Mobile App Trends

Five essential iOS apps for Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 9, 2012 by KiwiTech

Valentine’s Day – February 14 – is officially the day of creating the warm feelings of love. If you want to make a difference on the occasion and make your loved ones feel extra-special, then there’s nothing better than mobile apps. Here’s a list of five essential apps which will help you celebrate the event with panache and style.

1. Creative Romantic Ideas: Simple is often not good when it comes to romance. It is all about being thoughtful and considerate and showing that you care. And if you want to surprise your valentine with more than just flowers and dinner then you must go for this app. It offers creative and genuine ideas for the perfect Valentine’s surprise. The ideas could be anything from heart locket (obvious) to a romantic crossword puzzle (more creative). Of course, the possibilities become endless when you add your own twist to what you think could be the best. The app is easy to use as you’ll be given a breakdown of what you need to do to make that idea happen along with difficulty level and price point.

2. Cupidtino: Cupidtino, a lovely dating site created for Apple fanboys and fangirls to connect and, find love, has now come out with its iPhone application to complement their website. The app has been pitched as “Mac-inspired dating app designed exclusively for fans of Apple products” and may be just right for you to create the mobile love connection. The app includes most of the features of the website like: search and browse profiles and send ‘heartbeats’ to interesting members. To begin with, new users can create or edit a profile and see a list of people who are checking it out, while experienced users can send messages to other members. Your profile description needs to be within 300 characters. Although the app is available for free, to send unlimited messages and access chat features you need to spend $4.99 as an in-app purchase.

3. OpenTable: One of the most romantic Valentine’s Day ideas is a dinner out. OpenTable will come extremely handy if you forgot to make a dinner reservation. It is a super-useful app that will make last-minute dinner reservations pretty quick and easy. You can use the app to make reservation at any of their 15,000 participating restaurants in the US, Canada and the UK. Since its inception in 1998, the company has seated more than 175 million diners around the world. Besides searching restaurants by name on an interactive map, you can refine your search by cuisine, price, point and availability. The beauty of this app is not only its simplicity, but that it’s also fast and secure. Once you’ve decided where you want to eat, you can instantly confirm your reservation directly from the app without having to call the restaurant. Recently, OpenTable.com came out with a list of the top 100 most romantic eateries in the US, based on five million reviews submitted on their website. The list includes: Italian restaurants Bacaro and Erminia Ristorante as well as romantic American mainstay One if by Land, Two if By Sea. The Japanese restaurant Zenkichi has also made it to the list.

4. Sincerely Ink: The app allows you to create and customize traditional greeting cards and have them sent by post directly to the recipient. It offers you to choose from 20 Valentine’s Day-themed cards. Also, you’ll need to pay only $1.99 for sending a card of glossy 5×7 inch photo print, across the US, Canada and the UK. The recipient will get the card within 3-7 days. The app serves the unique purpose of sending your loved one something special that has more visual impact and appeal.

5. iLoveYou – be my Valentine: It is a must have application if you really want to show some love. Use this app to set the photo of your most romantic moment as a background image while you watch falling hearts and listen to a romantic song from your music library. To do this you just need to double tap the screen to go the settings of the app. It costs $0.99 and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch (2nd generation), iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad.

Apps rush: Stardom: The A-List, Simsimi, Checkers With Buddies, Paper Monsters, Sploosh

Posted on February 2, 2012 by KiwiTech

1. Stardom: The A-List: The A-List is the latest free-to-play title from developer Glu. The app deals with everyone’s dream of accepting an award as an international superstar, get rich and famous by starring in movies and TV shows and winning over fans. It has a story driven gameplay where you act like an aspiring star willing to become an A-List celebrity. You set your own path and start the game by customizing your star. Of course, the way to the top is not easy and you have to perform odd jobs like working at a coffee shop before receiving your first break in a local TV commercial. By taking up such jobs you’ll climb your way through the “Lists” of stardom — starting with the E-List, D-List and finally the A-List. Your goal is always to finish a given job in a defined set of time and gain as many stars as you can. Your job completes when you gather five Stars or the time expires. Once you start receiving some acting breaks, your job description will change. The game gains momentum as you’ll meet an agent who will offer you some acting jobs and give you scripts. Then you need to perform in front of a client who is searching for an actor like you. A coin will be offered to you on the completion of the job which will enable you to buy an avatar. Your contact circle will grow as you continue to meet new people. You need to remember that to finish each task you need to use limited amounts of rechargeable energy. The social aspect of the game comes when you’ll see how many fans you have earned against other players on the in-game leader board. As you proceed higher, you can even date and dump celebrities, and live it up in a luxury home with your exotic pets, even inviting friends to exclusive parties and have them co-star in your projects. For free it is a steal!

