even though other carriers get far better coverage in their home area, and continue to ignore several other missing features, iPhone users will have a reason to jailbreak. One app I continue to jailbreak for, because you can only get it from Cydia, is SBSettings.

Now let me explain. The feature I think Apple continues to miss the boat on is shortcuts. If I want to turn my bluetooth on, it is a 4 step process, 5 if you count the unlock screen. Same with changing the brightness, it's a 4 or 5 step process. Other mobile platform developers have addressed the need for shortcuts to commonly used functions in the form of widgets or shortcuts in an always on screen task bar, but for some reason Apple resists.

Enter SBSettings By Big Boss. A simple, skinnable device manager that's actually been around for quite a while. The application and themes for it can be searched for and downloaded from the Cydia App Store, so of course it's available to jailbreakers only.

The first thing you'll notice about SBSettings is how easily and quickly it launches once installed. Requiring nothing more than a finger slide across the top banner, the application drops down in the form of a window with several icons. Now the default theme is gaudy but I found it was easy to install downloaded themes by clicking the 'more' icon you see in the image below.

The theme I use is 'iPhone Congruency' and I love it because it looks stock, like it is supposed to be there. Once you got it looking good, again from the 'more' icon, you need to decide which 'toggle' icons are showing. If you don't see a toggle you want, more can be downloaded through Cydia, and can be added in this same 'toggle' screen once downloaded.

I personally like the 'processes' toggle. Although the iPhone isn't known for having great multitasking capabilities, the phone can still get bogged down with Mail, SMS, iPod, and Safari apps all open at once. The 'processes' toggle lets you shut these apps down and give your iPhone a quick boost in recovered RAM.

With toggles to turn bluetooth and wifi off and on with one touch, this app is definitely a time saver. It also gives you other great features like a quick launch App dock to launch apps from instead of scrolling through all of your icon-loaded spring boards, and the ability to re spring (or restart your iPhone, once again with one or 2 touches instead of 5 and 6 touches.

Between the time saving shortcuts, ease of use, and the fact that I can make it blend in with the rest of the phone's GUI with a quick skin download, this free app from BIG BOSS available from Cydia is a must have in my opinion.

Hopefully Apple will stumble across this little gem at some point and really take the idea of 'widgets' and 'shortcuts' more seriously. It would really be nice to see some sort of implementation of Apple's popular dashboard widget screen get ported to their mobile devices. But for right now we must use the tools we have in front of us, and with apps floating around like SBSettings, maybe thats not such a bad thing. ;op

Write Emails On Your iPhone More Quickly With FastMail

Guest Author ∙ Updated November 9, 2016

Being that I love to email out of my iPhone more than my computer, this particular little app called FastMail really caught my attention. While using it I felt more in control of my email composition creativity. Yes you already have the iPhone application for mail that comes built in and allows you to compose as you type offering optional words above the one being typed. However there are of course certain things that the mail app can't accomplish. You might struggle with having to retype the same long words over and over or if you’re like me, you might not be in favor of typing the word almost to completion before having the word offered to you.

Fastmail works similarly as the apple mail app except that you can see an entire list of words being offered for your use to the right of your current composition. Here’s the other kicker, you can set it to appear on the left side of your screen if you're left-handed! But keep in mind this has to be done at the beginning of the setup of the app. The controls and face of this app is very well put together in that there is no extras, it is very simple and easy to roam through it.

Speck Tough Skin Rugged Rubber Case Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated November 25, 2016

Like all iPhone owners, I want to protect my investment. But like most iPhone owners, I’m going to go thru a few cases before I land the right one. In this journey of trial and error I have purchased a few iPhone cases and returned a few as well. In doing so I have kept a few for different purposes or environments. I have one for the business casual affairs, while I have another for the in-pocket tote. But I have an outdoorsy one that I like for its extra protection (or sense of protection) that it provides while out in the rough. I go on campouts and hikes a few times a year and I love to take my iPhone with me (mainly for its GPS mapping ability).

