The Need for Speed series returns to the iPhone with NFS:Shift.
(Credit: Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET)
EA Mobile has released the second iPhone game in the Need for Speed series: Need for Speed Shift.
You may remember that we took a look at Need for Speed Undercover not too long ago and found it was a fun, arcadelike take on racing with a decent number of fully customizable vehicles. Shift is an evolution of that game but with more realistic racing physics in place of the hokey storyline. Also new to Shift are customizable racing views. Users can now select between chase-cam, hood-cam, bumper-cam, and cockpit views. The cockpit view is unique to the vehicle you're driving, but unfortunately there are no working gauges. The cockpit view is also the only view that features damage modeling in the form of a windshield that gets more messed up the as you hit things.
This Nissan Z features an accurate interior, but no working gauges.
(Credit: Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET)On your first outing with Shift, you'll be treated to a quick tutorial that teaches you how to drive with an iPhone. Shift pretty much plays like Undercover, but with a few key differences. Its steering is still controlled by tilting. The vehicles still auto-accelerate and brake when the screen is tapped. However, the race-breaker, slow-motion feature is gone and the controls are supposedly more realistic. In practice, this means that you can no longer win races without touching the brakes and that the transmission is now manual, which can be frustrating for novice users who just want to drive.
Fortunately, there are driver aids that can be activated that automatically brake and shift for you and assist steering that make your ham-fisted inputs smoother and more accurate. Users who want an easy to play, arcade-style racer can turn on the driving aids and win a few medals on the bus ride to work; and users who want more of a racing-sim experience can set all systems to manual for more control over the game. Driving aids or not, drifting is maddeningly difficult this time around. I prefer the drifting mechanics of Undercover.
... Read More
The RoadMate iPhone app borrows the interface of the RoadMate line of navigation devices.
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin)As the PND vs. smartphone battle for navigation superiority continues, we're seeing more of the GPS heavyweights hedging their bets by developing application versions of their standalone GPS devices, while others push toward adding cellular technology to their portable devices in a bid to even the playing field.
Magellan finds itself in the former camp with the announcement of its Magellan RoadMate for iPhone turn-by-turn navigation application. The application is compatible with the iPhone 3G and 3GS models and will be available soon on the App Store at an introductory price of $79.99 (which will jump to $99.99 sometime thereafter).
Routing is quick, even when plotting four simultaneous courses.
(Credit: Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET)The Magellan RoadMate for iPhone inherits many of the features that we liked when we tested the RoadMate 1470 standalone navigation device, such as the OneTouch user menu--a customizable shortcut menu that allows users to store frequently accessed addresses, POIs, and searches--and the ability to calculate and compare multiple routing options simultaneously. The RoadMate app also uses the same Navteq maps as the standalone unit. Maps and POIs are stored locally so you can keep navigating even without a data connection.
Other positive features that stand out are spoken text-to-speech street names, an oversize on-screen keyboard that's easier to use at an arm's length than the iPhone's default keyboard, native access to the iPhone's contacts list, and graphic lane guidance with digital highway street signs. In-app music control with playlist creation isn't critical to getting from point A to point B, but it's nice to have. 3D building data for major cities may be nice for users who navigate visually, but I think it's more of an eye candy thing than a truly useful feature.
Once you get where you're going, the RoadMate app automatically remembers the location of your car so you can find your way back and can switch to a Pedestrian mode for further navigation on foot.
I got my hands on an advanced copy of the Magellan RoadMate for iPhone app for evaluation and found, for the most part, that it worked as advertised. The app booted quickly and responded snappily to my inputs when tested on an Apple iPhone 3GS. A positive side effect of locally stored maps and POIs is that searching and routing with the RoadMate app is lightning fast, even when calculating four simultaneous routing options.
... Read More
Merck has released a new medical book and its companion iPhone app, The Merck Manual--Home Edition, a reference manual that includes timely health topics such as H1N1.
(Credit: Merck & Co.)The Merck Manual, a New York Times best seller that has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide, is one of those medical tomes you don't typically find in a layperson's home library. It's big, heavy, not terribly exciting, and like most physicians' desk references, not the cheapest book around.
Not to be outdone by the competition, Merck & Co. released a new edition Thursday, called The Merck Manual Home Health Handbook (3rd edition). Because the book is still big, heavy, not terribly exciting, and not terribly cheap, Merck has released its contents as an iPhone app as well (home edition: $9.99; professional edition: $29.99), thereby solving its problems of size, weight, cost, and yes, even excitement, as the app has way more going on than its old-fashioned counterpart.
