Remote (Apple Inc.)

Cost as reviewed: FREE

Way before I got an iPhone I was dreaming of this app. I love music and I have always dreamed of having a music system throughout my house where I could basically send the same music all over the house. This process seemed incredibly daunting since it would include putting wiring behind the walls all over the house. There are drawback to this approach, like the wiring would be fixed in one place and you wouldn’t be able to take your system with you (easily) if you moved to a new house. These dilemmas got me thinking that it would be awesome to have a wireless system and it seemed like with wi-fi, which works so well for Internet, I should be able to set this up.

Well, when I really started getting into Apple products, I realized they have the Airport Express Base Station. This tiny device let’s you create or join a wireless network. The main feature that interested me, however, was the AirTunes feature where you can send music from iTunes anywhere on your network directly to the Airport Express. You can even use multiple Airports simultaneously from one computer. I picked one of these up and it works pretty well. You give up some reliability and audio quality by not using wires, but to me it’s worth it.

I quickly realized that the main drawback with this set up is that you have to adjust your music from the main computer where iTunes is running. The solution to that problem is this app. It allows you to easily control any iTunes on your network. You can set up which speakers it is using, you can browse and control music playback, and it even displays album artwork. I haven’t tried controlling an Apple TV with it but apparently that works really well too. You first need to pair the iPhone with each iTunes library you want it to have access to, but afterwards you have complete control over the iTunes library. Imagine the practical jokes you can play on someone if they don’t know you’ve paired your iPhone with their iTunes!!!

I’m loving this app and I can’t wait until I have my whole house set up with wireless speakers. It’s the pinnacle of laziness, but I prefer the term convenience!

Remote Website

Writing Pad (ShapeWriter Inc.)

Cost as reviewed: FREE

I came across this application somewhat randomly. The description said something about typing with gestures instead of with the keyboard and I thought that sounded pretty cool. For those of you who have used the iPhone keyboard, you know it isn’t the easiest for typing quickly.

The main use of this app is to jot down notes. When you create a new note, it gives you a keyboard at the bottom of the screen. You can tap out words like normal, or you can use gestures. To use gestures, you drag your finger across all the letters of your word (in the appropriate order). You don’t have to worry about double letters because it guesses for you. It’s a little strange to drag across letters that aren’t in your word, but you get used to it.

Once you perform your gesture, it guesses which word you were trying to type based on popularity of words. It also gives you a list of other possible words to choose from. The algorithm seems to work well except when you are trying to type a complicated word. You do need to be careful that you don’t go all over your screen with your words. It seems to work best when you connect your letters with a direct line that is basically the shortest line possible between the letters.

Once you’ve recorded the note, your only option, other than saving it, is to email it to someone. Hopefully sometime soon Apple will make it possible to copy and paste from one application to another. That might make this app more useful if you happen to prefer it’s typing technique to the traditional approach.

Personally I find that Apple’s built-in word correction tends to accurately correct most of my typing mistakes so I can type pretty quickly using the standard keyboard approach. For those looking for another approach to taking notes or composing e-mail messages, this app might be a good option.

ShapeWriter Website

Speech Cloud Voice Dialer (Speech Cloud)

Cost as reviewed: FREE

I am horribly disappointed by the fact that Apple did not include a voice dialer for the iPhone. My past 3 cell phones had it and they were all free (or almost free). How do they expect people to be able to make calls safely while driving? Some may argue that you shouldn’t make calls while driving even with a headset, but sometimes I just need to quickly let someone know I’ll be late.

I started looking for apps that would add this functionality, although that still isn’t ideal. This one, Speech Cloud’s Voice Dialer, was the only free one I could find. I decided against paying for an app because I’m holding out hope that Apple will add this functionality in a later software update (isn’t version 2.1 coming out soon? Apple are you listening?).

With 493 reviews on the app store and an averge rating of 2/5 stars, I wasn’t really expecting much out of the app. The description says it will dial for you, but this is a bit misleading. The app WILL dial for you, but not using voice commands.

So, what this app does is let you search your contacts using a voice command. Of course, you have to first click on the app, then you have to hold down a button and say the name, so you do need to give the screen quite a bit of attention. Once speaking the name the app had no problem finding the correct entry from within my contacts, and quickly too. This is about the only thing the application does, but it seemed to do it well. You have to tap on the number you want to call for it to actually dial at this point.