There is no way that I’m going to trust just any case out in the woods, that is why I purchased and kept the Tough Skin Rugged Rubber Case by Speck. This bad boy not only protects your iPhone, but gives it a rugged outdoor look. I am glad that it doesn’t come in camouflage though because if it was dropped on the ground it would easily blend in, making it difficult to find through the natures grassy floor.

My 10 Favorite iPhone Apps Ever

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

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.

Kyper App Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Ian Marsh, indie developer who brought us the beloved Scoops and Textropolis has made yet another addictive iPhone game. Kyper. Kyper is all about speed, in fact Ian calls it the "fastest game on iPhone". The gameplay is simple yet addictive. You control your ship by moving your device. You need to avoid all asteroids. But there are two types of asteroids. The red (to me they look orange) slow you down. You must stay away from these or it will slow you down. The closer you are to them the more they slow you down. The green (to me they look yellow) speed you up. You must get as close to these as possible. But if you crash into any of the asteroids you die. Although the game may sound simple it is no easy challenge. Especially once you get going really fast. As Ian himself said, after you pass 1,000 km/s that's when you go into "holy crap" mode. Kyper is not a relaxing game!!

X-Plane Racing Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Laminar Research has released yet another flight simulator app for the iDevices. This time around it's one we've been waiting for: X-Plane Racing. That's right, racing! The app consists of 'highway-in-the-sky', 'hoops' that you can go though. There are 4 regions for now and 4 planes (as developer states: "for now"). There's a course per region per plane, for a total of 16 courses to race though. You can play against the AI plane, which will give you quite a challenge. Courses vary, based on location. Sometimes you will be going almost straight up, sometimes down canyons and valleys, and sometimes close to a river.

As for locations, you can choose from :

Canyons (the default location and quite fun and challenging). Juneau, Alaska (mountains and rivers combine to make it challenging and fun to race in) Anchorage, Alaska (ups and downs and mountains, can you avoid crashing and win at the same time?) Provost, Canada (both easy and hard, combines a little of all the other regions)

And as to the planes:

F-15 Eagle (my favorite. Has afterburner, is the default one, and goes fast) F-4 Phatom (it's ok, but I don't like it, a bit difficult to control) F4-U Consair (feels a bit weird at first, but you get the hang of it. Slower than the others but is more controllable) P-51 Mustang: (same goes as for the F4-U Consair, but this one is VERY tricky to land).

My experience with it has been very good, same as with all the other X-Plane apps. Laminar Research puts a lot of work and quality into their apps. No bugs found so far, everything is going smoothly. Beating the AL plane is tricky and any mistake can cost you. Awkwardly, even if you are in the lead, the AL plane shows up in front of you. But that does not bother me, I still beat it :) . Also, at the end of each course it tells you your time and how many hoops you missed, and the AL plane's time and how many hoops he missed. But there is more.

The AL plane is a lot of fun, all 16 courses................yeah yeah. But there's another thing about the app, something that gives it a kick. Multiplayer. That's right, Laminar Research has added multiplayer to the game. So as long as you and the other player are connected on the same Wi-Fi network, you can race against each other. Booyahh!! This feature is a blast. Playing with your friends is a blast. Especially since they are smarter, and trickier than the AL plane. For those owners of the other X-Plane apps, nothing to worry about. An update was released with other stuff this morning and it includes multiplayer. BUT, you don't get hoops in the sky or a marked course.

The app also features a sound system when landing (also added to the other apps in the update) so either a squeak from a nice landing or a thump from a hard landing. Also in "Racing" and added to the other apps are visible afterburners, and a basic autopilot. I must say, Laminar Research is outdoing themselves. And they are trying to put everything they can into the app, pushing the limits (I'm on a 2G Touch, supposed to be better for gaming, and it got hot!). A little note, the apps are always being updated with a bunch of things. There is an option to set the tilt (in ALL apps) so you can even play from bed. The desktop version of X-Plane is FAA approved, the iPhone version has 90 something percent accuracy. Now that's good!

