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App Review: Student T.A.

August 1, 2012 in iPhone, Productivity

Student T.A., by ArcDNA, is an iPhone app that plays the role of a student’s planner for school and personal activities. The app is very simple and very easy to use.

This free app is suitable for all types of students. It’s built to serve as a daily planner tool that includes information of courses,  assignments, events, and organizations. This app can easily become a student’s best friend because of its innovative, and minimalist user interface. Navigation is extremely simple, and it gets the job done. Despite all the things this app can do, it still keeps everything organized, which makes this app very appealing.

 

Other features that stood out were the events and organizations. Not a lot of student planner apps out there support the student’s personal events nor organizations. Even fewer free apps support such thing! The app allows you to input the date, time, alarms, and other minor information about the event, which is very handy if the user decides to use this app as his or her primary planner app, which I am sure a lot of you would if you have downloaded it.

Even the most basic things like a To-do list, twitter, and “study tunes” are integrated into this app. Something as personal as this makes this FREE app a winner amongst the other planner apps. When a task is added onto the To-do list, the red notification icon will appear on the app’s icon when the user is on the home screen. This personally extremely bugs me, which motivates me to complete the task as soon as possible- well played, ArcDNA. Students, like me, like to procrastinate all the time. Integrating twitter is a very smart move because it will totally not distract the users, at all (sarcasm). However, the idea of listening to music whilst working or studying is very common between students, and by adding study tunes to this app, users wouldn’t have to switch back and fourth from iPod and the app.

Overall, this app is great. It is very simple and clean, and FREE, and suits the average student very well. Nevertheless, this app includes some advice for college students; all types of different advice for Freshmen to Seniors. The customizable wallpaper is also another personal feature that improves the concept of a personal planner. The only downside I see is the lack of relationship between this app and a computer. It will be an extremely exciting feature if users can sync information with his or her computer. This app will be available to android users soon, and I am extremely looking forward to future updates.

Plomonet Rating: 9.5/10

Download Link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/college-t.a/id448355751?mt=8

 

Feel free to contact me for questions and requests for reviews at: Erin@plomonet.com

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TwinGo! App Review

March 10, 2012 in Entertainment, Gaming, iPhone

 I have a new app review for you all; a game called TwinGo!

Chillingo has released a new app called TwinGo! This puzzle game involves two cute little spheres who do everything together. The title suggests they are twins, but they must be fraternal since I see little resemblance. The object of this game is to roll these guys around collecting the three stars and land them on their color coordinated launch pads. This puzzle game forces you to think five steps ahead, and lets you know when you found the best solution. But don’t worry if you mess up, there is a handy undo button to go back in time. Using walls is the only way to separate the spheres but be careful break away blocks can only support you for once before giving way adding an additional level of challenge to the game.

The Graphics:

The animations are nothing short of what you would expect from Chillingo. The cute little spheres have adorable expressions and grow agitated when you pause for two long or you roll of the edge. The graphics load fast from level to level and restarting the level is quite fast. Every thing moves in the background and foreground allowing you to get lost in the gorgeous pixels easily.

The Music:

Again Music is important to me, and this game does not disappoint. The music is tropical and fun; something that reminds me of  a old Mario game. Sound effects are minimal, which is fine for me, since I sometimes find them distracting in excess.

 Overall:

In the end, I love this game. It provides a great challenge on each level and gets more fun as time goes on. With 90 levels I will definitely spend a lot playing this game.

TwinGo! is $1.29 on iTunes and you can go check it out Here. I give it 4 stars for sure.

Did you get it? Have an app you want me to review? Let me know in the comments below.

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The Drop Out Drops My Jaw

March 3, 2012 in Entertainment, Gaming, iPhone, Slideshow, Uncategorized

The Drop Out Welcome Screen

 I recently purchased a new game called The Drop Out, from the App Store; and let me tell you this game might just be the next big thing. I have only had the game for a few days, but so far I am impressed.

The Gameplay

While the concept of this game is not overly complex, it is surely intuitive. If you enjoy playing Angry Birds, then this one will become an instant favorite for you. The goal of each level is to save each Furrie by shooting a Boo at them to knock them off the screen. Simply pull back and release to send a Boo flying. As the game advances Evil Furries begin to appear, save one of them and you’ll loose points. Also, as you progress the Boos begin to develop special abilities to help you along your way. The physics of this game are astounding. As a physics student myself, I can tell you that they are spot on. Each Furrie falls realistically, often setting of a chain reaction.  So far there are 120 levels, but more are promised to follow.

