Acer Iconia tablets at the MWC 2011: A for Android, W for Windows 7
Tablets are on fire today with 3 new entries by Acer. While the A100 and A500 pretty much fit the standard tablet profile, the W500 leads the pack with intuitive design and top-end features.
The Acer A100 has all the features you would expect in a tablet these days – Android 3.0 Honeycomb on dual-core NVIDIA Tegra, a 7-inch 1024×600 16:9 display, Flash 10.1 support, a 5 megapixel camera and a front-facing 2 megapixel unit for video calls. Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth are also present. The only thing missing is voice call support. The amount of RAM is 512MB, while storage is 8GB.
The Acer A100
The A500 is pretty much the same device, only with a bigger (10.1″) screen of 1280×800 resolution. With 1GB RAM, the Acer A500 comes in two flavors: 16 or 32GB of inbuilt storage. Both tablets have MicroSD support.
The Acer A500
With dual-core processors and all-you-can-eat connectivity across the board, it’s hard for a new tablet to stand out. And we’re not complaining – or trying to belittle the specs of the new tablets announced in Barcelona. It’s just hard to come across something different. Now the Acer W500 Tab stands out easily.
With the W500, Acer is getting ahead of the competition and diversifying their portfolio of operating systems. The W500 is a Windows 7 tablet with a 10.1″ wide-screen multi-touch display.
The Acer W500
The Acer Iconia Tab W500 has a 1 GHz AMD C-50 dual-core processor and a Radeon HD6250 graphics card with 256MB video memory. That’s a promise for a solid multimedia performance. The display borrows the CrystalBrite technology from Acer’s laptop and desktop lineups.
All three new tablets have Acer’s Clear.fi media-sharing feature. It’s a way to streamline and wirelessly share content across their own platforms and devices.
Canonical's Ubuntu Edge raises $10 million, sets a new record
The Ubuntu Edge jumped past the $10 million mark today and as of the time of writing has gathered $10,386,000 in its (doomed) crowd-sourced funding campaign.
The first couple of days of Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge crowd-funded campaign went pretty well. The company raised a bit over $2 million in the first 24 hours, but since then, the whole project has slowed down too much for it to become successful.
Achieving more than $10 million in a crowd-funding project allowed the Ubuntu Edge to overtake the Pebble smartwatch and the Scanadu Scout tricorder, and set a new record for most funds raised in this sort of campaigns.
According to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth, the Ubuntu Edge hybrid smartphone has managed to get the attention of some manufacturers (he didn’t name which) and has a pretty good chance of making it to production, despite the failure of its campaign.
Follow the link below for the full set of details regarding the concept smartphone.
AMD introduces A-series APUs, promises to challenge the whole Sandy Bridge lineup
After upsetting the Atom domination with ultra-portables and netbooks with its E-series, APUs AMD has set its sight on the more powerful portable computers. The company has just unveiled its new A-series of CPU-plus-GPU chips.
The A-series includes a couple of dual-core processors and five quad-core offerings. The two lowest sitting members are the 1.9 GHz A4-3300M and the 2.1 GHz A4-3310MX, which both support dynamic turbo boosting of up to 2.5Ghz and have 2MB of L2 cache. The Radeon HD 6480G with a clock speed of 444 MHz is the GPU of choice for both A4 chips.
The quad-core A6-3400M and A6-3400MX come next in the pecking order with 4MB of cache each. Their nominal operating frequency is 1.4 GHz and 1.6 GHz respectively and they both reach 2.3 GHz in boost mode. A Radeon HD 6520G clocked at 400 MHz takes care of the graphics here.
The A8 sub-series consists of the A8-3510M, A8-3510MX and A8-3530MX APUs. Radeon HD 6620G running at 444 MHz is their GPU of choice, while the available L2 cache is 1MB per core. The 3510M runs at 1.5 GHz, while the 3510MX and 3530MX reach 1.8 GHz and 1.9 GHz respectively. In Turbo mode there’s less to separate those three with the max speeds being 2.4 GHz for the 3510M, 2.5 GHz for the 3510MX and 2.6 GHz for the 3530 MX.
