LifeTicker Pro: Are you living your life to the fullest?

These days time passes by so quickly. We all know that time is the most precious resource that we have. If you give an inspired person time, it is amazing what he/she can do with it. But some of us just choose to let time passed by. We waste it doing nothing. Problem is, when we do need extra time. It is already too late. Now I’ll talk about an app that made me realize this. It’s called LifeTicker. It is basically an app that would tell you how many years, months, days, hours, minutes, and even seconds! That passed by your life. So shall we begin? 

Features

LifeTicker helps you track important people and things in your life!

Add your important life COUNT UP TICKERS like

- wife's/girlfriend's age
- kids' age

- parents' age
- brothers'/sisters' age
- friends age
- how long I own my iPhone
- how long I own my pet
- how long I own my car...

or your important life COUNTDOWN TICKERS like
- pregnancy countdown till baby comes
- countdown time till vacation
- countdown time till exam
- countdown time till concert, event, happening
- countdown time till meeting, deadline or business launch
- countdown time till hot date...

So what’s a good thing about this? Well, for me it worked as my personal countdown timer.  I promised myself that I will bought my dream car when I reach the age of 30. So what about it? With this app I know exactly how much time I have left for fulfilling my dream. Well if you are interested, it is exactly 7 years, 11 months, 29 days, 19 hrs., 9 mins., and 30 secs. until my deadline. You might ask again so what? Personally speaking, this made me not waste my time. It put me back to my path. Now, I always do what I think would help me fulfill my dream. Well as stated on it’s features. There are quite a lot you can do with it. One of my favorite features of this would be the countdown timer. It really helps you be more productive and efficient. 

Design

It has a very simple design. As I have talked to the developer he said to me that, they just wanted to make it simple, and not complicated. Set the time and that’s it. Well I like the idea, but it’s too simple for me. This is the first version though. So we might see more in the coming update. Like the developer have told me, “you can’t give it all on start ;)”. I discussed to him about the wallpaper. I told him, why not give the user the ability to match the timer with a specific wallpaper. Example would be a birthday photo to a birthday timer, wedding photo for anniversary timer, you get the idea. I have a tip for the developer. Why not make the wallpaper automatic? It will match the title to a specific wallpaper. So that the user wont do it themselves. 

Performance

Well, it performs great! Didn’t experience crashes or anything. When the timer is up. It will notify you. So it does performs well. Hmm what else? Well, it is quick when you're browsing through all of your tickers. I just hope as this app improves and adds more features, its performance will be as great as now. 

Verdict

I would give this app 4/5. Why? It’s a bit pricey for me. The pro version would cost you $1.99. For what it does, it’s expensive. If they had priced it at $0.99, it would have been perfect. It is great at what it does, and like what I have said earlier. It would really make you productive and efficient. I promise you, when you see that clock ticking, it would change you for the better. If you’ve got questions, comments or reactions. Just hit the comment section below. 

Other Screenshot

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Tweetings for iOS: Is it worth it?

Currently I’m using 3 Twitter apps on my iPhone. These are Tweetbot, Tweetings, and Twittelator Neue. I already done a review for Twittelator Neue which you can find here. Now I’m going to write about Tweetings. Before my review I would like to thank Mr. Richard of Tweetings for making this review possible. I must say though, even this app was given to me for free, this does not mean I would be biased in anyway to it. So, shall we begin? 

Features

This is app has the most features compared to the three other apps. Some of them are good and others, not so much. So here are it’s features.