2. Simsimi: It is a robot chatting app that offers many crazy conversations to have on your iPhone and Android. Often compared to the Siri feature of the iPhone 4S, this hilarious app has become widely popular due to the fun factor that the art of artificial intelligence conversation brings with it. It was originally a messenger service in which you could interact with a fun digital friend, but now a lot of users like it in its current form. To use the app, you can send SimiSimi a text or communicate via PC, and it responds in form of a message immediately, by scanning through its huge database. The answers that it gives in return are very funny and mostly relevant. Of course, if the reply is a real hoot, you’ll love to share it with friends on Facebook. Users can engage in all sorts of conversations with the robot ranging from nonsense conversations to political “debate” to heartfelt expressions. Remember, the robot’s vocabulary grows by your input as you can teach it your own words as other users teach their own ones too. The responses are fast and in case it has no data to answer to your message, it will say ‘I have no response.’ The app can be your best companion and it’s worth a download.

3. Checkers With Buddies: Stofle Designs’ Checkers with Buddies is a turn based multi player checkers game that offers lots of fun and excitement. Players can chose to play against all the friends or they can chose to beat random opponent. You can start the game by inviting players through text messages or via Facebook. Depending on your turn, you need to move your red or black pieces across the board, until only one colour remains on the board. The gameplay involves the “King Me” mechanic, in which the players move in either direction by “jumping” over opponent’s pieces. It comes at a cost of $1.99.

4. Paper Monsters: it is a straightforward, imaginative and fun-filled game that will remind you of Super Mario Bros and similar other vintage platform classics. Here gamers control a robot made of cardboard boxes through four themed worlds, each having three stages and a boss fight. Amazingly the game breaks away from the traditional 2-D mold by making use of the background – allowing you to pass through one tunnel and turning up in the background of the game. Needless to mention that the robot’s journey is filled with lots of obstacles and in its path it will find a lot of mushrooms, costumes, pipes, cutesy sprites, and various bomb characters, besides various collectibles like buttons, golden paper clips and adventure cards for extra points, and to unlock achievements. There are many alternative routes of the path and there will be occasions where you’ll control a submarine, or get involved in fight with boss by moving a cannon and jumping on a button to shoot an enemy in the background. Your goal is to always make it to the end of the level in a record time. Players can buy outfits for their robot hero by using the gold buttons that they have collected. In total, it is a great side scrolling adventure that gives you more than the traditional two-dimensional games. For $0.99 it is sure a steal.

5. Sploosh: It is an adorable and a casual puzzle game where you need to transport water around the screen by using accelerometer based tilting or through finger based turning. By doing so you’ll help Bazzil the bee and his friends defeat the evil cactus, which has sucked all the water from the field. In turn you bring back dormant flowers and trees back to life. The level starts with a cactus to pop and then the water stored in the cactus is swished around the level, bringing plants back to life. Each level is completed when the final tree has been brought back to life. Since it’s a goal based game, the objective is to restore the water in each level as fast as possible, and in turn, score three stars. While doing so, you need to ensure that no seed gets left as you try to make the area lush green. Although serious gamers may not find it pretty hard enough, the game’s adorable graphics and the bright colors makes it worthy to purchase ($0.99).

Posted in Apps of the Week, Best Apps, Mobile Gaming | Tagged Checkers With Buddies, Paper Monsters, Simsimi, Sploosh, Stardom: The A-List | Leave a comment

Top 3 apps for working professionals

Posted on January 23, 2012 by KiwiTech

Quickoffice Pro HD: It is one such app that’s meant to be mobile substitute for Microsoft Office, carrying most of the heavyweight’s functionality. The app lets you to create, view and edit Microsoft Office files, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. It also enables you to sync documents with several cloud services such as Google Docs, Dropbox, Box, Huddle, SugarSync and MobileMe. What this means is that now you can have complete control over your documents irrespective of the place where you have stored them. The app cleverly distinguishes itself from others for its solid and straightforward document management interface. The interface consists of a three column layout, where the left column is for your local and cloud storage spaces, center column is for your folders and documents, and the right column is for contents of selected folders. From this interface, you can create new documents and folders, e-mail or delete files, and access settings.

The best part about this app is it will make you feel if you were on a Windows PC. Quickoffice Pro makes it easy to copy and paste the text from within the app, or between different apps. Other important features include inserting images into documents and presentations; voice input dictation, and sharing of files through email, Bluetooth, SMS, and cloud services. It also gives you the ability to create, view and edit Excel spreadsheets (.xls & .xlsx). The app further allows you to create and edit PowerPoint documents: editing text and delete elements in already-existing presentations. You can also share your files on networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Scribd, and adding Evernote and Catch to the list of cloud storage providers. Overall, the app is a valuable productivity booster for your business as well as personal needs, but at $19.99 it may appear costly to some.

Dragon Dictation: Nuance Communication’s free voice-to-text app allows users to tap a button, speak a message and then send that message to wherever they like — e-mail, SMS, Facebook, Twitter. The basic difference between Siri and Dragon Dictation is that the later is not hands-free as you’ll still have to use a few buttons to get the message going in the right direction. The app can be extremely useful for working professionals or anyone who wants to deliver messages or e-mails as soon as possible. The app works by matching word frequency and sound analysis and delivers good results with flowing sentences. You can tap the record button and then start speaking. After you finish your speech, the app displays the spoken words in a written form. Now you can edit this text, including any error correction. Errors can be checked by going on misspelt words or via the keyboard icon on the bottom left corner and use the standard iPhone text editing feature. The finished text can then be pushed to Twitter or Facebook status bar, as an SMS, or you can put it on the clipboard. To master the app, you’ll need to learn some of Dragon’s formatting and punctuation commands when you are dictating the text, like: “exclamation point,” “comma,” and a “new paragraph.” The app offers you the opt-in ability to take names and email addresses from your contacts, and other languages. At “free,” the app is surely worth the price.

