"If there is an app for that"

BusyCal, the Calendar for Busy People, is Finally on iOS

June 28, 2016 by macjeff

BusyCal ($4.99) by BusyCal LLC is a calendar app that is designed for those with a busy schedule to tend to on a daily basis. If you live a hectic life and want a calendar app that can keep up with you, then it could be worth your time to check out BusyCal, now on the iPhone and iPad.

Ever since I started using a smartphone and laptop, I’ve had to keep a digital calendar with me at all times in order to remember where I need to go and what I have planned every day, because otherwise, I’d pretty much forget everything. I was always terrible with paper calendars in the past, and still am, so digital calendars are a complete lifesaver for me. A long time ago, before Fantastical was ever around, I was a faithful user of BusyCal on my Mac. However, I must admit that I’ve been using Fantastical since it was first introduced on the Mac and iOS platforms a few years ago, and stopped using BusyCal altogether. But since I saw BusyCal pop up on the App Store recently, I was intrigued to give it a try for myself. While it won’t be replacing Fantastical 2 on my iPhone as a daily driver calendar app, it’s a solid choice for those who aren’t satisfied with other solutions.

In terms of visuals, BusyCal looks fairly minimal and barebones when compared to the competition, such as Fantastical and Calendars 5 from Readdle. The app features a lot of white and gray, with events in colored blocks that go along with what you have already set in your calendar account. Even if you have a busy schedule, the app still has a lot of whitespace that could have been better utilized, since it seems like wasted space at times right now. In fact, if someone didn’t ever use the native iOS calendar, they may mistake this for Apple’s own app, because it’s pretty utilitarian. However, despite the less-than-appealing aesthetics, BusyCal features tabs at the bottom that let you easily switch to different calendar views with just a tap, and it’s fast to do so, too. BusyCal won’t be winning in the looks department compared to Fantastical, but it does well in the features department.

Unlike many of the existing calendar apps that were on the market, BusyCal does not fetch data from the native iOS calendar. This means that even if you have your calendar info on the phone, BusyCal won’t read it. You’ll have to add your calendar account into BusyCal itself for it to sync with whatever service you use. At the moment, BusyCal works with iCloud, Google, Office 365, Exchange, Fruux, Yahoo!, CalDAV (if you use BusyCal on Mac, for example), and WebDAV. Though I do not use an Exchange calendar, I know that it’s a popular service for businesses, and it’s hard to find proper support for it. Fortunately, BusyCal has you Exchange users covered.

Once you’re logged in to all of your necessary accounts (the app supports an unlimited number of accounts and calendars), you can toggle what calendars you want to see in the app from the Settings menu, which is great for those who use separate calendars for different events. Each one is color coded based on your account settings, so it should be easy to tell each event block apart.

With BusyCal, users get easy access to four different calendar views from the bottom tab bar: List, Day, Week, and Month. There is also a separate To Do view if you keep tasks and reminders in your calendar service.

The List view is a condensed agenda of all of your upcoming events organized by day — if you want the most information in one place, then the List view is your main go-to view. It even includes the high and low temperature for the day, so you can prepare for your appointments with one glance. The Day view displays a timeline for the day and all of your events are shown as blocks on the timeline, with a separate section up top for All-Day things. A sharp blue bar at the top tells you what day you’re looking at, as well as the high and low temperatures.

Week view is similar to the Day glance, except you get to view multiple days at a time and can scroll horizontally to check days in advance. Unfortunately, the Week view won’t show weather data. The Month option lets you see the entire month in one fell swoop, and while it may not include weather data, you can see the moon phases on the month, which is something. I found the Month view to be a bit cramped in portrait mode, even on my iPhone 6s Plus, so I recommend using landscape mode for this view, or any of the other ones if needed. Unfortunately, there is no way to switch between views in landscape mode or access settings, which is a bit annoying.

As you’re in portrait mode and want to return to today, just tap on the button in the bottom left corner. BusyCal also has a search functionality, so you can look up any event, past or future, through keywords. While it seems to search for the keywords through any field of text for an event, you can’t filter it out like with Fantastical, which may be annoying.