Timeline

- Manage unread tweets

- Display any user’s tweets, mentions and favorites

- Conversation view

- Pulldown to refresh timelines

- Search timeline

- Gap detection

Posting

- Costomizable ReTweet format including new style Twitter ReTweet

- Upload pictures from your images or take one with the iPhone camera*. Support for Twitpic, yFrog, Twitgoo, MobyPicture, Plixi, Posterous and more

- Record and upload audio

- Update Facebook status selectively or automatically

- GeoLocation support at Tweet level

- Use Camera+ to take and modify your images
- View your contact list when composing and select between public reply or direct message with automcomplete
- Tweet what you are currently listening to on your iPod
- Schedule a tweet
- Hashtag & drafts manager
- TwitLonger & Twtmore support
- Shorten URLs

Location:
- Find nearby Tweeters on map or list
- Tweeters around you using Augmented Reality on your iPhone camera (iPhone 3Gs+)
- In built map location viewing

Friends:
- User search
- Browse your friends and followers, their tweets, favorites and more
- Block/unblock users

Tweets:
- Instapaper, Readitlater & Readability support
- Save images to your photoroll
- Translate tweets

Lists:
- Twitter list support
- Create & subscribe to lists
- Add users to lists

Customisation:
- Lots of themes including rolling your own themes
- Instant push notifications for Mentions and DMs
- Multiple accounts
- Mobilizer support
- Exclusion filter - now you can filter out annoying tweets

Searching:
- Save searches
- Trends

Quite a lot eh? But which does standout? There are a few that I have noticed that is great to have. First, the ability to customize it. This has got to be the most customizable app I have tried. You can change just about anything that you like. You can also upload the theme that you have created. Like wise you can download themes that are created by other users. Second, there are lot’s of options/features when you are creating a tweet. My favorite is schedule. Which can only be found (i think) on this app. Schedule is simply scheduling your tweet. The best example for this would be greeting someone at 12:00 am on their birthday. Well some of us wants to be the first one to greet a friend, right? This feature would be very handy by then. Plus you can also view your scheduled tweets. Lastly, Facebook integration. Yeah I know. There is an option on Tweeter for linking your Facebook account and Tweeter. But personally I don’t want that option. Since most of my tweets are just random rants. I don’t want my Facebook account to be flooded with my useless tweets. So this Facebook integration would be very useful to just select what tweets would be posted on my Facebook. I actually haven’t tried it yet while I’m writing this, then I decided to try it just now. Well does it work based on what I have said? YES! It works wonderful. It did crashed the app after I signed in my Facebook, but when I reopened the app. It is working all fine. I love it. 

Design

Hmmm let me think. Well as I have said it is customizable right? So the design part would differ on every user. I would actually say that the bottom shortcut keys would be the only thing that would be the same to all users. Turns out, you can also customize it. So what can I say about it’s design. I’m not sure. One thing I don’t like about it is it’s profile view. When you go to someone’s profile there is a bit of animation there. The the profile picture of that user will go up and down sort of. To better explain here’s my profile. 

On that strip. The photo will go up and down. The thing that I don’t like is that it’s not fluid. It is like capturing a video at 15 fps. Oh there is one thing that I really like about it, its logo. Looks cool. 

Performance

Based on my use it does perform well. Well but not great. Why? Because it does crashes. That is annoying. As to fluidity while browsing your timeline. It is great. No lags or what so ever. It is fast and very responsive. Just expect it to do what ever you want it to do. 

Verdict

I’ll give this app 4.5/5. Why? For me it is almost perfect. But there is something missing. I’m not sure what it is though. By the way the paid version would cost you $2.99, and I will tell you, it is worth every penny. It is a great app. Does what you expect it to do. Performs well etc. I’m going to advice you NOT to download the free version. For some reason that app would just continually crash. I do hope they fixed it soon. Well that’s just about it. If you’ve got questions, comments or reactions. Just hit the comment section below. 

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Best FREE Twitter Client: Twittelator

Twitter is my most used social networking site. It offers much faster and real time news from the people I follow compared to other SNS. I used to use Gravity on my N8, but when I transferred to iPhone. I immediately look for a twitter client and I know I could easily find one. Turns out the best Twitter client you could find for free is the official app. Most of the free twitter app for iPhone have ads. I know it’s their way of monetizing since they offer it for free. Problem is, I really hate ads, well most of us do. So after failing to find a good free twitter client, I searched for a paid one. Well this time it didn’t disappoint me. There are lot’s of great paid twitter app out there, and while I’m browsing for tweets about a certain app. I came across a review. It is about Tweetbot (which I think is the best paid Twitter app) and Twittelator. I then immediately downloaded the FREE version of Twittelator, and the first time I opened it. I know I have found the one I’m looking for. It is gorgeous. The design is just superb. I’ll show you know why I think it is the best FREE Twitter app. It’s up to you if you think it is worth Install or Not.

