Lots of apps for $0.10

This is just a quick post, for those who didn't know, Google is pushing 10 billion app downloads, and with that they have 8-12 apps everyday marked down to only $0.10! That's R0.80 for us South Africans!

I've bought several already, so lots of reviews that will be coming in the next couple of weeks!

My favourite at the moment - Game Dev Story - get it here

Stay tuned!

Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 / 0 comments / Read More

Default Apps and Tools installed on the Galaxy S2

In this post I'll be making a list of all the applications that come pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy S2 (well, in South Africa at least).

There are quite a few, and I haven't even used them all, but as I go along, I'll amend this post to talk about the details and inner workings of each of the standard installed apps. Here are the screen shots of my first three app pages:

On the thirds screen shot, the default apps stop at "Drive & Walk".

Anyway, let's get started - on Page 1 you have the following (Note - some of the apps I have already reviewed, so look out for the links to each):

• Clock (read about the Clock's features)
• Calendar
• Music
• Internet
• Camera (I have covered this in great details already, see the posts: Shot taken at night with the flash, A full HD movie of the dogs snoozing, All the features and settings of the Camera, More full HD movie clips and A few photos taken with the Galaxy S2 Camera)
• Maps
• Email
• Gmail
• Gallery
• Google Search
• Market
• Settings
• Social Hub
• Music Hub
• Readers Hub (Consists out of three parts, Newspapers, Books and Magazines)
• Game Hub

Page 2 has:

• My files
• Videos
• AllShare (this one is tricky to get to work properly, but I've written a Guide on how to get AllShare to work on the Galaxy S2)
• Kies air
• Talk
• Latitude
• Task
• Navigation
• Voice commands
• Voice recorder
• Voice talk
• Voice search
• Places
• Downloads
• Photo editor (I looked at this one on this page)
• Video maker

And on Page 3:

• Mini diary
• Calculator (read what I had to say about it here)
• Samsung Apps
• News & Weather
• Task Manager
• FM radio
• IM
• Memo (I looked at this one here, but got a better alternative to it)
• Polaris Office

There you have it, quite a lot of default apps pre-installed on the Galaxy S2. As I have a look at all of these, I'll amend this post by adding the links to each relevant post.

Also, if I remember correctly, Kies air isn't installed by default - this only gets installed when you connect the phone to your pc with Kies installed. After syncing, the app should appear in your list.

Feel free to leave a comment if your phone doesn't include all of the above, or even if some of the apps are not. Would like to know what the rest of the world is experiencing :)

Cheers for now!

Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 / 1 comments / Read More

Game Review - Game Dev Story

I first saw this game on our iPad - I downloaded the free version, but wasn't prepared to pay a few dollars for it - but when it came out for $0.10 on the Android Market, I couldn't resist!

The whole idea behind the game is that you are a game developing company. With that comes doing research, hiring staff, training and leveling up the staff, doing contracts, going to gaming conferences, and, most importantly, creating games :)

You start the game by starting your game development company, and a small office with only a few employees. Also, at first, you can only develop games for the PC.

Tapping anywhere on the screen opens up the menu, from where you can do all kinds of stuff, like start development for a new game, hire, fire, train and level up your staff, check out your statistics, etc.

When you develop a new game, you get to choose a few options for it, like which platform, the genre, type, and also the direction (for example, you can allocate extra money towards how quickly you develop the game, or even double the whole budget to increase all kinds of stats for the game)

As the game progresses, several companies release consoles, which you can then buy a license and develop for. The licenses get quite expensive, but can mean you make lots more money, since they hold a much bigger market share. I like how the consoles have names like "Play Status" and "Microx 480" :)

You start with only a few options for Genre, but as your staff gets more skilled, you unlock more Genres to choose from. Each Genre you also level on its own, by using it with a suitable Game Type. A few examples for Genres are "RPG", "Action", "Shooter", etc.

Then you have a few Game Types - these can include options like "War", "Robot" and even "Swimming".

Obviously not all Genres and Types go together, but that doesn't mean you can't give it a shot anyway!

Next you select the Direction for the game:

This can improve your game, but at greater cost. Usually I select the Budget+ option if I can afford it.

Lastly, you can allocated more points in certain aspects of the game, like Realism, Cuteness or Game World:

(Hint: From what I've seen, you get more points for the Direction of the game whenever you level one of the Genres or Types to Level 5...)

After you've selected the parameters for the game you're developing, your team will get to work. Now it's mainly a case of sitting back and watch what they do. Each staff member have 4 stats, namely Program, Scenario, Graphics and Sound. As they develop the game, they add points to each of the 4 areas of the game.

In the process, they inevitably add bugs as well, which needs to get sorted out before you ship the game (or, if you want, you can ship the game with bugs and all!)

Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 / 0 comments / Read More

King's Legacy - Free Prince Game

King's Legay - Free prince game

Link http://www.allgameshome.com/kings_legacy/download.html

Looking for a free prince game? The fair king died of old age. His people, all over the kingdom, cried and grieved. But finally they wiped the tears from their faces knowing that king’s son, a young prince would replace him on the throne. But, suddenly, from a shadow, raised king’s evil brother! He awaited his chance to claim the throne for a long time. A panic and fear spread among the people! But then, a young prince stands up! No one will harm his people, no one will bring misery and pain to his people. In this free prince game you are to help him protect them by any means necessary, even if this would mean to fight his own uncle! Download full version of this free prince game totally for free!

Posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 / 0 comments / Read More

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II T989 gets KL1 software update

If you are the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II t989 user, I am sure you are waiting for the ICS firmware update on your hanset. While from now on, your Samsung Galaxy S II does get a software update, but not the highly-anticipated android 4.0 update, it is merely a maintenance update, it offers caller ID enhancements, battery enhancements and Wi-Fi calling enhancements. If your Samsung Galaxy T989 receives a notification message, it must be this KL1 software update.

As you see, it is only a small update, if you feel your Samsung Galaxy S II is fine, you are not required to install this upate, just opt out fo the upgrade, and I think this won’t effect the up coming android 4.0 update on your phone.

Then if you decide to install the update, you should back up all data on your Samsung T989, in case it affect the content or contacts loaded to your handset. And if you missed the OTA update, don’t worry, it can be available via Kies mini in a few days.

Posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 / 1 comments / Read More