Karin's Weight Diary

Karin's Weight Diary
     This is an anime girl themed weight diary that gives dietary tips, tracks your weight and allows you to keep a calendar chart of when you exercised, overate, had sweets, etc.

     I have been trying out a few diet apps because I am almost constantly trying to maintain a decent weight through diet and exercise, but it really helps to have something keeping me motivated.  I thought the app looked cute so I gave it a try.  I found that it didn't really keep me motivated and using it seemed like more of a hassle really.  However, I will share some details about how the app works, what I didn't like, what I did like and how to get around one part of the app that most people are finding difficult, but I figured out how to make it work...

     First off, this app is very attractive as far as graphics go.  It is bright and colourful with little stamps for your calendar tracking, two costume options for your diet cheer coach, Karin, and even the ability to make Karin gain and lose weight along with you.  So there is a visual appeal.  But there aren't really any fancy animations or fun interactive visuals to partake in.  Well, aside from tapping the screen makes Karin's head slightly move in that direction and tapping her makes he head jiggle a bit.

     As for sounds, there is no music but it does turn off any music other apps may have been playing when you start the app up (IE Pandora, etc).  It has sort of bleep bloop sounds when you tap certain things but these can be turned off in the options.

     The app was clearly originally intended to be in Japanese and some of the translation is questionable or has unusual choices in grammar or wording.  That being said, it is pretty clear to understand what certain phrases intend to say.

     Now onto the functionality and using the app.  The first thing users will want to do is to go over to the Settings page and enter in their information so that the app can track their weight changes.  Here you can choose between English and Japanese language settings, toggle sounds, enter height and weight and set a weight goal.  users can also choose whether or not Karin will diet with them or not under the Mode setting.

     Diet Together will allow the graphic of Karin to become thicker when users gain weight or to look thick prior to them reaching their goal.  If Karin is dieting she will have a sports kit on complete with shorts and a polo top.

     Rather than to have Karin dieting with the users, they can change the mode to Cheering Mode.  This makes Karin wear a cheering uniform to help motivate the user to do their best.  Her pompoms will move around on the main screen in this mode  She will also perform a couple cheer stances.

     This next bit is important... One would assume that after they enter their information into the settings they should tap the Initialize Data button.  As such many users are complaining that after entering in this information that Karin will not retain it and the app won't work.  Do not press this button.  After entering in the information, simply switch back to the Home screen.  If you press the button the app will not start using the information you have entered.  This is clearly an issue in the app's code.  However, simply not pressing the button seems to work just fine.

     On the Home screen users can see Karin in the costume that is associated with the mode they have chosen.  They can also see their height, current weight, target weight, how much weight they have left to use and a spot for BMI that doesn't seem to work.  Tapping on Karin will cause her to display a speech bubble with some sort of dietary information such as tips and facts associated with certain foods or how to stay fit.  Unfortunately sometimes these facts can be quite wordy which causes the speech bubble to expand past the edge of the screen making it impossible to read all of the text.

     On the right side of the home screen users can record their current weight each day so Karin can keep track of how much has been gained or lost and keep a record of the fluctuations.  Tapping the Record Weight button makes a piggy appear with arrows pointing left or right that can be tapped to adjust the weight.  Users can also tap the Report buttons with the happy or sad faces.  If they have done something good such as exercise, walking, eating smaller meals or fasting, they can hit the happy report button.  If they did something that will negatively affect their weight loss such as eating or drinking too much, not getting enough sleep or snacking, they can hit the sad face report button.  A sticker associated with their report will be added to that calendar day.  Multiple stickers can be added to each day.

     The Graph button takes you to the screen that keeps track of any weight fluctuations on a line graph.  It can be viewed in latest, week, month or year mode.

     The Calendar button is where you can see any stickers you've added to a particular day.  This allows users to track how much good or bad habits have been performed.  tapping a particular day allows for that day to be edited.  Here more stickers can be added or if one was added on accident, it can be removed.

     That covers all the parts of the app.  The app does have an ad banner across the bottom of the app but no popups occur so that is a plus.  I generally don't mind ad banners so long as they do not interfere with the functionality of the app.