When you create new events or reminders in BusyCal, there are two ways to do so. You can go with the traditional, old-school route with inputting the event details into separate fields, or you can toggle Natural Language Input in the app settings. To add a new event or to-do item (even timed ones), just tap on the plus button in the upper right corner.

What I noticed about the natural language input method is that the typing lags behind somewhat, as the letters were struggling to catch up as I was typing in my event. Plus, there is no autocorrect and automatic keyboard switching when trying to go from the numerals back to the alphabetic keyboard, which got super tedious after a few moments — my sentence was riddled with errors. Hopefully the natural language input gets optimized in the future, but right now it’s pretty frustrating to use compared to the competition.

Overall, I was a bit surprised that BusyCal finally landed on iOS, but it won’t be replacing Fantastical 2 for me anytime soon as my daily driver. There seems to be quite a bit of wasted whitespace throughout the app, and the natural language input falls short here. I also wish that there was an option to just fetch my iOS calendar data instead of having me input my Google Calendar credentials again. However, the app does have some good benefits, such as fast ways to switch to different views, full and reliable support for Exchange accounts, and giving you basic weather info so you can prepare for the day ahead. I think BusyCal is a good option to consider if you haven’t been satisfied with other options, like Fantastical 2 or Readdle’s Calendars 5.

You can find BusyCal on the App Store as a universal download for $4.99. BusyCal 3 for Mac is available online for $49.99.

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

Unravel Dark Secrets As You Go Into Mirror, a Cyberpunk Action Platformer

June 27, 2016 by macjeff

Into Mirror ($0.99) by ZHIPENG WANG and Lemon Jam Studio is a new cyberpunk-style action platformer that truly pulls you in to an immersive, dystopian world. If you enjoyed other games like Shadow Bug, Shadow Blade: Reload, and Goblin Sword, but wished there was a splash of cyberpunk flair, then Into Mirror is the game for you.

Since I’m an ‘80s kid, I grew up with platformers for most of my childhood. I had the classics like Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, and even other games like the X-Men one I remember on Sega Genesis. The point is I have rather fond memories of platformer games in general, so I am always intrigued whenever a new one hits the market. And in recent years, I’ve taken an interest in sci-fi and cyberpunk themes, so when the news of Into Mirror hit my inbox, I was definitely interested.

Into Mirror has a unique art style that reminds me of graphic novels and comic books. Considering the cyberpunk and futuristic setting, I think it’s rather fitting. The world of Mirror is rather dark and gloomy, which means that the bright and flashy colors of the characters, street signs, and attacks stand out just that much more. Despite the shady tone of the world, the developers made sure to include a ton of detail for everything, from the environment to character outfits to weapons and bosses. Animations are pretty smooth and fluid, though the movements of enemies felt a bit jerky at times due to weird, glitchy positioning. There can also be serious lag when notifications come in, so I hope that the developer can optimize it a bit in future updates. The game also has an atmospheric soundtrack that pulls you in, and the sound effects are a nice finishing touch.

So what exactly is Into Mirror? The game is definitely much more than “looking cool,” as they say. The plot of the game takes place in 2076 and involves a virtual world with the Mirror Device that has concluded with beta stages and has moved on to the commercial phase, meaning mass market and Mirror Group, the company behind it, becoming hugely successful and now the world’s largest company. While everyone thinks that the virtual reality world of the Mirror Device is great, they fail to see the dangers and secrets behind it all — who are you in Mirror World? Players will control a character named Allen in Mirror World, who is working with another character to uncover the dark secrets of the virtual reality world. But in typical game fashion, every being in the game is trying to stop you, so you won’t be going down without a fight.

Like other platformer games, Into Mirror is level-based, and there are 20 stages for you to tackle your way through. While that does not sound like a lot, the game is rather difficult, so you will spend a lot of time on later stages as you progress. The goal in each level is to make it from the starting point to the endpoint, which is marked with a floating screen-like icon. Reaching the endpoint is easier said than done, as you’ll have to eliminate a ton of different types of foes along the way, while avoiding dangerous hazards like spikes and acid, and also making sure to find keycards to get past locked doors. There is a huge variety of enemies that you’ll encounter, including challenging boss battles, so you have to take them out using your wits and strength.

