It's time for weekly roundup of brand new and notable apps for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.
It covers apps and games, with the prices referring to the initial download: so (Free) may mean (Freemium) in some cases.
Parallels Access (Free)
Parallels' new iPad app provides remote access to your desktop computer, whether it's a PC or Mac. The idea being you can fire up your desktop applications, control them via the touchscreen, and work with iPad apps – copying and pasting text for example. While it's free to download, it does need a year's subscription for £54.99 per computer once the 14-day trial runs out.
iPad
Shakespeare goes freemium! Although thankfully not in the 'in-app purchases to unlock dragons in Hamlet' sense. This is an app to access Cambridge University Press' individual versions of plays including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream, with lots of innovative AND useful features to dig deeper into the texts. Each play costs £9.99.
iPad
Lego has actually released three apps for its new Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit this week. Robot Commander is the one you use to control the five robots that can be built using the kit: walking, slithering, grasping, and then making you a cup of tea (I'm guessing with that last one: don't be disappointed). Also worth checking out: Lego Mindstorms 3D Builder, which teaches you how to build the bots, and Lego Mindstorms Fix the Factory, a puzzle game introducing one of them.
iPhone / iPad
EA's moves to make some of its biggest game franchises freemium continues with Madden NFL the latest to get the treatment. Yes, there's American Football action here, but the focus is just as much on building a team of players through (digital) card-collecting, with in-app purchases funding your roster ambitions.
iPhone / iPad
Blackbar is a text game: a sci-fi story of a dystopian future told through the medium of word puzzles. Reminiscent of text adventures and interactive fiction, it has a unique mechanic centered around the concept of censorship. Censorship is frustrating, but the human spirit can beat that frustration by turning it into a game.
iPad
Monster Match got me hooked on holiday last week with its combination of match-three puzzling and Pokemon-style monster-collecting. It sees you finding and battling more than 225 beasties by matching gems, with plenty of nuances in balancing the various abilities and levelling up. The inspiration is fairly clear: Puzzle & Dragons, currently one of the most lucrative mobile games in the world. But you can't yet play that here in the UK, so Monster Match is worth a look.
iPhone / iPad
The best way to convert numbers since the measuring cup. The Converted is a radical new way to convert. It will take a few minutes to become familiar and once you have it's second nature and you have become the converted.
iPad
As explained last week, Fleep is the new thing from two of Skype's founding engineers: an app that sits somewhere between chat and email. It supports one-to-one and group chats, saving important messages to a Pinboard, and making shared photos and documents easily accessible.
iPhone
Quip is a much-talked-about new word processing app that – from this week – is available in the UK as well as the US. The schtick: it groups documents and messages about them in a chat-like "thread of updates", making collaboration clearer. It works across Android, iOS and desktop computers too.
iPhone / iPad
I've had to uninstall the Flick Kick Football game several times after it got in the way of work, and developer PikPok has a good record with making other sports just as addictive too. This new Flick Kick Field Goal game focuses on American Football kicking, as you flick your balls (so to speak) to get as high a score as possible.
iPhone / iPad
Inplayrs is worth keeping an eye on for sports fans: an app that gets you to compete with other players to predict outcomes as matches play, with live odds and data fed in all the time. It's the work of a team of ex Betfair, Morgan Stanley and Amazon folk, with sports covered including football, tennis, basketball and cricket.
iPhone
Here's an interesting idea: an app that promises to help you "earn to read much faster, and helps you finish your Instapaper and Pocket articles you've been meaning to get to". So it ties into those services, while teaching you how to minimise "subvocalisation" (the process of saying – in your head – the words you read), thus speeding you up. Intriguing.
iPhone
Pixel art – as seen in around 52% of critically-acclaimed iOS games in recent memory (rough estimate) – continues to be popular with game designers. What if you're doing it yourself, though? Pixaki aims to help you create "anything from retro game characters to vast isometric cityscapes" with intuitive touchscreen controls and clever upscaling tech for usage elsewhere.
iPad
DIG! FIGHT! EXPLORE! BUILD!
