It's time for roundup of brand new and notable apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It covers apps and games, with the prices referring to the initial download: so (Free) may mean (Freemium) in some cases.
Hangouts (Free Apps)
Google moved to unify its Android messaging apps last week with Hangouts, offering instant messaging, photo-sharing, emoji and video calls in one package. But it's also available on iOS with the same features, as well as on computers.
iPhone / iPad
Amazon is trying to make its Cloud Drive online storage service more useful for specific tasks – mobile photography in this case. The app saves the snaps you take on your iPhone or iPod touch to the Cloud Drive, and provides access to all the images stored there – with Facebook and Twitter sharing built in.
iPhone
CBeebies star Justin Fletcher – quite possibly the biggest name in children's entertainment in the UK – is getting into apps with his Justin's World brand. This first app tells the Goldilocks fairytale, with Fletcher himself dressing up as all the main characters to host a mixture of video and mini-games for pre-schoolers. Find out more on his plans in this interview.
iPhone / iPad
There is justifiably bags of buzz around this, a beautifully-crafted puzzle game with impressive papercraft visuals. While the production values stand out from the App Store crowd, it's the quality of the puzzles that make it a keeper, offering genuine depth. The storyline also keeps you engrossed as you play through them.
iPhone / iPad
Films as apps? A few production companies are testing the idea, with Haunting Melissa the latest example. Promising "a terrifying tale with twists and frights that you won't soon forget", it's exclusive to iOS for now, and with The Ring and Mulholland Drive on its producer's CV, well worth a look. You can pay for individual chapters or a season's pass via in-app purchase in SD or HD quality.
iPhone / iPad
Following in Marvel's footsteps, now Star Trek has its own card-battling app for smartphones and tablets. Featuring characters and ships from both Star Trek and the Star Trek Into Darkness film, this offers more than 100 cards to collect and use to challenge other players in turn-based fights. In-app purchases of its Latinum currency fund the action.
iPhone / iPad
Two apps rather than one, but these can be safely treated as a pair. They're both by book publisher Bloomsbury, with a mixture of virtual stickers, dress-up games and puzzles for children. One features pirates, and the other princesses.
iPad
If you like a real challenge with your iOS games, then Frozen Synapse is a fiver well spent this week. It's a turn-based strategy game originally released for computers, as you guide your squad through a succession of levels. 55 missions to play by yourself plus five multiplayer modes make this a treat.
iPad
In March 2013, popular children's apps maker Toca Boca bought one of its peers, Zinc Roe, and rebranded it as Sago Sago. Now the studio has released its first app since the changes: a marvellous collection of interactive sound-objects for toddlers, "from wind chimes to barking puppies".
iPhone / iPad
And if the inclusion of this enrages you, consider this: Ask Keith Lemon is currently the third Top Paid app in the UK App Store, ahead of Minecraft, Angry Birds Star Wars and countless other big names. The opportunity to "have Keith Lemon as your personal assistant" is clearly popular. An in-app purchase upgrades it to "Ruderer Mode" with salty language.
iPhone / iPad
iPhone / iPad
Excited about the upcoming British Lions tour? Rugby Nations '13 will swell your rugby joy still further. It includes 20 teams to play as, spiffing graphics and commentary from TV's Bill Leslie, with the gameplay doing as good a job as any title at the difficult task of rendering rugby playable in digital form.
iPhone / iPad
This is the latest children's storybook-app from Irish startup StoryToys, which turns the famous tale of Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera into a virtual pop-up book for iOS devices. Animation, voice narration and a series of accessible mini-games make it a treat for kids.
iPhone / iPad
Steak! Gin! That's all you need to know about this iPad app. Well, if you do want to know more, this is an app from London steakhouse restaurant Gillray's designed to be used by anyone with a penchant for, yes, steak and gin. It'll tell you how to cook steak, tell you the history of gin, and suggest cocktails.
iPad
More history here, although not quite as much gin. Osprey Publishing and Aimer Media's book-app focuses on the battle of Borodino as Napoleon led his forces into battle against Imperial Russia. Expect bird's-eye maps, illustrations and plenty of text explaining what happened and why.
iPhone / iPad
Developer PikPok's latest game is based on the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film Turbo. It's basically Mario Kart with snails. Well, there's a bit more to it than that, but this free-to-play game gets you to customise then race a colourful terrestrial-gastropod.
iPhone / iPad
The latest fresh startup to enter the mobile messaging game is... Wacom! Yes, the graphics tablets people. This social app is designed to work with its Bamboo Stylus Mini stylus, but is also "finger-friendly". It focuses on creating "cards" and customising them with scribbles and other tools, sending them to friends or sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and/or Instagram.
iPhone
Blitz Games Studios' 3D puzzle game has a real originality about it, with papercraft levels and characters. You have to solve 45 levels by moving the characters around by tapping and swiping, figuring out how to use each one's special ability. It looks lovely, and plays well too.
iPhone / iPad
Data source: The Guardian (By Stuart Dredge)
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