Archive for the ‘Applications’ Category

Labyrinth for Android

Friday, September 10th, 2010

I really like playing Labyrinth on Android (it is also available on iPhone). However I’ve found though that my son, who is almost three, loves playing ‘ball in the hole’ as he calls it even more than I do. The levels were a bit difficult for him to navigate so I’ve started using the ‘my levels’ feature to make some levels that are easier for him to play. Usually, these don’t have many holes on them but just weaving walls to get around.

Labyrinth Screenshot

Labyrinth Screenshot

I’ve build several of these levels and gradually added a few holes which are easily avoidable and then some trickier levels later on that I help him with. I’m hoping I can share these as a pack for other users to use.

I’m pleased to see that the they are launching Labyrinth 2 (on the iPhone initially) with some fun extras like cannons and magnets. Looking forward to that coming to the Android phone too.

Labyrinth 2

New levels on Labyrinth 2

Here is the QR code for Labyrinth on Android:

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Seesmic Twitter application for Android

Friday, August 27th, 2010

I’ve been using Seesmic for Android for a while now to tweet. It has a really good interface and makes it easy to switch between different accounts.

Seesmic for Android

Seesmic for Android

I’ve found uploading images can be a bit hit and miss as it takes a while to generate the shortlinks and if you try to post before they are ready it will give you an error. I also found the widget which scrolls through your twitter messages just a bit to small to be useful, it would be good to see different sized widgets available. Otherwise I think it is an excellent app.

Scan the barcode below with you android device to download from the market…

Seesmic Barcode

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Ocado shopping application for Android

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

I started using Ocado recently and was pleased to see they have an Android application (as well as one for the iPhone). The interface is very clean and simple to use but has some great features.


Ocado on the Go for Android

My favourite feature is that you can scan wrappers before you throw them in the bin. The barcode scanner matches the product in their online catalogue and you can then add the product to your shopping list for the next order. This process generally works seamlessly and makes it very easy to build up your shopping list. You can also do text based search and, for more recent devices, voice based search for products.

Customer services are also great if you have any issues. I had a voucher code that didn’t work the first time around and they added the free item to my next order with no complaints. If you haven’t used Ocado before then make sure you use this voucher (do a search for ‘Ocado voucher’ if it has expired).

I’ve seen some issues where if you do a search or scan a barcode while it is downloading a new catalogue it can hang. Hopefully they will sort this out on future revisions. Currently though it is still very good and worth a try if you are OK to pay a bit more for your shopping. I’ve used Tesco.com before whose own brand products are certainly cheaper. However, they don’t yet have such an elegant solution for Android although based on this link they seem to be taking Android and QR codes seriously.

Ocado on the Go barcode
Download Ocado on the Go from Android Market

[I have no affiliation with Ocado]

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Wordfeud for Android

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Really enjoying Wordfeud which is a Scrabble lookey-likey for Android. You play against friends or against remote players from around the world. You can take up to two days to take a turn which means games start off reasonably fast but can then last for several days.


http://www.androidcentral.com/android-quick-app-wordfeud-free

I really like the fact that you can set up push notifications to tell you when it is your turn to play. They have recently made some updates to fix some of the bugs but there are still occasional times when you can’t zoom in to the board.

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Android apps for parents

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

A couple of applications on the market have got my attention recently.

The first is ‘Talking Tomcat’ which I know has been around for a while. My son (two) loves playing with this app. Particularly giving the cat a glass of milk. Only downsides are:

  • It is too easy for him to accidentally hit the ads at the top and launch a browser
  • If you tap the cat it ‘punches’ him (very funny but doesn’t teach good animal husbandry – we have a real cat ;-))

Another app that got my attention is ‘Noise Alert’ which can be used as an impromptu baby monitor. I wouldn’t rely on it but I can see it might be useful as a backup if you were staying over at someones house and hadn’t taken your normal monitor with you.

I’d love to see Baby Go / Super Baby Go ported to Android. This has to be my son’s favourite app on any platform (he doesn’t spend his whole day on mobile devices I should point out!) but is only available for the blackberry at the moment. One nice feature of this is it totally locks the device out so your child can’t accidentally make calls or launch other apps. you can unlock it using a key + password combination. (Once they can work out how to unlock they are probably too old to be playing with the app :-) !).

Super Baby Go!

Super Baby Go! (currently not on Android)

Posted in Android, Applications, Blackberry, Gaming, Market, Parents | No Comments »

Little Fluffy Toys – Cycle Hire App

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Absolutely love the London cycle hire app from Little Fluffy Toys Ltd.

http://www.littlefluffytoys.com/?p=157

Used it this morning both to find a bike and to find where to drop it off near the office. As the bike hire scheme in London becomes more popular I see applications like this becoming essential. Use of the built in compass is also great.

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Android UI Stencils

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Nice little piece of hardware. A stencil for mocking up android applications using a pencil and paper…

http://www.uistencils.com/products/android-stencil-kit

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Posted in Android, Applications, Development | No Comments »