The great people over at Vaja sent me a review unit of the Limited Edition Black & Red leather case. If you check Vaja’s web site over at Vajacases.com, there’s a lot of choices when it comes to protecting your prized investment, which is the iPhone. However, this particular Black & Red leather case suits my preference a lot.

Appearance first. On the outside of the case, you’ll notice the nice textures of the heavily grained black leather coupled with Vaja’s signature logo attached. Although it looks very rough, the leather is actually quite smooth to the touch and adds a little help when gripping the device. On the inside you’ll find a contrastingly smooth Vaja logo-embossed leather in red. This particular color combination seems to be very well thought out – the red makes an otherwise boring black exciting.

On the back of the device, you’ll notice an extra puff which trades thickness for some added protection. The corner on the back was cut out to give space for the camera, which I believe some of us would not like due to the extra exposure given to that particular area. When I first installed the casing onto my iPhone 3GS, I had a little trouble due to the camera lens being obstructed by the casing. A few pushes later and everything’s fine.

Comparing this case with the other Vaja case for my iPod touch that I reviewed, the Black n’ Red has got one main difference – the cover opens to the bottom of the device instead. Charging this device means having to open the case, which is a small matter. Aside to that, the case does provide a substantial coverage when closed, exposing only the silent and volume controls as well as the headphone jack at the top.

The Black n’ Red costs $80 (an additional $5 if you opt for the version with an Ultra Clip) is definitely a premium product. But do keep in mind that you are paying for a high-quality hand-made leather product with its very own distinctive class and design.

Check out Vaja’s web site for more information and to purchase.

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps

Accessories Data
Product name: Vaja iVolution Black n’ Red Limited Edition Leather Case for iPhone 3G/3GS | Manufactured by: Vaja Corp | Purchase from: Vaja Corp, starts @ $80.00 | Compatible with: iPhone 3G/3GS

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At times however, native apps does better than logging in to a web interface. This is true when it comes to applications like Google’s AdSense program. Quicksense tries to fill the gap left open by our folks over at Google.

Fast and easy-to-use, Quicksense makes getting up-to-date information on your Google AdSense earnings as easy as launching the application. Upon launch, the app displays the most critical details first – your current earnings. Further good-to-have info, like earnings from the day before, the current week and month are immediately viewable as well. Also present in this same view are advanced details like the number of impressions, clicks as well as your current eCPM, which stands for “effective cost per thousand impressions”.

If you want further details of your daily earnings, Quicksense delivers. Each row, when tapped, displays a detailed channel earnings. Useful when keeping track on ad placement/channel performance. Quicksense also makes it easy to see a complete day-by-day history of your AdSense earnings. You can even load your entire history, way back until the day when your first opened your AdSense account.

Following our geeky review of iAdSense and Analytics App, we used the same procedure to check on what’s going on behind the scenes when Quicksense is running. As of this review, it is safe to say that Quicksense only sends your data over to Google’s servers. We did not find any calls to other servers beyond that.

If you run a blog or have a web site with Google AdSense ads running, Quicksense may be the right solution for your on-the-go tracking of your earnings. There are a few downsides at the moment. One thing I really like to see is the ability to password protect the application. Useful if you happen to have peers that like to borrow your iPhone or iPod touch and play around. You wouldn’t want them to see how rich (or otherwise) you are. Aside to that, I’d love to see earnings in my local currency, automatically converted from the US dollar that is standard display in AdSense.

Quicksense is available now from the iTunes Store at only $3.99 and is compatible with both the iPhone or iPod touch. I’d say its money worth spending if you constantly need to check your AdSense earnings. iPhone users with limited data plans will love to know that the app actually helps in terms of data usage since you’ll not need to load the entire AdSense web page over and over again.

Rating: 3.5/5.0 Taps

App Data
App Name: Quicksense v1.0.1 | Developer: Supercritical Flow | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $3.99 | Released: Aug 11, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v3.0

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Ping pong, or otherwise known as table tennis in other parts of the world, is a game played quite similarly to, well, tennis. World Cup Ping Pong is entirely touch-controlled. Tap and drag the paddle to move it across the screen. If you fancy some acrobatics, try swiping when you hit the ball to give it a little spin and trick the computer player. Regardless of how you play the game, standard ping pong rules apply.

