EACH WEEK, WE highlight five apps that are worth downloading for your smartphone and tablet. There are a lot of apps released on a daily basis, but not all of them are worth paying attention to.
This week includes a way to prevent you from recording videos in portrait mode, possibly the next big photo/video app and the chance to experience life as a goat.
Horizon
For: Android
Cost: Free (Full version costs €0.99)
- No matter who you are, chances are you know the horror that is watching a video recorded vertically.
- Horizon eliminates this by recording all footage in landscape mode, even if you’re holding the phone vertically.
- It uses a little landscape box to capture footage and even if you move your phone, it will remain this way.
- It comes with three straightening modes: Flex (the frame is always adjusted for maximum viewport; Rotate (the frame stays fixed) and Locked (auto-leveling is disabled).
- Its usefulness really depends on the quality of your camera, but if you can’t properly record in landscape mode for some reason, this is the app for you.
Tiiny
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- You know how Snapchat is so popular? Imagine if you did the same thing, but threw together smaller photos/videos into the one screen.
- That’s pretty much the basis for Tiiny, except all photos and videos are kept for 24 hours before being deleted.
- Connecting through Twitter, the app breaks up all photos in a 3 x 4 grid so if you like busy screens, you’re in for a treat.
- The interface is quite nice. Taking a photo or video is simple while browsing through the photos and if you’re familiar with Vine, you notice a few similarities here.
- Should you be looking for the next trendy photo/video app to use, it’s worth a go.
Source: Tiiny/App StoreTubeCast
For: Windows Phone
Cost: Free (Pro version costs €1.99)
- Since YouTube doesn't have an official app on Windows Phone, you normally have to rely on the mobile version, or a third-party app.
- TubeCast allows you to connect to Chromecast and stream footage through it, but that's only one of the many things it can do.
- As well as allowing you to watch any YouTube videos, it also allows you to play sounds while your phone is locked (handy if you like listening to music through YouTube).
- The pro version allows you to download videos and cast them on smart TV or online.
- One of the more comprehensive YouTube apps for Windows Phone out there.
Swype
For: iOS, Android
Cost: €0.89 (iOS), €0.75 (Android)
- With iOS 8 officially out, there are quite a number of third-party keyboards being released, and most of them are quite good.
- Swype is one that's deserving of your attention. Both it and Swiftkey use a swiping input method which allows you to write words by dragging your finger around the screen. It works better in practise.
- It also comes with predictive text which learns what you write over time. It takes a little bit of time for it to get used to your style, but when it does, it makes things so much easier.
-It also takes into consideration what you write on Gmail, Twitter and Facebook (if you connect them up), allowing for greater accuracy.
- A great starter keyboard, although if you're tight for cash, Swiftkey might be a better option.
Goat Simulator
For: iOS, Android
Cost: €4.49
- Goat Simulator allows you to experience the world if you were a hairy four-legged creature inhabiting a world that has a conspicuous amount of inflammable objects lying around.
- If you haven't guessed already, this is an incredibly silly game, but that's why it's fun. Bugs are everywhere, your goat is handled the same way as a skateboarder and the absurdity alone will entertain you.
- The first five minutes will be getting used to the controls and the rest will be throwing your goat into incredibly stupid situations and seeing how much destruction you can cause to a small town.
- Apart from the controls being a little harder since it's a touchscreen, it's a faithful port of the PC game and you'll be causing carnage in no time.
- This will either be the best or worst €4 you've ever spent depending on your sense of humour, so you might want to take a look at the game first before you hit buy.
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