Pocket Gamer Guide to Mobile Games and Apps / Issue 21 by Steel Media

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ow n n io s r e v e il b o M T Exclusive Our pick of the best mobile games going The hottest games from the latest issue of this magazine

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News, reviews and more Get Pocket Gamer on yo ur mobile now: Text PGAMER TM OB to 60300 Type www.pocketgamer.co.uk/tmobile into your mobile web browser Texts cost 25p and your operator may apply data charges for mobile web browsing

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Download a game 11 page

Your Guide To Mobile Games is published by Steel Media Ltd. For advertising or other enquiries relating to the magazine contact Chris James – chris@steelmedia.co.uk All information is correct at time of going to press. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without prior written permission of Steel Media Ltd. No responsibility will be accepted for any errors or omissions, or comments made by the writers. Views expressed are not necessarily the views of the operator. ©2011 Steel Media Ltd.

Welcome to issue 21 of the Pocket Gamer guide to mobile games, brought to you by the team of experts at www.pocketgamer.co.uk. Ah, the summer months. Even if you’re not lucky enough to be on holiday there’s something about this time of year that makes it even more fun to catch up on the latest, greatest games and apps for your phone. And if you’re reading this, you’re definitely on the right track – we’ve got our usual selection of the finest content for your mobile. We’ve done the legwork so you don’t have to. So sit back, download the apps and enjoy the sunshine!

João Diniz Sanches Editor-in-chief | Pocket Gamer

Watch out!

This icon means there is more related content on the Net. Just click on it to go straight to the site!

AUGUST 2011

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One

To play now Android Two One Crystal Defenders

Airport Mania: Three Settlers HD First Flight Developer: Reflexive Entertainment Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft

There's an unwritten rule within gaming that says that as a genre matures, so the complexity of the games it produces ramps up. But not so here. This is tower defence stripped back to its most basic level, and it's all the better for it. Survive wave after wave of Crystal Defenders's line-up of beasties, and all you'll have to show for it is a whopping great score. But, then again, isn't that what games used to be about? Brilliantly simple but no pushover at the same time, this is the perfect port of call for tower defence newcomers.

Have you ever had to wait in a busy airport for a delayed flight? Ever muttered that if you were in charge things would run as smooth as WD-40 coated jelly? Your time has come. Airport Mania: First Flight gives you the chance to prove your worth as you attempt to manage a series of increasingly complex airports, keeping on top of departures, arrivals, fuelling, maintenance, and passengers’ mood by improving facilities and becoming a lord of logistics. It’s manic but dangerously addictive Android fun.

Complicated strategy games wouldn't strike many as an obvious fit for the casual mini-screen of a mobile phone. Yet despite a few necessary concessions along the way, Settlers HD manages to fight its way through to score an almost resounding victory on its new home. You take control of a small group of settlers to start with, and scramble to exploit the land’s resources. It can take a couple of hours to get trained up in its finer details but once you're there Settlers HD can be a deep and thoroughly enjoyable game.

Developer: Namco Networks Publisher: EA Mobile

In association with

6 Great Games Six Two

Five

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Four

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft

The first thing you'll notice about Asphalt 6: Adrenaline is just how dashing it looks. The track of New Orleans blurs past in a rainy neon haze, for instance, while your BMW or Audi glistens seductively in the lights – the level of polish on offer is very impressive. Then there’s the handling. Whether you’re an accelerometer aficionado or prefer an on-screen steering wheel, getting to grips with this is as easy as thrashing a rented Fiesta. Beautifully presented and relentlessly action-packed, this is a top class Android arcade racer.

Five

Hot Springs Story Developer: Kairosoft Publisher: Kairosoft

Okay, hot springs may not be the first thing you think of when putting together a game concept, but don’t dismiss the subject matter as vapour. When in the hands of a skilled game dev team, it’s a concept that does wash. Here, Kairosoft has applied its enviable sim management expertise to get you to run a start-up Japanese spa resort. Visitors check into rooms and wander around using the spa’s springs, bars , arcades and other facilities. The more they do, the more you earn. It’s compelling, good clean fun.