Unlike other Skyworks games we’ve reviewed so far, World Cup Ping Pong comes with up to four different modes of play. You get the standard Tournament Mode, Arcade Mode, Head to Head as well as Practice Mode.

As the name suggests, you enter the Tournament Mode and play against (computer) players from different countries. Your competition starts at the quarter finals, moving on towards the semi-finals and, if you successfully beat the computer player, the finals. Although the game calls itself ‘world cup’, you are only given a choice of eight different nations to represent, namely USA, Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany and Russia. You’ll notice that there are stars on a certain country’s flag – I assume this means how strong the player representing the country is. I have yet to win the World Cup, so here’s a call to Skyworks to update the game and make it a little, erm, easier?

Forrest Gump fans might want to check out Arcade Mode. You get to practise your returns skills, just like how Forrest Gump did it in the movie. Targets of varying sizes and color will appear occasionally on the other end of the table – hitting them gives you extra points. Obviously, the smaller the target, the more points it brings.

Next, check out the Head to Head mode. You’ll need to bring a friend to play together in this mode. It feels more like one of the many air hockey games, where you see a top down view of the table. Judging be the size of an iPhone or iPod touch, playing against another friend in this mode seems a little cramped. I’d love to see the game implement wi-fi or Bluetooth peer-to-peer gameplay.

Last of all is the Practice Mode. This is a more relaxed version of the Tournament Mode. Choose the nation that you want to represent, then choose your opponent’s nation. Again, stars near each country’s flag tells you how skilled the player is, which both China and Russia sharing the same maximum four-star rating.

Other than the Head to Head mode, every other mode in the game lets you choose your paddle style before the game starts. Your choice of selection is quite limited with only three different paddles to choose from – each having a variance on power versus spin.

As with all Skyworks games, there’s also a global leaderboard where players get to post their best scores and compete against other players from the world. A simple registration is required, but if you own other Skyworks games, you can actually reuse the same login details here.

Graphics-wise, the game is in 3D. You’ll notice some transparency in on your paddle – this is to ensure that your paddle don’t obstruct your view of the whole play area. There’s no crowd visible in the game, but you’ll know that they exist when they cheer or jeer. On-board sound effects are great, but there’s only the option of two different music tracks to choose from. Again, from previous reviews, I’d urge that Skyworks add more music tracks and also have the music play randomly instead of the same music over and over again.

Besides the superb gameplay across all different modes, I do have some complaints though. For instance, when service break occurs, the paddles does not respond to players touch. It feels a little awkward that you seem to lose control of the game. I hope this is fixed soon. Other than that, I am sure many players want more gameplay options. Currently, each game lasts for only one match – can we have best of three matches or better yet, best of five?

At the usual price of $1.99, Skywork’s World Cup Ping Pong delivers what a ping pong game should be. Since the iPhone (and iPod touch) was launched, there’s been a lack of real ping pong games so this one helps fill in the void left by the rest. Check it out from the iTunes Store – as of this writing, the game is currently on sale for only $0.99 and that’s for a very limited time only! You’ll most probably see the game appear in the Top Paid Apps list, thanks to strategic pricing and yes, addictive gameplay. If you need further convincing, then give World Cup Ping Pong Lite a try!

Be sure to also check out other Skyworks game while you are there in the iTunes Store!

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps

App Data
App Name: World Cup Ping Pong v1.1 | Developer: Skyworks Interactive, Inc. | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $0.99 | Released: Mar 09, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v3.0

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We previously covered this game when it was announced in TechCrunch. I managed to secure a copy for my iPod touch, and after spending about a week plus with the game, I am impressed.