Features

All of the basic twitter app functionality is of course you’ll find in this app. Let’s enumerate all of it (hope I won’t miss a thing).

-Timeline Photos & Gallery 

-Multiple Timeline

-Multiple Accounts

-SimulTweet - Send a Tweet from multiple accounts at the same time.

-Instant Delivery

-Website Previews

-Global Search

-Blisteringly Quick

-Username and Hashtag Autocomplete

-Font Choices

-Pull-to-Refresh

-Regional Trends

-Translator

-Conversation View

-Automatic Retweet

-Edited Retweet

-Favorite Retweet

-Read Later

-Copy Tweet

-Email Tweet

-Post Tweet to Facebook

-Geotagging

-List

-Tweet Pic

-Tweet Music

-Tweet Pic Gallery

One of the unique feature I find on the Twittelator is Tweet Music. It enables you to tweet the song you are listening to and share the album art via tweet pic. 

Design

This is where this app shines best. After trying most if not all of the Twitter app out there, I can say that this is has one of the best layout. You can easily see the tweet pic on your timeline. Here’s one quick tip, when you are viewing the photo swipe to the left or right to see other tweet pics on your timeline and if you pinch out you’ll be presented with the gallery of the pictures on your timeline. I also like the ability to choose the font style and font size. This help it to make the app more suited and unique to match your style. 

Performance

Let’s just say this app need improvement on this part. There are quite a few irritating bugs and performance issue on this app. First is the tweet pic. Yes! it works all the time but, when there are multiple photos on a tweet. It will only render the first photo, not all of them. Second is the messages. Viewing it is a bit lag-ish, plus when you reply to a conversation and start typing. It won’t show you the last message. It’s hard to explain but you’ll know it when you try it. Lastly when you view a site and open it via Safari. When you go back to the app it is slow to reopen. There is no push notification, it is an in app purchase. It will cost you about $1.99/year.

Verdict

I’ll give this app 4/5 rating. Why? It’s gorgeous design makes me use Twitter even more. The winning part of this app for me is that it’s free version doesn’t have ADS! YES!! Isn’t that awesome?! An app that is totally free without any ads? Also the design/layout is just superb. There maybe few bugs and performance issue but hey? there’s no perfect app right? I forgot to tell about it’s paid version. It’s basically the same as the free one but based on what the developer have told me that will see the difference on July 27th when the App Battery is unveiled. So there you go. Is it worth Install or Not? If you found other bugs or question about the app, just hit the comment section bellow. 

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Nokia 603 Review

The Nokia 603 was officially announced last October 2011. It is one of the first Symbian devices that feature the latest Symbian Belle. It has a very youthful looking design. It comes with two (2) interchangeable back cover. It is priced at a mid-range phone. One of the best features of this device would be the NFC. NFC is a much faster way of connecting your device to other NFC enable handsets and accessories. You can connect by just tapping both the NFC enabled devices and they would easily pair using Bluetooth.   

Specs of the Nokia 603

Operating System

• Symbian Belle

Wireless Radio

• GSM (2G) Bands - 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• HSDPA - 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 
• HSDPA 14.4 Mbps – HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth v3.0 with 2ADP
• NFC

Hardware                                 

• 1Ghz Processor
• 512MB RAM
• 2 GB Internal Memory (Expandable to 32 GB using MicroSD)
•  Primary Camera 5MP, Fix Focus, 720p video.

