I hate to gush about any app, but I love it.  As a Comcast user (who is not getting anything free from Comcast, other than this app, which is free to all), I was shocked and dismayed that just earlier this year, the web client to access my voice mail forced me to listen to the mail before deleting them.  No mass delete check boxes either.  Since then, Comcast rolled out comcast.net and now the iPhone app and has removed any doubts I had about Comcasts commitment to getting mobile right.

The app is extremely clean and sleek.  I honestly don’t think Apple could have done a better job designing this one.  Comcast turned to mPortal for the heavy lifting in coding the app and they’ve done an outstanding job.  Let’s take a look at the features of this instantly-essential (to me at least) application.

Digital Voice

This is the killer app of the, well, app.  See that button in the lower right-hand corner?  That one allows you to forward your number as you please.  Awesome.  Now, I can forward and unforward my number about as easy as playing a rousing game of Lexic.

Simply hit the Call Forwarding button, choose where you want to forward your number to and push the slider to turn it on.  Users can even label phone lines, like “work” so they can be recalled easier and faster.

In a very Android-like way, all your calls are shown in the “All” category.  Users ccan click on Outgoing, Missed or VM tabs to access just those calls.  If you feel that is too much info to look at, simply hit clear and you have an empty page.  Very soothing.

Access to call logs, both incoming and outgoing is there as is easy deletion of voicemails.  Everything you need, all within reach seems to be the design mantra here and it works.

SmartZone Address Book

Last year, Comcast bought Plaxo, the social networking site that sought to keep everyone’s contact information in one place.  Comcast integrates this great idea in their iPhone app.  By bringing your Plaxo address book into your iPhone you get contacts sync’d much like the Palm Pre does.  When one of your contact changes say a phone number, that change is pushed to Plaxo and thus into your Comcast SmartZone address book which can be sync’d with your iPhone address book.

Comcast bills this as a universal address book – the last one you’ll ever need.  The iPhone app also uses your on-iPhone contacts as well.  Handy.

If you are like me and keep your iPhone by your side while watching TV, there is a nifty guide that localizes based on your location to tell you what is on.   Not ground breaking but nice to have.

SmartZone Inbox

Most Comcast users are going to love this.  This feature combines your Comcast line phone data along with your Comcast email.  All in one place, organized by time and searchable.  Even your email folders are accessible through this app.

On Demand

Another nice to have feature, find out what is new from Comcast’s On Demand.  The app will display movie trailers broken down into categories or you can search for a specific title.

Settings

Good settings to me, are the tell tale mark of a well thought out application.  This app has just about every setting adjustment you could want.  Users can change the home screen from a list to Cover Flow  to a grid, alerts can be customized as can several other settings.  It is a nice touch.

Summary

Rarely am I this impressed with an iPhone app. About the only flaw I can see is the lack of push notifications, but that is a minor (and fixable in later versions) flaw.  The Comcast application is simple, easy to use and very detailed; exactly the type of application that makes the iPhone shine.

Learn more at: [Comcast] or [iTunes link]

These two movies turned iPhone games bring the same concept: go fast, beat those around you who try to knock you down, win the day.  The concept is tried and true: mix high energy rock music to fast driving/piloting and you’ve got a recipe for success.  How do they work out for Freeverse?  A mixed bag is what I found.

For each game, Freeverse uses similar strategies: look a like actor dialogue in between races/missions.  The result isn’t horrible if not a little hokey, but adds some plot to the games.

Days of Thunder

For Days of Thunder, you’re rookie driver Cole Trickle looking to move up through the racing ranks.  Left and right controls are handled through the accelerometer and do a fine job allowing players to dodge traffic, navigate turns and sling-shot around cars after drafting.  An onscreen button controls acceleration and brake in the lower left and right corners.

Play is good.  You can build up draft points and get enough and you can “drop the hammer” which catapults you beyond your top speed when the yellow hammer appears on the right hand side.  A speedometer reminds you to stay off the walls in corners and away from rubbing other racers.

Players also need to keep an eye on their car’s health meter on the top of the screen.  Get too low and you’ll be “out” and forced to pause racing and have to play catch up to limp into the pits to regain health.  There is nothing to do in the pits but wait out your health restore.