AUGUST 2011

Six

Dungeon Hunter 2 HD Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft

You’re an immortal hero on a quest to overthrow your corrupt brother. Doesn’t sound like much to build an engrossing gaming experience from, perhaps, but with luscious visuals, hours of screen-mashing combat, and an intuitive control system, this ‘hack-and-slash’ effort is a treasure chest of creature slaying every Android owner should bust open. So grab your trusty sword, pick up your magic potions, get your medieval strut on and you’re guaranteed to relish Dungeon Hunter 2’s slice – and dice – of dungeon crawling heaven.

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Rocking games for your mobile

Cut the Rope ZeptoLab Android

chart Mr Karoshi

Help Mr Karoshi end his life by conquering puzzle platform levels. Only for fans of the darkest humour.

StarFront: Collision HD

Hungry for a meaty Android title? Take a bite of this excellent strategy affair.

Cut out and keep

Swingtastic If a mysterious cute and cuddly green monster appeared on your doorstep, you’d take it upon yourself to feed the little critter, wouldn’t you? In a sense, that’s what casual game phenomenon Cut the Rope asks you to do. Using your finger, your task is to cut through cords that hold sweets in place above Om Nom’s gaping mouth, while avoiding enemies, spikes, barriers, electric force fields, spiders, bursting bubbles, and collecting stars. Sounds simple, but it doesn’t take long to get into complex levels where your candy is hanging from multiple ropes connected to different points.

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Cutting them just right enables you to swing the candy into the stars that are scattered around. Get the candy into Om Nom’s mouth and you complete each level, and your performance is marked out of three depending on how many stars you collect, adding replayability. Recently selected as one of Pocket Gamer’s top 10 Android games of 2011 (so far), Cut the Rope features 175 levels packed into seven uniquely themed boxes – each with its own set of challenges. It’s another beautifully presented physics game from casual specialist studio ZeptoLab and one that is likely to prove as hugely popular on Android as it has on every format it’s swung onto. We’ll review it next issue.

Grand Prix Story

Another cute sim management success from Kairosoft. We just can’t get enough of playing race team boss.

Crystal Defenders 4 Sometimes simplest is best, and there are few finer examples of that than this stripped out tower defence effort.

Ultimate Spider5 Man: Total Mayhem A superb Spidey action-adventure every fan will want to swing into.

Let’s Golf! 2

A brilliantly cute, colourful and accessible golf game that hides a remarkable level of depth.

Combat 2: 7 Modern Black Pegasus

Suck it up and face your enemy in this high-calibre, all-action military fest.

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline

Anyone looking for a fully fledged Android racing experience will love it.

9 10

Hot Springs Story

Who says looking after a Japanese spa resort can’t be fun? This is sim management at its most fun.

Galcon

Truly excellent multiplayer-enabled real-time strategy… and the finest tactical game on the Android Market?

Hyperlight CatfishBlues Android

Shoot to thrill Auto-fire not required It’s fair to say that one of the core features of the shooter genre is the ability to shoot things. While Hyperlight may look like it slots neatly into this particular niche, it’s unique in that the only projectile in the game is your craft itself. You control you craft using your phone’s accelerometer. Tilting the device influences the direction your ship moves in, and tilting it to an extreme degree causes it to enter ‘faster than light’ mode. Not only does the craft move more swiftly under this condition, but it becomes enveloped by a force field which allows it to vaporise hapless foes. Hyperlight therefore becomes a tactical game of risk and reward. While it’s tempting to dash about the screen happily obliterating enemies left, right, and centre, doing so eats through your FTL gauge swiftly. A shooter without shooting, this defies convention to become one of the more original offerings we’ve seen recently.

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Universal wars Straight from the heart

Here’s a promising one. Battleheart combines key elements from both the role-playing and real-time strategy genres into one pocket package. Your main priority is to create a unique party of heroes from various character classes, leading them into numerous real-time

AUGUST 2011

battle scenarios against powerful monsters. Instructing your army is simple, with all commands being handled through simple touch gestures, and experience earned from battle is used to upgrade your party, who benefit from many special powers, skills, and armours. The thrilling concoction of genres should prove spellbinding to any Android gamer looking for a quality fantasy action title.