The Graphics:

The graphics are defiantly what you would expect from a top notch game. The developers at Digital Poke Labs knew what they were doing, creating levels that are not only are crisp and clean but also aesthetically pleasing.  The Drop Out looks amazing on the retina screen. The menu layout is similar to the that of games such as Angry Birds and each menu screen is simple to navigate. The animations are well done as well. Scrolling on the level select is smooth and during game play, I noticed no lagging.

The Sounds:

For me, sound is one of the most important aspects of a game. Too little and I might as well be reading a book, too much and I just get annoyed. The Drop Out found the perfect balance. The music is tropical and fun and the sound effects are just adorable. You could probably imagine what these cute little Furries would sound like, and you would be pretty close.

Overall:

Well there you have it, The Drop Out in a nutshell. This game exhibits all the characteristics of a great game. The game play and graphics are superb. I definitely recommend this game if you love puzzle/ action games and I give it 4 stars. For $0.99 its worth checking out: Here 

Did you get it? Have an app you want me to review? Let me know in the comments below.

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iOS App Review: iHomework

September 12, 2011 in iPad, iPhone, Main Blog, Productivity, Productivity, Uncategorized


Name: iHomework
Category: Education
By: Paul Pilone
Price: $1.99
Compatible devices: iPhone/iPod touch/iPad with iOS 3.1 or later.
Plomonet rating: 7/10

Few weeks ago, we reviewed the iHomework app for the Mac. This time, we will take a look at the iHomework app for the iOS platform. iHomework on iOS is a universal app, meaning that one purchase will get you two downloads (iPhone/iPad). I’m this review, we will be discussing about the iPad version.

On the iPad version, the features are pretty much the same as it is on the Mac version. The ability to set assignments, teachers, books etc. is all the same as before. However, the one thing that differs, obviously, is the user interface. In our previous review for the Mac, we said that the user interface was not easy to use and I twas just all over the place. It took us quite a long time just to figure out how to use it productively. However, in this version, we believe that things have changed. The user interface is completely different. On the left hand side, we have our full month calendar, which we did not see in the Mac version, and this allows us to easily jump between days to find out what assignments we have for what deadline there is. On the bottom of the left side, we also get a button to toggle between calendar view and list view. On the same left hand side, we can also check off the homework we have done, and it will automatically fade away.

On the right hand side, we have our homework view, and this is where we can see the full details of a specific homework. As in the Mac version, you can set deadlines, priority, and even partners you work with. The only problem I have with this is that whilst in calendar view, there is no way to view all your homework, unless you switch to list view. This kills the int of having two divided sections as if you are in calendar view, that means you have pretty much the same view you have on the left and right: your homework you have for that day.

Moving onto the next point. There is a Mac version and an iOS version, meaning that you can sync your assignments between your devices wirelessly. This syncing is done free with no charge, unlike some note taking apps, and we like this a lot. However, there is one problem. You can only sync assignments between your Mac and one other device. Either your iPhone or iPad. Why is this bad? Because it only allows you to sync assignments between one device, not two. Meaning that if you are looking into using your Mac, iPhone and iPad interchangeably, it’s not possible because sync doesn’t work with two or more devices. This pretty much defeats the whole point of having an iPhone and an iPad.

Overall, we like the iOS version of iHomework, and we would definitely recommend it for students who are going to school and wants to completely throw away their hardback diaries. This app only costs $1.99 from the App Store, being pretty affordable for students too. The only thing that we didn’t really like was the Mac version of the app, which doesn’t look as nice, and we don’t know if we would prefer using the Mac version.  We also didn’t like how the app only allows syncing of assignments between your Mac, and one other device, rather than more than 1. We would really like to see a fix to this as even evernote does syncing between many devices.

A very nice alternative is an app called iStudiez Pro. This is an app we have introduced in one of our plomocast episodes and Erin has done a full review of the iOS version on both our website and our YouTube channel. We really liked iStudiez Pro a lot, but the only negative point was that it is pretty pricey. We will be doing a full review of the Mac version of iStudiez Pro very soon.

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in Japan, and grew up in Hong Kong. He is very passionate about technology and he became one of the most enthusiastic technophile students in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers.