Chassis Specs

• Dimension - 113.5 x 57.1 x 12.7 mm, 74 cc
• Weight - 109.6 g
• IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
• 360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches (~210 ppi pixel density)

Misc Specs

•  Accelerometer
• Proximity Sensor
• Compass
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Music Recognition
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• SAR US 1.33 W/kg (head)     1.02 W/kg (body)

Battery Specs

• Standard battery, Li-Ion (BP-3L)
• Stand-by Up to 460 h (2G) / Up to 490 h (3G)
• Talk time Up to 16 (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
• Music Play Up to 75 h

Design

The Nokia 603 as I said before has a very youthful design. It is the best designed Symbian Bell device. It has a very nice feel on your hand. It fits perfectly. The curved back contours on your hand for a better grip. The back cover has a nice feel to it. The three (3) function keys are very responsive. All the function keys are all lay out very nicely. On the top of the device you’ll find the lock key instead of the on/off, the 3.5 mm headphone jack, and the USB port.

There is no port on the bottom, and on the right side you’ll find the volume key and camera shortcut. At the back of the device you’ll see the 5MP camera without flash and the loud speaker. With the 3.5” screen display you can easily touch all the corners of the screen. My only problem with this device would be the volume and camera key. They are not what you call soft; rather you need super powers to press them properly.

Performance

It has a 1GHz processor, so it can handle multitasking. I did open up 25 apps at the same time, and the performance didn’t change a thing. When I tried to open the 26^th it says memory full so I stop. When you put side by side the Nokia 603 and Nokia N8 which has 680MHz processor, you won’t notice much difference in performance. But then when it comes to handling apps, you’ll start to notice the difference. There are also small things like the opening the app, it is much faster with the 603. The web page loads so much faster. To sum up, it is very fast, and with the help of it's OS. It's even much faster.   

               

Camera

There’s a myth in photography that a bigger megapixel means better pictures. Well that’s not true. This is very evident on the Nokia 603. It only has 5MP camera and yet it can take stunning photos. It has a very fast shutter speed, which would allow you to capture a lot faster compared to other phones. It’s good at taking photos even at low light. It doesn’t have flash though but its ok since LED flash isn’t really good at all. It has a fix focus so you can never do a macro shot. I have tried the Nokia N9, and I can say that the 603 can take better photos. The Nokia N9 has an 8MP camera. The only thing that I hate on the 603 camera is the camera shutter key. It is really really hard to press. Sometimes I miss my subject just because I can’t             press the key properly. That’s why I don’t use the camera key anymore. Having a 5MP camera has a downfall and in this camera, it’s the details. When you zoom on the photo, the detail isn’t   really good.

                

Software

The Symbian Belle is the best Symbian OS so far. It is an updated version of Symbian Anna. It is also one of the most waited Symbian update. Symbian Belle offers a much smoother interface, a new layout, a better design, and lots of performance improvement. It is also packed with new widgets and now instead of three (3) home screens you’ll have six (6). The new widget offer better information about your apps, and it is also has a better design. You can also now freely move your widgets to any place you want, unlike in the Symbian Anna which is very limited. The Symbian Belle also offers more efficient RAM management.

Overall

So I think the question now is, is it worth it? For me it would be a yes. The Nokia 603 offers a better performance with its 1GHz processor. A better OS with Symbian Belle and my favorite, the awesome 5MP camera. The design of the device is also a looker. At the price of  Php 10,000 - Php 15,000 you are getting a lot of features from this phone. Not to mention it is NFC enable device. It is best paired with the Luna Headphone which is also an NFC enable headphone. 

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Nokia 603 First Impressions

Nokia Connects recently had an event called "Try Something New". They have given 35 people the chance to trial the Nokia 603 + Luna Headset and 15 people to trial the Nokia 701. I'm one of those who received the 603 and Luna Headset. So here's one of the series of post that I'll be doing regarding the Nokia 603 and the Luna Headset.

First Impressions


To take off this series of post here's my first impression about the Nokia 603. I'm going to discuss my first impressions in 3 categories Design, Camera, and everything else.

Design

When I first saw the 603, I did liked it. I like the color, the shape, the back cover (which really feels good when you touch it). The phone really feels good when your holding it. It is a bit light when you compare it to the N8. A bit plastic-ish, but feels premium. One of the most awkward thing that I did like is the lock button. Which is located at the top of the phone. Exactly where the On/Off switch on the N8. What else? Oh the volume and the camera key. They are very hard to press. I don't like them. Especially the camera key. You need to be strong to press that.

