Dork Adore » Android

App Reviews: StumbleUpon, Fruit Ninja, Wave Launcher, Katango, Walkit

Katie — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:19:00 +0000

This week, we’ve got iPhone, iPad and Android app reviews for your, courtesy of the wondrous team at Frackulous.

Here’s a quick over-view of what you can expect:

StumbleUpon for the iPad. A great way to suck up the precious hours of your life, the StumbleUpon app will give you instant access to pictures of animals doing adorable things. If you don’t already use the toolbar on your browser, we highly recommend it (unless you have a dissertation to finish). StumbleUpon at the App Store.
Wave Launcher gives you more control over how you use your Android. It’s a “must-have” app, according to Susi. Wave Launcher at the Android Market.
Katango is a super-complex and clever Facebook contacts service, that groups your friends, family and miscellaneous randoms into different Google+ style groups. Katango at the App Store.
The WalkIt app for the iPhone comes from the kindly people over at WalkIt, who have helped many of us to discover the efficiency of using legs for commuting with instead of tubes. WalkIt at the App Store.
Fruit Ninja is a classic game for your iPhone. Simple, but addictive. Fruit Ninja at the App Store.

Check out all the reviews overleaf:

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App review omnibus: Remember names and autotune yourself

Katie — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:47:00 +0000

Our friends over at app review show, Frackulous, have put together their latest app omnibus, which we present here for your viewing pleasure.

This week, we’ve got better iPhone video from FiLMiC Pro, cheap places to stay from Airbnb, Songify’s autotune funsies, the death of the guide book, and the chance to become a better friend with What’s My Name on Android.

Apple Store

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Google+ What is it and is it any good?

Emma Cossey — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:57:50 +0000

Dork couple Rebecca Noakes and Wez Knowles have kindly put together an overview of Google+ for us.

We’ve had our invites to Google’s new social network, Google+, for around a week now, so we thought we’d go over a few of the new features introduced in Google+ and look at how it stacks up against the competition.

Circles

Circles are comparable to Facebook’s “Groups” and Twitter’s “Lists”.

They’re useful for organizing your news stream but are also extremely useful for sending your updates out to a predefined Circle of people — Family, for example — and keeping it private from everyone else.

You can add people to your Circles to see their updates but, like Twitter and unlike Facebook, they don’t have to reciprocate if they don’t wish to see your updates.

Adding people to your Circles is a simple, drag-and-drop affair with some nice animations (unlike most other Google products).

Hangout

Hangout’s are Google’s secret weapon for social networking domination: Group video chat for up to ten (yes, TEN) people at a time.

They couldn’t be easier to set up: you simply click the Hangout button in the sidebar, pick the Circle you wish to invite, then wait for it to fill up. Everyone in that Circle will then see a big blue button in their Stream inviting them to Hangout; one click later and they’re in.

A far cry from trying to explain to your mum how to download and set up Skype.

Video and audio quality isn’t quite on par with Skype, but with ten people chatting away, you’d start to struggle for bandwidth if it was much higher quality.

Another nice touch is that, depending on who is speaking (or speaking loudest) at any particular moment, it’ll switch out people from small thumbnails along the bottom of the screen to full-screen when speaking.

A fun feature worth mentioning is the ability to pick a YouTube video for your group to watch while chatting, we chose the Merengue Dog, obviously.

Google + Integration

Integration with other Google products is good, as you’d expect. In our opinion this is one of the biggest draws for people from Facebook and Twitter: you already do everything else through Google, so why not do your social networking too?

Google Talk integration is there, in the form of private chat. Latitude support is there (more on that later) and Picasa is there, providing photo organisation and sharing. We’re quite surprised at the lack of Google Reader integration at the moment — there’s no way to share interesting articles with your friends, for example (apart from by manually copy and pasting the link into an update — but Google+ is still in beta so there’s time before its public launch.

Android FTW

As you’d expect, Google+ launched with an Android app for “plussing” on the go. Reading your Stream, posting to your Circles and all the other features you’d expect are in there, but the app has a few of interesting features of its own.

First up is Huddle.

Think of it as BBM for Google+; group chats for a couple of friends of a whole Circle of friends. Good for organising meetings, it was great this weekend when organising a barbecue.

The application also supports Foursquare-style check-ins using Google Latitude.

The most impressive feature of the Android application, though, is Instant Upload. The application will scan your phone periodically for new photos and videos and upload them in the background to a private Google+ album for easy sharing later on. You simply take your photos, log on to the website, and your photos are ready and waiting to attach to your posts. I’m surprised Facebook never thought of this.

It’s worth noting that the application is currently available only on Android, but an iOS version has been submitted for approval by Apple.

The Google + Conclusion

Overall Google+ gets a big thumbs up from us.