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

roid? What’s And10 to

Become a mobile gaming master with the Samsung

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It’s a portable play powerhouse The follow-up to the multi-award-winning Samsung Galaxy S may be lighter and thinner than its predecessor, but don’t let appearances fool you.

pictures and full HD video, or making the most of superfast connectivity and wi-fi options, whatever your downloading needs.

Fuelled by the latest Android operating system, enviable multimedia functionality and an industryleading dual-core 1.2GHz processor, the Galaxy S II is specifically built for today’s demanding smartphone owner. So you’ll find it a master of all trades, whether you’re updating your social networking feeds, checking out the lastest apps, loading up your favourite web destinations, capturing gorgeous

What about games, you ask? Well, when you combine the awesome power of the Galaxy S II with the excellent and varied gaming content present on the Android Market (see page 10 for details), the sky’s the limit. And what better way to put that sublime – and massive – Super AMOLED Plus screen through its paces? If you’re looking for the gaming smartphone, you’ve just found it.

Specs at-a-glance Dimensions: 125.3x66.1x8.49mm Weight: 116g Display: 4.27-inch Super AMOLED Plus Resolution: 480x800 Memory: 16GB Flash + microSD (up to 32GB) Camera : 8-megapixel (main), 2-megapixel (front) Video: Full HD (1080p) @ 30fps Connectivity: 3G, Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, USB 2.0, Wi-fi Sensor: Accelerometer, Light, Digital compass, Gyro

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It’s play t ime! Why the Galaxy S II is per fect for g aming

Game H u it, the G b: From the m o a comes laxy S II is re ment you unb pr o a games eloaded with dy to play. It x and pre leading m ever a s quick d ium HD game ocial s ownloa d away are only Super A . M Galaxy OLED Plus: N ot only S II’s s creen m is the inches, a it more v ’s also bright ssive at 4.27 ibrant, er, shar e p games always nsuring your er and mobile look ut t e rly gor Dual-co geous. r power e 1.2GHz proc is ever e s sor: Th ything true wh ey say and e know y n it comes to it’s certainly ou have g capable the wor aming. Good t o ld’s mos p Galaxy rocessor at the hea t S II, th en. rt of th e Social H u brilliant b: What’s the p anyone at games if yo oint of being u k II’s exc now about it? don’t let e are the llent social ne The Galaxy S re to b t e used working abilit to their ie Data sp fullest. s e help? N ed: Stuck on a game eed to downlo and nee to play ad ? d PC-like No problem w something ne hen you interne w t Dual Ch annel W performance have t iFi tech nology. hanks to Bat tery : The Ga be sma laxy S I lle Samsun r, but it’s mor I’s bat tery ma g’s adva y e consum nced po powerful. And p playing tion tech ens wer ures yo for long u’ll be er.

AUGUST 2011

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Android market

Get to know…

Your gatewayf to a world oces new experien

Head along to

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

to get loads more ‘How to’ guides for your Android What’s Android? It’s an operating system (OS) mobile that’s continually developed by Google to get the

best out of the powerful smartphones that run it. One key advantage of an Android device like the Galaxy S II (see page 8) is the availability of apps from the Android Market. This is an Android-specific online software store where you’ll find over 250,000 apps to download – and because Android is now one of the fastest growing OSs around, the choice will just keep getting bigger. On most models the ‘Market’ app will come pre-installed, giving you instant access to that massive number of applications that will transform the way you use your Android mobile. Apps span a wide range of categories – anything from the incredibly useful to the incredibly silly (and not forgetting games, of course) – and can be downloaded (for free or purchased) directly onto your phone. Android Market is simple, it’s huge and it will unlock the potential at the heart of your Android handset!

Getting STARTED Before you can buy anything, you naturally need to register your details with the store. This is where Google has already got its foot in the door, since the majority of us have registered with Google at some point in the past – either to buy something using the Google Checkout or to get ourselves a Gmail account. So it’s quick and easy to become a registered buyer and get straight to the shop front.

In association with

Browsing They might be cheap, but you still need to know what you’re spending your money on when purchasing an app. A good description is really down to the developer of the app, but you also get screenshots and other users’ reviews (and ratings) to help you make up your mind. Of course, if it’s games you’re looking at remember that you can also check out the reviews on PocketGamer.co.uk.