The A-series members with names ending in M have a TDP of 35W, while those named MX need up to 45W.
Starting at $499 for the A4, $599 for A6, and $699 for A8, those new chips will certainly be greatly appreciated by manufacturers of mainstream laptops.
In fact HP already showed its support for the lineup by saying that it will be adding the APU’s to 11 (that’s eleven) of the laptops in its portfolio. Those include six members of the Pavilion family (dv4, dv6, dv7, g4, g6, g7) and five ProBooks (6465b, 6465b,4535s, 4435s and 4436s). Scheduled to arrive in late June and July those laptops will start from a sweetly sounding $519.
20 people injured at an LG G2 marketing event in Korea
The LG G2 is one of the hottest phones of the year and people’s desire to get a hold of it can easily go out of control. So much so, that at a launch event in Korea, twenty people were injured during a not-too-well thought marketing stunt.
LG decided it was a good idea to put vouchers for free phones in balloons full of helium amidst an open area full of people. You can guess what ensued.
Check out the video of the stomping below taken by a local news agency.
Some of the people in the crowd even tried shooting down the balloons using BB guns. LG has issued an apology regarding the incident and has promised to cover the medical bills of all the injured. The other events from the same series have been cancelled.
Olympus unveils the SZ-10, VR-330 and VR-320 superzooms and VG-110 budget compact
Olympus has a thing for superzoom compacts so it’s little wonder that three of their four camera announcements today belong in that category. Today the company lifted the curtain of the DSLR-like SZ-10, packing 18x zoom lens, the ultra-wide angle VR-330 and VR-320 that zoom up to 12.5 times and the affordable VG-110.
The star of the show, the Olympus SZ-10, packs a 1/2.3” 14 MP CCD sensor and f/3.1-4.4 lens that covers the 28 – 504mm range in 35mm equivalent. The SZ-10 3” LCD screen features 460k dots, which is decent for a camera in this class.
Along with that, the Olympus SZ-10 introduces a new 3D mode that allows you to capture stereoscopic images. With no dedicated 3D lens at hand you need to shoot 2 images for the 3D image to be stitched. Fortunately, it’s fully automatic – you take a shot and than slowly pan until the camera automatically takes a second one.
The video recording capabilities of the Olympus SZ-10 max out at 720p, which is somewhat modest as far as current trends go. You still have an HDMI port for sharing those images and videos on your HDTV, though.
The SZ-10 will set you back $250.
The Europe-bound Olympus VR-330 and VR-320 share the sensor of their bigger brother, but are somewhat more compact. Their 12.5x f/3-5.9 zoom lenses stretches from the ultra-wide 24mm all the way to 300mm. By the way, from where I stand, that really looks like the more convenient zoom range to have.
The differences between this couple boil down to the 3” display resolution (460k dots for VR-330 and 230k dots for VR-320) and the 3D shooting and HDMI port mode, which are only available on the VR-330.
Video recording on both the VR-330 and VR-320 goes only as high as 720p. The VR-330 will only be available through online retailers for ￡160, while the VR-320 will be an exclusive to Jessops UK online store and will go for ￡140.
Finally, there’s the Olympus VG-110, which has a retail price of…wait for it… $90. For that you get a 1/2.3” 12 MP sensor, VGA video recording and 4x zoom f/2.9 -6.5 lens (27-108mm). Bargain hunters should definitely check this one.
The Olympus SZ-10 will be available in March, while the other three newly announced compacts should hit the shelves this month.
N.O.V.A. 2 gets an Android and Facebook version, epicness written all over it
N.O.V.A was a popular FPS game for iOS, which then crossed over to Android as well. And now droid-land is getting a taste of the sequel – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance. Not only that but Gameloft was kind enough to make the game available on Facebook too, neat right?
The game has been around of iPhones and iPads for some time now (December 2010) and offers truly immersive gameplay, worthy of a hefty portion of your day.
