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Posts in iPhone

Secret of Mana for iPhone Goes Live Internationally, Coming To The U.S. Tonight

Secret of Mana, also known to the Nintendo nerds among us as Seiken Densetsu 2, was an action RPG for the Super Nintendo release by Square in 1993. I remember playing this as a kid on my SNES, and I remember the pleasure of playing it again a decade later on a modded PSP through a SNES emulator. Secret of Mana is considered one of the best games ever released on Nintendo’s 16-bit consoles, or one of Square’s finest action RPGs, period.

The fact that Secret of Mana still holds up to most similar games 17 years after its original release says a lot about the current status of role-playing games and the excellence of Square’s team back in the golden days. Still, let’s focus on yet another comeback of SoM, this time on the iPhone. Which is the same Secret of Mana you know and love, only with a couple of virtual buttons on screen to move you character, attack and change weapon. Yes, the Ring Command menu system from the original game is still there. Nothing else seems to be different.

The game is now live in most international App Stores and will likely become available in the US in 3 hours.

Whited00r Project Brings Folders To Older iDevices

Whited00r is a project aimed at bringing several features of iOS 4 to older devices such as the original iPhone or the iPod touch 1st generation that are “stuck” on iPhone OS 3.1.3 as Apple officially dropped support for them earlier this year. Some of the features include multitasking, voice control, substrate processes via jailbreak, Springboard wallpapers and Bluetooth tethering. We last covered Whited00r in July.

A new version of Whited00r, released a few day ago, adds support for folders on iPhone OS 3.x. The feature, though, is not a straight port of folders from iOS 4, the developers created a new version from scratch instead and made it running on older devices as a MobileSubstrate addon. As you can see in the video below, those folders look just like the standard iOS 4 ones.

More information about “iOS 3 Folders” are available here, and make sure to check out the Whited00r installation guide here. Demo video below. [via iSpazio] Read more

Dring - Beautiful Ringtone Creation and More for iPhone

Ringtone creation on the iPhone is still new to the App Store; there are several out but only a few that have a great UI and functionality. Wake Apps’ Dring arrived last week and does it look beautiful and work wonderfully.

Dring has a finely tuned, gorgeous retina display UI that lets you customize and create your own ringtones right from your iPhone with sliders, toggle switches and buttons that look real. I can almost feel the textures under my fingertips and they lay perfectly on top of on a wood grain background. Every little detail looks absolutely great, even the spinning tape recorder wheels that come up after hitting record look authentic to a time of analog that’s long lost. Julien Martin is the magic man behind the UI of Dring, I saw some dribbble shots of Dring months ago was drooling then. Read more

GoodReader for iPhone: New PDF Engine, AirPrint, Improved Annotations

Popular document management / viewing / sharing / all-in-one app GoodReader for iPhone was updated yesterday to include a plethora of new features, improvements and most obvious bug fixes. With this “App Store update” massive trend that is going on this week, it was no surprise to see GoodReader for iPhone show up in the “Updates Available” screen.

This new version of GR adds a brand new PDF displaying engine that allows for smoother zooming and panning, with the possibility to go back to the old engine if the new one isn’t working well for you. Weird choice? Maybe. Still, options are always welcome. The app now also has support for AirPrint (iOS 4.2 is, of course, needed) and sports improved annotations with adjustable drawing opacity and line thickness.

GoodReader for iPhone is available at $2.99 in the App Store. Full changelog below. Read more

“Yes, I’ve Always Wanted A Naked iPhone 4”

If all you’ve ever wanted is trick your friends to think you’re using a broken iPhone 4 with exposed internal, well – first I feel bad for you because, honestly, all you’ve ever wanted can’t be this, then I’m about to tell you this kind of weird dream can now come true thanks to a decal available on Etsy.

Well, it could have come true – the item’s been sold. But hey, maybe the creator will put new ones up for sale. Maybe there’s still a chance all you’ve ever wanted will be online again.

Anyway, it’s a decal that will make your iPhone 4 look “naked” on the back, with battery and camera lens well visible. I do think it’s pretty great and geek.

Still, you’ll have to wait for new units to become available. Dreams can take a while to come true. [Gizmodo via Etsy]

Au Naturale iPhone Dock

The Enchanted Woods iPhone Dock from Anthropologie is “a fun nature-meets-technology way to stand and display your iPod or iPhone.” It’s very popular but has a very high price (for what it is). Chris Gardner over at ManMade decided to make his own because at nearly $100, it’s lot to pay for something that didn’t have “speakers, a clock, or even a way to plug it into the wall.” Because it’s 100% wood and doesn’t require electricity he made a DIY instructional guide.

Garder’s version is good, if not better. As long as you have easy access to some timber and some power tools, why not make one yourself instead of forking out $100? Then you can cross ‘making something with your own hands’ off your Man Stuff To-Do list.

[via Crave]

Tap Tap Revenge 4 Available: Game Center, 100 Free Songs, Retina Graphics

A few hours ago Tapulous (now part of Disney), released a major new version of their iPhone hit Tap Tap Revenge: Tap Tap Revenge 4 is now live in the App Store, and it’s free. This new update is the most important one since the original release of TTR 3 and all its spin-offs, and it features lots of new functionalities, songs and graphics.

First off, the app now sports Retina Display graphics and it’s got Game Center integration. TTR now has global leaderboards to see who has the best scores worldwide, a “like” button to see who else likes the same songs as you and sharing on Twitter, Facebook and email. As far as the built-in community tools go, you can create your own avatar and buy accessories and clothes in the game stores, have chats and private messages with other users, engage in online battles and download free tracks every week.

Speaking of which, Tap Tap Revenge 4 comes with 100 free songs from artists like Linkin Park, Taio Cruz, Metallica, Nicki Minaj and My Chemical Romance, plus premium content from the in-app store. The song selection is pretty huge and should contribute to the game’s replay value. The new user interface is cool although a little bit cluttered in my opinion, the app is free but there’s ugly in-app advertising in the main screen. It kind of ruins the whole feeling of the game – still the Retina graphics are really shiny on the iPhone 4.

Tap Tap Revenge 4 is available for free in the App Store. Full changelog and video below. Read more

Instagram Adds Two New Filters, Suggested Users and More Languages

It looks like the Instagram developers won’t stop adding features to their amazingly popular “app service” anytime soon. It was only 10 days ago that they added new sharing features and Posterous integration; today, two new filters and more languages have found their way to the app, together with a new “suggested users” option that lets you easily follow popular Instagrammers.

The new filters are cool, but I don’t really spot much difference from the existing ones. Maybe they just need to grow on me a little more. So, filters and international localizations aside, the suggested users section: it’s pretty. To access it after sign up, you’ll have to open your profile setting page, tap on Find Friends then Suggested Users. In this page you’ll see folk such as Robert Scoble and Kevin Rose that, according to Instagram, deserve a follow. What’s cool is that their photos are animated and rotate – neat effect. As you follow these people, new ones will be recommended to you.

Other changes in this version include bug fixes, improved performances and better handling of long comment threads. In case you don’t know (how could you?) Instagram is free and available here.