     In case you may be wondering what happens after you meet your goal... nothing happens.  It doesn't even stop tracking your goal.  There is no happy sound, animation, or congratulatory message...  It is all a bit anticlimactic...

     In summary, the app is cute, but some of the functionality either doesn't work or needs to be worked around to work properly.  Watching Karin get fat even if you only gain .1 LBS tends to do less motivating than demotivating.  I didn't find the app helped me diet and it didn't motivate me to continue using it.  I don't think I would recommend the app to anyone who is serious about dieting or losing weight.

Rating: 2/5

• Free
• Seller: Satoru Umezawa
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Size: 62.4 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese
• Copyright: © 2018 dailyanime.news

Rated 4+

Reflectly

Reflectly
     The premise of this app looked interesting.  Supposedly this is an intelligent journaling app that helps you track your moods and keep track of what happens in your life with a little emote that asks you questions and guides you through your self reflection... I have to say though, I was honestly a bit underwhelmed.

     The layout of the application is pretty clean and straight forward and the little emote is a nice touch.  Each day the app asks you how your day was, why you felt it was good or bad, how you felt through out the day, asks you to elaborate and then asks you an optional random question (Such as what you would bring with you to a deserted island).  My issue is the lack of options for the answers to some of these questions.  I never feel the option I choose is accurate, but there just isn't a better option listed.  I'll explain...

• How was your day today?(Only one option can be chosen)

Really Terrible , Somewhat Bad , Completely Okay , Pretty Good , Super Awesome

• What made today _(Whatever option you chose above)__? (Only one option can be chosen)

Work , Family , Relationship , Education , Food, Travelling , Friends , Exercise , Other

• Would you like to elaborate on what happened? (This will take you to a box where you can explain everything that happened that day or to skip it.  The character count is limited.)

Yes! , No thanks

• How did you feel through out the day? (Only one option can be chosen)

Happy , Blessed , Lucky , Good , Confused , Stressed , Angry , Anxious , Down

• Then the random question is asked.  Anything from "Do you have a mentor" to "What's the worst money that you've ever spent".  You can type the answer into a text box with limited character count or skip the question entirely.

     After all of this you add a title and it creates your story for the day including a cover image it pulls from its very limited collection.  Expect to see the same images over and over.  On the plus side you can go back to your stories and edit them to add an image or notes for that day's entry.  The image you upload can then be used as a cover photo for that story.

     I don't think there are enough options for how you felt through out the day, and so on... Also I feel users should be able to choose more than one option.  I'm not sure how most people work but I am affected by multiple things through out the day and my mood fluctuates accordingly.

     The app allows more than just the ability to shuffle through old journal entries though.  You can favourite entries you like and check your weekly and monthly Stats.  These stats show you the fluctuation of your overall mood each day through out the week or month on a line graph.

     Users also have a private Profile where they can add a photo, check their achievements, how many stories they've written, and their current streak.  The edit option in the top right allows users to change the colour scheme, adjust your "morning" or "evening" hours so Reflectly knows how to greet you, Logout, export data, or delete your account.

     It should be noted that I am using the free version of this app.  There are paid options that unlock more features such as unlimited stories because... yeah... The free version only allows you to create so many stories.  The paid version also allows you new random questions at the end of each entry instead of it cycling through the same few questions.  I wrote eleven entries and only got asked 3 or 4 different questions.  The rest were all repeats.  The other perks of the paid version are biometric lock and advanced statistics.  Which means the paid version doesn't even improve much on the parts of this app I had issues with.

     It should also be noted that unlocking this app through payment is not a one time payment.  It is a subscription plan, and it is not particularly cheap.  35.99USD for one year or 23.99USD for 3 months.

     All in all the app isn't by any means bad.  However I find it to be too limited for my taste and the subscription option feels unnecessary for this type of application.  The app is simple to use however and could be very useful for those wanting a personal journal without a lot of bells and whistles or who want to keep track of their mood over a long period of time.  Sadly if users wish to do this for a long time they will need to pay a subscription fee which I consider a down side to the app.

