"If there is an app for that"

Trace Your Way Past City Lines in This Charming Puzzler

May 25, 2016 by macjeff

City Lines for puzzle lovers (Free) by Genix Lab is a cute new puzzle game that lets players visit various cities from all over the world just by connecting the dots. But don’t be fooled — things are trickier than they seem. If you’re a puzzle fan and enjoy seeing the world, then this is a nice combination of the two.

Traveling around the world is pretty much one of my biggest dreams, and I’m sure that it is the same for many others as well. However, let’s face it — not all of us are rich and can afford to travel around the globe as much as we’d like. Perhaps one day it will be possible, but in the meantime, we’ll just have to make do and see the world through the eyes of others. Or in this case, a puzzle game that lets you see some sights while also stimulating your mind! I’ve been waiting for City Lines for a few months now, but it has only recently arrived on the App Store. But for any puzzle fan, it has been worth the wait.

First off, I’m in love with the visual style of City Lines. The game sports a colorful, flat aesthetic that fits in well with the modern iOS looks, but it has enough shadow and depth to make the cities you paint in come alive. Not to mention the fact that all of the city elements have a bit of retro flair to them, which I find rather fitting for the game. The animations in City Lines is also gorgeous, as everything is fluid and smooth. As with other puzzle games, there’s a rather soothing soundtrack in the background that will definitely help you unwind and relax, and the sound effects when you connect the dots is rather whimsical.

In City Lines, there are two sections of levels available: Free Packs and Premium Packs. There is a total of six cities in the Free section, though the last two require you to reach a certain point in the previous pack to unlock. The Premium Packs section has five more cities that are higher in difficulty than what you start out with in the Free section, and they cost $0.99 a pop or you can get them all for $2.99. Since the game is initially free, you do get a decent amount of content for not paying anything, but there are some occasional ads. These can be removed with a $1.99 in-app purchase.

At some point through the free campaign, you will unlock Multiplayer Mode, though I’ve been having some connecting issues with it so far during my testing this morning. From the App Store screenshots though, it seems like you challenge other players through a series of rounds and whoever ends up with the most points (less moves are better) wins. There is even a spinning wheel that determines what challenge awaits your opponent, so each game will be different.

The gameplay of City Lines itself is rather interesting. Depending on the pack and level that you’re doing, the square grids will range from 5×5 all the way up to 10×10. There will also be bridges involved on some levels, which mean that two paths can occupy one square (one on top and another underneath) so it adds another layer to the game. Each level’s grid will feature different emblems, but there are always two of each. Your goal is to connect these emblems to each other until the entire grid is filled up with colored lines that match each dot. When everything is filled in, the city comes to life with homes, buildings, people, nature, and water. You’ll even get to see some familiar landmarks depending on the level pack that you’re working on.

While City Lines starts out easy enough with the 5×5 levels in the Saigon pack, the difficulty ramps up once you get into the larger grids. Things end up not being so straightforward, as there are more dots to connect and larger grids to fill. You’ll have to think about the paths you draw carefully since every square needs to be filled before the level is complete. Up to three stars can be earned on each stage too, depending on the number of moves you make, so less is better. The paths can overlap as you draw them, though the current one will just replace the previous one, causing you to use another move to fix it, so be careful.

If you ever get stuck on a puzzle, the game gives you five free hints to start with. But once those are used up, you’ll need to purchase more through in-app purchases. But I’d recommend holding off on using up your hints, especially in earlier levels, because a lot of them can be solved just by trial-and-error.

As a big puzzle game fan, I’m enjoying my time with City Lines so far. The visuals in the game look stunning, and the music is soothing. It takes a simple game concept and ramps it up at a gradual pace so it is not overwhelming, and it is pretty challenging overall. But watching a city come to life with familiar landmarks at the end makes everything worth it. I just want to see better connectivity for the multiplayer aspect, as I was unable to test that out from multiple connection errors today (through both Wi-Fi and cellular data).

I highly recommend checking out City Lines if you have not done so already. It’s an endearing puzzle game that will appeal to all fans of the genre. You can find City Lines on the App Store as a universal download for free with in-app purchases.

Source link: http://appadvice.com/reviews

Challenge Your Math Skills with 102030

May 25, 2016 by macjeff

Reviewed by Marilyn Chau

102030 is not just “original and addictive” but it also features a simple concept and helps your math skills too.

