iPhone

Bioshock is now available on iOS

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

Bioshock iOS

So I was browsing the App Store today and was surprised to find that Bioshock is now available on iOS for $14.99. I had absolutely no idea that it was even coming to iOS, and now here it is, ready to be enjoyed on the go on my iPad Air! I was quite excited when I saw it, so I just wanted to pop in and share the news in case anyone else was unaware that this was actually coming.

I’ll be sure to share my experience after I play it a bit. Most of the reviews are quite positive so I’m excited to dig in and enjoy this wonderful game yet again!

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Two issues I have with the Samsung Galaxy S5

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

This will be brief, but I feel the need to talk about a few annoyances I’ve had with the Samsung Galaxy S5. All of my previous smartphones have been iPhones and I enjoyed them, but for whatever reason I decided to try out the Galaxy S5. It’s not a bad phone, I like the screen size, the fact that it’s waterproof and the SD card slot, yet there are some annoyances I don’t feel you should have to put up with.

First of all when I have the charging port cover open and plugged in while I’m in the car and I’m trying to listen to music or a podcast via auxiliary I’m met with a major annoyance. As I’m driving the phone constantly pops up with a reminder that the charging port is open, and each time this happens it mutes the music. At the very least the notification pops every ten seconds and at most pops ever 3-4 seconds. Therefore it’s entirely impossible to listen to music while also charging the phone in the car.

Secondly, when I have the phone in my pocket at work with it set to swipe to unlock it somehow constantly unlocks and moves apps and creates widgets all over the place. Not only that, but apps and games start opening on their own, music starts playing and I somehow send texts filled with gibberish or create reminders and notes filled with long strings of random text. You would assume that setting up a lock screen would prevent this from happening, and while it does it also creates another issue.

With the phone set to a pin lock or even pattern lock I manage to pocket dial 911. I’ve pocket dialed 911 from work several times over the last week and keep getting return calls from the local police. I called them back and explained what happened, but I can’t seem to prevent the issue from continuing to happen.

Issues like this are what’s going to drive me back to Apple. I’ve never had anything even remotely similar happen with an iPhone and I think overall Apple builds a better product. Android is just too ‘wonky’, weird and unreliable for me.

Ordered the Samsung Galaxy S5

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

I’m posting from my phone, so this will be short and to the point. I’m an Apple guy, I love the company, the hardware and the software. I’ll never not own an Apple computer, I absolutely love my MacBook Pro.

I’ve enjoyed the last couple of years with various iPhone’s, but this week I’m upgrading my iPhone 5 to the Galaxy S5. I jumped onto the AT&T Next program and preordered the S5. It should ship Tuesday.

I kind of decided to make the switch on a whim after a coworker posted on Facebook that he had ordered the s5. I started looking at the phone and it just caught my eye and my love for new gadgets took over. I liked the ads, the preview videos of the phone. I liked the way the screen looked and the pictures it takes. I’ve been enjoying my Tab 3 and the way I can use widgets.

So that’s basically it. I’m never going to hate the iPhone. I’m still a fan of the iPhone and believe it’s one of the best phones out there, especially with iOS 7. I just want to try a new gadget.

Upgraded to AT&T’s 5gb Data Pro plan w/ tethering

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

You can find WiFi almost anywhere these days so I’ve never really felt the need to have a tethering plan to turn my iPhone 5 into a mobile hotspot. However, I figured since I was paying $30/month for the 3gb data plan an additional $20 to upgrade to 5gb and tethering seemed like a worthy upgrade. So far it’s working pretty well with an LTE connection. Browsing the web on my MacBook is quite quick and it’s easier to get things done on my Mac compared to my iPhone. Maybe it’s just the nerd in me that felt it was necessary to be able to create a mobile hotspot, however there have been many times where I’ve been somewhere without WiFi and I wished I could connect on a device other than my phone. It’ll also be nice to be able to provide web access for others. I never get close to 3gb on my iPhone, and I’m not often away from WiFi so I can’t imagine I’ll come close to the 5gb limit.

Do you have a tethering plan? Do you use it often enough for it to be worth it? Personally, I think all plans should include tethering, but I suppose the 5gb is better for occasional laptop use.

iOS 7 is here!

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

So I’ve been crazy excited for iOS 7 to arrive and today at 11AM (Mountain Time) it did! I had no problems downloading and installing it on my iPhone 5, but so far I’m having issues with my iPad 4. It downloaded the update but when I try to install it it says ‘software update unavailable’.

Anyway, I love the new look and feel of everything and the way it switches between apps now is awesome. I’m particularly in love with iTunes Radio. I love the design and I’ve been listening to ‘Ra Ra Riot Radio’ for the last hour and have discovered more amazing music than I ever have on Pandora and Spotify. I’m pretty certain I’m going to end up subscribing to iTunes Match as a result.

I don’t have much else to say right now, but I just LOVE the look:

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Remember these?