It’s a well-designed, good looking, functional, easy-to-use social network that ties together the best bits of Twitter and Facebook with excellent integration with the Google services you already own. Google seems to have taken time to discover what people like and dislike about other social networking sites and has put together a really nice package. It is still in beta and only a week in we can see things changing and improving daily!

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Samsung Galaxy S2 and Motorola Xoom Tablet

Katie — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:09:55 +0000

Mobile World Congress (MWC) allowed Susi and the Frackulous team access to the two latest ‘must-have’ time-sucks — The Samsung Galaxy S2, a phone so skinny you might as well smash the screen as soon as you take it out of the box (it’s going to happen anyway), and the Motorola Xoom Tablet which comes with the sweet joy of Honeycomb (Android 3).

There’s also some chat about the free Windows Phone 7 update coming at some point or other.

Samsung Galaxy S2 available on Pre-Order from Play.com

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Frackulous: death to voicemail and default phone browsers!

Susi — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:58:16 +0000

Another busy week full of apps to make your life top banana-like. There are apps to help Emma/Hermione Watson/Granger settle into another year at Uni, something to make voicemail less sucky, and a new game to soak up your spare time even more effectively that Angry Birds. Watch on, for the omnibus to rule all other omnibuses.

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ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet: Dork review

Emma Cossey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:27 +0000

Up until recently, Apple has had very little to deal with in terms of mainstream budget competition for their iPad. The most recent addition to the market is the Dell Streak which, at almost half the size, is more often seen as a smartphone than an iPad substitute.

When ARCHOS approached me with their ARCHOS 8 Home tablet, I was initially dubious. The gadget looks more like a digital photo frame then a touch screen tablet, however they assured me that although it does double as a showcase for your favourite images, it also boasts far more browsing and entertainment features.

Plus it retails at £129.99.

Got your attention now? Excellent, read on for my review.

The basics

The ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet gets its name from the 8-inch screen, slightly smaller than the 9.7-inch screen of the iPad. It weighs in at only 400g, which makes it a lightweight alternative to a netbook. Running on an Android system, the user has the opportunity to pick and choose from an assortment of apps for your surfing pleasure.

The tablet can be used upright on a table using the inclusive kickstand, or as a handheld gadget for checking Facebook whilst watching Doctor Who reruns. You won’t be able to create documents or do anything more complicated then check up on Twitter, but what more do you expect for £130?

Budget browsing and entertainment

I’ve tested it out for a few days and there are a few aspects I really like. Reading ebooks is a joy, connecting to wi-fi and surfing is, in general, a smooth process, and slideshows and videos are fairly high quality. However, webpages are displayed in mobile format, which can be irritating on sites like YouTube when you want to search for something specific or require more advanced options.

Pros and Cons

Wins points for:

Being quick and easy to set up.
Responsive touch screen.
Ideal for casual surfing and for use as an ebook reader. The makers also suggest it’s great as an interactive cookbook (similar to the format of the Dishy iPhone app we reviewed last year)
Price. At an RRP of £129.99, it’s a fraction of the price of an iPad.

Loses points for:

Digital photo frame appearance, slightly tacky.

Not particularly transportable (check out the ARCHOS 7 for a more portable option)

A minuscule 4 GB for the £129.99

Conclusion

Whilst it lacks many of the extensive features of the iPad, it offers a decent budget alternative for your browsing and viewing needs. It’s actually cheaper than the Kindle reader, so if you’re considering buying an eReader, this might be a suitable option with extra features.

Available from:

ARCHOS for £179.99

Amazon for £148.99

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Frackulous: Scott Pilgrim app fix, Samsung Galaxy Android-brillity and Angry, Angry Birds

Susi — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:00:26 +0000

Where else can you get a show to hook you up with both time-wasting and time-saving apps? Scott Pilgrim and Stephen Fry-related apps? A review of possibly the best Android phone available right now? Nowhere. We don’t think. Watch on for a bumper omnibus edition of Frackulous.

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Frackulous: X-Factor apps, social diary apps and QR code apps, oh my!

Susi — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:00:32 +0000

Last week, Frackulous checked out apps to help you organise a night out, apps to help Simon Cowell retain his Mr Nasty title, apps that will allow you to magically control your laptop from the other side of the room, then rounded everything off with some top class QR Code news. How on earth did they fit it all in? Watch on to find out!

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Best tools for Getting Things Done. Pt II: Life

Katie — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:05:28 +0000

So, the social media marvel that is Darika Ahrens already shared her tools for Getting Things Done in her Work. Now, it’s time for her to tell us how to run our private lives more effectively as well.

BEST TOOLS FOR GETTING THINGS DONE…IN MY LIFE:

Gentle Alarm for waking up

I wish I could wake up as ready to meet the world at 7am as a child is on Christmas Day but most mornings that’s not the case.

After hearing loads about the Sleep Cycle iPhone app I went searching for an Android equivalent and found the Gentle Alarm which does a similar thing.