The critically-acclaimed, best-selling indie sandbox adventure has finally arrived on iOS!
In Terraria, every world is unique -- from the floating islands in the sky to the deepest level of The Underworld. Adventure to the ends of the earth, and defeat villainous bosses along the way. The world is your canvas!iPhone / iPad
Not enough children's apps have proper theme songs. Lucy Ladybird does, and with it comes a well-crafted story of the heroine's search for her spots. Digital colouring, karaoke and a spider-hunting mini-game are also included, with more materials available on its website for parents and children to enjoy together.
iPad
Something for travellers here: an app that promises "the top 25 masterpieces of Budapest" – as in buildings – with more cities to follow in subsequent updates. Expect photos, drawings, tours and location features showing you how to get to each building. Architectural tourists will love it.
iPhone
A fun attempt to blend roleplaying game mechanics with a productivity app. Or, as the App Store listing puts it: "Habit tracking which treats your goals like a Role Playing Game. Level up as you succeed, lose HP as you fail, earn money to buy weapons and armor." It's the official spin-off from the HabitRPG website, used to motivate everything from calling your mum to working out.
iPhone / iPad
There are a number of apps that turn your iPhone photos into physical postcards, but how many of them actually benefit the places you're snapping pics of? This one does: it's an official app from the National Trust, charging £1.50 per postcard.
iPhone
This attempt to create a "sandbox" style game for children is worth watching as more content is added in the weeks to come: it's a piratical game that currently features sailing, cannon battles, treasure-hunting and parrots. Well, there'd have to be parrots. It's playful and open-ended in its scope.
iPad
Junk Jack was one of my favourites in the emerging genre of "inspired by Minecraft but in 2D" games on iOS, but now it has a sequel. It sees you exploring randomly-generated worlds full of monsters, loot and items to craft with. There's lots to see and do: and online and local multiplayer to share the fun with others.
iPhone / iPad
That's this week's selection, but what do you think? Make your own recommendations, or give your views on the apps, by posting a comment.
The critically-acclaimed, best-selling indie sandbox adventure has finally arrived on iOS!
In Terraria, every world is unique -- from the floating islands in the sky to the deepest level of The Underworld. Adventure to the ends of the earth, and defeat villainous bosses along the way. The world is your canvas!iPhone / iPad
Not enough children's apps have proper theme songs. Lucy Ladybird does, and with it comes a well-crafted story of the heroine's search for her spots. Digital colouring, karaoke and a spider-hunting mini-game are also included, with more materials available on its website for parents and children to enjoy together.
iPad
Something for travellers here: an app that promises "the top 25 masterpieces of Budapest" – as in buildings – with more cities to follow in subsequent updates. Expect photos, drawings, tours and location features showing you how to get to each building. Architectural tourists will love it.
iPhone
A fun attempt to blend roleplaying game mechanics with a productivity app. Or, as the App Store listing puts it: "Habit tracking which treats your goals like a Role Playing Game. Level up as you succeed, lose HP as you fail, earn money to buy weapons and armor." It's the official spin-off from the HabitRPG website, used to motivate everything from calling your mum to working out.
iPhone / iPad
There are a number of apps that turn your iPhone photos into physical postcards, but how many of them actually benefit the places you're snapping pics of? This one does: it's an official app from the National Trust, charging £1.50 per postcard.
iPhone
This attempt to create a "sandbox" style game for children is worth watching as more content is added in the weeks to come: it's a piratical game that currently features sailing, cannon battles, treasure-hunting and parrots. Well, there'd have to be parrots. It's playful and open-ended in its scope.
iPad
Junk Jack was one of my favourites in the emerging genre of "inspired by Minecraft but in 2D" games on iOS, but now it has a sequel. It sees you exploring randomly-generated worlds full of monsters, loot and items to craft with. There's lots to see and do: and online and local multiplayer to share the fun with others.
iPhone / iPad
That's this week's selection, but what do you think? Make your own recommendations, or give your views on the apps, by posting a comment.
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