Happy Valentine’s Day!

14/02/2012 — AndroidZoom

Today is Valentine’s Day, happy day to the romantic ones!

You may be wondering if we, AndroidZoom, fall into this category. Are we romantic or cynical people? The first, of course. We believe, though, love should be shown and expressed every day, not just the 14th of February. It may seem rather obvious, but don’t you think so?

Anyway, we’re not Valentin’s Day saboteurs either, so why not celebrate love today? Let’s say today will be all about loving our Android phone and our applications, we want to declare our love by recommending you some Valentine-related apps.

First of all, I Love You Widget. If you want to be reminded of your loved ones at all times, what could be better than a homescreen widget with pictures of the people, animals or things you love? With this easily customizable widget, you can add pictures from the gallery, text and even configure the app to call your partner when you tap on the widget.
Perfect for an everyday use, but why not install it today?

I Love You Widget
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If you’re in doubt, you can pluck the petals of a flower and answer your love questions. With this beautiful designed app, you’re able to choose the flower you prefer and start plucking while thinking of your significant other. What will the result be?
Is it what you expected?

Loves me Loves me not? 3D Free
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Love Test! is another Valentine application for Android. If you’re still doubting whether you and your partner are made for each other, you can take this fun test. Although we recommend to take it together and laugh at what the other one answers. There are 60 questions so it can be pretty long, but the app also includes love messages and even advice on relationship.
The ultimate Valentine’s Day app.

Love Test!
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Don’t worry, if you’re not in a romantic mood, we also have the perfect app for you.

Break Up Lines is the antithesis to what we’ve been writing about. It consists of a collection of break up lines, some of which are funny, some others are just mean; in case you don’t know what to tell your future ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.
In addition, you can equally use it for inspiration and have fun with friends.

Break Up Lines
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So that’s it: you can choose to download the app you identify most with, depending on your mood. Happy Valentine’s Day, AndroidZoomers, celebrate it with whoever you want, lover, family or friends.

Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Apps, Reviews. Tags: , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Android alternatives to Instagram

06/02/2012 — AndroidZoom

Two weeks ago or so, our blog entry “Things to come” -written by four-hands by Ms. Grace and Mr. Warrior- caught unexpected attention when some users emailed us about it. Although it is not unusual to receive emails about our blog entries asking for further info about this or that or engrossing our library of anecdotes, we haven’t any complaint so far. Everybody who emailed us agree that the apps presented will be great apps, but it was a volatile comment about Instagram which triggered the emails instead. First at all, we’d like to thank them for their feedback and remember that all your comments and suggestions will always be welcomed.

In addition, some spiteful developers have seen a chance to launch fake Instagram apps which ask for thirteen permissions and spam you at its own will.

Well, in the meanwhile we await for the true Instagram app to get released for Android, we’ve searched through our reviews to find out not one, neither two but three nice alternatives to Instagram, every single one with its own perks. Here they are, thus you are free to choose among.

First, Hipster app. Although it’s true that its name seems more an iOS app rather than an Android’s,  it has nearly every feature it should plus some little surprise.

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Hipster
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Lightbox merges nice editing options with an improved user interface.

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Lightbox Photos
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Go Photo may be the simplest of all three, but it’s also both the fastest and easiest.

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GO Photo
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These are just three examples of three alternatives as good as the original. By the way, let us know whether you make use of more Instagram-like apps or how much you expect it lands on Android.

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A ‘Black Hole’ called Android (I)

19/01/2012 — AndroidZoom

This is part one in a two-part series about why smartphones are becoming our main tech devices.

A black hole is a region of space having a gravitational field so intense that no matter or radiation can escape (Oxford Dictionary definition).