The controls in Into Mirror are simple enough, though I feel that they could be better optimized for touch screens. In the bottom left corner will be two directional buttons for moving left and right. You can fall through certain sections of floor by swiping down on the screen. In the bottom right corner, there will be buttons for jumping (double tap for double jump), melee, and ranged attack. Due to limited ammo, you’ll probably be doing more hacking-and-slashing than shooting, but keep an eye out for breakable crates, as they can contain more ammo refills and health packs.

While the controls are decent enough, I feel that they could have been done much better. I had issues with movement at times due to the spacing between the two directional buttons, and feel that a virtual joystick would have been better anyways since you need to have pretty quick reflexes to survive in this game. And the action buttons could have had a better layout, as I constantly found myself accidentally shooting instead of jumping, or something along those lines. Hopefully the developers can look into fixing the controls a bit, as it is tarnishing the overall experience when you die because you’re stuck or move in the wrong direction or waste limited bullets.

Even though the game only has 20 stages, there is plenty of replay value. This is because you gain experience points from killing enemies, which means you level up and become stronger. For each level you gain, you’ll be able to choose to upgrade your attack, health, or critical attack chance. You’ll also find tons of green credits from breaking crates and slaying enemies, and these credits can be used for several things. You can upgrade Allen’s equipped gear with better swords, guns, helms, armor, gloves, and pills for health or attack. Another option is to use credits to refill your health or ammo in a pinch. You can also find some hidden collectible chips through various boxes located in the game.

If you’re low on credits, the game does give you the opportunity for free 100 free credits by watching a video, or you can buy more through in-app purchases. I’m a bit disappointed in this decision, though, since the game is a paid game and not free, so I don’t like that it includes IAPs and video ads at all. But this appears to be the trend in mobile games, unfortunately.

So far, I’ve spent a good few hours with Into Mirror, even though I’m only on level six (the game is damn hard). I am in love with the gorgeous cyberpunk visual art style, the soundtrack is impressive, and the action platformer gameplay itself is incredibly challenging. I enjoy the level up and upgrade system, though I do wish that it was possible to find equipment in the breakable crates as well, since the only way to get better gear is to spend credits in the menu’s shop. And if the developers can improve the control scheme so that it results in less deaths and glitchy positioning, then the experience would be much better.

I highly recommend giving Into Mirror a try though, especially if you’re into sci-fi, cyberpunk, or action platformer games. Into Mirror can be found on the App Store as a universal download for your iPhone and iPad for just $0.99 (50 percent off for a limited time). There are in-app purchases for more credits.

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

Top 4 Home Decorating Apps You Should Try

June 24, 2016 by macjeff

No matter how much you love your home’s decorations, you will eventually want to make some changes. When that time comes, turn to these four apps. They offer features that will inspire you to bring a new aesthetic to the rooms in your home.

IKEA Catalog

Price: Free

Available for: iPhone

IKEA catalog lets you browse the amazing catalog with iPhone or iPad so you can transform your home’s current look. The app provides information on more than just big furniture items, it also helps you with small, decorative pieces, but you will, of course, also find larger products like chairs and tables.

If you like one of the products that you find, then you can purchase without leaving the app. This gives you an easy, secure way to buy the things that catch your eye.

Chairish

Price: Free

Available for: iPhone

Chairish is similar to IKEA, but with this app you get to buy items from individuals as well as a store. That makes it possible for you to access a wider range of products through Chairish, including:

• Antique furniture
• Artwork from professional painters, sculptors, and designers
• Knickknacks that will add flair to your home

In most cases, you will have to pay for shipping and handling, but sellers can also offer a local pickup option. This is a convenient way to avoid shipping fees, especially when you buy from sellers located in or near your city.

Chairish is more than just a place to purchase new and antique items for your home. You can also use it to make money from things that you no longer want. If you have a table that doesn’t match your new decorating scheme, then you can sell it on Chairish. It’s free to list items on the app, and you get to keep 80 percent of the selling price.