First-person shooters, for me personally, aren’t the most comfortable genre to play on a phone, be it an iPhone or even an XPERIA Play. Now tablets are a whole different story all together as they offer a much larger screen, which is a must-have for me. Still you can give it a go if you’re up to paying $5 for it.
Luckily, you can still try it before you buy it as Gameloft has released the game for Facebook too.
In-browser playing isn’t half bad too.
Here’s a demo video of the game. It’s for the iPhone version, but things are practically unchanged, so enjoy.
GetJar does a Gold sale, lets you have more than 100 Android apps for free
The only thing we love more than high-quality apps are high-quality apps for free. And thanks to the latest GetJar promotion you will be able to get more than a 100 of those on your droid.
All you need to do is visit GetJar’s mobile website and download their Android app. From there you can browse the hundred free titles (including some pretty nice game) and download the ones you are interested in.
You also need to enable installation of non-market applications in settings->applications if you haven’t done that already.
You can browse the included apps on the Gold sale’s dedicated website from either your phone or your desktop browser, but it really feels more natural on a mobile device.
Now get those downloads going as there’s no saying how long the promotion will last.
Adobe rolls out Creative Suite CS5.5, introduces monthly subscriptions [VIDEOS]
Adobe has decided to step up its release cycle and now in addition to releasing a new version of the Creative Suite every 2 years, they will also be bringing a “milestone” version every 12 months. Enter CS5.5!
CS5.5 is an update to the CS5 suite bringing improved versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, Flash Builder Premium, Flash Catalyst, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver, Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.
The Creative Suite CS5.5 offers a lot of improvements, bugfixes and tweaks, alongside many new features including better support for HTML5 and focus on developing mobile applications and testing them thoroughly within the Suite itself. Here’s a video explaining what else is new.
Adobe has also worked out a new subscription system. You will now be able to get any of the Adobe products on a pay monthly basis with fees as low as $19 per month if you commit to an annual subscriptions. If, one-year contract is too much for you, you can get the pure month to month subscription for $29.
Oh, and if you have some time to spare, check out these lengthy videos with tours for the updated products.
HTC rethinking its bootloader policy, hears customers concerns
HTC has posted today on both its Twitter and Facebook pages that its customers concerns are heard and the company is reviewing its locked bootloader policy.
A locked bootloader means you get stuck on whatever software the provider gives you and you can’t go for that custom ROM magic everyone seems to love so much. It’s like buying a PC and getting stuck with Windows without the option to change to Fedora or Ubuntu (or whatever), only worse.
One way of looking at this is saying that HTC predominantly sell the hardware and simply tweak the software so they shouldn’t have the right to deny users a custom experience. On the other hand, however, you can say that having a tight control over the software will allow the company to provide a better user experience and everyone will benefit from that. Yet this second way of thinking is certainly not the Android way and understandably that move by HTC angered plenty of its customers.
There’s no word on official actions on behalf of HTC but there is a “more information soon” in there so we guess we’ll just have to wait. We could be in for an unlocked Sensation, bootloader-wise.
The open source foundation of Android is a huge part of its appeal, compared to other OSs so it would be foolish for HTC to try and stand up against it.
Twitter announced its new service named Vine in January, letting you share short looping videos on the popular social network. Back then a Vine app was only available for iOS, but that exclusivity is finally coming to an end. The service, which already has about 13 million active users, has finally been made available for Android.
Vine for Android currently requires Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or higher to work, but it lacks some of the features from the iOS app. However, Twitter promised that it will soon release an update for the Android version that will put it on par with its iOS counterpart.
Introducing Vine for Android. vine.co/v/b3v5h3Piwt7
— Vine (@vineapp) June 3, 2013
Vine for Android currently offers unlimited uploads, instant posting of videos on Vine and sharing it on Twitter. The app lets you find, follow and interact with people and you can also explore trending posts for now. The important features such as front-facing camera support, search, mentions and hash tags and Facebook sharing, which are currently missing, are expected to arrive in the upcoming days.
