Archives for "App Reviews"
DatPiff Mobile: streaming mixtape heaven.
At the risk of sounding like a goober, I’m going to talk today about something I don’t totally understand: mixtape culture. I’m sure those of you in the know will poke fun at me, but for those that don’t, we’ve got nerds like me trying to make sense of it all.
The mixtape has long-since evolved past the process of throwing some tracks together for a friend. Mixtapes can be complete underground albums- featuring original music, new lyrics, or even completely different tracks. There isn’t really a single way to define a mixtape so I’ll just say it’s like the music you already know and love, just different.
Enter DatPiff, one of the largest mixtape communities online. I’ve been using the website for some time now but a few weeks ago was stoked to discover a full-blown Android app available in the market.
The app offers complete access to the DatPiff mixtape library via both streaming audio and full album downloads. The mixtapes available vary wildly in style- they’ve got brand new mixes from artists currently on the radio and they’ve got albums from years back by someone you’ve never heard of. There are mashup mixes, cramming two different artists into a single album. There are screwed and chopped mixes, altering the original audio to create new sounds. If you’re looking for something different to listen to, you’ll find it on DatPiff.
With a solid connection, the streaming audio sounds great and has worked almost perfectly in all tests. DatPiff also gives you the option of downloading MP3s straight to the SD card for playback during times with little or no data connection.
The app has an interesting persistent player interface, always keeping the currently playing album in a tab near the bottom of the screen. The UI could be a bit cleaner, but the functionality is nice. You can jump from mix to mix while maintaining play control of the original selection. Currently playing tracks are also listed in the notification bar for easy access while in other apps all together.
Some features in the DatPiff app require user registration, but overall it was a pretty painless process. Being a registered user allows you to add mixtapes to your favorites (for later listening with the app or website) and gives you five album downloads per day. It’s not exactly unlimited, but if you’re on the hunt for more than five albums per day you might want to look elsewhere for a subscription service. Without an account you can still stream all the music you want, you’ll just get some extra goodies if you take the few minutes to register.
On top of the music, DatPiff has a bunch of videos and news, neither of which I’ve investigated too far. I’ve mainly come for the music and this thing delivers big time. It quickly earned a spot on my homescreen and has steadily been contributing awesome tracks to my permanent library.
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IMDB (finally) releases Android app
IMDB, the Internet Movie DataBase, has released an Android application, providing Android users to find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, get TV listings, track DVD/Blu-Ray releases, explore popular charts and top 100/250 lists, and search their database of over 1.5 million movies and TV shows.
Personally, I’m very excited for this release (and have been waiting for this since Day 1 of my Android ownership) as IMDB is a service I use almost religiously. I like knowing lots of information about what I just watched, am currently watching, or am going to watch, and sharing that information with friends. Nerdy, yes, but knowing the Android community, I think it’s safe to say that several of you will be as excited as I am for this release.
For a 1.0 release, the IMDB app is very clean and really has almost all of the information that can be found on the website, plus it still has you covered when the information isn’t in the application. At the bottom of each screen, IMDB gives you the option to view the IMDB web for more information, and even the ability purchase the movie/TV show through Amazon.com. Additionally, everything in the IMDB app seemed to flow pretty well, and stuff just works. Trailers launched immediately, the text formats perfectly on the screen, and the main menu and sub-menus are laid out very well. In short, IMDB looks and feels very solid for a 1.0 release.
At the very least, the free IMDB app is certainly worth trying for yourself. Head over to the Android market or scan the barcode above to download and try it out for yourself. In the mean time, enjoy the images below.
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Doodle Jump: Propel your Doodler to the Top!
There are a wave of iPhone apps that are being ported to Android in hopes of building on the success the developers have had in Apple’s App Store. One of the more popular of these apps released in recent months is Doodle Jump, a game developed by Lima Sky.
Doodle Jump is a platform game where your bounce your doodler onward and upward from platform to platform to earn as many points as you can. Several bonus items such as propeller hats and jetpacks can be found along the way for an extra boost. You will also encounter bad guys and you must tap on the screen to shoot them with green balls that fly out of your nose, which is equally gross and awesome at the same time.
Where Doodle Jump really stands out for me is the way it makes you feel that this is really something that could be going through a kid/teenager/college student’s mind as they’re sitting through another boring class. The background is set on graph paper, and the Doodler and foes alike are simple sketches that anyone really could have drawn. This game just feels like something I would have doodled while sitting in 9th grade algebra, or even college level calculus for that matter. The graphics, though simple, are just done well and have this way of making the gamer relate to it in some way.