Rating: 3/5

• Free
• Seller: Reflectly ApS
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Size: 34.6 MB
• Languages: English
• Copyright: © 2019 Reflectly ApS

Rated 4+

Lazy Monster: Fitness for Women

Fitness for women: workouts, exercises, routines, plan
     Is that title long enough for you?  Doesn't exactly roll off of the tongue, does it?  Regardless, this is actually a really cute and useful free app.

     There are actually a few Lazy Monster workout apps in the app store.  I assume they work very much the same but this review is specifically for the one targetting women.  The app is free though one can choose to spend money to unlock more workouts within the app.  I got lucky and downloaded it during a special sale where everything could be fully unlocked for just a 1.99USD.  If you don't want to spend money to unlock workouts, fret not!  They can be unlocked for free as well.  You'll just have to work hard to earn the unlock options.

     Upon your first use of this app you can decide which monster you would prefer to be your workout buddy.  There is one that appears more male and one that appears more female.  Though who really knows how monster genders work.  I chose the orange monster because he seemed cuter to me.  You can see the other option to the right. If you are playing for free you'll have to settle with the orange fellow.

     The app includes several workouts and the ability to design your own workouts.  Each workout is 7 minutes long.  This usually means half a minute to just under one minute per exercise and a few seconds for cool down.  While you exercise your monster companion exercises with you.  During the cool down seconds he always looks really tuckered out.

     Every time you complete an exercise routine you'll gain experience.  This levels you up and completes achievements which unlocks stuff.  You can also gain experience for linking other social media accounts to your app, and for having friends who use the same app to workout.  I skipped these because I'm not big on social networking.  It could be a really good way for free users to get a lot of experience early and get some stuff unlocked right off the bat.

     If users want to purchase specific workouts individually this can be done in the Shop menu.  there are 10 individual workouts or an option to unlock all of them  Clicking on one of the workouts gives you a list of all the exercises in that routine so you can better decide which one works best for you and your individual needs.  For example, the routine Wake Up! includes Jumping Jacks, Air Bicycle, Lunge, Side Plank Lifts, Elbow to the Knee, Plank, Push up Rotation, Leg Raise and Bow.

     On the front page where you can cycle through the available exercises you have unlocked, you can also tap the weight at the top right to create your own routine or choose one you have already created.  This option is something that needs to be unlocked through playing the app (Or purchasing the routines).  It is a great option though as it gives you access to any of the individual exercises and allows you to use the ones you like best.  It is especially convenient if you have a limited space to workout in and want to create a routine based around that.  Or if you can't do any floor based exercises such as push ups or planks, you can choose only standing ones for your routine.

     At the bottom of the app, tapping the More tab will take you to everything else the app has available.  Here you can see your logs (What days you exercised wit the app), set workout reminders, rate the app, recommend it to friends, contact support, restore any purchases and change the workout difficulty.  the workout difficulty settings are as follows:
Easy: Workout 20 seconds Rest 15 seconds
Normal: Workout 30 seconds Rest 10 seconds
Hard: Workout 40 seconds Rest 10 seconds
Nightmare: Workout 50 seconds Rest 6 seconds

     Additionally, in the more sections users can toggle the monster voice on and off or change the music used during the exercises.  There are 12 music types within the app or a 'None' option (For if you'd rather use your own music from another app or exercise in silence).

     This is a really cute app and watching the little monster workout along with me certainly motivates me to keep going.  I've never been very consistent with workout apps but this one is really fun and I think it would be a great way to get kids to workout as well.  The different routines make it very versatile whether you are working out at home or in the office during a break.  The app is clean, simple and easy to use and understand.  Certainly one of the better workout apps I have seen in the app store.

Rating 4/5

• Free
• Seller: Pavel Mylnikau
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Size: 31.6 MB
• Languages: English, Russian
• Copyright: © Pavel Mylnikau