Originally slated to be a free game, with premium In-App purchases later, SGN’s F.A.S.T – Fleet Air Superiority Training! (subsequently referred to as FAST) turned out to be a premium-priced title, selling for $9.99 $5.99 $4.99 a copy in the iTunes Store. For a ticket that steep, it turned out to be a very entertaining and exciting game. In fact, this could be one of the best full 3D, complete-controlled dogfighting game available to date for the iPhone platform.

FAST exceeds what recently released titles like Freeverse’s Top Gun has to offer. This is not a rail-shooter game, where your flight path is dictated by the game. You get your own free jet to fly in, in any way that pleases you. However, do note that there’s a ceiling limit of about 5000 metres, after which the AI will kick in and redirect your craft to go below that threshold.

Gameplay is divided between exercise missions and online multiplayer competitions. Missing from the game are storyline missions, which would definitely add depth to an already great game. Exercise missions pit you against 30 missions of increasing difficulty, from Novice to Insane. When the game said Insane, they really meant it. I have so far managed to secure missions 1 until 25 – getting killed over and over again in mission 26 is not very funny. It is recommended that you spend a lot of time in exercise missions to get yourself familiar with the game. Aside to unlocking new crafts as you win missions, the exercises are good for testing your skills before you move on to the competition levels, where real-world players can’t wait to shoot your plane down.

Online multiplayer options include wi-fi against other players from the internet, or private rooms against your friends. Gameplay is smooth, with no lagging whatsoever. I have only experienced a dropped connection once, which I blame on my ISP instead of the game. You can only select fighter planes that you have unlocked, so, it is advisable that you spend more time in the exercise missions, as mentioned earlier. Performance in online multiplayer missions gets recorded in the top pilots list. Look out for XCool, currently in position number 57 as of this writing.

Most of the multiplayer missions that I flew in are one-on-one, but there are also two-on-two missions whcih is harder to get logged in. I could be playing when the rest of the world is sleeping, so no complaints here. Aside to that, you could also create private rooms where you can invite up to four players to play against – this is a mode that I didn’t managed to try out.

FAST makes full use of both the multi-touch touchscreen as well as the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer for controls. You might occassionally find the touchscreen controls to be too tiny, which I did sometimes, especially when I was about to fire a missile or two. Controls are placed exactly where they should be, so no complaints in that department. As for the accelerometer controls, you can customize the sensitivity. Similar to Top Gun, the game registers the orientation prior to mission start, so hold your device just like how you would want to hold it when playing prior to mission start. Unlike Top Gun however, the game has no calibration screen during missions. If you happen to find your craft yawing towards one side, you’ll need to quit the mission and restart. That’s a sad point which I hope the developers will fix in a coming update.

Now, no fighter jet plane game is complete without knowing what planes you get to fly. Surprisingly enough, the game contains models from the world’s famous fighter jets, but they are all renamed – probably to avoid copyright or licensing issues. For example, the F-15 Eagle is renamed as FA-150 and the Eurofighter 2000 being named EF-2. There’s a total of ten different advanced aircraft, including stealth-featured fighters for you to fly in – one of which is a mysteriously classified craft which gets unlocked upon completion of the insane level exercise missions.

One thing standard across all planes – your arsenal of weapons. Each fighter jet comes equipped with the standard 20mm Vulcan cannon, radar guided and heat seeking missiles. Aside to that, your craft also gets its standard flare package, which can be released by shaking the device whenever you have a missile coming towards your six.

Radar guided missiles are equipped by default and require that you continue to keep the target within the viewing zone (marked by the blue dotted lines) until it hits – failure to do so usually results in losing tone and lock. Heat seeking missiles are basically infrared guided, you will need to be nearer to your target in order to register a lock – however, it’s fire and forget so you don’t have to keep the target in view. Vulcan cannons are work a little like the radar guided missiles, you’ll need to steer your aircraft’s nose towards the target before letting fly. There is some auto-aiming assistance here, so if you could score a kill with the vulcan cannons, do boast about it.

Speaking about boasting, the app comes complete with Facebook Connect integration built in, allowing gamers to post mission winnings directly into their Facebook profile. Standard features include notifying your friends about the game.

