Awesome Note (+Todo)

Awesome Note (+Todo)
Version: 5.03
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.0
Price: $4

In the days before iPhones and touch screens I never went anywhere without a notepad. Whether it was to remember something to do later, an idea or just any general thought to keep handy, I had to make a note of it. Gradually I required to preserve such creative thoughts because you never know when it’ll come in handy but having many notepads and sheets of paper becomes annoying. In an increasingly paperless world, I choose to find my own way to keep it all in one place at my own convenience. Enter Awesome Note.

Before I used SimpleNote. Before that I just had numerous typed .txt files on my computer. SimpleNote left an element of dependancy on a cloud based server somewhere far away and I’m a control freak with my information access. Awesome Note is perfect for people like me because I can set up all my notes with a myriad of options.

For starters you can setup folders to categorize notes in a manor that suits you best. These folders can have notes take a certain theme (colour, background, text size, font.) You can even add tags to each of them for increased accessibility.

I say I like this App best because of the options it gives me. I prefer control over specific back up and files such as these, to me it’s a one way road that doesn’t need to be accessed through my MacBook or iPad but I like having the option. Sending information from Awesome Note can be done in a number of ways. You can text, e-mail or print if you wish. And if you do want to back it up to the cloud it is compatible with Evernote and Google.

Personally I like to save it and remove the back up file during my weekly iTunes sync session that way if the worst somehow happens I’ll only be bad for 6 days worth of data.

Notes take a certain number of shapes too. It can be a diary entry, to do list or an event listing. To put it bluntly how much I love, use and cherish said App right now, it’s permanently placed on my iPhone Dock so you can imagine that I’m quite biased in its favour. On the negative scale I can’t really see anything wrong with a note taking App. There’s nothing really that was screwed up here. If I really had to say something it would be that the screen is convoluted but it does so with elegance. Everything on the screen is necessary.

In the end if you have a need to take down little tidbits and such and require control or access to this information I highly recommend Awesome Note. It brings accessibility and simplicity to something I’ve been doing since High School. The way I see it is I no longer buy small notepads anymore so the one time fee of $4 is more than welcome the more I use it.

Game Dev Story

Game Dev Story

Version: 1.1.1

Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.1

Price: $4

Pried myself away from my phone to write this review and I’m not freaking kidding. I decided it was time to say good bye to my money when I played through the Lite version five times and dreaded the invisible wall that blocked my game company’s progress from infinite greatness.

Synopsis? Okay, you take control of a small game company at first, starting off hiring talent and making small games and with increasing profits make even bigger games. You increase your staffs talents and abilities the better you do which makes your games even better. It’s a fun sim game where you don’t dread each and every decision ala sim city. The art style is charming, the presentation is amazing and the gameplay absolutely compelling.

How good can this game possibly be? I missed a bus stop because of it. I went way over my break because I had to see a game through to the end of development. I woke up extremely groggy because I needed to purchase the license for the next big console. If you can’t handle addiction stay away from this game. If you want to be pulled in Plants vs. Zombies style, be thankful you can take this to the john with you. 

Absolutely amazing.

Tilt To Live

Tilt To Live

Version: 1.7.3 (1.5.2 HD)
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.0 (iPad - iOS 3.2 HD)
Price: Lite Version Reviewed - $3 ($5 HD)

Tilt to Live is an oddity on my iOS gaming deck. It’s something I can safely play for a few minutes a month and be content yet somehow wonder what differs between the Lite and the Soul-Suck Version. It’s entertaining and addictive but when I forget its there I hardly touch it.

Skip to the synopsis! It’s a game where you control an arrow and move said arrow with gyroscopic movements with the device. Namely, tilt the iPad/iPhone/iPod to avoid red dots of death and use power-ups to fight back for massive damage. The name of the game is survival and a High Score.

Fun for the whole family! Well made and certainly a testament to the hardware. But I’ll be honest, I’ve been getting on fine with the Lite version and keep wondering how the full can enrich my life. When the moneys plopped down I have this expectation bar that rises and it can’t be good for a laugh anymore, it HAS to be good for a laugh. Call me cheap but bang for the buck for the consumer is the element to this review.

A dollar or two seems reasonable but the admission price for the full show is quite steep and it’s not even a one size fits all. How much better can it get beyond what I’m seeing? Apparently 4 more game modes, several power-ups, wireless multiplayer and more achievements. I’m having fun now, so why congest it with more weight?

For now I’ll sit with content with what I’ve got and merely toy with the idea of crossing that line into the green.