No intention of sounding pretentious, I cannot help thinking that a similar phenomenon is already going on with smartphones over other devices, electronic or not, that used to be part of our lives. Thus, there’s an ongoing process of integration of lots of tasks that, until now, required different devices to carry them out. For example, calculator, GPS, notebook, PC’s, camera, mp3 players, physical maps, agenda, books…

The assimilation of that issues has been only possible thanks to the smartphone apps. That’s probably the best gift that Steve Jobs has bequeathed to humanity due to all what it implies. Android took that idea and turned it upside down to give it back open-sourced aiming to be the actual catch-all OS.

The apps are the mean to provide our smartphone of new functionalities, as we used to do with our PC’s by installing software. The main difference lies precisely on the mobility. Ok, it’s true that laptops are also mobile. However, they aren’t as mobile as smartphones are (you cannot bring a laptop in your pocket, unless you have a big one). In a nutshell, the smartphone is the natural consequence of the technological evolution of the last times. First, came the revolutionary PC, then the spreading of the Internet, next we assimilate both elements in our lives to the point that we needed to carry them everywhere, so the laptops came up.Smartphones rid ourselves of the laptop’s backpack and then we met real mobility with no leaks on technological potential.


So, here we are. Size doesn’t matter anymore. What users expect from manufacturers is enhancing current hardware constantly (battery, graphics, screens) and, what they expect from developers is to provide their smartphones with more and more new functionalities that allow them to empty their pockets of gadgets. And that’s where apps come in, as virtual gadgets into an all-in-one mobile device: your Android. Users want it all, and want it now. Are out there developers willing to cover that huge market niche?

This is the first part of the article. The second part will be post tomorrow, 20/01 Friday: a compilation of must-have Android apps that free us from only-one-task devices.

Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Apps, Developers, Games, Google, Opinion, Reviews. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . No Comments »

Most popular reference apps

17/01/2012 — AndroidZoom

Do you remember those times when doing homework meant going to the library or looking up the words in large and heavy encyclopedias? Some of you do and some of you don’t, but the truth is that those times are over now and life (and homework) is much easier and, depending on how you look at it, less fun.

For years now, we’re used to doing the homework with our computer, looking up everything we need to and sometimes even letting Internet do our whole work. It’s more comfortable, we know. But now technology has made it even easier, as we don’t even need to be at home to finish our school tasks and everything can be done from our mobile phones.

That’s why we wanted to talk a bit about three of the most looked up applications in the market: Wikipedia, Wordreference and The Bible.

Yesterday, the Official Wikipedia was launched. We already had tons of wiki-apps in the market but none of them was the official one. It’s definitely easier to browse through it now, not having to use the internet browser and making the process faster and more comfortable.

Of course, most of the features are includes, you can easily change the language, save articles to read later and share everything you find interesting enough. Even if it doesn’t have a widget yet, it’s one of the most useful applications and there are no apparent bugs so it’ll become quite an indispensable tool for the daily life in no time at all.

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Wikipedia
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WordReference is one of the most popular online dictionaries, easy to use, helpful and fast. With more than 10 languages that include Spanish, French and even Arabic, it’s a really complete tool for looking up words and checking your vocabulary doubts in the forum. So yes, it’s practically the same as the website, one of the most helpful websites out there, definitely a must-have.

This kind of online comprehensive dictionaries, when used wisely, can help a lot to translate single words that translators as complex as Google’s can not contextualize properly. An other virtue is that they grow when needed thanks to users’ help so they can be considered rather updated at any time.

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WordReference.com dictionaries
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Finally, nobody should be struck by the fact that, as the Bible is the most popular book, Bible apps are maybe the most downloaded ones. If you want to read and share your favorite verses directly from your Android device, you should really get this Bible app or any other. It includes more than 50 languages and there are several features that allow you to write your thoughts about a concrete verse, share it with your friends and even use the app offline. Totally recommended for those interested in reading the word of God on a daily basis.

Disclaimer: we wouldn’t want to make any of our friends all over the world feel bad for choosing the Bible as an example of reference app. In AndroidZoom listing you’ll find Quran, Eastern Philosophy and any other reference Android app ever developed. Test our search bar out or browse the category ‘books’ and sort by popularity or rating.