Camera

For me camera is one of the most important feature of a phone (since I got my N8). Also there is a prize for the one who can take the best photo or video. So I immediately tested the camera, and how did it go? Well good actually. I like it. As long as you don't zoom on the photo. The details isn't what you call good. I'm not a camera expert but maybe this is due to the lack of megapixel? Not sure. The color is a bit saturated. I guess they did that to compensate for the lack of detail.

Everything else

It has a 1GHz processor which sounds cool, but I really don't see much difference in terms of performance between the 603 and my N8 (which has 680 MHz). I think the processor would come into play when handling multitasking. It has a clear black display that makes the screen looks bright, even on a sunny day.

I think that's about it. I'll post a full review by Friday if I'm not busy.

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Molome (Update) Review

I previously reviewed this app. I also said that I would give it a 5/5 on it's next update. Well it's been a while since the app has been updated, and I have used it for quite sometime now. I think it's time to see if we can really give it a 5/5 now. I'm going to review this app on three different categories namely Features, Design, and Performance.

For those who haven't read my previous review. Molome is photo sharing app. It is like the Instagram for Symbian devices. It is also one of my favorite app. Since I like taking photos and sharing them.

Feature

Nothing much has change on this part of the app. It still retains it's original features but it is improved. Going to enumerated it's features.

• You can take photos directly from the app.
• You can also brows photos from your gallery.
• Apply filters to your photos.
• Love a photo (Molome version of like)
• Comment
• Share on Social Networking sites (Twitter and Facebook)
• Badge
• View Profile
• Follow other users
• Popular
• New Filters

There is a new feature when you upload to Facebook. On the previous app when you share on Facebook it would put I think (can't remember) on mobile upload album. Now it would create its own album. That's a really cool new feature if you ask me.

The popular system has now been change. You will need a 8 loves within 54 mins so for your photo to be popular. But what is Popular System? It is a way to share your photo to other users and not only to your followers.


Design

                                           Previous                                                                          Now

This is the most improved part of the app. If you ask me, it's like updating from Symbian^3 to Nokia Belle. The app is now so much faster. Giving love to a photo is now just one click. Before you have to open the photo then you can give it a love or not. Also notification is now much better. It shows you how many notifications you have. It is also more organized. Overall it is a much better interface. I love it so much and it makes me use it more.




Performance


It is so much better. It is a lot faster. Though there are some bugs that annoys me. One of this is the profile bug. Where it sometimes shows other peoples profile instead of mine. That's the only bug I've experienced. The app also is very stable.


Verdict


Finally I can give this app a 5/5. Why? Well the improvements is so much better than what I expect. I super love how the interface has been change. It is really really fast. You'll be able to do more. If you love taking photos, this is really a must app for you. This app is also available on Android and Blackberry.

Other Screenshot

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fMobi Review

Facebook is one of the most used social networking site. With over 800 million plus active users there is a great demand for an app for easy access on a phone. This is where fMobi comes in. fMobi is undoubtedly the best Facebook app that I have used on any platform. fMobi is only available for Nokia devices. I'm going to review this app on 3 categories namely, Features, Design, and Performance.

Features

This is where fMobi has an advantage on most of the Facebook app out there. It has a lot of features that a Facebook user needs. I'm going to enumerate some of it's features.

• Status Update
• News Feed
• Chat and Massages
• Notifications
• Upload and Download Photos
• Groups Page
• Pages
• Custom Home Screen
• Search
• View Friends Profile / Your Profile
• Check-in
• View Photos and Videos (Web Browser)
•  Like and Comment
• Available in more than 25 Languages

One of the features that I like on fMobi is it's Chat and Photo Upload. Chat is not available in most of the Facebook app on Symbian. With fMobi you can easily chat with your friends, plus you can also send them a private message if ever they are not online. I use my Nokia N8 as my primary camera and uploading photos on Facebook has never been easier. With fMobi you can select or create an album where you will upload your photo. 