Features:

As suggested by its name, 102030, by Li Yinjian, is definitely a fresh idea in the app store and is a game where numbers matter.

Specifically, players in this challenging app are given the task of adding up game pieces to equal values of “10,” “20,” or “30.”

However, just being clever with your mathematical strategies isn’t enough to dominate in this game. Instead, in-app “bombs” get in the way of your matchups, and it’s up to you to carefully plan the timing and location of your game pieces in order to successfully rack up high scores.

This app features both “endless” and “challenge” variations, with optional signing in to your iTunes game center account to compete for tops scores if you’d like.

As a whole, we found this innovative game to be just as fresh and fun as promised. It is a simple concept, but it definitely takes awhile to get the hang of. In-app instructions are decently clear, but there is still a learning curve when first starting out.

Appearance and Layout:

102030 iPhone App Review

Just as 102030 has a pretty simplistic concept of gameplay, the artwork within the app is very simple as well. Things are kept to a minimum; during games most of your games pieces take up the majority of your screen, with a small portion dedicated to showing scores.

With “ball and stick” game pieces, however, detailed designs really aren’t needed; the simplicity of the graphics matches perfectly with the overall feeling of the app.

Getting around the app is easy to do as well; a home screen shows you a few navigational options to get you oriented when first starting out.

Value:

102030 is a free app. It features simple graphics and fun gameplay, and while it might take new players a bit of time to really get the hang of, it’s definitely a game that will delight anyone who loves a good multi-layered challenge.

I had a few instances where the app crashed on me, but as a whole, 102030 ran very smoothly with minimal problems. For a free game, it’s definitely worth at least trying out.

102030 requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Best voice recording apps for iPhone and iPad

May 22, 2016 by macjeff

Students who record lectures, business users who record meetings, or an aspiring artist who records ideas on the go. There are many different people use, or could use, a voice memo app. Apple does include a stock application, however its features are rather limited. To break through the crowded hodge podge that is the App Store, we went searching for some of the best apps around for taking audio recordings.

Audio recorders in particular are very hard to narrow down. There are just countless offerings from large companies, to one off developers. There was a number of different criteria that went into our ranking. This includes: format options, quality, cloud storage/export options, and any other unique features they may include.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5sRwYJVXys?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

Recorder Plus

Recorder Plus is my recommendation for best professional recording app. The UI is modern, if not a bit cluttered at times. The app itself is free, with a huge variety of features available as in app purchases. This can be good and bad, depending on how you look at it. On one side, it allows you to try the app, then unlock only features you would use. So you don’t have to pay for extraneous options. But on the flip side, if you purchase everything, it winds up being the most expensive option on the list.

The wealth of features here is fantastic. It offers all formats you could want. There are 8 cloud drives you can tie into to store your files as well. Inside the app it offers decent organizational options such as custom file names and folders. When you playback your recordings, you can change the speed, as well as trim them if need be.

While it does offer the ability to lock the app and protect your recording, it doesn’t support Touch ID. That is one thing I expect these days in any app that is password protected, however not many others include password protection, let alone Touch ID, so it isn’t as if this is behind the competition.

• Device support: iPad, iPhone
• Recording formats: MP3, MP4, CAF, WAV, M4A, AAC
• Sharing: Share Sheet, email (multiple at once), Box, Dropbox, Wi-Fi, Web dev, Google Drive, FTP, Sugar Sync, and Skydive.
• Notable features: Many overall features. Lots of cloud storage options. Get the app for free, and purchase only features you will use.
• Cost: Free (Pro features available via in app purchase)

Just Press Record

While Recorder Plus is a fantastic app, has a wealth of professional features, it isn’t always my go-to app when I need to make a recording. That honor gets bestowed upon Just Press Record. There is something about how dead simple this app is. So simple, there isn’t even a settings menu. What do you do? You literally, just press record.

The app doesn’t mess around with different recording formats, or qualities. You just get high quality M4A (AAC) audio files. You don’t have a bunch of in-app purchases either. When you buy the app you get everything out of the box.

Just Press Record also takes advantage of the newest features in iOS and the Apple ecosystem. It features 3D Touch on iPhone 6s to start recording right from the home screen. On iPad, it works with multitasking. You can use the app in split screen, while taking notes alongside. Instead of simply storing files locally, it saves everything on the fly to iCloud Drive. You remove it from the app, you remove it from iCloud Drive. That makes it available instantly on any device you own. So you record, and it shows up on your iPad and Mac without you having to lift a finger.