Rated 4+

Plant Nanny

Plant Nanny
     Plant Nanny is a free application designed to encourage people to drink sufficient water every day to optimise their health.  I know I am pretty guilty of not drinking enough water daily so i decided to give it a try.
     Upon starting the app you'll be asked to enter some basic information so the correct amount of water intake can be determined.  Then you can choose the size of glass you'll be drinking from.  Every time you finish a glass of water in reality, you'll tell the app and it will water your plant baby for you.  Watering the plant keeps it healthy and alive, just like drinking water does for you.
     You will get to choose a plant and a planter.  Tap the planter to cycle through your options, and tap the plant to cycle through those options.  You can only care for one plant baby at a time and it takes time for your baby to mature.  Once it has matured full you will move it to your garden.  You can collect all your matured plants together in your garden where you will harvest seeds from them (But you will no longer need to water them).  You can see a matured plant in the garden to the right.
     Your app will send you notifications if it has been a while since you have indicated that you've had water.  If you indicate that you have had too many glasses of water in rapid succession (For example, if you forgot to enter a few glasses you drank and try doing them all at once) you will get a warning that drinking too much water at once is dangerous.
     The plants have different levels of difficulty.  An easy plant baby is heartier and can go without a lot of water for longer without getting sick.  The more difficult plants will require you to drink all your water every day.  Miss a little, and it will get sick right away.  It should also be noted that drinking more than is required won't do anything for you.
     If your plant gets sick you can make it healthy again by drinking the full amount of water the next day.  If you don't drink the correct amount again your plant will begin dying.  You will know the difference based on the change in the appearance of your plant and the icon next to it.  A healthy plant has a music note icon.  A sick thirsty plant has a water drop icon.  A dying plant has an dead face icon.  If you continue to not drink the correct amount your plant will die.  You can see some examples below.

EXTRA FEATURES

      You can take a photo of your plant to share on social media with the camera icon at the top of the app.
     The yellow water drop on the top left is  the water of life.  Using this will make your plant grow faster so it will take less time to mature.  You get some for free at the beginning of the game but in order to get more you must purchase it from the shop.  This is not really something you need to play or enjoy the app though.
     Your water gauge will let you know how much water you have drank today.
     At the bottom right is the water drinking function.  Tap and hold to drink a glass of water.  If you want to change the size of your water glass you can swipe up the add more glass sizes.  You can see the option to add more water glasses to the left.
     The icon on the top right will give you more options.  From here you can visit your garden which stores all of your matured plants.  You can harvest seeds from your garden once a day.  Different types of plants produce different amounts of seeds.  The plants with higher difficulties to care for will grant you the most seeds once matured.
     The store can also be accessed from the top right icon.  The store is where you can gain more plant types, more planters, backgrounds that are displayed outside the window your plant is in front of, water of life and seeds.  You can also watch videos to get 9 free seeds from here a day but once you have a few matured plants in your garden you'll earn more seeds than you will know what to do with anyway, so this is really just useful for new users.
     The seeds are basically the in game currency that allows you to unlock more plants, planters and backgrounds.  Some of these can be unlocked by downloading the Walkr app, which is another health based app from the same app creators. It is a space based game that uses your step counter to advance in the game.  Unlocking certain parts of the Walkr app will allow you to gain free space themed plants, planters and backgrounds in this app!  it really doesn't take much time and the space stuff is so cute, it is definitely worth it.
     The mountain icon seen under the garden icon on your main page will allow you to change the background behind your plant.
     The wrench icon is the settings section which allows you to change your body information the volume units, whether or not to show a clock display on the main page, whether to play side effects, garden animations and if you wish the sync to your icloud.  You can also turn on or off your drink reminders or read more about Plant Nanny.
     CONCLUSION I think this is a great app.  It is cute, creative, I love the colour palette and it definitely encourages me to drink more water.  An issue I have though is that even if I drink water, I don't always remember to enter that info into the app right away.  This has made my plants sick multiple times, even though I drank enough water.  You really need to remember to enter your water intake in right away, and that can be a little tedious.  Still, I really enjoy this app and recommend it.
Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Updated: Mar 04, 2015
• Size: 85.5 MB
• Language: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Ukrainian
• Seller: FOURDESIRE CO., LTD.
• © 2014

Rated 4+ for the following:

Zombies, Run!

