This Week at 148Apps: March 20-27
This week, March 20-27, US iPhone carrier AT&T announced a $39 billion acquisition of the US operations of rival carrier T-Mobile. Presently, AT&T offer three data plans for the iPhone: 200MB for $15/month; 2GB for $25/month; 4GB (includes tethering) for $45/month. It's not yet known whether new plans will be introduced, or how reception and future bottlenecking will be affected. A conference call scheduled for Monday should clear things up. However, Jeff Scott notes that "while both AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM carriers, their respective 3G networks work on different frequencies meaning that the current iPhones used on T-Mobile would only work in the lower speed Edge network." We'll report back Monday if anything interesting comes our way.
On the applications front, 148Apps awarded the Editor's Choice badge to two applications this week: Disc Drivin' HD and Green Day Revenge. Reviewer Carter Dotson was suitably impressed with the iPad counterpart of Disc Driving' for iPhone and iPod Touch, which he reviewed earlier this year. It was also awarded the Editor's Choice badge. The new iPad version "is just as addictive as when it first came out. Even months later, I still find myself regularly playing and checking for moves, so the game’s lasting appeal cannot be questioned." Read the full review here.
Green Day Revenge by Tapulous, Inc., makers of taptaptap, took the badge for its impressive graphics and sound, as well as its excellent gameplay. "When it comes right down to it, Green Day Revenge hits all of the sweet spots necessary to be a successful rhythm/music game, without having to break the mold of user expectations" writes Blake Grundman. Read all about it here.
Green Day Revenge
$4.99
In other news, earlier this week Phillip Levin wrote an article on Earthquake Lite, a free application that monitors where the earth is tremoring. "You’re able to sort through lists of events filtered by location, magnitude and time. There’s also full Google Maps integration in the app, giving you a detailed map to get a better idea of the event’s location and surroundings." The application is a stark reminder of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, the fourth largest recorded in the world.
Earthquake Lite - Realtime Tracking App
FREE!
Favorite Four took a turn to the social side this week, with a rundown of the best applications to use if you work with multiple social networks, like Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn. TweetDeck, Sociable, Pingle and Pixelpipe all made the list. Episode 77 of The Portable Podcast is also available, featuring guest Vincent Messina of Android Rundown.
Finally, if you're an Angry Birds fan then you'll be glad to hear that our review of Angry Birds Rio HD is now live. Available for $2.99, 148Apps awarded it 4 stars.
That's all for this week - check back next for a summary of the latest happenings. Our forum is open for registration, where you can discuss all these games, applications and more, with other 148Apps users. Thanks for reading!