There are over 150,000 applications available in the App Store these days, which includes a whole variety of apps; everything from learning to play the piano to more information on the legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin. The sheer amount of applications and games can make it a tough decision to purchase just the good and sift through the inevitable rubbish that is bound to appear in the attempt to make an easy buck, and this is why “Appzilla” caught my eye. Appzilla is an application that includes 50 applications for the price of one; a mere $0.99. My first thoughts were that this must be an absolute bargain and developers Fossil Software were out of their minds to offer such a good deal, but just how many of these applications will actually be useful? Is Appzilla a case of quantity over quality?
The first thing you’ll notice when you load up Appzilla is the applications neat presentation. Each logo for the individual applications has been designed with great detail and it is clear what the logo represents. I’m using a 3GS device and each individual application loads instantly and likewise exists without hesitation, and this is great if you enter an app that doesn’t interest you and allows you to swiftly investigate the next.
So how many of these 50 applications will actually be of use to you and how many have been chucked in just so the developers can claim they boast the ultimate app package? Let’s start with the applications I could see myself realistically using. An “Auto Camera” is included which allows you to take a picture with the wait time of 5, 10, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes or 10 minutes. This isn’t a feature the standard iPhone’s camera has and therefore is a nice addition to the application, but why would you want to wait 5 or 10 minutes for a photo to be taken? The shorter times of 5 or 10 seconds are appropriate to allow you and some friends to strike a pose, but the longer periods just seem pointless.
An application giving greater detail on your battery life that shows how many hours talk time, standby time, internet, video playback and audio playback time you iPhone has before it runs out of battery could prove some use when you’re running low and need to check for finer details. A sound box consisting of farting and burping noises along with other humorous additions could provide a few laughs amongst friends. Although more interesting and possibly more useful, applications for translating languages are available as well as a tip calculator so you can work out how much money you will give a waiter and how much each person owes. A sleeping aid application is a very nice touch for those who have trouble sleeping. You can choose from a number of soothing sounds to last for a prolonged period of time to help you fall asleep, with the relaxing sounds ranging from the tweeting of birds to the crashing of waves against the ocean. You can also play songs from your iPod library which will end when your set timer runs out. I can realistically see people using this application and getting results from it and therefore it’s a great addition to Appzilla. The apps I listed here are those that I could honestly see myself using maybe two or three times per year.
There are a number of applications included which you’ll more than likely have a quick look at and never return to again, and these include random quotes you can scroll through, an application which helps you calculate the sale price of an object (which could be useful if you run a business), a longitude and latitude indicator which may be interesting to some and a music box with soothing sounds which could help young children fall asleep.
We then have the applications which in my opinion are completely pointless and have purely been included to make up the numbers. A crystal ball is a perfect example of this; you supposedly ask a question and rub the ball with your finger for an answer. This is a gimmick at best, but you’re not even given a yes or no answer and are instead fed a “ask again later” or a “cannot predict now”. A Clinometer is nice to look at and is animated well, but when will you ever use one of these? I’m not even sure what a Clinometer is! Other applications I doubt you will use, include a book lamp which is essentially a white screen, a metronome, a moon calculator, a protractor, a massager which in theory just makes the phone vibrate and wastes your battery, a voodoo doll and a trip wire application which I couldn’t figure out how to work; just to name a few.
In Conclusion
The amount of “bad” applications included in the bundle seems to outweigh the good in Appzilla, but that doesn’t counteract the fact that there are still a few useful and fun apps to explore. Some of the applications included are available by themselves on the App Store for $0.99, so when you consider you can obtain 50+ apps for that same low price here, Appzilla seems like a great deal and one I’d recommend checking out; you might just find two or three useful apps, and that in my opinion, is $0.99 well spent.
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