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Home » Posts tagged 'cool iPhone apps'
Onavo — Save money by maximising your mobile data
Posted:
May 16, 2011
By: ccsoya
3 comments
Mobile data caps are a necessary evil. If network operators don’t impose caps, their networks will crash from the massive data load. When they do impose caps, subscribers cry foul. But that is the way it has to be, mobile networks can’t cope with data demand if operators continue offering buffet all-you-can-use data plans. We’ll just have to make do and make the most out of it.
Here’s a nifty app that helps you make the most out of your piddly mobile data caps.
The makers of Onavo claims that you can double or even triple your data usage when you use the app. Onavo routes and compresses pages that you want to access through cloud-based servers so that you use less data when downloading pages — by up to 80% says the developers.
Although Onavo would be great for daily for those on small data plans, the app is most useful when you’re roaming. As data roaming is typically charged on a pay-per-use plan, with Onavo, you would theoretically be using less data to use the same amount of internet.
It is a novel idea but it’s not without its downsides. Most obvious of which is privacy, while on Onavo, all your data traffic is routed through their servers, this means the people at Onavo can technically see what you’re surfing and read the emails that you’re sending. So if you’re doing some really P&C stuff, Onavo might not be for you.
Another downside is that Onavo doesn’t compress videos and it only works for data donwloads, not uploads. Also, because of the routing, some sites might take longer to load.
The app is available for free from the App Store and it supports iPad, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0 or later. iPod touch and iPhone 3G users are out of luck at the moment. iTunes link here.
Google Translate now available for iPhone
Posted:
February 10, 2011
By: ccsoya
2 comments
The frequent travelers will know this very well. You’ve landed in a country where the natives don’t speak your language and you don’t speak theirs. So what is a traveler to do? In the good old days, we’ve resorted to sign language, sometimes a mini game of charades and even win, lose or draw in the streets. Well with this new app from Google, you will never again be the laughing stock of the locals.
Google Translate is a very useful app that provides simple and quick translation for more languages than you’ll ever need.
There’s a nifty speak to translate feature where you just say the word you want to translate and the app will do the rest. After you’ve translated the word, you can have the app say the word or sentence for you as well. Currently Google Translator understands 15 languages and speaks 23.
Google Translate also includes the ability to view dictionary results for single words, star or mark regularly used translations for quick reference as well as go through your translation history. The app also supports romanized text like Pinyin and Romaji.
Get Nissan GTR-like telemetry for your car with just one iPhone app
Posted:
February 9, 2011
By: ccsoya
No comments
As far a cool apps go, this one is pretty high up on our list.
Zilla is a vehicle telemetry app that gives you data on acceleration, braking and cornering G forces, speed and air temp, just to name a few, right from your iPhone. There’s even a graphical weight transfer data that shows information in real time. Other than that, you can customise the layout in which the data is presented.
The thing that makes Zilla so cool is that the graphics look just like the ones you see on the Nissan GT-R. Zilla retails for US$3.99 (about RM12), way, way cheaper than saving up for a real GT-R, don’t you think?
Video demo of the Zilla app right after the jump.
Rate of Reaction: A not to shabby homegrown app
Posted:
January 17, 2011
By: ccsoya
No comments
We’ll be the first to admit it, locally developed apps are rarely featured on our site and there’s a good reason for that. For one thing, there’s really no much to choose from and then there’s the quality thing. We’re not one to talk down on the many local developers out there but most (we’re not saying all) locally developed apps are not up to par with the many other offerings in Apple’s App Store. Well that’s until we were introduced to this — the Rate of Reaction app.
The Rate of Reaction app makes a decent peck at the casual-gaming/time-wasting app category and does what it says on the box. That is to help you kill some idle time.
There are 30 mini-games in the app with three difficulty levels, all of which attempts to put your reactions to the test. There’s more than enough mini-games in the app to keep you occupied for a while while waiting for…whatever it is that you’re waiting for.
The developer says that its a fair alternative to Angry Birds and Cut the rope, and while some may not agree with this, Rate of Reaction has quickly become one to the select default time-killer app of choice for us here at SoyaCincau.com.
The app retails for US$0.99 (about RM3.00 in today’s money), there’s a free lite version as well so you can try before you buy.
Link to the app here. Let us know what you think.
LoveBots: Tons of robot kits to built your own robot avatar on your iDevice
Posted:
January 17, 2011
By: ccsoya
No comments
If you’re like us chances are you’re afflicted with this mysterious magnetism towards anything and everything robots. And if that is indeed the case, this robotic iOS app could be right up your alley.