... Read More
(Credit:
Crave UK)
A Digg application for the iPhone is in the works, two years after Apple announced its own version. Kevin Rose, co-founder of the popular social-bookmarking and Web aggregation site, was spotted playing with the app in London.
Rose was attending the Future of Web Apps conference, where he hung out with our own Nate Lanxon and Natali Del Conte. Arnt Eriksen and Thomas Moen of Norwegian videocast Sofaprat clocked Rose playing with a trial version of the app on his iPhone.
Rose was unforthcoming about the functionality of the app, chuckling, "You're not even supposed to know about that." A quick way of submitting links to Digg would be useful, but we wonder how you'd move from the Safari browser to the Digg app, as Apple locks out apps from running in the background. It seems likely the app will have a built-in mini-browser, allowing you to view submitted content, then vote stories up or down, known as digging or burying.
A Digg iPhone app was announced in Apple's app news in 2007. This mobile version of the site includes iPhone scrolling, mini-permalink pages with the top five comments, and digging ability. Rose claimed then that the mobile site was coded in 48 hours, so who knows what kind of features they could have come up with in two years?
(Source: Crave UK)
(Credit:
VW/Fish Labs)
Volkswagen and Fish Labs have partnered to create yet another iPhone/iPod Touch advertisement, err, game. This time around, VW is giving you the opportunity to pull the Scirocco R out of your pocket and take it for a spin around the Nurburgring.
The game's title is a bit misleading. You don't actually get to complete a full 24-hour endurance race, which I'm sure would be impossible with the handheld's battery life. Rather, the game drops you in at last leg of the race in 11th place with 23 hours and 50 minutes already on the clock--just enough time for two more hot laps. I'm guessing VW Scirocco 10-minute Challenge was just too stupid of a name, necessitating this gimmick.
There's also a Time Trial mode, as well as a multiplayer option. Of course, the app includes the requisite links to order brochures and find your local VW dealer--which, if you live in the United States, will definitely not have the Euro-market only Scirocco in stock.
While we don't get the Scirocco R in the U.S., we may get the Golf R20, which is mechanically identical.
(Credit: VW/Fish Labs)The gameplay itself is about what you'd expect from a marketing piece. There's only one vehicle to choose from (the titular 265 horsepower VW Scirocco R) in four colors and there's only one track. Users are given the option of steering with the iPhone's accelerometer or by touching onscreen directional arrows. Likewise, the game features onscreen gas and brake pedals that are tapped with the thumbs.
As a Nurburgring veteran (in Gran Turismo 4 for PS2), it's fairly obvious that the track in VW's 24H Challenge is more of an homage to the Green Hell, as it is far from accurate. Famous turns such as the Carousel are missing and the final straight past Nurburg Castle isn't nearly long enough. So, don't go thinking that your 4:25.604 lap time means that the Scirocco R is a Porsche-slayer. It's only a game.
The steering is sluggish and unresponsive and the accelerometer doesn't ever seem to level out for the straights. Every time you touch the brakes, the Scirocco lays down thick skid marks--which is an odd design choice, because I'm sure the real-life 'Rocco is equipped with ABS.
At the end of the day, I'm willing to forgive VW Scirocco 24H Challenge of all of these gripes because it's free and available now in the Apple iTunes Store.
When friends and family ask me to show them a useful application on the iPhone or iPod Touch, I have no trouble pulling up four or five that convince them it's a solid platform. "A Virus Protection Mask" is not one of those apps. This 99 cent gem (which usually costs $2.99) simulates a protective face mask...for your phone.
There are a dozen mask colors to pick from, all of which sport the same design, and do not actually protect you or your phone from anything. Especially a "you paid for that?"
(Credit:
Apple/CNET)
Related:
10 absurd new iPhone apps
10 (more) absurd iPhone apps
MLB is now streaming all games via At Bat app to MLB.tv subscribers.
(Credit: MLBAM)Major League Baseball took another step in proving its technical superiority over the other three major sports leagues Wednesday, by connecting its wired MLB.tv subscription package with its At Bat iPhone application.
Beginning Wednesday, MLB will stream every single regular and postseason baseball game to fans via the $9.99 iPhone and iPod Touch application it initially released last year. Customers who already subscribe to MLB.tv and MLB.tv Premium packages--its online baseball viewing service--can now watch any game live from their phone or computer. The games will be streamed over the iPhone or iPod's Wi-Fi connection or 3G network. Games can be paused and rewound while playing.