Basically, Gentle Alarm wakes you up gently by playing a pre-alarm which gets louder and louder over 30 minutes until it’s at full alarm volume at your requested hour — by which time you’ll be ready to calmly open your eyes and go and switch it off.

I liked it so much I actually upgraded to the paid version making it my first Android app purchase. Best of all you don’t have to go to bed with your phone on your mattress in some bizarre modern day take on the Princess & the Pea fairytale.

Tip: This app did have some problems conflicting with other operations running on the phone. Make sure you update to the latest version and maybe use your normal alarm for the first few days as a back-up just in case.

TripIt

Let me say first off that despite a brief dalliance with Virtual Tourist in the early noughties I have no interest in social networking around the theme of travel.

But TripIt does one really cool thing that makes me love it.

By simply forwarding your travel confirmation emails to the service it will automatically build your itinerary. Hotels, flights, car hire etc will all be collated into a complete travel overview and fill in handy details like a local map and what the temperature is in the place you’re visiting.

Tip: Invite friends to edit your itinerary if you’re sharing the responsibility for booking a holiday and send the URL to friends/family who might want details of where you’ll be or are even expected to pick you up from the airport – TripIt pulls in real-time flight info.

ShopSavvy

For some reason having to make a purchasing decision, even for something I’ve specifically gone to the shops to buy, sends me in to a state of paralysis. It’s something to do with the parting of cash. I don’t know why but there’s always a voice in my head that says “Is that the best price? Could you buy it cheaper elsewhere?”

If time is money, I need to start calculating the amount of time I’m wasting on aborted shopping trips and days of online research before just buying something.

ShopSavvy is a barcode scanner which identifies a product then shows you best prices online or at local stockists. While I’m kinda freaked that it’s the death knell for many retailers it means that I can choose to buy a DVD box-set I see on sale because it really is the cheapest one in town or click through and buy it online cheaper if I’m prepared to wait.

Darika Ahrens is a Social Media Consultant and Sales and Marketing Manager for Tempero. You can follow her on Twitter too.

Previously: Best tools for Getting Things Done. Pt I: Work

Have you got any more suggestions for tools to help you Get Stuff Done?

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The final conclusion: Apple or Android? The iPhone vs HTC Legend

Susi — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:12:12 +0000

Following on from last week’s post (Apple or Android? The iPhone vs HTC Legend), I’ve had time to ruminate over my transition, and having given the Legend back a week or so ago, I’ve had time to miss the things that I actually grew to kind of love.

For instance, as much as I love the clean layout of the iPhone, it was useful to be able to sprinkle apps and widgets about, dedicating one page to the apps I used most regularly, one to favourite contacts and one to a calendar overview. It’s a different way of working to the iPhone, but one I found I enjoyed.

I loved Spotify. I really liked the maps, and the addition of a compass which my old skool iPhone lacked (you can’t imagine how gratifying it is not to have to spin in circles on the pavement, trying to work out which direction was which).

But as much as I wanted to, I did not love Android.

My conclusion is that Android is still for early adopters. The marketplace is incredibly disorganised, and lacks the sleek standardisation that Apple’s draconian rules result in. The apps themselves were wildly varying in quality, which is something most app stores suffer from. However, this was highlighted in the Android store by certain apps that promised to do one thing, and once downloaded would just direct you to an advert – just when you thought spamming had nowhere else to go.

The Legend, however, I would be all over if it magically started running the iPhone OS: good to hold, super-bright screen, and fast – ohsofast — compared to my sluggish iPhone 3G. So that’s what I’m pushing for in the inevitable June iPhone announcement — simply a partnership and HTC to bring me the new phone of my dreams. Fingers crossed, eh?

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Dork Adore » Android

App Reviews: StumbleUpon, Fruit Ninja, Wave Launcher, Katango, Walkit

More stories like this

App review omnibus: Remember names and autotune yourself

More stories like this

Google+ What is it and is it any good?

Circles

Hangout

Google + Integration

Android FTW

The Google + Conclusion

More stories like this

Samsung Galaxy S2 and Motorola Xoom Tablet

More stories like this

Frackulous: death to voicemail and default phone browsers!

More stories like this

ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet: Dork review

The basics

Budget browsing and entertainment

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

More stories like this

Frackulous: Scott Pilgrim app fix, Samsung Galaxy Android-brillity and Angry, Angry Birds

More stories like this

Frackulous: X-Factor apps, social diary apps and QR code apps, oh my!

More stories like this

Best tools for Getting Things Done. Pt II: Life

BEST TOOLS FOR GETTING THINGS DONE…IN MY LIFE:

Gentle Alarm for waking up

TripIt

ShopSavvy

Have you got any more suggestions for tools to help you Get Stuff Done?

More stories like this

The final conclusion: Apple or Android? The iPhone vs HTC Legend

More stories like this