The iPhone Mom

Another app review request from my brother. Crazy Penguin Catapult has been on my iPhone for awhile and my kids play it all the time, but I hadn’t touched it until now. I tried figuring it out on my own but had to ask my girls for a tutorial. Sad, I know.

In Crazy Penguin Catapult you have a penguin who moves around a map to different challenges. To get him to move on the map you tilt your iPhone. He has to walk along paths. I learned that after a few minutes of shaking and tilting, wondering why the little guy just wouldn’t go to the right. Land on a circle and tap the screen to start a mission. Your goal is to defeat the polar bears and free your penguin friends. The penguins hang from a rope in front of a catapult. Shake or tap your iPhone to get the catapult to move. If you’ve timed it right you’ll launch the penguin across the screen. You do this over and over again until all the penguins disappear from the screen. Once they’re gone the screen changes and you see the bears. Now you have to tap the penguins at just the right moment so they dive down to the bears. If you’ve timed it right the bears are toast. If not, your penguin is out of luck. Depending on where the penguins land, different things might happen. They might bounce or break ice to get to a hidden polar bear. Your goal is to defeat the bears and free your penguin friends.

Crazy Penguin Catapult is a fun app. There’s something about penguins in army helmets flying through the air that makes you smile. My kids sure love it. I couldn’t quite get the hang of the whole game but I’d probably improve if I put in more practice time. I really like that you have to figure out a strategy and think to get your penguin in the right spot at the right time.

Seller: Digital Chocolate

Price when Reviewed: Free

Price of full Crazy Penguin Catapult: $2.99 on sale right now

Click here to visit Crazy Penguin Catapult Free at the iTunes store

Click here to visit the full version of Crazy Penguin Catapult at the iTunes store

I had an email from my brother asking me to review Touch Physics Lite and I’ll bet he was smiling when he sent it over. Send the big sister who has kids that are rapidly destroying her brain cells an app suggestion with “Physics” in the title.

I will admit that this app challenged me. I say this knowing full well that it is rated ages 4+ in the iTunes store. A game that they think a four year old can play challenged me. Are you laughing yet little brother?  That said – I think Touch Physics Lite is an amazingly simple, addictive, smart game.

The point behind the app is to draw items on the screen that will make things happen. You begin with a wheel and a star – your goal is to move the wheel to the star. You’ll have obstacles in your way and you have to figure out what to draw and what it will do on the screen so your wheel actually moves. You do this by tracing shapes on the screen. They appear and drop down into the game, making things happen. For example if your wheel is at the top of a slope and you draw a big circle – it will drop down, bump the wheel and roll it down the slope. But if you draw the circle too far away it drops down and just sits there.

This is the lite version of the full Touch Physics app and I’d highly recommend it. It only has six levels while the full version has fifty. Try this one out and you’ll probably find yourself hooked and buying the full version. I’m not sure how little kids would do with this app. Truth is, I’m afraid to show the 4 1/2 year old this one because he’d probably figure it out in minutes and then I’d really feel dumb. But my 9 year old has played it and loves it. This game really makes you think to figure out how you’re going to make things work on the screen. Touch Physics Lite gets brains working for sure.

Seller: Mark D. Simpson

Price when Reviewed: Free

Price of full version of Touch Physics: $2.99

Click here to see Touch Physics Lite at the iTunes store

Click here to see the full version of Touch Physics at the iTunes store

I had an email tipping me off to this app. Psyclops Dance Mixer is an app that lets you create a unique music video. You pick a dancer then mix your music. There’s a wide variety of music to choose from. Next you make a timeline of different dance moves and backgrounds. When you’re done your video will play on the next screen. From  here you can email out your video to friends.

This is a fun app that seems to have endless combinations for music and dance moves. What you create is totally up to you. My little boy struggled with the app but my older girls got the hang of it quickly. I think teenagers would really get a kick out Psyclops Dance Mixer. It’s not an app that I personally will use much but I’ll keep it on the phone for my kids to play around with.

Seller: Jeff Muncy

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

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Thank You Gift List isn’t a gift tracking app but one that tracks your thank you notes instead. When my kids receive gifts I usually write them all down on a piece of paper, then hope that I’ll remember where I put the paper when it’s time to ask (forcefully remind) them to write their thank you notes. This app lets you keep track of your thank you list on your iPhone.

It’s a simple, easy app that does exactly what it says it will. You add an event by touching the plus sign. Now you enter in the name of the event (there’s no set list so you can name it whatever you  like) and the date you received the gift. The app also lets you choose an icon to represent the event. When you’re done go back to the main screen. Now to add gifts to the events you just tap on the event name. This brings up a screen where you can add the gifts to a list. When you’re adding the gift information you can put in what it was and who it’s from (Thank You Gift List let’s you choose from your iPhone contact list too). You can add a picture of the gift and mark if the thank you has been sent. Down at the bottom of this screen is a button that says "Email Thank You". If you touch this it pulls up your email and has a thank you note already drafted for you. Granted, it’s a very generic thank you note but I suppose it could work. I prefer sending a handwritten note but sometimes an email version is just easier. Once you’ve taken care of the thank you note and marked that it’s been sent, a checkmark will show up next to it on the list. You can also completely delete the event if you don’t want to look at it anymore.