One aspect of the game thrown in to make it interesting is the other cars behavoir.  Your compeition likes to bang into you like bumper cars, rubbing your health lower and lower.  Fortunately these cars have health meters too that when depleted force them to crash.  I found it a bit annoying but so would coasting around the tracks.

The game is a good play until you lose track of what circuit you are in (about 15 races in my experience) then replay value was low for me.  It certainly was addicting for the first bunch of races.  I found the dialogue silly and at one point inappropriate as the racers talked about Dr. Claire Lewicki.

As popular as NASCAR is, this game pales in comparison to the second Tom Cruise fashioned game from Freeverse.

The game is currently $.99 in the App Store. Days of Thunder link in App Store

Top Gun

This game drips with adrenaline.  Maybe it is the fond memories of the Paramount movie or the fact that this is an Afterburner clone, or the game calling you by your chosen call sign;but whatever it is, mix a decent rock soundtrack to Vulcan Cannons and sidewinder missiles and you’ve got a winning combo.

Player are still fighting the Communist Russians but this time instead of the standard issue F-14 Tomcat, your assigned a prototype F22-B (we’ll sidestep the F-22-b being canceled back in 1993 as a replacement for the Tomcat).   From the movie, Iceman and Maverick are brought back as Top Gun instructors whose dialogue is less silly than in Days of Thunder as they outline the objectives through the mission, requiring you to click through.

Controls are similar to Days of Thunder: accelerometer for left right, up and down, bottom left for Vulcan Cannons and bottom right for missiles.  Guiding your sight over enemy aircraft turns their radar diamond to red, indicating radar lock.  Your radar can lock onto three targets at once allowing you to hit the missile fire button once to launch missiles on all three simultaneously.  Fun.

Obstacles in your way are “Danger Zones”.  The screen is divided up into 3 rows and 3 columns and much like tic-tac-toe you’ve got to escape into a free area as the danger zone turns from yellow to orange to red.  If your jet is in the Danger Zone when it turns red, you lose a health point.  Lose all your health points and you’ll be forced to eject.

If you’ve seen Top Gun then undoubtedly you know the Kenny Loggins hit Danger Zone.  The song here is reproduced by Gavareal and sounds very close to the original.  Other original songs are performed by Gavareal and do a good job of keeping your pulse quick.

This game has become my favorite iPhone game.  The action is quick, you can change the hardness level simply by deciding to take down combatants with your cannons instead of missiles and fighting the Russians is fun again!  The game has high replay value and I’ve still yet to beat the final level.

The dialogue lays out an decent plot, discovering that a mole exists in Top Gun.  Some of the movie-mimicking is a bit silly at times but it holds together.  It is not too hard to figure out who it is though I still have the big unveiling at the end of the final level to put it all together.

The graphics are amazing.  From the carrier take offs to the HUD (heads-up-display) everything is very clear and easy to figure out the game in short order.  Calibration of the accelerometer is very handy from in the game: simply hit pause and tap calibrate.  The game is well thought out and a blast to play.

As a huge fan of Afterburner, Top Gun was an easy pick as my new favorite.  Days of Thunder provided some fun but lacked in advanced play.  Once you mastered getting around cars and when to pit, not much changed.

For Top Gun, the enemies became craftier, dodging your missiles better, battleships through up anti-aircraft fire forcing you to be quick with the controls and to firing options keeps it moving.

The game is currently $3.99 in the App Store. Top Gun link to App Store

Summary

With Freeverse’s licesning relationship with Paramount, could Mission Impossible games be next?  $5 says both these games are on Tom Cruise’s iPhone.  Any takers?

Developer Site: [Freeverse]

GV Mobile is one 3rd party app that aims to solve this problem.  Developer Sean Kovacs created the app to take over where the old GrandDialer left off.  GrandDialer was an app that allowed users to have GrandCentral phone them on a number of their choice, then connect the call to your intended recipient.  The service used VOIP so if you were using a landline, you’d accrue no long distance charges.  When the change was made to Google Voice, GrandDialer died.

Google, the sleeping giant?

So Kovacs created GV Mobile to fill this gap.  Before we look at the app, let’s get the big elephant in the room out of the way: won’t Google make their own app for this service?