Vine for Android can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.
Nokia 5230 gets overclocked to 800MHz, makes Ovi Maps load much faster
The Nokia 5230 (a.k.a. Nuron in the US) is one of the cheapest ways to get a full-blown SatNav system. It’s got a GPS, free voice-guided navigation with offline maps (that is you don’t need an Internet connection as you go) and you can buy it for about 120 euro (160 USD).
However that 434MHz CPU it’s got under its bonnet, sure takes its time to launch Ovi Maps. But if you overclock it to, say, 800MHz that will make it faster – and someone already made it happen…
The guys at HX custom ROMs have figured out how change the clock speed of the Nokia 5230 – they can downclock it to 250MHz or overclock it all the way to 800MHz (or the more sane 600MHz).
Check out the video – Ovi Maps loads much faster than usual when the Nokia 5230 is clocked at 800MHz. There’s no info on how this affects the battery though.
They are even working on an overclock solution for the Samsung i8910 OmniaHD. Unfortunately, if you check out hyp3rxx’s YouTube channel you’ll see that next to the Nokia 5230 overclocking video, there’s a video of a bricked OmniaHD. It could be for other reasons than the overclock mod, I don’t know – but take this as a warning, before you rush off to ask how to overclock your 5230.
Mass Effect 3, Uncharted 3, Prototype 2, Batman: Arkham City, The Elders Scrolls V, INSANE and more announced at the VGA 2010
Lots of gamers dreams came true at the yesterday’s Video Game Awards. Besides the announcements of the already mentioned titles, Resistance 3, Thor, Forza Motorsport, Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat have also debuted with exclusive trailers.
Most of the announced games are scheduled for holiday 2011 release (Diablo III is also rumored for late 2011 launch). I’m sure lots of pockets would turn empty then (including mine) so I suggest we start saving right now.
The conclusion of the Mass Effect series will finally take us to Earth, where the Reapers are destroying the mankind. Commander Shepard must gather an army strong enough to defeat the Reapers and save the Earth. The targeted platforms are PC, X360 and PS3 and the release will be in time for the 2011 holiday season (yes, a good year from now).
Video Games | Mass Effect 3 | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD
XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii
The PlayStation 3 exclusive Uncharted is back for a third installment with Drake’s Deception. Naughty Dog promises even better graphics, visual effects and multiplayer. The game will launch on 1 November only on PS3.
Video Games | Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD
XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii
Guillermo Del Toro is preparing a new horror game with Volition and THQ. It’s called INSANE, which also describes the release timeframe – it’s scheduled for 2013.
Video Games | Insane | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Teaser HD
XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii
The other three trailers are of Batman: Arkham City, Mortal Kombat and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. For even more trailers, you can visit the GameTrailers VGA page.
Batman: Arkham City
Video Games | Batman: Arkham City | VGA 10: Exclusive Hugo Strange Reveal Trailer HD
XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii
Mortal Kombat
Video Games | Mortal Kombat | VGA 10: Exclusive Kratos Reveal Trailer HD
XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Video Games | Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD
XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii
The Video Game Awards winners were also announced yesterday. The game of the year is Red Dead Redemption, while the best game studio is BioWare. Its Mass Effect 2 won the Best X360 Game and Best RPG. The complete winners list is here.
'Cut the Rope: Time Travel' for iOS and Android game review
The original Cut the Rope has been a rousing success. Known for its simple yet challenging gameplay and adorable animation style, the game was a hit with all age groups. It later spawned a sequel in the form of Cut the Rope: Experiments, which introduced new levels and gameplay mechanics.
Now, a year and a half after Experiments came out, developers ZeptoLab have released the third installment in the series, labelled Cut the Rope: Time Travel. The new game features the now familiar gameplay with some new twists, such as an extra character and not one but two candies in each level. Let’s see how this one performs.