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

 

How many of you reading this can actually say you’ve owned a PDA (personal digital assistant) or Palm Pilot? When I first saw them while I was in middle school I knew I had to have one someday. Think about it, your own computer in the palm of your hand! You could update a calendar, write notes, send an e-mail maybe. I did end up getting a youth PDA and I used it to play such amazing black and white games like hangman.

The PDA has gone the way of the pager, replaced and made to look archaic by the cell phone and ultimately the smart phone and tablet computer. There are still people who use Palm / PDA devices today, but really how useful could one be? I would think the closest thing to a PDA today is the iPod Touch, but at least that doubles as a MP3 / digital media player.

Do you still have a dedicated calendar / organizer device? Why?

Chris Pirillo’s iPhone 5 unboxing

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

One of my all time favorite tech geeks, Chris Pirillo, unboxed his iPhone 5 live on YouTube today and it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re interested in the iPhone. The live stream is still going, but you’ll be able to watch the recorded version soon after it ends. At the moment the video is just over an hour, so there’s plenty of detail within.

Check it out:

Family Feud and Friends

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

So a lot of people at work have been playing Family Feud & Friends on their phone and it seemed like a fun time. It’s certainly fun to battle it out with strangers and come up with “good answer”(s). However after downloading the free app myself I’ve run into nothing but problems.

First off, the game requires coins to play, and each game of Family Feud costs 2 coins. You start out with 10 coins and get 2 coins for leveling up (you level up by earning money). However after no more than 20 minutes I was zero balance on my coins. So I have the option of paying anywhere from $1.99-$99.99 for additional coins. $1.99 will net you a total of FIVE games of Family Feud, or 15 minutes or so of fun. Most definitely not worth it. And anyone who spends $99.99 on an iPhone game (or even thinks about it for that matter) needs some help.

Every day you get to spin a slot machine to earn more coins, but most often you’ll only get 2 or 3 coins. So you can play one game a day if you don’t shell out cash.

What’s worse is the fact that the app itself never works. Most of the time I open the app I get a never ending connecting to server and an error saying the app failed to retrieve information from the server, try again later. Great so I can’t even get my daily spin to earn free coins so I can actually play the game.

This in app purchase model is not a winning model. I would rather pay $2-5 for the app then have to continuously dump $2-5 a day into it. Even if you bought the $99 coin package I doubt that would last a person a year. What a shame, the game is fun, but it apparently doesn’t want to be played.

What if Nintendo made iPhone games?

Posted on by avideogamelife.com

I was reading an article in Edge about how Apple has revolutionized mobile gaming and is gaining more and more of the market that used to belong to Nintendo, and it got me thinking…What if Nintendo made iPhone games? Wouldn’t that be awesome? There are plenty of incredibly designed games out there in the iTunes market, but Nintendo still has the ability to create some of the best games on the mobile platform. So is the solution just to buy a DS? Not for me. I don’t want to have to carry a DS around with me at all times and even if I did I doubt I’d find the pocket room.

To me mobile gaming is about having quick access in times of need, say on a bus ride or in line at the store. I don’t want to make the conscious decision, ‘Hey I need to bring my DS in case I end up with some free time’, rather I want my games readily accessible in a way that doesn’t create any unnecessary burden. Therefore having a phone double as a gaming device is the perfect solution. I always have my phone and it has plenty of practical uses other than gaming.

The iPhone is as capable (well I’m no technical expert, but from what I’ve seen) as a Nintendo DS. There are some games with pretty decent 3D graphics that run and play well on the device. Grand Theft Auto III is a great example, it’s a PS2 game that looks nice on the iPhone. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is actually a DS game that is ported to the iPhone, and again it works just as well as it did on the DS.

So why can’t I have New Super Mario Bros. on my iPhone? We all know the answer, Nintendo wouldn’t do this because they want you to buy a Nintendo DS to play their games. The problem is there are thousands of gamers out there who would gladly shell out for quality Nintendo titles on the iPhone who have absolutely no interest in purchasing a Nintendo DS. Is there any middle ground here?

Microsoft has announced it plans to bring its Xbox Live marketplace to the iPhone and Android devices which had previously been exclusive to Windows phones. They realize there’s plenty of money to be earned selling games to those who have no interest in the Windows phone platform.

Nintendo is losing its hold on the mobile gaming market faster than ever, and I think the solution is to sell its games on other devices. Maybe they could release a DS app for the iPhone for say an initial price of $50 that would earn them some money to make up for people not buying the DS hardware, and then inside that app sell the DS games for let’s say $15-30 a piece. They’d easily dominate the top 10 charts which have been dominated by the $0.99 Angry Birds for what seems like forever. It’d be win-win, we as gamers would get access to some of the best mobile games out there, while Nintendo would earn some money in what is becoming one of the largest markets in video games. That’s right, not just in mobile gaming, but in video games period.

I know this will likely never happen, but a guy can dream can’t he? What do you think?