Kovacs’ answer: That is a very good question. While Google does have a couple apps on the App Store, I dont imagine them creating something specific to Google Voice or incorporating it into an existing app. I see them focusing more on the Google Voice service and web sites (normal and mobile). Ive very competitive, so if Google or any developer wishes to create a similar app, they will have some stiff competition.

Fair enough, you’ve got to applaud that kind of can-do attitude.   This app was submitted to Apple’s App Store and eagerly waits for approval.   Now, on with the preview:

The app at work

Upon first glance, it would seem GV Mobile would be a carbon copy of GrandDialer: a keypad for telling Google Voice to phone you and then connect you to your party and a history of calls.  GV Mobile accesses the iPhone’s contacts just as GrandDialer did and replicates GrandDialer with equal functionality.

But there is more, way more.  GV Mobile goes beyond old functionality and takes advantage of Google Voice’s newest features.  You can SMS right from the app,  listen to voicemails left to you on Google Voice and you can change your Google Voice settings on the fly oh-so-easily.  The functionality is awesome.

The SMS feature is pretty great as it allows you to send SMS with absolutely no fee from Google or AT&T.  Simple click on the SMS tab at the bottom, type in a number or hit the “+” to access your contacts.  It couldn’t be much easier and your Google Voice number is displayed as the sender.  The only downsides are SMS’s sent to you are not accessed by the app; instead GV forwards them to your cell number, where you’ll pick up the charge.

Changing settings requires nothing more than a tap to change phone numbers to forward calls to numbers to call from, adding phones and changing log in info.  It is all very slick and well done.  Having this ability is quite handy when you are on the go.

More from the developer

Here is a bit from my Q&A with Kovacs:

I understand you’ll have two versions of the app.  What features add in to the $2.99?

Kovacs: You have the $2.99 version – the free version is a GrandDialer close – you have the keypad and settings.

In voicemail, Google Voice transcribes the messages and displays that info on their website in your inbox, do you plan to show the transcribed message if available?

Kovacs: I can’t discuss future plans at this time.

I’ve been playing with the Skype app, do you see Google creating an over WiFi skype-like app?  Is that something you would pursue?

Kovacs: See above comment.

And finally, what will background notifications do for GV Mobile in the 3.0 software?

Kovacs: I get this a lot – in order for me to setup some kind of background notification, I would need to create a program to run on a server that would monitor user accounts realtime, sending out notifications when they come in. I would need access to your account information – while it would be unknown to me, not sure how that would go over with people. This would be something Google would implement in some kind of app they make. Would cost me too much to run…maybe I could do this with a per month cost to offset the cost of the servers it would run on.

The concept.

The concept is to make it easy not only to find somewhere decent to eat, but to also make it easy for diners to recommend places.  “People want simple solutions, ” says Shah, “they don’t want the drama.”  The GoodFood app is the second iPhone app from the company and the first to focus solely on eateries.  The original Goodrec app allows user ratings on movies, businesses, food and lots more.

The app.

The app is simple.  Upon opening, it locates the user and creates a map impregnated with pins representing eating establishments.  The pins, instead of being  just the red ones we are used to in Google Maps, are color coded to match the majority of recommendations: green for positive, yellow for a “mixed bag” and presumably red for more negative reviews, white for no reviews.

Why “presumably”?  I couldn’t find a joint I should steer clear of based on the pin system.  I even tried New York City where they hate everything.  Not a red pin could I find.  Perhaps red pin places just go belly up?

The position fix is fast.   My test runs found location fixes faster than Google Maps.  Users can scroll through the local restaurants simply by using the arrows on the bottom which displays the establishment’s name, colored bar representing the overall rating and the number of ratings.     Users can also tap on pins on the map to bring up info or even scroll the map.  The map can also be pinched and zoomed.  The interface is very slick.

Maybe a map is just not your thing.  No worries, simply tap the upper right corner button for a list view.  The screen flips to reveal a scrollable list with ratings, distance from your location fix and photo if available.

Selecting a restaurant from either of the two options above will bring you to the business’ page where you can read the 160 character ratings plus the simple thumbs up/thumbs down ratings.  From the bottom of this screen, users can also submit a review by selecting “I Recommend it; It’s a Mixed  Bag; or I Don’t Recommend it”.

Adding your review is as simple as that.

