Sudoku v Sudoku for iPhone
July 26, 2008 | 1 Comment
 EA Sudoku ($7.99) |
 Free Sudoku |
I like playing sudoku. I got hooked on it with the Nintendo DS version that is included with the first Brain Age. It’s a fun and challenging puzzle game that’s great if you are seeking a few minutes of distraction.
I was asked to do a review of the EA created iPhone Sudoku game. I wanted some casual games for my phone anyway, so why not?
Frankly, EA’s implementation of sudoku for the iPhone is wonderful. The graphics are polished and appealing. The game play is exactly what should be expected, with a few options to keep it interesting. Well worth the $7.99.
With everything there is room for improvement though. First, there should bs some social features to allow score sharing or puzzle sharing with friends. There were also some minor stabilty issues causing the game to crash a few times. I would hope that will be fixed I’m a future patch. Finally, I wish that I could save multiple partial puzzles. All considered, solid and enjoyable.
To adequately evaluate this, must also compare against the free sudoku iPhone app as well. Honestly, if you plan on playing sudoku for more than 15 minutes total, pay the money. The differences between these implementations is fun v frustration. Unless the free sudoku sees a major set of enhancements, do not waste your time.
Tags: applications, ea, games, iphone, review, reviews, sudoku
WordPress For iPhone
July 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The WordPress iPhone application has been released. It seems to work well. It supports the following features:
- basic blogging
- tagging
- categories
- password protecting posts
- adding images from phone or camera
- local drafts
A couple of significant restrictions:
- no rich text editing
- can’t add an image to a post adding an image to a post automatically puts it at the end
- no landscape mode
Tags: blog, blogging, iphone, wordpress
iPhone Early Adopter Rebate
September 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Once again reminding me why I love Apple, Steve Jobs wrote a letter to iPhone customers today. As part of the new product launches and updates revealed yesterday, came a shocking $200 price drop in the 10-week old iPhone. This change was not received so happily by the early adopters who felt a bit gouged by this sudden drop.
In summary from Jobs:
I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. …
First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to ‘go for it’ this holiday season.
Second … If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon.
Third … Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer … a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. …
This is the sort of stand up move that truly separates evil corporation from rabidly followed fan favorite company. Yes, I’m proud to be an Apple fan.
Tags: apple, apple fanboy, fan, iphone, iphone rebate, letter, rebate, steve jobs
iPod Touch vs iPhone
September 6, 2007 | 4 Comments
Apple’s new iPod touch is an odd device to me. It has all the beauty and touchy sweet interface of the iPhone, but without the phone. It has the iPod base purpose of music and video, but with 10% the capacity of the conventional iPod. The Apple store does a great job comparing the iPod models, but doesn’t clearly compare the iPod Touch with the iPhone.
They have done away with the 4GB iPhone, leaving 3 options for multi-touch iPod/iPhone devices. The 8GB iPod Touch costs $299, but has no phone capability. The iPhone increases the price to $399, but is in every other way identical. The 16GB iPod Touch is again $399, but like the 8GB model has no phone capability. There is currently no 16GB iPhone.
I’m a little unsure why they made this quite so complicated. I’d have a hard time justifying a purchase of an iPod touch. The loss of cellphone capability seems like a massive loss, and not having the option to upgrade or trade-in or something makes that a non-expandable option.
As for the chunky little iPod nanos, I can’t begin to understand the design decision on those. Maybe they look cool in person…
As a final note, the trademark bright white color that seemed most indicative of the iPod is now completely gone across the whole line. The black, silver, and cool colors down the line are sweet, so I’m not complaining…
I still want an iPhone…
Tags: apple, iphone, ipod, ipod nano, ipod touch
Why Safari 3 on PC? For the iPhone!
June 12, 2007 | 2 Comments
I love Safari on my Mac. It outperforms Firefox for me, the built in RSS support is wonderful, the tabs work better than any of the other browsers, and private browsing (better known as porn mode) can’t be beat. However… it’s really no competition for Firefox or Internet Explorer on the PC platform as an overall browser.
So.. why Safari on the PC? Does Apple truly believe they can compete with Mozilla and Microsoft? I’d say they are not that misguided…
Safari is now available on PC purely to test iPhone applications.
There are a lot of web developers who will be able to develop small applications to deliver through Safari on the iPhone starting on June 29th. Yet, a large majority of the developers will not have iPhones and don’t have Macs. This means Safari needs to be made available for testing on PC for those developers to add value to the iPhone. Although this would be made better if Apple cloned Firebug and rolled that in out of the box…
As far as actual browser usage, I would be shocked to see the web adoption pass 6% for Safari (Apple claims they currently get 4.9%). This may sell a couple more people on Macs, but Safari is not iTunes. It does not stand head and shoulders above competitor software. If they do expand market share in Safari and get a few more people onto a Mac, this is a bonus.
In conclusion… I’m glad to see Safari on PC. Hopefully more web applications will get tested with it… but don’t be fooled this is a move to bolster the iPhone, nothing more.
Tags: apple, browser, explorer, firebug, firefox, internet explorer, iphone, mac, macs, mozilla, osx, pc, safari, web, web application