Turn-based aerial combat games aren’t something Pocket-lint is too familiar with, with initial reservations held due to the genre’s strengths usually relying on fast-paced action to keep any would-be gamer happy.

However, our App of the Day is a new addition to the excellent, original, Steambirds series where strategic flight combat is essential for survival.

Steambirds: Survival

Format

iPhone

Price

Free

Where

iTunes

Even though Steambirds: Survival keeps to the turn-based credentials of the original, there is a distinctly more upbeat feel to this incarnation partly due to the survival element.

This new iteration of the game, from Spry Fox and Halfbrick, has an edge of urgency about it and will take a good deal of playing to master – in our play through the first section, each of the initial three broken up into 8 levels, the going was tough. However it never felt unfair.

Despite the survival element, it’s not just a case of taking on wave after wave of enemy without a focus; you’ll have a mission that you’ll need to complete and keeps the interest and variety going. As you complete levels you’ll earn copper which can go towards recruiting extra aircraft to help in your missions.

There is also a wide range of weapons available and each needs to be used skillfully if you’re going to be successful – gas, missiles, bombs and shields can all be used to excellent effect.

By far our biggest complaint with the game are the adverts; although they mercifully are absent whilst involved in the action, they are plentiful at every stage in-between. And take it from us, the term plastered is no exaggeration as adverts are slapped on top with no regard for the in-game theme.

To get rid of these eyesores, you’ll have to splash out ?1.99 – this in-game purchase will then unlock all the cities as well.

Still, for a free game it’s a cracking title and even if you end up buying your way to ad-free bliss it’s still a decent amount of game for your money.

Tags:
Gaming Apps iPhone apps iPad apps App of the day

APP OF THE DAY: Steambirds: Survival review (iPhone) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:00:00 +0100

Moshi Monsters’ plans to release a music single have been dealt a severe blow, as Lady Gaga has taken out a court injunction to prevent its release. The track “The Moshi Dance”?by Lady Goo Goo, has already been an Internet hit for some time, but the court order bans it from going on sale.

In addition, Mind Candy – the company behind Moshi Monsters – is not allowed to promote, sell or distribute any future release by its Lady Goo Goo character.

The pop megastar’s lawyers claim that Lady Goo Goo breaches their employer’s image rights, and an injunction was granted at the New Rolls Building in London, which prevents the company from “promoting, advertising, selling, distributing or otherwise making available to the public The Moshi Dance OR any musical work or video which purports to be performed by a character by the name of Lady Goo Goo, or which otherwise uses the name Lady Goo Goo or any variant thereon”.

And it’s a move that clearly saddens the founder of Mind Candy, and inventor of Moshi Monsters, Michael Acton Smith:?”This court ruling is a huge disappointment. It’s pretty obvious that kids will be able to tell the difference between the two characters,” he said. “The shame is that millions of kids fell in love with?Lady Goo Goo’s?debut single on YouTube and now won’t be able to enjoy?her musical exploits. It was all done in the name of fun and we would have thought that?Lady Gaga?could have seen the humour behind this parody.”

There’s currently no word on whether Mind Candy, with its Moshi Music label, will release the track without the involvement of its Lady Goo Goo character.

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Moshi Monsters Online Toys Dad Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga ga-gags Moshi Monster’s Lady Goo Goo originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:15:00 +0100

Spotify customers can now access their music on a Boxee Box. Users will need to subscribe to the Premium version of the service, and there is a caveat or two to using the new application, but it expands the media streamer from D-Link’s capabilities with a true top line content partnership.

A Spotify Premium account costs ?9.99 per month, but offers all manner of benefits over the free service (or its Unlimited equivalent). For starters, it is the only package that allows you to play your streamed music on a mobile phone – both on and offline.?Additionally, it offers enhanced audio quality, providing tracks that are encoded at a higher bitrate; 320 kbps.

The Boxee Box version of Spotify won’t allow you to create or manage playlists (you’ll still have to do those on a PC), but it does offer up an excellent looking user interface. And, hey, it’s on a Boxee Box – which in itself is no bad thing, right?

Tags:
Boxee Home Cinema Media streamers Spotify Boxee Box D-Link

Spotify comes to D-Link’s Boxee Box originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:35:00 +0100

There’s little doubt that millions of new iPhone 4S owners will be trying out Siri, Apple’s voice command system specific to this handset, early doors. It is easily one of the most exciting features of the device, and when it’s in full flow is a real standout party piece.

However, new owners in the UK are reporting that they are a tad disappointed with the localised feature, as it doesn’t quite offer the same level of detail afforded to its US cousin on day one.