Finding your place to eat

When I spoke with Shah, one of his statements that struck me most was his vision for the company, “to enable people to make confident decisions at the moment of inspiration.”  This simple statement shows his focus is mobile and sets the stage for this app.

To follow your inspiration, you can search via the map or filter it down.  You can filter based on types of cuisine or price (broken into 4 price brackets).  Or better yet, why rely on strangers when you’ve got friends?

By filtering reviews from just friends, users can get more trusted reviews (I am making an assumption about your friends here).   If you’ve a big social network, this could be a serious plus.

Need more input

This app is growing like wildfire.  Since its debut in February of this year, it is adding about 20,000 recommendations per month.  The latest known figure for Yelp, a competing review app had about 60,000 reviews coming in.

According to Shah, only 1-3% of registered users at a review site submit reviews.  40% of Goodrec users submit reviews and of those, 60% come from the mobile app.  That speaks well about the simplicity of his app design.

Still, in surburbia I was pressed to find many places with more than one recommendation.  I was able to find somewhere new to eat, but had to base that on just one person’s opinion.  Luckily for me, it worked out.

App Highlights

This app is fast, really fast.  The app is built on top of Google Maps but had to build their own panning and zooming.  The result is very slick, fast updating.  Shah says I wasn’t the only one to ask about the apps speed.

Beside being fast, it is simple.  The GUI is obvious, easy to navigate and the filters worked well.  I found this app to be my fav among review apps and visit it first.  It just works that well.

In fact, the company is also entertaining requests from other companies who want a hand building a sleek application.  Shah says, “other companies coming to them wishing to partner to make new apps.  Our core mobile tech platform that our apps are built on, feature search with auto suggest, smart filtering and map integration and do it really well.” He is exploring other companies that could leverage their offering.

Shah mentioned an update to their GoodFood app was imminent and aimed to beef up the social function.  While Shah was shy to reveal was coming, if I had to guess, I would venture a guess that it rhymes with BaseFook.

I also asked about a revenue model.  Shah expects to incorporate to be advertising supported at some point in the future.

Sum up

Really the genius of this app, and the whole Goodrec system is the limit of 160 characters.  Skip the drama, get the info you need and move on.  No one needs to read complaints about a neighboring diners cologne or something similar.  Get the app, get the info, move on with life.  Give this app sometime to build some steam and it will be great, though for now, it is just good.

Available via iTunes.

Last week, reports of the App Store breaking the 25,000 apps circulated around the web.  The proliferation of applications is astounding as consumer’s hunger for them.  Now Apple’s cohesive concept for easy access to applications is being duplicated by other phone OS’s such as BlackBerry, Nokia, Windows Mobile, Android and others.  Can Apple stay ahead?

Snowballing

A big user base feeds developers desire for quick profits, so the App Store gets bigger and bigger.  Witness brands taking to iPhone Apps to connect with users; companies like Ralph Lauren are showcasing their latest collection via an iPhone app.  From fashion to home automation to games, it seems almost everyone is getting into iPhone apps.  But does it have staying power?

Reports last month showed 1% of iPhone App Store app downloaders become longtime users.  This is largely due to the way we use our applications: be it for a quick fix or to stave off boredom when waiting for a train.  Many analysts expected the App Store to be a flash in the pan, citing users would get tired of Apple’s walled garden.

Walled garden, unless you complain loudly
Last week, Apple bowed to public pressure on the app Tweetie.  Apple rejected the app based on some foul language users could find in Twitters trends.  Developer Loren Brichter loudly complained on Twitter, got everyone talking about it and by the end of the day, Apple changed its mind.

Apple provided Brichter with an image of exactly why his app was being rejected.  Brichter pointed out other apps that have the same feature and are thus capable of showing the same objectionable language and demanded they all be in or all be out.  A bold move to be sure and one that seemed to push Apple’s buttons.

This kind of response begs the question, “has Apple created something it can’t control?”  Does public opinion, or at least influential bloggers, control what is in or out?  Should they or is it still Apples game?

Jailbroke solution?
Last week also saw the rise of an application store from Cydia for iPhones that have been jailbroken.  Apple contends jailbreaking is a crime but has yet to get confirmation from any legal authority.  The Cydia store would operate in a similar fashion to the App Store, but allow all apps, not just ones Apple gives the thumbs up to.

