Amazon's Free App of the Day - Pocket Ants

written by: Nick Kosmides

Massive destruction, cruel racing, and objectiveless fun makes the recipe for today's free app of the day.  Pocket Ants is about nothing.  Like Seinfeld it takes you to one facet of our life and leaves you there, killing ants.

I bet everyone who either has played this game or can imagine playing this game can also accurately guess how this game came to be: One day I was bored and I noticed an ant hill.  So I got my magnifying glass, squirt gun, laser, flame thrower, and weather machine.  I started killing the ants every which way possible and even some ways that I didn't think were possible. Then I told the ants if they wanted to survive they'd have to race the other ants for food.  They did it and I still killed them.  Ha ha ha.

Though Pocket Ants is mindless fun and looks good without its menus and all, it will be an instant uninstall for most everyone.  Unless you have a destructive son who loves to kill things, though I probably wouldn't give a kid like that my phone.

Try it today for free and together we can keep the ant killing on the screen.

Pocket Ants - $0.99 FREE

Amazon's Free App of Yesterday - Kona's Crate

written by: Nick Kosmides

So I didn't submit this on time yesterday because I was too busy playing Kona's Crate.  I lie, I was playing Peggle.  I was in a heated competition with my wife to see who could get to the end fastest.

Kona's Crate is a decent game.  Game mechanics take a lot of time to get used to.  People often confuse game mechanics for controls.  This game has the simplest controls of any game I've played on Android.  The left half of the screen is the left thruster, and the right half of the screen is the right thruster.  The thruster work together to create lift for a platform you control used to deliver a crate to the tiki man.  The challenge is lifting the crate steadily and changing its direction without flipping the platform.

Tapping is the key!  I found that after ten levels of sloppy completion I was able to hone my skills with a sort of left-right flicker of the thrusters. This allowed me to favor one side more than the other when I needed to turn and to do it slightly rather than with a heavy finger hold.

The UI is again reminiscent of Angry Birds, and this seems to be an ongoing theme with mobile games.  If you can't design your own theme then borrow from the most successful of all games.  I guess I would do the same, though I would definitely be able to design my own.  UIs are kind of my thing, just in case someone needed a hand in designing a UI.

If you downloaded Kona's Crate yesterday for free, then you most likely have moved on to a different game or outdoor adventure. If you didn't, I wouldn't suggest wasting $3 on this.  Go for Peggle or Angry Birds if you want a good looking time killer.  Though it is a pretty game, the competition is just starting to get thick on Android!

Kona's Crate - $2.99

Amazon's Free App of the Day - Executive Assistant +

written by: Nick Kosmides

At nearly $7 for Executive Assistant +, it seems to be an extremely glorified widget app for all your media needs.  The truth of the matter is I'm right.  Similar to how the SuperBox gave you access to all your Settings under the hood of the SuperBox app, Exec. Ass. + (shortened) provides the following services under its hood:

- calling features
- emails
- text messages
- calender
- tasks
- Google Reader
- Twitter timelines
- Facebook news feed

Here's the funniest part of it all.  Your "smartphone" already does all this stuff!  Its the whole reason you bought a smartphone in the first place.  If you want a quick chuckle, read the Product Description for Exec. Ass. + and pretend they are talking about a new phone, rather than an app.  Try it, I'll wait.

Now, what the app actually does offer users is the ability to access all those stock and free-to-download features of your phone in one convenient spot of your Home screen.  Choose to use the many widget options which every Android user loves!  Or how about the Lock screen option, or unlock to face their Home screen atop your Home screen.

While those are real nice features, the popular vote is going with the notion that running redundant apps on your smartphone is bad for the environment, the phone environment.  Your battery will thank you by not having two versions of every app running in the background, plus a widget and Lock screen feature.

Regardless of the popular vote, you'll save $7 by picking up this little big app today from the Amazon Appstore as part of the Free App A Day program.

Executive Assistant + - $6.99 FREE

Amazon's Free App of the Day - Peggle

written by: Nick Kosmides

Uh, Peggle is here!  Free!  From Amazon!

Have you really not played it?  Its addictive plinko style gameplay at its best.  With tons of levels and colorful characters to meet along the way.  There seriously isn't anymore to say, because I'm downloading this as I type and its already been reviewed at least a hundred times since it was released back in the early 1900's.

Remember, its another WiFi-only download so be sure to nab it before you head off to work.  At 74MB, it could take sometime if you wait until your next Starbucks visit or another shared network.