What is also handy, is that the iOS app includes iPad, and Apple Watch support. So you can actually create recordings from your wrist. On the Mac, they have a separate app available. So you can use that to create and view your recordings as well.

What I am really saying is, for the casual user this may be the best app. You just don’t get to have much configurability.

• Device support: iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac
• Recording formats: M4A (AAC)
• Sharing: Share Sheet, iCloud Drive
• Notable features: Most clean and modern UI. Very simple to use. Use 3D Touch to record right from the home screen. Supports 3D Peek and Pop within the app. Automatically syncs all files via iCloud Drive. Record from your Apple Watch, or while taking notes in split screen on iPad.
• Cost: $2.99

Voice Recorder HD

Voice Recorder HD is a really great voice recording app. It has a wealth of features, though a UI that is a bit dark and skeuomorphic for today’s design aesthetic.

It has a relatively low barrier to entry, with most features coming in for the single $1.99 purchase price. Inside the app there is limited organizational features aside from custom names for the files. You can choose which quality to record in, however if you want M4A support, you must purchase it via in-app purchase.

It doesn’t support iCloud Drive but you can sync all of your files to a linked Dropbox account which could even be more ubiquitous and allow more accessibility.

Another notable feature is Audio Boost. This helps reduce background noise, and amplify voices for those that talk quietly, or are far away from the mic.

Lastly, this also supports Apple Watch to record straight from your wrist.

• Device support: iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch
• Recording formats: WAV (M4A via in app purchase)
• Sharing: Share Sheet, Dropbox
• Notable features: Audio Boost to more clearly hear muted audio sources. Link Dropbox to sync your files.
• Cost: $1.99 (More features via in app purchase)

Voice Recorder Free

This app is here because it offers a host of pro features (like multiple formats), unique features (like flagging important parts of a recording), and it is all available for free. This doesn’t offer the most features, or the best UI, but it does pack in a lot for a great price. Nothing!

You can record in several different formats that only a couple others offer. You can also easily share your files using the built-in share sheet, or even over Wi-Fi. The app is clearly meant to be the place to store your files as you can easily organize them, and group them into folders.

Probably my favorite feature is as you are recording, you can flag important areas of the recording, and can easily jump to them upon playback. This is only available from within the app, but very useful if you want to mark different areas of a meeting.

The app itself can be password protected, but it is laking Touch ID.

• Device support: iPhone
• Recording formats: AAC, MP4, CAF, AIFF, WAV
• Sharing: Share Sheet, WiFi
• Notable features: Wifi sharing from within the app. Flag important parts of a recording. Wide variety of recording formats.
• Cost: Free

Honorable Mentions

Smart Record

Smart Record is a handy tool that has some useful features not present in others. For instance, you can set up a recording reminder. So maybe you always need to record your Discreet Mathematics lecture, every day at 10am. You can set this in the app to remind you at that time, to start recording the lecture.

It has new iOS features like 3D Touch on newer Apple devices so you can record from your Home screen. Handily, one of the best features is the ability to add text, images, or markers inside the recording. So if you recorded an hour long meeting, you could take photos of the presentation, then on playback, see that image and the time stamp it is relevant.

If you’d like, you can have them transcribed, however this is a surcharge, available for $1.00 a minute.

Evernote

Evernote is commonly known as a way to take notes. Lots and lots of notes. That is still absolutely the case. However, they added not long ago the ability to tie voice recordings.

This means you can easily be recording a lecture, while taking written notes at the same time, and tie them together. Since this is Evernote, all the features come with great syncing to any device that they support.

Voice Recorder Free – smart Speech and Audio

This app looks a little clunky, but it has one killer feature that makes it worth consideration. That is the ability to convert your audio notes, to text. It supports 44 languages, and in my testing, works fairly well. Both audio, and text notes are stored inside the app.

If you opt for the pro version for $2.99, you get Noise Gate which boosts clarity, reduces background noise, and increases volume. You also get Apple Watch support, and no ads.

Conclusion

While these apps did made it, this by no means is an exhaustive list. There are many more that are still out there that we didn’t touch on.

Do you have a particular voice recording app that you really enjoy? If you do, let us know down in the comments, as well as any suggestions on which type of apps we should cover next.