Sad, little App Store Team
Over at ARS Technica, an interesting post from an app developer had this to summarize:
“The sad truth about App Store reviews is that Apple seems to be overwhelmed and understaffed. Add this to the company’s complete lack of procedural transparency and its unwillingness to reply to most developer e-mails, and you end up with a situation where developers are willing to throw common sense out the door just to get to where they need to be.”

And here comes HTML5
Will the App Store matter in the coming future?  Maybe, maybe not according to this awesome video taken in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress.  Google showed off a GMail application that is part cloud/part local thanks to the coming features in HTML5.  The features in HTML5 bring the capabilities to keep a database locally so GMail can be accessed like a native app when not connected.  Not only that, but the video shows how these applications become platform ambiguous as the OS no longer matters.  Interesting concept that is sure to rock our worlds shortly, check the video.

Summary
So with all this, the app store continues to snowball into bigger and bigger records.  Will it continue and fufill Job’s prediction of the biggest mark in his career or will this snowball implode as new technologies make native apps a thing of the past?  You can bet MacApper will be there, sheding light on what you need to know.

If Lexic were included, I suspect users would have reduced that 70% dramatically as the game is addicting.  The fast-paced word search game reflects everything that is great about the iPhone: great looks and a well-executed GUI.  The two combine in an ever-changing game that will have you playing anywhere you’ve got 10 seconds peace.

Upon clicking the icon, a boot-screen appears in understated tones.  About 4 seconds on average later, tiles descend from the top and layout in a 5 letters x 7 letters layout and the game has begun.  The objective in Lexic is to find as many words from the jumbled letter tiles.

For example, in the image above, you can see I’ve made the highly complex word, “homes” by starting on the “H” and dragging to the other letters.  Depending on the game I am playing, solving for this word will achieve different results.

There are three games included in this one application: Cascade, Blackout and Stasis; each with their own personality but along the same concept: drag your finger from one adjacent letter to the next to create words.

Cascade

In Cascade, as you complete words, the tiles fill in by droping from the top.  As you complete words, you are scored by their length and if any letters solved were a highlighted yellow bonus letter.  The game is timed with customizable times from 1-5 minutes or practice mode.

Cascade keeps things rattled as new letters drop in to fulfill your word plans or completely destroy them.  This is the classic Lexic game and I can’t stop playing it.

Blackout 

Blackout changes game play up quite a bit.  As you solve words in typical Lexic form, the word becomes blacked out and those tiles are not replaced.  The left over tiles settle downward if applicable, leaving you fewer tiles to work with.  This game takes a clever mind to try to create as many words as possible with the tiles on hand.

In Blackout, there is no time component.  For me, these games are short and often end in frustration.

Stasis

Stasis adds a new twist to the concept.  Instead of tiles that disappear after you use them, in Stasis the tiles are recycled and remain exactly where they started.  Your mission is to make as many words out of one group of 35 tiles as you can.

This game leaves me with the feel of the luck of the draw and stretches my word-search abilities unlike the other games.

Settings

The settings, like the rest of the game are elegantly executed and simple.  From Settings, users can control which game they are playing, tile color, which word list to use (TWL-the approved list for word game competitions in the US, Canada and oddly enough: Thailand or SOWPODS which is used in most other countries), sounds, scores and instructions on how to play.  Expect all your questions to be answered and there isn’t a feeling of insecurity anywhere to be found in this game.

Easter Eggs

There are some really cool features added into 1.3.3, the latest version.  The developers seems to share the sense that anything is possible with a touchscreen and have been playing according to the rules so far.

However, press and hold “new game” upon the completion of a game and you’ll get a great looking shortcut menu arrayed in a circle.  The menu is again simple and elegant.

Another great addition is a small button at the bottom of the screen at the end of the game that brings up the words you’ve solved in that game.  The developers again found a way to accomplish this in a very elegant manner.

Developer support looks to be impressive as this latest release added the two new sub games: Stasis and Blackout.  While these are not break-out hits in their own right, it is a great variation that was pushed out for free to current customers.

Overall, the game is compelling and is word searches are the least bit attractive to you, this is one to get.

Lexic is available on the iTunes App Store. It is priced at $2.99.

