Epocrates Rx — Free!

A “real-time” review: First off, there’s the annoying feature that requires you to create an Epocrates account on your desktop computer BEFORE you can access any content. So, um, we’ll be right back. This app, generally geared toward healthcare professionals, is nonetheless available in a public forum like the App Store, so the requirement of an account was a surprise (and there’s no warning about that on the App Store page). We’re back. You’ve got to scroll down to locate “Other – Consumer” under the section which asks your profession, but we’re good now. Now it’s thinking/updating, which suggests it’s a data hog not unlike downloading, say, the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Now it’s done, and we’ve got four new messages: “Welcome to Epocrates!”, “Welcome to DocAlert Messages!”, “ACP/AAFP Venous Thromboembalism Guidelines”, and “Reasoning Training Slows Age-Related Decline.” Whoa. We think we just wanted the “pill ID” section and the “interaction” section.

Here’s our rec for the people at Epocrates: GREAT app, wonderful, phenomenal, and undoubtedly useful. But please, please introduce a “lite consumer” version where it’s just pills and interactions. The pill ID features are very cool — by shape, color, score, coating (if you so happen to know an enteric coating from a gelatin coating), clarity (what’s that?), imprint on each side. So off we went to the medicine cabinet to give this app a little test: shape: round, color: white, imprint side 1: DAN, imprint side 2: 5658. And the verdict: cyclobenzaprine, the generic for Flexeril. 100% correct.

So here’s our thinking in the form of a country song: We like it, we love it, we only want a little less of it. But fabulous, really. (SA)

Wooly Willy — $1.99

Wee willy winky runs through the town….nope, wrong name. But here’s a game that is perhaps more entertaining to children than that old-school non-sensical nursery rhyme. Wooly Willy enables you to try putting hair on two faces — that of the namesake, Wooly Willy, and his partner (we assume), Hairdo Harriet. The original versions of this game required metal shavings and a magnetic wand, and can only be found at yard sales these days. This version updates that in a way that blends it with Etch-A-Sketch: You tap the screen or move your finger across it to add hair, then shake the iPhone to clear the screen and start over. On the left upper portion, you can select from your own iPhone pictures to add hair — which could be a fun party trick. As much as we hate to say it, though, since we are big fans of the IDEA of retro apps in concept, in delivery we find it a little tiresome, and not something we’d come back to again and again. Maybe $1 for this one, but we’re not sure it’s worth $2. (SA)

Ms. PAC-MAN — $9.99

What a classic! This retro-feeling iPhone app works just like the arcade game. Change the way you guide Ms. PAC-MAN with the touch of a screen to your preferable mode then chomp away through a possible 256 stages! The price is steep (and has gotten several critical reviews on the App Store for this reason), and perhaps not worth it to the average person, but the product delivers precisely what you’d expect from a classic Ms. PAC-MAN game. Available in 10 languages. What we’d like to see next: Faithful renditions of the classics Centipede, Space Invaders, and original PAC-MAN — sold as a package of iPhone games. (The collection would probably be worth $10 to pretty much any fan — but as single apps? We’re not so sure.) (KW/SA)

DizzyBeeFree — Free!

So here’s one that’s both addictive and fun. Simply tilt your iPhone to guide the bee, collect his friends, and get to the finish mark. There are only four levels on the DizzyBeeFree application (easy, medium, difficult), but it’s a great way to “try before you buy” into the next level of regular DizzyBee (which involves a $3 commitment to download). A great, simple game that you can jump right into when you’ve got a free moment. (Or a $3 moment, which is what we’ll be doing when we download the upgrade very soon!) (KW)

Air Hockey, Air Hockey by Bryan Duke, Air Hockey Fingertip Sports ($.99-$2.99)

This review is actually over the three different versions of air hockey available in the App Store. First, there is Air Hockey for 99 cents by Personae Studios LLC. This is the most popular of the three (according to the App Store), but not actually the best, in our opinion. Second, there is a two-player version by Bryan Duke (also $.99). This version is fun, but it would be a lot better if you could play against the “computer” as well. Last, there is Air Hockey Fingertip Sports for $2.99. This is the steepest price of any Air Hockey iPhone App, but in our opinion, it’s the best. Here you can choose from one or two players, and also assign different levels of difficulty (easy, hard, expert). Then, of course, are the classic air hockey sounds: The ”thwack” of the puck, the crowds cheering. What more could you want from an air hockey game? (KW)

Koi Pond — .99

Since Koi Pond is the App Store’s #1 Paid App today, we thought we’d give it a whirl (and frankly, we could use the relaxation in light of a long night last night with a certain sick child) — so here we are with the Koi Pond installed on our iPhone as a result. The upshot? It IS relaxing, surprisingly so,  to watch these gentle fish languidly navigate their paths through the water until you interrupt them with a little tap. Every tap disturbs the fish, though they don’t always go so far off screen that you’re waiting for long to see them again. The splash sounds would do a Foley Artist proud — well programmed/recorded and well-delivered in terms of realism. So if you want a Koi Pond and don’t have the backyard for it (or have young children and want to amuse them on a long flight), this app’s for you. And, as it turns out, for us, on a stressful day. (SA)

Bible — Free!

Now here’s a pretty straight-forward app, with lots of versions available. With this app you can search the Bible by verse, see daily selections to read, and read website contributions from the main page. If you select the “More” feature, you can select by book as well. Our only recommendation for improvement of this app would be to move the “Book Sort” functional tab to the main page. After all, it’s just as useful as the other tabs, in our thinking…yet you have to search for it.  Other than that, the app is free…and God would certainly approve. (KW)

Local Eats — $.99

A “TOP FIVE APPS” selection, this app is based on the national book series “Where the Locals Eat,” (www.localeats.com) and it really rocks the restaurant-finder space. It offers up the “best 100 restaurants” (which doesn’t necessarily mean the fanciest/most expensive) in the largest U.S. cities as reported by local foodies, uses the GPS feature to show you which places are nearby/give driving or walking directions, lets you see restaurants and descriptions near a particular address, and can group listings by alphabet, category, winning ranking, and even local neighborhoods. And better than the other restaurant/food apps out there, this one DOES NOT include chain restaurants (you don’t usually need a GPS or restaurant recs if you’re only looking for McDonald’s now, do you?). It took us only a few taps to find exactly what we wanted in the DC area – and at $1, this app more than pays for itself with one great meal at a new favorite restaurant you would never find on your own.

Sports Tap — Free!

Real-time updates for any sport! A very easy layout to understand: The homepage shows you all the sports categories you can imagine, along with a number for the quantity of games/events taking place in that category. Select the sport you are interested in, and watch individual game updates or score
updates for all games simultaneously. To go back, scroll to the bottom of the page for a toolbar — our only complaint is that this can be tricky to find. Even if you’re not the world’s biggest sports fan, it’s useful if you want to stay “in the know” and have any current game’s status at your fingertips. Oh, and also helpful: It’s free.  (KW)

Save Benjis — Free!

The perfect go-to app before you purchase…well, anything. OK, so maybe it’s not that crucial, but it is rather helpful for many scenarios. As referenced before against the Smart Shop application, Save Benjis is a great application to get ballpark prices and price comparisons by keyword product searches. Not entirely accurate against Google’s product search, but for big purchases or times away from the computer, this is a definite resource worth checking out — especially since it won’t cost you any Benjamins. (KW)