Omio

Palm Launches Windows Mobile App Software Store

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

Handset manufacturer Palm continues their rebranding charm offensive today as they launch a Software Store stuffed to the gills with 5000 apps and games, 20% of them absolutely free!

Filled with popular and famous Windows Mobile games including Scrabble and fan favourite BeJewelled, the Palm Software Store supports a huge number of devices including the Centro and new Treo Pro, as well as a variety of Windows Mobile handsets.

Grouped into types from Professional to Finance, Entertainment to Education, the broad range and quality of applications is sure to attract many to the store. It simply gives the fantastic array of great Windows Mobile apps a pretty and organised shop window to be sold from.

Something they could well have done with a while ago, Microsoft?

As a sweetener for first timers, there is also a 25% off code for first purchases. Simply type in SHOPMOBILE at the checkout to receive your discount!

The only problem would be one of getting users to download and install it in the first place, how long before it come pre-installed to all their handsets? Get the Palm App Store for your Windows Mobile/Palm OS driven phone from here!

First the announcement of a whole new phone and operating system for Palm at CES, and now this! Can anyone stop their reignited bid for smart phone supremacy?

Source: Trusted Reviews

New iPhone Game Makes Your Friends And Family Sick!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

Dr. Awesome, MicroSurgeon M.D.

I rest my case. Any game which can take itself that humourously with a name like that gets my vote. Rather than claiming to be the game that turns your iPhone into an arcade machine or redefine gaming and your life for only £1.19, Dr. Awesome is just plain fun.

Don’t be put of by the visuals coming off as a poor copy of Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, both seminal Nintendo DS titles. This is certainly on purpose, and the tongue-in-cheek nature continues during your tenure as Dr. Awesome!

You play the hero, and you spend your time fighting off viruses and illnesses that course through the bodies of your various patients. The difference is…you know them all! The patients are names from your iPhone’s own address book, immediately lending the game a personal air and making it a lot more amusing!

So when your next patient is wheeled in, and it says that (insert name here) has a horrible fungus in their ear which must be removed STAT, it can’t help but to raise a smile on the most jaded gamer.

The actual gameplay is familiar to anyone that has played the classic arcade game ‘Qix,’ where you have to regain control of an area by sectioning off pieces of the playfield with your device whilst dodging foreign bodies. Acquire 75% of the level, and you move onto the next stage.

The game is fairly simplistic tilt-y based action, but combined with the hilarious comic narrative and the inventive use of contacts, Dr. Awesome is worth far more than the 59p sale price they are currently charging for it.

It is the latest title from start-up ng:moco founded by former EA guy Neil Young. They are one of the new developers that have sprung up to make the most of the iPhone’s App Store. It looks like they are doing a pretty good job so far, focussing on smaller and cheaper titles rather than the epics others have tried.

The sooner developers realise that quick fix gaming is what people want on the go, not a magnum opus spanning many hours,the quicker they will profit from the App Store.

Download Dr. Awesome now from the App Store.

Time Magazine Names App Store Game in Top 10 Of 2008

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

In Time Magazine’s brilliant ‘Top 10 Of Everything‘ rundown of 2008, the biggest surprise (aside from ‘Rickrolled’ only making number 7 of top buzzwords) was that a humble iPhone title managed to make it into the top 10 video games!

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of GTA4, Little Big Planet and Soulja Boy’s favourite Braid was…Fieldrunners!

A humble army spin on the ‘tower defense’ strategy game attracted legions of fans on the iPhone, and has captivated an audience that never normally entertains video games!

Making the touchscreen an asset to game control rather than a liability, Fieldrunners has the player constructing different buildings to defend a base from enemies. The trick is that each type of building is resilient towards different enemies. Planning the number and location of your bases as well as managing resources makes this a title more about reasoning than reflexes!

Take a look at the cartoony destruction in the below video!

Also worth noting that this was the only mobile title to make the top 10…perhaps there is more to this iPhone gaming lark than everyone thought!

Get a copy of Fieldrunners for only £2.99 from the App Store here!

(Pssst…if you can’t spring money for a game and are into side-scrolling shooters, why not try the brilliantly monikered SPACE DEADBEEF from here!)

New Tap Tap App Takes iPhone Rhythm Action To Next Level!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

The Omio Prophecy strikes again! It was only last week that we were documenting the best free iPhone apps, with Tap Tap Revenge featuring at No.1. We asked “when will iPhone owners have to pay,” and the answer was already on the Store!