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Mac App Review: AudioNote

September 11, 2011 in Mac, Main Blog, Productivity, Uncategorized

Name: AudioNote
Category: Productivity
By: Luminant Software
Price: $4.99
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 or later
Plomonet rating: 8/10

Ever wanted the perfect note taking app that allows you to not only take simple text notes, but also allows you to record your entire lecture? Well, AudioNote is the app for you. AudioNote, as the name suggests, is a note taking app that allows you to take nots whilst recording your entire lecture. you can also add images and draw your own images within your notes.

The user interface of the app is extremely simple. You have your record button, playback buttons, text/draw buttons, and that’s it!. If you would like to start recording, obviously, you would have to click on the record button. Once you record, your audio portion of your lecture will be recorded, until you stop recording. Whilst you’re recording, you can take notes and draw pictures. The cool thing about this app is that it will keep track of WHEN you actually take note whilst you’re recording. This means that when you playback your notes, every word will be highlighted as the recorded lecture progresses, so you can see when you actually took note of something during the lecture.

Overall, I think that this app is just perfect for high-school and university students. The price point is just affordable at $4.99, and there is nothing much to complain. The AudioNote app is also available on the iOS platform as a universal app that works both on the iPhone and the iPad. The only thing I couldn’t seem to do was transfer an AudioNote file from my Mac over to my iPad, and playback my note. Other than this point, I believe that this app is a must have for students.

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in Japan, and grew up in Hong Kong. He is very passionate about technology and he became one of the most enthusiastic technophile students in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers.

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Google+ Lands On The iOS App Store

July 20, 2011 in iPhone, Main Blog, Uncategorized

Google+, launched a few weeks ago is Google’s “another” attempt to go into the social space, since their failures in the past with services such as Google Buzz and Google Wave. Many say that it is also Google’s attempt to kill the social giant, Facebook. Google+ has been available through the web on any platform, however it was, and still is, only available to users with invites. Google has also confirmed that a native Google+ app is on its way to the App Store for the iOS platform, and it has just landed and is available for download for free.

Google+ is distinctive and unique in some ways if compared directly with Facebook. Google+ features Circles, where you can group your friends, families and even people you like to follow, in separate groups in which you can name. This is similar to Facebook’s List feature, however this feature on Facebook has not been such a hit as Facebook is not promoting this feature majorly.

Below is Google’s description about Google+:

“Google+ for mobile makes sharing the right things with the right people a lot simpler. Huddle lets you send super-fast messages to the people you care about most. And no matter where you are, the stream lets you stay in the loop about what your friends are sharing and where they’re checking in.

Features:
* Circles let you share the right things with just the right people.
* Stream is where you can get updates from your circles or see what people are saying about things nearby.
* Huddle is super-fast group messaging for everyone in your circles.

Google+ is only available for users 13 and older.”

There are many other features on Google+, which we will not talk about yet, as a full review of Google+ is coming on both our YouTube channel (STUDIOaraikenta) and here at plomonet.com.

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. His passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

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Mac OS X Lion + iOS 5 + iCloud = WWDC

June 5, 2011 in Main Blog, Uncategorized

Whilst WWDC’11 is just a day away, there has been a few interesting things that caught many people’s attention this week. First of all, Apple has announced a press release informing us that Steve Jobs will be presenting in this years WWDC event, held at Moscone West – San Francisco, revealing the next generation of Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud. Now, what’s interesting about this is that Apple usually never tells us what they are going to talk about in their keynotes, however, this year they have told us about that. And not only that, they have also informed us about their new cloud based service called iCloud, already revealing a new service before the keynote – something that Apple has never done before.

Apple has also recently updated their iWork suite for iOS, now enabling the ability to run iWork on the iPhone and iPod touch. They have also introduced new features such as organizing files into folders within each app. Even though this update is a huge update, Apple has decided not to announce it in WWDC, and instead, release it beforehand.

Why could this be? Well, we don’t know yet. But what we do know is that this years WWDC is going to be packed to the gills with software. Software, software, software. We already know about Mac OS X Lion, since it has been previewed last year along with many beta releases. iOS 5 is also due to be previewed – however release dates are speculated to be in the fall of this year. Apple might even surprise us with an early release of Lion, straight after the keynote.

On the mobile side, iOS 5 has not yet been previewed meaning that it is not ready for public release yet. This might also mean that there is a possible chance that the rumored iPhone 5 will not be announced in WWDC. However, since iCloud (the name) has already been announced, could the iPhone 5 be the “One more thing” ? We have to wait and see.