FAST is one of the best fighter jet simulations I’ve seen so far, capable of even exceeding those offered by consoles like the PSP. Multiplayer adds a lot of value to the game. If the originally announced In-App purchasing comes to life, the game would definitely go further. I’d love to see mission packs.

If you are a flight sim junkie, this game, although not a realistic flight simulator would definitely fit the bill. Action game fans would also love the game for its fast paced action, especially multiplayer. For a $9.99 $5.99 $4.99 game, the appeal factor would be quite low – I’d suggest that SGN lower the price so that more players could gain entry. (Which they did just moments after our review went live!)

Check out the game from the iTunes Store, available now for only $9.99 $5.99 $4.99 each. Also be sure to check out each screenshot below, some from official material, some which I took myself during gameplay. Enjoy!

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps

App Data
App Name: F.A.S.T. – Fleet Air Superiority Training! v1.5 | Developer: SGN | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $4.99 | Released: Jun 07, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v3.0

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An excellent title from the great guys over at Electronic Arts, this premium $9.99 title is a must-have for any fans of The Sims series of games. If you must know, I personally own a copy of the original The Sims for my Mac (can’t play it on my new Intel Mac), as well as The Sims Bustin’ Out for my (now abandoned) GameBoy Advance console. This is my third Sims game, playable on my iPod touch – and I’m loving it so far.

If you come to expect a full-blown Sims title on your iPhone, then you’re probably in for some disappointment. The Sims 3 for the iPhone (and iPod touch) are slightly scaled-down version of the larger games. C’mon, you can’t seriously want a full fledged Sims game on the iPhone, would you? Not possible at this moment, but sometime in the future, perhaps?

First, The Sims 3 promises over 10 hours of gameplay filled with hysterical antics and unexpected moments of surprise. (Yes, I took that line from EA’s promo copywriting.) I vouch that I’ve personally spent more than 10 hours on my copy and I’m still going back for more.

You start off by creating a character thru simple customisations like gender, skin tone, eye color, hair style and clothing. You know, the typical new character portion of most games.

Next, you get to define your new Sim’s persona. Select from: Jack of All Trades, Nice Guy/Girl, Jerk, Sleaze, Power Seeker or Maniac. Before you complete the Create-a-Sim process, choose five basic personality traits. There are a total of 17 different traits like: shy, conversationalist, good/no sense of humor, easily impressed/bored, vain, modest and friendly, to name quite a few. Some of these traits negate each other, so you won’t be able to, say, choose easily bored if you chose easily impressed in the first place.

Try creating a Sim that mimics yourself in real life. I made mine a nice guy with conversationalist, good sense of humor, genius, friendly and active as his traits. Finally, name your Sim and the game then begins, officially. I found that my new Sim had two personal goals, first being to get married, while the second, being liked by all the Sims in town when the game begin. I did not set these goals, so I assume it was set by the game randomly.

As with any Sims game, your task in managing your Sim includes making sure that his needs are taken care for and (most importantly) that he doesn’t die of hunger. Fortunately, you are given about §700 Simoleans (Sims currency) when you begin a new game. It will probably last your Sim for quite some time going thru junk food from the cheap fridge that you get by default, but eventually, your Sim will need to get a job and start earning some Simoleans to feed him/herself.

Getting a job is quite simple. In fact, if you must, it can be just a phone call away. But it’s much better if your Sim goes out of the house and start exploring the little Sims town. Aside to houses that other Sims called home, you’ll also find a mart, a pawn shop, a hobby shop, a laboratory, a town hall and a bistro in the town. Other than the hobby and pawn shop, any other buildings here are fair game when it comes to getting a job, so go ahead and sign that contract that will seal in your Sims daily life for good (or bad, depending on how you look at it). Your Sim will start from the bottom of the corporate ladder and (hopefully) climb up the stairs pretty fast. Speaking of landing jobs, it’s best that you make friends with whoever’s the boss of your job so as to get promotions easier and faster.