Bento for iPad: Bento for iPad offers great help to those working professionals who want to keep track of their business/home inventories, log expenses, project tracking, daily to-do lists, and many other similar things. You can use the app to record voice memos, watch videos, view photos, and send emails. Bento is the consumer version of popular database software FileMaker Pro. Bento for iPad takes the advantage of the larger screen and better performance of the tablet. Thanks to 25 different templates, the app makes it easy to create a database from scratch for iPad. You can edit each template to meet your specific needs. The app follows in the footsteps of the Mac and iPhone versions and can easily be mastered. On launching the app, you are offered a demo database which is a leather notebook with leather textures, stitching and paper. You can then select out of these themes: leather notebook, clipboard or a modern stone look. Now you are ready to create a new database which can be done by selecting from 25 pre-designed templates covering school, work, home and community. After selecting a template, you can either enter your own data or you can customize the fields and layout to get a look and feel you like. The app offers great advantage to handle a wide range of information: for instance, adding a photo can be done by selecting a photo field in your database. If you chose to view your data, the right side of the split view offers a canvas to display database record, along with a toolbar on top where you can access most of the application’s functionality. Adding a field to the canvas is a snap which is done by dragging the plus sign to the canvas instead of just touch it. You can choose whatever fields you want to add to the canvas: date, number, text, check box, with only some options being customizable. You can further sync it with the desktop application through WiFi directly between the iPad and desktop apps by entering a code. Bento for iPad serves well the purpose of a general database app and at $4.99 is worth the price tag.

Posted in Best Apps | Tagged apps for professionals, Bento for iPad, Dragon Dictation, Quickoffice Pro HD | Leave a comment

Apps rush: Run Roo Run, Angry Gran, Spider Swiper by Mentos, The Sheeps Free, Monster Galaxy

Posted on January 18, 2012 by KiwiTech

Run Roo Run: 5TH Cell, the developers of Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life, has launched a refreshingly different platformer titled Run Roo Run. The basic premise of the game is that you play a mother kangaroo traveling across Australia to save her child (or “joey”) from captivity. From Perth to Sydney, she faces a variety of obstacles ranging from rocks, spikes, water, and cacti through 420 tiny levels, out of which 100 are extreme. Roo runs on her own and all you need to do it tap the screen to jump when necessary. You’ll do a lot of tapping, because the levels are riddled with rocks, spikes, water, and cacti that will kill you just by touching them. These levels are broken up into 20 chapters with each chapter introducing a different gameplay. As you progress through the game, you’ll get power-ups like double-jump, crumbling platforms, fans, oil slicks, umbrellas and rideable clouds. The challenging part in this game is of course six ‘extreme’ levels which you’ll encounter after finishing each group of 15 levels. Since there is a time-based scoring system in action, you’re awarded with a bronze, silver, or gold medal for each state, depending on how much time you took. Despite having a low level size, the game is interesting enough to keep you busy and polish your casual gaming skills.

Angry Gran: UK-based Ace Viral has delivered another great entertainment game titled, Angry Gran. The premise of the game is simple: you’re an old woman with a shopping bag and a rolled up newspaper. While traveling through an urban city she’ll whack anyone that gets in her way. The whacking will result in spilling out of money which will help in her pension. As the game proceeds, she can buy new weapons such as inflatable hammer, baguette, rubber chicken, stop sign, skateboard, and many other objects. The hidden money can also be found in random places of the city, so she needs to bash fire hydrants, phone booths, and even old sofas. The poor Gran also needs bonuses, including pills and medicine. For instance, the white pills will help her recover from a missed swing while the green bottle will give her strength. Upgrade your skills with the cash you collect and then attack faster with Strength. The title is available for free.

Spider Swiper by Mentos: Graeme Devine, the veteran game designer of 7th Guest, Quake 3, and Halo Wars, has designed the game Spider Swiper for the confectionery brand Mentos. The game lets players to take on realistic-looking spiders with varying degrees of difficulties. The iOS title is based on an advertisement which depicts a man being flung around his living room by an eight legged critter. After receiving numerous requests from fans, Mentos decided to turn the commercial idea into an iOS game. Gamers engage in duels with the insect by swiping their finger across the screen and coming up with ‘combo moves’. The gameplay is simple but yet vey engaging as it will keep you wanting for more. Attractive graphics adds to the overall appeal of the game which is sure to be liked by people of all age groups. The app is available for free.

The Sheeps Free: independent developer Ivan Starchenkov’s new game The Sheeps Free is a puzzle game where the challenge is to guide three sheep, each of which has its own speciality around various obstacles. The names of three sheep are: Katty, Justine and Samantha. Katty can be used to go in the narrowest places while Justine is suited to jump higher and farther, and fat Samantha to budge very heavy objects. Players need to use the special abilities of these sheep in order to reach from Point A to Point B and complete a level. The free version of the game comes with a limited number of free levels, but to access all 30, the player must purchase the $0.99 version.

