Monthly Archives: September 2009

Weekly app review – 27 Sep

September 28, 2009 07:00 by Marc in iPhone

I have decided to start a weekly review of a couple of the iPhone apps I have downloaded over the last week, to give an idea of whats out there, and get some comments on what I may be missing out on. Let me know in the comments what apps you downloaded this last week, and if you tried any of the apps I mentioned what you thought.

Best Camera – $2.99 (Link Opens iTunes)
WOW. Fast becoming my new favorite photo app on the iPhone, and if you follow me on twitter, you will see some of the pics I have created using it. I also did a quick review of it earlier this week. The app was created by world renowned photographer Chase Jarvis. To see some of the images I have magically created, check out my iPhone Photo blog iPhonetograph.com

Ping! – Free for a limited time (Link Opens iTunes)
A fantastic app, that allows you to instantly message you iPhone contacts, which then sends them a push notification, when they receive the message. Works similar to Blackberry Messenger, and cheaper than SMS. Just get it. It is free in the app store now, and is going to become an essential app to have on your iPhone. Ping me -> MarcF

Aardvark – Free (Link Opens iTunes)

South African’s, don’t be fooled. This is NOT that dodgy search engine we all once used. Promise. (I will not be responsible for you clicking that link :))
Aardvark, is set to become the next big thing. Trust me, and when it does, just say you read it here first. Aardvark allows you to post a question, about almost anything, and then matches you up with the best person for the job, and send them an IM or alerts them through their iPhone app. And as the community grows, the more clever people come on board, the more questions get answered, accurately, and the faster they get answered. I have asked a couple of questions, and within minutes, I have received a push notification that I have an answer. The system also works on Instant messaging, so it may randomly pop up (you can set it to how often you want it to ask you), and ask you to help answer the question. You specify your fields of speciality, and it works on that. Just trust me on this one. Really. To see what Aardvark is all about, and to sign up, go to Vark.com

Best Camera iPhone App

September 23, 2009 15:01 by Marc in iPhone

Chase Jarvis is a world renowned photographer, who has one of the most awe inspiring portfolio’s I have ever seen, has released his own iPhone app, aptly called Best Camera (Opens iTunes). Why Best camera ? Cause as Chase says the “Best Camera is the one that’s with you”. At $2.99 on the App store this app is a Steal !!!

The app has 14 different filters which can be applied to photos you have taken on your iPhone. Some of the cool filters include Warmify, which adds yellow tones, Jewel, a one Touch signature filter which creates rich textual looks. You can also one click crop to square, as well as add frames. Given 14 different filters you can make your photos look absolutely awesome :)

Once you have finished applying the filters, you can upload to twitter, facebook or the specially developed community site for the app , http://www.thebestcamera.com/

I have been playing around with it for the last day or so, and am blow away. Below are some of the images I have created using the BestCamera app:

Win a copy of RadioPod

September 22, 2009 15:40 by Marc in iPhone

Yesterday I mentioned that the new App, called RadioPod, from the guys at immedia had been released. I have been reviewing the app for the last couple of weeks, and I can honestly say this is one fantastic app.

The app showcases the best of South African podcasts, and I love the fact that I can listen to Whackhead prank phone calls a few minutes after it has been played live on air. I also love being able to listen to the Internet Economy with Reuben Goldberg, or Technobyte with Aki Anastasiou

To celebrate the launch of my new side project, called SAiPhoneApps, and RadioPod, we have 3 copies of RadioPod to give away. To enter simply leave a comment on this post on SAiPhoneApps and tell us what is your favourite South African podcast?

Competition closes on Friday 25th September 2009 at 11am, and you must have a US iTunes account(see here how to get a US iTunes account) for the promo code to work.

Navigon MobileNavigator South Africa

September 21, 2009 17:06 by Marc in iPhone, iPhone GPS App

Well, this isn’t technically a South African developed iPhone app, but it is designed primarily for South African’s. Navigon brings you their GPS navigational software, Mobilenavigator, with South African Maps.

After Tom Tom announced they would be bringing their software to the iPhone earlier this year, everyone has been hanging on waiting for it. They have released the software around the world, but South Africa have yet to feature.