One of the aspects of Siri that many were hoping to try out was it’s ability to find, for example, a restaurant in the area by just muttering words such as “I’m hungry” or even “Find me a Chinese restaurant”. And while it will happily find lists of local eateries nearby if you live in the States, it will only return a standard apology elsewhere: “Sorry, I can only look for businesses in the United States,” it says. “And when you’re using US English.”

Many users have been posting on Twitter to vent their frustration after using the function for the first time: “I actually hoped?Siri?would be good. Right now though, it just isn’t,” says?@DenZhadanov.

Aral Balkan (@aral) even goes as far as saying, “Don’t bother with Siri if you’re in the UK or Europe, it’s shit.”

That said, there are also many others that are happy to merely find the Easter Eggs in Siri’s responses for now. Graeme White (@gw0001), for example, posted, “I’m amazed at how much fun I’ve had asking?Siri?pointless questions.”

Naturally, Pocket-lint has already asked it if it has a penis, to which the reply was merely, “Oooh!”

See, hours of fun.

Tags:
Apple Phones iPhone 4S Siri

iPhone 4S: Siri suffers stuttering start in UK originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:15:00 +0100

If you love movies and the art of cinematography, then you’ll almost certainly have heard of, and be excited by, the Red Epic. Following on from the Red One, the Epic is a digital cinema camera that can shoot video that is arguably higher quality than 35mm film. The Epic’s signature feature is its Mysterium sensor, which can record 14-megapixel images at a rate of 120 per second.

Stills photographers might not fancy wielding one of these at a wedding, or for holiday photos, but Red calls the Epic a Digital Stills and Motion Camera (DSMC), meaning the company wants it to be viewed as a stills camera as well as a motion picture system. Realistically though, this is most likely to excite videographers who have a passion for cinema, but small budgets (in Hollywood terms).

In the configuration we saw it, you’d have to spend about ?30,000 to get one of these. For that money you’d get the body, an 85mm lens and the Redmote. And, honestly, with that setup you could start making video that could be shown in a cinema one day. The only problem would be talent, but then that’s never held Michael Bay back.

Red is also crucial in 3D filming. And while you can debate the future of 3D films, as long as there’s demand, you’ll see Red at the forefront of the march. For a start, digital cinema cameras are much easier to synchronise than 35mm film cameras, and when it comes to 3D, the cameras really do need to be in-sync with each other.

Add to that the weight of the Red Epic. While not light, two of them weigh less than a 35mm film camera does currently. That means you can bang a pair on a Steadicam, or even hand-hold them, without crippling your operator. Certainly a huge selling point.

In the model we saw was a 5k sensor. Red is releasing new models soon that can record an image up to 28k in size. Although it’s doubtful these will be used for making movies any time soon. But for special uses, there’s some exciting potential here too.

Red also has something called HDRx, which allows the camera to capture two parallel video streams which can be combined in post-production. This is the video equivalent of HDR imaging, allowing you to shoot two separate exposures that give detail in both dark and light areas. The idea is that you get video that resembles what we see through our eyes.

With the Red there are a mountain of extra pieces of kit for you to buy. Everything from shoulder-mount gear to lenses – including a mount for Canon SLR lenses – to matte boxes and every type of accessory that movie makers attach to “rails”.

Call us geeks if you like, but seeing the King of digtial video got our heart rate up slightly, and we think the ever reducing cost of high-end equipment is something to be very excited about. While we didn’t get to watch any of our footage back, we were impressed by how easy it was to just pick this beast up and use it. 35mm film cameras have never been that?accessible?to normal people, and even if you did get your hands one one, it certainly wouldn’t be a point-and-shoot affair.?

Tags:
Camcorders Red Epic Cameras Photos

Red Epic pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:08:50 +0100

Nokia has announced the NFC hub, a tool to help businesses develop NFC orientated marketing campaigns.

The idea behind NFC hub is to make it easier to use the technology and as such encourage businesses to take advantage of the marketing potential it offers.?

NFC hub offers things like custom made business cards, stickers and posters, all with NFC incorporated. These can then be connected up to social media and allow those interested to do things like send a tweet or like a product, all via NFC.

It is an affordable way for business to innovate with advertising and also an indicator of the support Nokia has for NFC. The company recently launched the 700, the first truly NFC capable handset from Nokia.

NFC can act like a sort of electronic trigger for your phone, teling it to do things like launch an app, open a website or even dial a phone number.

“What we wanted to do was create an opportunity for brands and small business to start getting involved in NFC.” said?Rupert Englander, head of services sales & marketing, Nokia UK and?Ireland, in an interview with Pocket-lint.”It provides a window for larger companies to talk to us about NFC.”