I love apps that I can use to simplify my life. The more information I can store in my iPhone instead of my head, the better. This is a great app that does just that and will make my mom life that much easier.

Seller: Doug Diego

Price when Reviewed: .99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

Whoa – the minute you open this app you’re going to realize you need to visit the help section first. There’s a lot to this Gift List that you’ll want to read up on before you start. You’ll find a great tutorial if you touch the “i” button.

There’s so much to this app that I’m only going to talk about the part I really liked – adding items. Touch the green plus sign and you’ll go to a screen that lets you enter in oodles of information, including who you’re giving the gifts to. You go down the screen, entering information. Each time you enter in a field you can choose how you do it. You can type it in or choose from a list. Once you’ve entered in a person, or a gift, or an occasion, the app remembers it and it shows up on your list next time. A total time saver. (When you’re adding a person you can choose from your iPhone contacts. When you’re adding an occasion the app has the dates for major holidays already set.)  When you’re done filling in your information you can touch the next button and it automatically moves to the next field. You can enter in the store you want to shop at. Gifts List has a list of some stores already. If yours is on the list it’ll fill in the URL for you as well. You can enter in the cost of the gift and set your tax rate so you get the actual total you’ll have to pay. There’s also a spot for you to record who recommended the gift to you. I guess if you gave something that totally bombed you’d have a record of who to blame it on. I REALLY liked that you enter everything (name, occasion, cost, store, etc.) on one screen at the same time. No going back and forth between screens.

Gifts List has a ton of depth to it and features I can’t describe because I don’t do techy speak. The first time I opened it up I just did not get it. But after going through the help section and entering in a few items I realized how simple it really is. For me the trick was figuring out what the icons meant.  I’ve said this a already but I HIGHLY recommend visiting the help section first. The price for this app is quite a bit more then the others I’ve reviewed but for me it’s been the easiest one to use and comes the closest to meeting my gift tracking needs.

Seller: Ian Straub – Ontomni, LLC.

Price when Reviewed: $3.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

The Gift Manager app is an easy one to maneuver through and update. To add someone to your list you simply touch the edit button at the top right of your screen. From here you can scroll down to each category and touch the green plus button to add someone to that group. The preset groups/categories are Birthday, Wedding, Graduation, Anniversary, Bar Mitzvah and Other. From your iPhone’s settings you can change the names of those groups. BUT, as far as I can tell you can’t add additional groups.

To set dates for the event you touch the person’s name. You’ll see a button that says “Set Date”. Touch on this to set the date for the birthday, anniversary, etc. On this screen you can also set a budget for the gift and mark if your shopping is completed or not.

You sort the main Gift Manager list with the buttons on the bottom of your screen. You can sort them by Category, Date or Name. If you touch the Detail button you’ll see the date of the event, budget, total spent and the number of gifts you’ve given this person.

There is a color coding to the gift boxes on the screen that tells you what is due when. This is detailed under the “i” button at the bottom left of the screen. A box with a lid means you’re done shopping. An open box means you’d better get on the ball.

I like the simplicity to this app but I need just a little more detail. Not a ton, just enough to feel like I could make notes if I wanted to. I’d really like to be able to add more categories as well. But it only cost .99.

Seller: Gilbert Farabaugh

Price when Reviewed: $1.99

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

Gift Guru is a free app that helps you keep track of special occasions and who you need to buy gifts for. You can enter your own “recipients” or import them from your iPhone contact list. For a free app, Gift Guru had a surprising amount of layers to it. It seemed like as I was going along I kept going from screen to screen to enter more information. For me this wasn’t a good thing. I’d like to see the information be more easily accessible. I felt like I had to go through too many steps to enter gifts and keep track of them. The app just didn’t have an ease of use for me. If you do decide to give this app a try I highly recommend checking out the help section before you do anything else. There’s a button at the bottom of your screen that will take you there. You’ll find a detailed tutorial that explains how to use the app. It helped me a little bit but not enough for me to make this THE app I use to keep up on my gift giving. But it’s a good one to start with simply because it is free. Free didn’t work for me, but it might for you.

Seller: Smith Micro Software

Price when Reviewed: Free

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

Yet another app that makes me wonder why someone doesn’t invent a wrist strap for the iPhone. Lightsaber Unleashed turns your iPhone into a lightsaber. When you swing your phone around (again, wriststrap anyone??) your lightsaber changes and your iPhone makes cool lightsaber-y noises. You can also play classic music from the Star Wars movies. It’ll have you looking over your shoulder, waiting for Darth Vader to appear. It goes without saying that this is one of my son’s favorite apps. I’ll admit it’s extremely cool, but it’s not my favorite. Call me a nervous nelly but there’s something about seeing my son jump around, swinging my phone and fighting invisible bad guys that makes me want to delete this one, fast. I have no doubt when I do it I will be extremely unpopular around here.