Zombies, Run!
     Have you ever wanted to start a morning jogging routine but you just can't seem to work up the motivation?  Well, nothing motivates more than a horde of zombies chasing you!
     Zombies, Run is a fun app game that helps you get that motivation to work out while also entertaining you with a fun radio play style story line where you are 'Runner 5' in Abel township and it is your job to help collect supplies and keep the zombies away from the home base.
     I have been playing with this app for a few months now and I really enjoy it.  Nothing is more dull than walking in complete silence, and music can get dull for me after a while.  I have to walk to school or to the market often enough so this app can really motivate me.  Especially since each time you play you collect supplies for expanding your base.  This means the more you play, the more improvements you can make.  You don't always have to play story mode either.  There are many ways to play.
     You can choose to pay for a membership which gives you access to every story mission right away.  However, I find that playing for free is fine as well.  I have to wait for time to pass before I can unlock new missions but so long as you unlock right away, even if you don't intend to play the mission right away, you can start stacking them up so they are ready when you need them.
     The story missions allow you to listen to music from another app or from your phone's music list.  The audio from the story will come and go as needed through out each mission.  When the characters are speaking it will quiet your music a bit until they are done.  You can also adjust the volume of the audio both for your background music and for the characters speaking.
     The story missions last for roughly a half hour each (If you exceed the mission time you can still keep going and the Abel township radio DJs will just come on and talk to you while you continue your run).  They will tell you directions to run and you can choose to go that way, but as this may not always be possible for you, you don't actually have to turn when they say to.  It will not affect the game, regardless of what direction you go.
     You can use GPS, the step counter or just tell it to not track your distance and play it with no tracking.  The GPS tracking is useful to me because I like to know how far I've gone as well as I have a habit of getting lost.  Because it tracks you on a map, if you get lost you can see what rout you used to get where you are and backtrack.
     There is also a feature called Zombie Chases.  You can turn it on or off.  I like to turn it on if I am walking on a trail but turn it off if I am walking to a shoppe.  I don't want to seem like a mad person if I am close to the store and suddenly start running like mad because I think there is a horde of zombies on my tail.  The way this feature works is that randomly through out your mission there will be chances for a zombie chase.  Sometimes it happens multiple times per mission and other times a mission will pass with no chases.  When zombies are nearby you will get a notification letting you know how close they are.  You will have to increase your speed (This does not work with tracking off) to outrun the zombies.  If they catch you they will steal some of the supplies you have gathered.  They have only caught me once.  I assume that if you have no supplies they may give you a game over, but I really don't know.  Once you have run far enough from the zombies you will get another notification to let you know that it is safe to slow your speed again.
     There are training plans for training for marathons as well.  I have not used these, personally.  I am not a great runner as I have asthma.
     Airdrop is a feature that can only be used if you pay.  It will show you some place on the map where you can obtain supplies for your town.  You will need to make your way to that location (Tracking must be on).
     Supply missions are fun little missions that you can do when you are waiting for story missions to unlock or if you don't want to do a timed mission.  Supply missions are endless and will continue until you stop them.  This is a great way to get extra goodies to upgrade your home base.
     Interval training is another membership only feature.  It allows you to create a plan that includes running, sprinting and walking to get the best workout.
     The app also has races ranging from 5k to 20k.  As I stated earlier, I am not a great runner so I did not take advantage of this option.  It has hidden story scenes that can only be experienced through these missions though.
     The last mission section is Abel radio.  It is the same thing you hear if you exceed your time on story missions, but without the story mission first.  It is fun to listen to the DJs banter about what parts of the area have a lot of zombies today and what politics are going on between different townships.

