Category Archives: iOS
Be careful when upgrading your handset to watch F1
Rating: Only seven Android models support SkyGo
The difference between iOS and Android is put into perspective by the ability to run Sky TV’s Sky Go app on your smartphone/tablet. This app was finally made available on February 23rd [2012] but it only runs on a tiny number of Android phones.The list of which seven models from HTC (5) and Samsung (2) support Sky Go is given below. Sky attributes the very short list to the “considerable time” it takes to tailor the app for each distinct Android device. If you want to watch Formula One (F1) motor racing on you Android handset you need to possess one of the seven. The easiest way to find out whether you need to upgrade or not is simply to try to download the app from Google Play (the new name for the Android Market).You can download the Sky Go from Google Play here‘ Sadly our loan Motorola Razr isn’t on the list. Continue reading
UK mortgage comparison site targets Apple F1 petrol heads
Rating: Hurry to win £100 worth of iTunes vouchers
In what we suspect is a desperate bid to promote the fact its MortgagesUK iPhone app is nearly ready, Mortgage Brain has launched its Fantasy F1 competition. Competitors are offered the chance to win iTunes vouchers worth up to £100. It’s actually quite feasible to play this game on your mobile phone as we discovered with our Nokia Lumia 800 W7 Mango phone. GoMobile News would recommend that initially you register using a desktop computer or tablet, though. With the Nokia we also found it handy to register with a Hotmail email address. You’d better get cracking, though, because the deadline to create your own Formula One Fantasy team seems to be today [March 16th 2012] at 5pm GMT. Continue reading
iPhone fishing app is spoilsport
Rating: You’ve got to have a feel for the fish
With half a million iPhone apps out there, you’ve got to do something to attract attention. Well, iAngler has come up with a spiffing ruse – why not antagonise the purists? Yes, this iPhone app for anglers – FishForecast, managed to attract the attention of the Angling Trust. Who’ve implied that the app isn’t very sporting. Not exactly cricket, don’t you know? Which is an excellent ploy because it gives the impression that the app is so good at helping you catch fish that even amateurs can catch fish. Genius. Anyway, the app itself is quite boring but GoMo News cannot but have admiration for the marketing. Continue reading
Young Brit apper turns hacker
Rating: Spud Run author gets expelled from Devon school
A young British lad, Aaron Bond, who already has four iOS applications under his belt has just managed to get himself chucked out of school for hacking. Bond is the programming genius behind an iOS game – Spud Run which costs a mere 59 pence on the iTunes App Store here. If you check (like we did), there are four not six apps and they are attributed to Gail McNeil who is the mother of Sebastian McNeil – the other founder of SeRiiOn which produces the apps. Anyway, Bond – who is still only 14 years old – has been expelled from King Edward VI College in Totnes, Devon. Continue reading
iPad apps for nothing, and Angry Birds for free
Rating: Get yer free iOS apps from FreeMyApps whilst they’re still hot
If you manage to fork out $800 for the new iPad next week, here’s a way to save a bit of money – get your apps for free. Yes, a site called FreeMyApps offers iOS the chance to obtain genuine prepaid apps for free – just by agreeing to download and try out other apps (again for free). These aren’t naff apps, either. The list includes GarbageBand, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope and, of course, Angry Birds. The site has been created by Fiksu using the same technology it invented to power Fiksu for Mobile Apps. The idea behind FreeMyApps is simple. Advertising is expensive and this site can drive traffic to your paid for apps. Simples. Continue reading
British PM provides great endorsement for iPad
Rating: UK civil servants create £20,000 custom app for him
You’re probably never going to see it appear on the Apple iTunes App Store but the British tax payer has just forked out £20,000 for the development of an iOS app for the Prime Minister’s own personal iPad. Apparently developed by the Cabinet Office, it will provide David Cameron with a ‘management dashboard’ that will pull in the latest information from across various government agencies. So it will provide the PM with instant access to crime statistics; unemployment figures; NHS waiting lists; and the latest polling data. It will be pretty socially aware too, being able to pull in stuff from Google and Twitter (no mention of Facebook, though). There’s even rumours that modified versions may be made available to other users within the British Government. Continue reading
Apple hits 25 billion app downloads milestone
Rating: One lucky Apple fan collects $10,000 prize
Apple has hit its 25 billion app downloads milestone as we predicted here. If you visited theappera.com here you would have noticed that the person who downloaded that particular app would have won a prize worth $10,000. That lucky person turned out to be Chunii Fu. Continue reading
iPhone app makes social network sharing easier
Rating: Via.me shows intriguing potential
