NEW Release: iMotion HD (Quick Review)

iMotion HD

FREE

Universal (iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad)

Version: 1.0

Tested on: iPad 2 (iOS 4.3.2)

Reviewer: Evan

There are lots of photography apps on the App Store today, but looking for a good one for the iPad 2 can be a challenge. iMotion HD is a Universal app which was just released a few days ago and has already become one of my favorite camera apps for the iPad 2. With this app, you can create movies using stop-motion technique. It's something that's not commonly offered by other iPad apps on the App Store.

iMotion HD is an app that's very easy to use. When you start creating your movie, you can choose to use the iMotion Remote app (which is a separate app) to remotely control it, to use the automatic time-lapse camera with a mic, or to use the manual capture. You can also add a title for your movie. While making the video, you can use the onion skin or add the grid to help you get a better video. Depending on your settings, you may click capture or it may automatically take a picture within the period (in seconds) you set.

Once you're done with the movie, you're ready to share it. You can also edit the speed (time lapse between frames) to slow/fasten the movie. With an in-app purchase, you can export the movie to your photo albums, iTunes, e-mail account, YouTube or to the iMotion gallery.

Check out my previous iPad app review here.

NEW Release: Decks for Apps (Quick Review)

Decks for Apps

FREE

iPad Only

Version: 1.0

Tested on: iPad 2 (iOS 4.3.2)

Decks for Apps is an iPad app made beautifully by the guys at Cooliris with a single purpose of allowing its users a simple and easy access to the top apps on the App Store. It is very simple indeed, yet very useful. The app is also beautifully designed, looks elegant, and is easy to use. 

The app has three different charts, i.e. Top 50 Free Apps, Top 50 Paid Apps and Top 50 Grossing Apps. Everyday the app will update itself with the latest information available on the App Store. So, you will always find new apps that allow you to maximize your experience using the iPad. 

To navigate, you can swipe to the left and right to see the previous or next app within the chart. You can also tap anywhere to flip the current view, so that it will show the detail description of the app and allow you to set it as one of your favorite apps. And if you're swiping up or down, you'll navigate yourself to the other Top 50 Apps Lists. 

The above screenshots highlight some of the best apps found in the Top 50 Apps Lists that you should check out, e.g. the Angry Birds Rio HD (which will be updated next week), Crackle, and Qwiki. There are plenty of other apps to discover on daily basis, and you can share your discovery with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Try Decks for Apps today and never miss the great apps for your iPad again.


Check out my other iPad apps reviews here.

NEW Update: Feedly (now for iPad too)

Feedly

FREE

Universal (iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad)

Version: 2.0.1

Tested on: iPad 2 and iPod Touch 4G (iOS 4.3.2)

Today, Feedly releases a new update which brings the app to the iPad. Previously, Feedly is only available for the iPhone. With this update, Feedly tries to position itself in the same league as Flipboard, Zite, and Reeder. The developer team of Feedly is using the HTML 5 approach which is aimed to work cross platform on the iPad, iPhone and Android. The result is a clean and minimalist look of the app. 

When you start the app for the first time, you'll see the Featured section displaying news selected by the Feedly developer team. But if you have a Google Reader account, you'd be more interested in learning how Feedly can display the feeds you read on regular basis. With a simple login, all your unread feeds will be formatted in a very clean layout. 

To read the news in its full length, you only need to click on the headline. Afterwards, you can swipe up and down to read the article, and swipe left or right to read the previous/next article. The article is laid out nicely by default. And if you're not satisfied with the layout, you can always choose to activate one of Feedly features which is able to optimize the view for your mobile device.

The app allows us to like an article, which in turn will give learning information for the app. Using this information, the app will gradually adjust its Featured section to suit your preferences. I haven't tried it long enough to see it work, but if it does work well, it'll probably be similar to what Zite has successfully carried out. 

Feedly also provides an in-app browser which looks very good. It seems to have built an in-app ad for its iPad version as well. I'm not sure whether this would be inline with the Apple's iAds guideline, especially because Feedly seems to be offering ad spaces to publishers or site owners. By clicking these in-app ads, Feedly takes me to various places, including Amazon's product detail page. 

I'm going to leave you with some of the screenshots showing how the app would look like on the iPhone. The screenshots also demonstrate another cool feature of the app where it can change the theme from black to white and vice versa by shaking the iPhone/iPad. Depending on your preferences and lighting in your reading environment, this feature can become very handy.

Overall, I think the new update brings Feedly to a new level, especially with its decision to use HTML 5 approach. It will become easier for them to implement cross platform updates in the future. This is a very different strategy compared with Reeder which is iOS specific and Flipboard/Zite which are iPad specific. The future seems to be a great one for news junkies with an iPad in hand.