     You may notice I keep discussing the base and collecting supplies.  You are in charge of upgrading the base using supplies you have gathered.  You can build farms, houses, schools and such.  You can expand the township or upgrade what it has.  You can even add aesthetic features just to keep the population happy.  You need to keep a balance of population, happiness and defence in order to maintain your town, so build carefully.
     Codex is a way to view any artifacts you have obtained through your missions as well and the supplies you have gathered.  Oh the amount of socks and underwear packs I have collected...  You can also view your achievements.  Because who doesn't like achievements?  There are currently 6 possible achievements.  They are as follows:
And So it Begins: Complete the first story mission.
Baby Steps: Complete 5 missions.
Give Me Your Tired: 100 Population in your township/base.
So, That happened: Complete season 1.
...Your Poor...: 350 population in your township/base.
Speed Racer: Complete all race missions.
    The more option lets you look at your account, purchase a membership (Monthly 2.99 USD, Yearly 19.99 USD), check your running statistics (Only with membership), view your run logs, browse your settings and view your downloads (And delete missions you downloaded, but already cleared, so long as you don't want to go back and do them again).
     There are sometimes live events that you can sign up for (You have to pay but they are worth it).  I have never done them but I always sort of want to.  You get to run a marathon with lots of other people at the same time and listen to the story live.  You also get a bunch of goodies shipped to you like a running shirt and a medal for competing.
     CONCLUSION:  The common complaints I have heard are that people don't like the acting in the story and that they can not get zombie chases to work.  This is my response to those concerns.  On Zombie Chases, people need to make sure their tracking is on and know that zombie chases are random.  They may not always happen in every mission.  As for the acting, I thought it was fine.  There is a 'baby' that is slightly annoying but it rarely shows up and it doesn't ruin the entire app just because every now and then an obnoxious baby can be heard.  I really like some of the actors and though it is kind of campy... zombies and campy work for me.
     I really enjoy this app and use it regularly.  I plan to keep using it.  I would recommend it to any fan of zombies or anyone who likes radio plays, books on tape or anyone who needs motivation to get out and move!
Rating: 5/5

• Free
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Updated: May 03, 2016
• Version: 5.0
• Size: 250 MB
• Apple Watch: Yes
• Language: English
• Seller: Six to Start
• © Six to Start

Rated 12+ for the following:

• Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
• Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
• Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
• Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity
• Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

Breathing for Health

Breathing for Health App for iPhone
     Being able to control your breathing is very important.  It helps during yoga and exercise. It helps when you are running or when you are trying to relieve stress by taking deep breaths and relaxing.
テラシュールウェア  have created this application to help you to control your breathing.
     I do yoga and exercise.  However, I also have trouble with asthma.  It can be especially bothersome when I need to walk somewhere.  I thought this application might be useful for me for that reason.  If I could control my breathing when my asthma starts kicking in, I wouldn't be gasping or struggling to breathe. (Yes, I have an inhaler, but I don't like using it)
     So, upon starting the application up we see the title and a calm serene looking landscape.  Very peaceful and vivid.
     There is a settings menu that appears, which gives you the breathing rate options.  Depending on what you are doing, you will need to change the settings.  You can set the time for 5 to 60 minutes (By 5s.  So 5, 10, 15, etc).  You can also switch between two breathing styles.  In and out, or in, pause, out.  The second being more for relaxation and yoga.  The first one being better for jogging and such.  And lastly you can control the tempo.  It's on a scale of 1-5.  5 being the fastest.
     When the settings are correct for what you need, click the start button at the bottom.  You will then see the next display screen.  The breathing will not begin immediately.  There is a play icon in the center of the screen.  Hitting this will begin your breathing.  You can also pause at any time, if you feel like you need to.  This can also be good for mid yoga breaks.
     You will see a pie chart in the top right.  For in and out, there will be two parts, In, pause, out will contain 3.  There is a little animated character that will tell you to breath in, out or pause.  This will all depend on which part of the pie chart you are on.  There is also a note playing for each part of the pie chart to audibly tell you when to breathe in or out, should you be unable to look at the phone.  The timer is at the bottom, so you know how much longer you have until your breathing session is complete.
  There is also a small information panel built into the application.  I have screen captured it for you.  It is to the left.
     I like the unique and useful idea for this application.  The graphics are very attractive.  I find the audio to be very useful.  However, it can get a bit annoying, after listening to it for several minutes.  I would like to see a mute option added at some time in the future.
     All in all, the only real issue I see is that the price is very high for this application. It's a great idea, and I could see them profiting off of it.  However, I feel that the high cost could very well be causing many users to decide against the purchase.  I think a reasonable price for this is 99 cents.  I think 1.99 could work, if it is updated often (Maybe they could add different scenes to switch between, or maybe different audio options).  These would be easy to implement and could make the costumers happy and the cost reasonable.  However, where the price is currently will cause me to lower the score a bit.  If the price were lower, I would surely give this application a higher score.
Rating: 4/5

• $3.99
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Updated: May 31, 2012
• Version: 1.01
• Size: 7.8 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese
• Seller: KAZUHISA HIRATA
• © テラシュールウェア

