Smartphone Apps Herman the Hermit for Android

The demand for games for the Android continues to be met with another in a long line of cartoonish gaming apps based around a wacky character.  There’s already at least forty apps on the Android Market with the same development plan; simply because it keeps meeting with incredible success.  It’s funny to think back to years ago when games like these would sell for over thirty dollars on a PSP.  Smartphone apps like Herman the Hermit have a welcomed place in the heart of avid gamers though because it returns them to a simpler time where arcades were the proven grounds for manhood.

I digress, Herman the Hermit is a jump from this platform to the next game.  It is rather entertaining and has excellent graphics.  It’s much better on a high resolution smartphone, although it can be played on lower resolution models.

If you would like to add another cartoon type diversion producing smartphone app to your arsenal then Herman the Hermit should bring you at least a few hours of entertainment.  At a $1.99 on the android market, this app is worth it.

Smartphone Apps to Check Out This Week

Tower Defense: Lost Earth for iPhone

This is one of the most popular paid apps available in iTunes right now, and for the extremely low price at which its being offered its surprising more people haven’t downloaded it yet. This game has many different levels to play, multiple maps, and hours of game time. Many people may be turned off by this after playing the demo, which can be easily beaten, but that is their mistake. The full version of the game proves to be much more challenging than the demo and has a full range of weapons for you to use instead of a select few. While some may argue that this game requires little or no strategy, there are five times as many who have listed this as one of their favorites, earning it the title of Best Tower Defense game currently available.

Flick Golf for iPhone

Golf has never been easier or more fun to play, especially on days when you are stuck in the office or traveling, or if the weather just isn’t suitable for a day at the course. This game is great for any age and you’re proficiency at golf is irrelevant to this game. A simple flick of your finger sends your golf ball flying down the course, but make sure you take into account the wind to get the most accurate shot possible! This game has recently expanded, now with even more holes and courses to play. There are also different tour modes available, as well as QuickShot, which allows for even more game play. They are constantly creating new holes and levels for this game, just keep an eye out for updates and add-ons.

Privacy Issues with Smartphone Apps

Smartphone apps have become important parts of our daily routines.  We might take a look at one app to plan out the week based on the weather, check news, sports scores or even look at our security cams guarding our homes.  With many of these smartphone apps, there’s a third, fourth and possibly fifth person looking into the data that is being transferred back and forth and you may have unknowingly invited them to do so.

This is why it is so important to first know what you are agreeing to when handing over permissions and secondly, knowing that your permissions are being given to a trusted company only.  You might be surprised to learn what can actually be gathered and performed on your smartphone by outside sources that you give permissions to.  You many already know that you can be tracked, but did you know that phone calls can be placed from your number?

With lawsuits still pending for some of the big named companies and their improper distribution of their customer’s data, you may want to be more cautious of the apps you give permissions to.  The Wall Street Journal, warned of this late last year and since then companies like Apple, Pandora and Google have seen days in court over the issue.  The problem isn’t just with big companies though, but with the apps that they serve.  One app that was distributed on the iPhone App Store gathered data from users and sent it to advertising agencies with the users ever knowing.

The only way to truly keep your smartphone secure is to never turn it on it would seem, but that is not necessarily so.  Just be aware of what you are agreeing to before you hit ok and only use apps that are from trusted sites.  The app market is fairly new, so some of this can be expected.  Some of it may have been unintentional, but it appears that customers will have to give apps either no attention or the benefit of the doubt.

Smart Phone Apps LauncherPro for Android

Description:

If you are looking for a simple way to customize your Android then LauncherPro is the ticket. LauncherPro has a clean design and offers a great solution to bringing more usability to your home screen. The drawer for apps lets you keep your of your apps and widgets in one place giving you more space and a lot more options. The dock bar is also an improved way to launch your apps and is the solution to those that have a multitude of apps but are running out of usable room. In comparison with other launcher utilities on the market, LauncherPro offers the best set of widgets, utilities and overall functionality.

Features:

Icon Pack Support
Hide Icons
Smoother Scrolling
Seven Home Screens
App Drawer
Shortcut Dock That Scrolls

Conclusion:

LauncherPro offers a great way to tidy up your home screens while giving you a lot more options and space management. One of the best utilities of its kind on the Android Market.

Smartphone Android

The Google OS keeps smacking down other app operating systems but keeping up with all of the changes that the Android OS undergoes can be a serious pain if you are a developer working with the software. Right now, it’s kind of like the WordPress of app development; super popular, brand familiarity, but there’s just a ton of cooks in the kitchen and that’s not always a good thing.

Android Market

One thing that WordPress does have that is completely different from the way that Android apps are handled is an organized forum for their plugins. We are definitely not the first to comment or complain about this, but the Android Market is seriously lacking an fluidity or concept of useful organization. Hopefully, as more sites point this out to z’Google, they will take steps to improve upon it. They could easily knock Apple down a few pegs if they could make the Android Market user friendly.