Title
Cut the Rope: Time Travel
Developer
ZeptoLab
Platform
iOS
Android
Release Date
April 2013
April 2013
Content rating
4+
Everyone
Size
32.5MB / 71MB
Varies with device
Price
$0.99 / $2.99
Free (with ads) / $0.99
Gameplay
Cut the Rope: Time Travel borrows much from the previous two games. The main difference here is, however, there are two hungry monsters to feed. The premise is that the game’s protagonist Om Nom has gone back in time and comes across his ancestors, a different one in each level. So you now have two monsters in each level and two candies to feed to each of them. You have to feed them individually and you can’t just feed one monster both candies. Also, if you drop either or both the game ends.
Once you wrap your mind around this concept the rest of the game is classic Cut the Rope. There are several new mechanics, involving metal chains that can only be cut using blades, ability to pause time and freeze candy and other objects mid-air, bombs that explode when you drop candy on them and the resultant explosion can then be used to propel the candy to a desired point, flying candy that floats around and follows the motion of the other, regular candy and a large clock that can be used to move some of the objects on the screen around. My favorite, however, is the one where you have just one monster on the screen at a time and you have to use the candy to flick a switch on the screen for the other one to appear from behind a stone platform.
Other than these, Cut the Rope: Time Travel features some of the mechanics from two games, such as portals, rockets, bouncing platforms, etc. The old mechanics coupled with the new ones are enough to make the game feel fresh.
The problem is that Cut the Rope: Time Travel is too easy. The original game has some incredibly tough levels that will leave you scratching your head for hours or even days but Time Travel can be finished in an afternoon. As usual, you first have to figure out the way to deliver the candy to the monsters, which usually takes less than 30 seconds in most levels and after that it’s a matter of timing to execute the solution, which for veterans of the game shouldn’t be too difficult. You can blaze through most levels with consummate ease and only a handful of levels pose any real challenge. It doesn’t help that there are just 90 levels in the game, most of which can be completed in under a minute.
Graphics and Sound
Visually, Cut the Rope: Time Travel looks identical to the previous two games in the series. This is not exactly a bad thing as both of them are visually stunning and have some of the most wonderful character animations in a 2D game. Cut the Rope: Time Travel ups the ante by introducing a few more of those amusing and adorable animations and the new characters also look great. They do, however, behave identically to our usual Om Nom and the different ancestors bring no change to the gameplay, which is a disappointment.
The sound in the game is fine but nothing special. The background music is new but sounds similar to the one in the first game and not nearly as memorable. The sound effects for the characters are great, though, especially their mumbling when they fall asleep after you feed one of them.
Verdict
Cut the Rope: Time Travel is a good third installment in a series of very enjoyable games. The new game brings with it some new gameplay mechanics but maintains some of the best parts from the older games. Unfortunately, most people will find the game a bit too easy and miss some of the challenge from the first two games. This game is great for kids, who will find the gameplay and especially the visuals very enjoyable but adults won’t be as amused.
Rating: 7/10 Pros: Brings an interesting new twist to familiar gameplay, amazing visuals and character animations Cons: Far too easy
Free Ovi Maps taxis hit UK streets today, Nokia X6 takes you for a ride
Nokia is really pushing hard when it comes to promoting Ovi Maps. Their latest PR stunt is unleashing a fleet of black Ovi Maps branded taxis in some UK cities – they’ll give you a free ride and let you play with a Nokia X6 while you’re traveling…
If you live in London, Manchester, Birmingham or Glasgow be on a lookout for a special kind of black taxis. The Ovi Maps branding should make them easier to spot and this promotion should last a week.
Once you get in the taxi, a Nokia X6 will be waiting for you inside – you can play around with it, even fire up Ovi Maps to see how the voice-guided navigation works. No, they won’t let you keep the phone, but at least you won’t have to pay for the ride either.
If you do want a free X6 however, you could still win one. What you need to do is tweet #NokiaFreeSatNav and you can win one of five Nokia X6 16GB. Those of us that don’t use Twitter seem to be out of luck though.
Well, manufacturers of dedicated SatNav units, the gauntlet has been thrown.