Lastly, iCloud. Many have predicted that this cloud based service could be the “iTunes in the cloud”.  Meaning that we can store out entire music (and video) library up in the cloud. This would prevent us from worrying about losing our library even when our computer breaks down. However, it would be slightly disappointing if this online music storage is the only feature of iCloud. Many pundits have said that iCloud is going to be a replacement of the current MobileMe service, that is widely hated as its service tends to be slow, inefficient and costly (for $99 a year).  Steve Jobs himself has also criticized the MobileMe team as he thought it was just a total rubbish (from the Fortune Magazine). If iCloud was to replace MobileMe, all the features of MobileMe might be improved, as well as the introduction of new features such as the over-the-air updates and backups for their iOS devices.

Whatever the “One more thing” could be (if there is one), we do not believe that Apple will announce new products such as the iPhone 5 and the MacBook lines. However, we do think that they will discuss extensively about their iCloud service and also integrate Time Machine/Time Capsule into it. Many have reported that Apple’s Time Capsule is low in stock, hinting us that there might be a whole new Time Capsule integration with iCloud.

Here is a video of myself talking about my final predictions of WWDC:

Here is my video of the iWork update for iOS:

 

If you like our videos, please make sure to check out our channel at STUDIOaraikenta on YouTube!

 

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. His passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

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Discussion: WWDC’11 Predictions [Video]

May 21, 2011 in Main Blog, Uncategorized

With just a few short weeks until Apple’s annual worldwide developers conference kicks off, I wanted to give you my predictions as to what I think will be announced during this year’s WWDC’11. First of all, WWDC is a developers conference where software developers from all over the world, developing for the Mac OS X platform as well as the iOS platform, gather together and have a conference to discuss about how to develop software for these platforms whilst taking advantage of the new technologies that are built-in to the OS. To start the entire week off, Steve Jobs presents a keynote to announce exciting new products.

Until WWDC’07, Apple’s main focus was on Mac OS X. However, as the iPhone was introduced in Macworld 2007, Apple’s main focus turned to the iOS (originally known as iPhone OS) platform. In WWDC’08, the iPhone 3G was announced, as well as the public release of iPhone OS 2.0. In WWDC’09, Scott Forstall discussed about iPhone OS 3.0, whilst Phil Schiller introduced the iPhone 3GS. And in WWDC’10, Steve Jobs covered the iPhone 4, as well as the re-branded iOS 4. During these years, the main focus was on iOS. The only time the Mac OS X was discussed was when Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was almost ready for shipment in 2009.

This year, however, the focus will be on both Mac OS X and iOS. The next generation of Mac OS X Lion was first previewed back in October 2010, where Apple introduced new features such as Mission Control, Full Screen Apps, LaunchPad and the Mac App Store. Since then, alongside the Early 2011 MacBook Pro announcements, Apple previewed even more features of Lion on their website, such as further Multitouch Gesture support, Mail 5, Versions, Auto-Save and AirDrop. Apple has been releasing developer preview versions since then (up to version 3 as of now) for developers to test out the new OS, as well as test their own apps. We expect the Mac OS X Lion to start shipping 2 weeks after the WWDC event, through both the Mac App Store, for people who run Snow Leopard, and with DVDs for people with Leopard or below.

On the iOS side, Apple usually holds a preview event during the March-April timeframe. However, this year, that did not happen. Instead, we had the iPad 2 announcement, with iOS 4.3 (disappointing many people as they were expecting iOS 5). Therefore, during this year’s WWDC, it is certain that Apple will be previewing their next generation of their mobile operating system, iOS 5. My thoughts on what I would like to see in iOS 5 can be found by clicking here. Because this will just be a preview, the actual launch of the new OS will not happen until the Golden Master Candidate Beta has been released, which we suspect to be a few months later. This has lead many people to believe that the next iPhone 5 to be announced in September, where Apple usually announce new iPods and new versions of iTunes. It would be disappointing if Apple did not announce iPhone 5 during WWDC, but it would also be awkward and outdated for the iPhone 5 to still be running iOS 4. We will keep you updated about this as new sources appear.

Here is my video on my predictions of WWDC’11:

If you like our videos, please subscribe to us at STUDIOaraikenta on YouTube!

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. He passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

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Review & Discussion: iPad 2 [Video]

May 18, 2011 in iPad, Main Blog, Uncategorized

Here is my extensively long video review of the iPad 2:

The iPad 2. Probably the best tablet computer on the planet until today. Steve Jobs even said that none of their competitors are catching up with the first iPad. That may be true in some ways, and questionable too.

