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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 18:24
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10 best iOS apps for keeping in touch
It's more or less inevitable that, sooner or later, you'll spend a holiday season apart from someone special to you.
Whether it's a sibling freshly emigrated to sunnier climes or a close friend who has moved cities to take up a new job, we all know the dull ache that comes from missing someone during an important time.
Fortunately, as technology has got cleverer and cleverer, it has also become easier and cheaper to stay in touch. With broadband near-ubiquitous in the first world, and gaining a substantial foothold elsewhere, it's become the norm to fire up Skype in an evening or early morning to chat with a far-flung friend or relative via a video call, all without spending a penny – something that was firmly the preserve of science fiction books and films until recently.
The myriad of ways to stay in touch with people – phoning, chatting via text or sending physical reminders through the post – have also made it to your iOS device, and sometimes in spectacular ways. You might find yourself sending your gran a postcard while you're on your way home from work, or calling a friend in New York for free over your iPhone's 3G connection, for instance.
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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 18:24
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Best iPad and iPhone 2D shoot 'em ups
2D shoot 'em ups aren't as in vogue as they once were, having mostly been replaced by games where you roam around dim 3D corridors before getting shot.
But in recent years, simple shooty thrills have found a new lease of life on handheld consoles, and with gamers yearning for old-school twitch-based arcade excitement.
Gaming veterans will happily reel off lists of classic games of this type, until you force them to stop (possibly by swinging a 1980s joystick in front of their eyes, thus hypnotising them), but the genre really started with Space Invaders – that's the important one.
And like all true classics, Space Invaders is still fun to play today, with the act of defeating the hordes of aliens using just your lonely ship still feeling heroic. (One might also argue that the game showcases some seriously poor army funding on the part of both humans and aliens.
Our guys fend off worldwide enslavement with a single cannon that only fires one shot at a time. Meanwhile, the aliens are lumbered with ships that hang in the air, waiting to be shot, rather than swooping down in an instant, so the occupants can declare themselves our lords and masters. But anyway…)
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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 18:24
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iOS FPS games: going beyond Doom
Before Doom, id Software released another game that established the elements of what we now recognise as a first-person shooter. You need only check out the iOS version of (£1.49, Universal) to see the lineage.
A 3D world, movement and strafing performed on one controller, another used to look around, an arsenal of weapons, health packs and (semi) intelligent enemies. It's a little crude by today's standards, but as a piece of nostalgia it's well worth a look.
Clearly this was an avenue to be further explored, so id followed it up with the legendary Doom. The iOS version of this landmark title – rebranded (£1.99, Universal) – is an almost perfect recreation of the original game.
We say almost, because after the release of the original game, creative players were able to make their own levels and content to share with the Doom-playing community, which isn't really possible with the iPad.
Apart from this, it's pixel for pixel the same game that wowed young gamers back in 1993. The developer has kindly included three different control options, though why they bothered is anyone's guess, since only the standard set-up – movement on the left pad, camera on the right – is any good.
Due to its age, it neither looks as good as modern FPS games or plays as slickly. In addition, the satanic themes and gore that so shocked the authorities back in the day now seem comparatively quaint.
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Wednesday, 22 February 2012 18:24
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The iPhone is a perfect sat-nav device. Small enough to sit discreetly on your dashboard, but big enough that you can glance – rather than squint – at it, all you need now is the perfect app to use with it.
A quick search of the App Store will show you there's lots of choice, from free ones to apps costing over £50. So we've picked four of the big players: TomTom, Garmin, CoPilot and Sygic, as well as one cheap alternative: Navmii GPS Live UK.
When you're choosing an app, think about where in the world you're likely to use it, and buy the correct version. And remember that while you don't need an internet connection to use these, since the maps are stored on your phone, you will need it for live traffic information.
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