Good news is Tap Tap Dance is worth every one of the two hundred and ninety nine pennies they are asking for!

Running on a new graphically and technically more snazzy engine, Tap Tap Dance brings together some of the biggest names in the music business with 10 dance floor fillers.

Tap Tap Dance is very similar to games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, where ‘notes’ move down the screen, and are pressed in time with the music. Accuracy and notes-in-a-row are noted and scored accordingly, which makes it easy to learn but so much fun to perfect your favourite songs!

EMI Music has let 5 acts jump into the fray with songs from Basement Jaxx, the Chemical Brothers, Moby and Daft Punk alongside exclusive tracks and remixes from indies like Soul Magic Orchestro.

As if monetising this baby wasn’t working well enough, all the tracks will be wrapped neatly in a bow and sold on iTunes very soon.

Feedback seems pretty positive at the moment, with the only negatives being 10 songs is fairly light compared to the embarrassment of riches in free game Revenge, and also the occasional lag issue has been reported. Obviously, timing is everything in a game such as this, so updates to fix the latter issue are said to be on the way from makers Tapulous.

Watch a video of the game here and buy Tap Tap Dance from over here!

As for the number of songs? A new version from another label or another genre of music will doubtlessly be along soon enough…as long as this one sells.

We demand that the amazing (if racy) gamer’s anthem “Press The Start Button” from Ludacris be included in a sequel, along with some MC Hawking and MC Frontalot! Nerdcore hip-hop for ever!

“I’m a God of War, you a Guitar Hero!” Best. Line. Ever.

Source: Pocket Picks / Kotaku

Apple Sale: Free iPhone Apps And Games Today Only!

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

The Thanksgiving-inspired Apple Black Friday sale turned out to be a bit of a damp squib today, with £60 off a £900 MacBook and £11 off an iPod Touch leaving our world decidedly unrocked…

What is exciting though, is that for today only there are a lot of games and apps for the iPhone 3G on the official App Store which have seen prices slashed for only 24 hours!

Pangea Software, a big player on the App Store, has reduced the price of all of their games to only 59p, including popular titles like Billy Frontier and Cro Mag Rally.

Also, to commemorate 500 sales of his awesome title ‘2079,’ Eric Tong has made it a free download for today only! Be sure to get it, 2079 is an awesome shoot in the vein of XBox 360 classic Geometry Wars, where you steer with the accelerometer of the iPhone and shoot with an 8-way virtual pad!

It is awesome, and even better at the price of free! Quick, download 2079 for iPhone from here!

There is a bevy of other titles going cheap, so just type ’sale’ into the App Store search box, have a good rummage, and grab some bargains whilst you still can!

Source: MacWorld

Mobile Game Sales Have “Flatlined” According To Industry Report

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

Market analysts Juniper Research has reported that sales of mobile phone games have “flatlined across North America and Eastern Europe,” precisely the territories to see a decline in mobile phone sales in recent times.

Despite the iPhone increasing interest in games and applications, the limited revenue share of the old sales model versus the App Store, in conjunction with poor marketing of games has seen consumer attention wane.

Despite the value of the global mobile games market being expected to increase from $5.4 billion in 2008 to over $10 billion in 2013, a drastic change in methods of distribution is necessary for ‘last-gen’ Java based titles to remain competitive.

The author of the report, Dr. Windsor Holden, painted a bleak future for those who do not adapt:

“The revenue share offered by Apple to games publishers is incredibly attractive. The danger is that if operators do not respond with a similar business model, publishers faced with low margins may simply exit Java completely, thereby reducing consumer choice in the longer term.”

In our opinion, the problem with Java games runs far deeper than their distribution method. Charging the same money for titles which seem far more inferior on other handsets is not going to wash any more. Everyone has seen the games that the iPhone can deliver, in many cases for free. People are no longer be prepared to spend £5 on an unimpressive Java game, and will demand far more from the publishers before parting with their hard earned anywhere other than the App Store.

Lest we forget, the App Store has been around for around four months, and already has the entire mobile games industry shaken. Love to say, Omio told you so…

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

T-Mobile G1: Where My Apps At?

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

If there was one thing people were foaming at the mouth at regarding the T-Mobile G1, it was the ability for the Android Marketplace to provide a plethora of interesting and exciting applications to tailor the user experience and blah blah…

Well, we’re getting an idea of what will actually be in the Marketplace come launch day (30th October in the UK), and it makes for some slim pickings. Most noticeable in their absence? The big name companies making money off pledging their support to Android and the G1.