Bible
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That is all for today; we’re sure you have more suggestions of helpful apps for looking up and using daily, don’t hesitate and let us know about them. Have an excellent week and don’t forget to do your homework and ask for help to your Android!

Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Apps, Reviews. Tags: , , , , . No Comments »

It’s family night!

03/01/2012 — AndroidZoom

Lately, we’ve talking about kids and about family apps, a topic that keeps growing on popularity. Today, though, we wanted to focus our attention on those fun games that can be easily played with all the family together, especially now during this time of the year with all the reunions, lunches and dinners.

Mobiles don’t necessarily mean shutting oneself away, they can also be an excuse to reunite and have fun together, to discover all the features that are included or the most interesting and entertaining apps for showing off.

The first of them is Scrabble Free, the classic board game that can be also played online in your Android device. This way, all the family can hang out after dinner and compete together against other users while having fun and exercising their minds. The app includes a teacher feature that helps you improve by showing you the best word choice from your last move and it even allows you to play several games at once, in case you’re all feeling very confident.

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SCRABBLE Free
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Secondly, we have UNO, the incredibly popular card game that is now available for Android devices and it’s perfect for playing with the family. You already know the instructions: play all the cards by matching them with the number or color; but this time you’ll be able to change some of the rules in order to customize the game to your taste, adding the rules you like and ruling out the ones that you find less interesting. This UNO app has a great design overall and the controls and usability are great, as well. It’s definitely an excellent choice for a family night.

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UNO™ FREE
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Here’s one of our favorite discoveries, What’s that track? Music quizzes are very common and not original but what we most enjoyed about this particular app was the choice of categories. What’s that track divides its quizzes into musical types like:  80s, Clubbing, Electro Pop, Tv Theme, Movie Sountracks, Rock; being TV and Movie soundtracks the most fun of them all. Together, you can listen to the tune and guess which show or movie it is, taking turns or even playing by pairs. The graphics and theme used are really appropriate and according to the game’s essence.

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What’s That Track ?
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Lastly, talking about discoveries, here’s the last one. U plus is a simple yet exciting Math game in which you have to solve a lot of combined first degree equations in order to close the puzzle in the shortest amount of time. In other words, if you think you were good at mental calculation, try this game suited for children, grown-ups and anyone from 7 to 97. As every match lasts for two minutes at most, it’s fun to test the brains of every family member. There will be surprises for sure!

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U Plus
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And that’s about it, AndroidZoomers. If you’re looking for some fun game to play as a family, be sure to check all these out. Also, don’t forget to add your opinion about the topic, we’re sure you also have your particular favorite family games, so share them with us!

Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Games, Reviews. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Siri’s shadow

28/12/2011 — AndroidZoom

Even though Google began working with voice search years ago and could be considered the pioneer in this initiative, Apple’s Siri created lots of expectation and obtained as a result a great success among users; it works well, has a simple but aesthetic design and has re-created the slogan: “your wish is its command”.

However, Android’s responses were soon launched.

Thus, we’ve decided to try some of those apps and compare them, the results of which are presented below.  We hope you find them equally useful and interesting.

The four chosen apps have been: Iris by Dexetra; Pocket Blonde 2 by i-Free, Skyvi by Blue Tornado and Andy by 74 Technologies.

HOW TO USE IT

Iris: Tap on the bottom button and speak

Pocket Blonde 2: You can talk tapping on the right bottom button or answer with multi-choice questions: Yes/No/Tell me more/Not interested

Skyvi: It has a menu which provides options. To speak, tap on the button and start.

Andy: Tap on the mic and ask away.

UNDERSTANDING

Iris: Doesn’t understand very well, mostly typical questions like who’s Lady Gaga

Pocket Blonde 2: Pretty well, as it uses multichoice mostly

Skyvi: Pretty well.

Andy: Needs to work on this.

DESIGN, UI, EASE OF USE

Iris: Clean design, simple and easy to use.

