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Having trouble making sense out of the overwhelming number of apps released each week? Have no fear! Just look to 148Apps for the best app reviews on the web. Our reviewers sift through the vast numbers of new apps out there, find the good ones, and write about them in depth. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out above the many good apps and games with something just a little bit more to offer. Want to see what we’ve been up to this week? Take a look below for a sampling of our latest reviews. And if you want more, be sure to hit our Reviews Archive.
VideoGrade
I’ve never really been one for taking video with my phone, mostly because of storage space. I also like to mess around with the videos that I do take, and straight-up iOS video doesn’t really give me that opportunity. With an app like VideoGrade, however, I might start using the feature a lot more often. VideoGrade is probably easiest to describe as Instagram for video clips. Users can make all sorts of adjustments from Brightness to Vignettes, and even cut down their video if they so desire. They just have to allow access to their Camera Roll, pick what they want, and start editing. Most values are adjusted via sliders that can be set back to the default at any point if a mistake is ever made and once everything is good to go users just have to save the new clip and they’re done. –Rob Rich
Sorcery!
Tin Man Games has done a fantastic job lately, of bringing the Fighting Fantasy experience to iOS. Now, it’s the turn of a different studio, Inkle. Bringing Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! to iOS is quite the undertaking given the mini-series encompasses four books, but if the first book is anything to go by, this is going to be quite the collection. Don’t expect an experience in which players flick through the book’s pages. Sorcery! isn’t like that. Feeling more like a crossover of a board game and an interactive novel, players are presented with a beautiful hand-drawn map as they drag their character’s pawn through the ever dangerous world contained within. Choices are dictated through a series of blue flags, indicating what can be done, rather than simple text. –Jennifer Allen
Circles Memory Game
Circles Memory Game is a lot like the popular ‘80s game, Simon, if it were reproduced for iOS today. It’s a beautiful and challenging game that’s almost impossible to put down for too long. Players are presented with a clean and polished interface. There are four ways to play: practice, levels, top score and multi-player. It’s best to start with practice to get a feel for things. In practice, gamers can select up to six different colored circles. The idea behind the gameplay is simple. Players watch a sequence of circles light up and play a sound. That sequence must then be repeated. Every turn adds a new part to the sequence and players keep at it until they make a mistake. –Angela LaFollette
Flowboard
Hot on the heels of content creation app, Stampsy, Flowboard is quite the revelation in making it easy to tell a photo story or present a portfolio of work. As simple as it sounds, users can just pick out a template before adding pictures, videos, text and web links to their content. More advanced users can opt to create their own template from scratch. It’s the kind of interface that’s reminiscent of desktop publishing tools of old, but with a much more intuitive touch based set of controls. –Jennifer Allen
Other 148Apps Network Sites
If you are looking for the best reviews of kids’ apps and/or Android apps, just head right over to GiggleApps and AndroidRundown. Here are just some of the reviews these sites served up this week:
GiggleApps
YodelOh Math Mountain
Readers and fans of Spinlight Studio may be familiar with an app of theirs from last year, the memorable YodelOh – a wonderful take on the classic shooting gallery-style game taking place in the Swiss Alps. This is a game that my son, although far from mastering, really enjoys playing and although it is not specifically an app with a high educational value, I am happy for my son to use his screen time playing this game as the look of this app is lovely and fun as well as being great for his reflexes and hand/eye coordination. Because of this, I am very happy to let readers know about Spinlight Studio’s new app, YodelOh Math Mountain, with much of the same game play as their original app… –Amy Solomon
Little Dead Riding Hood
When I first read about the app Little Dead Riding Hood, I assumed that it was a novelty platformer with zombie elements, as these types of apps can easily be found in iTunes, typically devoid of any educational value.
I am so very happy that I gave this app a closer look because my assumptions were totally wrong, as Little Dead Riding Hood is an interactive storybook app with both English and Spanish translations included as well as the highest of production values – a refreshing tale on this classic story of Little Red Riding Hood. Although I highly recommend this app, this recommendation is a qualified one… –Amy Solomon
Fairytale Maze 123
I am quite pleased to let readers know about Fairytale Maze 123, the third in a series of Maze apps by GiggleUp. My son and I are huge fans of these mazes, as they are the ones chosen by my son to work with over and over again. He was tickled pink to explore Fairytale Maze 123, as this app weaves wonderful fairytale elements within, including oftentimes iconic characters as well as other details my son simply adores. –Amy Solomon
AndroidRundown
Tennis in the Face
Tennis in the Face is a morality tale about tennis, energy drinks and the curiously-named Pete Pagassi. In my quest to free society from the debilitating addiction to Explodz that destroyed my promising career as a tennis pro, I used my racquet to defeat hordes of platformed folks with different attributes. The action was leveled and fast paced; Pagassi was armed with a racquet and balls, had to take out different types of opponents by making use of ricochets to get into tight spaces and to avoid deadening obstacles. To put the ball in play, I simply used a finger to draw a path in a straight line to where I wanted it to head to. Basically, I wanted to take out the caffeinated drones out with point-garnering strikes to the body, with extra bounties paid for head shots. –Tre Lawrence
Dog Sled Saga
Chicago’s bubbling-under indie scene has seen some Kickstarter success, and the latest project to come up from the Windy City is Dan FitzGerald and Lisa Bromiel’s Dog Sled Saga. This is a cross-platform arcade dog-mushing game. Ever play that before? Well, they’re looking to raise funding for the game’s development via Kickstarter to make this idea a reality. The core gameplay involves tossing food to the team of four dogs to keep them at their peak performance in order to do well in the mushing competitions that are entered. It’s a simple control scheme to use, just tap and hold to control the angle the food will be launched at, but doing this effectively at a continuous rate will be the challenge. –Carter Dotson
Fish Tails
Fish Tails was a fun game that I stumbled upon while reviewing Green Throttle Bluetooth Controller. In this side scrolling aquamarine game, I got to guide my adventuresome koi fish on gold collecting errand. The game made me think of arcade games, with its soft color schemes that made up the background. Visually, it was made up of mostly stills; the animations were not groundbreaking, but they worked. Air was air, water was water and little ambiguity existed. The extras, like fish and birds, were utilitarian in looks and movements. –Tre Lawrence
Amelia vs the Marathon is a fun game with a fun storyline that brings us back to the wisful times when kneecapping rivals was all the rage. Amelia is an up-and-coming marathon runner with more than a bit of talent. So much so, that the current champion decides to, uh, slow her progress, Tonya Harding style. Using henchmen and objects, the champion decides to derail Amelia’s dreams. Physically. The game was an action thriller, and it had the graphics to match. The excellent use of colors started with the stills in the cutscene. Bright primaries buttressed with changing backgrounds worked well to frame the gameplay. The animations were delightful cartoony. –
In past columns, we have taken a look at a few different devices that were created to help silently or casually display notifications. The majority of these are lamps or LED strips that have built in WiFi or Bluetooth technology. One was a charm that attaches to a purse or bad and lit up for calls, messages, and other notifications. These are all great for lounging around the house or driving in the car but their day to day practicality remain a question mark. Being a college student I spend a lot of time in places where I would like to receive notifications but cannot because of the distraction to those around me. Obviously, my phone cannot start blaring Alice in Chains during a Circuits lecture, but I will not say that I am one to strictly abstain from texting in class. Those who work in office settings may find themselves in similar situations with email and annoying SMS notifications. Hailing from Seattle, the engineering duo of Paul Hornikx and Rudi Beijnen have an incredibly simple, elegant, and practical solution to all of these problems. Their idea is called the 
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