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iPhone App Review – Evernote

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Jim Wild wrote in with his review of the iPhone App – Evernote.

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As someone who�s mind tends to constantly overflow with questions, ideas and useless facts of information, I�m often trying to find creative new ways of leaving myself notes. Odd text messages, cryptic emails and post-it notes stuck to my screen are a way of life. More often than not though, these snippets get lost in my daily barrage of communication. With no real system for cataloging my thoughts its any wonder I get anything done. Until now that is, enter Evernote.

The basic concept behind Evernote is a simple one, centralised storage for all you notes. Whilst the idea isn�t a new one the quality of execution is second to none.

Evernote is kind of like a web clipper on steroids, you can send it notes, pictures, sound clips, sketches, whatever and it stores them online for easy access. Seamless browser (IE7/Firefox) and OS (Windows/OSX) integration make the service a dream to use. Just right click in Windows for example and the �Add to Evernote� option appears. Its intelligent too, hit print screen on you keyboard and a crop tool appears allowing you to clip a section of the screen (perfect for maps, or non selectable text).

However, what about when your away from you desktop? I don�t know about you, but ideas seem to pop into my mind at the most inappropriate times! What makes Evernote the must have app for me is the iPhone interface. Not only can you view all of you notes through the free app (available from the AppStore), you can submit new ones too. Either sync them live or pen them offline for syncing later once you have a suitable data connection. Its a bit like having you own personal private blog that�s instantly available (provided you have a net connection) and more importantly searchable. You aren�t limited to just one notebook either, for example I have ones set up for specific development projects I�m working on.

Sending text notes and pictures from the iPhone is a breeze and I love the ability to add tags making them easier to find in the future. Sound clips are just as simple to record and post, which for an aspiring music producer is great – no more hum the tune for me!

Overall the application is slick and is a very good use of the iPhones features, posts are Geo-Tagged for example. In future versions I would like to see support for sketches but it is only early days for iPhone apps.

The service is free to use up to a 40 MB monthly limit and the Premium subscription is just $5 dollars a month if you find yourself using it more. Windows mobile users are also in luck with as there is a compatible version available.

I can think of tons of uses for Evernote, I strongly recommend going and having a play.

Tags: App Review, Evernote, iPhone
Posted in iPhone Apps | Comments

iPhone App Review – Tris

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

We’ve enlisted help in the form of Michael to give us a hand reviewing as many of the iPhone apps out there as possible. Here’s the first one he’s got his hands on.
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App: Tris
Price: Free
Type: Game

I have been a fan of Tetris ever since I got my first GameBoy in 1989. The grey graphics dancing across the green screen, the hypnotic Russian music, I probably spent the better part of my (wasted) youth playing that game. I almost bought the EA version for the iPhone but I heard that it wasn’t nearly worth it. The whole idea of EA doing a Tetris game is kind of a weird fit. Tetris is a simple game, and EA doesn’t do simple. Reports and reviews said it was overblown, overpriced and just overdone in general. So fine. I just saved ten bucks (you would call it 5 quid).

Resigned to a fate of Tetris-less iPhone, I was stoked to find that Tris, originally a Jailbroken Tetris app, had gone legit and was now in the iTunes store. I had never Jailbroken my iPhone before because I was always worried about software updates giving me an iBrick. Since my iPhone is my only phone number, and I use it for work, I just couldn’t take the risk. So I never got to check out this cool little game. The best thing about Tris? It’s free. 0 dollars, 0 pounds, free. Tris was designed by Noah Witherspoon, aka my newest hero.

The way Tris works is you tap the screen to rotate the blocks, and you can “pull” them down by dragging them. That’s it. It’s exactly like Tetris, same rules and same layout. And you don’t actually have to be touching the piece to drag them down, you can pull down from dragging anywhere above or below the piece.

Unlike EA’s version, there’s no 3D animations to suck your precious battery juice. This really is a WYSIWYG situation. Falling blocks, that you rotate to make lines.

The only problems I have with this game are pretty small gripes. One, it has no sound effects or music. The original Tetris had Russia’s greatest hits in the background, and that satisfying “CRUNCHSPLOSION” when you completed a line. Secondly, the tap-to-rotate interface only rotates the pieces clockwise. When you over-rotate, depending on the piece, you might have to tap it three more times to get it in the desired position. This can be a problem in the higher levels, when they start falling fast. Back on the GameBoy version (aka the Old Testament of Tetris), buttons B or A would rotate the piece either way, so if you over-rotated, the other button was a de-facto undo button.

These quibbles aside, this is a great game, and a highly addictive way to pass time on a bus, plane or train. The great thing about this app, is that you can listen to your iPod while you are playing, which helps to alleviate the lack of Russian accompaniment (now if only I could download the Old Testament of Tetris music and just put that on repeat on my iPod as I played!!).

Now the bad news. We’ll never get an updated version with the music and sound effects. Because Tris is getting pulled from iTunes within the next 24-48 hours. So if you have not downloaded it yet, don’t finish reading this sentence before you do. Move it!