App Review: FCmobilelife Tasks by FranklinCovey for iPhone

The iGrip Custom Fit Sturdy Swivel Mount for iPhone 3G is available in the TiPb Store for $19.95. This mount is an excellent alternative to having your iPhone float freely within the cabin of your car. In a day when more focus is being placed on distracted drivers, this mount allows you to affix your iPhone 3G and view the display while keeping both hands on the wheel. How does it measure up? Read on for the full review!

First Impressions

This is my second iGrip review of an iPhone mount and it is very different from the first. This mount comes with the detachable sled for the iPhone, a posable swivel neck mount and adhesive suction cup. I was a little concerned about the mounts overall height when I took it out of the box. My first thought was, “Where is the extender”, “This is it?”. However, there was no need to worry, this swivel mount does the job.

Daily Use

The first quandary I had with the iGrip was its size. Unlike the goose neck, this device was not very “long”, it is more on the “stubby” side. I decided to attach the mount to my Honda Element.

First I tried to to attach it to the windshield. I ran into an issue since the mount is so short I could not reach it from the drivers seat. So I had to look at other alternatives. I then affixed the suction cup to the mount and decided to place it on the dashboard directly above the instrument panel. This proved to be an excellent idea! The iPhone is now clearly positioned so I can view it easily if someone calls, or I am using GPS (yes, there GPS apps on non- jailbroken iPhones). So first up, the phone call test.

If someone is calling you, ya just can’t miss it, the screen is directly in front of you. The mount does not grip tightly to the iPhone. You can very easily grab the iPhone with one hand from the mount and answer your call. You could even answer it with speakerphone, but while driving it makes it difficult to hear the other person. Answering a call with a Bluetooth headset was simple as well.

Next was GPS and it was an absolute dream. I use G-Map for iPhone and it worked perfectly (the mount of course). The maps were at eye-level and were in the best possible position.

Using music on the mount was easy too. Click the iPod app and flick to the music I wanted… nice.

Because the iGrip Swivel is not a gooseneck-style mount, it does not bounce; there is no limp part or the ability to move accidentally.

Conclusion

I really liked this mount. It is tough to say which I like better; the swivel or gooseneck-style mounts. I think it really depends on the vehicle you have. I prefer the gooseneck on my Honda Accord and the swivel on the Honda Element. At the end of the day, this is a solid mount that does not bounce, holds its position and will not budge. One of the more important aspects to mention is that it is a breeze to remove the iPhone; simply lift it out of the sled. The iPhone does not snap into place, it is simply held securely by molded plastic.

Pros:

• Rock-solid
• No bounce
• Can be tightened to a position you want
• iPhone fits securely with out snapping into place, it can be lifted out easily

Cons:

• No landscape orientation
• No extra “adhesive sticker” if you use the base mount to adhere to a dash
• Does not work well for windshield mounting, I found it worked best on the dashboard

TiPb’s Rating:

Read More...

Big entertainment company Warner Bros. has recently released a couple apps, one of which is Stuck Genie. This is a cute little puzzle game where you must collect all the balls on the board by sticking them to each other. The concept is very simple but not necessarily always easy to complete.

Game Play and Controls

Before you can play Stuck Genie, you must enter your name. There is a horizontal scrolling list of the letters at the top and you must drag the letters down to the line to spell your name. I think this is a cute idea, but I hate it. The letter you want must be highlighted and half the time when I attempted to drag a letter, the letters scrolled instead or the game didn’t even register that I touched the letter. It is much faster to just type my name with a keyboard and not nearly as frustrating. I think Warner Bros. would be better off creating a custom keyboard with the bubbly letters.

Once you enter your name, you’re ready to play. There are three tutorial levels that teach you the controls of the game. They are optional and don’t need to be completed before playing the actual game. When you begin level 1, a genie tells you his story with scrolling text in a speech bubble. This text scrolls VERY slow and there is no way to speed it up. I find it aggravating to have to pause my reading mid-sentence waiting for the text to scroll into view.

The game board is a grid with a single yellow ball, any number of blue balls, and various obstacles. The object of the game is to get all the balls stuck together. The yellow ball is the one you control. To move, slide your finger anywhere on the screen in the direction you want to go. As you slide your finger, the squares in front of the ball will turn white. When you release your finger, the yellow ball follows the path of white squares. The one other control is rotation. At the bottom of the screen, there is button that rotates your cluster of balls clockwise when tapped; counter-clockwise is not an option. That’s all there is to it!

Under the game board, you will notice a horizontal bar that fades from green to yellow. This is a time bar. There is no minimum time limit for a given level, but if you’re fast, you can earn 4x, 3x, or 2x the normal point value. Sometimes, you may do a sequence of moves that result in the puzzle being impossible to complete. If so, there is an option to reset the level in the menu. However, this does not reset your time bar.

The first series of levels are, in my opinion, quite easy. This is expected in any puzzle game; however, I nearly lost interest in the game and was initially planning to write my review emphasizing that the game would be great for children. After completing fifteen levels, the first genie is released and you advance to the next series of levels. I immediately noticed a significant change in the difficulty level and this is when the game became fun for me. I wish there was a way to skip ahead to these levels without first completing the first set. What makes this game challenging is that as you collect more balls, you may be unable to fit through areas of the board or rotate. If you attempt to randomly collect balls, you will fail; a strategy is needed to be successful.

Conclusion

Stuck Genie is a great little puzzle game for both kids and adults. It stimulates the brain and makes you think. The game runs great and not once did I experience lag. The music is nice and sound effects are subtle. Don’t let the cute, smiling, dancing genie and child-like design fool you, any adult can have fun playing Stuck Genie and I recommend you give it a try!

Pros

• Simple Concept
• Easy to play
• Challenging (eventually)
• Multiple profiles

Cons

• Cannot listen to iPod while playing
• Must complete 15 levels before they are challenging
• Slow scrolling text

TiPb Review Rating

Stuck Genie is available for $1.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Read More...