AppReviewToday- AppReviews

  • FaceTime Sucks – The iOS 12 Version That Is

    If you have upgraded your iPhone or iPad to iOS v12 then you know what I’m talking about. The latest incarnation of Apple’s legendary video phone call app, and a big reason why many people have iPhones instead of Android phones, took a major turn for the worst.

    Back in the day, last month that is, if you were FaceTiming (yes, it’s also a verb) someone and you wanted to show them your latest Picasso acquisition, 6 month old baby eating mashed avocado, or maybe your sweet new ride, all you had to do was touch the little “selfie” image in the upper right corner of your screen to flip the view to the forward-facing camera. Quick, easy, neat. But apparently too good to leave alone.

    It was first introduced by then CEO Steve Jobs at the 2010 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at the same time that the iPhone 4 was revealed to the public. Ever since it’s been a differentiating feature of the iPhone ecosystem vs Android. While both platforms had other video calling services, such as Skype, nothing came close to FaceTime in terms of ease of use.

    It their inimitable wisdom, however, Apple has decided to ruin this slick and compelling feature of FaceTime by totally over engineering it. Very poor choice of engineering time. They should have just given those gals a month off to reconnect with their families and friends.

    The new version of FaceTime, courtesy of iOS 12, requires you to tap the dots, then find the circular arrows, tap them, then pull down the page of options so you can get back to your FaceTime call and finally check out your bff’s sweet new ride, or new Picasso if you happen to run in those circles (we don’t). And of course repeat that bizarre, and totally unnecessary, UI sequence again and again during the course of your call.

    All that when all you really wanted to do was quickly switch from the selfie camera to the forward-facing camera and back again.

    So rise up frustrated iPhone FaceTimers, the time to make your voices heard is now. Let Apple know you won’t stand for their engineering shenanigans and demand they return FaceTime to its original simplistic excellence.

    FaceTime version iOS 12.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

    Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2018/10/facetime-sucks/

  • Google Text Adventure Easter Egg is a Blast From the Distant Past

    Way back in the day (I’m talking ’70’s, early ’80’s) there weren’t many computer games that existed and even fewer that anyone had access to. However, if you were lucky enough to have access to a “mini computer”, and even luckier to have extended access, then you could get lost in a text-based adventure game.

    These games generally were accessed by typing the name of the program, Adventure, into your ASR33 teletype console and then by using text commands you could move around the space, find objects, pick up objects, and use objects to find more objects (such as keys to open doors to find treasure).

    There were no graphics, just bare-bones descriptions and lots of imagination. Oh, and also strategies for not looping in circles (leave breadcrumbs of objects you didn’t think you needed) and figuring out where you were and what the space looked like (drawing maps).

    Those days are long gone (for better for worse) and now not only do all computer/phone games have graphics but the graphics are quickly getting to a level of quality and sophistication that gets them ever closer to being indistinguishable from reality.

    But I digress. While there are some excellent text adventure games on both Android and iOS (I’m looking at you “A Dark Room” and “Lifeline”) Google has made one available via your browser if you know how to find it. It’s simply called Text Adventure. Here’s the secret; open a compatible browser (Chrome or Firefox. From Chrome click View/Developer/JavaScript Console. From Firefox click Tools/Web Developer/Web Console).

    Once the console opens you’ll get some warnings not to copy and pasted anything into the console and then you’re asked if you would like to play a game. Type “yes” and you’re on your way. You’ll see a list of the commands available (north, south, east, west, up, down, grab, why, inventory, use, help, exits, map, and friends) and the initial setting for the adventure:

    A strange tingle trickles across your skin. You feel lightheaded and sit down. Feeling better you stand up again and notice your reflection in a window. You are still the same big blue G you’ve always been and you can’t help but smile. But wait! Where are your friends red o, yellow o, blue g, green l, and the always quirky red e?
    You see a statue of a metal man peeking out of a building. A park is just across the street. Possible exits: north.

    Enjoy!

    Text Adventure requires a compatible browser.

    Source link:https://www.theiphoneappreview.com/2018/10/google-text-adventure-game/