Pocket Blonde 2: EverFriends: Spoony and Brainy. The assistant works as a tutorial, really easy. Great graphics. More customized.

Skyvi: Menu with several options, more confusing than others. Simple design.

Andy: Clean design: just the mic and answer.

FEATURES

Iris : Call someone, Text someone, Search something, Look up for a contact

Pocket Blonde 2: Alarm clock, Reminder of events, Horoscope, Radio, Notes, Maps, Encyclopedia, Flashlight, Wallet,

Skyvi: Directions, Notification when near a restaurant, Notification to check mail, Remind to pick up dinner when leaving work, Update Facebook  and Twitter, Weather information. No call or text.

Andy: Encyclopedia, Directions, General knowledge questions, Weather information, People Asking,

SMOOTHNESS

Iris: It force closes sometimes. Understandable since it’s an alpha (?) version.

Pocket Blonde 2: It takes some time to answer the question.

Skyvi: There are times when you tap on an option and it doesn’t respond.

Andy: Takes really long to answer, sometimes it doesn’t even respond.

In conclusion, we could say that these four apps still have a long way ahead of them in order to compete with Siri and become a point of reference. However, each one of them has its advantages and disadvantages, being Everfriends the one that stands out the most.  It’s the most personalized and less automatic, and it gives you the chance to answer with multi-choice questions if you’re having trouble in making yourself understood. It includes two assistants and it has a long list of features.

Iris and Skivy are not bad choices but they don’t always understand what you mean or work smoothly enough; with a few improvements they would be much better. Skyvi can be used mostly for directions and reminders while Iris does simple tasks like initiating a call or a message.

The one that needs to work most on its improvements is Andy, which has a simple and easy-to-use design but it takes too long to load some answers which aren’t actually even that long and it has problems understanding some questions.

All four only accept clean English inputs, so it shouldn’t strike anyone that we witness a race in the months to come to launch assistants in other major languages. Likewise, this has just started. The possibilities are far beyond our imagination. Why not voice controlled games? There have been some shy tryouts before without much success -or no success at all, in fact-. Did anyone say Android karaoke?

We’ll be glad to re-try these apps and see where they are at after some updates.

Pocket Blonde 2: Everfriends
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Skyvi (Siri for Android)
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iris. (alpha)
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Andy – Siri for Android
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Santa Claus came and left us a brand-new website

27/12/2011 — AndroidZoom
Merry Christmas discoverers!

These last months have been as intense as challenging regarding Android news, ideas and projects. We’ve launched AndroidZoom Weekly and Pocket Videoreviews and AndroidZoom Cartoon Contest. We’ve kept reviewing apps as well as expounding interesting issues Android-related every week in our blog. Above all, what we’ve been doing these months is listening to your wishes and paying attention to your suggestions on how to make our website more both user-friendly and developer-friendly. We’re proud to announce the fruit of that labor which is our best Christmas gift: a brand-new AndroidZoom.com. We invite you to give it a go and to take advantage of all its features.

As you can see the homepage has been re-designed to highlight what really matters to you: apps and games. We haven’t removed any features, we’ve just tidied it up to make even easier the discovery of the best apps and games. Thus, you can find our classic features like Today’s Leaders, Pick of the Day, Browse Categories, Latest Apps or On Sale. However, we haven’t changed to stay the same: there a new features that you already can enjoy at the homepage and others that will be implemented in the following weeks. In this sense, you can check out from “Latest App Reviews” the last apps and games that have been reviewed by our Editor’s Team. What’s more, AndroidZoom’s Developers Team has worked hard on making the homepage smarter: we want it to recognize your searches and preferences, that’s it, individualize the homepage to highlight what you care about. And when we say you, we don’t mean you all, but YOU.

All of this would haven’t been possible without your suggestions: you’re part of the feedback chain made up by users, editor’s team and AZ developers. Please, help us to keep pumping blood to the circuit.

Happy new AndroidZoom website discovery!

