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3/13 Apple App Store Roundup

Savan Thongvanh — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:54:35 +0000

This is the first installment of a weekly feature here in the interweb, our App Roundup. In this feature we’ll recap the top 10 free apps for the week in the iTunes App Store and review the top app or if we’ve already reviewed that we’ll cover the next one in the list.

Here we go!

This week’s top app is Fingerzilla by Inert Soap. Fingerzilla is another great little game that in no time, you can get lost in. There’s only one thing to do and that’s smash stuff with your finger and cause havoc. There are nice little bits like people running around, police cars, helicoptors, and other things running around to squish and burn if you get tired of crushing diners and quicky marts.

Fingerzilla also hooks up to OpenFeint which is a social hook to iPhone gaming. Check that out at http://www.openfeint.com/. This game isn’t going to win and graphics awards but it is a great way to kill some time in an airport or waiting room.

Here are some screen shots from Fingerzilla and the rest of the list.

And here’s the rest of the field

Fingerzilla by Inert Soap
Baby Scratch by Async
A Doodle Fly by j2sighte
Sniper Strike by Donoma Games
Tap Fish by Bayview Labs
Cool Wallpapers by Appsillicious
Zombie Farm by Playforge
Original Gangstaz by The Godfather
Singshot Cowboy by Digital Prunes, Inc, and
Scoops by NimbleBit

Could this be the iPad and iPhone’s long awaited camera?

Savan Thongvanh — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:55:18 +0000

I think we’ve all realized that the mobile device race is not about size anymore. Today’s race is about feature density and Toshiba has leapt past all of it competition in the mobile camera department.

Today Toshiba announced a TWELVE megapixel camera and chip for mobile. With most a US domestic cameras using cameras at or below 5 megapixels this is a chip that really pushes Moore’s law.

The device offers support for up to two cameras, with the primary camera using a MIPI link and the secondary camera using a MIPI link or parallel port. The bridge enables high-speed serial interfaces on both the Host via MDDI and camera side via MIPI CSI-2 allowing support for up to 12 megapixel primary camera and up to 2 megapixel secondary camera in one handset. It is compatible with systems using Qualcomm® baseband processors with an MDDI interface.

There has long been talk of a relationship between Apple and Qualcomm. If that were the case this this just might be the thing that gets a forward facing camera in the iPad and iPhone.

See the release from Toshiba

More on iPad/iPhone/iTouch specs

Canadian TV brings the 2010 Olympics to your iPhone

Savan Thongvanh — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:12:18 +0000

With the start of the Olympics here who better than the Canadians to keep us on top of the events. Canadian TV has an iPhone app to help you stay on top of your Olympic Games.

Screenshots after the jump

The app is free and does a good job at what it was designed for, helping you find information on the games. Here are some high points:

The look and feel is great. CTV did a great job of putting together a nice clean product with some cool graphics in it.

it’s GPS enabled! If I were in Canada instead of IOWA I’d be able to use the app to find and get to all the venues for the games.

The calendar makes sense. The calendar is not a 40×40 grid of events and times. It simply list the events by day to get you started.

It helps you cheer for the home team when yours isn’t playing. The app has a feature that lets you flip through the Canadian Olympic team’s members by sport and gives you their bios.

Check it out at the app store

More Apps

Comparing Apples to Apples (to Apples): iPhone vs iTouch vs iPad

Savan Thongvanh — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:26:07 +0000

With this weeks announcement of the Apple iPad they now say they have a new category of device. Some say that the new category is just a bigger version of everything else they have. We’ll let the tale of the tape tell the story.

I’ll give you a hint, if you squint a little at the spec comparisons you won’t be able to tell iPad from iPhone from iTouch.

Let’s check out the specs Apples to Apples (to Apples).

	iPhone (3GS)	iTouch	iPad
Processor	600mhz	800mhz	1ghz A4
Storage (GB)	16/32	8/32/64	16/32/64
Display	3.5″	3.5″	9.7″ IPS
USB Ports	0	0	1
Video Support*	H.264	Support for 480p and 576p component TV out H.264 video	1024 by 768 pixels with Dock Connector to VGA Adapter H.264 video up to 720p
Audio	Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Audio formats supported: AAC, MP3, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV User-configurable maximum volume limit
Microphone	Yes	No	Yes
Headphone Jack	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wifi	b/g	b/g	a/b/g/n
Accelerometer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ambient Light Sensor	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stated battery Capacity	Talk time: Up to 12 hrs on 2G Up to 5 hrs on 3G Standby time: Up to 300 hrs Internet use: Up to 5 hrs on 3G Up to 9 hrs on Wi-Fi Video Up to 10 hrs Audio Up to 30 hrs	Music: Up to 30 hrs Video: Up to 6 hrs	10 hrs
Blue tooth	Yes	Yes	Yes
3G	UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)	None	UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) Data only2
GPS	Yes	Yes	Yes
Camera	3MP	none	none

*lower grade modes also supported