AlleyInsider notes the dearth of decent games, recognisable web radio players like Pandora or Last.fm, and FACEBOOK! Anyone who has been within looking distance of a computer in the last couple of years knows the value of social networking software, and Facebook has been downloaded like crazy off the App Store.

The G1 does have a selection of applications ready for launch, including a scaled down version of MySpace on offer. Unfortunately if you aren’t 12, a wannabe popstar, or the product of a massive record label’s effort to ‘connect’ with fans, you don’t have a MySpace account.

When vendors are allowed to actually…vend on the Marketplace (free apps only at the mo!), then Android and the G1 will explode. Until then, it isn’t worth the time nor the effort for developers or manufacturers to create exciting and fun things that take advantage of it. We really don’t want to see the Marketplace become a desolate wasteland of garbage ad-sponsored games, weather apps and scientific calculators.

The G1 looks like a phone that could thrive off the back of some innovation, and nothing stimulates innovation like cold, hard cash. Google knows that better than anyone.

So Android DOES Have A Kill Switch After All…

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

It’s all well and good for developers to be up in arms and waving pitchforks at Apple for having remote kill switches for their applications, they are supposed to be difficult and awkward and closed and cryptic. It’s in their nature.

But Google, courting these maverick devs with their open platform policy, giving people freedom to express their lame flashlight apps on the Marketplace, they wouldn’t put a kill switch on their beloved Android would they?

Well, yes. Yes they would.

The Android Market Terms of Service clearly state:

“Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion…”

Brazen as you like. At least Google is being honest about it, but it really scuppers my chances of getting my ‘Nearby Ladies of Ill Repute’ App out there.

App Store maybe?

iPhone App Store: The Losers

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

Mobile Tech Today has put up a really good report on how the iPhone App lottery hasn’t been quite the roaring success for everyone. Whilst the makers of super successful apps like Trism and Koi Pond are rattling around in platinum Bentleys with 24 hour chefs and solid gold shoes, time has not been so kind to others…

Many of the titles deemed App Store darlings when the service was launched have seen been left on the scrapheap, unloved and unbought. It tells the sad story of Bullfrog Touch, a $7.99 game which after a couple of weeks of success fell out of favour with fickle buyers.

Even though the article pores over the wreckage of so many App Store failures, we fear the allure of a slice of $1 million a day that site is generating is too strong to stay away from.

The App Store is a cruel mistress…

Dissent In App Store Developer Ranks As Apple Silences Chatterboxes

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
Email: ernest.doku@omio.com
Site: http://blog.omio.com
About: I like gadgets, loads! I like talking about them, writing about them, using them, watching other people use them though binoculars... Some would say it was an unhealthy fascination, but then I'd be all like, "Shh...," and go back to doing gadget-related things. Hit me up on Xbox Live or PSN, I'm EJStyleS. I promise to give you a good match as well as talk about things that aren't gadgets. A bit.See Authors Posts (565)

In stark contrast to Google’s open door policy with regards to developers working on Android, Apple is seeming more Draconian by the day with the seemingly magical process of being accepted to get stuff up on the App Store.

Software makers got a tad upset with this treatment and began to voice this sentiment on the internet by showing their rejection letters to the world, a move which MacRumors say Apple moved quickly to put an end to.

As well as getting a rejection letter, you now receive a nice warning with it at the end which states:

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE.

Not being accepted and not being able to talk about why you were rejected is currently the order of the day, and it makes sense when apps get pulled simply because they tread a little too closely to Apple’s own functionality, or they just don’t like them.

Word is that this NDA extends as far as preventing fellow developers from sharing information and tips regarding working for the iPhone, which has led to fairly vitriolic responses.

We understand if software infringes on copyright or is in sheer bad taste, but to pick and choose which programs to allow only underlines everyone’s biggest fears when the App Store was initially announced.

That the Apple way of doing things was quickly going to be the only way, just like the iPod and closed nature of developing for the Mac.

Reports like this, whether true or not, drive more into the welcoming arms of Android, and runs a serious risk of leaving the App Store a wasteland of flashlights, retro games and ‘Ad-Apps,’ rather than genuinely innovative software.

Please don’t let that happen, I’m having too much fun with my official Star Wars-endorsed lightsaber app.

Source: MacRumors