Monster Galaxy: The Zodiac Islands: This is Gaia Interactive’s new iOS title that lets you travel through a world where you can capture and train animals called Mogas to take back your homeland ruled by King Otho. The game begins as you select a starter monster and then progress through the game by leveling it up and capturing more monsters. There are three mogas – animals that you can collect, train, and battle in the game. First is Corgito, a dog who is an average fighter and second is Birdrodent ($0.99), which slightly better than average both offensively and defensively, and third is Edgehog ($4.99) – the best of them all.

Posted in Apps of the Week, Best Apps, Mobile Gaming | Tagged Angry Gran, Monster Galaxy, Run Roo Run, Spider Swiper by Mentos, The Sheeps Free | Leave a comment

Now play Cut the Rope in your browser, courtesy HTML5

Posted on January 14, 2012 by KiwiTech

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that HTML5 Web apps holds immense potential in the mobile market and Web. The power of HTML5 being ready for prime-time can be seen in Microsoft teaming up with ZeptoLab to bring a HTML5 version of its popular Cut the Rope app to the Web.

The effort could be seen a Microsoft’s bid to use its Internet Explorer 9 browser as a vehicle to showcase ‘the beauty of the Web’. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced this at his last keynote to the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Las Vegas.

However, Microsoft is not the only company which is pushing for porting popular mobile game apps to HTML5, as earlier Rovio, the maker of insanely popular Angry Birds, successfully brought its record-selling franchise to Google’s Chrome, which was liked by a lot of users.

Although Cut the Rope is also available on other browsers, Chillingo’s motive was to let users know that it’s best experienced on Internet Explorer. And if you are using Internet Explorer 9, the game will unlock seven unique levels not featured on either the iOS or Android version of the app. To do that you need to pin the game to their taskbar.

“We wanted to expand the game beyond mobile and bring it to millions of computers around the world. We are excited to work with Microsoft to build this project,” said ZeptoLab Creative Director Semyon Voinovm.

As we already know, Cut the Rope, is a highly popular iPhone application, where the gamers swap the touch screen to guide the sweet inside the mouth of an adorable candy munching monster Om Nom by passing through various challenges while collecting stars. During the gameplay, players need to cut the ropes in a specific manner so as to rightly guide the candy, while using airbags and bubbles and avoiding diverse difficulties.

As discussed in our previous post, HTML5 has already created quite a lot of buzz, whether it’s Apple which recognized its potential for future use in mobile application world or Google touting a new feature of Chrome. The team responsible for developing the Web version of the app has even put up an engaging Behind the Scenes page aimed at developers. The page aptly showcases some of the best that HTML5 has to offer: like browser-based audio and video, CSS3 styling, and canvas-rendered graphics. It said it was a daunting task to preserve the unique physics, motion, and personality of the experience while delivering a version for the Web.

You can play the game at www.cuttherope.ie, which features 25 levels at launch and allows you to share you score Facebook and Twitter. The company promises to bring more levels to the users in the near future. The recent adoption is a clear indication of what users can expect from this new technology and the latest Cut the Rope game is certainly an impressive start.

Posted in Mobile Gaming | Leave a comment

5 reasons why HTML5 will be the Next Big Thing in mobile space

Posted on January 4, 2012 by KiwiTech

HTML 5, the next revision of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the standard programming language for describing the contents and appearance of Web pages, is a new web technology that is quickly changing the face of the mobile market. The new technology is getting due attention from the developers and businesses due to the fact that it supports cross-platform application development, offers portability, scalable applications for browsers, and is more cost-effective and less labor-intensive than building native apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

More importantly, HTML5 offers a good alternative to the very idea of an App Store in its current form. It allows developers and publishers to avoid paying Apple and Google 30 per cent commission for selling apps through their app stores – thus bringing a fundamental shift about how we load new software onto our mobile devices. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was among the first few who said that non-proprietary open standards such as HTML5 will rule the mobile platform – enabling modern browsers to do the same functions as Flash. As you already know, Flash was never implemented on the iOS platform. In fact, Jobs was right, as in an abrupt U-turn in its mobile software strategy, Adobe had announced to cease developing its Flash Player plug-in for mobile browsers. Adobe even acknowledged HTML5 as the “best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms”.

“HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers,” felt Adobe VP Danny Winokur.

No doubt HTML5 is one of the hottest technologies right now in the mobile space given that it even provides you the capability to re-package Web apps as native apps on the various mobile platforms. In this blogpost, we are talking about five top reasons that show that HTML5 has got great potential.