Turn to page 18 and find some apps to get you started…

Buying This is very much linked to the Getting Started section, as most of the information the Market requires in order to sell you something is entered at the beginning. Registering a card carries that info over to the Market store, and once you’ve hit the ‘Buy’ button you’re taken through a rather polished version of the Google Checkout – making a purchase is very quick and feels secure.

Download a game from

Step 1: Get on the net Open your phone’s web browser from the main menu. If it doesn’t go straight to T-Mobile’s site, enter the following address: www.t-zones.co.uk. Wait a few seconds for the page to load and you’ll see a collection of nine icons on the screen, one of which will be Games. Move the on-screen cursor or link highlighter over it.

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Step 2: Pick a category

Step 3: Pick a game

Click on the Games icon and a new page that enables you to start looking for a game to download will open. You can view new games, the Top 10 bestsellers and a selection of other groups; scroll down the page to see what takes your fancy. When you see a category of games that you like, click on the Go link.

You’ll be taken to a page listing the games within the selected category and you can scroll down to view them all. To learn more about an individual game, click on its title and you’ll see a brief description along with the relevant picture.

Step 4: Get on the net

Step 5: Time to play

If you’re on a Pay Monthly contract, the price of the game will be added to your monthly bill. If you’re a Pay-As-You-Go customer, make sure you’ve got enough credit on your account to pay for the game! As long as that’s the case, you’ll be prompted to download and install your chosen game.

Download and save the game, but don’t start it until you’ve exited your mobile phone’s internet browser. You can start your new game by going to your phone’s main menu and looking in the Games or Applications section, depending on the make of your handset. (And don’t worry if someone rings you – the game will pause, enabling you to take the call!)

Once you’re ready to buy a game, simply click on the ‘Buy now!’ link.

Go to >>

Check out pa Terms and Conditions: Text messages to 22222 are charged at standard rate. You will be advised of the game price before purchase. 14 You require a compatible handset to download these games. If your handset is not compatible, you will not be charged. for great gamge to download NOes W! AUGUST 2011 www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Download a game from

Step 1: Go to Vodafone Live

Step 2: Browse games menu

If you’re looking to download a game, the first step is to go to the Vodafone Live portal. How depends on your phone: some have a dedicated Vodafone Live button on the handset itself, while others require pressing one of the soft-keys under the screen. Once there, you’ll see the portal’s homepage.

Scroll down to find the Games link, which takes you to the portal’s main games page. There, you’ll be able to access this week’s special offers, as well as direct links to What’s New, Top 10 Games, and the Game of the Week. Games are updated on Fridays, so it’s worth checking back weekly.

Step 3: Check out games

Step 4: Get more info

Clicking on one of the links takes you to a list of games in that category, showing a picture (usually of the title screen), a price, and a link to get more information. This is a good way to get a quick overview of what’s available and how much it might cost, especially if you’re browsing by game genre.

Clicking on a game’s More Info link takes you through to its page, where you’ll find more screenshots of the game, and information on what it’s about. You’ll also notice a review score at the bottom of the page supplied by Pocket Gamer, with a link to click through to the full review of the title.

Step 5: Buy your game

Step 6: Download it NOW!

If you’re on a Pay Monthly contract, the price of the game will be added to your monthly bill. If you’re a Pay-As-You-Go customer, make sure you’ve got enough credit on your account to pay for the game. As long as that’s the case, you’ll be prompted to download and install your chosen game.

Once payment has gone through, it’s time to download your game. The exact method varies from phone to phone, but usually you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to download the game, and then sometimes you’ll be asked where you want to save it – in Games or Applications is usually the best choice.

Terms and Conditions: You will be advised of the price of the game before purchase. You require a compatible handset to download these games. If your handset is not compatible, you will not be charged.

In association with

Download a game from Step 1: Get on the net If you’re looking to download mobile games, the first step is to go to the Planet 3 portal. This depends on your phone: some have a dedicated Planet 3 button on the handset itself, others require pressing one of the keys under the screen. Once there, you’ll see the portal’s homepage.