And that brings us to the chapter of interaction. Your Sim interacts with basically anyone. Even those currently commuting in their limosines. Tap any other Sim while you are in the home or town screen and the other Sim will wait for your approach. Things you can do when interacting include chatting, cracking jokes, being nice, rude and being romantic. I find it quite easy for my own Sim to interact with the rest, but that’s probably because of the trait that I chose. I made sure that my Sim is friends with every other Sim, thus fulfilling my second personal goal of being liked by all the Sims in town. My Sim got married with the first lady Sim he found, so that explains how easy it is to make friends and become partners in life. Gee, if its that easy in real life.

The Sims 3 is more than just interaction and making sure that your Sim wakes up on time and go to his/her day job. There are three mini-games as well – repairing, cooking, fishing and gardening. That’s four I listed, but gardening doesn’t actually qualify to be a mini-game as it simply involves tapping around to get things done.

Repairing occurs when your Sims’ electronic devices break down. In this mini-game, you are tasked to pull the burnt-out capacitors and replace them with new ones; the faster you get this done the better. Cooking involves cooling down the pots by shaking your device. Fishing, on the other hand is the most challenging. You will need to tilt your device to align your Sim’s fishing line with the fish and yank the device in order to successfully fish. Pretty straightforward, if you ask me.

One thing I found from these mini-games is that you could basically earn a living by just fishing at the lake, which makes up a large part of the little town, then selling it over at the local Quickmart. Trust me, those tuna fish you caught is worth more than spending eight to nine hours in the office/workplace for a measly §100 – §300 Simoleans. Again, if its that easy in real life, I’d probably be fishing during the day now.

All-in-all, The Sims 3 puts a lot of focus on the goals list. In fact, the goals checklist is available right in the main menu, before you even start a game! There’s a total of 73 goals to be discovered and hopefully, completed. I managed to discover about 58 goals so far, with 45 of them being completed. Your Sims will occassionally have some new goals to achieve, so it’s quite easy to discover these goals and complete them.

Some goals example include: gaining a skill point at repairing – this can be achieved thru the mini-game, stay rested for three days – simply make sure your Sim gets enough sleep, and kick over a trash can – you could try kicking yours, or you could do it on another Sim’s trash can and irritate them at the same time. In my case, I guess I’ll probably need to start a new game in order to complete some of the goals, like Meet a New Sim – my current Sim have basically met each and every Sim in the town, so that goal can’t possibly be completed.

There are some other goals – some being quite interesting and mischievous. I guess I’ll not spoil your game and leave it to you to discover them yourselves.

Presentation-wise, don’t freak out if you see a lot of loading screens. The game has got a loading screen when you go visit another Sim at their place, meet them by the road side or when you visit the town. Its fair, since the game is designed for a mobile platform. There are some quirks with the game, like slowdowns but having said that, I’m sure this game pushes the hardware to its edge. On the other hand, I have had the game crash on me on certain occassions but its definitely not a showstopper. Remember to always save your game often.

Throughout my time spent playing (reviewing) the game, I’ve noticed one weirdness so far. The pawn shop remains closed throughout. There’s some discussion on the internet saying that it will be open once you discover and complete all the goals – so go ahead, play the game and complete it!

Also, as exhibited earlier during the iPhone OS 3.0 announcement by Apple, The Sims 3 will definitely support in-app purchases. However, it’s not mentioned anywhere currently, but I am sure EA has something under their sleeve once iPhone OS 3.0 is in the wild.

Again, at $9.99, The Sims 3 may be quite steep a price to be owned. However, if you were to compare this version against the original release, it obviously feels way better. If you have never tried any of The Sims game, then this game is an easy pickup. Fans would definitely want the capability to bring their Sims with them everywhere they go.

Go ahead and get your copy of The Sims 3 from the iTunes App Store. I highly recommend it. In fact, many others agree and have made The Sims 3, the #1 paid app in just less than 24-hours after launch!

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Taps

App Data
App Name: The Sims 3 v1.0.85 | Developer: Electronic Arts | Purchase via: iTunes App Store @ $9.99 | Released: May 29, 2009 | Reviewed on: iPod touch v2.2.1

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