Just after the iPhone OS 3.0 update was released in June, MLB added the feature that any purchasers of the At Bat app would get one free streamed game per week chosen by MLB, no MLB.tv subscription required. It took a little over a month to add the MLB.tv package, which streams 15 live games at a time.
The same rules of MLB.tv still apply however: if a game is blacked out in a local broadcast area, it won't be available to be streamed live, though the game will appear in the video archives at the conclusion of the game.
The most curious part of all this, however, has nothing to do with MLB, but AT&T. MLB is streaming 15 three-hour baseball games live every single day of the week, which is great for fans of the game, and AT&T is apparently cheering for it, too. So why is the carrier OK with this, but has restricted Sling's SlingPlayer Mobile application to Wi-Fi only?
SlingPlayer was not approved for the App Store with 3G streaming capability because streaming live broadcast TV over its 3G wireless network "violated the company's terms of use." MLB At Bat is now doing the same thing, but with AT&T's approval.
Starting next week, Universal will release an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that controls content on Blu-ray Discs.
It's a first for the industry, but it falls in line with the Blu-ray format's efforts to expand beyond the disc and into other personal electronics devices. The app will launch to coincide with Universal's release of "Fast & Furious" on Blu-ray July 28.
Depending on the title it's associated with, the free application will allow bonus features from the disc to be downloaded to an iPhone or iPod Touch, and will let either device act as a remote control for some Blu-ray features. While watching the film, the app will also feed related info about the cast or the film itself.
For "Fast & Furious," the application will have access to the "Virtual Car Garage" bonus feature. While viewing bonus features, app owners can use their iPhone or iPod Touch screen to control 360-degree views of the cars from the film.
It's notable that this offering is coming from Universal, known for being the last major film studio to leave HD DVD for Blu-ray, thus effectively killing Blu-ray's rival disc format in early 2008.
This post was updated on 7-21-09 to reflect the app's price and correct usage. It previously misstated when the application could be used.
Developers frequently give away their apps. Follow 148apps_nowfree to find out every time this happens.
Still think there's no good reason to have a Twitter account? Here's a damn good one: iPhone app-review site 148Apps has a Twitter feed that notifies you when an app's price drops--to zero.
See, developers frequently run temporary promotions in which they give their apps away. Of course, it's all too easy to miss these freebies because you didn't know about them.
Based on what I've seen of twitter.com/148apps_nowfree, these promotions happen a lot. In the last 12 hours, I received tweets about at least 20 apps. Some darn good stuff, too.
Looking for a good way to keep tabs on this and other Twitter feeds? The popular desktop app TweetDeck recently made its way to the iPhone. Highly recommended.
Still not up to speed on this whole Twitter thing? Here's help: "Just what the heck is Twitter, anyway?"
Finally, while we're on the subject of free iPhone apps, I think many of you overlooked my recent post on AppGiveaway, a site where you can win promo codes for all kinds of iPhone apps.
In the past few weeks, I've registered for maybe eight giveaways--and won six of them. Your mileage may vary, of course, but for now it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Go sign up!
The B&N Bookstore app lets you read book reviews.
(Credit: Barnes & Noble)Barnes & Noble has joined the iPhone app generation. The world's largest bookstore announced on Monday its B&N Bookstore app, which is available for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. Among other things, users can browse books and reviews, and find store event information.
One of the first big brick-and-mortar retailers to create an iPhone app, Barnes & Noble partnered with LinkMe Mobile and Spotlight Mobile to design phone-friendly features.
One of them lets users snap a photo of a book cover, which then links to more information about the book. Although this seems a bit redundant--since to take a photo of a book you'll have to have it in hand--it could prove helpful in quickly scanning a friend's book collection and later reading reviews, synopses, and the like. Yes, you could do that with a Google search, but a photo couldn't hurt, right?
The app also includes a store locator, recommendations on other books that might appeal, a store events calendar, online purchasing, and video clips of interviews with authors.
Other apps for bookworms include Amazon Mobile, which lets users search, shop and read reviews; SnapTell, which, like the B&N Bookstore app, lets users take a picture of a book cover and get information on the book; and BookBargin, which compares prices of books at different online stores. These apps and the B&N Bookstore app are free.
Barnes & Noble's president, William Lynch, said the company decided to create an app based on an increase in the store's mobile traffic.