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Step 2: Pick a category

Step 3: Pick a game

It’s free to browse. Scroll down to find the games icon, which takes you to the portal’s main games page. There, you’ll be able to access to hundreds of games from as little as 99p including the latest new games, Top 10 games, top deals, as well as a direct link to games split by genre (puzzle, action, retro, etc). Games are updated on Thursdays, so it’s worth checking back every week.

Step 4: Get on the net

Step 5: Time to play

Clicking on a game’s ‘More info’ link takes you through to its dedicated page, where you’ll find more screenshots of the game, and information on what it is about. Clicking on ‘Buy Game’ pays for the game, either taking the money from your account balance (if you’re Pay As You Go) or adding it to your monthly bill.

Once payment has gone through, it’s time to download the game. The exact method varies from phone to phone, but usually you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to download the game. You may be asked where you want to save your game – within Games or Applications is usually the best choice.

Go to >>

Check out pa Terms and Conditions: You will be advised of the price of the game before purchase. You require a compatible handset to download 14 these games. If your handset is not compatible, you will not be charged. for great gamge to download NOes W! AUGUST 2011 www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Reviews mobile Rounding up the hottest games available now

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Reviews

StarFront: Collision HD Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Format: Android

Mr Karoshi Developer: YoYo Games Publisher: YoYo Games Format: Android

Definitely not the easy way out He’s been impaled on spikes, squashed under heavy blocks, and electrocuted into a charred black heap for three years, but poor Mr Karoshi still can’t find a way to end it all. The suicidal salaryman (a Japanese term for cubicle office workers) first landed in a bloody heap on PCs in 2008. Now a re-designed version has landed with a bone-snapping crunch on Android, promising 50 entirely new chances to put Mr Karoshi out of his perpetual misery. The main aim is not to escape each intricately detailed screen but to find the most efficient way to kill the hero. Burning, crushing, and electrocuting will all do the trick, yet it’s rarely as simple as finding the nearest spike pit to hurl Karoshi into. Most levels can only be solved by setting up a complex chain reaction to send the hero into the sweet oblivion he craves. But some of the most memorable levels scrap this formula entirely, throwing you lateral thinking puzzles that prove infuriatingly simple once you’ve deciphered the sneaky visual clues.

A Blizzard of quality Played any strategy title in the last 20 years? If so, welcome aboard the good ship StarFront: Collision HD – where originality is in short supply but, for just a few quid, you still get a pocket warzone packed with shock and awe. Getting such a full-fat realtime strategy experience on your Android is an astonishing achievement. And where Gameloft’s title most succeeds is in its intuitive controls. Everything, from ordering soldiers to upgrading bases, is handled by tapping directly on the unit and then either moving it with another tap or assigning an action using contextual menus. Strategy veterans won’t find novelty but this still offers a generous, well-paced and satisfying strategy experience that all hinges together beautifully on the game’s wellconfigured controls.

It’s a ruthlessly addictive added bonus to a game that, although brief, is stuffed with smart puzzles and blackly comic appeal. Long live Mr Karoshi. Darker than a bar of Bourneville, this offers uniquely twisted puzzles that sparks your synapses while tickling your funny bone

Expert controls and robust play make StarFront an unmissable handheld RTS

AUGUST 2011

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Reviews

Farm Frenzy 2 Barnyard economics at its finest Developer: Alawar Entertainment Publisher: Connect2Media Format: Android Java First impressions of Farm Frenzy 2 are not what you could call positive. But get past the visuals and, like the ugly duckling of the fairy tale, this turns out to be a beautiful (and frenzied) swan of an economics management game. You may start off with just a handful of chickens, but before you know it you’re running the whole farm. The pace and surprising depth of the gameplay will have you eating out of the palm of its hand.

t 2: a b m o C n r e d o M HD Black Pegasus

Ignore the dated graphics – the fast and furious play behind this economic sim make it a blast to play

Straight to the gunpoint

Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Format: Android Java History teaches us that war is a terrible thing. Gameloft’s Modern Combat series, meanwhile, teaches us that war is a pleasure palace filled with identikit evil-doers waiting to have their limbs blown off. Black Pegasus, the latest instalment, is a grenade-hurling, bullet-pumping, explosion-making party to Android.

