App Review: Swiss Army Knife–The App That Does It All

Once in a while, there is something you wish you had downloaded on your Windows Phone. It might be a flashlight App or a stopwatch App. Fortunately, there is something out there that will take care of just about any need you may have and it’s all in one place. Let me introduce you to Swiss Army Knife by borneo mobile. Swiss Army Knife rolls 15 total tools into one svelte App. With an install size of just 27MB these 15 pieces take up less an 2MB each and pack enough punch to become a needed install for most users. I’ll cover a few of my personal favorites in this review, but there is so much more that Swiss Army Knife has in-store for you, that you really should just click the link and grab it now.

The counter App is something I use daily to keep track of production parts in my day job. Instead of those handheld clickers that wear out, my Tap To Count App does a perfect job for me. It also works great for counting people in attendance or if you have a room limit you need to watch. The Tally clicker is very handy to have around.

Fake Call allows you to have Swiss Army Knife call your device, or at least pretend to call you, to get you out of that awkward moment that you just don’t want to stay in. A few quick clicks and you can schedule a call for just a minute or two later and pretend to have that emergency to get out of whatever you don’t want to be doing.

The Alarm Clock portion of the App is very well done as well. It’s a great alternative to some of the other Alarms out there and being built in to Swiss Army Knife makes it even nicer. I would recommend purchasing the full version of Swiss Army Knife if you plan to use this feature because of the glaring ad at the bottom of the clock.

The notepad section of Swiss Army Knife is just as easy to use and is very functional. I wouldn’t rate it the top note taking App available by any means, but if you are low on space, having it included is a nice bonus.

I’m not a huge fan of rulers on phones, unless you happen to have a 10” phone. But for measuring a few little things here and there, Swiss Army Knife does a decent job. I don’t think I would try any micrometer style measurements with this one, but for measuring a few basics it works pretty well.

Another very good tool to use in Swiss Army Knife is the level. It works great for simple tasks like hanging photos or leveling a table. Again, I wouldn’t depend on it for leveling something that has to be 100% perfect, but it seems like it is about as dead on as any bubble level I’ve used.

The last tool that I use constantly in the Swiss Army Knife toolbox is the conversion calculator. It does exactly as it says, converts units from one to another. It is dead on and so easy to use. There is plenty to love in this particular portion of Swiss Army Knife, so if you ever find yourself wondering how many quarts are in a gallon or how many miles are in a 5k, you can get the answer pretty fast with the unit converter.

Swiss Army Knife is one of those Apps that you just don’t appreciate until you don’t have it any more. As someone that installed this App long ago, I can’t imagine running it on my Windows Phone. Again, if you find yourself ever wondering if it is worth the download, remember you get all 15 tools for free in ad supported mode. For just $3.99 you can make the ads disappear from Swiss Army Knife. Swing into the market and hit the link for Swiss Army Knife right now.

App Review: Shoppers Calculator Keeps Your Budget Intact As Your Cart Fills Up

As someone that sticks to a hard budget every month for groceries, gas and other expenses, I can really appreciate shopping calculators. I even remember carrying a calculator through the store a few times to make sure I didn’t drift over my allotted monies for the week. Fortunately, in today’s world there really is an App for that, and Shoppers Calculator by BlueChris is one of these Apps, and it is amazingly great at what it does.

The interface screen is as good as they get. You have the item list to the top left and your total to the top right. You have the entering system at the bottom. To use the App, you simply enter the cost of the item you added to your shopping cart. If you want to keep track of the individual items like I did in my list, tap the “add label” button to enter a name for the product. Press the up or down arrows to change the quantity of items and the plus sign to add them to your list.

Once you see your list start to build, you can access individual items again for editing by simply tapping the item. This will create a gray highlight over the item you selected. From there, you can change quantities or pricing or even add a discount.

The discount screen in Shoppers Calculator is pretty simple to use and offers even more choices as with an in App Purchase. Just select the item, apply the discount and watch the magic happen.

The settings for Shoppers Calculator allow for location based sales tax, adjustment of the special value button, and orientation lock. The special value button setting is great if you shop at stores that end their prices in .98 or .95 instead of .99. Makes quick entries even faster with this adjustment.

Once you are done with your shopping run, Shoppers Calculator will let you email over the list to your computer for storage and printing for that monthly budget. As far as shopping calculators go, Shoppers Calculator by BlueChris nails it. While it doesn’t have all the features built in to the free mode, you can certainly build a more complex system with those additional features that can come with an In App Purchase. For just $.99 each, you can snag the discount calculator and the sales tax finder add-ons for Shoppers Calculator. This makes it one of the most complete shopping calculators out there, even when you aren’t sure what the tax rate is where you are shopping.

