Flappy Bird App Review – free app

An app to chick out. But is it worth getting in a flap over?

So the first thing that struck me when searching for the next app to review, after finding flappy bird at the top of the free charts, was the previous reviews on this app. I don’t know if the people that play flappy bird are just funnier and quirkier than other people, or just think they are, but read the top few reviews and they are all pretty similar. People saying that flappy bird is addictive and annoying to the point of anger. For me though it seems like another iteration of the viral wave breaking. With this app, posting a funny review about how annoying it is is almost as popular as the app itself. I don’t believe the first 5 reviewers all got so angry they shouted out loud, punched a cat or threw their phone at a baby on the bus. Let’s see if I will be saying the same thing in 30 minutes after trying the game.

So anyway, the gameplay. This is pretty much a reworking of the helicopter game with themes of 90s Mario and a sprinkle of tiny wings thrown into the mix. Press on the screen and your bird flaps its wings to boost its position somewhat. Very quickly though you will find yourself navigating drains pipes coming across the screen. You’ll have to tap the screen at exactly right time to get yourself through the spaces. Each hurdle you get past gains you a point. Get enough points and you’ll earn different medals.

Now as previously mentioned, by every reviewer ever, this game prides itself on raising your blood pressure and getting you angry. Our little bird only has one wing flap available to him and frankly it’s nothing to write home about. If you manage to get past the first drain during the first 5 minutes you’re doing well. From there you’ll probably average a score of 5 but with many attempts which will see you face down in the ground. The problem is that it doesn’t take much for your bird to nose dive. Press a little to early. Game over. Too late. Game over. The reviews get it spot on, it is very annoying! Even if your are concentrating, going for a high score, you’ll probably die 10 times before you even get close. When you do get close you’ll get nervous and you’ll die. I got a high score of 21 in about 20 minutes of playing the game, in the next 10 minutes I got to 17 twice and both times it just got too much for me. The other 100 times I barely made it past 10. This game is annoying.

This game dynamic will split opinions down the middle. Some will find it uncontrollably addictive, others will find it boring. I think a key aspect to this addictiveness is the developers making the gameplay short. Games like jailbreak and doodle jump require you to spend a long time, working up the difficulty, to beat your previous best. You won’t have this problem with Flappy Bird. The whole idea of the game is little and often, you could play 20 games while waiting for the kettle to boil. This is a refreshing change for a game, it is hard but short, no warm up, just straight into the game.

The problem is that this game gets boring quickly. When it comes down to it you are just playing a game of helicopter with a broken control pad. Every time your little bird brushes a pipe I got a little bit more fed up. Eventually you lose the will to start the game in the first place. The game is too simple and so there is nothing to keep you coming back. There is no reason to get a high score. Other addictive games dangle the next unknown level in front of you, Flappy Bird only has the incentive of finally earning that platinum medal, but without setting you a target to aim at it just isn’t enough. This is a game that I can see myself playing for a week, on the bus, on the loo, whenever I have a minute. After that week I can’t really see myself going back to it.

The main redeeming feature of Flappy Bird is the graphics. They are pixelated and simple, with a very polished feel, making the game a real retro experience. Coupling this with the addictive gameplay is what brings the gamers back. It is also free, which unfortunately means it has ads popping up from the minute you start a game until you finally throw your phone across the room. I found the ads really noticeable. I have got used to apps making me pay a little bit extra to have a clean screen and I found the addition in Flappy Bird really detracted from the overall quality of the app. The ads are always popping up and down which detracts from the visual continuity of the game and feels very invasive. Instead of advertising Wonga, as would normally be expected, they were advertising dating websites. I found that these were even more distracting. I like my ads to blend into the background, these ones jumped out at me which, although great for the advertisers, is rubbish for the user.

Finally while playing Flappy Bird there were lots of little things that didn’t seem perfected about a game released over 7 months ago. The scoreboards have no filtering function meaning I can only see my best score (21) and then the top overall scores (9,999). This makes having any sort of scoreboard pointless when it is filled with people who it is unlikely have achieved a top score genuinely. This and the button placements not being ideal for starting new games quickly after dying added to the frustration and feel of a game which hasn’t had a huge amount of thought put into it. Maybe one that wasn’t expecting to reach these levels of popularity.