PewPew 2

Bullet heaven

Developer: JF Geyelin Publisher: JF Geyelin Format: Android

The campaign, spanning a dozen terrorist plot-foiling missions and some bombastic set-pieces, takes you on a tour of the world’s more hostile environments (from South American jungles to ruined Middle Eastern cities to snowy Eastern Europe).

“Dodge, duck, reverse aim, snatch extra shield, avoid exploding square, too late, game over, tap retry.” Thus goes the internal monologue of the PewPew 2 addict.

The action scintillating throughout and the game sets an auspicious benchmark for Android shooters. It’ll be tougher to overthrow than a stubborn Middle Eastern dictator.

Put simply, if you’re more ‘hardcore’ than ‘casual’, this is an essential blast of arcade shooting to zap up from the Market.

A much needed blast of cordite-filled air for Android FPS fans. MC2: BP raises the action bar and then blows it off the roof

In association with

A smart campaign makes this an essential purchase for serious gamers with itchy laser fingers

EA Cricket 11 Developer: Distinctive Developments Publisher: EA Mobile Format: Java Stumped? Cricket is all about tradition. Rather than taking the ‘traditional’ approach of tasking you with thwacking the ball as it pelts towards your face, EA Cricket 11 breaks play down into a series of gauges. Some of them you have to manage, while others simply illustrate the actions of the opposing team.

Shadow Guardian

Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Format: Android Exploration nation

Unusual, then, but worth a bat.

Giving players vertigo on their mobile is quite a skill, but the dizzying chasms you navigate in Shadow Guardian – often with feet dangling helplessly over the abyss – nearly pull it off. This action-adventure effort excels in building vast, often beautiful environments for you to leap confidently around like a backpack-sporting parkour expert. There a seven generously sized chapters to leap, run, and gun your way through, and there’s nary a dull moment to be had within Shadow Guardian’s lavish environments – bar the untaxing puzzles. From the rocky tropical beauty of an Indonesian rainforest to ancient temples lit by flames and God Rays creeping through stone cracks, the game is a feast for the eyes and definitely one to showcase your Android’s graphical prowess. Thankfully, it’s also a joy to explore.

A proficient, if a tad loose, take on the game, but offering enough modes to ensure it hits more than a six

Robotek Developer: Hexage Publisher: Hexage Format: Android Coin operated Hexage’s new game is like slipping on a comfortable pair of slippers for the developer’s fans – albeit ones that glow in the dark and bleep whenever you move. Robotek is a sublime mix of turn-based combat, RPG-levelling and – oddly – fruit machine luck. It’s an aesthetic treat that hooks the eyes and ears even before you delve into the simple yet surprisingly tactical gameplay that will effortlessly steal a few hours of your time.

Flawed firefights and bland puzzling take some of the shine of an otherwise jaw-dropping action-adventure jewel

A deceptively complex turn-based strategy title that shines thanks to Hexage’s flashes of neon magic

AUGUST 2011

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

Great APPS

Android To GET now

More Icons Open Home Widget Developer: Better Android Category: Lifestyle

Developer: pcm2a Category: Productivity

Spotify

Developer: Spotify Ltd Category: Music & Audio

PAID

Who says facelifts are just for the rich and famous? Install Open Home and your Android phone can enjoy a completely new look – you get full customisation of the Home screens and icons in a manner that is both fast and effortless, and you get to choose from a massive range of themes to suit your style (or mood). No wonder it's consistently one of the most popular apps on the Android Market. With Open Home your Android smartphone can change its identity as often as you like.

The trouble with being an avid Androider is that, at some point, you're likely to run out of space on your Home screen for your favourite apps. And with a galaxy of apps available, no-one wants to face that kind of restriction. Thanks to helpfully named More Icons Widget, you don't have to. This wonderfully clever little app enables you to place 16 icons where four would normally sit, massively boosting the number of icons you can have easily accessible from your Home screen.

If you're into music, there's no way you won't have heard of Spotify. But if you've been living in a cave for these past couple of years, it's a streaming music service that gives you access to just about every album, every song ever recorded (well, almost). Think of a tune and it's almost guaranteed to be on Spotify, meaning you can get to listen to it in seconds. This Android app takes your Spotify experience on-the-go, but note you do need a Spotify Premium subscription to get lost in music.

