Readers’ App Reviews – July 2012
This is a post by Reader’s Apps Reviewer Ryan Poolos, an iOS Developer and founder of Frozen Fire Studios. Checkout his latest game, Cyborg Livestock. Checkout his latest website, iHelp. It’s that time again readers! You’ve sent me another awesome set of apps and I’ve run out of space on my iPhone and iPad again. […] By Ryan Poolos.
Old Currency
Old Currency is a cool app that will tell you how much modern money is worth in past decades.
It can convert US Dollars, British Pounds, and Euros using historical inflation tables. A cool feature is it can both deflate and inflate your money.
I’d keep this one handy on the dock for fact checking and curiosity while watching your favorite movies set in the past.
- Author: Luke Baumann
- Most useful tutorial: iPad for iPhone Developers 101: UIPopoverController Tutorial
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Go Ahzgo!
Go Ahzgo! is a side scrolling blaster game where you get to control a flying saucer! It’s unique gameplay helps make it extremely addicting.
The controls are simple. You tilt to move side to side and tap to fire a powerful laser down upon your enemies. But be careful you don’t fry your friends!
You collect stars to upgrade power ups like bombs and bonus points. And you can even pimp your laser! I’m loving the fire laser. :]
- Author: Josh Bernfeld @GoAhzgo
- Most useful tutorial: How To Create A Game Like Tiny Wings Part 1
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Meilong – 美龙 Chinese for iPad
If you’ve been looking to learn Chinese this is your chance to do it in style.
Meilong breaks down into ten learning tools for over 1200 Chinese expressions. Every expression comes with an English translation and Chinese audio recording. Learn with flashcards and the lexicon then move on to practicing with exercises including word searches, word building, matching and more.
This Chinese vocabulary training at its finest on the iPad.
- Author: Javier Bello Ruiz @wizbee_chfr
- Most useful tutorial: Core Data on iOS 5 Tutorial: Getting Started
- App Store Link: Check it out!
SoundBrush
SoundBrush is an absolutely awesome way to create music.
Its so simple and easy any one can just draw the sound they want to hear. Imagine you just ripped open a music box and stretched the gear cylinder to be as long as you want. Now paint on it with your finger to create all the right notes.
If anyone ever tells you iPads aren’t for content creation, turn the tables and show them this app because this makes music creation fun and easy enough for anyone.
- Author: Basil Al-Dajane @soundbrushapp
- Most useful tutorial: How to Save Your App Data with NSCoding and NSFileManager
- App Store Link: Check it out!
The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
The Wind in the Willows is an interactive book that will ruin ebooks for you.
Each page has a unique interaction as part of the story. With beautiful illustrations and animations kids are sure to love this reading experience.
I don’t even read books and I had to go through every page just to see what was coming next. :]
- Author: Bobby Gilbert @Bibliodome
- Most useful tutorial: How to Submit Your App to Apple: From No Account to App Store, Part 2
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Tower Heroes
Tower Heroes is not your typical tower defense game.
Tower Heroes start out by letting you pick from three different heroes. Each hero of course has its own special upgrades and abilities. As your towers destroy an assortment of creatures you gain experience points that you can use to level up your hero’s abilities. Each level has a unique map with its own challenges.
With so many choices and different challenges this tower defense can take unique strategy to be the best.
- Author: Mark Kim @markckim
- Most useful tutorial: How To Make A Simple iPhone Game with Cocos2D
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Trivie
Trivie is a beautiful app that makes classic trivia fun and social.
Trivia allows you to challenge friends and strangers to trivia show downs in over 300 categories. Facebook and Twitter integration make sure you can brag anytime you like.
While you play you can collect tokens to unlock new categories and avatars for your profile. Try it free and once you’re addicted you can grab the $0.99 version for double tokens :]
- Author: Jennifer Duffey @trivieinc
- Most useful tutorial: User Interface Customization in iOS 5
- App Store Link: Check it out!
Honorable Mentions
Here are the apps that didn’t get reviewed. Remember it wasn’t a popularity contest or even a rating contest. Forum members got priority among other factors. Your apps were great and I’m sorry we didn’t have time to review them all!
Where To Go From Here?
That’s it for July! Can’t wait to see what you guys have up your sleeves for next month.
As always, it has been hard to pick which apps to showcase. In the end priority was given to active readers and forum members. This column isn’t a ranking or contest. We only highlight the apps to point out our readers, who have put in a lot of hard work on these apps – and it shows! Be sure to check out the honorable mentions to see the rest of the awesome apps!
If you are a reader of this site and would like to be considered for this column, click here!
I hope you enjoyed this column, and I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with this month! :]
This is a post by Reader’s Apps Reviewer Ryan Poolos, an iOS Developer and founder of Frozen Fire Studios. Checkout his latest game, Cyborg Livestock. Checkout his latest website, iHelp.