1. It’s the future:

Analysts expect 2012 to be the year of HTML5 with a growing list of companies starting to adopt and develop in HTML5. Contemporary Analysis, on behalf of appendTo, a JavaScript and HTML5 consulting company, recently conducted an online survey in which it found out that 84 per cent of developers are planning to implement HTML 5 in projects within the next six months. One such recent example is Microsoft putting is energies into HTML5 in Windows 8. Microsoft has followed in Apple’s footsteps and has made the coming “Metro” version of Windows 8 destined for deployment in smartphones and media tablets with a version of Internet Explorer 10 that will no longer feature browser plug-ins, thus relying mostly on HTML5. Dean Hachamovitch, the head of Microsoft’s Windows Internet Explorer team, said, the adoption of HTML5 is to provide consumers most out of touch-first browsing. Running a plug-in-free Metro version of IE10 will further improve security, reliability and privacy for consumers.

2. Cross browser support:

Due to exponential growth in mobile application space, developers are now focusing and using more HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 in creating new Web apps and native mobile apps. Choosing a right mobile platform continues to be a vexing problem for developers, but now developers can widen their reach on multiple devices. With HTML 5, cross platform compatibility never looked so good as it makes apps usable across a range of devices like iOS, Android, Nokia / Symbian, Blackberry along with serving as a desktop web-browser.

3. Dynamic Content:

HTML5 offers great features that make incorporating animations, video, audio, fonts, Web graphics into your web pages in a much easier way. Thus it is not only easy to design and edit, it eliminates the need for third-party applications to implement multimedia to Web Sites – meaning no extra files and programs to view it. HTML5’ canvas element takes care of most of the interactive functionality that Flash offered. Further, it also gives a great edge to developers who now can change content and layouts without waiting for app updates or Apple’s approval.

4. Lower development cost:

Today, developers are caught in a dilemma to choose between HTML5 or a native app. One of the major advantages of developing an HTML5 app is its cost-effectiveness, which is extremely less compared to a native app. It is also aided by the fact that web development skillsets are also easily available compared to native platform development skills. In case your startup is not big enough, you might want to take a look at apps for Windows Phone, Blackberry, and webOS as well (which, to be fair is largely HTML-based).

5. Offline storage:

HTML5 brings primarily two offline capabilities: application caching and offline storage (or “client-side storage”). When we talk about application caching, we are talking of saving the application’s core logic and user-interface. Offline storage (or client-side storage) captures data generated by the user and specific resources the user is interested in. It means that you can use a web app at a time when it is not connected to Internet.

To know more about the technology and how you can benefit from it, send us a mail.

Posted in Mobile App Facts | Tagged HTML, HTML5, mobile app development, Mobile apps, XHTML | Leave a comment

Apps rush: Action Movie FX, Magic Guitar, Grand Theft Auto III, Pet Shop Story, Madden NFL 12

Posted on December 30, 2011 by KiwiTech

Action Movie FX: It is a pretty awesome app that lets you add amazing Hollywood-style special effects to your videos/films. The app is the product of Bad Robot, the production house of JJ Abrams, the company behind Lost, Alias, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Super 8. To start with, the app offers two effects – missile attack and car crash – for free. The other effects – tornado and chopper crash and fire fight and airstrike – are available as in-app purchases for $0.99 per pair. It is an easy to use app as all you need to do is choose your effect and then film a short video from your camera. After you record the clip, you need to decide about the point at which you want the effect to unfold. For instance, you can choose a flat surface or any such object that you want your missile to land on. Action Movie FX is, available for free and is surely fun with its super-cool effects and graphics.

Magic Guitar: Smule, which earlier brought iOS users the Magic Piano and Magic Flute app, is now offering the Magic Guitar. The app lets you create electric guitar music by strumming your fingers across the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch. Just like the company’s previous apps – Magic Piano and Magic Flute – you need to press notes as they fall. You can strum tracks from The Rolling Stones, Kiss, Nirvana, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Tom Petty, and Lynard Skynyrd. To add additional effects, you can shake the phone to create vibrato, and drag your fingers to bend the pitch. Choose from different guitar sounds and speeds to make each song your own. The app is easy to master and helps you play your dream music that you always dreamt of. Magic Guitar further allows you to listen live to others around the world while they play their music. It is a must try app for those who ever wanted to play guitar.

Grand Theft Auto III: Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary Edition delivers an experience similar to the original console game adventure, to an iPhone 4/4S, iPod Touch, iPad and most Android devices. The new app delivers the same pulsating gameplay, missions and open-world freedom, just like the decade-old classic. In this app, you assume the role of a criminal looking to climb the ranks of the underworld in the fictional Liberty City. Players achieve this by taking on jobs like carjacking, delivering merchandise, destroying evidence, running rival gangs off the road, and shooting witnesses. The controls are simple – a virtual stick on the left side is used for movement and right side controls for shooting, running, jumping and hijacking vehicles. There’s so much to do in the city as the users can hijack a police vehicle or steal a taxi and make money by ferrying pedestrians. The game is impressive in terms of graphics but still there’s a lot of room for improvement. The soundtrack of the game is pretty amazing with some great voice over work. When it comes to driving, you can choose either an analog or digital steering scheme as well as an accelerometer based steering control scheme. The game gets interesting when you accomplish certain missions, which includes stealing cars, hopping in a taxi and picking up rides and jumping fire trucks over the ramps and boards. However, shooting may prove to be a dampener as the auto-aim system doesn’t aim well. Overall, it is a fantastic game and the fact that you can now play around in Liberty City in the palm of your hand should be enough to purchase immediately.

