Archives - Posts written in February, 2010
Review: Guerilla Bob for iPhonePosted February 28th
“When choosing from thousands of apps in the Apple App Store, Guerrilla Bob has one distinct advantage: it has an awesome name. Once downloaded, Guerrilla Bob doesn’t disappoint. From its great opening sequence to its intuitive gameplay, Chillingo has created a terrific shooter.
iPhone users come in all ages but probably live near a big cityPosted February 27th
“Filed under: Surveys and Polls, iPhone, iPad
iPhone users come in all ages but probably live near a big city originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of ...”
Tagged as TUAW iPhone | Comments Off | Continue
Review: Ingenious for iPhonePosted February 27th
“Ingenious may be the perfect name for this puzzle game from developer United Soft Media Verlag, because you pretty much have to be a genius to master it.
Phoenix Wright, Hexen II coming to the iPhonePosted February 27th
“Filed under: Gaming, Software, Apple, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
Good news for fans of good games: the terrific DS courtroom simulator (which, trust me, sounds much less fun than it actually is) Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney is coming to the iPhone, and Slide to Play has posted some hands-on video. The game takes the two DS screens and stacks them on top of each other rather than converting the game into a landscape version, so it's basically a straight port of the DS game. It'd be interesting to see a more iPhone-specific version of the game (maybe something that uses the camera or the accelerometer to show off evidence in the courtroom), but we'll take just the port, too -- if you haven't played any of the Phoenix Wright games but enjoy a good adventure yarn, you're in for a treat. The game should be out "soon." Hexen II is on its way to the iPhone as well, and Touch Arcade has a few screens and video of that one. I was much more of a Quake fan, but Hexen, with its medieval setting and RPG elements placed in the same game engine, had its share of followers back in the day, too. Unfortunately, Vimov doesn't yet have the rights to Hexen II -- they're just working with an open-sourced version of the engine. To actually release the data on the App Store, they'll need to make a deal with Activision, so we'll have to wait and see if that can happen before you can start hacking and slashing through the world of the Serpent Riders again.Phoenix Wright, Hexen II coming to the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple ...”
Tagged as TUAW iPhone | Comments Off | Continue
The Macalope Weekly: The Jerk StorePosted February 27th
“The Macalope takes a break from iPad speculation and Macworld Expo to return to his favorite pastime: jerktastic commentary and the jerky jerks that make it.
TUAW redux: The future of iPhone OS and Mac OSPosted February 27th
“
One of the big topics of discussion yesterday in our TUAW back channel was this post from the New York Times Bits blog. In "Why can't PCs work more like iPhones," Bilton pointed out that the iPhone has given Apple a chance to build a new OS from the ground up.
This is a familiar viewpoint to us here on TUAW. Last year, I asked whether the future of the Mac OS would turn out to be the iPhone. In my write-up, I pointed out that the iPhone OS was built from scratch to work with Objective C 2.0 with its properties and other modern language features. Its API, far from being cobbled together, showed ever increasing design maturity without the weight of heavy backwards compatibility concerns. I concluded that Apple might take a lesson from the iPhone OS and consider offering a ground up redesign for Mac OS X, at least in terms of core OS principles.
In his post, Bilton considers how Mac OS X might integrate iPhone OS features into its user experience, suggesting a possible Front Row-like overlay layer, running an iPhone OS interface. The goal would be to craft iPhone-style GUI simplicity onto the desktop experience, so that users could move seamlessly between their mobile and desktop worlds.
But as much as we believe that Apple is heading cautiously in the direction that Bilton suggests, the TUAW consensus is that a desktop OS needs far more structure and, at the same time, flexibility than what the iPhone OS offers.
Continue reading TUAW redux: The future of iPhone OS and Mac OS
Tagged as TUAW iPhone | Comments Off | Continue
Bugs & Fixes: iPhone backup battery damagePosted February 27th
“Ted Landau reports on an issue that led to his backup iPhone battery draining his iPhone of all power.
Review: Snood for iPhonePosted February 26th
“Snood might not hold your attention for too long, but it’s great for a quick five-minute session, has memorable graphics, and puts a character-driven spin on the "match-three" genre.
Plants vs. Zombies racks up iPhone salesPosted February 26th
“Apple's App Store may have over 150,000 applications, but none have sold as many as Plants vs. Zombies in their introductory sales period.
Line2 adds a second line to your iPhone for $15 a monthPosted February 26th
“Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, iPad
Would you like to add a second line to your iPhone? Perhaps you'd like to add a business number to the phone, but your existing phone is currently tied to your personal mobile number. You could always carry a second phone, but that's an expensive proposition, particularly if you're an iPhone addict. VoIP provider Toktumi has a solution that may work out well for you. They're now selling an app called Line2 (US$0.99) that mimics many of the capabilities of the standard Phone app, complete with a form of visual voice mail. Purchasing the app provides you with one month of free VoIP service. After that point, each month's continued service costs $14.95 for unlimited calls within the US and Canada. The service is purchased in-app, and was a point of confusion for me -- the app listing in the iTunes store shows a "Top In App Purchase" at a cost of $19.99 for a month. Toktumi's website and the promotional video (above) do show the lower monthly rate. While many VoIP solutions require a Wi-Fi connection to work, Line2 works over both 3G and Wi-Fi. The app has many of the features you might want in a business phone, including call waiting and call transfer, the ability to create conference calls with up to 20 participants, and even integration with Toktumi's hosted PBX service. For small businesses that want to present a more professional image to callers, Line2 might be just the right solution. Toktumi notes that the app also works with both the iPod touch (Wi-Fi only) and iPad (Wi-Fi or 3G). Tagged as TUAW iPhone | Comments Off | Continue