The iPad 2 definitely is thinner. It is noticeably lighter, and just so ever slightly faster. And in my YouTube video below, I talked about my experience with the iPad as a whole (which I think is very detailed and I still believe in what I said), however, I did miss out a few things – and I’d like to go through them.

RAM (Random Access Memory): In my view, due to the boost in RAM (although it’s only 512MB when the rest of their competitors have 1GB), my experience with Safari has become so much better. Even if you have 9 pages opened at once (not really “opened” but “loaded”), you never have to wait for it to reload every time you want to go back to the “loaded” page. This was one of my main complaints with the first iPad, where every time I loaded a website in Safari, and I wanted to go back to another site that was still “opened”, the page reloaded itself. I’ve had no problem with the iPad 2 so far in terms of memory.

Battery life: As for the battery life, this thing is still a beast, and just blows every other tablet computer away with its whopping 10 hour battery life. In my own tests, I was able to get 11.5 hours of normal use (WiFi on).

Camera quality: Many people don’t understand, the iPad is not a “camera”. The camera is just a feature of the iPad. Whilst you are able to take photographs, the photo quality is somewhat poor. The HD video recording is decent, but very poor in low-light conditions – despite sporting a backside illuminated sensor which was also a feature of the iPhone 4′s camera (and the low-light photographs on the iPhone 4 is fantastic). Another issue I had with the iPad 2 camera is the app itself. It felt bizarre to have the record button on the bottom of the display when holding the iPad in landscape mode. Does the iPhone do that? No. Even if you tilt your iPhone, the record button stays in the same position of the screen. Why do we have to let one of our hands off the iPad just to press the record button. It would’ve been so much better if the record button stayed on the side so that it’s much more easily accessible. it would’ve also been nice to be able to “tap to focus” with the iPad, as now we can only adjust the exposure – just like the iPod touch. Even Apple’s competitor – RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook shoots HD video at 1080p at 30fps and the low-light quality is a little better (although not that much to be honest). However, the video quality outdoors is actually very good. Apple really needs to catch up, if they do want to make this camera feature and actual feature. But, despite all that, the camera works perfectly fine with the FaceTime app. Video quality seems to be clear on both sides of the conversation.

Pros:

- Very thin, light and portable.

- Sports 2 video cameras – front and back (mainly for FaceTime).

- Includes the FaceTime app for video conferencing. Other new apps like PhotoBooth and Camera is added.

- Has a faster A5 dual-core chip. Speed is slightly faster. Graphics is said to be 9x faster, however this can only be observed once developers have optimized their apps to take advantage of this chip

- Extremely long battery life. In our tests, just slightly longer than the first iPad.

- Includes magnets for Smart Cover, and other upcoming 3rd party cases with magnets.

Cons:

- Launch of iPad 2 didn’t meet our hopes for the preview of iOS 5. It still runs iOS 4, although, an updated version of iOS 4.3.

- Camera quality is poor, especially when taking photographs. The camera app itself is also bizarre to use due to the awkward position of the recording button. The video quality is decent. But not as good as that of the iPhone 4.

 

plomonet rating: 9/10

 

My full review of the Smart Cover will be coming soon.

If you like our videos, please subscribe to us at STUDIOaraikenta on YouTube!

 

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. He passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

 

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Discussion: iPhone 5 Leaks [Video]

May 15, 2011 in iPhone, Main Blog, Uncategorized

Every time there is an Apple event, there are always leaked images beforehand. Since the next event is Apple’s annual WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference), guess what?, it’s time for some iPhone 5 leaks.

Images above indicate a new position of the LED flash, located on the opposite side of the lens (potentially said to be 8MPX). However, the image above seems to have the same (or at least similar) design to the current generation iPhone 4. Whilst on the internet, rumors of a larger 4-inch screen is said to be sported in the next iPhone 5. However, another interesting image (below) indicates that both of these rumors will be true – with a larger screen, and a different position of the LED flash:

The video below includes my pure thoughts regarding the leaks and the rumors of the iPhone 5:

 

If you like our videos, please subscribe to us at STUDIOaraikenta on YouTube!

About the Author: Kenta Arai is a tech enthusiast who was born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. He passion towards technology began to develop as he grew up in Hong Kong, where technology had its solid place in the mass market. Arai became one of the most enthusiastic technophile student in his high-school, and was also well-known for consulting many of his school-mates when purchasing new computers. His expertise in the tech industry is focused on Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

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