Pet Shop Story: TeamLava’s latest app lets you create a successful pet store filled with any number of pets ranging from dogs, to cats, to the more exotic. The series of steps involves you to build out pens for various animals which you can upgrade and make it beautiful. Each pen can hold up a certain number of pets and after buying one, you can choose an adult dog or cat, so as to breed puppies or kittens. Here users are also required to maintain families of animals. You can breed only new baby at a time and to unlock extra nursery beds you need spend virtual currency. The game gets more fun once you start to cross-breed pets, which will let you experiment more with your unique store. Once your own Pet Store is created you can invite other players to view it and send gifts. The game scores high in terms of overall art quality and animation and the good part is it is available for free.

Madden NFL 12: If you have strong liking for football then it may be one of the best apps for you. Players can choose from the 32 NFL teams and play matches in true-to-life stadiums, track statistics and launch winning strategies from in-depth playbooks, unique to every team. Madden 12 is one of the most realistic Madden game. One of the best aspects of the game is its graphics which gives the feeling as if you’re watching Monday Night Football. The game allows you to draw up hot routes for defence, running and passing, along with the ability to save your best as audibles. You also get the ability to slow down the clock and make the play on both sides of the ball with Total Defensive Control (TDC) and Action Control Time (ACT). User can also pause the action, and use TDC to place your players in a position to deliver game changing hits, while Action Control Time lets you dominate defences with sprints, spins, dives and jukes. You can draw up your own hot routes for passing, running and defense. There are varying game modes, designed to satisfy anyone from the casual gamer to the seasoned team manager. One such option is to “relive” the previous (2010/2011) seasons’ playoffs by playing as either the Green Bay Packers or New Orleans Saints. The game is simple to control with a standard joystick on the left and 2 or more options on the right. For $0.99 the game is surely a steal.

Posted in Apps of the Week, Best Apps, Mobile Gaming | Tagged Action Movie FX, Grand Theft Auto III, iOS apps, latest mobile apps, Madden NFL 12, Magic Guitar, mobile app news, Mobile apps, Pet Shop Story | 1 Comment

5 mobile app trends to watch for 2012

Posted on December 21, 2011 by KiwiTech

2012 is expected to be the year of mobile apps given that the industry is going through a transformational phase. From a niche market to a mainstream force, the industry is helping us organize our days, and lives, and keep us entertained. Such is the extent of the popularity of mobile apps that almost all major companies are trying to build their presence on mobile. Certainly the future is very exciting in building apps and it is also where developers and entrepreneurs can really make quick money. Here are our five predictions to expect in app development in 2012.

Entertainment apps: Consumers are demanding richer, more compelling experiences that are tailored to their specific entertainment needs. By definition entertainment is associated with activities such as watching movies, videos, games, listening music, sports and reading etc. With the recent advancement in communication devices, people are happy to pay for those apps that can offer them good time out of their busy and hectic life. The mobile consumers are looking for really addictive and yet very simple apps which they once start using find it difficult to put down. This segment is getting bigger and better in almost every platform and it promises immense potential for growth in the coming years.

Mobile app messaging: Mobile social networking is one of the fastest-growing consumer mobile app categories. An increasing number of companies are grappling for consumer’s attention as users are consuming large amounts of messaging and e-mail traffic, videos, photos and commerce. Recently, Facebook launched an app that offers SMS and Facebook message services as well as group chats between phone contacts and Facebook friends, which became hugely popular soon after its launch. A recent survey conducted by Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, found that nearly 75 per cent of cell phone owners send messages. It also found that young people are more likely to use their cell phones for functions other than phone calls and they are much more likely to become involved in social networking. Another study by Juniper Research predicts that 1.3 billion consumers will rely on their mobile devices to access social media sites by 2016.

Rise of Asian developers and mobile apps ecosystem: The mobile app developing fraternity is now recognizing the growing importance of Asian app developers. The region, which now boasts the second-largest global app market — in China — is reporting significant uptake in terms of app download volume. A study by Distimo of downloads in the Apple App Store, said the overall download volume in Asian countries has taken off in the past six months, while some Western countries actually saw less download volume over the same period. At the same time, analyst firm Ovum predicts mobile phone application downloads in the Asia-Pacific region to touch almost five billion by the end of 2011, a rise of 189 per cent compared with 1.6 billion downloads in 2010. Ovum also predicts revenues from paid-for mobile phone apps in the region would hit $871 million in 2011, compared with $302 million in 2010, and that the market would see revenues of $2.2 billion in 2016. A prominent name in Asian mobile app development community, KiwiTech, recently developed a cutting-edge iPad app for Eros Entertainment that allowed fans of Bollywood movies to access the latest movie trailers, photos, exclusive behind the scenes, songs, trivia and other content. The app became the top free app in the Indian iTunes app store within a day of its release.