Xperia PLAY munchies: first phone to get Minecraft plus Kristin Schaal advertising campaign bloopers [VIDEO]
?In case you haven’t heard of it, Minecraft has single-handedly become the biggest indie game of the century. Created by Swedish game developer Markus ‘Notch’ Persson in 2009, Minecraft is a completely randomly generated sandbox world that allows players to build out of practically anything they can find. Although the title is still in its beta, as of early February 2011, it had sold over 1,230,000 units and has only been available on PC and Mac, until now.
Assuming you’re one of the lucky few who already own or intend on owning a Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, for the time being you will have exclusive access to a new mobile variant of this hit indie title. Developers Mojang were rumored to have been working on versions of the game for both iOS and Android and although there’s no news of Apple’s side of the fence, the PLAY is the first Android device that will be able to run the game (partly thanks to its unique gamepad).
Mojang spoke of the difficulties and differences of porting a game like Minecraft to mobile devices: “When playing on smartphones you will have a different screen size compared to PC, different hardware, different attention spans and thus the game needs to be customized to fit the mobile specifications,” and this version will only officially work on the PLAY for the time being, (although is that really going to stop it popping up elsewhere?).
This is a testament to Sony Ericsson’s push in getting the PLAY recognized as a real mobile gaming device. You might have caught their slightly surreal adverting campaign starring former Flight of the Conchords actress Kristin Schaal a month ago or so. The quirky Kristin brought her own brand of hilarity to the web spots (which you can see here), but what we saw in the final edits only eluded to what must have been hours of well executed hilarity. Well, BGR.com have unearthed at least a few of the outtakes from those fateful videos and we bring them to you here, check it out:
Although there’s no confirmed price or release date set for Minecraft Mobile, Mojang have sent out invitations to a Minecraft-themed event on June 7, offering attendees the chance to “stay in the light and take refuge with Sony Ericsson to keep the creepers at bay.” If you’re a Minecraft player already you’ll have some idea of what that means, if not, just go back and watch Kristin, she’s so kooky, isn’t she?.
Halo's epic multiplayer statistics get outed in an infographic
The developers from Bungie have ended their relationship with the “Halo” video game franchise in a truly memorable fashion. The studio released an infographic, showing the data it collected from “Halo” online multiplayer over the years.
Now get ready for some serious numbers. There have been almost 22 billion “Halo” matchmaking games played online since September 9, 2004, which have resulted in a tad above 136 billion kills. The latter have taken over two billion hours to get accomplished.
See the rest of the numbers below, and don’t forget to share with us, if you’ve contributed to them.
Google Play Movies and YouTube add 500 Paramount titles to movie library
Google is busy building up its movie catalog for YouTube and Google Play Movies, with Paramount joining in, making for a total of five out six major Hollywood studios (plus 10 independent ones). The catalog has swelled to almost 9,000 titles now.
The deal with Paramount will make 500 new titles available for rent through YouTube or if you’re on an Android device, through Google Play Movies. Some are up now, the rest will be added over the next few weeks.
Paramount Pictures is the studio behind titles such as The Godfather, Hugo, Transformers, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and many others – you can consult IMDb for the full list. Note that the movies are only available in the US and Canada for now.
Prices for 48-hour rent are in the $2.99-$4.99 range depending on how recent the movie is and if you want the SD or the HD version.
Face unlock for Samsung Galaxy S requires blinking, is better than ICS face unlock
After some hesitation, Samsung is finally delivering the promised Value pack update for the original Galaxy S. The new firmware adds some Ice Cream Sandwich features to the Gingerbread-tasting Galaxy, including Face unlock.
It turns out, though, the Face unlock is actually better than the one present in the stock Android ICS, which is easy to bypass with a photo. Samsung’s team responsible for the value pack heard those concerns and made this unlock option more secure.
The solution is very clever in its simplicity – the user has to blink before the phone would unlock. And that’s not something a photo can do.
Sure, it can still be bypassed – with a video – but it’s much harder to do, while it doesn��t complicate the unlock procedure much (people blink all the time anyway).