ColorSchemer

Price: Free 

Available for: iPhone

Mixing and matching colors is essential to making your home look beautiful. The last thing you want to do, however, is buy new furniture, decorations, and paint without comparing color schemes. What looks good in your head doesn’t always translate so well to reality. That could mean that you waste a lot of money on ideas that aren’t as attractive as you imagined.

The ColorSchemer app gives you an opportunity to see exactly what various colors will look like together. You can use it to automatically generate concepts based on complementary, monochromatic, and triad colors.

ColorSchemer also lets you draw inspiration from previous concepts made by over 450,000 members of its COLOURlovers community. If you see something that you like, you can copy it or make a slight alteration to get the perfect color scheme for your room. In the end, this app can help you save a lot of time and money.

SnapShop

Price: Free

Available for: iPhone and Android devices

Just because a piece of furniture looks beautiful in the showroom doesn’t mean that it will look equally nice in your home. In some ways, you can’t really know what a couch or chair will look like in your living room until you move it in.

For obvious reasons, shoppers don’t want to move heavy pieces of furniture into their homes before they know whether the furniture will look attractive. Until recently, people had to rely on educated guesses. Today, they have SnapShop.

SnapShop is an augmented reality app that lets you see what new furniture will look like in your home. You just choose the item you might want to buy, open the app, point your cell phone’s camera where you want to place the furniture, and your display will show you the piece placed within the space you chose. The combination of a fast, reliable network and smartphone with large display and high-definition camera makes SnapShop a perfect home decorating app. If you still aren’t sure whether you like what you see, you can share the image with friends to get feedback. It’s one of the most effective ways to choose furniture without unnecessary lifting.

The next time you want to make some changes to your house or apartment, these four inspiring apps will help make the job easier. Instead of doing all the work on your own or hiring an expensive decorator, download these apps to revitalize your home.

Perchang is a Challenging Puzzler with Gizmos and Charm

June 24, 2016 by macjeff

Perchang ($1.99) by Perchang is a physics-based puzzle game that involves plenty of various mechanical contraptions, small metal balls, and goals. If you enjoyed classic games like Casey’s Contraptions and Amazing Alex, then you will love what Perchang brings to the modern world of contraption-based puzzles.

Ever since mobile gaming erupted in a boom with the App Store back in 2008, puzzle games have been one of the best things about mobile gaming, for me at least. Many of the popular iOS games that resulted have always been puzzles, such as the Angry Birds franchise, Cut the Rope series, Monument Valley, Square Enix Montreal’s GO games (Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO), and more, so it’s obvious that I’m not the only one who likes puzzles on iOS. However, one thing is certain — it’s been a long time since a contraption-style puzzle game hit the App Store. But now that Perchang has arrived, it’s definitely a must-have title for any physics-based puzzle fan’s collection.

In terms of visuals, Perchang has a minimalist aesthetic going on due to the bright white background (off-set slightly with a vignette effect around the edges), simplistic-looking gizmos that are all completely rendered in 3-D, hues of black, gray, and white with subtle splashes of red and blue color for the parts of the contraptions that you can control with the corresponding buttons. Animations in Perchang are buttery smooth, so it’s rather mesmerizing once everything starts getting into the flow — before you know it, the puzzle is solved and you’ll be moving on to the next one. The soundtrack in Perchang is rather atmospheric and soothing, which is just the icing on the cake. The developers have created a fantastic visual and audio package with Perchang that all puzzle fans need to experience for themselves.

Like other puzzle games, Perchang is level-based, with a total of 60 stages (50 regular levels and 10 challenging Gold Runs that need to be unlocked first) spread out over 10 areas. The objective in each stage is to get the required amount of balls to the goal, which is always indicated by the numerous black bars. When one ball gets to the goal, a bar will light up, and you repeat the process until they are all lit. The levels start out easy enough with just one goal, but soon you’ll experience multiple goals and much more complex layouts for the gizmos, so you’ll need all of your hand-and-eye coordination to solve the puzzles later on. To make the game even more challenging, you have to race the clock on every level — the faster you are, the better chance you have of earning a gold medal. A progress bar at the top right corner tells you the threshold of medal you’ll be receiving with the elapsed time so far.