HTML5 apps: With this, developers don’t need to depend on the App Store for sales. To skirt Apple’s in-app purchases, developers are turning to web-based HTML5 apps to sell their products. One such name was the Financial Times which made the shift from native applications to web apps built in HTML5 and removed their native apps from Apple’s App Store. It was a risk but the company took the plunge and the web app became the mobile cornerstone of the FT. According to FT, over 100,000 people have accessed their app for the iPhone and iPad – far higher than their expectations. The company also says that users are spending more time with HTML5 app than those accessing FT.com via their desktop. This may prove to be an encouragement for those companies who are willing to make the shift to HTML5 in the future to power their mobile content.

Mobile search: Gartner has identified that mobile app searches will rule the roost in 2012. There is no doubt that mobile phones have become integral part of our lives as many of use smartphone for more than we realize. Mobile is an important communication tool for a large number of people in society and a tool of entertainment and search on-the-go. A large amount of information is needed by us for which we need to rely on mobile devices. For instance, Black Friday shoppers embraced mobile as a prominent research tool for finding in-store and online bargains – leading to mobile traffic to online sites tripling to 14.3 per cent as compared to 5.6 per cent in 2010. Further, iPhone and iPad were the top two devices for mobile device retail traffic.

Posted in Android, Mobile App Facts, Mobile Gaming | Tagged Asian mobile app developers, entertainment apps, HTML5 apps, KiwiTech, Mobile app messaging | Leave a comment

Best iPhone apps for Christmas

Posted on December 16, 2011 by KiwiTech

“Christmas time is here,
happiness and cheer,
fun for all that children
call their favorite time of year”

In the above poem, the author has beautifully described Christmas as the best time for children – but I would say that not only children it is enjoyed by people of all ages. It is that time of the year when most of us are busy buying gifts for our loved ones and sorting out details of the holiday season. It is time to meet your family and friends for a get-together for – cakes, sweets and cookies. To make the festive season full of joy and happiness, Kiwitech has put together some of the best apps that will help you in the preparations – ranging from day-to-day task apps, games, songs, at least something for everyone.

My Christmas Gift List: Christmas is a time of wishing, wanting and taking. At such a time, managing a huge gift list could be tedious and you certainly wouldn’t like to miss important people from that list. The app has been designed to meet all your shopping needs for the Holiday season: ranging from budget to ideas and gifts, and contacts, in an efficient and fun manner. Here you can easily create an editable list of contacts in categories ranging from family, friends, colleagues etc. and characteristics like name and allocated budget. You can import contacts from your Apple AddressBook or add a person from an empty contact. You can set a reminder about the status of the gifts, total budget set and a check mark to notify when all gifts are bought, for every contact. Moreover, there’s a general reminder and Christmas countdown to keep you updated. The app is easy to use and will impress you with its graphics and ultra minimalist approach.

Christmas Songs, Music and Carols: If you want an extensive playlist of festive favourites then this app is certainly what you have been looking for. There’s a great choice of 80 Christmas classics without the use of Internet. You can get the lyrics for each song and also sing along. There is also Full Color Studding Music Visualizer that adds to the mood for the festive season and soon you’ll be humming or singing along. The built-in YouTube viewer allows users to watch videos in an app that supports speakers, wireless airplay, remote control and bluetooth headsets. The app helps you to relive the splendor of the season’s magic.

Christmas Camera: This application is sure a delight for both parents and kids. Designed for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, this app enables users to add cool frames and objects to images that will lift up the festive spirit. A prominent feature of the app is that it gives you the ability to send real print cards with your Christmas photos all over the world from your app. The app has been optimized for iPad 2 user interface and has a built in camera – meaning that you can easily create an image with cute Christmas effects. It will be fun when you’ll share these images with friends and family on Facebook and Twitter and even via email and impress them with your creativity. The app comes at a cost of $2.99.

Epicurious Recipes and Shopping List: It is one of the best apps in its category that will serve as a cooking companion for Christmas. The app offers information on 28,000 recipes from magazines such as Bon Appétit and Gourmet, popular cookbooks, top chefs, and leading restaurants. Some of the recipes for festive season include: Christmas Cookies, Holiday Desserts, Christmas Cocktails, Edible Gifts, Holiday Sides, Pies and Tarts, Christmas Dinners, and Vegetarian Holiday fare. It is an easy to use app which allows you to search new recipes and good easier and faster. Some of the categories include things like “Weeknight Dinners” and “Vegetarian Mains” as well as skill-dependent titles like “I Can Barely Cook”. You can search food or drink recipes by keyword, or swipe through icons on the Search screen to filter by what’s in your fridge, what’s healthy, what’s in season, what holidays are coming up, and more. You can even save the recipes and shopping lists with friends and family via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. So whatever be your choice, cook great meals with this app and have fun with family this festive season. It is a universal app that can be used on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Doodle Jump Christmas Special: This is an amazingly cute version of one of the most addictive and popular app called “Doodle Jump”. The app features a Christmas themed background, where you need to help a four-legged creature called “The Doodle” jump all the way to the North Pole. Using the device’s accelerometer, players tilt the device from side to side to move the Doodler in the desired direction. In the pathway, the Doodler faces obstacles ranging from monsters to UFO’s that the Doodler has to shoot or jump on to eliminate. Players get a short boost in form of propeller hats, jetpacks, rockets, springs or trampolines. Users can choose from versions like normal, Halloween, Christmas, Rainforest, Space, World Cup or Underwater, without the need to change their names. There is no definitive end to the game, but you need to start all over if you fall, jump into a monster, get sucked into a black hole, or abducted by a UFO. Overall, the theme perfectly blends with the Christmas spirit and is sure to keep you occupied and have fun.