Seller: Alex Price

Price when Reviewed: Free

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

ManGo is an app that helps you find locations for stores, restaurants, banks, etc. It’s easy to use and has a couple features that I really liked.  If you touch the "Feature" button at the bottom of the screen you’ll see some ManGo picks. I don’t think you can go wrong with a list that includes Target, Costco and my kid’s favorites McDonalds and Redbox. You can also tap the "What’s New" button at the top of the screen to see what’s been added to the ManGo app. It’s a pretty long list. If you see something you like on one of these lists just touch the name and ManGo uses your iPhone’s current location to find the nearest store. You’ll see a map  view first but if you touch the icon at the top right of the screen you’ll get the actual address and distance from your current spot. From here touch the address and you’ll see the store’s phone number. You can also touch "Add to my favorite stores" or "Add to my Favorite Chains" – more about that later. At the bottom you’ll see "Directions to Here". Tap this and you’ll get a highlighted Google map with your route info.

Back to the buttons on the bottom of your screen. "Categories" displays all the categories of stores, etc. found in ManGo. Choose one and then you’ll see the list of what’s available. Touch the one you want and you’ll get the information mentioned above.

The "My ManGo" button takes you to the section that I really liked. Here you can create a location list for places that you might visit frequently. At the top you’ll also see "My Chains". If you touched this button for one of the stores you looked at earlier it’ll show up on this list. The same goes for "My Stores". I love that I can save stores and not have to go through the long list of categories every time. If we’re out and about and the kids want to get a Redbox movie, but I don’t know which one is closest I can choose it off my stores list. Easy.

I know there are a ton of navigational/location finding apps out there and I’ve only tried out a few, but I really like the fact that I can create a saved list of stores in ManGo. If I’m out running errands with my kids I’m not going to have the focus to scroll through all the categories to find what I want. If I’ve already searched for it and added it to my stores or chains it’s right there when I need it fast. Anyone who’s ever tried to find a McDonald’s in an unfamiliar part of town while the kids are whining and crying in the back of the van knows just how important this feature is.

*On a side note: I’m not sure whether the title of this app is Man Go or Mango (like the fruit that’s shown on the app icon). I’m guessing it’s the first one since this is a navigational app but if anyone out there knows the answer, please email me. I know it’s a silly question but it’s bugging me.

Seller: Linkworks, LLC

Price when Reviewed: Free

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store

I finally got around to installing an Ambiance update (I’ve mentioned before how bad I am about updating my apps) and when I opened it up I thought something had gotten mixed up. Ambiance has undergone a MAJOR overhaul. The app looks and feels totally different.

The first major difference is that now you have to download your sounds. In order to do this you’ll need to register an account with Ambiance and create a login. I checked it out and it’s free. You can do it online or better yet, directly from the app. Downloading your sounds lets you put as many, or as few, on your iPhone as you like and you get to choose what you want. On the bottom of your screen you’ll see several buttons. The "Featured" button pulls up a featured list of sounds. At the top you’ll see "New" and "What’s Hot". Touch one of those and the sounds will be sorted accordingly. The "Search"  button at the bottom lets you type in the sound you are looking for. From this screen you can also touch "Browse" (at the top) and browse through the sounds by category. Within each category the sounds are sorted by top rated, most popular or new sounds.

After searching through all the sounds you’ll probably find one (or several) that you’re interested in. Just give the sound a tap and you’ll get a details screen. Here you can read a description of the app, as well as see what other users have rated it. Towards the bottom are some actions. You can listen to a preview of the sound, download it, re-download the thumbnail picture or report a problem with the sound. Listening to the preview and downloading the sound are as simple as tapping a few buttons.

Once you’ve downloaded a few sounds they’ll show up on your Sounds screen. To get here touch the "Sounds" button on the bottom of the app screen. You’ll see a list of everything that you’ve got. If you touch the big green button that says "Play this list" Ambiance will do just that. While you are playing a sound a fancy screen, full of icons shows up on your iPhone. From here you can do all sorts of fancy things. To find out what they are you’ll want to touch the "More" button on the bottom of your screen. Then touch "Help" and you’ll see a great explanation of what all the icons mean. It explains it better than I ever could.

There’s much more you can do from the "More" screen. Clever. You can set categories for your sounds. You can set your alarm clock along with many other alarm options. You can create mixes of your different sounds and tweak your app settings. The "Help" section I mentioned above will also take you to a FAQ screen. This will explain what happened to the old Ambiance, why you need an account, where the sounds come from and a bunch of other information.

I wasn’t too sure about the new Ambiance at first but I’m starting to like it. Now I’ve just got to dedicate some time to going through all the sounds and getting a playlist set up. I think that’s the biggest drawback for me. The old Ambiance had everything right there ready to go. This one is making me work. I think it’ll be worth it in the end, but I’ve got to find the time in the busy mom schedule to get things just right. If you absolutely can’t stand the new version of Ambiance you can get the old version back by downloading "Ambiance Classic" from the iTunes store. The developer says that it’s free for a limited time so original Ambiance purchasers can "downgrade".

Seller: Matt Coneybeare

Price when Reviewed: $2.99 (According to iTunes this is a sale price, regular price will be $4.99. I got the new version for free as an original purchaser of Ambiance)

Click here to see the app at the iTunes store