In association with

Great APPS To GET now

AppMonster Evernote Developer: Think Android Category: Tools

Developer: Evernote Corp Category: Productivity

FREE

We all lead busy lives and you don't have to be a celebrity or sportstar to benefit from the helping hand a manager can offer. AppMonster won't advise you on which after-premiere party you should go to or which competition you ought to enter next, but it will effortlessly manage the apps on your Android. That means that it'll take care of all your uninstalling needs (no more endless subscreens to navigate!) but can also offer other benefits such as restoring, sharing, one-click backing up of all of your apps to SD card. That's a load off.

Once you have AppMonster (see left) managing your apps, the next thing you need to ease the hassle of modern life is a PA to keep track of everything you have on your various devices. The awardwinning Evernote app can step in at this point because its purpose in life is to help you remember all of those things so you remain organised and awesomely productive at all times. Takes notes, capture photos, record voice memos, create to-do lists and then access these as easily from your Android as your desktop computer. You'll be the envy of all.

Droidbox Pro Vignette Developer: A Hanson Category: Productivity

Foursquare

Developer: neilandtheresa Category: Photography

Developer: Foursquare Category: Social

PAID

FREE

Droidbox is a Dropbox client. What's Dropbox? Imagine a virtual office where you keep all of your files which you can then access from any device, wherever you happen to be in the world (as long as you have internet connection, of course). You can download those files, work on them and they'll get automatically updated so that the latest version is always available. And you can share files with colleagues or chums. Boasting additional features, Droidbox enhances your Dropbox experience.

There was a time when mobile phone cameras were risible. There, we've said it. But we've come a long, long way from those dark times and nowadays the standard of mobile photography can be remarkable. Vignette takes that one step further by adding a range of stunning effects and options to your Android handset. You want geotagging, cross-processing, tilt-shift, double exposure, self-timer, vintage and retro styles, time-lapse, and a lot, lot more? Better capture this app.

In today's world, if you're not social networking, you're not living. And when it comes to mobile social networking, Foursquare is one of the buzziest destinations for all those that love to use their mobile to interact with the world around them. So if you're the kind of guy or gal with a crowd of friends that like to keep up with each other's movements by posting pics of their surroundings, commenting on their location, sharing advice or news, this is one app that should tick that box and more.

AUGUST 2011

www.pocketgamer.co.uk

te 1 da is 01 g s 2 in trie ber s o n Cl r e tem fo ep S d 2n

a Samsung Want to take your android gaming to the highest If you’re reading this, chances are you’re into mobile gaming. And if you’re into mobile gaming, you’ll love the unrivalled power of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Sure, you get state-of-the-art smartphoneness at your command – be it an impressive list of classleading multimedia capabilities, an 8-megapixel camera capable of capturing Full HD video, blistering fast data speeds, the very latest Android operating system run by a brawny 1.2GHz dual core processor. And all of this tucked behind a Super AMOLED Plus display for unprecedented sharpness, brightness and colour, and held within an impossibly compact 125.3x66.1x8.49mm frame that weighs just 116g (making this Samsung’s slimmest and lightest smartphone yet). But when it comes to mobile gaming, you won’t want anything else.

In association with

level? read on…

To be in with a chance of winning a brand new, fingerprint-free Samsung Galaxy S II, check out the following question and then send your answer via email or post to the addresses shown below, by the closing deadline of Friday 2nd September 2011.

What is the megapixel size of the Samsung Galaxy S II’s main camera? A) 8 megapixels B) 5 megapixels C) 2 megapixels

WHERE TO SEND YOUR ENTRY

If emailing, send your answer along with your name and address to PGcompetitions@pocketgamer.co.uk with the subject heading ‘Galaxy S II Competition’. Or you can enter by postcard (include name, address and a contact number) to the following address: “Pocket Gamer Galaxy S II Competition” Steel Media Ltd The House Terms and conditions apply. Prize image is for illustrative Kelston Park purposes only and details may vary. Editor’s decision is final, Bath BA1 9AE and the competition is open to UK residents only.

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