Posted in Best Apps, iPad Games, Mobile Gaming | Tagged Christmas, Christmas Camera, Christmas Songs, Doodle Jump Christmas Special:, Epicurious Recipes and Shopping List, music and carols: | Leave a comment

Apps rush: Infinity Blade II, Beyond Ynth Xmas Edition, Piggly Christmas, Pictorial HD, Voxer Walkie-Talkie PTT

Posted on December 5, 2011 by KiwiTech

Infinity Blade II:

Chair Entertainment’s latest game, Infinity Blade II, the sequel to the critically acclaimed, best-selling iOS game Infinity Blade, is topping the charts again on iTunes. The popularity may be attributed to an impressive gameplay besides “stunning” and gorgeous” artwork in the game. Like the first game, the sequel doesn’t deviate significantly from its predecessor. It is a duel-style combat, where you move your fingers across the screen to hack and slash, parry, block and dodge the blows. The new version has retained many parts of the previous version including the path, also referred to as “on rails.” What’s new in second edition is a modified and extended progression structure: like more paths to reach to a final boss. Besides there are more weapons for you to stay ahead in the battle like: slow and heavy axes to instill more damage, speedy dual swords and the traditional sword. The story line is same: you are a medieval warrior and has to go through different levels by eliminating variety of villains and finally the boss and claim the sword known as the Infinity Blade. Overall, the developer has managed to enhance the graphics which gives a feeling of console like sensation. The significant improvements are also visible in terms of textures, fine details like birds flying in the distance, lighting effects, environment and characters. Further, there seems to be more treasure to be found. Overall, the game delivers more than the original: a technically and visually gifted game that consistently delivers eye-popping tuff. It’s a universal app and for $6.99, it’s a bargain.

Beyond Ynth Xmas Edition:

FDG Entertainment, developer of Cover Orange, has come out with Beyond Ynth Xmas Edition, a holiday-themed version of their hit physics puzzler with an extra dose of fun. The app is about a ladybug named Kribl, who must traverse icy mountains and foggy forests, in order to recover Santa’s presents to maintain the spirit of Christmas. There are five exclusive levels to be explored. The gameplay is simple: you control Kribl, who rotate the box from the inside as she traverses a hazardous land. You will start at one side of a level and use a series of box to reach to the other side. You can move left, move right, jump left and jump right. You can use any wall inside the box to flip the box and if a box is situated at the corner of the wall, you can stand on blocks to turn the box. Objects like a block, which can be found inside the box, will help you jump out from the box. There are even springpads to reach the high ledges. The only precaution is the cold outside as Kribl can only handle it for a few seconds, hence, she should not explore too far from the boxes. The game uses amazing graphics that are optimized for Retina Display. There are 80 levels to play through across each of the environments, accessed from an overhead map. The challenge is to figure out how to advance past a certain part, as touching a hazard will cause you to restart the level. You collect diamonds at each level to earn a medal.

Pictorial HD:

Pictorial is a spatial-manipulation puzzle game where you discover the images the night sky is hiding in this game. You can spin the picture up, down and around to figure out what is there in the image. To assist you, you’ll see the faint lines appearing as you begin to form a picture, but doing it in a wrong way will make them disappear. The game is enjoyable and challenging and has got all the elements to keep you occupied for hours. You can choose out of three levels: Night Town, Arctic and Treasure Island followed by two levels that you can purchase; Fairy Forest and Halloween. With each category there is a theme: like Halloween may feature a black cat or a witch. There is no timeline to finish each level, but it is easy to play and gets exciting as you move on to next levels. The app’s simplistic gameplay makes it fun for kids and adults.

Voxer Walkie-Talkie PTT:

The app has gained immense popularity on both iOS and Android platforms in recent period. The app offers you walkie talkie push-to-talk voice service. It delivers audio, text, photo and location messages to one friend or a group of your friends. You can log in with Facebook or create a new identity, sync it with your phone’s address book, and start chatting with individual friends or groups. To record a message you need to hold a record button and can listen live to an incoming message. The app works over Wi-Fi, 3G, EDGE, 1X and does not use Voice or SMS plans. Users can create voice and text messages even without network connectivity, which will be sent out upon reconnecting.

Piggly Christmas:

It’s Christmas time in Apple Valley, and Mrs Piggly want to bake her little piglets an apple pie for the festival. To help her find the apples, you need to guide her way to the forest to pick apples and roll them back to her cozy little cottage. But that’s not all easy as she will face rain, sleet and snow to keep those apples away from others in the forest. In each course, players will find stashes to succulent sweet too besides apples. Overall, it is a fun and adorable game for young and adults looking for some great holiday themed fun. The game is available as free to download.

Posted in Apps of the Week, Best Apps, Mobile Gaming | Leave a comment