So although this application might me improperly named, it IS currently listed at a version number of 0.9.5, so hopefully we can expect some additional features when it hits version 1.0. If you need a way to search quickly through all your contacts with voice commands, then this app might work for you. If you want a true voice dialer, I suggest either waiting for Apple to add this feature, or looking elsewhere.

Speech Cloud Website

UPDATE: Version 1.1.0 is out and there is an option for auto dial. You can set up a delay to give yourself a chance to male sure it’s the right number before it dials. I haven’t figured out yet how it chooses which number to use when a contact has multiple numbers. Now what I want is to be able to activate the speech lookup using my bluetooth headset.

Labyrinth Lite Edition (Codify AB)

Cost as reviewed: FREE

Labyrinth (by Codify AB) is a digital representation of that wooden game with a steel ball that rolls around while you tilt the board. I remember the first time I played this game. My family had just moved to Japan (it was 1986 and I was 4 years old) and there was a cafe/restaurant on the ground floor of our apartment building.

This cafe was a savior for us because they had some American foods like pizza and spaghetti. At the cafe they had one of these labyrinth games and I remember it being sooooo hard! It had ramps and really complicated patterns of holes. I used to get so frustrated by it but I was fascinated as well.

When I saw this game on the app store I just had to try it out, and it was free so I figured it was worth a try. The first time I played I was absolutely blown away. I’ve read some other reviews saying there should be sound and other things, but honestly, this game is amazing. I guess I had no idea the iPhone was capable of sensing tilt so accurately. The game’s settings menu even has a tool for calibrating your flat position.

One thing I will say about the game, though, is that the early levels are pretty darn easy and don’t offer much of a challenge. (There is an option in the settings to turn on a time limit, which would certainly make it more difficult.) A way to easily remedy this is to play the game as a drinking game with friends. A drink or two will definitely make the game more challenging! (note: please be sure you are using adequate iPhone protection before playing and drinking). For the non-drinkers out there you might try playing while on a bus or in a moving car.

Now, although I really love this game, I do have some ideas about how the developer could make this game even more amazing. For one thing, adding a “stats” page to display hi-scores (time to complete level) so you can self-compete would be awesome. If you could upload your scores to a website that would be cool (like xbox live?). This is something Apple could start offering if they really want to push gaming onto the iPhone. Also adding multiplayer would be AWESOME! Especially if they could do online multiplayer. Finally, I would like to see ramps in the game to add some difficulty to it. If this already exists in the full version, please let me know.

I’m pretty sure I will go ahead and buy the full version ($6.99), which apparenty contains over 500 levels.

Labyrinth Website

Let’s Give This A Try

I just recently got an iPhone (best thing EVER) and so of course I now feel the need to be creative with it and to be constantly connected.  My other half chose to start an iPhone Photo-A-Day blog where he will take a photo with the iPhone and post it to the blog all through the iPhone.  Pretty neat idea, I think.  Check it out over at http://pagg.wordpress.com/ (pagg stands for photo-a-go-go).

Anywho, not to be outdone, I’ve decided to start my own iPhone-related, daily blog.  This blog is going to focus on one App from the iTunes App Store each day.  I will try to give a detailed review, but sometimes I just won’t have time so it might be just some quick impressions.  Also, just a warning, I have no training in doing reviews or any kind of journalistic writing, so I plan to be completely biased, and I intend to not check all my facts.  I have no plan for how I will rate them (probably not even a consistent rating system).  That having been said, hopefully you’ll get a feel for some of the cool apps that are coming out (I’ve already found several) and also which ones might be a waste of time.

My plan is to begin this Friday when I will have lots of time in the car traveling with my family up to Penn Yan, New York.  The first App I’ll be reviewing is “Labyrinth Lite.”  If anyone out there likes this idea and wants to help me out, I would be happy to have guest writers so I don’t have to post every day by myself.  Also, if you are a developer and want me to review your app, just let me know!  I’ll be starting with free Apps because I’m too cheap to buy any, but I may move into paid-for Apps if I find ones I really want to try, or if someone wants to buy them for me!!

Please leave comments if you feel so inclined.