Design

As you can see it has a very simple layout. You can access most of the features of the app on it's Home Screen. See the red notification, it means that I have two new friend request. You will also see that on the Notifications, Chat and Messages (where your offline messages goes). You can also change this Home Screen to News Feeds, so that every time you open the app it will direct you to the News Feeds. The background can be customize, it's default is just a black background. The ones who made this app listens to their customers, if you have some suggestions you can easily contact them through their twitter account. Who knows maybe they will apply your suggestion to the next update.



Performance


This is where this app fails me a bit. When you're scrolling at the News Feeds there is a bit of a lag. I'm not sure if this is because of the lack of RAM on the N8 or the app is just not that smooth. If you updated to Nokia Belle it is a bit improved though. Still there is a noticeable lag. Everything else is dependent on your internet connection.


Verdict:


I would give this app a 5/5. Why? Well though it has a lag sometimes, you'll easily get used to it. This app is definitely the best app for Nokia devices. It has more features than most of the Facebook apps available on the Nokia Store. BTW you can win a Nokia X7 by purchasing the app, simply click on the Settings and click the "Click to participate" winners will be picked by the end of February.

Other Screenshot

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Toshl Review

Students like me have a hard time to managing our expenses. Sometimes I noticed that I don’t have enough money anymore. It is hard to keep track of it and I’m sure this is not only applicable to students. Even professionals have a hard time doing this.

Now I will introduce you to an app that will solve this problem. Personally, I used this app every single day. I’m going to show the Symbian version of this app, but don’t worry if you are on other platforms. Toshl is also available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, MeeGo and Blackberry devices. So whatever OS you have you can still have this great app. 

Toshl is a finance app that manages your expenses. It keeps track of every expense that you incur whether it is for the future, in the past, or in the present. I’ll show you its simple interface and how it works.

First if you are new to this application it will ask you to register. Why? Well because this service is also available on their web site. You can manage your expense through the web service or the app.

After the registration, it will ask you what currency you wanted. After you have set it, this the main interface of the app.

It is composed of 3 panels. These are the "Expense" where you input your expenses by tapping the red plus button, the "Tags" which compiles all of the tags you have put on your expenses, and the "Budget" where you can add budget for all the expense or for just a specific tag. The free service only allows you to add one budget. 

Now this is where you create your budgets. You can add any title you want, amount, select whether if it is for all the expenses or just for specific tags, type of budget (monthly, weekly, bi weekly, etc.), and the start date. After finalizing your budget you will see this. The budget panel would show you how much money you have left and how many days for the remaining budget. 

Now the next step is all about your expenses. This is how you can input your expense. First you would put an amount of your expense, then you assign a tag for it, the date of which the expense occur, and description of the expense (but this is optional, the first 3 are required). Then after it, the Expense panel would show you the total expenses for the day, and amount for each tags.

When you created another expense. This is how it would look like. (Sorry for the tag lol)

As you can see, all the tags that you have created would now be present. You can just click on it to add that tag. I also changed the date of the expense. You can put any date that you wanted. As long as it is with in the period of your budget. 

Now this is the Tags panel. This will show you how much you have spent for each of the tags. You can also click on the tags to see what date it occurs. 

The next thing is the that I'll show you is about it's other features. The settings, Export, Save to cloud (which syncs your app to the cloud service), Timespan (allows you to view your expenses on a specific time interval), and Editing Tags which can be found under the settings menu.

In the Settings menu you can change the currency (if ever you go to other country), the connection settings for syncing your app to the cloud, edit tags, put password, and turn on the sounds. 

You can edit your tags, and this is how it would look like. 

Lastly you can export everything that you have input on your device as a Document (which is free and will be send to your email), Excel, PDF, and Google Docs which as you can see needs a pro account.  

Verdict:

I would give this app 5/5. Why? It's free service is perfect, especially for students like me who can't afford the pro account which by the way cost $19.95/year (Php 854.62) which I think is worth it. Having a pro account enables you to add more budget and other features that are just awesome. Most of it are found in the web service. 

Download:

Symbian

Android

iOS

Blackberry

Maemo/MeeGo

Windows Phone

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