In addition to standard single-player, Doodle Jump also has a multiplayer option where you and up to 7 others take turns trying to get your doodler as high as you can, and the highest score wins. That being said, the multiplayer option can only be done on a single phone, there is no option for online multiplayer.
Before getting your hopes up too much, there are a few significant drawbacks to the game. First, though this game will work on most Android devices, several users are reporting it to be extremely laggy on all but the newest snapdragon-powered devices (Nexus One, Droid Incredible, etc.). I reviewed this game on a Nexus One, and had no issues with lag nor had any problems with gameplay in general, but users with other phones should be wary.
Second, the Android version simply does not have as many features as its iPhone counterpart, and Lima Sky does not seem too intent on updating the app since it is still sitting at version 1.0 a few months after release. iPhone users enjoy features such as additional bonus items and new/different scenes, which would add tremendous value for this game.
Third, and speaking of value, Doodle Jump is listed on the Android Market at $3.99, which is four times the $.99 it’s currently going for on Apple’s App Store. It’s a bit tough to swallow paying four times the amount of money for something that has half the features, especially when there are free and/or cheaper alternatives currently on the Android Market.
Pros
- Addictive gameplay. I sat down for several hours without being able to put this game down.
- Graphics/graphical theme is phenomenal. The student doodle concept really works well for me.
- Bonus items are pretty dang fun and a nice addition to this game.
Cons
- Only works well on the newest devices (Nexus One, Droid Incredible)
- $3.99 price point
- Lacks several features from it’s iPhone counterpart.
Final Verdict: Though this game is very addictive, I simply don’t think this game is worth $3.99 until several features are added and bugs are worked out. Once some of these things are fixed, I would definitely recommend giving this addictive game a try.
Android app review contest winners
I never thought when we started our App review contest that so many people would participate. Thank you to everyone who submitted a review. We were not able to publish every submission that came in (a lot didn’t follow the format, or required too much editing), but we still managed to post close to 100 reviews.
If your review was not published, we will still be going through some of the late entries and contacting those people if they go up. Since so many people enjoyed writing reviews, we are going to keep accepting submissions in the future and coming up with new prizes to encourage participation.
To browse through some of the reviews that came in, check out our Android apps hub. This section of the site is going to get some major love soon, but I’ll save those details for later.
Winners are after the break.
Request an Android app review contest winner
The randomly selected winner of the request a review contest is Carlos Gonzalez who suggested the app NBA Gametime. Congratulations and enjoy your free Verizon Motorola Droid.
When I started this contest, we were looking for two people who wanted to review apps. I said the winners would be selected at the beginning of May, but I’m only announcing one tonight. The second winner will be selected after we spend a few extra days to make sure we thoroughly review all the entries and talk it over with our team.
The first winner of the review contest is Anthony Domanico who submitted close to a dozen entries. I said we were looking for someone to become a regular reviews editor and he impressed us with his activity (entries, comments, tweets) throughout the entire contest period. For being selected as a winner, Anthony will receive the Android phone of his choice and we will be extending an invitation for him to join our team.
Look for the second winner to be announced next week.
Aloqa – Always be a local
Aloqa is an app that makes you an everywhere citizen. It uses GPS to find your location and provide you details on anything you may need to feel comfortable in your locale. It claims with the app you can always feel like a local, and in my experience, doesn’t fail. With a steady stream of help from popular websites including Last.fm, Yelp, Match.com and more, Aloqa brings you information fast. I saw no lag at all moving from pet info, to movies, to singles and ATM listings.
Simply put, this app is well made. You can update the home page to show as many or few channels you want with a wide range of different categories from arts and culture to weather. Anything not provided can be found with a local search, which is available. In addition, the app does allow you to set how often the GPS is used. You can actually turn the GPS off, or throw your battery to the wolves and set GPS updates to once every five seconds (I can’t fathom why that many updates are necessary but it’s cool it can be done). Lastly, it should be addressed that with Aloqa you are able to set alert levels for each individual channel as deactivated, mute, buzz (vibrate), or ring.
The Good
- Customization – allows you to show and hear what you want
- Fast program overall
- No overlay ads!
- Up to date – Had the newest restaurants in my area and none of the closed restaurants or clubs
Needs improvement
- Fast food listings should include more options (although you can use Yelp rest. To see all restaurants).
- A forum or chat would be nice.
- The ability to purchase directly from app.
Final Verdict: Aloqa is a fantastic app that I can’t believe is free. Whatever you may need to find in the city can be attained with phone numbers, websites, maps, and often reviews. Aloqa claims you’ll always be a local with the app, and after using it, I don’t see why anyone would want to be a stranger.
Note: This review was submitted by Darius Bazemore as part of our app review contest.
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