For many of you out there, The Oregon Trail was one of the first computer games you played in school. This Oregon Trail handheld game ($23) puts the '80s classic in the palm of your hand. It has a color screen and speaker housed in a fittingly chunky beige box, finished with over sized gray buttons that cover the essentials: arrow keys, yes, no, mute, and Enter. I'm a fan of the look of this handheld and the retro of the design choices, it also runs on just 3 AA and not a lot of floppy disks.
It seems the iPhone gets another sweet music app that the Android lacks, although I'm hoping Swedish Propellerhead (the makers of Reason) will make it for the Android as well. Figure is not your run of the mill beat grid style music app. This app is not only eye popping but it has controls that will make it easy for anyone to make music in minutes. They even have a thorough overview on their site on how to operate Figure and for a .99 cent app. You can't beat this (pun intended).
“I think we as an industry haven’t been that great about inviting people in who don’t have deep dreams about becoming big stars or understanding everything about music production, it’s time for that: I think everyone should be invited to be part of this. Figure is a small step towards that.” – says chief executive Ernst Nathorst Böös.
Google has joined with Samsung to produce the Galaxy Nexus (TBA). This new phone will be the first to run the whole redesigned Andriod 4.0 or a.k.a Ice Cream Sandwich. Why they named it that I have no idea but it was bad naming. Yeah, what's your phone running? It's running "Ice Cream Sandwich". Really Google? I'm going to have to give you an F for your failure in naming the new Andriod 4.0.
Now let's talk about some of the features on this new phone. It will be sporting a 4.65 inch; 720p high-definition sAMOLED curved Contour Display, LG LTE or HSPA+data, a 1.2GHz dual core processor, NFC technology for instant sharing of content and Google Wallet support. It also has Face Unlock a feature that gives you access to your phone using nothing but your mug, and a 5 megapixel rear camera with a LED flash boasting a single-motion panorama capability and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing cam, and 1080p video recording.
I think I found the phone that will be replacing my Google Nexus One?
There are now a number of apps like PocketGuitar, Virtuoso, Ocarina and DigiDrummer which can make your phone into a virtual symphony. So today I found a couple of people who have put down there instruments and have picked up there iPhones, iPod Touches and other devices that can generate sounds.
iBand
The first band is iBand who are truly unique group of musicians. The band's first YouTube video generated over 4.8 million views. Their song "Vitality has also been a huge hit. The applications that they choose to use are iAno, PocketGuitar, IphoneSynth and BeatPhone.
The Mentalists
The Mentalists are a group of girls from the UK that play great covers only using their iPhone and their voices. They have covered songs like "Kids" by MGMT and "American Boy" by Estelle. Their favorite apps are NLog Synthesizer, MiniSynth, RetroSynth, DigiDrummer Lite and Ocarina.
In being that it's 2010 we have seen that phones are now becoming more like little desktops in our hands. We have also over the years gotten use to having a camera built in to our phones. But now with high tech phones you can do more than just take a picture. In having a phone with the rich software applications that run on devices like the iPhone and Android, you get lots of cool new ways to put your cameraphone to good use.
Cameraphones are becoming a form of digital photographic memory, in which you can take a picture of basically anything that interest you. Now, with the right apps, you can also use your phone to scan barcodes and store them, and even translate and recognize text. You can even map out the location that you took the picture at and share it with multitude of social networks.
Google Goggles is a brand new application for Android phones that lets you search the web with an image. You just point your phone at an artwork, a book, DVD, or CD cover, a landmark, or a logo, and Goggles will return search results for that item. You can even point your phone at someone's business card, and Goggles can automatically add that person's name, address, phone number, email address and web site to your address book. Eventually, Goggles will be able to translate written text as well. So you could point your phone at a sign or menu in another language and get back Google Translate's translation.
What I am liking about the new cellphones like the iPhone and the Andriod is the barcode scanner which can scan a barcode on any product and give you prices from all over the web as well as retail outlets near you. Google Shopper is a similar application on Android: point your cameraphone at either a barcode or a book, CD, or DVD cover, and Shopper will show you prices and review of that product from around the web instantly.
Then their is the square bar code called QR Codes, are becoming a popular way to transmit information like web links and phone numbers directly to a phone without any typing. If your local coffee shop has a barcode in the window, for example, you could scan it on your phone and can instantly find reviews and more information without tapping a key.
Their is also a application that works on the Android that lets you store images of membership cards or big box store club cards that you use over and over again. Instead of crowding your keyring with your grocery, pharmacy, and movie rental place club card, take pictures of each one and store them in an image file on your phone. Then you can just have them scan your phone and Bam! You just saved tons of space on your key chain
Foursquare is a app for the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm and Android phones in which it allows you to tell people where you have checked-in at. From the Foursquare website they state people use foursquare to "check-in", which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we'll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places - cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.
Foursquare offers points when you check-in to different places as well. Find a new place in your neighborhood? +5 points. Making multiple stops in a night? +2 points. Dragging friends along with you? +1. If you are always going to the same spots you could earn the title of Mayor. If you do earn that title Foursquare has a list of freebies that they mayor can get at those spots. It is a interesting application that can keep your social status updated and lets people know where you are and what your doing. Many of these types of programs are popping up now in 2010 so the question is do you want to join in on the fun?
In being that it's 2010 we have seen that phones are now becoming more like little desktops in our hands. We have also over the years gotten use to having a camera built in to our phones. But now with high tech phones you can do more than just take a picture. In having a phone with the rich software applications that run on devices like the iPhone and Android, you get lots of cool new ways to put your cameraphone to good use.
Foursquare is a app for the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm and Android phones in which it allows you to tell people where you have checked-in at. From the Foursquare website they state people use foursquare to "check-in", which is a way of telling us your whereabouts. When you check-in someplace, we'll tell your friends where they can find you and recommend places to go & things to do nearby. People check-in at all kind of places - cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices.
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