Feel free to reach us at hello@androidzoom, Twitter, Facebook and G+.
Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Apps, Developers, New Feature, Reviews, Videoreviews. 1 Comment »

Wonders of yore

07/12/2011 — AndroidZoom

We’re in medieval mood!

If Android was the Moon, there’s a dark side where most Android users never look at: paid games. Freemium and ad-supported games are the prevailing trend, while nearly all paid games have a demo or trial version to put our hands on first.

However, some developers strongly believe that their games are worth purchasing. It’s a risky move that, when borne out by experience, backed up by a great idea and endorsed by outstanding human and technical resources, can succeed. If we add some middle age aroma to the formula we may talk about a potion which makes invincible only who dares to drink it without blinking.

We’re proud to recommend these three great games below. They have in common three main things: they cost less than you think, they are medieval themed and they have been quite a surprise in the midst of rough seas of casual gaming. Treat yourself to a gift with these three wonderful games worth absolutely paying for:

Carcassone is one of those fun games that actually deserved to be converted from board to device. It has the essence of nearly every modern European board game: easy to learn, hard to master; lovely little wooden pieces and a non-military theme; and somewhat pedagogy everywhere.

It’s the perfect game to make more enjoyable long car, bus or train trips. Perhaps you can play Carcassonne on the go and save Catan by the time you get home.

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Carcassonne
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It isn’t either chess or checkers but requires even more raw strategy than the aforementioned game. Castle Warriors is a quite innovative game in which it’d be better if you worry more about tactics instead of silly upgrades. It proves that everything isn’t invented yet and there’s still room for new and creative ways of spending our leisure time.

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Castle Warriors
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The mere mention of thist name has to be able to get you goosebumps. It probably was the best thing not only ever done, but ever conceived. It was the precursor of what we call “quick time events” nowadays. It was created by Don Bluth, the same who, among many other things, drew the Land before Time (aka “In pursuit of the Enchanted Valley”) and The Secret of Nimh.

In short, anyone who has ever wanted to revive that so 80′s feeling or would wanted to speculate how videogames could be if things had turned out somewhat different, here’s Dragon’s Lair.

You know we love those developers who know how rummage through our childhood in order to bring back its most precious jewels. Who would have thought that we would play Dragon’s Lair on a phone?

Dragon’s Lair
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New Growing Pains got Android

01/12/2011 — AndroidZoom

As we introduced in the previous post, technology doesn’t have to be somewhat dangerous neither for children nor the relationship they maintain with their parents. Actually, technology becomes a great tool for families when it is used properly. However, the problem lies precisely on this issue: how to use technology to our profit. Smartphones have made it simple. Lots of developers are working hard on user-friendly apps and games to be used by kids and parents alike. What’s more, they’re giving new uses to our smartphones: uses that we could even imagine a few years ago. By now, smartphones allows us to entertain our children with games while they learn shapes and colours, to read fairy tales to help them to fall sleep, monitor their (and our) health or keep us updated about where your loves ones are, among dozens of other uses. So, it’s time to make the most of technology and take advantage of the simplicity and originality of the apps and games that are coming out. Don’t be afraid of it: the best results are for those who’ve used the best tools to achieve them.

Let’s start from the beginning. No matter how different we’re compared with the previous generation, there’s something that cannot change: telling fairy tales to children before going to sleep. They love it and experts recommend keeping doing it since it strengthen kids’ learning and imagination. However, you realize that one day 15 years ago you probably threw away your old fairy tales. No worries. If you have an Android, the solution is in your pocket. Fairy Tales with Pictures is just one of the pile of apps of this kind you can find on the Android market.

However, we liked this one due to two reasons: its simplicity, short fairy tales to read in barely 5-10 minutes; and because it contains (obviously) pictures that you can show to your children while reading.