The Value pack is currently rolling out in Korea, but it’s still unclear when it will reach the rest of the world. Officially that is, as the leaked Value pack firmware was made available pretty quickly through unofficial channels.
Sony Xperia Z may be using Dragontrail glass on the front, Gorilla Glass on the back
Sony is traditionally very tight-lipped about what kind of tough glass it uses on its smartphones, but during a press conference in Hong Kong the proverbial beans might have been spilled, at least as far as the Sony Xperia Z goes.
And the answer seems pretty weird – Sony uses two different materials from two suppliers for the front and the back glass of the device.
The well-known Corning Gorilla Glass is used for the back, while Dragontrail is used for the front. Dragontrail doesn’t quite have the brand recognition that Corning has, but its products have similar qualities and have apparently been used on the Sony Xperia go (which routinely gets, uh, “mishandled”).
Unfortunately, the Sony Xperia ZL wasn’t at the event so we don’t know which glass it uses (its back is plastic, so there’s only one). Also, knowing Sony this will be the last we hear about toughened glass suppliers, so this isn’t 100% confirmed.
Vimeo launches its official iOS app, it does video editing too
Vimeo has just launched its official iOS app. You can watch all the Vimeo videos and upload yours. But wait, there is more – the app offers quite a capable video editor too.
You can record videos directly from the Vimeo app interface and edit them. You can trim or combine videos, add external audio tracks or even subtitles and choose different transition effect.
You can also choose a video from your library or export one to there.
The best part of all is the Vimeo app is free and offers quite a premium functionality that can surely compete with the Apple’s iMovie.
The rest of the functions (as a player) are pretty similar to the YouTube app. There is one important feature missing though – video search. You can only browse different channels, but there is no searching. I guess Vimeo devs will add this later.
Currently the Vimeo app is compatible with iPhone 3GS and 4, iPod Touch 4G and both iPads. You can get it from the AppStore for free right now.
And one more thing – if you don’t need the editing features, you can always just browse the regular Vimeo website from your iOS device. Most of the videos there are available for mobile streaming, no Flash player needed.
Badland is a 2D action adventure platformer where you control one of the game’s unnamed creatures through a maze of deadly traps.
The game has already won several accolades, along with Apple’s Editor’s Choice award on the App Store. We decided to find out for ourselves how good the game really is.
Title
Badland
Developer
Frogmind
Platform
iOS
Release Date
April 4, 2013
Content Reating
9+
Size
121MB
Price
$3.99
Gameplay
In Badland, you control these unknown, unnamed creatures that sort of look like the birds from Angry Birds. Unlike the Angry Birds, these creatures can fly, but not so well. You can tell from the way they fly that their wings are too small to carry their weight around. To control these creatures, you tap the screen which makes them fly and moving forward. The screen keeps moving forward regardless of whether you fly or not and if you’re caught napping, the creature eventually moves out of the screen and the game is over.
Between you and the end of the level lie some of the most sinister traps I’ve seen in a game and within a few seconds of playing you realize why the place is called Badland. Every thing in the game is designed to kill you in a gruesome manner. There are all sorts of traps, from collapsing boulders, spinning blades, mines, guns and several other things that are out to get you. The environment is also quite hostile and makes moving around without landing in any of these traps very difficult.
Throughout the level you get several powerups. These can increase or decrease your size, increase or decrease your speed, make you spin clockwise or anti-clockwise, slow or quicken time, turn you into a bouncing ball, etc. These powerups are sometimes optional but mostly you need to collect them to get through a certain section of the game, which would otherwise be impossible.
A special type of powerup makes clones out of your creature. You can go from controlling one of these creatures to dozens at once. You control them all similarly as you control one of them and they all react simultaneously to screen taps. Your job in the end is to save as many of these as you can. Often, this isn’t possible and the game makes sure of that. In some cases, you have to sacrifice a few for the sake of others. At times, it is difficult to direct one of these through a series of traps but with a dozen of them, you are bound to left with at least one by the time you come out of the traps.