Weatherbirds for iOS Features Crowdsourced Weather and Much More

May 19, 2016 by macjeff

Reviewed by Sarah Hanlon

Weatherbirds is an awesome weather app that makes it easy to see hyperlocal weather reports and submit your own observations.

It’s a great lightweight app that’s sure to be a welcome addition to anyone’s weather app collection.

Concept and Functionality:

The first thing I noticed about Weatherbirds, by Istvan Sipos, was the interface. It seemed a little brighter than many popular weather apps available, and the layout is very organized.

Personally I really like the animations and I found that they add to the overall positive atmosphere of the app.

Weatherbirds gives you the option of being a passive or active user. What I mean by this is you can choose to use the app as your primary source of weather information as a consumer, but you can go a step further and submit your own observations to the community.

You’ll need to create an account to do this, but once you have one set up it’s very easy to submit a report.

Weatherbirds gives you the chance to be as detailed or as vague as you like and covers weather conditions such as cloudiness and precipitation, as well as the opportunity to add a description or photo to your report.

When it comes to weather accuracy, I found that Weatherbirds is pretty spot on with conditions. Weather data is sourced from openweathermap.org, which is a very reputable site.

Features:

Reviewed by Sarah Hanlon

Even with the implementation of crowdsourced weather reports, Weatherbirds has plenty of other great features for users to enjoy. This includes weather forecasts and a built-in weather handbook for depicting various weather conditions and reporting them accordingly.

One feature I found to be missing is the ability to incorporate the iPhone’s built-in barometer for weather reports.

Naturally this feature would be limited only to those iPhone’s with a barometer, but you really can tell quite a bit about the weather just by reading the barometer.

Value:

Weatherbirds is available to download from the App Store for free and is universally compatible with iPhone and iPad.

There are ads at the bottom of the screen which can be removed via in-app purchase for $1.99, which isn’t a terrible price. However, all features in Weatherbirds are free from the start and the pro upgrade only disables ads.

Overall, Weatherbirds is a great weather app that’s perfect for passive and active weather-minded people.

The bottom line is that Weatherbirds is lightweight, very easy to use, and it’ll be an even more awesome source of weather information if it gains popularity and a large user base.

Weatherbirds – the Weather Forecast Owls requires iOS 9.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Movie and TV Junkies Will Love Tubi TV

May 18, 2016 by macjeff

Reviewed by Sarah Hanlon

Tubi TV makes it easy for you to stream popular movies and TV shows on your iPhone or iPad.

Featuring over 40,000 movies and shows, this free app from adRise Inc. includes an impressive catalog that’s sure to keep you entertained for hours on end.

Concept and Functionality:

Tubi TV is designed to be your go-to app for streaming content directly to your device, and we have to say that it achieves this goal pretty well.

You won’t find recent releases or epic blockbusters in the lineup, but the app features many shows and movies that aren’t available on other popular streaming services.

Like many other streaming apps, Tubi TV is designed for easy navigation and a positive user experience.

With Tubi TV it’s incredibly easy to peruse all of the content that the app offers, and we were surprised to see how many categories and subcategories there are.

Whether you’re looking for something basic like dramas or movies for a specific purpose (fright night, extreme adventures, etc), you shouldn’t have any problems with finding something to watch.

Tubi TV iPhone App

As you read above, Tubi TV offers all content for free. The app does include video ads within content, but this really isn’t any different from watching regular Tubi TV.

A few ads are a small inconvenience in exchange for an amazing catalog of over 40,000 movies and shows.

Features:

We’re big Chromecast fans here at TheiPhoneAppReview.com so we were a bit disappointed to see that Chromecast isn’t supported in Tubi TV. Cordcutters are likely going to be interested in what the app offers and streaming sticks are a major part of the revolution to break free from cable and satellite companies.

Other than that, Tubi TV includes an impressive number of features like a streamlined media player and a queue for keeping track of everything you want to watch.

Value:

Tubi TV is available to download from the App Store for free and is universally compatible with iPhone and iPad. We didn’t see any in-app purchases, so there doesn’t seem to be an option to subscribe to a service and remove advertisements.

Overall, Tubi TV is definitely an app to try if you’re looking for a massive amount of free movies and television shows.

Tubi TV – Watch Free Movies, TV Shows, Drama, Comedy & Horror videos requires iOS 7.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.