Dog-A-Like

Dog-A-Like App for iPhone
     Although I commend the group for trying to build awareness and trying to get people to adopt dogs at the Pet Rescue, I have to rate this application based on what it is, and not the reason for making it.
     I didn't catch on when I first used this, but I was a bit suspicious since the photos I ran through it didn't seem anything like the dogs it was giving me as matches.  So I tried using the same photo multiple times... Same photo, different dogs... So then I tried running photos of things that weren't faces.  My hand got a "Face Match"... My shoe got a "Face Match"... the floor also got a "Face Match".  And no, this I do not live in Pee-Wee's Playhouse.  So those things do not have faces.  The entire time it says it's searching for your face, it isn't doing anything with your photo at all.  It's merely running a random generator to select a dog at random.  It is not based on the photo, whatsoever.
     Though the dogs are indeed cute, I can't give this application a good rating since it's not really finding a match based on your photo at all.  I may as well just do a Google search for "dog" and say "That's my dog" to the first image that pops up.

Rating: 1/5

• Free
• Category: Utilities
• Size: 9.9 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: Tequila
• © Tequila, Australia 2011

iDream Dictionary

iDream Dictionary App for iPhone
     Before I start I wanted to mention that when I (or most of us) write in my dream journal, I am only half awake.  So forgive the spelling in the sample entry, as well as grammar.
     This is a fun way to keep track of your dreams.  Even the most vivid and memorable dreams can vanish from memory within an hour of being awake.  With this application you can type out what you remember from each dream.  You can even do your best to try to explain each dream, and what it's meaning was, by using their dictionary.
     When you finish typing out your dream, certain words in your journal entry will be links.  Click those links to view a list of possible meanings for this element of your dream.  It could give you a better understanding of why you dream what you do, and how you truly feel.  Or, it could just be a fun and entertaining way to pass a little time.
     Your journal entries are titled and listed for easy browsing, should you decide to go back through them on a later date.

     All in all, I think this is a fun and useful application.  Though I find that more often than not, the explanations for what certain parts of my dreams mean, do not not really seem to apply to me, I still enjoy the ability to document all the crazy things my mind comes up with, while I am unconscious.

Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Medical
• Size: 3.9 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: Oliver Hume
• © 2011 LostEgo

Instagram

Instagram App for iPhone
     This is one of the most popular free apps on iPhone.  And for very good reason.  It's a very versatile, streamlined photo editing application.  The premise is that you can take any photo from your phone and make it look like an old photo taken by an old camera (Many different kinds of old cameras).  And as someone who is old enough to have real photos taken by some of these cameras (From my childhood), I have to say that they do a pretty good job.
     You can either take a photo on the spot, or use one you already have stores in your phone.  You then crop it (squares only) and resize it.  Once your image is selected you have the chance to run it through one of the camera filters.  There is even a pull focus filter and a few other nifty tricks.  Some of the camera filters include Amaro, Rise, Hudson, X-pro II, Sierra, Earlybird, Toaster, Brannen, Inkwell, Nashville, 1977 and of course "normal" for people who don't want to use any filters.  Different filters can give the same photos a completely different feel.  So choose wisely.
     When you upload to Instagram you get your own personal gallery.  People can view your gallery, add comments, favourite your photos, and follow you.  In return, you can do the same to them.  On a down side, you can not view your gallery on the instagram website (instagr.am) (Though if you link your Twitter with your app, you can post your images straight to your Twitter feed).  Only through the app.  However, some people have made special browser apps that allow you to share your gallery via the web.
     When you load the app up at any given time, you will be taken straight to your feed.  This displays the photos of you, and people you follow.  This is your "Home".  Click the star at the bottom, next to home, and you'll be taken to the "popular" feed.  This displays some of the currently trendy uploads on instagram at this moment.  It's a great way to find new people to follow.  It's also just fun to sit there refreshing and viewing all the lovely photos.  Though a fair warning, a lot of the "popular" photos are just photos of 'pretty girls'.  Personally, I prefer something more artistic than a girl's face.  But to each their own.
     The middle button is to take/add photos of your own.  If you click this by mistake, there is an X at the top corner you can click to exit out of this section.
     The fourth icon at the bottom that looks like a word bubble with a heart is just recent news about your friends.  I never feel obligated to click this, but if you keep a lot of friends and want to know what they've been liking and following, this can be useful for you.
     Lastly the profile button...  You can use this to add/find friends, attach your Twitter to the app, view your profile/gallery, make profile changes, view all the photos you've liked, change your sharing options and set your privacy settings.  All very useful.
     If you enjoy photography, or just social blogging via photos, this app is going to be fun for you.  There are even many celebrities that use it to post their personal photos.  So even celebrity followers can use this (If for nothing else) to check out what these famous people do in their spare time.

Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Photo & Video
• Size: 12.5 MB
• Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Seller: Burbn, inc.
• © 2011 Burbn, Inc.