Rated 4+

Age of Ears

Age of Ears App for iPhone
     Have you ever wondered how well you hear?  There is a certain amount of hearing loss that the average person suffers as they age.  This application will test your ears in a way to show how far along you've come in that sense.
     Younger people can hear a range of sounds that older people generally can not.  in the same way that animals such as dogs and cats can hear things people can not.  So this will sound off a lower pitch sound and gradually get higher and higher.  The sooner you lose that sound (Can no longer hear it) the older your ears are.
     You touch the large button in the middle and hold.  When you can no longer hear the tone, you remove your finger from the button and it will give you your relative hearing age.  Did you get a score that's right for your age?  A bit older?  A bit younger?
     Many things in our daily lives can influence how much hearing loss we receive.  If you live a nice quiet lifestyle, chances are your hearing level will be that of a younger person, or right on par.  If you live in the city, have a job in a factory or in the military... It is likely you will have a greater level of hearing loss.  And as such will like score on par or older than your actual age.
     As for me, I have particularly good hearing.  This is likely due to the fact that I am legally blind.  When you lose part of or all of a particular sense, your other senses work over time to make up for it.  I have a great sense of smell, sound, taste and touch.  So naturally I scored below my actual age.  Though I was surprised at how low, to be honest.  but this explains why I can hear people whispering from across the house.  And why my I can sometimes hear my neighbors alarms going off in the morning when they are in a separate house.
     There is a volume setting as well as a reset button.  You may adjust these as needed.  It's a free application so I encourage you to try it out and see how well you score.  I feel that it is always important to know as much about yourself as possible.  After all, you should know yourself better than anyone else does.
     This is a great application.  Simple and to the point.  I enjoyed it.  I think the only way it might be improved is with some medical information provided as a resource. Something that explains what this means and why it scored you as such.  Why we can't hear certain sounds at certain ages and other such information.
Rating: 4.5/5

• Free
• Category: Health & Fitness
• Updated: Apr 21, 2012
• Version: 1.1.1
• Size: 3.3 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: IKKO OGAWA
• © Nenriki-inc

Melanoma Watch

Melanoma Watch App for iPhone
     I downloaded this application because of the cute icon... To my dismay, the application itself was ... not up to par.
     One would think that this application would to full of useful information about melanoma and tell you what to watch for and so on.  That is not what we have in this application.  It looks like someone did a Google image search for some reference photos and stuck them together and called it an app.
     We start with a search... We can choose things via the search, but it just takes us to the image wheel.  If we search through the image wheel there is still no actual information.  Just tiny images.
     No where that I have found, does this application link you to real information.  I would suggest skipping the application all together and just doing a Wiki search.  You'd get a lot more out of it.
     You would think that the magnifying glass on the image wheel would make the selected image larger.  This is not what it does. The magnifying glass, when selected, takes you to the text search.  When you select something through the text search, it takes you to the image wheel.
     Selecting the play button on the image wheel makes the application slowly go through each image.
     Clicking the home button takes you to the top screen with the drawing of the purple haired girl and the "start button".  Which seems sort of pointless, to be honest.
     Not only is this application next to useless, it has been known to crash on some devices.
     I would not recommend downloading this application.  You'd be better off with Wiki, or just using a Google image search, which is more than obviously all these people did.
     There is an option to buy the application to get rid of the ads at the bottom.  Assuming that's all it does (Since that's all it claims to do) I honestly wouldn't bother.  I am deleting the free version off of my phone immediately upon finishing this review.  Don't waste your time on it.
Rating: 1/5

• Free
• Category: Medical
• Released: Aug 05, 2010
• Version: 1.0
• Size: 4.3 MB
• Language: English
• Seller: William Wray
• © pixid ltd