Today, Eric Thomas, CEO of Freedom Voice, confided that the company is pulling back support from the App Store after months of no response from Apple.  The company will no longer seek iPhone App Store acceptance for now.  “I am disappointed,” says Thomas.  The company plans to integrate the Newber concept into their new FreedomVOICE IQ product, a hosted PBX phone system that is gaining traction for the company.

Just last week, Market Strategist for FreedomVOICE Systems, Nick Gowdy, told me the Newber team stands ready to respond to Apples comments, but none of come.  In fact, Apple hasn’t even registered the dummy account to test the application.  150+ days of silence from Apple for an application that, according to the company, does not break any of the rules set up by Apple.  “We are frustrated,” says Gowdy.  One might ask, “what gives Apple?”

What is Newber?
Newber, a brand of FreedomVOICE Systems, a virtual office phone system provider, accomplishes 3 things for the iPhone user: the ability to make and receive calls where AT&T has spotty or no reception; the ability to offload a call when your phone’s battery is nearly drained; the ability to take calls without burning your AT&T minutes.

Newber will create a second phone number for your iPhone that routes through their network.  This second line is customizable in a manner similar to Google’s Grand Central.  Users can control when they wish the calls to ring or go straight to voice mail.  For users who seek both a work phone and a personal phone, this solution could be attractive.  The original iPhone number would, of course, still work just as it did before this application installation.

Calls to a users Newber line could have been routed to other numbers, such as a land line.  Users simply enter the number they wish the calls transferred to, it is that simple.  Additionally, Newber made use of the iPhone 3G’s GPS and automatically switch calls to the predefined number when you enter that lines proximity.  For example, users can choose to have their Newber calls forwarded to their work phone when at the office.  Arriving at work would trigger the line forward just as leaving the office would transfer calls back to your iPhone.

Another feature of the application is one touch tree dialing system.  This feature allows users to select a contact to reach and the phone begins dialing the first number listed for the contact.  Should the call roll to voice mail, the second number listed is automatically dialed.  An example of this would be phoning your contact office line, then upon getting voice mail, trying the contact’s mobile number next; all without any added input from you.

Newber was priced at $5 per month plus 2 cents per minute.  International calls varied by country in price from $1.68 per minute to the Falkland Islands to $.0266 to China.  Calls placed on your Newber line from your iPhone burned both Newber minutes and iPhone AT&T minutes.

150 days of frustration
The team at Newber was super excited to gain admission to the iPhone developer program and were even more so when they submitted the application to Apple.  In the days and weeks that followed that excitement as numbed a bit.  According to Gowdy, the application, “shouldn’t be a concern” to Apple.  Another application that deals with VOIP is in the same approval limbo for their application: iCall.

The team tried changing names of the application and resubmitting.  They’ve changed the description and resubmitted.  They’ve changed anything that could perceived as a “bad” and resubmitted.  The team even tried a petition at CES and MacWorld to get Apple’s attention.  All to the same end: no response from Apple.

Previously, the company had stated a jailbroken app for the iPhone might be a possibility.  Thomas confirmed they’ve not made a decision on that, but went into the business case and stated it didn’t make too much sense.

Have you no decency Apple?

A point Thomas wanted to emphasize is social consciousness.  How can Apple in good faith, provide no response to a developer wanting to make their device more appealing to the business crowd?  Thomas said he could respect a, “no” but to offer no response, which led to a significant outlay in marketing and perhaps more importantly in time.  Instead of accolades, a request from Apple to help, rewards and awards for a signigicant contribution to the iPhone’s business side, they recieved nothing.

Thomas concludes it must be a marketing move for Apple’s lack of response, “I can only think Apple wants to avoid the negative press from denying acceptance of applications like Newber.”

Thomas plans to integrate the Newber concept into their FreedomVOICE IQ, a hosted PBX solution that allows company to move away from the expensive outlay for PBX phone hardware and move to a scalable system based on VOIP.  Thomas considers pulling Newber support is the right move for FreedomVOICE customers and for the company.  Work on a BlackBerry version has also been halted.

The Newber app is one that leverages the iPhones assets: a phone you cannot be without for personal or business use and smart call routing fused with GPS.  Here’s to hoping Apple sees it fit for approval the next time it gets the chance, as there are many of us excited to add this app to our phones.  You can learn more about Newber at mynewber.com