 

Manga Avatar

Managa Avatar app for iPhone
     This application can be fun.  It doesn't have a huge amount of variety, but you can get your point across with it.  It's a black and white gradient panel with a character and a speech bubble.  You can select different parts of said character (Hair, eyes, nose, mouth, clothes, etc) and switch them out with some of their other available options.  You can write in the word bubble by tapping it.  A typing screen will be brought up so you can enter your message.  Once finished you can save the image to your photos folder on your iPhone.
     It's a simple application, but it's fun to play with for a bit.  It's fun to make scary versions of people you know.  It works best for males, but you 'can' get it to look 'somewhat' female sometimes...  However, they do have a female version of this application (Which is also free).  So if you would prefer to make female characters I would suggest downloading that one instead (MangaAvatarGirl).  I'll do a review on it at a later time.

Rating: 4.5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 8.9 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: SO YOUNG PARK
• © 2011, WM Application Studio

iDream

iDream app for iPhone

     I can not tell you how many times this application has come in handy for me.  I know what you might be thinking.  "Why would anyone want an app that just loops waterfalls and rain and such?"  It's a "white noise" generator.  For people who have to sleep in places where there is a lot of noise going on, this helps to drown out the background noise with something more relaxing.  This app has helped me to fall asleep when my husband is blasting his action flicks in the middle of the night.  So to the wonderful people who made this app... "Thank you!""

This app includes many different sounds.  Paradise, Big waterfall, Pebble beach, Frog pond and so on.  There are also some sounds that are locked.  You have to pay to unlock them.  The free ones do the trick just fine though.  I suppose the pay ones are for people who need a bit more variety to choose from.  Some of the paid sounds include Thunderstorm, Train ride, Furnace, Underwater, Rain forest and more.  I have not tried the paid ones, myself.  I have sampled all of the free ones, though.  I find that Paradise is my favourite.  I fall asleep to it the fastest.  I imagine rain forest would work well for me as well, as the sound of birds tends to help me sleep. 

Another fun thing about this application is that, unlike many other white noise apps I've tried, this one has a timer.  You set it for how long you want to sound to run.  That way it isn't still playing, and wearing down your battery, once you've already fallen asleep.

I would recommend this application to anyone who has to sleep next to someone noisy, lives near a busy street, or just has to sleep around a lot of noise for any reason.  It may not work for everyone, but I'd say it's worth a shot.  And it's free, so you have nothing to lose by trying it out. 

• Rating: 5/5
  Free
• Category: Lifestyle
• Size: 12.8 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: George Talusan
• © 2011 George Talusan & Hilary Street

Barcode Kanojo

Barcode Kanojo app for iPhone
     This is admittedly one of the most addictive apps I have ever downloaded.  Best of all, it's free!  The basic premise is that there are spirits (Of Japanese cartoon females) in everything!  So in order to 'capture a spirit' you scan the barcode of said product.  Anything from the bread and cheese you purchased at the market to the new shoes you got on sale.  Once scanned you can either create a new girl, or friend the spirit, if it's already been scanned by someone else.

     When you "create" a new kanojo, you do not get to select what she looks like.  She already has a predetermined look, based on the barcode itself.  her hair, skin, and personality are unique to her, based on where the barcode was scanned, and where the product was created, among other factors.  Your job is to type in her item information such as the product, the company and give her a name.  You can even photograph the product she was scanned from.  That girl is now on your list of "girlfriends" (You are such a player)
     When you friend a kanojo that someone else has scanned, you can visit her once every 20 minutes to attempt to "steal" her away.  You can take her on dates, buy her gifts or give her kisses (By tapping her face).  Depending on her personality, she will respond differently to each activity.  Some girls prefer kisses, some hate them.  Some love dates, others prefer gifts.  You can only interact with girls you have scanned barcodes from.
     You can increase the love of each of your kanojo by doing activities with her.  Unlike when you visit other people's kanojos, you can visit your own, as often as you like, with no restrictions.  You also have access to more dates and such for your own kanojos.  You can even choose to purchase clothing for her with real money.  Everything from Chinese dresses to Maid outfits.
     There are so many combinations, it's difficult to find two of the same looking character.  Some traits are very unique.  If you find one with these traits, other people may try to steal them away from you.  Some of the most rare traits include purple or pink hair, and blue skin.  Uncommon traits are cat ears, whiskers and cat eyes.  Different girls also have different clothing.  But you can always choose to change her outfit.
     The website for the app (Barcodekanojo.com) is a bit limited as for as instruction (As is the app).  I'll try to elaborate a bit.  There are several places on the kanojo that you can tap.  She responds differently to different areas.  A tap on the face is a kiss.  A tap on her body is a tickle.  Usually the stomach area gives you a higher "love" rating than say the arm.  But this isn't 'always' the rule.  Kanojos have a "star rating", I have yet to figure out what this is based on.  it may be popularity.  It may have some to do with other people clicking "like" on it, or it might have to do with follower count.  But these all seem to conflict with the stars I keep seeing on various kanojos, so it's hard to say.  Buying other people's kanojos a "bag" usually gets you 20 points.  It's best to come back every 20 minutes until you've stolen her.  because at any time, once someone notices you're approaching their kanojo, they can fill the kanojo's love back up within a couple minutes.  On Valentine's day every you are able to buy Valentine's box chocolates for your own girls.  When you buy them one, no matter what, it fills their love bar in one go.  Take advantage of these!  Every now and then you should check your "goods".  You may have bed sheets.  You can give these bed sheets to your favourite kanojo.  When you do this she will sleep in them at night.  When she does this, no one else can visit her until morning.  If someone is relentlessly trying to steal one of your kanojo you can send her on a vacation for up to 3 days.  While on vacation no one can visit her.  Sadly, this includes you as well.  You can also shake the iPhone to make her dizzy.  This is very fun, but does not gain you any love.