Controls in Perchang are super simple and easy-to-understand. There are two buttons in the bottom corners: one red and one blue. Pressing these buttons will activate the corresponding gizmos on the stage, which include flippers, magnets, portals, fans, anti-gravity hoops, and much more. But sometimes you’ll notice that there are too many of one color for the contraptions, or you need to change a color to make things flow better. Fortunately, the color of any working gizmo on the stage can be changed with just one tap. It’s all easy enough that anyone can pick up on it, but mastering the timing and coordination of everything is an entirely different story.

The only problem I have with Perchang is the fact that after the short countdown to start each level, the timer for the medals begins. I don’t think this is enough time for one to properly plan out the solution, and as a result, you may feel a bit rushed. You will also end up replaying a level multiple times if you always strive for the gold medal, which may be annoying. I think a better way to implement the countdown is to have it start after you press the buttons. It’s not a super big deal, but hopefully it’s something that the developers can consider.

As mentioned, Perchang will initially start off with 50 levels, but if you do well enough, you unlock the Gold Run challenges, which are even more difficult tests of your coordination. There are also leaderboards supported in the game, in case you like to get competitive with friends.

I’m still in the early stages of Perchang, but so far I am loving every second of it. The game looks gorgeous with the minimalist aesthetic, the music is immersive and calming, controls are easy enough for everyone, and the puzzles are challenging enough to make you really use your brain. Plus, the addition of the countdown makes it a true test. I just hope to maybe see more levels coming in future updates, as well as considering changing the countdown so that it only starts after a button is pressed. Other than that, Perchang is a fantastic physics-based contraption machine puzzle game.

I highly recommend Perchang to anyone who loves contraptions, physics, and puzzles. This is a great addition to any game collection. You can get Perchang on the App Store as a universal download for the iPhone and iPad for just $1.99. There are no in-app purchases.

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

Operator Puts Personal Shopping Assistants at Your Fingertips – for Free

June 24, 2016 by macjeff

Reviewed by Sarah Hanlon

If you’re like me, you tend to avoid shopping for new things simply because you never know what you want. You’ll spend time meandering through aisles searching for something, then you’ll end up buying things you don’t need just to make the trip worthwhile.

Operator is an awesome iPhone app that puts you in touch with real people who are ready to do the shopping legwork for you.

Whether you’re searching for clothes, electronics, tickets, or something else, chances are you’ll be able to find it and have it delivered.

Concept and Functionality:

The first thing I noticed about Operator, by Operator, Inc., is the highly intuitive layout. I didn’t have any trouble with figuring out how to find my way around the app, which means you’ll spend more time shopping and less time navigating.

When you first open Operator, you’ll be prompted to chat with “WelcomeBot” and provide your name and phone number. Once everything is set up, you can begin shopping for items in categories such as fasion, shoes, beauty, and home.

One of the things I really like about Operator is the way it’s designed. It’s very similar to communicating via text message, so conversations with individual operators (who are real people) seem very warm and personal.

You definitely get the feeling that they’re genuinely helping you find what you’re looking for.

Features:

Operator iPhone App

As if Operator couldn’t get any more helpful, some cities offer the ability to have your purchases delivered straight to your door via UberRUSH.

This is made possible due to the fact that Uber’s co-founder is in charge of Operator. Imagine being able to find what you’re looking for and have it delivered to your door in no time flat.

The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words still holds true, and you can optionally include a photo to send to your operator in order to help them with their search.

Remember that awesome picture on the wall at your friend’s house? Just snap a photo and send it via Operator; they’ll find it for you!

Value:

Operator is available to download from the App Store for free and is designed for iPhone. I couldn’t find any in-app purchases, and I’m not sure if a small fee is included with a purchase through the app.

Overall, Operator is the perfect app for anyone who lives a busy lifestyle and doesn’t have time to wander around brick-and-mortar stores.

It’s even better if you live in a city where UberRUSH is supported.

Operator requires iOS 8.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

TheiPhoneAppReview’s rating: