Friday App Wrap

Penny Time

Penny Skateboards have been around since 1983 (with no ties to Tom Penny), and their bright, plastic bodies with neon wheels are instantly recognisable. Penny Time is the "official" Penny Skateboards game, but don't be put off by the product affiliation — it's bleeding aces.

It's kind of like a cross between an endless runner skater game and a rhythm game. You skate through suburbia on your Penny board, performing tricks by swiping the screen. Ostensibly, you do this by hitting visual targets on the course; but, as you play, you'll notice that the targets occur in time with the beats in the fantastically toe-tapping music. Rack up points, and you can customise your skater — and, of course, your board. Gnarly!

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
Price: AU$0.99

LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias

When the first LostWinds game made its way to the iPad, from Nintendo's Wii, it was an absolute delight. Control issues experienced by Wii gamers had been smoothed out, and it looked fabulous on the iPad's screen. It's with glee, then, that we greet the arrival of its sequel, Winter of the Melodias. Like its predecessor, it's genuinely fun, one of those games that you don't want to put down, because every last scrap of it is immersing and enjoyable. Once again, you play Toku — with new powers and abilities, and a brand new quest to save mum. And a new hat! With an owl on it! Smashing!

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
Price: $4.49

N.O.V.A. 3

N.O.V.A. is a staple of the app store and now the third iteration of this sci-fi first-person shooter has landed. Continuing the story of Kal, you must, once again, save the day in a single-player, 10-level campaign across the galaxy. Don't be alarmed, though; there are also 12-player campaigns you can join, in six modes across six levels. With Retina support, it could be the best N.O.V.A. yet ... once Gameloft irons out the lags.

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
Price: AU$7.49

Pinch Peeps

To fill this week's cute quota, we have Pinch Peeps. Your screen will be populated by shapes with eyes — bright, adorable shapes — and you use your iDevice's multi-touch feature to pinch them together, like lost lovebirds. Sounds a cinch, right? Not so fast. You lose points if you miss — which is surprisingly easy to do — and there are wandering bombs that really, really want to blow everything to smithereens. It's easy to play, but challenging to play well.

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
Price: AU$0.99

Triggertrap

This one isn't cheap, but it sure does look nifty. It allows you to use your iPhone as a camera release button — not only for your actual iPhone camera, but also for your digital SLR, via the use of a special dongle. It uses the iPhone's accelerometer to allow you to use motion or vibration to trigger the camera; or, you can set it up on a self-timer, time lapse, motion detection or even face detection. If you're unconvinced or hesitant about spending the cash, though, there's a free version to try out first.

Platform: iPhone
Price: AU$10.49

Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy

We absolutely, freakin' love Touch Press — it produces some of the most stunning educational apps we've ever seen.

Nor can it be denied that Leonardo da Vinci was, perhaps, the greatest scientific genius history has known.

Put the two together, and what you have is something incredible. Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy puts together all 268 pages of da Vinci's anatomical studies (did you know he used to rob graves in secret, in order to supply himself with cadavers? True fact), as well as his writings, including a handy spyglass to translate his "backwards" code.

It also includes explanations, 3D anatomical models and expert interviews. Even if you have little interest in anatomy, this app is a goldmine.

Platform: iPad
Price: AU$14.99

Photo Studio

This is slightly unusual: an app that has eschewed the iOS route, and has launched for BlackBerry and Android instead. Photo Studio is (surprise!) a photo editor — and it looks like a pretty good one. It allows you to perform all of the usual edits on your photos, such as cropping, adjusting brightness and contrast, colour corrections and so forth. There are also a range of effects filters you can apply (and BlackBerry users get frames). The app is free, and effects packs can be purchased.

Platform: Android; BlackBerry
Price: Free

Pair

On first impressions, Pair is an odd one; it seems to be like a social network between just two people. On further consideration, we really like the idea. Sometimes, texting between you and your sweet baboo just isn't enough; Pair adds some really lovely little interaction functions that help close long-distance gaps. These include free photo, video and text messages; little sketches; shared to-do lists; and possibly the most aww-inducing thing: the ThumbKiss, which allows you to see where your loved one is touching the screen, so that you can touch it in the same place — causing both phones to vibrate. This thing has pink love hearts coming out of it like crazy.

Platform: Android
Price: Free

ShoeBox

1000memories is a service that allows you to scan in your old photos and store them online — now, the ShoeBox app lets you scan your photos in yourself. Simply take a photo of the photo you wish to scan, with your smartphone's camera, then edge detection and perspective correction adjusts your photos so that the scan is as perfect as possible. You can then sort your photos into different boxes, create custom privacy settings and share your shots through Twitter and Facebook.

Platform: Android; iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
Price: Free

Text Tree

Do you have groups that you regularly communicate with, via text? Forget entering those names in manually each time — Text Tree is one of those super-simple apps that will make your life a billion times easier*. All it does is allow you to set up contact groups, but by Jiminy! That's a feature we didn't know we were missing, until we had it.

*May be hyperbole.

Platform: Android
Price: Free

Dragon Hunter Ice

The dragons are coming! And it's up to you, oh, fearless defender, to keep them away from your castle, before they destroy everything. To be honest, the gameplay here isn't anything out of the ordinary — there are dragons, you shoot them — but, you know, it's an enjoyable little time killer, and the art is nice. You start with a bow and arrows (which can be upgraded), calculate the trajectory and then fire away at the oncoming dragon horde. Killing dragons earns you coins, with which you can purchase weapons, repairs and magic.

Platform: Android
Price: Free

Rage of Bahamut

The mobile platform is the perfect setting for trading-card games; you have an instant network at your fingertips with which to battle and trade, with battles that can be automated. Rage of Bahamut is ... well, pretty. It offers a nice range of multiplayer gameplay modes, including player-versus-player and co-op scenarios, and there's enough fiddly management to satisfy the fussiest of RPG stats fans.

We also like the collection elements. You can spend real money for rare cards, but the game also holds events where you can enter codes for more gold and cards — and the ability to combine cards to create super-characters is awesome.

Platform: Android
Price: Free