TL DR:

The Good

• Really nice visuals, very retro theme with nice graphics all the way through
• Short and sweet games, don’t spend 5 minutes playing the easy bit before you die, die in 5 seconds

The Bad

• The ads really make the user experience worse
• Basic game – once you’ve played it for 30 minutes you’ll be over it

The Ugly

• No real skill required – just a mass bludgeon approach, eventually you’ll get a high score

Final words:

This game looks great, the little bird character, with his wide eyes focused directly ahead, is a nice avatar to navigate this drain piped world. It is a shame more thought and attention couldn’t have gone into the rest of this game. The game is simple but for me it was too simple. This is a game that has got swept up from the bottom of the app store and will soon settle back there after twitter finds a new topic to trend on. When this happens I won’t even notice. A very forgettable game. Game over Flappy Bird – High score: 21.

Rating: 30/100

The 7 Minute Workout Challenge App review – paid app

An app to get the heart rate pumping or just another failed New Years Resolution?

The 7 minute workout challenge app, not to be mistaken for the 7 minute workout app, can be found at the Apple store (click the earlier link).

You might very well have heard of this app, it is a fitness app that takes 12 different exercises and gets you to perform them for 30 seconds each with a short break between each. It can be done anywhere, anytime, and doesn’t require any specialised gym equipment. Performed regularly, this app claims to increase your fitness, even with such a short amount of exercise performed.

Loading it up and the first thing that strikes me is the attention to detail. It is always tough to get people to buy a fitness app but the developers have created a really striking interface to make the experience very enjoyable. The pieces in the main menu jostle around as if wanting to be clicked. When you finally choose on it wriggles nicely before opening the menu. This app immediately speaks the little things making the big experience much better.

Using the App is easy and intuitive. With the app having such a simple format, 12 basic exercises, you only need a few minutes to get acquainted with what you are about to be doing and then you’re ready to go. The app includes written instructions and videos for every exercise so even if there is one you’re not sure about it’s got you covered. All you need is an area of clear space and the app just takes it from there. The interface, though simple, has a lot of depth allowing you to set workout alarms track your workouts and your weight. It would have been very easy to become clunky but instead it feels natural to use and navigate.

While working out over a number of days I kept noticing subtle parts of the app which I hadn’t before. While working out there is a greyed out picture of the exercise behind the countdown clock, after every exercise is completed an extra block changes colour showing you how many you have left, the ring around the stop watch counting down the time as well. These kind of features don’t slip in by mistake, each one was thought through carefully and really do enhance the workout experience. And they really do. I also felt that splitting the workout up into 12 short exercises made the overall workout time seem shorter. By the time I was half way through, and puffing, only having another 3 minutes made it easier to keep pushing right till the end. The ability to do multiple sets is great for circuit training and after doing two sets you will really feel the difference in your body.

From the outside this app seems like a good app for the middle 20% of people. Can’t be too fit else it is too easy, can’t be too fat else it will be too hard. It is only on using this app that you see the truth. This app is made for the middle 90%. Somehow, in among the simple interface design, they have created a short easy workout to challenge even the fittest user or encourage the most inexperienced. The timings are all customisable and the timer can always be paused to give you a break. This means you can set yourself harder workouts depending on how you are feeling or what level you are at. The 12 basic exercises really test your entire body and so how much you get out of it at the end is completely up to you, take it easy or push the limits – this app really gives you a medium to do both.

Amongst all this praise there is one slight negative. This is with the progress tracker and the lack of entering repetitions achieved on each exercise. It would be nice to try and break the records you have set or see a noticeable progression in individual exercises. The problem is that the more flexible you want it the more complex it would have to be. I think this will mainly app to the top level users wanting to push themselves and see the results.

This app is quite controversial online and on internet forums. There is a lot of debate over how effective it is and how appropriate for users of different abilities. I don’t really want to look into this side of things here though, I am reviewing the app as a tool rather than arguing about how and when it should be used. What I would say is that if you are thinking of starting regular exercise or just trying to fit more into a busy routine, this app is an absolutely brilliant for it.

TL DR:

The Good

• Simple and easy to use, download and go
• Really good looking, the little details making the app feel very though through
• Fully customisable to cater for the beginner to the very experienced

The Bad

• Very basic set of exercises – not for athletes at the higher end of the scale
• Difficult to track progression in individual exercises

Final words:

This app is a great app for people that want more motivation to start doing more exercise. Online there are articles that question it but this app has great potential for getting users of any ability doing exercise. Easy to use and really good looking, this app has had so much thought put into it that you will notice the difference when using it to exercise.

Rating: 80/100

Eidetic – free app review

An app to remember or one I would rather forget?