    There are sponsor girls created to promote certain products through the game.  You can scan these barcodes, but you can't steal the girls.  Sponsor girls always have cute and unique outfits and backgrounds.
     I recommend this to anyone who likes 'collecting' or is interested in Japanese cartoons, or just like cute things.  Sadly you can't collect any male spirits yet.  but who knows... maybe one day they'll add such a feature (I wont hold my breath).

Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Social Networking

• Size: 7.6 MB
• Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese
• Seller: CYBIRD Co., Ltd.
• © CYBIRD Co., Ltd.

Chibi Me

Chibi Me App for iPhone

This is a fun application for creating your own cartoon version of yourself, your friends... Or just creating fun new characters.
    You can choose from a variety of premade colours and styles for your character's skin, eyes, hair, accessories and more.  You simply choose the circle along the edge of the character that corresponds with what you wish the change, and the available options are at the bottom.  Scroll through and make your selection.  When you are finished, you can save the image to your photos folder on your phone.  There are also special items available for purchase.  To do this, you click the bottom right circle icon.  The extra items come in packs, and are very affordable.  They even have a "transparency" pack that would allow you to put your "chibi head" over a photo of yourself, to replace your own head.

Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Social Networking
• • Size: 20.1 MB
  • Language: English
  • Seller: Ceren Gazioglu Majoor
  • © Ceren Gazioglu Majoor

Gaia Online App

 Gaia Online App for iPhone

     This is a free application for iPhone users who have Gaia Online (Gaiaonline.com) web accounts, and wish to access said account on the go.  This is the older version of the app.  Both this one and the newer version (Below) are available through the app store.  Rather than updating the old app, they made a completely separate version.  If you are interested in this application, I would recommend the newer one, below.

     This version of the app gives you access to the marketplace, viewing announcements, private messages, forums (Though you'll have to use your browser on your phone to make forum posts), your saved outfits, and your inventory.  You can also view notifications such as friend requests and marketplace listings sold.  A benefit to having this app on your phone is that you get an extra daily chance, that you would normally not be able to get if you used only the website.

     This icon (And the image to the right) are of the newer version of the app.  Though I have to admit, I prefer the icon for the previous version.  Like the older version you still have access to notifications, private messages, announcements, forums, the marketplace and your inventory.  They have added the saved outfits in with the inventory rather than creating a separate button.  The new feature is the access to the cash shop.  You can now spend real money for virtual items straight from your iPhone.

     Here are the features I especially like about this application: The daily chance, which allows you a chance, once a day, to get free items or gold.  This also allows you a slight chance to win special items only available through the app's daily chance, such as a black or white iPhone for your avatar to hold.  Another nice feature is the random background.  Whenever you load the application, it will show a different scene behind your avatar.

     Some things that I hope this application will add for the future would be some form of chat system, so you could talk in real time to your online friends.  As well as a way to see which friends are online.  As it currently does not allow this.  Also, perhaps a way to shop at the Gaia gold shops, rather than just the cash shop.  Though even without these features, I'd still say this is a good application, and recommend it for anyone with a Gaia Online account.

Rating: 4/5

Free

Category: Social Networking

• Size: 0.8 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: Gaia Interactive, INC
• © 2011 Gaia Interactive, Inc.

A Sneak Peek

(Left-Right: Gaia Online, Tiny Tower, Barcode Kanojo, Instagram)

Here is a list of some of the apps I intend to do reviews for over the next few weeks. Korean Celeb Face Match
Puri Booth
Sticki Booth
Chibi Me
My Heritage
Gaia Online
Mind Card
Manga Avatar
Barcode Kanojo
Tiny Tower
Droopy Cat
Zombie Farm
Rainy Day (1&2)
Vision Test
iDream Dictionary
Lose It!
Princess Camera
Snapeee
My Girls Free
My Girls 3
My Girls 4
Hair Change
Silky Skin
Instagram
Povie
Betty Crocker Cookbook
Epicurious

App Reviews Intro

I will be using this blog to do reviews of some of the (iPhone) apps I use.  I often get asked about the apps I use, so I thought it might be fun to share some of the information on some of my favourite applications, as well as some of the apps I would suggest avoiding.  What is worth paying for, and what isn't.

I hope that people will find this a fun and useful blog.

Love,
Kitty