Posts Tagged ‘ipod’

The Verdict: Exspect iPhone Protective Gaming Grip Review

Ever since game developers came to the Apple iPhone portable platform, people have been hampered by the touch controls for some games.  I’ve found especially for driving games and where you need to hold the device in the landscape orientation, problems can arise.  The Exspect iPhone Protective Gaming Grip is one on the market giving the device a perfect case aimed at the gaming market.  Does it withstand the use for gaming then or does it just get in the way?

Well the case really changes the way you play games full stop.  It is a mile ahead of using my other case, the Incase Slider for instance.  The Exspect Protective gaming grip is ergonomically brilliant and the grips are in the right place at the rear of the case.  I just have not seen any other iPhone aimed cases like this and is adequate for gaming on the go or at home.  Another advantage is that as much as it is a gaming case, it also satisfies the basic needs of an iPhone user as well.  It fits both the iPhone 3G/3GS as well as the iPod Touch 2G.  So with this, the gaming grip also has all the buttons/ports accessible thus not hampering your demands.  When you feel the case it is lightweight however there is significant reinforcement on the back especially at the ‘leg’ areas but it is debatable how much of a challenge this would provide to a proper iPhone hard case.  Saying that I think it would do a good job the majority of the time.

Obviously this case is aimed at the gaming market and these grips can mean that in everyday use it can be uncomfortable to carry around.  For instance in trousers, especially jeans, the case adds larger thickness making it stand out more.  It doesn’t really add weight just the fact is nearly doubles the thickness of the iPhone which may not be really wanted but thats the pay off you take for getting a better gaming experience.

So the Exspect iPhone Protective Gaming Grip does exactly what it needs to and that is to make gaming more comfortable and easier on the device.  There are the limitations mainly in the added size to the iPhone but if you are after that extra gaming dimension then for between £5 and £15 you can try this special device.

FIFA 10 Review for the iPhone or iPod Touch

photo.jpgFinally EA’s FIFA has made it onto the iPhone and the first attempt has done a real good job of bringing the FIFA experience to the mobile platform. There are some control issues but the game is jam packed with teams and data to keep you occupied! It’s available for £5.99 and out now!

So obviously as you’d expect from a FIFA title, there are 30 official leagues, 570 teams and 12,620 players. You won’t miss anything and I’m really surprised at how much data EA managed to sneak into this game.  You get all the stats for the players like you would on the console versions and obviously the only limitation is the iPhones control interface for you to read all this data.  The music, graphics and menus all shout out that FIFA feeling and they’ve done a good job of bringing the experience over to the portable platform.  Also don’t forget the amount of modes you have and a Manager Mode is great.  It was what I missed with Real Football 2009 and now with a transfer hub and customisable team management there is a lot to do here!

Now obviously the biggest argument against FIFA 10 (and most iPhone games) is the touch screen interface.  It is hard to do a sports game on the device and EA have gone for the D-pad and two button approach similar to Real Football.  But to pull off the more complicated moves like low cross you have to swipe from one button to the next.  It’s not perfect and from my experience isn’t always picked up which can lead to frustrating gaming. Also the “A” and “B” buttons are too small and too close together which EA need to address. Now they do offer 3 presets of moving the buttons around and this can help but it doesn’t make the buttons bigger which would be a godsend.  A minor problem is that the latest transfers don’t seem to be up to date but this should be easily fixed in an update. Other than that there are no little other bugs in the game and I have had no slowdowns or crashes.

So with EA’s first FIFA game on the iPhone platform, they have shown they have a major interest in the mobile gaming market and if they continue to develop the series -- it will continue to be a winner. If you’re interested in football games and have spare time on the go, then why not have a look at FIFA 10 for the iPhone or iPod Touch and take your team to glory!

Photo Tweet App Review for the iPhone or iPod Touch

photo.jpgThere are many many Twitter applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch and this is yet another one.  However Photo Tweet doesn’t control all your Twitter mobile needs but instead takes on the image idea and that’s all it does.  Is it enough for a total separate app?

Available for 59p (a lite version is available for free) all Photo Tweet is, is essentially a photo uploader for the twitgoo service.  And it works exceptionally well for what it touts and I’ve had no bugs or problems running it. The only little niggle is a constant “Optimizing” message coming up everytime I boot the application which takes some valuable seconds.  A great advantage is the ability for the app to automatically resend the photo if you lose connection at all and I have tested this and it works brilliantly.

However what the app is, is also it’s biggest downfall.  It’s just a photo uploader.  Most twitter applications for the iPhone have all of this built in and there is nothing new here. But focusing on just the images is a unique niche idea and only a handful of other apps are trying this and this is where I believe Photo Tweet should expand.  From my experience there are many twitter picture hosts (twitpic,twitgoo etc.) and I think an easy option to select between these would be necessary, as I don’t feel the urge to suddenly stop using twitpic and reallocating my pictures to a new service which Photo Tweet is forcing me to.  Obviously this won’t be as much of a problem if you’re already on Twitgoo but I think it immediately can turn off some users.

The ability to save a photo tweet and schedule it for upload later is apparently contained in the app according to the iTunes description but I can’t seem to find it myself.  This is great for people in a hurry or if you’re a Pay as you Go customer who has no data usage and must wait for a WiFi hotspot.  My apologies if this feature is there but I think a way to make it more user friendly would be to add a Save button next to the Send button when you’re writing a tweet.  This way you could easily decide whether you want to send the photo tweet immediately or to save for later on.

I think the biggest opportunity for Photo Tweet to distance itself from competitors would be to offer image customisation to the market.  Imagine the simple effects (B&W,Sepia,X-Ray) that are in the Mac application Photobooth and now apply them to Photo Tweet.  The option to rotate or crop photos as well as adding speech bubbles on the actual image would be great!  So far I haven’t seen other applications going down this route and these options could add some more fun to the photos you tweet.

So in a way Photo Tweet is a disappointment in it’s current abilities but then again it doesn’t claim to do everything and it does what it claims perfectly.  Hopefully the application developer will see about further enhancing Photo Tweet to distinguish it from the countless Twitter applications out there and make it a must-have app for Twitter addicts.

How to be ready if you’re about to get an iPhone. My Top 10 Tips!

More and more people are wanting iPhones, and I don’t blame them! It really is a great device and it’s not until you get one do you realise how you can’t live without it.  If you’re thinking of getting one soon I thought I’d put my top 10 tips to help you get used to the device and make sure you can enjoy it 100% when you finally get it…

My iPhone Applications

I wanted to share with you what I have on my iPhone. Loads of games and useful applications but I normally keep it quite tidy and remove rubbish apps as soon as I’ve tried them. If you want any more info on any of them or want me to video review one, just comment and ask. Why not do a video response to share your applications?