Overall, Shoppers Calculator gets my vote if you are one of those budget conscious people that keeps track of every penny. The 17MB install size is small enough to keep on a daily driver and the App is useful enough for those watching their spending to be a must have. So, if you are on a monthly grocery budget, head over to the store and download Shoppers Calculator today!

App Review: Appoint Offers One Click Calendar Access For Your Windows Phone

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Appoint based on the description and frankly, I didn’t know how much easier setting appointments could be in Windows Phone, but I got a request form ChaotApps and just had to try out Appoint.

After a quick install, I quickly realized how much faster entering appointments in Windows Phone could be. One click of “Tomorrow” and I was entering in my appointment for tomorrow. Not the usual two clicks that I normally had. Normally, I would blow that off and keep the multiple click method and save some storage space. This won’t be the case with Appoint since the install size is only 2.9 MB.

After clicking the proper tile, you have one touch access to the “add appointment” section of your calendar. If you pin a tile to your home screen, you can edit the details from it.

 

Grab A No Contract Yellow Nokia Lumia 920 For $229

I love it when I find a spectacular deal on Amazon or another online retailer. Normally, it’s sites like HSN that roll out the deals, but today Amazon has the Nokia Lumia 920 for AT&T listed at $229.99! This is still one of the best Windows Phone designs around. The 4.5” display is sharp enough for anyone. The 8MP camera with PureView and Zeiss Lens is a pleasure to shoot with. The 920 is even has 32GB of storage on-board which should be plenty of room for all those new Apps you want to download.

If you are stuck with an older Windows Phone, you can snag this great deal right now. If you’ve been waiting to update your current device and were thinking of holding out for the new Nokia Lumia 630, you may want to consider the Lumia 920 instead. This is a device that you will be very happy with for quite some time.

Available Colors and Pricing:

Nokia Lumia 920 AT&T Windows 8 LTE Smartphone 32GB/1GB RAM – YELLOW – $229.99
Nokia Lumia 920 AT&T Windows 8 LTE Smartphone 32GB/1GB RAM – RED – $279.88
Nokia Lumia 920 AT&T Windows 8 LTE Smartphone 32GB/1GB RAM – BLACK – $299.00

App Review: App Info+ Gives You All The Information On All Your Apps

I’ve had quite a streak of amazing Apps to review lately from my friends over at Nokia Dvlup. The talented developers there continue to astound me daily as I keep going through the lists of Apps that are messaged to me or sent to me via email. Today, I had the pleasure of taking App Info+ from Ocean68 Studio for a test drive. If the name of the developer sounds familiar, it’s because they are on the ones that brought us 11,000 Cool Facts. That App garnered a great review from me previously. That said, App Info+ does exactly what it says it does, it tells you information about the App before you grab it.

App Info+ starts off with an easy enough screen. The App simply has a search bar at the top of the screen and a deals icon at the bottom. The search bar at the top is also accompanied by a region selector as well. There is also the ad support space just above the deals button. To use App Info+, you simply enter the name of the App you want information on and watch the list populate below your entry.

When you select the App you want from the list, a window pops up offering you information on the App itself. In the info box, you will see the number of ratings and the average rating. You will see the price of the App, when it was released and the date it was last updated. It shows the download size and the install size. It also offers an estimate on the amount of internal storage needed for the App to operate.

I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with the data that App Info+ offered in such a quick fashion, especially with my limited 16GB device. Unfortunately, the data that App Info+ offered me and the actual install size of the App I checked was very different. According to Nokia Storage Check, App Info+ is using 19MB of data where as the App Info+ total shows the installed size as near 8.28MB. I would love to see this cleaned up in a later release, but for now, I’ll accept it as a bit of a bug. (See the update on 5/8/14 on why this line was removed.)

The last awesome feature of App Info+ is the linking to the App AppDeals, which offers daily free and discounted Apps. This little gem is a great addition to any Windows Phone all on its own. Ocean68 Studio was brilliant to loop this freebie into App Info+ and for that reason alone this is a 4 star App. Adding the additional information that App Info+ provides easily makes this App worth the 19MB’s of space on your device. If you are a frequent App installer, check out App Info+ and gain one touch access to all those Apps you want to install.