Check out my other iPad app reviews here.

NEW Release: BuzzE for iPhone (Quick Review)

BuzzE

FREE

iPhone/iPod Touch only

Version: 2.0.1

Tested on: iPod Touch 4G (iOS 4.3.2)

BuzzE is an exciting social networking app which is just released today. It allows you to interact with the people around you, friends and family, wherever you are. You can use BuzzE to buzz your friends notifying that you're online, to chat with your family, to play interactive games with friends, to look for local events, or even to find new people near you. The app really does a lot of things socially and really worths to try it with your friends.

First, you need to sign up for the BuzzE service. It's a free signup and you can pull your details and avatar from your Facebook account to fill up your profile quickly. Then, you can either find new friends or you can invite your friends to signup for BuzzE too. I think you can find new friends up to at least 220 miles from where your current location is, so you don't need to worry about having a cold feet start with BuzzE Your friend requests need to be approved before you can see them as your friends. I think this is a good way to meet new people, and it only gets better with more people joining in.

Once you have friends who are online at the same time as you are, the app really shines. You can involve in multiple chat conversations with your friends at the same time, exchange gifts, and even playing fun games at the same time. It's always entertaining and fun to be involved in a hot potato game while you're chatting with your friends. It's almost like the real world. 

Hot potato isn't the only social mini-game available in the apps. You can also invite your friends to play the "I Found You" game. It's a unique game where you see a pile of photographs piled up, and you need to find your friend's profile pictures and put it into the bin faster than he/she does with your pictures. This is a great game which allows you to interact with your friend in real time. It's especially good when you just find a new friend on BuzzE.

Another game that's just great with new friends, especially from the opposite gender, is the "How Hot are We?" game. The game asks a series of 10 questions which you and your friend just need to say Yes/No as your answer. If both of you give the same answer, regardless of the answer is, then the game considers both of you as "Hot", otherwise you're considered as "Not Hot". It really is a fun game. The questions are very intriguing, and I believe more interesting questions will pop up in the future updates of this app.

BuzzE also allows you to find local events near you with its Hot Spot feature. You can also find details information about these public events. If you want to create your own private event, BuzzE also helps you to invite your BuzzE friends too. 

Overall, I think BuzzE has a lot of potential to be a great social networking app. It may start as a strong local app, but once you have a lot of people joining, I think this will become your favorite social networking app for the iPhone. Today is just the starting point for the app, and I'm looking forward to its future updates. Meanwhile, please download the app and add me as your friend on BuzzE. We can chat about your favorite iPhone app while playing the "Hot Potato" game. And I think, you'll find new friends too that have the same interests as you or get to know other readers of our site who are also joining in on BuzzE.

Check out my other iPhone app reviews here. 

NEW Release: Blurb Mobile for iPhone (Quick Review)

Blurb Mobile

FREE

iPhone/iPod Touch Only

Version: 1.0

Tested on: iPod Touch 4G (iOS 4.3.2)

Rating: 4 of 5

I always like to take candid photographs. Sometimes they can tell stories by themselves. But, most of the times, you want to stitch multiple of them to make the stories even better. Or maybe, add a short video clip highlighting certain unforgettable moments. Well now we have a new iPhone app that would help us doing so. Blurb Mobile is a very easy to use iPhone app that will help you create stories and share them with the ones you care most.

The app starts with asking you to sign up to their site. Signing up would allow you to upload your stories later into their site and share it with the whole world from there. Next up, you can immediately create your story by selecting a series of photographs and videos you want to be included in your story. No need to worry about the sequence because you can always rearrange them within the app.

Blurb Mobile does a very good job in zooming in pictures, rotating them, and changing their size. As the following screenshots illustrate, it's very easy to convert a picture from its original landscape format to a square format, and then to portrait format. The app automatically resizes the boundaries of the photograph. 

A story would not be a complete story until it can tell the story by itself. This app allows you to add text caption to each photographs. This helps the readers to understand the context of the photographs and the story they're trying to tell. The apps also allows you to add audio captions too. 

If you're thinking, can I change the theme too? Of course yes! The app comes with several themes that you can choose from. This feature would give more you more flexibility and customization. Now, if only the app allows you to stitch more than 8 photographs. Maybe you're gonna need to upgrade to the Pro version for that. For me, I believe constraints help you be more creative. Come on guys, be creative and share your stories!

SPOILER: Yes, I'm thinking of using Instagram and various cool image filter apps combined with Viddy to make a real awesome story. I definitely dig this!

Check out my other iPhone app reviews here.