Nokia is working alongside Fuelmywebsite to help launch the project. They act as part of the Global Entrepeneur Program for the UK and are preparing the actual physical NFC enabled gadgetry that businesses require.?

We presume this move means Nokia is now permanently?committed?the the idea of NFC. They were big supporters of Bluetooth back when it was in its infancy and are clearly a company that likes it when things are done wirelessly.?

So does this mean the new Nokia Windows Phone 7 handset is NFC? We hope so …

Related links:

• News – Windows Phone 7 Nokia Maps: screenshots leaked
• News – Nokia 700 pictures and hands-on

Tags:
Phones Mobile phones Nokia NFC

Nokia launches NFC Hub originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:00:19 +0100

The future is here. Images of Total Recall’s Johnny Cab abound as we take a glimpse of London’s first full-sized remote controlled taxi.

Brainchild of engineering wizard Dr. James Brighton, rather than competing with real-life taxi drivers, it marks the launch of “Driving Wars”, a brand new extreme driving show due to be shown on Dave on Wednesday, 19 October.

The team has apparently spent 2 months working on the cab, which is controlled via a hand-held console. “For a ‘gadget’ weighing just shy of 2 tonnes and capable of hitting 80mph, click-happy controllers will have a remarkable level of authority over steering control, forward and reverse gearing, a sensitive braking system and a fully proportional throttle.”

The aim of the game in driving wars is to invite the public to re-enact classic motoring moments from cinema, the RC element ensuring the drivers will avoid trips to casualty and possible death.

We’re thinking a re-enactment of the Blues Brothers police car crash scene might be nice – if the programme’s budget can stretch that far.

Tags:
Car And GPS Toys Gadgets RC Cars

World’s first remote control black cab drives into London originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:32:00 +0100

The iPhone 4S, although externally mostly unchanged from the iPhone 4, has plenty of surprises under the hood, not least its improved camera. Along with the improved camera there’s also a nice improvement to go alongside with the addition of iOS 5 (clearly also available on the iPhone 4): the ability to take pictures via the volume control on your headphones.

iOS 5 brings all manner of features, most of which we’ve covered in our extensive review; we already knew that there was a new shortcut to the camera, with the ability to open up the camera with two presses of the home button even when the phone is locked.

However, news from MacRumors states that iOS 5 adds to the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4’s photography credentials by way of remote shutter release. By using headphones with attached volume control, you can activate the iPhone’s shutter release – increasing the flexibility of the iPhone as a camera no-end.

We’re thinking this would be good when the iPhone 4S is attached to a tripod, for macro, sports and even wildlife pics.

It will be interesting to see how far this kind of development pushes the iPhone 4S into the compact camera space.

Read

Tags:
iOS 5 iPhone 4S Phones Photography iPhone 4 Updates

iOS 5 camera update allows for remote shutter photography originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:19:00 +0100

It’s not been a great week for BlackBerry, and with the launch of the iPhone 4S, along with all the fandom that goes with it, the news that many BlackBerry users would potentially opt for an iPhone as a direct result of Blackberry’s service problems couldn’t come at a worse time.

According to a survey by shopping comparison site Kelkoo, 62 per cent of mobile consumers surveyed would be going for the iPhone option over BlackBerry.

“Amongst the 1,075 existing Blackberry users surveyed, almost one fifth (19 per cent) are thinking about moving to another manufacturer and 42 per cent will think about changing when they next change their handset. 8 per cent claim they have bought a new mobile phone already,” a spokesman for Kelkoo said.

And it appears that the outage has caused a good deal of uncertainty with potential Blackberry users, as 71 per cent of those planning on getting a BlackBerry admitted that they needed reassurance from Rim. It’s not all doom and gloom however, as 29 per cent of those surveyed said they’d still go ahead with a purchase.

Chris Simpson, chief marketing officer at Kelkoo, said: “This week has been incredibly difficult for Blackberry users worldwide, however, Blackberry offers a market-leading product with a unique service, which nearly a third of consumers admit they will not find with any other manufacturer. As such, it has a loyal following and this will stand it in good stead to retain customers. Whilst our research highlights that some consumers intend to jump the Blackberry ship, it could be a very different picture in the coming months when this week’s issues become a distant memory.”

BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis, to his credit, recently posted a YouTube video apologising for the outage.

Tags:
Phones BlackBerry BBM Surveys

BlackBerry failure could see 1 in 5 move to iPhone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:52:37 +0100

An Apple launch is quite something to behold. Think of the footage you’ve seen of young girls screaming at the Beatles in the 60s, then swap Paul McCartney for Apple and the girls for geeks. That is about the closest thing we can think of to describe scene.