Hair Loss Checker

Hair Loss Checker App for iPhone
     This is an application for checking to see if you are experiencing or will experience hair thinning or hair loss.  I downloaded it for multiple reasons.  Mostly I thought the icon looked cute.  I was hoping the entire application would match, but was a bit disappointed.
     As you see to the right, there are 4 icon on the main screen.  there are quick click icons at the bottom for the same things.
     Calculator will take you to a page explaining the purpose of the calculator and how it works.  It warns that this is not an official medical diagnosis, and that you should see a dermatologist for a true diagnosis.
     You can choose from many languages available, including English, Korean, French, Japanese and more.
     The calculator is a series of questions.  You can answer from a multiple choice selection.  I will list some sample questions below.
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How Old Am I?
How Many Hairs Fell Out Recently? (It does not specify "how recently".  Today?  this week?  After one brushing?)
Who In My Family Are Suffering From Hair Loss?
How Long Is My Average Sleeping Hour?
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At the end of this questionnaire it gives you results based on how you answered the questions.  You can then "retry" or "Ask Question"
     "Ask a Question" at the bottom of the Calculator takes you to the same page as the home "All Questions" button does.  This is a large empty page.  You can refresh it or write a new question.
     Your new question must be sent via email and will be answered and posted in this section.  I am not sure "who" is answering these questions or whether or not they are a doctor that is qualified to do so.
     Sometimes loading the Questions page will glitch the app, removing any quick tab buttons or any means of going "back".  You will essentially be stuck on this page until you close and reopen the application.
     Information will take you to a page that gives you a quick paragraph about hair loss.
     Diary is the last section that has to be covered.  in this section you will type in your personal data.  It will ask you a series of questions and develop a graph, based on the data.  Any day you can come back and take it again, which will help you to keep track of your graph.
     Some of the information this app provides is that excess sleep is unhealthy.  You should sleep no more than 8 hours daily.  Water is vital for hair growth.  You should drink over 6 glasses of water today.You should eat Fish, Nuts, Fruits & Vegetables rather than High-Fat, High-Calorie food.  So basically information most people know.
     I didn't find this application to be as useful as I had hoped it would be.  Nor was it 'cute' in any way.  It is a decent application concept.  I do love the fact that it's available in many languages.  Though some parts are only displayed in Korean.  It isn't a bad application.  It's just not as helpful as I had hoped it would be (And not as plentiful in eye candy).
Rating: 3/5

• Free
• Category: Medical
• Size: 1.6 MB
• Languages: English, Chinese, Korean
• Seller: SEUNG PYO PARK
• © 2010 monegi Inc.

MoeShake!

Moe Shake! App for iPhone
     This is another one of those applications that requires you to shake your phone.  Not unlike Angry Boy.  I'm not for shaking an expensive technical device, but let's try to stay neutral for this review.
     Unlike Angry Boy which can be used to make a few small shakes with the same or better  efficiency than large furious shakes, this application actually requires a lot of shaking.  After all, it is called Moe "shake".
     As you can see in the screen to the right, you shake the phone as much as you can.  Make sure you have a very firm grip.  Depending on how many shakes the app counts (Not always the most accurate count), you will receive a different level, which is accompanied by a different image of the character.
     The character will tell you when to start and speak to you when the round is complete.  You can try as often as you like to try and get a better score.  What I would love is for this application to add a "gallery mode".  This would have all of the available images locked until you get a score high enough to unlock it.  Then you could view your winning image whenever you like.
     This could be considered a really good form of exercise.  You have to work really hard to try to get those higher scores.  Try switching arms to work out both sides equally.
     If you are really worried about your phone slipping out of your grip you could hold your phone and slip your hand into a sock or something of the sort.  Then if it does slip out of your grip, it wont go flying across the room.
     I have personally not been able to get all of the scores.  The higher ones are so hard.  I got 'so close' to getting the score for 200.  But my arm was exhausted from all of the shaking.  Below you can see some of the images from the first few shake levels. 

     A fair warning, do not allow young people to download this application.  The app itself does not appear (As far as I've seen) to contain mature content but the ads that show at the bottom are for pornographic material.  Clicking the banner will take them to a browser site with unsavory images.
     I like the idea of an application that's cute as well as useful for exercise.  I am still not pleased with the fact that it involves vigorously shaking your phone.  If you are not worried about damaging your phone through shaking, get this.  it's cute, fun to try to get a higher score and helps work up those arm muscles.
Rating: 4/5

• Free
• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 12.6 MB
• Languages: English, Japanese
• Seller: 翔志 中曽根
• © MoeShake!