Peggle - $2.99 FREE

FREE for a LIMITED TIME - SeekDroid

written by: Nick Kosmides

Amazon is straying from the one free app a day formula by providing SeekDroid for free.  I noticed this yesterday and I'm not sure how much longer it will be offered up for no charge.  Though if you're in the market for a missing device administrator, and Lookout is draining your battery, try SeekDroid.

Said to not only be a stellar device administration tool capable of GPS location of your device, remote lock and remote wipe, but does it all without touching the battery until it is called upon by you and your PC.  All the tools are available to you via their secure website allow you to locate, track, and react to your Android device from afar.

One reviewer mentions that its a great tool to use to keep track of your children by tethering them to a phone.  I would think being a good parent involved simply knowing where they are without handing them a cell.  Though, if we are all paranoid parents afraid our lives are exactly like what's on TV, then cell phone it up!

SeekDroid - $0.99 FREE

Amazon's Free App of the Day - SuperBox

written by: Nick Kosmides

SuperBox is free today as part of the Free App A Day promotion through Amazon's Appstore for Android.

This app brings forward a lot of features that are already on your Android device, though a few clicks into you Settings menu.  SuperBox does not really bring anything unique or empowering to you phone and a lot of reviewers are expressing that.

For example, SuperBox allows you to check your battery details.  You can already to this from Settings>About Phone>Battery Use.  This will tell you what has been taxing your battery and help you to understand if any apps are overusing or if its just how you are using your apps.

Another popular example is clearing the cache.  Though this is not something you'll want to do to apps you use everyday, it is possible from Settings>Applications>Manage applications.  Notice a "Running" tab among the others.  Use these tabs to see what you have installed or are currently running, then click an app and you may have the option to Clear Cache.  Warning: DO NOT select Clear data!!!

Make sure you are not clearing your data unless you intend to re-enter the information needed for the app to operate for you.  In other words, if you clear the data for 100 Pushups, you will lose all previous pushup records you've ever saved.  If you clear the data for any game, you'll have to start the game over again.  If you clear the data for Qriocity, you'll need to re-enter your account info or possibly reactivate the device.

It is with this app that you may be able to do all these things and more from the confines of one app rather than scattered all over the Settings menu.  Though do be cautious with apps like this that promote clearing caches and killing apps.  As I've said before and many others have documented, killing apps is not actually doing any good on Android 2.2 or greater.  The apps are simply restarted because they weren't actually running in the first place.

SuperBox - $3.99 FREE

Amazon's Free App of the Day - Jenga

written by: Nick Kosmides

At the time of this writing, one star ratings are a click away from 100 total, with the common complaint being the inability to install.  Boy, Amazon is on a roll picking the winners this week.  First it was yesterday's Nano Panda-monium with that pile that nearly bricked my phone, and now Jenga doing just the same to everything EXCEPT my phone.

Jenga, free today on the Amazon Appstore for Android, is a sound download on the Samsung Fascinate running 2.2 on Verizon (the best).  Other working phones seem to be the original Droid with CM7, one Evo 4G, Droid X, even a Galaxy Tab.  But there are tons of people saying it won't even install.  This sounds like a packaging issue on the part of the dev or Amazon.

The game itself is fun.  Takes a game to get used to how it works, but I think its a lot of fun.  With several modes of play including a multiplayer pass-the-phone mode to get everyone into the classic yet virtual brick pulling fun.

Download with caution everyone, though I would like to share with you all some ideas.  Here's a couple tips to downloading apps on anyone's marketplace, Amazon or Android:

Tip #1: If you don't want to install an app because its in disarray, though its free and want it anyway, you can choose not to install on your phone OR... on a computer, while logged into Amazon, click this:

You'll own it and see it in your New apps list yet its not downloaded or installed to your phone.  Then just wait for it to update before installing.  You still get it free and stay away from any serious temporary issue.

Tip #2: When writing a review for an app on either Amazon's Appstore or the Android Market, please please please note the phone you are using at the time of the writing and the OS, so everyone knows if the problems or praises you preach are present on the p-phone.

Now get to downloading you Fascinate users!

Jenga - $2.99 FREE

Amazon's Free App of the Day - Nano Panda [PSA: WARNING!!!]

written by: Nick Kosmides

I've not had to make a PSA yet, but don't download today's free app from Amazon!  Nano Panda, though looks extremely cute and fun, and has achievement support through Open Feint, has some serious problems.

I downloaded it only after reading everyone else's experiences on Amazon and basically ran into the same initial problems.  Extremely long load times getting to the main menu for starters.  Its not Feint's fault as many seem to think.  If you load Feint from the Main Menu, it operates perfectly fine on its own, but returning to the game and progressing anywhere within is where the problem lies.