SketchBook Mobile

SketchBook Mobile
Version: 2.0
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 4.0
Price: $2

I reviewed the iPad version of SketchBook to much ass kissing/kicking and labelled it the essential staple of the Canvas Apps for the iPad. But what about it’s older little Brother? I’ll be honest, this App and the original Touch was my vision of a paperless future for my personal self. Since High School I’ve been the type to take about a Dollar Store Notepad with me everywhere. I jotted down notes and doodles for later. The Notepads coils would always get bent and eventually eat away at the paper until paper came flying about.

To this day I have a big pile of notes I have to type and digitize so that I can finally chuck them out for good. I think I got a bit off track. My dream was for the slick touch in my pocket to have my doodles in one App, Notes in another all in one place without the pocket lint or giant amount of typing piling up. I’m proud to say I’m getting closer to that dream and would like to show my previous self the iPad and blow his puny little mind away.

I used to use this App extensively when reaching for the iPad would be a nuisance (breaks at work or waiting at a bus stop for 5 minutes without a bench) with my Pogo Stylus on an iPhone 3G. The amount I could possibly do with it is quite astonishing. It takes getting used to the screen size and there’s a slight learning curve but you can take your doodling to another level with this. If you have an older iOS device be gentle, it’ll lag when you do a lot of painting. Be nice to it and it’ll be nice to you.

When I upgraded to the iPhone 4, it took my preexisting sketches and expanded the canvas to twice the size and gave me twice the layers. The layers were helpful but I can’t get used to the giant canvas. It’s like looking through a 3D TV which has a massive room projected. You have the better capacity for zoom and I’m sure some would welcome the change with the power but I was essentially looking for a notepad to draw on.

My main gripe but it’s to be expected with the screen real estate is the cluttered tools. It’s tiresome to change the tools, layers, etc but with only a pencil tool and zooming, you get some great results.

To tie it all up with a little pink ribbon, this is as good as it gets in my opinion for Sketching Apps on the iPhone/iPod. Once you get this, you’ll see no reason to drift off and search for any other (although I have yet to dabble with Brushes on the smaller scale but it’s $5. WTF!) Once again I advise the use of a stylus. I always have one with me purely for the Sketching/Graphic Design aspects of my Tech Setup but if you only want to do some finger painting prepare for frustration.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Cubed Rally Racer

Cubed Rally Racer
Version: 1.1.1
Compatible: iPhone, iPod, iPad - iOS 3.0
Price: $2

Racing games on iOS are something I have high hopes but tend to be extremely weary with unfortunately. It’s now programmed in my brain that 99% of them have a control scheme of tilting my iOS device like a moron to simply turn. And by turning I mean sliding across the track into a wall because I’m not tilting correctly enough as it seems. Call me old fashioned but I like pulling left to go left. Several high definition and extremely pretty games I get for the iPhone or iPad follow this pattern and I get turned off very quickly to the point where I don’t believe it’s worth my time.

Cubed Rally Racer doesn’t follow this trap and I find myself playing it quite frequently when I have a minute. It doesn’t follow many other things actually. Let me start by saying what kind of game it is. It’s a racing game from a fixed camera in the sky angle. You guide a small polygonal rally car across several randomized tracks (levels) with increasingly difficult (and unusual) obstacles. It can be a pretty intense game or extremely laid back but overall quite an enjoyable experience.

It plays like an old NES racing game and can be frustrating but as you learn and master the control scheme will leave a satisfactory aftertaste. There is an HD version (I’ve yet to try it) but can’t see this is as a big screen affair simply because of the pick up and play aspect to it. Like Angry Birds you can pick it up and play it quickly for 5 minutes before putting it away.

Graphics are charming, controls are weird at first but become natural after trial and error. My biggest gripe however is with the atrocious and I mean GOD-FREAKING-AWFUL music. It’s got one song, one song alone, and it’s terrible and annoying. Think of the worst alarm clock sound you’ve had to deal with, loop it over and over and imagine it accompanying you over the course of every part of this damn game. You start the race, it’s there. You’re racing, it’s still there. You completed the race! Good for you! Here’s some pain for your trouble.

Sound off.

In the way of modes, there’s an arcade mode where you progress through the levels. Pretty standard. There’s a mode that lets you go on a never ending track to see how far you’ll go to get a higher score. Then there’s the secret Cow Mode where your accelerator is stuck and you have to manically manoeuvre through a wide grassy track, dodging obstacles to get as far as possible for a higher score.

Highly recommended. I look forward for more from these Devs to expand this App or any more they might have up their sleeve.