Google Please

We will give Google credit as they are trying to make improvements. The customer reviews are still a nightmare of nonsense and babble, which is probably why you are visiting this site. A lot of the problems that the Android Market is having is with their virtual open door policy for app makers. They ran into some problems before with a bit of an attack, but the content control just isn’t there like it is with Apple’s App Store. We completely appreciate the free society mentality of the Android Market, but it isn’t quite a Utopia yet and is much more like a state of anarchy.

It really becomes a problem when it comes down to trying to get an app through your smartphone. Going to the Android Market on a smartphone can be an incredible pain because it lacks any kind of intuitive feel. One thing for instance that we can point out that really bugs us is that you can search for an app, it will Googlize what you type in and bring up the name of an app, you click it and the Android Market doesn’t even have it. That’s kind of a problem. We still love you Android, just please make the Android Market better.

TatTap Tattoo App

TatTap – The Ultimate Tattoo App for the Android,  iPhone.  Tattoos are a way of life, get one and find out how your perspective on life changes completely.  Not only do you belong to an entire culture, but you andeveryone within that culture is an individual, someone that knows who they are and can commit to it with skin and ink. TatTap brings tattoo culture together into one easy to use app that captures tats, shares them with other enthusiasts and can get you ratings on the best tats along with helping you find over 10000 Tattoo parlors across the globe.

If you are a tattoo art enthusiast, then the tattoo parlor locational awareness feature will be a complete thrill for you.  No matter where you are, if there is a little tattoo place hidden away then TatTap will tell you exactly how to get there.

Features:

• Celebrity Tattoos with member ratings
• Find tattoo parlors and artists anywhere you are with location aware technology
• Check out what a tattoo will look like on you before you take ink to skin
• Capture Images of your tats and upload them to TatTap

• Search for tattoo related topics
• Voting on the best uploaded tattoos each week, month and even a yearly vote – over 5000 Tattoo photos

• An immense database of virtual tattoos
• Check out ratings and reviews of nearly 10,000 tattoo artists and tattoo parlors
• Discuss tattoos with other like-minded individuals using the TatTap forum

• Search tattoos by category
• Find listings for nearly 10,000 tattoo parlors and artists globally.

Conclusion:

TatTap brings the world of tattoos together in one place.  It brings a rich history, a diverse group of people and an unlimited amount of creativity and expression all under one app for the iPhone, Android.  The interface is well thought out, making it easy to find what you want without any hassles.  Being able to share tattoo art with others is a fantastic way to get the exact tattoo that you want to express who you are and what you stand for.

TatTap was developed by people that understand the true meaning of tattoo culture and personal expression.  That is why TatTap includes the functionality and features that are important to you.  If you want to show off your tats, then TatTap gives you a fun and fair forum to have rate and be rated.  This is a great way to meet the people that understand the world the way you see it and gives you the ability to connect with them right from the TatTap app.

This is a great app for those that are already inked and those that are making the life choice of getting their first tattoo.  If you know who you are and want to find the tattoo that expresses everything that is you, then TatTap is the app that can help you determine the right tattoo from artists across the globe.

Waterslide Extreme iPhone App

If you have ever been to a water kingdom and ridden down the waterslide, you’ll understand the appeal of this particular iPhone application. In fact, anyone that has ever seen anyone do that and seen the fun they get out of the experience can also quite easily understand why Waterslide Extreme is such a fun iPhone app. The fact that it’s available for free probably helps too, although there are some that would definitely pay money for this even if it wasn’t free to begin with.

User Interface

The user interface is a three-dimensional graphical user interface. It allows you to actually get a first or third person shot of the waterslide and it allows you to take a look at the beautifully rendered sides of the tube on many different angles. The outside with the beautiful day atmosphere or crisp night air is also visible at different points in the waterslide experience. Overall, the interface is quite good.

User Interaction

Interaction with the game is quite easy to pull off. All you need to do is tilt the screen of the iPhone one way or another in order to get your player moving in that direction. You can also control the speed of your slide by touching the screen and moving it in a certain way. Instructions are provided, so learning the controls takes all of thirty seconds. In the end though, you need to learn them reasonably well in order to avoid some of the surprise pitfalls along the way.

Utility and Productivity

This game is a classic time wasting game. You play it when you have time to kill, like when you are on the bus on the way to school or work. Beyond that, it does not have much use.

Final Score

Within the context of the time-wasting games, this one is definitely one of the better ones. We’ve awarded it a score of 8.5 out of 10.

NCIS iPhone App Review

In the NCIS: The Game from the TV Show iPhone app you will be able to live the exciting cases straight from the popular television show.  You will get to join the team of the Major Case Response Team that is led by Leroy Gibbs.  You will have to search crime scenes, interrogate and interview suspects and ultimately narrow down the case in order to find the criminals and murderers who would otherwise get away.