The first level was really beautiful, I thought I might be one of the lucky few (literally) who made it to gameplay.  Upon completing the first level I had no idea how to play still.  Onward to the second level.

I fired off the two pandas and CRASH!!!  My phone's auto-brightness level seemed to increase which may have caused the crash, meaning the game could not handle certain phone features.  Not good.  So my phone is hard crashed, locked up, can't be recovered without removing the battery now.  Sweet.  But my screen starts to do something funny.  All these horizontal lines begin to slow cover the frozen image of gameplay.  A couple minutes later my phone's screen is covered in lines.

So I say once more, until a proper fix is released, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS APP!  If you do so, you will be putting your phone at risk of these same issues or worse.  Not every device will fully recover from this.  Heed my warning people.  I'm not even going to link the app below, its that bad.  If there appears to be a link below, its because the issue is reportedly fixed and I will update this post.

Nano Panda - $0.99 FREE

Get Wordfeud for $0.99 from Amazon's Appstore

written by: Nick Kosmides

Wordfeud is one of my favorite apps for Android.  It brings Scrabble gameplay to Android better than most all the other apps.  Wordsmith, Words With Friends and whatever contenders out there have been struggling to keep up with Wordfeud.  Why is that?

Because Wordfeud is quick, smooth, clean and fun.  It offers players the ability to connect on Android or iOS.  You can create a list of the friends you play the most so you can quickly send them a game invite and chat features are fast and responsive.  Where Words With Friends falls flat, Wordfeud has been excelling.

I can't speak more highly of this game, and having tried them all, I feel I know what I'm talking about.

The looks of Wordfeud is the only category where players may differ.  I know plenty of female players who aren't too fond of the black and grey hue of the boardgame, whereas the male players may prefer it.  Though its safe to assume there are more women than men playing, this could be something where the dev may consider offering skins or a level of customization also not found in any other word games.

Gameplay features are one thing that Wordfeud has been excelling in.  For example, the most recent Words With Friends update for Android has FINALLY brought the long desired Shuffle button to the game.  Forever, you were required to shake the phone to get the tiles to shuffle.  And you can only shake the phone once every 2 seconds.  With the Shuffle button you can spam that thing until you scan a word, and PRESTO!  Wordfeud has had this Shuffle button since it first hit the Android Market.  And the shuffle algorithm is still better than Words With Friends.  For some reason, it just works better in moving the letters around to find a word.

Another gameplay feature found in Wordfeud that excels is the ability to play a word, then place your letters for the next word before its your turn again and have them stay there even after closing and reopening the app.  As long as your opponent doesn't play their letters where you've placed yours, they will remain for you to simply hit the Play button to play those letters super fast during your next turn.  Rinse and repeat, and the games do move a lot faster, and you won't forget that 7 letter word you wanted to play in a specific twisted place on the game board.  Words With Friends does not save these placed letters, or the order in which you last left the tiles in your rack.  These features are paramount to playing your next word with ease.

If you visit the Amazon Appstore today, and maybe the near future, you'll find that the amazing Wordfeud is on sale for $0.99.  A bargain and a steal for the word game enthusiast or someone who wants to just try it out.  Also note that there is a free version with ads, but isn't supporting the developer for a third the price so much nicer!!!

Wordfeud - $2.99 SALE $0.99

Amazon's Free App of the Day - Virtual Table Tennis 3D

written by: Nick Kosmides

Clapfoot Games brings table tennis to the Amazon Appstore, and Amazon is giving it away for free today. Virtual Table Tennis 3D the big game os ping pong to your little touch screen Android.

Though the title says it, this game is far from "Virtual" and not exactly "3D" either.  The menu screens are all presented in 2D while the gameplay is in 3D, but not the 3D so many are advertising in movies and console video games.  As stereoscopic 3D is becoming more commonplace, people will begin assuming the 3D in the title for all things, maybe except fruit snacks, means you can where special glasses to play.  This is not the case with Virtual Table Tennis 3D.  In fact, the only thing that is actual 3D is the ball.  The paddle moves on a 2D plane and the table could very well be a 2D image of a table that appears to be going away from you.

The controls are not nearly as responsive as the iOS version of the same game.  A bit of lag may be present on many devices while the AI is unrelenting. One match in Intermediate and I was uninstalling.  The keystone to the game design arch is controls.  A game can look like a work of art or on par with the console version, but if the controls just aren't there, then everything falls apart.

Virtual Table Tennis 3D - $1.99 FREE