I haven’t yet downloaded the new Software from Navigon, because I just can’t seem to justify the $74.99 (±R560) price tag, when all I need to do is get to work and back. Sure I have my GPS lying in my car but it hardly gets used. This app will be fantastic for visitors to South Africa, and I’m glad to see we cracking the nod ahead of other countries round the world.

You can download the software from the iTunes store here. If anyone does take the plunge be sure to let us know, by leaving a comment below, what you think of the software

Win a copy of SimplyTweet

September 20, 2009 07:59 by Marc in iPhone

The guys over at Simply Tweet have released their updated version on this awesome app. You will remember a while ago, I did a quick look at Simply Tweet and version 2.3 has really upped the stakes in the iPhone twitter app market.
For me the biggest selling point for this app is the push notifications you get whenever you get a Direct Message or @Reply in your twitter stream. The notification is instant, so you always know whats happening on your twitter stream .I also love that it I can use Posterous for my Picture hosting, as this allows me to upload to all my other services instantly. Another great feature for me, is when you send a DM, even if it over 140 characters it will spilt the DM up into separate DM’s. All in all this is THE best iPhone Twitter client.

The dev are also fantastic and listen to your requests. Just after I first downloaded it I asked, on twitter, about possibly changing the date format, and I can happily say, this was implemented in the 2.3 release. for updates on whats happening with SimplyTweet you can follow the dev team on twitter at @SimplyTweet.

Here are some of the awesome features of SimplyTweet:

Push notification support for Direct Messages and Mentions, showing new messages in the application badge
Configurable push notification sounds
Themes
Saved views (create groups of friends, etc)
Photos search
Saved notes for accounts
Multiple accounts support, with quick switch support
HootSuite integration: importing of Twitter accounts from HootSuite
Support for updating user profiles from within SimplyTweet, including profile picture
Bookmarklet Support
Landscape drafting mode (both Tweets and DM)
Landscape view for builtin web browser
Tweetshrink support (both tweets and DM)
URL shortening
Send direct messages longer than 140 characters
Unread tweet indicators for all themes
Instapaper Support
Posterous Support (multiple photos and video upload) with hashtags converted to Posterous tags
TwitPic support (multiple photos)
yfrog support (multiple photos and video upload)
img.ly support (multiple photos)
TwitrPix support (multiple photos)
TwitVid support (video upload)
Browse conversations – display the reply chain of a message all in 1 screen
Browse conversations between you and another person – display the tweets between you all in 2 screen
Bigger text option

Some of the cool new features to be added in Version 2.3 include:

UI changes across every theme, including re-arranging the account view
Every theme now has (the same) unread indicator
Re-arranged settings in Settings app
Various screens, including contact pickers, followers/friends lists and tweet/DM drafting views now has a dark background when using Twilight theme
Miles instead of km will be used in proximity search if your system-wide setting is as such
Better push handling – upon startup, if there is an application badge, meaning there was a push previously and SimplyTweet was not launched), the mentions and DM timelines will be autoloaded
Support for Twitvid.com
You can now configure a sound to play when you receive a push
You can configure a sound to play upon sending a tweet/DM
You can now send DMs longer than 140 characters. They get broken up into shorter DMs in reverse order so it reads nicely anywhere. And in SimplyTweet, it tries to concat them together into a long DM. Try it!
Post.ly (Posterous) links now display inline if it is short enough.
Add support for TwitLonger viewing, similar to inline view for post.ly links
Updated icons
Favorited tweets are now indicated in timelines
When you add a link to Instapaper, the tweet text is now set as the summary
You can now delete attachments while drafting a tweet/DM. Hint: press the cancel button

These are just some of the changes and cool features in this fantastic app. The app is $4.99 in the app store and is well worth the price. You can buy it from the app store here. If you want some more info on SimplyTweet, be sure to check out http://motionobj.com/simplytweet/

WIN A COPY OF SIMPLYTWEET

Now for the fun part, the Dev team at MobtionObj have kindly sponsored 3 promo codes for the SimplyTweet app, and you can get a FREE copy of this app, by simply leaving a comment below on this post. The competition will close on Wednesday 23 September 5pm SAST.Winners will be chosen randomly using http://www.random.org/. The codes are ONLY valid in the US iTunes App store (To get a US iTunes account follow the steps here http://www.marcforrest.com/2009/08/06/5-iphone-tips-tricks/).

If you would really like to show some support, and help increase your chances of winning, spread the word by tweeting the following message as well :)