Hands on with the latest smartphone and tablet apps
With thousands of new apps released every week, there is a real needle/haystack feel to finding the good ones. Here is the latest crop of apps that we've been testing.
Eurostar Trains
iPhone / Android, free
Except for a few brave souls who regularly commute from London to Paris or Brussels (or vice versa), most of us take the Eurostar train relatively infrequently – so why get an app to book tickets rather than do it online? Actually, the killer feature for Eurostar's new app is the mobile ticketing. You can book tickets to the main Eurostar destinations, review bookings and check on your loyalty points, but also receive a QR code to actually check in. While that feature isn't exclusive to bookings made through the app, it's good to have it all in one place. Meanwhile, the app itself is very slick and usable, and the fact that it's launching on Android as well as iPhone is to Eurostar's credit.
Official Rugby World Cup 2011
iPhone / iPad / Android / Windows Phone / BlackBerry, free
The International Rugby Board's official World Cup app makes an even better showing when it comes to looking beyond iOS, with four different versions available. Obviously, we can't reach a definitive verdict until we see how it performs during the actual tournament, but all the ingredients seem to be in place for an efficient way to get scores, stats and video highlights during the World Cup. There are additional features for anyone actually attending the tournament, too: seating plans and other information about the various stadia and hosting cities.
Spy Mouse
iPhone, £0.69
Spy Mouse is one of the more anticipated iPhone games this year, since it's the latest from Australian studio Firemint: the company behind the Flight Control and Real Racing games. Spy Mouse is just as impressive and addictive as those games, with an initially-simple gameplay mechanic: you trace a line on-screen to guide your mouse to the exit via lumps of cheese, while avoiding cats. It soon throws in power-ups and gadgets to complicate the action, as the cats ramp up the pressure. If you're struggling, there's a "Kiska" power-up purchasable for 69p to help you through levels, much like the Mighty Eagle in Angry Birds. The gameplay is finely tuned, and the production values are top-notch.
Seatwave Tickets
iPhone, free
Ticketing service Seatwave is the latest company looking to take on Songkick for the wallets of iPhone-owning music fans. Like that app, it recommends you gigs based on the bands you own and your location, with tickets purchasable on the iPhone. An extra touch are the seating maps enabling you to choose where you sit in larger venues. One thing to bear in mind is that Seatwave is a ticket exchange, so tickets will have a range of prices including many that cost more than the standard price. Even so, it's a good fallback when tickets are sold out, meaning it may be worth a space on your homescreen alongside Songkick.
Peter Dickson's Pocket Announcer
iPhone / Android, £1.49
Heard of Peter Dickson? There's a good chance you've heard him: he's the voiceover chap responsible for the booming contestant and guest star intros during X Factor. Now he's got his own app, which is partly a soundboard of Peter shouting set comedy phrases. So far, so novelty. But you can also use the sentence-creator mode to build your own Dickson announcements, with a decent selection of names, actions and other things for him to shout about. Admittedly, still novelty, but if the ability to have the UK's leading prime-time announcer roar quips about friends and armadillos appeals, this app is good fun. Possibly a niche, yes.
Bug Village
iPhone / Android, free
Mobile games publisher Glu Mobile has been picking up quite a fanbase for its freemium games in recent months, with Gun Bros the pick of the bunch. For anyone who wants something a bit less... gunny, Bug Village offers a cutesy resource-management game that involves building a colony of ants and bees. The influence of animated films like A Bug's Life and Antz lurks in the background, but the game is fun and accessible. As with Glu's other games, you can play for free, but paying for virtual coins and items speeds up your progress – although it's weighted about right not to feel like too much of a hard sell. It feels like a game for younger players more than adults, but is nevertheless polished and playable.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/aug/26/app-reviews-eurostar-rugby-spy-mouse
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