The creatures you control in Badland are by far some of the dullest and most frustrating character I’ve come across in any game. Not that it’s a flaw but they are designed that way. As mentioned before, they can’t fly well, which can be a colossal pain in the butt sometimes. You have to be very careful with your inputs because they don’t respond very well. And because they have just a pair of wings, in case they get stuck somewhere you can’t do anything. And they get stuck a lot. Often you will find them getting stuck in a crevice somewhere and you are left to watch helplessly as the creature eventually moves out of the screen and the game restarts. They are also easily influenced by the environment and if they hit or touch something it can instantly change their trajectory and you have to fight hard to bring them back in line.
More than the traps themselves, it’s these creatures that add the challenge in Badlands. Had you been provided with a sharper character, you could blaze through the game in no time at all. But to get through the traps with a character as daft as these creatures is what makes Badland so exciting and at times a bit frustrating.
The game has 40 levels in the single-player mode, which might not sound like much but are enough when you consider how challenging they are. Once you complete a level, you can play them again and the game gives you a good incentive to do so. Each level has three achievements that are revealed when you complete the level once. The achievements are of varying difficulty with the easiest one often involving just managing to get through the level in one attempt (you’d be surprised how hard it is to do even this). The more difficult achievements usually involve collecting every powerup in a level or finishing a level with a certain number of clones.
What this does is add an excellent amount of replay value to the game. Completing the level is challenging as it is but trying to get any or all of these ups the ante significantly. Those who revel in such masochism are bound to love Badland.
Once you are done with single-player there is also a multi-player mode in the game. Unfortunately, this is just a local multi-player mode, and not a great one at that. You can have up to four player playing at once. Each can select their character and let’s say if you select four player mode the screen is then split in four parts, with each part assigned to a player. That player then has to tap in that section to keep their character moving. Then it’s like a standard game of Badland. You go through the level, collecting powerups as usual. The one who makes it till the end with most powerups and clones wins.
If this doesn’t sound terribly exciting, mostly because it isn’t. The multi-player mode would have been a lot more fun if it was played online on separate devices. Unfortunately, that is not an option.
Graphics and Sound
Badland is a visually stunning game. The developers have done an excellent job of portraying the landscape. The game environment comes across as beautiful due to the use of vibrant hues for the background but at the same time unsettlingly creepy due to the sort of things that go on there. The creatures in the game are also well drawn and animated. You can feel their struggle as they drag around their disproportionately large body with their tiny wings and some of your frustration and helplessness is mirrored in them when they get stuck somewhere and can’t do anything about it because their body isn’t capable of doing anything else. You can see their expression change through their eyes, which widen every time a trap is set off or if they approach the edge of the display and are about to be left out. The traps are also very well designed and remind me a lot of the desktop/console game ‘Limbo’, which featured similarly sinister traps throughout. You also get to witness some excellent physics in the game.
The sound is terrific as well. You have ambient sounds from the environment to keep you company throughout the game. You can hear birds chirping in the background and flies buzzing as you go about your business. Occasionally you also hear some eery sounds from machines that you don’t really see in the game. The developers have ensured that the traps sound just as ferocious as they look. Play with a set of high-quality headphones and you can feel the thump of every piston, the rumble of a boulder, the squelch of your creature being crushed to death and the razor sharp blades tearing their bodies apart. Badland begs to be heard through a pair of good headphones and you’d be doing it and yourself a great disservice by playing it on the loudspeaker.
Verdict
After playing through the game there is little reason to wonder why Badland won so many accolades. It combines a deliciously challenging gameplay, gorgeous visuals and some amazing sound effects into a wonderfully complete package. The developers have also refrained from adding any kind of in-app purchase and ruin the experience, for which they must be commended. I only wish the game had a proper online multi-player mode but other than that Badland is as close to perfect as you can get.
Rating: 9/10 Pros: Challenging gameplay that will test your patience, excellent audio visual presentation, plenty of replay value Cons: No online multi-player mode