OK. Hands up those who don’t need an app that enables you to manage all your social media content in one place? Thought so. With Via.me from RadiumOne Labs userscan create, filter and share pictures, videos, audio content and text across all their social networks. As RadiumOne has correctly observed, most people possess multiple social media accounts. Hence, an ability to publish all types of content from a single tool is extremely useful. Continue reading
AppSpotr offers cloud based app generation
Rating: So easy to use, a monkey could do it
After seven months in stealth mode AppSpotr launched at MWC 2012. In essence, it’s a cloud based app generator for both iPhone and Android. From the demos, AppSpotr looks both flexible and simple to use. The best news is that anybody can sign up to try out the service – without even having to supply credit card information. Users only have to pay once they like what they have created. The company also provides ‘app viewers’ for customers to download so they can get a really good feel for how the app will appear and work. Payment is on a monthly subscription basis and pricing starts at $15 per month. GoMo News particularly likes Patric Bottne’s – CEO of CamClic, the firm behind AppSpotr – arguments as to why native apps are best. Continue reading
Apple’s iPad 3 rumours round-up
Rating: Following iPhone 5 debacle probably all wrong
As we get closer to March – when Apple revealed the iPad 2 last year – the Apple fanboy rumourmill has gone into overdrive. What everybody is waiting for is an announcement that Apple will be holding an event in San Francisco – its favourite venue for such launches. What’s pretty certain is that any iPad 3 launch will be accompanied by a new version of the Apple iOS – something like iOS 5.1. Continue reading
Barclays sidelines rooted Android phones with Pingit
Rating: Funds transfer app won’t work on secured phones
Android users could find themselves in something of a Catch 22 situation should they decide to opt for Barclays’ (UK’s) recently released mobile based funds transfer service. Known as Pingit, this facility is truly industry leading. It enables UK mobile phone users to transfer funds between one handset owner and another. The maximum amount is £300 a day – but that is no different from most banks’ limit on their cash machines (ATMs). Better still, only the sender needs to have an account with Barclays – the recipient can have an account with virtually any bank in the UK. There’s only one catch. Barclays won’t allow owners of Android phones which are ‘rooted’ to run its Pingit app. Continue reading
AppMobi goes beta with HTML5 tool for games
Rating: Write it once and roll it out to iOS, Android and Facebook
Open mobile software specialist, appMobi, has just announced a public beta trial of its playMobi offering. This is an HTML5-based cross-platform game development, deployment, and monetisation SDK. The key advantage is that it provides HTML5 game developers with a ‘write it once’ [...]
Monitise reveals results of working with Visa & RBS
Rating: What’s in the pipeling with Visa sounds more exciting
Mobile banking software specialist, Monitise, has made a number of announcements concerning the spread of its software in conjunction with its banking partners. One of them has been the results of collaboration with Visa to enhance its issuer processing platform, Visa DPS, to offer mobile services. Visa claims these can be accessed via any mobile device, any mobile channel, and with any eligible debit, credit or prepaid account. The other announcement covers the results of its partnership with RBS Group Technology Services. This has enabled RBS and NatWest to launch new mobile business banking apps. Basically, the group has been able to release a news iOS version of its banking app via the Apple iTunes App store. Continue reading
Blippar enjoys massive success with its image-recognition app
Rating: To blipp, or not to blipp – is that the question?
Talk about dark horses. What blippar is doing with its free image-recognition app for smartphones is amazing. GoMo News recently chatted with Jessica Butcher, marketing and founding director with blippar, at a recent DTI sponsored pre-MWC 2012 event. She begged us not to primarily refer to the product as offering augmented reality (AR) but there are tremendous close parallels. Anyway, it turns out that blippar won the first prize in the UK Startup competition run by UKTI and will now represent Britain at CES 2012. It also recently secured seed investment from Qualcomm Ventures. Ms Butcher’s desire to see the word ‘blipp’ enter the English language as a common noun just might succeed. Continue reading
Weekend QR code usage round-up
Rating: Get up and go pushes QR codes to old foggies
Over the weekend, GoMo News likes to carry out is own mini survey of how QR codes are being used in the real world. The shining example we spotted this time was from a supplement entitled Get up and go distributed by the UK’s Sunday Telegraph and published in association with Lyonsdown. What’s so special about a printed publication using QR codes, you might ask? Especially since publishers have long cottoned onto the benefits of using 2D barcodes. The clue lies in the publications’ tag line which is ‘For the Older and Wiser’. This publication is evangelising the benefits of QR codes specifically to older generations. Runner up in the creative use of QR codes was the Co-operative supermarket chain which strategically placed a QR code on a bag of spuds (potatoes). Continue reading
