iPhone Apps Reviews, News, and Alerts

I don’t have a gaming console at home, but I do love racing games. I have good memories of staying up super late with the guys (brother, brother-in-laws) during Christmas vacation and playing a car racing game on a PlayStation over and over again. Real Racing brings this to my iPhone, and I couldn’t be more impressed. I’ve tried several racing iPhone apps, but I always go back to Real Racing as the app with the best graphics and best user experience.

Real Racing gives you several different options for handling the driving, you can push the gas and the brake yourself, or have it done automatically, or several different combinations.

With lots of levels, tracks, and cars to choose from, its one of those few games you will play over and over again.

Enjoy Real Racing for just $6.99!

I first found MouthOff from this blog post on making a Robot mask using this iPhone app. Its a cardboard box with a moving digital robot mouth! So I had to try it, and then I showed it to my kids, and they love it! I have an iPod Touch and it doesn’t work on that because there is no microphone, so if they want to play games they always ask for the iPhone first so they can play MouthOff. It’s a lot of fun, and fun to show people who are new to the iPhone (like Labyrinth).

So for 99 cents, why not?

Okay, they also have a free version…but you get more mouths with the 99 cent app, and hey, it’s 99 cents.

It’s been a while since I’ve downloaded a new iPhone app and really enjoyed it. Tiger Woods PGA Tour really surprised me, it’s a very fun golf game, and it is challenging enough that you keep coming back for more. You can create your own player, skin color, t-shirt, and gender! You can play your own player or play Tiger Woods or a number of other PGA Tour players.

One of the best parts of the game is the reaction of the players, whether you make a good shot or go in the rough, it’s fun to see the different responses. Many of the same responses I probably make when I golf!

It takes getting used to, so don’t expect to hit even par on your first round. ALTHOUGH I DID GET AN EAGLE! Chipping seems to be my next challenge to conquer, and putting is a bit mysterious still.

If you’re a golfer like I am, or just like fun games on the iPhone, I think you’ll love Tiger Woods PGA Tour!

Buy Tiger Woods PGA Tour for the iPhone or iPod Touch for $6.99!

Ping Pong is a classic game that everyone has to love, whether you’re good at it or not. When I saw World Cup Ping Pong for the iPhone (at just 99 cents!) I had to try it out, the screenshots looked really sweet and it had great reviews. I’m really glad I got it, and I was surprised to see that they had two player game play! I love showing people the two player game play of my air hockey, and now I have another game to woo them with! You’ve got to try this game for yourself, it’s a blast. There’s definitely some tricks to learn because I’m still not beating opponents, but I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Buy World Cup Ping Pong for 99 cents!

There are very few iPhone games that I go back and play more than a few times, and Flight Control is one of them. It is very addictive, and makes me want to try again and beat my high score. The game is amazingly simple, you draw a path for planes and helicopters to land at the airport, and make sure they don’t hit each other!

Make sure you turn the sound on, that really helps you keep track of planes getting close to each other! There are two runways to land on, and a heliport to land helicopters. An additional twist is that there are different size planes that fly at different speeds, so it can get tricky really fast!

Flight Control is one of those games that you have to have, it’s a blast. And hey, it’s only 99 cents!

Buy Flight Control now for 99 cents!

If you’ve ever been to Utah, one of the most beautiful parts is Southern Utah, also known as “Red Rock Country”. I can see Zion National Park if I just walk outside my front door, its truly amazing. Zion National Park is a not-to-miss travel stop in Utah, with stunning mountains and adventurous trails and climbing. Everyone leaves Zion National Park awe-inspired by its grandeur. And to make the most out of any trip to Zion National Park there is ZionQuest, a tour guide for the iPhone and iPod Touch (only $4.99), that not only makes your trip to Zion National Park easier and more enjoyable, but you can get a preview of all the phenomenal features of Zion National Park even without going!

Included with this app are videos that take you to various parts of the park and explain history and other fascinating facts about the park. My favorite are the photo galleries, like of the Narrows, that are just breathtaking. The Michael Fatali gallery when you first go into the park has some gorgeous photos that you can look at even within the app.

ZionQuest has all that you need, no matter what you are doing at Zion National Park. There is a trail guide, a trip planner with hours and fees, shuttle information, as well as more detailed information about the main landmarks at Zion National Park.

Even if you’re not headed to Zion National Park anytime soon, I’d grab this app just to view the beautiful photos and see what you are missing!

Buy ZionQuest for just $4.99!

Remember back to the days when you had one computer program on the computer at school, and it was “Oregon Trail”. Any chance we had to play that game we took it, it was a blast. Now, back to being a big kid! Fortunately Oregon Trail is now available on the iPhone!

Oregon Trail on the iPhone is better than ever with great graphics, fun adventures, and tons of fun games along the way! Hammer nails into a moving plank, catch fish (and boots!), shoot squirrels and rabbits (and more when you get practice!), navigate your wagon down the rapids with accelerometer controls, and tons more I haven’t even discovered yet.

I’m excited to let my 7 year-old play this classic game and have so much fun just like I remember. Well worth the $5.99 I just paid for it!

Buy Oregon Trail now for $5.99!

The iTunes AppStore just got a major facelift for Customer Ratings, now with version specific ratings and reviews. iTunes now gives you a specific rating from customers using the latest version, and then a combined average rating for all versions. Reviews can also be viewed by the current version, and all versions.

A second change is that the first 3 reviews are no longer the “Most Helpful” reviews, but appear to be more random.

A third change we noticed is that you can change your star rating without going into the “Write a review” screen. When doing so, it checks if you have the latest version or not, and if you don’t it tells you it is available and that your review will be for the older version.

Some neat changes that should be helpful for separating a badly launched app from a very much improved app, or to distinguish the latest version as one that should be avoided.

Also I will note, about 2 weeks ago Apple removed reviews from “customers” that had never purchased the app, making ratings more of a real measurement of the quality or usefulness of an app.

Update: Apple only shows current version ratings and reviews in the AppStore on the iPhone or iPod Touch, which is really a poor way to do it I think. My Analytics App has tons more reviews than its competitor but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the number of reviews when browsing from your device.

Links to our apps have been broken, we just now fixed it! Sorry about that!

We’ll be back to adding regular reviews of great apps, and maybe even some apps to avoid. Thanks!

To be in full disclosure, my team created Analytics App! But don’t let that keep you from reading on, this app is fantastic!

There are some apps that you use once or twice, or maybe just use it to show off the iPhone to a friend. Analytics App is a powerful tool for bloggers, small business owners, SEOs, Search Marketers, Affiliates, or anyone with a website. It takes being productive to a whole new level. The interface is clean and easy to use, with a fast response when I use it in 3G and Wi-Fi, and it makes my spare moments more productive because I can do some analysis of my site stats while I’m in line somewhere, or waiting for a meeting to start.

The other great advantage I’ve found from Analytics App is its easy to share data with clients. I’ve got a few friends that I help with their website, and now when I visit with them I can pop out my iPhone and show them what their site is doing, talk about keywords, popular pages, visitor types, and even run custom reports.

I’ve tried the other analytics apps available, there are two of them. They bite. One gives you like 5 points of data, the other just shows you a zoomed out PDF that makes looking at your stats impossible and unbearable.

Analytics App is “Home Screen Worthy”, you’ll use it that often and love it that much. Isn’t it time you spent some more time with your Analytics?

Download Analytics App for $5.99 or learn more at AnalyticsApp.com