The iPhone 4S has been the biggest product Apple has ever launched, managing more than 1 million pre-orders in a single 24 hours. That is an unimaginable amount of consumer demand for a device and proof yet again that Apple fans are devoted as ever. So devoted in fact that those who don’t pre-order choose to queue, filling the area around Apple’s Regent Street and Covent Garden store in a sort of ritualistic yearly pilgrimage. Some queue for as long as 10 days in order to make sure they are the first in the country to grab a new Apple device, others are there for the atmosphere, either way it is like Glastonbury for Apple fans.?

Naturally Pocket-lint couldn’t afford to miss out on all this excitement, let alone the opportunity to be amongst a flock of gadget lovers so large. So it was up early doors and down to central London to capture the action.

First up was Regent Street; we arrived at around 6am. A select few Apple devotees, around the first 20 in the queue, had been allowed to stay directly outside the store. The rest, of which there were already hundreds, had been lined up around the corner and all the way down into a small park just off Regent Street.?

First in line were our old friends Craig Fox and Daniel James, the two jailbreakers who had cemented their place as number one in the queue last Friday. After nearly a week sat outside the store in Regent Street they weren’t looking quite as fresh as when we last saw them. Still the excitement and atmosphere was definitely enough to wake anyone up.?

Craig Fox and Daniel James – 1st in queue at Regent Street

“We have been here 160 hours”. “I’ll use it on the train and then straight to bed, I will play with it for like an hour.

“There have been some perks of being first in the queue: we got offered flights to Dubai”.

Sitting closely behind was familiar face and usual Apple queuer Jewels Lewis, known for his iPad antics. Although not claiming the top spot this time, he was definitely in the market for some new Apple products, planning on picking up both an iPhone 4S and a new Nano.?

Jewels Lewis – Regent Street

“I have more love for the iPad than the phone. When I found out this lot were number one, it’s like a community, we have bonded now from the iPad 2.

“You have got to start from somewhere. It is the same group of us who are this dedicated to Apple products.

“I don’t know if you would call us mad or Apple fanatics, even freaks, but we know what we are doing”.

It was then onto Covent Garden, but not before a brief look at just how long the iPhone 4S queue tailed back around Regent Street. We would say there was upwards of a thousand people queueing and this was at around 6.30am. So many in fact that Apple had been forced to construct a small secondary base in a park behind its Regent Street store.?

Covent Garden felt like a different kettle of fish altogether. It was far more manic, partly because by the time Pocket-lint got there it was approaching door opening time. Apple had managed to control the crowds, but the queue was going all the way around Covent Garden. Tickets were being handed out so that people couldn’t go and pick up multiple handsets for friends. There was a two-phone limit which you would think would be enough, but believe us many people were looking to pick up ten or twenty, likely to immediately sell them on.

First in line at Covent Garden was Rob Shoesmith, who had been waiting outside the Apple store for a quite frankly unbelievable 10 days.?

Rob Shoesmith – 1st in line at Covent Garden

“I’ve queued up for 10 nights so yes I want to get the iPhone now. I’m absolutely shattered.

“I wanted to see if I could live indirectly over Apple’s huge media influence. It worked”.

Behind Shoesmith was a sea of rampant Apple fans who were working themselves up into some sort of quasi-pagan frenzy as the 8am opening approached. We managed to grab a few other queuers before taking cover away from the shop doors.

Matthew Kelly and Craig Shafer – Covent Garden

Kelly: “I’ve got geriatric a 3G, so I’m excited about going to the iPhone 4S.”?

Shafer: “I have a crappy Samsung so I can’t wait.”

Kelly:?”I want to get my phone and go to bed. I am hugely excited, I’m off to a job interview after.”?

Kelly: “I have queued for Harry Potter books like this before.”

The Apple employees then began clapping maniacally to get the crowd worked up after what had been, for some, more than a 24-hour wait in the freezing London cold. A few slightly sleep-ridden eyes were immediately woken up the second those doors opened. In the fans went and out the exit they came, iPhone 4S in hand, grins on faces, safe in the knowledge that for a few seconds they were amongst the first to own a new Apple device.?

Just like that the launch was over, and Apple then took to dealing with the reality of shifting an impossibly huge number of handsets in one single day. The Apple store workers were still clapping when we left, and we suspect will be for a good few hours to come.?

Tags:
Apple Phones Mobile phones iPhone 4S

iPhone 4S launch from the Apple Store queue originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:43:00 +0100