The app is currently priced at the same price as all the other X-Plane apps, $9.99. There is a "series" of X-Plane apps:

X-Plane - $9.99 - The original, and best for general use. Still my favorite one. X-Plane Helicopter - $9.99 - Came later on, strictly helicopters. A little harder (I don't own it though) but I say this because helis are hard to fly. X-Plane Airliner - $9.99 - Came along with Heli, strictly airliners. Although fun it is a bit more challenging. But it's great fun to fly a 747 on your iDevice. X-Plane Extreme - $9.99 - All about speed and the extreme. Very fun, and my personal second favorite. X-Plane Racing - $9.99 - As mentioned above.

All of the apps now have multiplayer. I am loving every app and highly recommend them. You will get lots of fun no matter which app you get. Plus who has not wanted to fly a 747 on an iPhone?! The X-Plane apps are the only flight simulators on the App Store and they are just great. In case you cannot decide which one to get I will post later on which I recommend depending on what you like.

Analytics App Finally Brings Google Analytics to the iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 12, 2019

I have about 20 different websites and part of my daily routine is to check out my Google Analytics account to have a look at the stats. Thanks to Michael Jensen and his new Analytics App, I can now do this on the go, directly from my iPhone.

There's already a couple Google Analytics apps in the App Store but they're not nearly as good as Analytics App [iTunes Link]. So what makes Analytics App so much better? Well, to be honest, it's as comprehensive as you can get and it really is a "pocket version" of your full Google Analytics account.

When launching the app for the first time, Analytics App asks for your Google Analytics username and password. Once done, it loads all the websites you have analytics access to. If you have different profiles, it will load all of them with each website conveniently listed. Just tap the website for which you want to see the stats and you will be presented with 29 reports as well as unlimited custom reports, if you set them up. Wow!

I could go on and on about what Analytics App can do but as I said before, it does everything you can do from your Google Analytics account on your computer's browser. To be honest with you, I think I find the app actually easier than the web version!

One thing I didn't really like though is the fact that I cannot get the stats for yesterday. As much as I tried to change the dates and everything, I just wasn't able to get my analytics report for the previous day, which is usually what I'm looking for. I assume it's a missing feature that will most likely be added in future updates.

Analytics App is a must-have for any website/blog owner! You can download it from the App Store for $5.99 and at this price, I still think it's a steal. Now I'm just hoping that Michael Jensen will also develop an application for Google Adsense and Adwords. Michael, if you hear me...

Tweetie – The Best Twitter App?

Guest Author ∙ February 4, 2009

The App Store has thousands of apps, including more than a handful of Twitter apps. So you might be wondering: "what is the best?" Well, one app that calls itself the best Twitter app is Tweetie. So the question is: is Tweetie really the best Twitter app?

Interface

The interface is nice and feels good. But, there's always a but. It takes a bit getting used to. Especially for users like me who used TwitterFon. You need to learn things like the "swipe" and other stuff. But it is relatively easy to master after a bit of use.

Look

Tweetie definitely looks much better than any other Twitter app I have seen.

Humor

Tweetie is the only app I have seen with a sense of humor. It has a "Popularity Enhancer" feature. It is a joke really, but what it does is it gives you a flashlight and when you do the "swipe" it replaces the normal click sound with a fart sound. Quite funny and a joke on the App Store.

Smoothness

Tweetie is definetly more smooth than other free apps, and it does not crash or eat up all your RAM.

Other Features

- An option for you to set the image compression for a smaller or normal size. You choose how much compression.

- Multiple Account management

- Instapaper integration

- Links to StockTwits

- Optional landscape keyboard

- Themes

- Follow and un-follow people

- Block/unblock users

- Navigate reply chains

- Inline web browser

- Inline TwitPic image viewer

Missing Features

One feature I liked from TwitterFon is that when you were typing a new tweet, there was a @ button which showed all the people you are following. This is very handy. The developers of Tweetie told me they will add this in future updates.

Overall

I'm going to be honest. If you are constantly tweeting, or use Twitter everyday I recommend Tweetie. It's smoothness and easy to use interface has won me over. I highly recommend this.

In my opinion, Tweetie is definitely worth $2.99 for those of you who use Twitter everyday or often. But for those who rarely ever use Twitter, I think you are better of with a free Twitter app.