You can find it at the app store under Eidetic remember anything.

So what does the app do? Very simply the app helps you remember pieces of information. Enter a type of information and at varying intervals and the app will notify you, checking that you can still remember the piece of information. Every time you get it right in one of the tests the time between tests increases slightly. This way over the space of a week the number is slowly implanted into your subconscious.

My first impressions of the app are under whelming. It looks nice and has a nice simple interface, with a stark red and white colour scheme. There isn’t much there but I don’t really know what I was expecting there to be. The screen is pretty much devoid of anything. It feels nice, clean and easy to navigate.

Using the app is easy, it only has one function, and it is very quick to set up pieces of information to learn. It only has a few screens and so I very quickly found my way around and got started. I probably found thinking up facts and figures to remember the hardest part of the whole process.

This simplicity has a down side though and although I got used to the feel of the app quickly I also felt lost a number of times while waiting for the app to do something. The first time I entered information I wasn’t sure if it would test me straight away or if it was working at all. Similarly when choosing the time frame to learn the information t doesn’t really explain to you the implications of what you are choosing. This makes it a rather frustrating app to download and start using as it isn’t particularly nice not feeling like you know what you’re doing.

The testing phases split into 10 different parts, each correct answer earns you an extra 10% to get you closer to having passed the test and hopefully remembers the piece of information. This approach is effective for phone numbers and numbers as they can be typed quickly and are very easily tested right or wrong. Interestingly, although the app sells itself as a scientific way to learn things there is actually very little that helps you learn anything. The tips section gives you a simple array of memory techniques the types which can be found on google meaning that if you want to learn anything you still have to get out a pad and pen and learn it yourself.

Remembering any of the other types is worse unfortunately. When checking if you have remembered a fact correctly the app is more testing whether you have typed it in correctly rather than if you have got the fact right. The problem seems to be that to test the content of the writing to see if it has the same meanings what you wrote it far beyond the scope of the app. This means that the longer the fact the more difficult it is to get correct and the more time consuming it is to type.

After you have either learnt the fact or got bored of being notified about it there is a nice archive function which enables you to put it out the way but to access it at time if you need a quick refresher on what you have been trying to remember. This is a nice feature as it keeps the app tidy and simplifies the interfaces.

Now up till now I haven’t really been talking about the difference the free version seems to have compared to the paid version. Until this point the app has been ok, nothing special but nothing awful either. Well talking about the free version blows this out of the water. Unfortunately when the developers were deciding on the free/premium split they only left the user have one piece of information to remember at a time. This means that you can only set one of the categories and if you want to test something else you will have to either delete or archive the information. This immediately takes the scope of the app down to almost nothing. What is the point in an app that lets you learn almost nothing every week? I could spend the money it costs to get the premium version on a pad of paper and a pen and learn thousands of words or facts a day – so why do they think I will buy their app just because they decided to fob me off with an empty shell of an app.

The heart of the issue is that when I downloaded the app I thought it would provide an easier way to remember. Easier than actually sitting down and learning them. I personally learn by repetition so write something down 20 times and by the last time it will be in my head for good. I was hoping that this app would provide an easier way than this and I think this is the hook so many people get caught on. The app looks professional from the outside and hints at the possibilities within but once you actually use it you realise it doesn’t do anything except check you’ve typed it in wrong. I could do that myself by checking I have written it down correctly.

The more I use this app the more amazed I become. When looking through the app store deciding which app to trial first I decided on this one as it actually interested me from looking in and the reviews were mainly positive. How can people be leaving this app positive reviews when it doesn’t do anything (I assume they are the developers and their friends).

TL DR:

The Good:

• Nice sharp colour scheme
• Simple and easy to use interface
• Archive function keeps it clean

The Bad:

• You can’t test yourself when ever you want to – you have to wait an hour before the app will let you test yourself again
• The test timing scopes are stupid.  Why are they spaced so far apart?
• Facts, definitions and quotes require you to type a lot and also remember the wording exactly – this makes the app only really convenient and useful for numbers
• The app implies it is intelligent learning but the best it can muster is a basic memory tips page

The Ugly:

• The free version doesn’t include enough content to make it usable

Final words:

This app is an amazing achievement of the developers thinking people will buy a paid app for lack of content on the free app. I can’t see any longevity in this app, and I assume the developers couldn’t either, so I suppose I can see why their only goal seems to be sales on the premium version rather than providing any sort of service or content on the free one.

Rating: 20/100