Features:

• This game will have a lot to keep you busy and interested as you are playing it.  You will have at least 5 exciting and thrilling cases that you will have to try and solve.  These cases have all been developed and created by the same team that writes and produces the actual television show
• The crime scenes that you will find in the app are actually pretty exciting and you will find that there is a ton of evidence scattered all around.  In order to find the suspects for the crime you will have to organize the evidence and make sure you put it together correctly
• There are a lot of different mini games that you can play as you go along the way and there are also some other really hard puzzles that you can try and figure out to give you a break from crime-solving
• One of the other cool things about the game is the amount of interaction that you will be able to have with the characters.  You will be able to pick whatever strategy you want in order to find out the most possible information from people
• You will get to try out a bunch of different things that they actually do on the show.  You will be able to use investigation techniques as well as interrogation techniques to find out who the criminals and murderers actually are.  You have to work fast though before it is too late!

Conclusion:

If you love the popular NCIS show then you are bound to enjoy this little iPhone app.  You will be able to go through five incredibly exciting cases and see if you have what it takes to gather all of the information and figure it out.  You will have to use all of your wits and resources in order to catch the criminals and make sure that justice is upheld.

This app has been given great reviews by iPhone app users that have reviewed it online.  It has a rating of 5 out of 5 stars and you can actually download it onto your iPhone for only $4.99.

Description:

While there is a free version of this app, the one without advertisements is much much better.  With the College Football Live Plus! iPhone app you will be able to get all of the college football coverage that you could ever imagine.   You will be able to get news, standings of teams, photographs, play by play coverage, schedules of teams of when they are playing and much more.  If you want to stay on top of the college football scene then this is the app to have.  You will have it all at your fingertips and be able to navigate it with ease.

Features:

• The best part about the paid version of this app is that you will not have to worry about any advertisements at all.  You will be able to play with the app as much as you want without any unwanted interaction
• There are also a lot of personalizing features that you can do to access your favorite teams live scores, and also to see their games or any news that has to do with the players or anyone that is a member of the staff
• You will be able to look at different teams’ schedules so that you always know when they play, and you will also get updated standings, rankings, as well as news, pictures, and even box scores for the teams
• There are a lot of different social features that you will be able to access with this app as well including the ability to either cheer on teams that you like or boo the opposing teams right during the gameplay.  You can also connect to Facebook and chat and talk smack on other fans that are out there using the app
• The navigation of the app is also a huge plus.  You will be able to easily go through and look at all of the different information that is gathered and you can do it without getting lost or confused.  There are a few main pages and also a favorites tab.
• You will also get a lot of the play by play action by just using the push button feature to see your top teams.  All of this is done in real time.

Conclusion:

This app has been given a rating of 2 1/2 out of 5 stars by multiple iPhone app users who have taken the time to leave their review.  This app also costs about $1.99 to download onto your iPhone.

Description:

In the Virtual City iPhone app you will be able to create your very own paradise for residential areas or even a thriving business industry; it’s totally up to you.  You will be able to make all kinds of products and transport them to all of your citizens through parks, movie theaters, and sport stadiums.  You can also add to the value of the city by recycling your garbage and adding hospitals and stuff.  You can plan trees and do things that will help the environment.
Features:

• In this little city building app you will be able to play in over 50 different levels that have five main settings that they are located in.  You will be able to build cities in New York, Montana, Colorado, California, and even Michigan
• As you play the game you will get to go through a bunch of different scenarios for missions.  There are 18 different scenarios that you will be able to play in.
• There are a ton of different kinds of buildings that you can build as you are creating your cities.  You will be able to build over 50 different types of buildings and this brings a lot of variety to the game
• As you build the buildings you will also be able to start enhancing the business industry by creating and trading goods.  You can produce over 25 different goods that can be traded and transported
• There are a lot of different production chains that you can learn how to master as well.  You will become familiar with over 7 different kinds of chains
• There are also a lot of different achievements that you will be able to get and unlock as you play the game.  You can earn up to 16 different special achievements
• You can upgrade most of your buildings and products as you progress in the game.  You will have tons of upgrades that you will just have to unlock at some point

Conclusion:

This app is a whole lot like Sim City where you will actually get to create your very own city as well as an industrial and business center.  It is more interactive in a lot of ways because you will be able to create a thriving business industry by producing certain types of goods and then selling them to the shopping malls for distribution.  You can fix up any kind of city you want and make it into whatever kind of paradise you’ve always dreamed of.  You will have to do deal with all kinds of problems (just like Sim City), such as natural disasters, population issues, and economic problems.  Overall, not a bad game, just not super original is all.

This app has been given a rating of 4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars by a few different iPhone app users that chose to review the game on the iTunes website.  The app can also be downloaded onto your iPhone for only $2.99.