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 features round calendars, bare-bones radio and surviving in an alien world.
Flyperlink
For: Android
Cost: Free (€1.02 for full version)
- Android has a number of floating browser apps out there. Linkbubble and Flynx are the most well known examples out there but there are others worth your attention.
- Flyperlink is one of them and while it may seem like it’s Linkbubble under a different name (and it kinda is under the free version), the full version includes a wide range of customisation features.
- For one, you can open up links as a popup instead of a full window, handy for those who have large screen phones or tablets, and it can function on top of the lockscreen as well.
- The app itself also shows you a history of all the links you’ve opened up with the app, should you need to find a page again.
- A handy browser tool for those who like having web pages available at all times.
Rolo Calendar
For: iOS
Cost: Free
- Calendar apps tend to follow the same look. Maybe a general view of the month, combined with a ‘what happening today’ schedule, and linkup with other calendars.
- Rolo Calendar opts for a more visual look by placing your entire schedule in a circle.
- You can view your calendar by day, by week, or by year. All entries are colour-coded so you know what you’re looking at.
- As far as an overview is concerned, cycling through your day or week is straightforward and provided you don’t overload it with entries of the same colour, your schedule is clear at a glance.
- For those who find traditional calendars a little too boring or inaccessible.
Transistor
For: Android
Cost: Free
- If you’re looking for radio stations, there’s no shortage of apps like TuneIn Radio to choose from but what if you want something a little more basic.
- Transistor is a bare-bones radio app that allows you to add radio stream that are encoded in MP3 and OGG.
-Adding in radio streams is a matter of either searching for the streaming links in your web browser and opening them with Transistor, or typing in the URL directly (the former is far easier by the way).
- Instead of saving a database, the app saves stations on your phone’s external storage so you’re only have the ones you want to listen to.
- It’s basic but if you’re tired of clutter, it’s a welcome break from it.
AirMail
For: iOS
Cost: €4.99
- There haven’t really been many mail apps that have done something different. You have to think back to the likes of Mailbox introducing swiping options (that was quickly picked up by others) as one.
- AirMail is an app designed for email power-users who want high levels of customisation. It can sync up with the usual email clients but it’s what you can do with it that matters.
- You could see it as a better-designed version of the standard mail app on iOS and you would be partially right. The design is simple and effective, and moving between different sections is quick.
- It also integrates with many different apps and services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Pocket and others.
- If you already use the Mac version, getting this is a no-brainer.
Crashlands
For: iOS, Android
Cost: €4.99
- Imagine a game that combines Minecraft with a number of other survival games and set it on an alien planet? The answer to that would probably be Crashlands.
- While it is a vast and complex game, Crashlands doesn’t exactly throw you into the deep end at the beginning. The presentation and humour eases you into it so you’re not entirely lost.
- When you do get into the swing of things by crafting tools, weapons and armour, exploring can be vast and sometimes unforgiving. Thankfully if you keep your wits about you, you can avoid being quickly killed by the wildlife.
- All actions are done via taps and while fighting is handled rather well. You can see where enemies are going to attack by a flashing red circle so provided you act quickly, you can dodge and counter.
- Those looking for a survival game with a nice amount of humour and fun, you’ll find a lot to like here (and you can sync it with your PC/Mac version as well).
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