UPDATE 5/8/14

I was contacted by Ocean68 Studio about the method that I used about determining the App Size information used in this post. I currently use a Nokia Lumia 925 for my daily testing phone and at the time that this post was written, Nokia Storage Check showed the App was using 19MB of space on my device. Post the 8.1 Developer Preview, it shows 18.04MB in the new Storage Sense feature. This varies from the ~8.28MB amount that the App stated that it used.

Ocean68 Studio did point me to the fact that their App matches the Windows Phone Store data exactly, which I will give them credit for. While my storage check Apps may not be 100% accurate compared to the Store amounts, App Info+ is correctly showing the data required by the Store to install the App and that is what that feature is designed to show. For now, I will continue to use Storage Sense or Storage Check for review purposes, but it's nice to see that they have an explanation for the difference and how they made it all work. Great job guys!

Game Review: Salvo A Throwback To Arcade Perfection

If there is one thing that I love about Windows Phone developers it would have to be that they remember what real video games are and what they should be. Not that I’m against games like Grand Theft Auto or Halo, but those things are a serious pain for old folks like me to master. I want my Asteroids, Space Invaders and Pole Position games from yester year. I want arcade action without all the fluff. I want Salvo!

Salvo from Caleb Khazoyan is simply arcade classic fun with a minimal learning curve. It takes only minutes to figure out and, if my first few games are any indication, quite some time to master. Just a quick press of the New Game button and a selection of opponents will have you ready to engage the enemy fighters in space.

Game play couldn’t be easier to figure out. First you select the direction by dragging inner circle to the edge of the white circle. This will move your ship to the location where your next turn will start. Next, you move the target circle where you think your phaser or torpedo will do the most damage to your opponent. If you are a bit too close to losing the battle, you can use the shield generator to recoup some of your shield’s power. This will help you outlast those pesky opponents that just won’t let you win.

After a few rounds of torturous combat, the controls will become second nature. I found out quickly how and when to switch weapons for the most damage and the highest experience gain. I have a feeling that as I advance in levels that there will be more weapons and harder opponents awaiting my phasers, but I’ll see about that later.

When you reach the pinnacle of performance, you are met with the screen of victory. This, of course, is the sign of a true Salvo warrior and is never that easy to achieve. Well, maybe it is, but I sure loved the first time I saw it. Of course, one crank up of the opponent level and I was right back to seeing…

Yes, it can be a challenging game. If you fail to blast your nemesis before they destroy you, then you are met with the screen that greeted me a few times before I figured out the game completely.

Salvo is a classic arcade, turn-by-turn space shooter that is well worth the 37MB installed size. Game play is quick and easy. The soundtrack is well done and the fully unlocked version of the game is only $2.99. The only thing missing is a multiplayer mode. I still give this a solid 5 star rating, but with multiplayer added in, this game would be worth $5 easy. You can snag a free download of Salvo by clicking the link below.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/salvo/0c29bcb8-47ea-4080-9eb6-208487c4ecdb

Better Bluetooth Music With The CredDeal Sport Wireless Headset

When you are in the mood to go for that run or working out at the gym, you don’t want to deal with cords hanging all over everything. The CredDeal Sport Wireless Bluetooth Headset does a perfect job of getting rid of those cords on your Bluetooth enabled device. The lightweight design fits comfortably around the back of most people’s heads and the in-ear speakers are sized to fit the average user very easily as well. With a sub $25 price, the CredDeal Sport Wireless Bluetooth Headset is quite a value for any music lover.

The construction of the headset seems very solid. The earbuds do not feel flimsy or cheap. The sound quality is more than adequate for the average 192-320kbps MP3 file and the 8 hours of claimed playback time is almost accurate. My tests came in right at that mark with Nokia Mix Radio, but your results may vary. The construction continues with the sides of the CredDeal Sport Wireless Bluetooth Headset which feature playing controls on one side and the volume controls on the opposite. The 30g weight is almost half the weight of the popular Motorola S10-HD headset.

The charging mechanism on the CredDeal Sport Wireless Bluetooth Headset uses a standard mini USB cable. This works with any USB plug or USB wall/car adapter. The headset went from empty to charged in about an hour and a half. This makes it easy to pop it on the car charger while at work and have it primed for that afternoon workout or even an early morning workout the next day.

Overall, the CredDeal Sport Wireless Bluetooth Headset is quite a find. It is available in Black, Blue, Green and Red. It is also an Amazon Prime item for those that have an Amazon Prime membership. Your music will sound great and the light weight, comfortable design will allow you to listen longer and enjoy more music.