Fairy Tales with pictures
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There are some kids who’ve problems with sleeping in one go. Maybe that’s your kids case. There’s an Android app that can help you to monitor your kids’ sleeping as well as yours. Sleep as Android is a sleep phases tracker that provides you with stats about how you or your kids slept. This way you will know if they do it in one go or if they stay away during the night. What’s more, by knowing their sleep phases you can calculate the best time to wake them up. Actually, there’s an smart alarm that can wake them up when they’re in a light sleep phase. You just need to place the phone close to their bed. It will automatically detect sounds and moves to track stats.

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Sleep as Android
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Not all in life is sleeping and taking care. There’s also room for playing and enjoying with your kids. Scrabble is one of those classic games to be played with all the family together after having lunch. What’s more, is an educational game: while you and your kids enjoy playing it, they’re learning new words and how to make and spell them.

The classic board game has some catches: the main was the loss of chips. Forget that, Scrabble for Android works perfectly and keep you away from that situations.

The only flaw is that there are some country restrictions to download it (full available in the US).

SCRABBLE Free
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Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Apps, Reviews. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Do not keep out of reach of children.

29/11/2011 — AndroidZoom

This week is fully dedicated to families and we wanted to talk about our opinion when it comes to the relationship between mobile phones and family members.

Kids and phones seems to be a constant topic nowadays. Everyone agrees that children should not use technologies as much as they do, but developers keep creating original kid-friendly applications, ones that are well-thought, well-designed and try to give us a new perspective. With all these applications, a new category has been created in the world of mobile applications. Although it’s still growing there are already many apps that we can fit into it.

We’d like to recommend these and hear which you use or would like to use:

One important thing that technology has brought is GPS location system. Thanks to it, we can track the location of people and know that they’re safe and sound. One family app that gathers together this characteristics is Family Locator.
Family Locator is an extremely useful app that helps us track our family members and communicate with them. You just need to install the app in all the devices (pay extra if it’s not Android or Apple) and start checking in in places. With a simple and clean design, you can tell your family where you are, view the location history and send messages. The app is also used for Panic Alarms (press the button if you’re in danger and it will automatically send a message to all the contacts) and to view the safety places nearby. This one works well and helps families be aware of everything that’s going on.

Family Locator
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Regarding kids, we’ve chosen three apps that can entertain them while they learn something. With Lil painter Coloring Book, children can paint many illustrations with the tools available (paint bucket, crayon, paint brush, spray, chalk) or even choose to draw from scratch. If you want to stimulate your kid’s creativity, this is a perfect app for doing so.  Let them paint beautiful illustrations and try out the many tools they can use.

In the end, smartphones can perfectly play the role of our old and beloved chalkboards and have the advantage of taking them with you everywhere.

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Lil Painter Coloring Book Lite
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Doodle Darlings Ditties Lite is based on the lovely website: The doodle darlings. The main characters are four cuddly toys: Bunny, Lion (our favorite), Horse and Dinosaur and if you buy one of them, the 10% will directly go to a Children’s Research Hospital. The lite version of this app lets your kids play with Bramble Bunny, in which they use their fingers to guide the bunny down the maze and find the carrot. A good initiative that can be checked out for free and maybe even become fond of the lion, the horse, the dinosaur and the bunny.

We should thank developers for developing games entertaining and stimulating at the same time.

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Doodle Darlings Ditties Lite
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On the other hand, Baby Try To Speak is also related to animals, but with a different approach. This application is made with the purpose of helping kids become familiar with animals and their sounds. Baby Try To Speak  has a great design and it’s really easy to use even for them, including a few visual buttons with a concrete function. Children hey can learn how to pronounce the animals’ names and recognize them by their sounds. The app includes a little game where they need to match the animal with the sound and in addition, extra languages are available and the collection continues with three more editions featuring different animals.

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Baby, Try To Speak 1
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It should be easy to understand that, the sooner kids make contact with daddy’s or mommy’s phone, the easier will be to teach them to use it reasonably. Once they’ve grown up, they’ll be the ones who ask us how we lived without all these devices around – but that’s another story.

Posted in AZ Week, AndroidZoom, Apps, Games, Reviews. Tags: , , , , , , . 2 Comments »
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