LoveBots is an iOS app is a digital robot avatar assembly kit that is not unlike creating something awesome and unique with a Lego set. The full version costs US$2.99 (about RM9.15 at today’s exchange rate) but there’s also a lite version you can try out albeit with a limited selection of robot kits to create your avatar with.
Even with the limited selection we found ourselves playing with the lite version of the app for longer than we would like. What we’re trying to say here is that there’s still a multitude of robot avatar permutations you can create even with the lite version.
Once you’ve created the robot masterpiece of your dreams, you can share your creation via email, Facebook or Twitter. It’s a pretty fun app with a virtually limitless possibilities of robot avatars to create. Worth a look.
Click the link for details of the app on iTunes or you can check the developer website here. Also check out the Flickr set showcasing some robot avatars created using the app.
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When the Steve Jobs decided that his latest iPhone needed to have a forward-facing camera to keep up with the times, he didn’t imagined that someone would create an app to turn the device into a 3D scanner.
Trimensional app is a overly simplified 3D scanner that allows you to capture fairly accurate 3D models of faces and things using the iPhone 4′s front camera.
The app uses the screen on the iPhone 4 to light up the subject being scanned and then capturing light patterns reflected back by the subject with the iPhone 4′s front camera to build a true 3D model. Trimensional.
Take a look at the video after the jump for a demo of how the app works. The resulting 3D image is not bad considering the iPhone 4 was never intended to be a 3D scanner by anyone’s account.
Way cool app: 360 Panorama
Posted:
December 28, 2010
By: ccsoya
No comments
This is one app that’s definitely making it into our iPhones.
The 360 Panaroma is a photography app that lets you take 360-degree panoramic shots of your surroundings and it is so darn tooting easy to use. The app take pictures of your surroundings and arrange them in tiles, all you have to do is align the phone so the tiles line up nicely to create a 360-degree view of where you are.
The app has just issued an update that takes advantage of the 3-axis gyroscope in the iPhone 4 that allow users to view the panoramic pictures simply by moving the iPhone 4 around. It provides for a very immersive picture viewing experience that will definitely impress your friends.
The app is on offer in iTunes now for US$0.99 — 66% off original price. For your RM3, you get to a dead easy to use panorama app that can churn out 360-degree view pictures in under 20 seconds (with a little bit of practice of course), you can upload and share the pictures via email or Twitter or save them directly to your iPhone camera roll.
Check out a sample picture taken using the app here. Here’s the iTunes link for more info on the app.
Right now 360 Panorama is for the iPhone only and because of the processing power required, you’ll need an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 to use it.
Got a way cool app that you use (be it iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry, Symbian or whatever) , share it with us. We’d love to post it up.
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iPhone app reads and translates Chinese characters for you
Posted:
August 17, 2010
By: ccsoya
No comments
Pleco, the makers of the Pleco Chinese Dictionary, now available for free in the the App Store, will be introducing a new feature that utilises the camera on the iPhone and some nifty optical character recognition software to read and translate Chinese characters on printed text in real-time.
Pretty nifty if you’re going to China a lot to get your fix of cheap gadgets and gadget parts.
Download the Pleco Chinese Dictionary app for your iPhone here. The dictionary is free but the Camera Recogniser feature is a paid add-on.
Check out the video demo after the jump.
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Paul the Octopus: There an app for that
Posted:
July 15, 2010
By: ccsoya
2 comments
(UPDATE 1604hrs 15072010) Want a psychic octopus in your iPhone? Well, it’s going to cost you. We thought the app was free, turns out its US$0.99.
Ever had problems deciding on where to go for lunch? Or what movie to watch? With this app, your decision making woes might well be the thing of the past.
The World Cup may be over but Paul the psychic octopus is as busy as ever, this time helping you decide what to choose in your daily lives with the help of your iPhone.
Ok, so it’s not really the actual octopus and the app doesn’t really have predictive powers. It’s more like a magic 8-ball in the form of an octopus, and it’s kindda fun to play with. Wonder if we can use this to decide the outcome of the next election.
Hit the iTunes link if you want to try the app out for yourself.
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Want to be a Trekkie? There’s an app for that
Posted:
July 13, 2010
By: ccsoya
No comments
Well, not quiet, but for US$2.99 you can install on your iPhone an authentic, albeit virtual, Star Trek Communicator like the one used in the original Star Trek series (the one staring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and George Takei).
The app features actual voices of Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Lieutenant Uhura and sound effects as well as lights and motion replicating the actual prop.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a starship that will be beam you up whenever you feel like it.
A part from being just an eye-candy app, the communicator also allows you to access your contacts and make calls directly from the app.
If you’re a die-hard Trekkie, yeah, you will want this. But if you’re like the rest of us — maybe not.
Here’s the iTunes link if you’re interested.
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